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The 22nd annual National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report marks the twenty-second consecutive year that Americans have increased the pounds of plastic bottles returned for recycling. The number of pounds of used bottles collected in the United States has grown each year since the industry survey began in 1990.
Domestic processing of all recycled plastic bottles – including imported materials – rose 89
million pounds over 2010.
“With reduced exports and increased imports of recovered bottles, plastic bottle recycling
continues to be an international business with domestic companies competing effectively,” said Steve Alexander, executive director of APR.“Being diligent about recycling your plastic bottles is a simple way to strengthen our domestic plastics recycling industry while doing something good for the planet.”
The report verified that single-stream collection – whereby all recycled materials are placed in a single bin – continues to grow, helping to boost household participation rates. “Even with increased collection, demand for recycled plastics far outpaces supply,” said Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council. “We need everyone to do their part to get more plastics into the bin. The good news is that with so many communities adopting single-stream recycling, it has never been easier to recycle many types of plastics.”
This year’s survey also found that the recycling of PP bottles rose to nearly 44 million pounds, an annual increase of nearly 24 percent, with 64 percent of that material processed domestically as PP, rather than mixed with other resins. Although PP caps are widely collected for recycling in the United States, these data are included in a separate report on recycling non-bottle rigid plastics, which will be released in the coming weeks.
Additionally, the report showed that the pounds of HDPE bottles collected dipped slightly (1
percent) in 2011, while the collection rate for HDPE held steady at 29.9 percent. Imports of postconsumer HDPE increased by 106% to 51.1 million pounds, which, combined with decreased collection and fallen exports, resulted in slightly higher production in U.S. reclamation plants.
PET and HDPE bottles continue to make up over 96 percent of the U.S. market for plastic
bottles. In 2011, interest in lighter weight packaging continued among manufacturers and
retailers, resulting in the use of plastics in new bottle applications; however, market growth was largely offset by trends toward smaller bottles (e.g., concentrated detergents), lighter bottles and the sluggish economy.
The full 2011 report (National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report)is available in the “Reports and Publications” section of ACC’s website and on APR’s website.
Data on PET recycling referenced in the report were separately funded and published by APR and the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR). A separate report, entitled 2011 Report on Post-Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity, is available on APR’s website.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) is the national trade association representing companies that acquire, reprocess and sell the output of more than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America. Founded in 1992, its membership includes independent recycling companies of all sizes, processing numerous resins. APR strongly advocates the recycling of all post-consumer plastic packaging.
The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care®, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $760 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is the largest exporting sector in the U.S., accounting for 12 percent of U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development.
Safety and security have always been primary concerns of ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security and to defend against any threat to the nation’s critical infrastructure.


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Rami Levy, Israel’s third-largest supermarket chain, signed a deal with Tel Aviv-based startup CommonSense Robotics, to establish 12 distribution sites throughout Israel powered by robot systems for use in storing and packing online grocery orders, CTech by Calcalist reported this week based on the company’s filing at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Thursday.
The first two sites will operate by the end of 2019, with 10 more to be established in the second period and the rest available by July 2021, the supermarket said, according to the report.
In April, NoCamels reported that CommonSense Robotics had secured a deal with Israeli pharmaceutical chain Super-Pharm to operate a logistics center where products will also be automatically packed by robots. Super-Pharm would pay the Israeli startup a monthly retainer to operate the center, provide robot equipment and employ workers, with the service expected to shorten delivery time and cut labor and delivery costs.
Founded in 2015, CommonSense Robotics aims to help online grocery retailers offer on-demand, one-hour deliveries using robotics and artificial intelligence. It raised $20 million in a Series A funding round in February.

domain: news


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“If you are phone-shopping and wonder about the reliability of various brands, you are in luck. FixYa, a volunteer technical assistance Web site, has analyzed more than 720,000 support requests to come up with complaint-per-phone ratios, which the company said represent reliability,” Roy Furchgott reports for The New York Times.
“The study also showed what owners generally liked — and did not like — about their phones,” Furchgott reports. “The short answer is that iPhones were found to be by far the most reliable, almost three times more reliable than the second-place Samsung phones. Third was Nokia, followed by Motorola.”
Furchgott reports, “What iPhone owners liked was the simplicity — it was easy to guess how to use the phone’s main features. That was followed by the reliability of features like phone, data and text functions. And finally they liked the vast number of apps in the iTunes store.”
Read more in the full article here.
Apple iPhones 3 times more reliable than Samsung phones – February 23, 2013
Apple dominates smartphone OS satisfaction survey – January 18, 2013
J.D. Power: Apple ranks highest in smartphone customer satisfaction for 8th consecutive time – September 6, 2012
J.D. Power: Apple iPad ranks highest in tablet customer satisfaction – September 13, 2012


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Chipzilla paid him $25 million so he should say that
The bloke who Intel paid $25 million last year to leave Qualcomm claims that Chipzilla is in a strong position to take control of the internet of things.
Diversify out of smartphones
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi wants to double sales of smart home technology devices like rice cookers and air purifiers this year as part of a cunning plan to diversify away from smartphones.
Reduce dependence on PCs
Intel has decided that there is no point waiting for the PC to return and is decimating its staff and getting into something else more lucrative – cloud computing and the Internet of thing.
Who needs mobiles?
In an unusual sideline to its make products smartphone maker Xiaomi is getting into making bicycles.
Named in "top 10 breakthrough technologies of 2016" by MIT
Recently, a team of computer scientists from the University of Washington have developed an ultra-ultra-low power, extremely energy efficient version of the ubiquitous Wi-Fi transmission technologies that most of us have come to welcomingly embrace over the past decade and a half. Dubbed “Passive Wi-Fi,” the new standard consumes nearly 10,000 times less power than current Wi-Fi components and triples battery life on a wide range low bit-rate devices at home and in the workplace.
Extended Coverage Enhanced General Packet Radio Service
MediaTek and Nokia have used MWC 2016 to show off their "Extended Coverage Enhanced General Packet Radio Service" (EC-EGPRS).
Aims to accelerate Internet of Things to a single open standard
On Friday, a group of industry leaders making headway in the Internet of Things (IoT) market announced a cross-industry collaboration effort aimed at unlocking the massive opportunities for consumers and business with IoT devices, and ultimately a way to quickly get everyone to adopting a single open standard.
New software technique gives IoT devices an extra 20dB signal range
This week on stage at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, chip giant Intel will focus its efforts on announcing new developments in the realm of fifth-generation (5G) LTE networks. The focus comes just days after the company showed the results of a low-power wide area (LPWA) field test for IoT devices in collaboration with Orange S.A (formerly France Télécom S.A) and Ericsson.


