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Capgemini and BNP Paribas published the World Payments Report 2016 Sept. 22, 2016. The 12th annual comprehensive global payments study found continued growth in noncash and electronic payment transactions. Authors James Methe of Capgemini and Jan Dirk van Beusekom of BNP Paribas attribute growth to a number of factors, including economic progress in key regions and rising costs of cash management.
The report substantiates key trends in the World Payments Report 2015, co-authored by Capgemini and the Royal Bank of Scotland, which cited growth in noncash transactions, as well as in the regulatory and fintech sectors. Last year's report estimated an 8.9 percent increase in noncash payments for a total of $389.7 billion in 2014. The noncash transaction growth forecast for 2015 was adjusted to 10.1 percent and $426.3 billion in the current report.
According to the report, noncash transactions have been highest in emerging Asia (Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam). The report also stated, "The accelerated rate of growth in global non-cash transactions in 2015 will have been driven by a variety of factors, including improved U.S. economic growth, stronger security measures such as EMV, biometrics, and Host Card Emulation, increased penetration of smartphones and POS terminals, and moves by governments in developing markets to encourage digital payments."
The authors expect the banking industry to face multiple challenges from regulators and fintech innovators. They urged banks to collaborate with fintechs to improve and enlarge their value proposition and digital transformation, which is the focal point of this year's report.
James Methe, Principal of Payments and Transaction Banking, Financial Services at Capgemini, said rapidly changing regulatory environments have prompted numerous corporations to evaluate how much of their budget is spent on regulatory items. "Corporations are updating the capacity and capabilities of their existing infrastructures," he said. "Implementing multiple compliances can be costly and time-consuming, and many have begun outsourcing to regtech [regulatory compliance and reporting technology] providers."
Jan Dirk van Beusekom, Executive Director of Advisory & Strategic Marketing Cash Management at BNP Paribas, said institutional banks are dealing with more and more regulations and security mandates and need to adopt a spirit of cooperation, open-mindedness and pricing transparency to deal with increasing competition from well-known fintechs like Uber Technologies Inc. and Airbnb.
"The ISO 2002 Standard is old news for Europeans, but U.S. banks have been rushing to get up to speed on ISO standards," van Beusekom said. "Interbank cooperation will enable financial institutions to compete with closed loop systems that facilitate instant fund transfers from one account to another."
Despite a series of initiatives designed to eliminate paper currency, the authors expect cash to remain "a significant payment instrument in the near future, even in markets that offer advanced digital payments." They expect immediate payment services to accelerate the migration to digital payment methods, particularly in entertainment, dining and peer-to-peer payments.
The authors additionally noted that Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, mandated that all banks must offer their customers at least one form of free payment service, such as cash. This and similar initiatives led the authors to conclude that "while there is a drive towards decreasing cash usage, the persistence of cash has prompted some countries to prioritize their efforts on reducing the cost of cash, rather than its elimination."
Following are additional key findings cited in the report:
For a full copy of the report, visit www.worldpaymentsreport.com/.
The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.Prev Next


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The Ontario government says it won’t limit the number of retail cannabis stores when licensing begins. The Tories are set to introduce a bill that will appoint the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as regulator. (Sep. 26, 2018)
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The EU’s grand ambitions to corner a significant chunk of the multi-billion-euro global battery market will take a step forward this year, when the bloc’s executive branch reviews the rules that underpin the manufacturing and recycling of power packs.
Batteries are becoming increasingly big business as demand for clean energy storage and electric vehicles ticks gradually upwards.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that production costs per kilowatt-hour will continue to fall and reach $100 in the coming years, the point at which most analysts say electric cars will reach price parity with their internal combustion equivalents.
Electric vehicle uptake is expected to keep growing, as EU rules on CO2 emissions force carmakers to sell more battery-powered models and consumer preferences lean more towards green options.
According to new data from clean mobility group Transport & Environment, EV sales in Europe will top 10% this year and 15% in 2021, as manufacturers race to meet the 2020 and 2030 emissions reduction targets.
But EU decision-makers, while happy that carmakers are starting to embrace change and contribute more to the bloc’s overall climate ambitions, are fearful of trading external dependence on fossil fuels with reliance on third parties for clean energy tech and materials.
To that end, the European Commission has already published a raw materials strategy that aims to boost the EU’s domestic supply of critical materials. It will later this year reveal how it intends to regulate batteries directly.
As part of a review of the existing Batteries Directive, the Commission will propose turning it into a regulation and impose green standards designed to make “Europe’s batteries the greenest in the world”, according to Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič.
The new rules will affect design standards, how batteries can be reused for different purposes and also cover smaller components like triple-A batteries.
During a virtual event organised by EURACTIV earlier this month, Mattia Pellegrini, one of the senior Commission officials overseeing the review, said the idea is “to cover the whole value chain of the life of a battery, from sourcing materials to possible second-life.”
He added that the rules will include “performance standards” that will aim to phase out from the European single market batteries that “are not performing well from an environmental or energy point of view”.
Pellegrini explained that it will follow a similar classification system as the existing energy efficiency grades for fridges and other household appliances.
The industry is unanimously in agreement that the legislation needs updating, as the current rules do not provide battery manufacturers with the framework needed to design and build power packs that are sustainable during use and simple to recycle when they expire.
EU officials envisage a thriving ecosystem of electric vehicles, powered by clean energy, feeding power into the grid when not in use. Batteries that are no longer suitable for use in cars would then be given a second shot at life in renewable energy storage facilities.
“Batteries will play a very important role in balancing the grid but also providing larger storage capacities, starting with households and up to an industrial scale,” Renew MEP Claudia Gamon said at the same event.
Mark Mistry of the Nickel Institute said it is “impressive how many of our member companies are now preparing themselves to have the capacities to recycle in Europe and make materials available for further life cycles.”
The industry has started to organise itself under the EU Battery Alliance, which launched in 2017, with manufacturers like Northvolt, recycler Umicore and car giants like BMW and Audi, all teaming up to build closed loops.
National governments have also wrangled willing companies together under so-called Important Projects of Common European Interest, which qualify for relaxed state aid scrutiny. Billions have already been approved and more are on the way.
Europe’s battery bigwigs have a lot of catching up to do, as Southeast Asian countries, notably China, have already cornered a substantial part of the market and home-grown power packs will struggle to compete naturally on price or volume.
But there is an opening as climate policies progressively start to be built more on the back of life-cycle emission assessments. Batteries are only as clean as the process that built them and it is there that Europe can stamp its authority.
The Commission is working on a carbon border tax that should act as an anti-climate-dumping instrument and dirty battery imports could find themselves on a list of products that will be subject to tariffs.
However, Claudia Gamon warned that it is difficult to establish the environmental footprint of imports and insisted the EU should focus on science-based rather than policy-based decisions.
“It’s a bad idea to start the debate with banning anything if you don’t have an alternative that has a sustainable business model in Europe,” she added.
Revising the Battery Directive will not be the end of the story, as it will have a knock-on effect on other pieces of legislation linked to state aid and chemicals management.
“If that legislation goes through as currently written, we’re not going to be having a battery value chain in Europe because we are not going to be handling some of the critical raw materials we need,” warned Adam McCarthy, head of the Cobalt Institute.
“We risk regulating ourselves out of having such a good value chain,” he added, urging EU legislators to make sure rules are coherent with one another.
Mattia Pellegrini acknowledged that aspect and added that waste management rules will also be retooled in order to make it easier for the industry to recycle batteries.
The review of the directive is on course to be published in November, after which the European Parliament and Council will hash out their own positions on the update. Trilateral talks will then follow before a final agreement can be brokered.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]