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A greater-than-feared quarterly report from South Korea-primarily based Samsung Electronics lifted semiconductor shares on Thursday. The downtrodden chip sector was thanks for a rebound for the reason that trader sentiment has been so adverse these days, one particular Wall Avenue analyst explained.
Samsung claimed its 2nd-quarter earnings grew 21% from the very same interval last 12 months, although running income rose 11%. Samsung’s shares in Seoul climbed 3.2% on the news, the Wall Avenue Journal noted. The tech conglomerate will make smartphones, televisions, appliances, memory chips and other electronics.
However, Samsung faces troubles in advance, which includes growing inflation and slowing purchaser and business tech expending, analysts explained.
Mizhuo buying and selling desk analyst Jordan Klein reported Samsung’s success have been “much less undesirable that feared.” Traders experienced been “bracing for considerably worse,” he reported in a take note to clientele. Samsung’s income was around in line with estimates but its working financial gain arrived in modestly under sights.
Semiconductor Shares Could See Brief-Expression Rally
Semiconductor shares have been “oversold, with sentiment and positioning also bearish,” Klein explained. The sector could see a limited-term rally amid a potential small squeeze heading into next-quarter earnings year, he said.
On the inventory industry right now, the Philadelphia semiconductor index, recognized as SOX, rose 4.5%. The SOX incorporates the 30 largest semiconductor shares traded in the U.S.
Among main semiconductor stocks, Taiwan Semiconductor Production (TSM) rose 6.7% to 80.65. Intel (INTC) climbed 3.1% to 38.14. Texas Instruments (TXN) superior 2.6% to 154.69. Nvidia (NVDA) enhanced 4.8% to 158.58. Superior Micro Equipment (AMD) included 5.2% to 79.30.
Adhere to Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for a lot more stories on shopper technological innovation, software package and semiconductor stocks.
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We saw Flash running on Android phones back in February. Back then, Adobe said that Flash will run on phones with ARM Cortex-A8 processors and 50 MBytes or more of available RAM. That means Flash will run on the Google Nexus One, HTC Incredible and Motorola Droid, but not the T-Mobile G1, MyTouch 3G, HTC Hero, or HTC Droid Eris, for instance.
While Apple is obviously off the list for Flash support, Lynch reconfirmed that Adobe is continuing to develop Flash for other platforms, including "RIM, Palm (soon to be HP), Microsoft, Nokia and others." RIM confirmed earlier this week that they're working on Flash for BlackBerries, and Adobe had a basic demo of Flash on a Palm Pre at the Mobile World Congress trade show in February.


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Gen Y Values Mobile But Still Visits Branches: Study
When you think of Gen Y’s preferred banking activity, the thought of waiting in the teller line at a branch doesn’t exactly come to mind.
But the latest Consumer Trends Survey from technology vendor Fiserv Inc. included a surprising result: Gen Y visits branches more than Gen X, Baby Boomers and seniors do.
The data showed that 17% of Gen Y members visited a financial institution branch or office five or more times in the previous month, compared to Gen X’s 10%, Baby Boomers’ 10% and seniors’ 11%.
Daniel Steere, director of consumer insights at Fiserv, said it was the most surprising finding from the survey, which investigated consumer banking behavior by channel and age group.
“I was expecting to see Gen Y pushing trends toward the digital channel, and we did see that,” Steere said. “But they are still using channels that are high-cost to financial institutions, like call centers and branches.”
Steere said the survey’s Gen Y respondents were not asked why they are visiting branches and that Fiserv would like to examine that angle in the future. But he speculates that Gen Y’s branch visits are due to more complicated needs such as consultations for a first mortgage or auto loan, not routine transactions. Given that assumption, he believes credit unions should ensure their front line staff members are trained to educate young members.
“Based on my personal research, I don’t think anyone says that they love to go into a branch and stand in line,” Steere said. “I suspect that when Gen Y members go into a branch, it’s because they have a problem that they can’t solve.”
Fiserv also found that 87% of Gen Y members used online banking in the previous month and 50% of Gen Y members used mobile banking in the previous month, Steere said. Survey highlights also showed that 34% of Gen Y members are high volume ATM users, compared to Gen X’s 30%, Baby Boomers’ 22% and seniors’ 12%. Six percent of Gen Y members are high volume call center users, compared to Gen X’s 2%, Baby Boomers’ 1% and seniors’ 0%.
At MIT Federal Credit Union, a $335.6 million credit union in Cambridge, Mass., where students comprise approximately 28% of total membership, young members typically visit a branch once to set up their accounts and then turn to the comfort of their computers and smartphones for banking activities, said President/CEO Brian Ducharme.
“We’re set up for remote access,” Ducharme said. “Members can make deposits from our ATMs, and we’ll see students doing that when they’re only 10 yards away from a teller. They’re very comfortable with self-service.”
However, Ducharme said young members do value personal interaction. He said if a transaction is more complicated, they’ll use the credit union’s call center or visit a branch.
“It depends on the complexity of the transaction and sometimes on their comfort level,” he said. “For example, with a mortgage, they may want to talk to someone to better understand how to make payments and how it will affect their taxes.”
Ben Rogers, research director for the Filene Research Institute, agrees that Gen Y members only make trips to branches during exceptional circumstances, for example, to open a new account or solve a specific issue.
“It’s hard to characterize the whole group as valuing or not valuing in-person branches,” Rogers said. “It is safe to say, however, that they value them less than prior generations did, because they have not been conditioned to accept waiting in branches or conducting in-person or paper transactions that can be accomplished remotely.”
Rogers said Filene recently found that convenience is the No. 1 factor Gen Y considers when choosing a financial institution, followed by product features and service, and financial institutions must implement multiple channels to meet the need for convenience.
“It used to be your branch locations were the main driver of convenience, and then it became branches plus ATMs,” Rogers said. “But today, you have to consider technologies like mobile applications, remote check deposit and fast, functional web services.”
So which channels are priorities for Gen Y? Rogers said according to seven recent, in-depth interviews conducted with seven Gen Y members by bank and credit union-focused research company Facilitas, six of the seven listed ATM access as necessary and all seven said mobile banking apps are critical.
Steere emphasized the one device that credit unions should start putting on their radar are tablets. According to Consumer Trends Survey Results, 27% of Gen Y members own a tablet device and 61% of those Gen Y members said they had used the tablet for online banking. With their larger screens, tablets present an opportunity for CUs to share information in an interactive, engaging manner.
“Tablets are considered high priced, luxury items, so that data shocked me,” Steere said. “But Gen Y is all about the overall experience. In the future, I see mobile devices being used for quick transactions and tablets being used for more engaging experiences and rich interactions.”
Mobile alerts are another hot feature for Gen Y because they provide a sense of control, Steere added.
“Some Gen Y members are managing their finances on a tight margin of error and are checking their account balances 10 or 12 times a day,” Steere said. “Alerts can help them feel like they’re on top of things.”
Rogers added that according to a TowerGroup report, the number of interactions a consumer has with his or her financial institution per year is expected to double from 60 to 120 between 2007 and 2020. Mobile and online interactions are expected to increase while branch, ATM and call center interactions should remain roughly the same.
“In-person banking is not going away,” Rogers said. “It’s simply being placed as two–branch and contact center–parts of that five-part mix.”


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Investors know that, when it comes to video entertainment, streaming is the future. Legacy pay TV services were put on notice more than a decade ago when Netflix kicked off its on-demand streaming service; more recently, cable and satellite giants have faced challenges from live TV streaming services. But being on the right side of history isn't a free ticket to financial success, and Sony (SONY -2.09%) is learning that the hard way. Sony's live TV streaming service, PlayStation Vue, has struggled early. Can it hold on much longer in a crowded market full of powerful players?
Reasons to believe in PlayStation Vue -- and reasons not to
Right from the start, PlayStation Vue seemed to have plenty of advantages. It was among the first skinny bundles to debut on the market: only Dish's Sling TV beat PlayStation Vue to a nationwide live TV streaming debut. PlayStation Vue has the backing of a big company in a space where such backing is essential to absorbing losses -- the most successful skinny bundles are earning only the leanest profits, while most are actively losing money. And PlayStation Vue had an early competitive advantage in the form of its cloud DVR service, which Sling TV and other services were slow to match.
But PlayStation Vue has disadvantages, too. Its clumsy branding implies a connection to Sony's PlayStation family of video game consoles. While it's true that PlayStation Vue first debuted on PlayStation consoles, the service is now available for streaming devices from companies like Roku and Amazon. With skinny bundles still a new concept to so many consumers, PlayStation Vue can't afford branding that sends a muddled message.
In 2016, PlayStation Vue was unable to cut a deal to keep Viacom-owned channels on its platform. Viacom owns popular properties like Comedy Central and MTV, and channels like those are key to convincing cable lovers to jump ship or full cord-cutters to try a new type of pay TV. The timing was terrible: AT&T entered the skinny bundle fray in 2016 with its popular DirecTV Now service, and several other new skinny bundles arrived in 2017.
PlayStation Vue has also lost pricing battles at every turn. PlayStation Vue's cheapest bundle used to cost $39.99. That was comparable to Sling TV's $40-per-month combo bundle, but Sling TV offered half-sized bundles at $20 and $25 per month, respectively. DirecTV Now charged $35 per month for its cheapest bundle when it arrived on the scene.
Price hikes saw Sling TV's $20 bundle turn to $25 and DirecTV Now's $35 bundle turn to $40, but by then PlayStation Vue, too, had hiked prices: its cheapest option became $44.99, more than comparable options from Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and newcomers like Hulu with Live TV ($39.99) and YouTube TV ($40).
Through all of this, PlayStation Vue offered a five-day free trial in a market where week-long trials were the norm.
The result of all of these disadvantages? Some very, very ugly numbers.
PlayStation Vue's numbers should make investors wary
It's no secret that skinny bundles tend to lose money, so the fact that PlayStation Vue is in the red is not alarming. But the degree to which PlayStation Vue is running up the tab, and the lack of subscriber growth that Sony has seen for its money, should be unsettling to investors.
PlayStation Vue has more than 500,000 subscribers. That's a solid base, but it pales in comparison to Sling TV's 2.2 million. Other services, including ones that PlayStation Vue got a head start on, are also topping PlayStation Vue's subscriber numbers.
|Last Reported Subscriber Count
|more than 2,200,000
|more than 500,000
|more than 1,800,000
|Hulu with Live TV
|more than 800,000
None of these services are exactly printing money, but those with higher subscriber counts have a reason to suffer through an early market where profits are slim or nonexistent. The skinny bundle market's current leaders have reason to believe they'll be left standing when profits finally start appearing (though that could still be a long way off for some).
But those who lag behind -- including PlayStation Vue and start-up fuboTV, which has not released subscriber figures since last fall -- are paying the costs without gaining much hope in return. Those costs are serious. Alphabet's YouTube TV is reportedly losing $9 per subscriber per month.
Estimates pegged PlayStation Vue's per-subscriber content costs at within $5 of its old $39.99 per month price. Even with a new $44.99 price tag on its smallest bundle, PlayStation Vue can't have much left over for its other expenses after content costs are taken out. By most estimates, PlayStation Vue is losing money and has been all along.
PlayStation Vue may not be burning money quite like YouTube TV is, but it also lacks YouTube TV's subscriber growth. Without the bright future that subscriber growth suggests, why should Sony keep investing in a space where profits are so dear?
Can PlayStation Vue survive?
Only one major skinny bundle -- CenturyLink's CenturyLink Stream -- has folded so far. PlayStation Vue may be next.
Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida has pushed back against rumors of PlayStation Vue's demise. That may bode well -- but, on the other hand, it's never a good thing when a company has to assure observers that it won't kill off one of its businesses. And Yoshida's defense of PlayStation Vue -- that it provided "valuable consumer spending data" -- does not inspire much confidence in PlayStation Vue as a future giant of live TV streaming.
PlayStation Vue's struggles have been documented for some time, so an eventual shuttering of the service is arguably already baked into Sony's stock price. A surprise comeback for the service would be a nice boost for Sony; a final reckoning, perhaps, would not be proportionally devastating.
But a comeback for PlayStation Vue seems prohibitively unlikely absent major changes. Investors should keep an eye out for major rebranding efforts or significant changes to pricing or features; absent that, PlayStation Vue is probably destined for failure.