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$10 Million For Danbury I-84 Widening; CT Buying Electric Cars; Will Windows 10 Launch Break the Internet?; Stomach Balloon Weight Loss
Things you need to know on July 29.
Thanks to MetroNews Source for the following.
- Looking good for Danbury.The State Bond Commission is funding the first series of projects as part of the Governor's $100 billion transportation vision. Among the projects funded are $10 million towards the widening of I-84 in Danbury and $4 million for the Metro North Danbury line. Also $400,000 for a study of a rapid bus corridor between Stamford and Norwalk.
- Baby you can drive my car. Connecticut residents are taking advantage of a new program that pays $3,000 rebates to people who buy electric cars. Over $200,000 have been paid out to electric car buyers since the program began in May.
- And you thought only Kim Kardashian could break it! Some tech experts have said the Windows 10 launch today has the potential to "break" the Internet. Why? Because download traffic is expected to be nearly unprecedented. Among the features is a new web browser that allows users to make notes directly on web pages and share them with friends.
- A good way to lose weight and keep it off is to stop eating before you're stuffed.The Food and Drug Administration just approved something called the ReShape Integrated Dual Balloon System. In testing of the balloon system, close to 60-percent of obese patients lost an average of more than 14 pounds over six months. After the balloons were removed, the patients kept off about 70-percent of the weight they'd lost. For more info click on FDA.GOV
You can catch news and more Monday - Friday from 6a-8:30a on 95.1 and you can listen online at i95rock.com


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08.26.2022. Daily highlights
FanDuel TV and streaming launch
FanDuel Group is an American gambling company that offers sportsbook, daily fantasy sports, horse racing, and online casino. And now, they are launching its first dedicated sports betting TV network, FanDuel TV. On top of this, they are also adding a streaming service, FanDuel+. It will launch in September, ahead of the new NFL season. They will have “Good Morning Football” host Kay Adams to front the new weekly sports betting-themed digital content network.
Flutter Entertainment revealed the news, stating its aim to deliver more live sports programming than any other digital network in the US:
Introducing 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐃𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐓𝐕 ⚡
— FanDuel TV (@FanDuelTV) August 25, 2022
FanDuel+ will be free to download for existing FanDuel customers with accounts on any of its sportsbook, casino, horseracing, or daily fantasy platforms. The new sportsbook TV station will be available on cable and satellite TV. FanDuel+ will be accessible on Roku, Apple TV, and Amazon Fire platforms. Also, FanDuel’s chief commercial officer Mike Raffensperger highlighted: “FanDuel TV is the first network designed from the ground up to be watched by viewers with their phone in hand,” Raffensperger said. “We intend for FanDuel TV to sit at the intersection of live sports and interactive content and believe Kay is the best example of an on-air talent who can bring fans closer to the narratives of the games they care about most.
“Our goal is to provide fans compelling programming to watch and wager on in tandem with our mobile app,” the FanDuel CCO added.
FanDuel will replace Flutter’s existing US-based sports-based TV channel, TVG Network, which has operated in the US for over 25 years, with TVG Network’s on-air talent transferring to the new network.
Kansas Sports betting is back on track
Attorney General (AG) fully approved the proposed regulatory framework following remedial action by the Kansas Lottery. Only a couple of days ago, we reported that there might be roadblocks on the way to legal Sports betting in Kansas. In the previous announcement, AG stated that “specific shortcomings” were found while investigating the proposal and that they must be addressed before the process can be approved. Shortcomings remedied by the Kansas Lottery include transparency on who submits advertisements and sets house rules for sportsbook operators, as well as clarifying the Kansas Lottery’s role in administering betting in restricted locations.
To add, for advertisement, the office also asked for action from the Kansas Lottery on the inclusion of language designed to ensure the avoidance of adverts targeting “problem gamblers,” specifically within the state. In addition, the review called on the Lottery to avoid simply re-stating confidentiality, self-exclusion, revenue payment rules, and retail ticket sales regulations. A specific clarification was required to define a “virtual event” to ensure it is not overbroad while also encompassing activities such as esports.
The approval now means that the state can proceed on its proposed timeline, which provides for a soft launch of all state-approved operators by September 1, followed by a full launch on September 8, just in time for the start of the new NFL season.
Evolution announces a new live game show inspired by the well-known Monopoly
Evolution is a leading B2B solution provider for casino operators offering live casinos, live game shows, slots, and more. Just recently, Evolution launched a new live game show inspired by Monopoly, further diversifying the company’s content portfolio.
The product is titled Monopoly Big Baller and represents a spin on the classic board game, in contrast to Evolution’s more traditional Monopoly Live product. A live host is symbolizing, Mr.Monopoly that guides players through the game. Similar to Bingo, balls are randomly selected, and numbers are filled in on cards. “The more lines players make, the more they win,” Evolution said. So what’s the difference from standard Bingo, you might ask? Big Baller integrates Monopoly features, such as dice rolls, ‘Chance’ cards, and ‘Go To Jail’ spaces, among other hallmarks of the board game.
Todd Haushalter, Chief Product Officer at Evolution, stated: “Mr. Monopoly is back big time! We have a sizeable segment of players who love Bingo- and lottery-style bouncing ball games.” “Our Mega Ball game, for example, is trendy. Now, Monopoly Big Baller offers another unique live game show – and one that is visually and thematically very different.”
Haushalter touched on this, commenting: “Monopoly Big Baller packs all of that brand value into a new online live game show that is sure to appeal not only to Monopoly and bingo lovers but also to a new and much wider audience.”