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Shark deterrent passes the test
CONSUMER watchdog Choice has assessed the growing market and found only one electronic shark deterrent made the grade.
In an industry riddled with dubious claims and untested products, the organisation said only the Australian-made Shark Shield, at $749 per unit, had been independently proven to effectively deter sharks from biting.
Choice author Chris Doyle said the device worked by creating an electrical field along a two-metre cord that trailed behind the wearer.
"For divers and swimmers, the device is wrapped around the ankle, while for surfers and kayaks there's a different model that requires installation directly onto a board," he wrote.
He warned the product did not work 100% of the time.
"The most recent study of the device by scientists at the University of Western Australia found it prevented great whites and tiger sharks from attacking most of the time, but it wasn't always effective," Mr Doyle wrote.
"An earlier study by the South Australian Research and Development Institute also found the device was effective in deterring great whites, but noted it didn't "deter or repel this species in all situations, nor did it repel all individuals".
The makers of other electronic devices claimed their products had encouraging results but with no evidence of extensive independent testing.
The same went for magnetic shark deterrents, aerosol repellents and a contraption that mimicked whale calls and other "special frequency" sounds to keep the predators at bay.
Shark Shield's makers said the product was used by the Australian Navy, as well as professionals and amateurs in ocean sports.
Choice warned none of the devices were fool proof.
"If fear of a shark attack is stopping you from entering the water, then forking out for a personal shark deterrent may provide some peace of mind," Mr Doyle wrote. "But be aware of their limitations - many devices haven't undergone independent testing, and no device will protect you in all circumstances."
- APN NEWSDESK


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Those who scoffed at longstanding warnings about kamikaze Internet stock valuations and dove into cyberspace investing have endured only the first of many tests.
Alexander Cheung, manager of the Monument Internet Fund, points out four flubs commonly made by these investors.
The mistakes result from disregard for time-tested investment maxims, such as the need to invest for the long term and focus on solid management and industry leaders.
Mr. Cheung says Internet investors, to their detriment, tend to be:
1. Beguiled by the Net's "headline companies." They lunge for the flashy Internet retailer and portal companies while overlooking the broad range of quiet but better valued companies active across all areas of the sector.
2. Prone to "day trading," or rapid run-and-gun buying and selling of shares. "As institutional investors get more involved in the Internet and more companies go public, we will see the [Internet] market become more normalized, and skittish day traders will not be able to enjoy such a sudden jump in prices," says Cheung.
3. Attracted by momentum in the growth of revenue or other signs of good performance. Instead, investors should look for high quality management and companies that will lead their slice of the Internet sector.
4. Skeptical about the Internet's staying power, and therefore prone to short-term investing. "Many people believe the Internet is a flash in the pan," says Cheung. "But we believe the Internet will lead the world into the new millennium and create a new way to do business."


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Platform Solutions Inc., a maker of plug-compatible mainframes, has countersued IT giant IBM for coupling its mainframe hardware with the z/OS to shut out competition.
PSI filed the motion in U.S. District Court in New York in response to a lawsuit by IBM last month claiming that its patents for z/OS were violated by PSI to suit its own hardware. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based PSI was formed in 1999 from the remnants of defunct plug-compatible mainframe vendor Amdahl, with backing from Intel Capital and other investors. The machine can run Windows, Linux, Unix and, most importantly to mainframers, z/OS on a single machine.
In its counterclaim, PSI claimed that IBM is trying to corner the market on its z/OS software by refusing to license it to other companies, therefore making it anticompetitive. In its court filing, PSI also claimed that it was on the verge of being acquired by a "major technology company" in October, but that the company backed off after IBM refused to sell its operating system and applications on PSI's hardware. PSI claimed that the move cost it "hundreds of millions of dollars."
Christian Reilly, PSI's vice president of product management, likened IBM's actions to Microsoft selling Windows only on its own hardware.
"Let's say hypothetically that Microsoft built its own PC hardware," Reilly said. "If they only sold the Windows operating system on its own hardware, they would be practicing in a way to control the market."
An IBM representative did not reply to a request for comment, but much of the lawsuit revolves around an agreement between the two companies granting licensed copies of z/OS to PSI. IBM claims that PSI has broken that agreement by "translating" the operating system to run on its Intel Itanium-based mainframe machines, therefore undermining its investment in mainframes.
PSI responds that the way in which it runs z/OS on its own hardware does not violate the agreement with IBM.
Reilly said that the timing of IBM's lawsuit -- just months before PSI plans to sell its mainframes under general availability -- was "curious," though he was quick to add that none of PSI's customers had defected for fear of the consequences the lawsuit could have.
Linda Zider, executive vice president of PSI and a former IBM employee, said that proves that mainframe customers out there want competition.
"In the past, it was pretty typical that Amdahl and Hitachi were pricing 10%-20% below the market," she said. PSI's discounts on its hardware are similar, though neither Zider nor Reilly would be specific. "What we can discount varies depending on how big the box is," Zider said.
Let us know what you think about the story; e-mail: Mark Fontecchio, News Writer.


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Mahmoudia Motors, the sole and official dealer of Jaguar and Land Rover cars in Jordan, unveiled Land Rover’s latest new Discovery Sport, at an event recently.
Held at the dealers showroom in Wadi Saqra, the event drew the p
Land Rover is set to present the new Range Rover Sport HST at the New York International Auto Show 2015.
The HST enhances the high performance Range Rover Sport driving experience with its uprated 380PS 3.0-litre supercharged V6 p
The new Land Rover Discovery Sport was launched yesterday (February 25) at the Land Rover Experience Centre in Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir.
Featuring a two-litre, 163-horsepower four-cylinder turbocharged engine, state-o
Off-road enthusiasts can now experience the joy of dune bashing in Bahrain at the region's first dedicated track open to the public.
The Land Rover Experience at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) opened yesterday (February 1
Jaguar Land Rover Middle East and North Africa (Mena) and Alfardan Premier Motors, its exclusive importer in Qatar, are set to debut two of the automaker’s newest vehicles to the region at a show in Doha, Qatar next month.
Jaguar Land Rover has launched a research project to develop technologies that will offer drivers a 360-degree view out of their vehicle, uninterrupted by the pillars that support the roof.
A screen would be embedded in the surfac
The Range Rover Evoque has won three top honours, including a reader award for in-car technology.
It has also been named the ‘SUV of the YEAR’ and the ‘Best Premium SUV,’ taking its total award to 161, said
Land Rover has unveiled the new Discovery Sport, a top versatile and capable premium compact sports utility vehicle (SUV).
The first member of the new Discovery family, Discovery Sport, features 5+2 seating in a footprint no large
Researchers at Jaguar Land Rover aim to develop an intelligent self-learning vehicle that will offer a completely personalised driving experience.
The technology intends to help prevent accidents by reducing driver distraction, a statem
The Range Rover Sport SVR has made its global debut at Pebble Beach, California today (August 14).
It is the first model to wear the SVR designation being adopted by future Land Rover and Jaguar high-performance models, said a sta