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Akerson went on to point out that GM is not looking to buy back the 2011 Chevy Volt because there is any real safety or quality concern issue but instead, the company is extending this offer to Volt owners in an effort to make sure that their owners are happy with their business with GM. This announcement comes on the heels of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into the possible risk of fire with lithium ion-powered vehicles after a 2011 Chevy Volt burst into flames several weeks after governmental crash testing. The news of the badly wrecked Volt bursting into flames at an NHTSA storage facility has evidently caused some owners to question the safety of their Volt, even though this car had been intentionally wrecked as part of routine testing procedures after easily meeting ox exceeding all government safety standards.
For those unsure, this all started after a 2011 Chevrolet Volt had been used for side impact crash testing by the NHTSA. After these tests were completed (and the Volt exceeded all government standards), the car was left to sit unattended in a holding facility in Wisconsin. After three weeks of sitting there, wrecked, the Volt caught fire and evidently burned up pretty badly. Mind you, the car didn’t catch fire during any of the crash tests or even immediately after but with three weeks of sitting exposed to the elements in Wisconsin the Volt caught fire. Based on that, you would have to wonder why a Volt owner would care what happens to their car three weeks after being totaled - as few (if any) people who total their cars hold onto them for any length of time - but as can be expected in the United States a handful of owners are frightened at the proposed risk of their car catching fire almost a month after crashing.
In any case, General Motors has graciously offered to buy back the 2011 Chevrolet Volt from any of the current owners who feel that their car is at risk of catching fire. GM has also stated that they are looking at a possible redesign of the Volt battery even though there has not been a single report of a Volt catching fire after a real-world accident and once the NHTSA/GM have figured out exactly what is causing the post-crash fires in the Volt, GM may issue a recall to fix the problem in the 6,000+ electric Chevys on the road today. Luckily for GM, there cannot be too many 2011 Volt owners who are worried about their car bursting into flames weeks after being hammered from the side and flipped over, as Consumer Reports recently announced that some 93% of Volt owners are happy with their purchase - making the Volt tops in the industry in the most recent study.
Other GM News:
GM says de-charging after severe crashes to define new safety protocol for Chevy Volt
TorqueNews review of the 2011 Chevy Volt: 109mpg and endless range
Jay Leno drives his Chevy Volt 11,000 miles without buying gas
The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro stakes its claim as the safest car in the US
Chevrolet Volt fire could bring about new EV regulations


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In case you hadn't noticed, rumors of an imminent Android launch on Verizon -- the carrier's first -- have been at a fever pitch
the past few weeks, and like clockwork, the States' largest wireless network has gone ahead and scheduled a conference call with Google for 7AM Pacific Time / 10AM Eastern Time today. To be fair, it's not a guarantee this is Android-related, and it is interesting that Motorola isn't listed as a participant on the call considering that its Sholes
/ Tao / Droid had been rumored as Verizon's first Android device -- but none other than Eric Schmidt and Verizon chief Lowell McAdam will be in attendance, so we expect it to be something big. Stay tuned.
*Verizon has acquired AOL, Engadget's parent company. However, Engadget maintains full editorial control, and Verizon will have to pry it from our cold, dead hands.


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Britvic's full year sales are expected to reach £1bn for the first time Soft drinks maker Britvic says its latest financial results are set to beat market expectations thanks to an IT-driven business...
The EU's new biometric database will will unify personal data on border control, migration and visas
Spektr-RG observatory is designed for X-ray astronomy
Samsung said it needs more time to conduct more tests on the Galaxy Fold
Hutchins hit the limelight in 2017 after he stopped the spread of the WannaCry malware


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You now have an easier online way to manage your Home Delivery subscription for The Oklahoman. Go to our secure server to update account information, make a payment, set up vacation no-delivery times, change your delivery address, or report delivery concerns.
Luke Gregory jumps into a water filled pit during the Juggernaut mud run at Mitch Park, in Edmond, OK, Saturday, September 29, 2012. The Juggernaut is part of a national mud run series to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman


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|By Kevin Benedict||
|December 6, 2012 07:00 AM EST||
Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read SMAC News Weekly
Google's Android and Apple's iOS continued to pull away from the competition in October 2012, combining to control 87.9 percent of the U.S. smartphone market according to a new report issued by digital research firm comScore. Read Original Content
The mobile phone market is a growth industry, but according to the latest IDC report growth for 2012 is predicted to be only 1.4 percent compared to last year. More than 1.7 billion mobile phones will ship this year with the number expected to reach 2.2 billion in 2016. Read Original Content
The bad blood between Apple and Samsung is turning into a classic tech battle.
That Apple fights on with Samsung, but settled with HTC makes sense. In stores Samsung is without a doubt the single biggest threat to Apple, according to Ben Wood, director of research at CCS Insight. Read Original Content
Founded in 1979, DSI is a global provider of Enterprise Mobility Solutions®, helping companies worldwide increase productivity and profitability regardless of data source, device type, operating system or network connectivity. DSI serves clients globally through its offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. This newsletter is sponsored in part by DSI.
According to Research and Markets, the global Smartphone industry is highly concentrated such that the combined revenue share of Apple and Samsung is expected to have reached around 60 percent and the combined profit share around 95 percent in 2012. Read Original Content
Based on SMB Group market survey, smartphone use in the Philippines has grown tremendously by 316 percent in 2012 since it was introduced in the market just a few years back. Read Original Content
Nokia’s flagship smartphone is a remarkable handset, which runs Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 8 software, has got to be the best $100 phone you can buy, with an excellent camera, a big, beautiful video screen, and snappy 4G LTE data downloads. Read Original Content
HTC said it will not bring its mid-range Windows Phone 8S device to the U.S. market, and will instead put all of its marketing efforts behind the high-end Windows Phone 8X. Read Original Content
Taiwan's HTC Corp. remains the fifth largest mobile phone maker in the United States but has lost market share to Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc., according to data compiled recently by the research firm comScore. Read Original Content
IDC says worldwide IT spending in 2013 will exceed $2.1 trillion, up 5.7 percent from 2012. The biggest driver of that growth will be mobility: Sales of smart mobile devices including smartphones and tablets will grow by 20 percent, generate 20 percent of all IT sales, and drive a whopping 57 percent of all IT market growth. Read Original Content
South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung is aiming to capture a 50 percent market share in value terms of India's overall mobile phone market by 2013, a top executive of the company said. Read Original Content
Amazon is planning to bring out its own brand of Kindle smartphone. It is reported that Foxconn has grabbed the contract for manufacturing the Kindle smartphone, and that Amazon intends to launch the smartphone as early as mid 2013. Read Original Content
According to Frost & Sullivan, the global customer experience monitoring market earned revenues of over $865.1 million in 2011 and estimates this to reach $2.54 billion in 2018. Read Original Content
In a recently published forecast study, ARCchart expects the daily traffic handled by carrier networks worldwide will ramp at a CAGR of nearly 31 percent over the next five years, eventually accounting for 102 PB of data, almost 6 times higher than the 17 PB of daily traffic for 2011. Read Original Content
The unlocked iPhone 5 is now finally available from Apple in the U.S. As with previous releases, the unlocked phone is coming to the U.S. significantly later than Canada and some countries in Europe, where it went on sale in September alongside the carrier locked versions. Read Original Content
Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker will be presenting on the state of the web at Stanford. This update to Meeker's deck has new data, and new slides covering digital payments, education, and healthcare. Read Original Content
Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict
Kevin Benedict's What's New in HTML5 - Week of December 2, 2012
Notes from the Enterprise Mobility in Defense Conference
M2M Analysis by ABIresearch
Enterprise Mobility and the Military
Chat Mobility with Me (Kevin Benedict) on December 7th
Connecting the Strategic to the Tactical - Enterprise Mobility
Recorded Webinars of Note
Netcentric Strategies Enterprise Mobility Survey Results
The A to Z of Mobile Workforce Scheduling Optimization
The Mobile Business Forecast 2012
Two Roads to Mobile Workforce Management: Choosing Between On-Premises and Cloud Delivery
Why Mobile Clients are Just Stepping Stones to Better Solutions
Yankee Report "MDM is Dead, Long Live MDM"
SYS-CON Events announced today that Roundee / LinearHub will exhibit at the WebRTC Summit at @ThingsExpo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. LinearHub provides Roundee Service, a smart platform for enterprise video conferencing with enhanced features such as automatic recording and transcription service. Slack users can integrate Roundee to their team via Slack’s App Directory, and '/roundee' command lets your video conference ...
Oct. 21, 2016 09:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,972
SYS-CON Events announced today that Enzu will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Enzu’s mission is to be the leading provider of enterprise cloud solutions worldwide. Enzu enables online businesses to use its IT infrastructure to their competitive advantage. By offering a suite of proven hosting and management services, Enzu wants companies to focus on the core of their online busine...
Oct. 21, 2016 09:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,187
SYS-CON Events announced today that SoftNet Solutions will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. SoftNet Solutions specializes in Enterprise Solutions for Hadoop and Big Data. It offers customers the most open, robust, and value-conscious portfolio of solutions, services, and tools for the shortest route to success with Big Data. The unique differentiator is the ability to architect and...
Oct. 21, 2016 08:15 PM EDT Reads: 306
Why do your mobile transformations need to happen today? Mobile is the strategy that enterprise transformation centers on to drive customer engagement. In his general session at @ThingsExpo, Roger Woods, Director, Mobile Product & Strategy – Adobe Marketing Cloud, covered key IoT and mobile trends that are forcing mobile transformation, key components of a solid mobile strategy and explored how brands are effectively driving mobile change throughout the enterprise.
Oct. 21, 2016 07:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,606
In past @ThingsExpo presentations, Joseph di Paolantonio has explored how various Internet of Things (IoT) and data management and analytics (DMA) solution spaces will come together as sensor analytics ecosystems. This year, in his session at @ThingsExpo, Joseph di Paolantonio from DataArchon, will be adding the numerous Transportation areas, from autonomous vehicles to “Uber for containers.” While IoT data in any one area of Transportation will have a huge impact in that area, combining senso...
Oct. 21, 2016 07:15 PM EDT Reads: 228
"Matrix is an ambitious open standard and implementation that's set up to break down the fragmentation problems that exist in IP messaging and VoIP communication," explained John Woolf, Technical Evangelist at Matrix, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Oct. 21, 2016 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 8,922
@ThingsExpo has been named the Top 5 Most Influential Internet of Things Brand by Onalytica in the ‘The Internet of Things Landscape 2015: Top 100 Individuals and Brands.' Onalytica analyzed Twitter conversations around the #IoT debate to uncover the most influential brands and individuals driving the conversation. Onalytica captured data from 56,224 users. The PageRank based methodology they use to extract influencers on a particular topic (tweets mentioning #InternetofThings or #IoT in this ...
Oct. 21, 2016 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 8,100
The IoT has the potential to create a renaissance of manufacturing in the US and elsewhere. In his session at 18th Cloud Expo, Florent Solt, CTO and chief architect of Netvibes, discussed how the expected exponential increase in the amount of data that will be processed, transported, stored, and accessed means there will be a huge demand for smart technologies to deliver it. Florent Solt is the CTO and chief architect of Netvibes. Prior to joining Netvibes in 2007, he co-founded Rift Technologi...
Oct. 21, 2016 06:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,812
For basic one-to-one voice or video calling solutions, WebRTC has proven to be a very powerful technology. Although WebRTC’s core functionality is to provide secure, real-time p2p media streaming, leveraging native platform features and server-side components brings up new communication capabilities for web and native mobile applications, allowing for advanced multi-user use cases such as video broadcasting, conferencing, and media recording.
Oct. 21, 2016 06:15 PM EDT Reads: 3,009
24Notion is full-service global creative digital marketing, technology and lifestyle agency that combines strategic ideas with customized tactical execution. With a broad understand of the art of traditional marketing, new media, communications and social influence, 24Notion uniquely understands how to connect your brand strategy with the right consumer. 24Notion ranked #12 on Corporate Social Responsibility - Book of List.
Oct. 21, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,482
Established in 1998, Calsoft is a leading software product engineering Services Company specializing in Storage, Networking, Virtualization and Cloud business verticals. Calsoft provides End-to-End Product Development, Quality Assurance Sustenance, Solution Engineering and Professional Services expertise to assist customers in achieving their product development and business goals. The company's deep domain knowledge of Storage, Virtualization, Networking and Cloud verticals helps in delivering ...
Oct. 21, 2016 04:15 PM EDT Reads: 919
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables – activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what “IoT” means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be. We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smar...
Oct. 21, 2016 03:15 PM EDT Reads: 302
@ThingsExpo has been named the Top 5 Most Influential M2M Brand by Onalytica in the ‘Machine to Machine: Top 100 Influencers and Brands.' Onalytica analyzed the online debate on M2M by looking at over 85,000 tweets to provide the most influential individuals and brands that drive the discussion. According to Onalytica the "analysis showed a very engaged community with a lot of interactive tweets. The M2M discussion seems to be more fragmented and driven by some of the major brands present in the...
Oct. 21, 2016 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 11,162
Cognitive Computing is becoming the foundation for a new generation of solutions that have the potential to transform business. Unlike traditional approaches to building solutions, a cognitive computing approach allows the data to help determine the way applications are designed. This contrasts with conventional software development that begins with defining logic based on the current way a business operates. In her session at 18th Cloud Expo, Judith S. Hurwitz, President and CEO of Hurwitz & ...
Oct. 21, 2016 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 4,371
In the next five to ten years, millions, if not billions of things will become smarter. This smartness goes beyond connected things in our homes like the fridge, thermostat and fancy lighting, and into heavily regulated industries including aerospace, pharmaceutical/medical devices and energy. “Smartness” will embed itself within individual products that are part of our daily lives. We will engage with smart products - learning from them, informing them, and communicating with them. Smart produc...
Oct. 21, 2016 02:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,410
In his keynote at 19th Cloud Expo, Sheng Liang, co-founder and CEO of Rancher Labs, will discuss the technological advances and new business opportunities created by the rapid adoption of containers. With the success of Amazon Web Services (AWS) and various open source technologies used to build private clouds, cloud computing has become an essential component of IT strategy. However, users continue to face challenges in implementing clouds, as older technologies evolve and newer ones like Docke...
Oct. 21, 2016 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,205
As ridesharing competitors and enhanced services increase, notable changes are occurring in the transportation model. Despite the cost-effective means and flexibility of ridesharing, both drivers and users will need to be aware of the connected environment and how it will impact the ridesharing experience. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Timothy Evavold, Executive Director Automotive at Covisint, will discuss key challenges and solutions to powering a ride sharing and/or multimodal model in the a...
Oct. 21, 2016 02:15 PM EDT Reads: 1,433
Just over a week ago I received a long and loud sustained applause for a presentation I delivered at this year’s Cloud Expo in Santa Clara. I was extremely pleased with the turnout and had some very good conversations with many of the attendees. Over the next few days I had many more meaningful conversations and was not only happy with the results but also learned a few new things. Here is everything I learned in those three days distilled into three short points.
Oct. 21, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 6,793
SYS-CON Events announced today that Embotics, the cloud automation company, will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Embotics is the cloud automation company for IT organizations and service providers that need to improve provisioning or enable self-service capabilities. With a relentless focus on delivering a premier user experience and unmatched customer support, Embotics is the fas...
Oct. 21, 2016 02:00 PM EDT Reads: 654
SYS-CON Events announced today that Coalfire will exhibit at the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Coalfire is the trusted leader in cybersecurity risk management and compliance services. Coalfire integrates advisory and technical assessments and recommendations to the corporate directors, executives, boards, and IT organizations for global brands and organizations in the technology, cloud, health...
Oct. 21, 2016 01:45 PM EDT Reads: 1,471