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Expansion in the works
TSMC appears to be planning another huge chip exansion and written cheques to the value of $700 million on semiconductor capital equipment in recent weeks.
Is it really worth it?
Troubled Japanise outfit Toshiba is considering splitting off part of its chip business in a bid to help it raise the cash it lost on its accounting scandal.
Can operate at 15 watts
Toshiba America Electronic Components (TEAC) has come up with what it claims is the first single-chip wireless power receiver that can operate at 15 watts and is compliant with the wireless charging Qi v1.2, standard.
Tsinghua Unigroup's glorious five year plan
Move over Qualcomm there is a new chip giant in town and it will be number three in five years.
Chipmaker Intel has made a small update to its low-power Atom chip lineup.
Six percent growth in a flat market
The overall semiconductor market is going to be flat or slightly down this year, but the foundry market is forecast to grow 6.1 per cent.
20 per cent cut
Samsung plans to cut investment in semiconductors by up to 20 percent next year to prevent further price falls.
On-Chip error correction is the way forward
UK-based silicon IP firm UltraSoC has come up with a way of making SoC's more reliable using on chip error correction.
Three new parts
AMD will expand its socket FM2+ chip lineup with three new parts – the A10-7890K and A8-7690K APUs, and the Athlon X4 880K CPU.
Sonoma ready for the big time
Oracle has been sharing a few details about its SPARC processor code-named Sonoma. Sonoma is not a sleeping Italian mama at all but a place where Americans grow wine that Europeans will not touch.


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CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Ushur, an AI-powered customer experience automation (CXA) provider, has announced a new partnership with Five9, a cloud contact center solutions pioneer.
This collaboration will integrate Ushur’s no-code CXA platform into the Five9 customer experience (CX) Marketplace. The integration will make it easy for businesses to combine Ushur’s automation capabilities with Five9’s cloud contact center platform.
“We believe that this partnership is a critical one for enterprise customers across industries and that customer experiences will only improve over time thanks to lower barriers to entry for multichannel journeys.”
The Five9 platform is known for managing billions of call minutes annually. It combines digital engagement, analytics, workflow automation, and artificial intelligence to optimize customer interactions.
Ushur’s secure CXA platform is designed to handle sensitive data. It comes with certifications like HIPAA, HITRUST, GDPR, and PCI-DSS compliance out of the box. This makes it well-suited for automating experiences in regulated industries like healthcare and insurance.
“We love that there’s a customer experience solution that comes ready with HIPAA compliance, HITRUST compliance, GDPR compliance and PCI-DSS compliance and certifications — all through a no-code approach,” said Brian Bitsky, Senior Director UC/ISV Partnerships at Five9.
Ushur reports over 50% of its customers are Fortune 500 companies, including insurance and healthcare brands like Aflac, Unum, Irish Life and Cigna.
This collaboration allows both companies to enhance their customer experience offerings. Ushur gains seamless integration with a leading cloud contact center, while Five9 customers get access to Ushur’s automation capabilities while maintaining compliance.


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Microsoft's announcement Monday that it will soon produce its own tablet computer could pose a formidable challenge to Apple's iPad, but for bankers it presents the prospect of gaining a useful new tool in the struggle to integrate handheld PCs into their operations.
No question, Microsoft is late to the tablet party. Yet its belated arrival is big news to the vast majority of financial institutions for which its software is integral to core and back-office computing. Now its tablet could offer customers and employees a device to use in branches and in distributed or mobile work environments.
"For several years, Microsoft has been talking about presenting itself as a part of the branch of the future," says Kevin Travis, a partner at the research firm Novantas. "It has been advertising and marketing around conceptual frameworks for new branches, and it has talked about embedded software passing applications from" desktops or servers to tablets.
Microsoft declined to comment and instead referred American Banker to its product introduction press release and its website.
Surface, as its newly introduced tablet is named, will be compatible with Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Windows 8, which is optimized for tablet use, as well as with the forthcoming RT operating system.
Analysts expect both versions to fully integrate Microsoft Office.
In producing the Surface itself, Microsoft will break with its tradition of creating the software that hardware manufacturers install in their machines. Already keen on integrating tablets into branches, technologically advanced banks and credit unions already are now likely be become even more interested in the market potential.
"Incorporating tablets in branches is one of the things we're looking at, particularly in light of the overwhelmingly positive reaction … to Citi's new tablet apps," a Citigroup spokesman wrote in an email.
A representative of USAA Federal Savings Bank in San Antonio said it is exploring opportunities to integrate tablets into its 14 financial centers.
To become a major player in tablets, Microsoft will have to overcome some considerable obstacles. It's years behind Apple and Google, whose iOS and Android operating systems power the most widely used tablets.
Apple is expected to control 60% of tablet sales in 2012, and Android about 32%, according to the research firm Gartner. Microsoft's share: a mere 4%. That single-digit showing comes despite the fact that Hewlett-Packard's Slate, Acer's Iconia and Samsung's Series 7 all run on Windows 7.
Gartner figures that the introduction of Windows 8 will help Microsoft triple its tablet market share over the next our years to 12%. Yet to do so it will have to overcome the miscues that led to hardware flops in the past. Its previous hardware launches have included Zune, Xbox and Kin, a smartphone that was discontinued on account of weak demand. Another challenge involves generating consumer buzz; if customers don't buy the Surface, banks are unlikely to bother provisioning it with apps, experts say.
"Banks are going to follow where consumers go," says Mary Monahan, a research director at Javelin Strategy and Research.
About 21% of consumers said they would purchase a new tablet equipped with the Windows OS, according to an online survey of nearly 6,000 people conducted by Javelin in December. That compares with 36% who said they would do so if it was iOS and 20% who said they'd buy a tablet equipped with the Android operating system.
"It's no longer just about the device. It's about the content ecosystem, and Microsoft will have to create a tablet ecosystem from scratch," Monahan says.
Apple provides about 600,000 applications through its iTunes store. Google offers about 400,000 through its Android Market. By contrast, Microsoft offers about 70,000 apps.
Microsoft has also traditionally focused on application development centered around databases, not users, which is the purview of apps, says Kristin Moyer, a research director for Gartner.
"Industry trends are moving away from applications" related to databases to apps, bits of software centered on users, Moyer says.
Apps are cheaper and easier to develop, customers can download them for free in many instances, and they allow for greater access and collaboration, Moyer says. These are all features favored by banks as they seek to connect with customers who are increasingly tied to mobile devices and social networks.
If Microsoft has an ace in the hole, it might be that its operating systems are already installed inside banks' hardware.
As Apple, Google and other technology industry heavyweights experiment with ideas for the digital wallet, Microsoft already has a big stake in the ground.
Microsoft could embed some version of a wallet within its operating system, giving bank customers a multidevice wallet experience that could easily shift from desktop to tablet and phone, says Paul Grill, partner at First Annapolis Consulting.
"A lot of these technologies are converging, and whether it is banking or retail interfaces, in the future these companies are going to drive toward a more integrated channel experience for the consumer," Grill says.