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Vinyl album sales in America hit an all-time high this month
Vinyl is back and as popular as ever. With vinyl, it gives artists to explore their creative/design freedom and create some super special and limited vinyl album releases, allowing people to grow a collection. This month, vinyl sales in America have hit an all-time high.
Why this month though? It’s simple: holiday shopping. With many buying vinyl albums to gift to family members and friends, it has boosted those numbers at a big rate, for the second time in a month. 1.445 million records were sold in the week ending December 17, which was up 9% from the week before. Also impressively enough, that was the biggest week for sales that Nielsen Music/MRC Data has seen since all the way back in 1991.
Assorted colour varients which many artists put out definitely contributes to the sales. Many have more than one type/colour of vinyl on offer, and avid fans want to collect every single of them. December saw three weeks of sales hitting the million mark, which has not been done since December 2019, which proves that the festive season is the time to buy vinyl albums.
Record Store Day – a day that helps to boost sales from independent vinyl album shops, where many artists come together to release RSD exclusives – also helped with the numbers. They did a Black Friday event where they sold some exclusives from the likes of Fleetwood Mac, My Chemical Romance and The Weeknd.
What’s been your favourite vinyl album release of 2020? What does your collection look like? Let us know in the comments!


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Accounting for 7.6 percent of the national GDP and providing employment for some 114,000 people, tourism is a major pillar of Lebanon’s socio-economic development, especially at times of financial and geopolitical uncertainties.
Yet, as Fadi Kaedbey, general manager, Ramada Plaza Beirut, noted, in recent years, the country has secured a consistent top spot in the world news due to both its internal instability and the spillovers from turmoil in neighbouring lands.
Adding to that, a dramatic drop in oil prices has affected demand as well as inward investment, and this, coupled with a slight oversupply, led to a fierce competition in the market, prompting industry stakeholders to review their strategies and implement new action plans.
“Although it is easy to get caught up in the headlines, we were surprised by the acceptable tourism demand Lebanon has maintained,” indicated Kaedbey, switching to a more positive note and highlighting the recent shift in the demographic of feeder markets which has put significant pressure on room rates.
“Lebanon has remained very attractive and a top destination for many of our neighbouring countries,” he further explained, disclosing that a healthy geographical mix of guests helped to compensate the decrease in GCC travellers and despite an enormous drop in the market and in rates, the hotel was able to maintain a satisfactory RevPAR index.
Yasmine Eid Maalouf, general manager, Ramada Downtown, Beirut, reported similar trends.
“Though we lost some markets and segments, we have gained others,” she said, admitting that to better adapt to demand, and remain competitive, lower prices were introduced, resulting in a change in the profile of the clientele.
All in all, it is very much the case of status quo for now, suggested Michel Boulad, director, sales and marketing, O Monot, saying that having finally settled in a relatively stable atmosphere is giving the industry a sense of optimism.
“For the first time in years, Lebanon [is seeing] stability in its hotel industry,” stated Boulad.
Fuelling the positivism, 2015 proved to be the second consecutive year with increased arrivals to the country after a major slump in 2011, when figures plummeted to just 1.66 million from 2.17 million in 2010.
Tough full recovery is yet to be achieved, data released by the Ministry of Tourism points to an encouraging 12 percent year-on-year surge for 2015 with almost 1.52 million travellers on record.
While according to the ministry, prior to 2011, the majority of tourists represented heavy-spenders from oil-rich Gulf states, in 2015, for the first time in many years, Europeans, rather than Arab visitors, accounted for the lion’s share of arrivals, making up 33.29 percent of the total, up 12.87 percent year-on-year, with regional travellers grasping 31.67 percent of the market.
Hartmut Grauel, general manager, Coral Beirut Al Hamra Hotel, attributed the changes in the guest profile to the travel ban imposed by GCC countries, noting that stronger demand from other segments, such as Egypt and Iraq helped to offset the decrease in numbers from the high-end luxury segment.
“In spite of the lower average rate these markets produce, our business gained from the volume of room nights […], not solely during the holiday season but throughout the year,” acknowledged Grauel.
“By adapting our rates for this segment based on pre-planned visits, tailoring our product […] through personal sales calls and the support of our local destination management companies, we were able to close a very good third quarter.”
In fact, according to Ernst & Young’s Middle East Hotel Benchmark Survey, compared to 2014’s results, occupancy levels in Beirut already showed a much more balanced picture in 2015, having surpassed the 52 percent mark it had stabilised on since 2012, with slight improvements in both rates, as well as RevPAR.
The hospitality sector indeed seems to regain some vigor, as hoteliers continue to fine-tune their strategies to adapt to new realities.


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Word that Samsung agreed to not sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia while it sorts out Apple’s patent lawsuit surfaced Monday. Now Samsung is saying that it still plans to sell its tablet device in the country, and that the agreement with Apple refers to a version of the tablet that wasn’t ever intended for the Australian market.
Samsung still plans to sell Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia
Apple and Samsung have been locked in a legal battle over patent infringement claims for several months. Both companies have alleged that the other’s mobile devices use patented technologies without proper licensing, have filed lawsuits against each other in the U.S. and other countries.
In a statement to Ausdroid, Samsung said:
Apple Inc. filed a complaint with the Federal Court of Australia involving a Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 variant that Samsung Electronics had no plans of selling in Australia. No injunction was issued by the court and the parties in the case reached a mutual agreement which stipulates that the variant in question will not be sold in Australia.
A Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 for the Australian market will be released in the near future.
This undertaking does not affect any other Samsung smartphone or tablet available in the Australian market or other countries.
Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communication business.
Samsung’s statement, at least on the surface, seems to indicate that it plans to launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia right away, despite Apple’s patent infringement lawsuit claiming the company is essential copying the look and feel of the iPad. Florian Mueller from FOSS Patents, however, thinks Samsung sidestepped the real issues with what he sees as an intentionally vague statement.
He called the statement an “admission of pretty serious problems because it denies only strawmen and navigates around the real issues.”
First, Samsung doesn’t reveal its planned launch date, and by saying “in the near future,” leaves itself open to start selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia several months out, or even longer. Samsung’s wording also implies that it merely plans to release the tablet at some point, not that it has court authorization to do so.
Second, the company doesn’t explain why it thinks the Galaxy Tab version it plans to sell in Australia won’t infringe on Apple’s multi-touch patents. Without significantly altering the device’s multi-touch interface, or even removing it completely, Australia’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 will most likely turn out to be only superficially different from the U.S. model, which happens to be the version Apple referenced in its court filings most likely because it expects the Australian model to be essentially the same.
With Samsung’s statement, what’s really confirmed is that it did enter into an agreement with Apple to not sell a specific Galaxy Tab model in Australia, just as has been previously reported. Everything else about the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia is little more than vague statements, which may be a hint that Apple’s case is stronger than Samsung wants to let on.