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Every once in a while a deal comes up that's almost impossible to resist. This latest deal on the Lumia 930 locked to the UKs EE network is potentially one of those. Through the carriers eBay outlet store you can now snag an "as new" Lumia 930 in black for just £199.99 on pay-as-you-go. A huge discount from the RRP.
The catch is that these phones are not technically brand new. EE describes them as "returned within 14 days, tested, reset and with a full manufacturer warranty." So the phones should be in pretty much new condition. Considering it's also cheaper than many second-hand listings on eBay, it's a bit of a steal.
It doesn't say how many there are, so if this is the one for you, jump on it at the link below.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
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For the first time in gaming convention E3’s 24-year history, Sony will not be attending.
Tech giant Sony revealed sales of more than 86.1m PlayStation 4 systems since the platform was unveiled in November 2013. The platform has also sold more than 777.9m copies of software.
The record achievement was somewhat dampened by the news that, for the first time in the history of annual gaming pow-wow E3, Sony will not be showing up at all. Nor will it be holding its annual PlayStation Experience press conference. This was traditionally where Sony made its big reveals in terms of titles that were to emerge in the coming year.
“As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community,” said the company in a statement.
“PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”
Is the games development pipeline slowing?
Analysts are already wondering what’s going on and the consensus appears to be a lack of games to show, signalling the development pipeline is slowing.
This could be a factor of games becoming highly complex and therefore slower to produce based upon much higher hardware and software specifications. The console gaming market may also be facing stiffer battles for developer talent as mobile gaming continues to be attractive.
There is also a steady move by the console industry towards streaming games and Sony itself may also be hard at work at the successor to the PlayStation 4 in the next year or two.
Titles envisaged to be released in 2019 include Dreams and Days Gone.
The success of PlayStation 4 upon its fifth birthday is still quite an accomplishment. Sony revealed that the top five best-selling titles are Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty WWII, FIFA 17, FIFA 18 and Grand Theft Auto 5.
In the five years since PlayStation emerged, the platform has had 11 major updates from 1.01 to the most recent version, 6.00.
Five years of PlayStation 4
Close-up of a PlayStation 4 console and controller. Image: alexionas1989/Depositphotos.com


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Every retailer is bracing for the incoming surge of ecommerce holiday traffic, but perhaps no category faces as much pressure as luxury, where shoppers expect an experience that matches the price tag. Online jewelry retailer Blue Nile is making sure its website is ready and stable, to make sure each shopper’s first impression is a good one.
“Obviously we’re making sure we have the inventory and our vendors are able to ship things properly, but then on the technology side of things there’s a whole other bunch of tasks,” said Robin Schenck, Quality Assurance Manager at Blue Nile in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We’re doing lots of load testing for all the different parts of our production system, and we’re working with our third-party vendors that support our chat system to make sure it’s up and running and able to support an increased number of customers on the website.”
Some of the steps Blue Nile has been taking to prepare its operations for the holiday season include:
- Load testing: The combination of the pandemic and the holiday season will likely cause web traffic volume to ebb and flow in amounts far greater than usual, and retailers need to make sure their sites are ready for the number of simultaneous users on their sites to multiply without warning;
- Production lockdown: No website is static, but the holiday season is not the time to experiment with new features, so retailers need to keep changes to essential updates performed in as safe a manner as possible; and
- Maintaining relationships: A stable website is only half the battle — long-lasting relationships, which Blue Nile achieves through a chat program and smart pricing, build off a great browsing experience and carry on far longer than the few months of the holiday season.
Test Websites’ Breaking Points Before Shoppers Find Then on Their Own
No retailer expects their site traffic to be constantly steady, but it takes extra care to prepare for the sudden spikes that can appear during the holidays. For example, carrying a product that gets highlighted on a morning show can cause a sudden rush out of nowhere, and even a particularly successful marketing campaign may generate more traffic more quickly than anticipated. The key to preparing for the unexpected, particularly in a season where ecommerce is bigger than ever, is load testing.
“For load testing, you simulate how your site is going to handle twice the load that it normally does, or what you can do if it’s five or six times the normal amount of traffic,” said Schenck. “You want to find a balance between, ‘Hey, this is probably what our traffic is going to look like’ and ‘This is the worst case scenario and our system isn’t built to handle it.’”
Finding the breaking point for a retailer’s website is a goal in and of itself, according to Schenk. This is often something that can’t be fixed on a short-term basis in time for the holidays, but it provides an important benchmark for the company when it comes time to upgrade and improve the overall system during less hectic periods.
Implement a Website Production Lockdown, Even if It’s Not Perfect
It’s a simple fact that retail websites are ever-changing: they require regular maintenance, marketing promotions call for new layouts and products often come and go. However, while a complete production lockdown isn’t feasible, retailers should strive to keep website updates small and essential — or else risk their sites going down during what could be the most potentially profitable minutes of the year.
“No company is going to have a true lockdown where nobody touches production,” said Schenck. “But we know we have a complicated production system. We need to make sure the changes being pushed out to it are done in a very safe, thoroughly checked manner, so that we can minimize the risk of those changes accidentally affecting our customers or the overall production system. You don’t want to push out a change that decreases the performance of your site or even causes it to crash.”
One way to balance the need for updates versus stability is to create a change review board. Leaders can examine and determine which changes are worth making and keep an eye out for high-risk proposals. A well-run board can ensure updates that are less likely to negatively impact customers make it through, while more substantial or dangerous suggestions are held off until after the lockdown period.
However, retailers can’t assume their site will work smoothly even if they aren’t making changes. Schenck advocates what he calls a “24/7 proactive approach to web performance,” utilizing third-party vendors like Catchpoint to monitor for potential issues and respond to them no matter when they occur.
Once the Backend is Secure, Make Sure the Customer Experience Goes Above and Beyond
While behind-the-scenes work is vital to a strong ecommerce experience, it all has to come together in a great front end presentation. One way Blue Nile ensures this is through a chat system that combines a chatbot with live agents to guide customers through the shopping process (a process that can be stressful when picking out something as expensive as a diamond). The system has been in place for some time, but the retailer expects a steady uptick during the holiday season, and its team has been working with vendors to ensure it’s ready for the traffic.
Blue Nile also has been following in the footsteps of other retailers by offering its deals earlier in the season, both to alleviate shipping concerns and generate long-term goodwill. As with all challenges — from preparing back end systems to maintaining proper execution — the key is to think long-term and not focus solely on the holiday season.
“Our point of view here is that we want to be able to offer the best value for all customers, no matter what time of the year, so they don’t have to wait until Black Friday or a week before Christmas — they can get a great deal on a website now,” said Schenck. “We rarely put our diamonds on sale, but we just started our big diamond sale [in mid-October] and that’s been getting a lot of great success. Customers definitely love getting a good deal.”