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HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- The ability to order a product online and pick it up at a local store is a service many retailers have only recently started providing, so it may be surprising to learn the Sears Holdings will be celebrating its 10th year of providing its Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store service.
"Sears was among the first to pioneer the Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store concept, which has given our customers another convenient way to shop online and more recently through their mobile devices," said Imran Jooma, president of e-commerce Sears Holdings. "We're excited to have already served millions of customers and look forward to millions more. The amount of customers that continue to utilize our Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store service clearly illustrates how much consumers value convenient and fast online shopping solutions. It is a true testament to our dedicated service and commitment to our customers."
Ship-to-store service is now available at several major retailers including Walmart, Target and Best Buy.


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December 20, 2011 BY Aaron Hope
adidas Skateboarding just offered up a couple glimpses into their plans for early 2012, but much like the brand that’s their biggest hurdle in the skate sneaker space, Three Stripes’ spring ’12 kicks are coming out in time to capitalize on the holiday shopping rush. The star of this set is clearly the adidas Busenitz, replicated across three colorways true to the design’s Samba influence, especially the black/white/gum edition. There are also two new Eldridge lowtops, one in Dark Cinder and another cosigned by Pete Eldrige in Cardinal Red suede, about the same shade you’ll find on the stripes of Lucas Puig’s latest Skate release. Check out all six pairs in more detail after the jump and look for these now at select adidas Skate retailers like Premier.


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Described by critics as hazardous to the health, emerging and less harmful alternatives by scientists could change the way people view smoking, writes Eric Dumo
For several minutes, Kola Adejare could not get his eyes off the small, black device held by his cousin, Yemi, a software engineer based in Leeds, United Kingdom. The 35-year-old recently visited the family home in Lagos, Nigeria’s main commercial city, after being away in England for almost 10 years. An ardent cigarette smoker like 33-year-old Adejare, the young man has been getting along well with his cousin since his arrival despite being away for so long. But unlike the former, who smokes the conventional cigarettes, which a number of health groups including the World Health Organisation claim causes a lot of harm, Yemi smokes the e-cigarette – an invention still out of the reach of many ordinary citizens in Nigeria and other developing societies due to its high cost. In many big malls and online stores in Nigeria, the price of one starts from around N5000 – about $14 – depending on the quality and make.
“When I first saw the device with my cousin, Yemi, I thought it was a smartphone charger,” Adejare said jokingly during a recent encounter with our correspondent. “I never knew it was the much talked about e-cigarette,” he added quickly. “I have tried it out and I think it is really cool. It was completely smokeless unlike the normal cigarette. I really like it and would definitely get him to give me one before he heads back to the UK,” he said.
Unlike Adejare, who courtesy of his cousin, appears to have found a new and less harmful way of satisfying his urge for cigarettes, majority of Nigeria’s over 4.5 million smokers are left to settle for the conventional ones largely due to a lack of information on the emerging alternatives and also the relatively high cost in the few places the items are available. The Federal Government, in a recent report through the Ministry of Health, said that Nigerians consume 20 billion cigarettes yearly, while statistics from Global Adult Tobacco Survey indicates that around N89.5bn is spent on tobacco products in the country annually – about $247m.
But despite these impressive figures and its contribution to the national economy, critics say cigarette smoking leads to around seven million deaths globally each year and must be eradicated – an argument those on the other side of the debate say would not only lead to crisis but a loss of revenue for many economies around the world especially in Africa. Proponents of this argument posit that banning smoking would be akin to throwing away the baby and the bathtub. There are around 1.3 billion cigarette smokers in the world and taking this item completely out of their reach rather than providing safer alternatives would lead to more problems, experts warn.
At a recent workshop on harm reduction held in Johannesburg, South Africa, experts from across all fields relevant to the discourse including journalists, gave insights into how the continent can drastically minimise the risks associated with smoking and the alternatives addicts can explore to stay healthy. While it was unanimously agreed that safer alternatives was the best way to solve the current puzzle, stakeholders rejected calls for the total ban on smoking as being clamoured in some quarters.
Describing e-cigarettes and other emerging alternatives as having the potential to significantly reduce the harm those unwilling to quit smoking may face, Managing Director of Philip Morris, South Africa, Hugo Marcelo Nico, said more awareness of the benefits of the new invention would go a long way in saving lives.
“Treating all products the same way will not help,” he said. “What we need to do is give the correct information to smokers.
“We need to be able to differentiate between combustible and non-combustible products because there is a difference,” he added.
Corroborating Morris’ view, Vice President, Corporate Affairs EEMA and Duty Free, Philip Morris International, Alessandro Maria Poggiali, revealed that efforts were ongoing to make less harmful cigarettes more available and affordable in most parts of Africa especially in big countries like Nigeria.
According to him, these new alternatives were borne out of years of serious research and would significantly reduce the health risk associated with inhaling smoke from conventional cigarettes.
“We want to transform ourselves and the industry by offering consumers better alternatives to smoking.
“We have launched these products including our flagship product iQos e-cigarette in more than 38 countries all over the world in the last two years and that’s an incredibly exciting moment for us.
“Our scientific and developmental effort has produced a different number of platforms to meet the different consumer needs and demands. So, we are confident we will have the right option for every type of consumer.
“We believe that these alternatives are better for the consumer, better for the society, and for those around the consumer.
“Our goal is to make this product available to all smokers all over the world, and it’s a strong commitment that we have taken,” he said.
President of the American Vaping Association, Gregory Conley, said public health organisations rather than demonising smoking must concentrate on helping smokers find safe alternatives. He said cigarette smoking was a reality the world had to live with rather than seeking to completely wipe it out.
“For 25 years, public health organisations have said that ‘if you can’t quit by yourself, then use pharmaceutical items such as gum, the patch or lozenge’.
“But, in the real world, those products have a 3 to 9 per cent success rate. Of course, most smokers want to quit but many don’t; they smoke because they like it and we must provide alternatives for them,” he said.
But calling for utmost caution and sincerity while seeking for a favourable ground for all stakeholders, President of the Health Professions’ Council of South Africa and co-founder of Africa Harm Reduction Alliance, Dr. Kgosi Letlape, said it was important to find a balance between the argument of tobacco products manufacturers and public health concerns.
“What we should look at is creating a product that reduces the risk associated with smoking a combustible.
“We should accept that human beings are risk-taking animals and our duty as health professionals is to introduce ways to reduce the risk to their health.
“The smoker matters. We must not forget the smokers. They have rights too and we should be offering alternatives.
“The elephant in the room for Africa, in particular, is the WHO and accepting everything it recommends hook, line and sinker. Other countries, such as the United States, don’t take all the WHO recommendations; they think around them and apply them according to the needs of their environment.
“If we are producing new products, we are producing new jobs too but Africa needs regulation otherwise we’re going to be the dumping ground for all the combustibles,” he said.
Recently the Nigerian Tobacco Atlas raised the alarm on the rising spate of smoking in Nigeria, pointing that around 16,100 citizens die annually due to diseases caused by tobacco consumption. Stroke, lung cancer, asthma, induction and exacerbation, low birth-weight, pre-term delivery have been identified as some of the attendant consequences of exposure to second hand smoke for even non-smokers. Though the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, inaugurated the National Tobacco Control Committee not too long ago and the Nigerian Tobacco Control Act passed into law, poor implementation has continued to leave many citizens at the mercy of many cigarette makers. Experts say until the new alternatives gradually pushed into the market by big industry players like Philip Morris prove to indeed be less harmful and within the reach of Africa’s growing army of smokers, the ‘war’ – or ‘big debate’ – may be far from over.
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Bagel brand the New York Bakery Co has launched a new range of mini bagels.
Available at Tesco, the bagels come in three flavours: plain, cinnamon & raisin and duo, containing 50% wholemeal and 50% white.
According to the company, the range will also be launched nationwide.
Nicky Cummerfield, director of marketing, Maple Leaf Bakery UK, which owns New York Bakery Co, said the launch demonstrated the company’s commitment to “driving forward the category”.
She added that the range will be supported by in-store promotions and an integrated media campaign, as part of Maple Leaf Bakery UK’s £3.6m communications spend for 2014.
“We’re really excited to have created the first authentic mini bagels as a direct result of trend-gazing and consumer insights around miniatures,” Cummerfield said. “We’re confident that our new range offers the same great taste, but in a smaller size.”
The bagels come in resealable bags of eight, with a RRP of £1.60 per pack.


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FRANKFURT — A smothiedrink of spinach, apple and cucumber is very healthy, and it's also the latest health trend. Following on from the fruit smoothie, vegetable smoothies are the drink of choice for the health-conscious. "Juices that are more than 50 percent vegetable are perfect for anyone on the go," according to the author of a recent praise-up in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper.
Bernhard Watzl from Germany's consumer protection body, the Max Rubner Institute, doubted that smoothies were a game-changer, saying: "If you eat five portions of fruit or vegetables a day, then you don't need to drink a smoothie too."
However, Watzl went on to say that if smoothies encourage people to eat more vegetables, then that's a positive development.


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The closed segment of I-85 between just south of Ga. 400 is a major headache for Atlanta’s commuters and truckers. But a similar bridge collapse would’ve been more “crippling” to the region and Atlanta’s mighty logistics sector if it had happened on the Perimeter, according to a report this week by CBRE Research.
Metro Atlanta is a logistics hub for the Southeast and the nation, and warehousing has been one of the region’s hottest sectors, fueled in large part by the rise of e-commerce. The region also has a robust manufacturing sector and trucks are a vital way of getting product to market.
Freight traffic traveling through metro Atlanta is supposed to use I-285 as a bypass of the city. Toby Jorgensen, a senior analyst at CBRE Research, said that’s where the overwhelming majority of heavy trucks go.
The state Department of Transportation said it is targeting June 15 to reopen the I-85 bridge.
More vehicles will hit the Perimeter to get around the I-85 closure, Jorgensen said, and that’ll mean longer trip times for commuters and logistics firms alike.
But it could have been worse, he said.
CBRE, citing a study by INRIX, said the Atlanta area has the fourth worst traffic in the country. Then there’s the notorious Spaghetti Junction, where I-285 meets I-85 northeast of the city.
The CBRE report said that interchange has been called “the worst trucking bottleneck in the United States” by the American Transportation and Research Institute.
Atlanta also suffers the ignominy of having six other interchanges ranked among the Top 100 worst bottlenecks. Four of those, including Spaghetti Junction, are on the Perimeter.
If an incident jammed up the Perimeter for two months, those trucks would have to go somewhere.
The bigger test for many shippers will be local product delivery, Jorgensen said. UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service will have to adjust their routes. So will other shippers and service providers.
I-85 is a key route into the city for all sorts of suppliers, and surface streets will see heavier than normal congestion until the bridges at I-85 and Piedmont Road are reopened.
“The hardest part is the last-mile consumer and business delivery,” Jorgensen said.
Some consumers can avoid congestion by taking MARTA or telecommuting. But that’s not an option for businesses that must get product from Point A to Point B.
The shutdown of I-85 will come at a cost to the region.
Last week, Kelly Frey, a vice president of product marketing for tech firm Telogis, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the unit cost per mile for shipping through the Atlanta area could go up in some cases by 10 percent to 20 percent.
Telogis, which is owned by Verizon, which provides way-finding technology for commercial truckers that works kind of like the popular smart phone app Waze.
Consumers “won’t feel it immediately at the grocery store,” Frey said. “But somehow that (cost of) congestion will need to be absorbed.”


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Back in January a US court struck down the FCC’s rules on net neutrality and since then the Federal Commission has been working on a new set of rules that would allow ISP’s to charge Americans extra for things like watching Netflix or Hulu. Obviously this is a completely immoral business move on the ISP’s part but if they aren’t charging you directly they’ll be charging the companies whose data you’re trying to access.
Recently Netflix was forced to pay Comcast to allow its users to get a good connection while streaming TV shows and movies but eventually that cost might fall on to the consumer unless people stand up for traditional net neutrality. Fortunately, some of the biggest tech companies in the world are joining Netflix in its plea to the FCC, including Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Google.
Image Credit: Colourlines
Net Neutrality is often dubbed as the foundation of the internet and it effectively means that ISP’s can’t limit certain kinds of data on the web. Providers are to be seen as exactly that, just providers, which have no business in deciding which packets of data arrive at your PC faster.
A letter signed by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Ebay and Yahoo amongst over a hundred other companies doesn’t suggest a solid course of action but it does emphasise the importance of net neutrality and expresses strong opposition to the FCC’s new set of rules.
“Instead of permitting individualized bargaining and discrimination, the Commission’s rules should protect users and Internet companies on both ﬁxed and mobile platforms against blocking, discrimination, and paid prioritization, and should make the market for Internet services more transparent. The rules should provide certainty to all market participants and keep the costs of regulation low. Such rules are essential for the future of the Internet. This Commission should take the necessary steps to ensure that the Internet remains an open platform.”
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Obviously ISP’s shouldn’t be allowed to squeeze extra cash out of its customers just to do what they want to do on the Internet, but worryingly enough it could happen. Right now this is an America specific problem but if it goes through it could very well spread to other parts of the world too, which is why it’s important that all Internet users support net neutrality.