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The rumor that the budget but very popular Honor 9X smartphones will switch from Android to the HarmonyOS branded OS this year has been fully confirmed. A screenshot taken on Honor 9X with HarmonyOS 2.0 Developer Beta 3 installed has been posted online.
It is reported that it is with the beta version of the proprietary replacement Android Honor 9X undergoing internal tests. Since this is already the third beta version, the stability of work in it should be high enough, and the functionality – maximum. However, the final release is still very far away: a custom version of HarmonyOS 2.0 is to be announced at the end of this month, in April or May it can be installed by owners of smartphones of the Huawei P40 and Mate 30 series, as well as the MatePad Pro tablet. But for simpler smartphones, which include the Honor 9X models, the custom version of HarmonyOS 2.0 will be released later – obviously in the second half of the year.


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Cryptocurrencies have seen better days. Bitcoin (BTC), the bellwether for the broader crypto market, is hovering around $20,000 these days, 65% off its Nov. 2021 high.
These headwinds have been felt across the broader crypto sphere as well. ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), the world’s first cryptocurrency ETF, is down more than 58% year to date.
Experts are already calling this the next “crypto winter.” The last crypto winter lasted nearly three years, from January 2018 to December 2020. This leaves some wondering: Can cryptocurrency survive such a prolonged period of contraction once again?
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What Is Crypto Winter?
The phrase “crypto winter” likely came from the hit HBO series, “Game of Thrones.” In the show, the motto of the House of Stark was “Winter Is Coming.” It was considered to be a warning that lasting conflict could descend on the land of Westeros at any time.
Similarly, an extended period of trouble may be settling over the crypto market. During this difficult time, you must remain vigilant and be prepared for chaos to sweep over the market without much warning.
Defining the phrase even more literally, crypto winter is when prices contract and remain low for an extended period. Analysts believe the wheels of the emerging crypto winter were set in motion earlier in 2022.
“The crypto market was already feeling the effect of world events, especially the Russia-Ukraine conflict that caused turmoil in global finance,” says Igor Zakharov, CEO of DBX Digital Ecosystem.
Zakharov notes that high inflation has driven rising interest rates in the U.S., which is the biggest player in crypto. “By the time TerraUSD and Luna collapsed [in May] and set in motion a domino effect in the crypto world, crypto winter had already begun,” he says.
Since November 2021, the crypto market has dropped 60%—drastically falling from $3 trillion to less than $1 trillion, as of this writing.
Crypto Winter Job Losses
Cryptocurrencies themselves aren’t the only things suffering in this climate either. The people and companies behind cryptocurrencies are facing difficulties as well.
Many crypto and blockchain companies have seen profound losses and witnessed significant layoffs. On Aug. 19, crypto lender Hodlnaut announced it laid off 80% of its staff.
Robinhood (HOOD), which allows crypto trading on its platform, let 23% of its staff go in August, saying its earlier 8% job cuts in April didn’t account enough for the crypto crash and overall bear market.
Leading NFT marketplace OpenSea cut its staff by 20% in July. This came after trading on its platform fell 99% from an all-time high in May.
Crypto exchanges have seen similar downsizing. Exchanges Crypto.com and BlockFi cut a combined 400 employees the month before OpenSea saw its layoffs. At the same time, Gemini laid off 10% of its workforce during the same period.
Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the CEO and president of Gemini, announced in a June blog post that the industry was entering a contraction that they labeled “crypto winter.”
“This is where we are now, in the contraction phase that is settling into a period of stasis—what our industry refers to as ‘crypto winter.’” The Winklevoss memo cited “current macroeconomic and geopolitical turmoil” as a catalyst for this troubling devolution.
Publicly traded companies haven’t been spared either. The world’s only publicly traded crypto exchange, Coinbase (COIN), laid off roughly 18% of its workforce in June, while its share price has fallen 75% year to date.
Reports indicate there have been as many as 5,000 layoffs in the crypto sphere since April.
The Advantages of Crypto Winter
This is not the first time a crypto winter has settled over the market.
The last crypto winter lasted from January 2018 to December 2020. The term was probably first used in 2018 when Bitcoin lost more than half its market cap, and other cryptos, such as Ethereum and Litecoin (LTC), dropped sharply.
We know from that experience that crypto winter is a lot like a conventional bear market, and the results aren’t too dissimilar from bear markets in other asset classes. Long-term, crypto winters weed out young startups and present an opportunity for top companies to mature and prove their products.
“We saw a lot of new startups throughout the industry over the past year, and many of them will fail,” says Jake Weiner, founder and CEO of Uncommon.
Weiner notes that as it gets tougher to compete for venture capitalist dollars, more crypto companies will cut budgets. Unfortunately, some will be forced to lay off staff.
“If the market remains in contraction for long enough, it is not only poor companies that will suffer—but some great ones too,” he says. “The good news for those companies is that, unlike past crypto winters, a lot of crypto [venture capitalists] have already amassed war chests that they will continue to deploy.”
Once the crypto winter thawed in late 2020, a period of incredible growth lasted for most of 2021.
When Does Crypto Winter Start?
Analysts say that crypto winters usually begin when there is a steep sell-off from an all-time high in the price of Bitcoin.
BTC hit a 52-week high of $68,990 in November 2021 before starting an extended downwards plunge. Over the last ten months, Bitcoin has experienced heavy losses, dipping nearly 65% from November 2021 to early September. The original crypto has been hovering around $20,000, slightly higher than BTC’s 52-week low of $17,708 on June 18.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has dropped 67% since its November peak, as of this writing. Of course, many crypto investors wonder if Ethereum’s merge might help the second-largest cryptocurrency recover. But as of right now, the verdict is still out on the results of that upgrade.
However, experts say expectations for more Federal Reserve monetary policy tightening are worsening the current downturn, and that institutional investors are driving sales.
Any investors who purchased Bitcoin in the past year will have experienced a loss, as the original crypto has slid downward.
Before the last crypto winter, Bitcoin had reached a high of nearly $19,500 in 2017 before falling to less than $3,300 in 2018, representing a loss of at least 83%.
Crypto as a Risk Asset
The crypto markets soared in late 2020 through 2021 partly because the Federal Reserve was infusing unprecedented amounts of liquidity into the financial markets.
This helped fuel the crypto market, unleashing a major hyper-growth phase, with thousands of new crypto projects added in 2021. That massive growth phase continued until the bottom started to fall late last year.
“I think the risks for crypto have been heightened in recent months. Specifically, speculators are getting beaten down watching Bitcoin fall precipitously from over $68,000 to current prices of around $20,000,” says Robert Johnson, professor of finance at the Heider College of Business at Creighton University.
Will Crypto Come Roaring Back?
When it comes to predicting the future of the crypto market, most experts say the “stronger cryptos” shall prevail.
But Johnson says, “Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are the purview of speculators. No one should consider buying Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency an investment” like buying stocks and commodities.
Some investors still love the pullback, though, viewing it as a time to double-down on the market for the long term. They are banking on a crypto revival once the global political and economic crisis settles.
For example, even with all the negative press surrounding cryptocurrencies, Charles Schwab launched their Crypto Thematic ETF (STCE) in mid-August. STCE already has $7.6 million in assets under management. The ETF tracks companies that could benefit from developing and implementing cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
And Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six firm raised nearly $200 million for a new fund focused solely on investing in cryptocurrencies. Some investors either didn’t see or don’t believe in crypto’s obituary.


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Wonder Works will debut two of the country’s very first interactive, imaginative play centers from Melissa & Doug at its Mt. Pleasant and West Ashley retail locations.
In today’s world of over-scheduled and over-stimulated children, international toy manufacturer Melissa & Doug is on a mission to Take Back Childhood with toys that allow children the freedom to imagine, explore, and think. With a recent report from American Academy of Pediatrics pointing to a “play deficit” amongst developing children, Melissa & Doug has come up with a “prescription for play” by providing toys that nourish creativity, emotional and social interactions, and problem solving through hands-on play.
Experiential play is not only important to childhood development, it is a traffic-driver, crucial to the success of brick and mortar stores in the changing retail climate. With recent findings from the AAP, parents are trending away from digital media-based toys. By offering interactive, tech-free play zones from Melissa & Doug, stores will now be able to provide their customers with a platform to experience the wonder of hands-on play.
“Melissa & Doug has knocked it out of the park,” said Wonder Works owner Christine Osborne. “They are making a difference not only in the lives of children, but of specialty toy retailers across the nation.” With a dedicated team of professional designers, the toy manufacturer is the first to make truly immersive play zones accessible to local retailers like Wonder Works and Awesome Toys in Connecticut, owned by Nick Tarzia.
Osborne and Melissa Bernstein, co-founder of Melissa & Doug, have considered themselves “partners in play” for over two decades. “Wonder Works epitomizes everything a specialty toy store should be—seeking to delight and inspire children with hands-on, open-ended play,” said Bernstein. “Melissa & Doug is honored to partner with them to bring experiential play to life in their stores and provide a launchpad for children to ignite their imagination and a sense of wonder so they can discover themselves, their purpose, and their passions!”
“By experiencing the magic of hands-on play at Wonder Works, children in our community are not only exploring the world around them, they’re making memories that will last a lifetime,” Osborne added.
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Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
How much bad press does American Apparel have to get before it starts affecting their business? According to the latest horror stories, the company is not only screening prospective employees for hotness but also dictating exactly what they can and can't wear on the sales floor. Of course, enforcing a dress code isn't illegal (unlike looks-based promotions) but in the case of AA, it sure is obnoxious.
It also might not be going so well. After all, have you noticed the store's new swing towards "Classy-Vintage-Chique-Late 80's-Early 90's-Ralph Lauren-Vogue-Nautical-High end brand"? According to leaked internal documents published by Gawker, that's the company's new aesthetic, which means employees are now strictly forbidden from dressing like scrubby hipsters.
Racked National sums up some of the rules:
On the list of banned shoes: Uggs, winter boots, flip-flops, gladiator sandals, Converse, Vans, Keds (unless they are spic-and-span clean), moccasins, and Doc Martens. Allowed: vintage shoes, booties, and boat shoes. Oh, and shoes they sell in the store, naturally.And according to what an AA manager told Gawker, the company has issued guidelines on hiring black employees that probably cross the line from "we have a uniform" to "we have a racism problem." Ultimately, that last bit might get them in a lot more trouble than using the euphemism "off-brand" to refer to job applicants who just aren't sexy enough to fold t-shirts.
· American Apparel Has a 'Full Body Head to Toe' Employment Policy [Gawker]
· American Apparel: Internal Documents Reveal Uglies Not Welcome [Gawker]
· American Apparel Employees Can't Wear Converse, Keds, or Vans [Racked NY]