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HO CHI MINH CITY: Consumers in Vietnam and Myanmar are among the most optimistic in the world while a fast-growing middle and affluent class in both countries offers openings for brands to increase consumption and encourage trading up, a new report has said.
Vietnam and Myanmar: Southeast Asia's New Growth Frontiers, from Boston Consulting Group, examined the social and economic developments that are making this part of Southeast Asia an increasingly attractive proposition for brands.
Consumers in both countries were overwhelmingly confident that not only would they have a better life than their parents had (96% in Myanmar and 92% in Vietnam), but also that their children's lives would be better than their own (95% and 93% respectively).
Comparable figures for other countries in the region were rather lower – 78% and 69% in China, for example, and 58% and 60% in neighbouring Thailand.
More pertinently, purchasing power is increasing, as the report saw the middle and affluent class (MAC) almost trebling in Vietnam between 2012 and 2020, from 12m to 33m. The change was less dramatic in Mynamar's case but MAC numbers were still expected to double from 5m to 10m.
"Companies that invest in Vietnam and Myanmar now have an opportunity to build businesses, brands, and momentum early in the development of these formerly closed economies," Douglas Jackson, a BCG partner and co-author of the report, told CFO Innovation Asia.
BCG's Center for Consumer and Customer Insight (CCCI) also surveyed more than 3,000 urban consumers in Vietnam and Myanmar to develop an understanding of channel preferences, attitudes, and behaviours. Combining these with income forecasts, CCCI created a series of consumption curves showing the income levels at which purchasing takes off for individual products.
Thus, the average per capita monthly income in Vietnam in 2012 was $110, but CCCI identified an income of $190 as the point at which spending on items such as soap, shampoo, detergents and soft drinks would begin to move sharply upwards.
In Mynamar the average monthly income was $64 with an income of $120 seen as the tipping point for consumption.
BCG's research also found that while Vietnamese consumers were open to buying on credit – 43% would do so for essential items – just 5% owned a credit card. This may also have been a factor in the low prevalence of online shopping. Just 16% of MAC consumers shopped online although 43% of the population were active internet users.
"If Vietnam is a here-and-now opportunity, Myanmar is a more long-term play," said Tuomas Rinne, BCG partner and co-author of the report.
"The market is still developing, so there is time to learn and be focused in your strategy," he added.
Data sourced from BCG, CFO Innovation Asia; additional content by Warc staff


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2 posts tagged "Amal Alamuddin"
Globally notorious towhead journalist…and catwalk star? Julian Assange will be hitting the runway at London’s Ecuadorean Embassy (where he has been granted asylum) come London fashion week in September. The stunt is a move by Dame Vivienne’s son Ben Westwood to “highlight Julian Assange’s plight.” The WikiLeaks founder will don pieces inspired by another outlaw, Clint Eastwood, in some of his most famous spaghetti Westerns. George Clooney and fiancée Amal Alamuddin (who has represented Assange) have reportedly both received invites, the Daily Mail reports. Westwood enigmatically added that guests can also expect “another garment with a Julian Assange print.” Tantalizing.


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Greg Fairbotham, founder of Manchester-based electric vehicle services and sharing start-up Zoom EV, on why the business case for EVs is about to get even better.
Zoom EV offers a UK-first services bundle for EV owners that includes benefits across public charging, nationwide parking, home charging and home green energy tariffs and an insurance product for EVs (and EV fleets). The company has also developed the UK’s first EV sharing platform and aims to increase the use of EVs in a purpose built community.
Zoom has been working closely with Katherine Burden, GC Business Growth Hub’s Green Technologies and Services Lead, to raise its profile across Greater Manchester.
Katherine: What inspired you to set up Zoom EV?
Greg: I used to work in the fossil fuel industry, so my original career was not particularly ‘low emission’ at all! In my last role I found myself helping to build a large gas plant in the Middle East and it gave me a real first-hand perspective on the need for us to re-focus on renewable energy. Electric vehicles quickly became a passion because I was looking specifically at mobility, so Zoom is really all about how we can drive that agenda, do more with EVs and help people transition to them.
How would you describe the state of play with EVs right now in the UK?
When you look at the growth of EVs in terms of how long they’ve actually been around, it’s pretty staggering. We’re still in a stage of maturing the economies of scale that can deliver them to the market fast enough, but we’ve seen huge changes over the last 12 months. At the back end of last year there were about 30-35 EV models available on the market; this year that is expected to double.
In terms of where the UK sits internationally, we’re well positioned to really drive the agenda because of the way we use cars in this country. The key thing is the education piece – there’s still a lack of understanding about how EVs work and how good the business case actually is.
So is the main barrier to EV uptake still a cultural one?
There’s a lot of different things affecting EVs, including regulatory challenges, but the key thing is education. If you consider how much activity and noise there is around climate change at the moment, people and businesses are interested in EVs because it’s a very easy way to have an impact.
Anyone who drives an EV will never go back, because from a performance standpoint it blows an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle off the road, and there are significant cost savings. We’ve provided a variety of people with their first EV experience and they’re unbelievably impressed. But there’s still plenty of myths out there that are making people hesitate, such as worrying about how long the battery will last, that there’s not enough charging points around, or that it takes too long to charge the battery.
You only need to go on Zap Map to see how many charge points are actually in place already across the UK, and rapid chargers are getting faster all the time – some are now able to charge EVs in ten minutes.
The key thing to understand, though, is that 90% if not more of all charging is actually done at home. The average commute in the UK is 30-40 miles a day. All new EVs will do around 200 miles at least on one charge, so most of the time you can simply wait until you get home and charge your car overnight.
Is the business case for EVs going to get better?
Yes. If you’re an individual, you already receive a £3,500 government grant for purchasing a pure electric car, and a grant for a home charging unit. But for businesses in particular, we’re about to see a huge change. From 6 April this year, EVs have been completely exempt from benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax for company cars.
To put it into perspective, we’ve just done some research where we’ve compared the average annual business costs of renting a new BMW 320i (petrol) with a similarly-priced BMW i3 (electric). We estimate the BMW 320i will probably cost the employer around £9,000 in rental, tax and running costs. The cost to the employee will be around £7,000 in BIK. Compare that to the BMW i3, which would cost the employer around £3,000 due to no National Insurance and significantly lower running costs. And the employee would pay absolutely nothing.
That’s a gamechanger. The cost differential if you’re running a fleet of cars on average could be as much as £6,000 to the Company and £7,000 to your employees. That’s per car, per year. Multiply that by how many cars there are in the fleet and the number of years you operate that car. That’s a significant saving.
What impact do you expect the BIK changes to have?
The change to BIK is going to have a huge impact for those businesses who recognise the opportunity. I expect that a lot of organisations will be ‘reactive’ rather than ‘pro-active’; finance directors will run the numbers and all of a sudden their eyes will open.
Awareness is growing, but it isn’t yet where it needs to be. Most businesses are stretched for resources, they don’t have the time to proactively look into it, so the opportunity is passing them by. That’s why we’ve done this work; we can tell businesses how much they can save and help them to understand the benefits and then help them implement solutions.
Looking to the future of EVs, where do you think we’ll be in ten years’ time?
In a very different place, that’s for sure! If you think about how quickly EVs have grown and how the battery capacity has got better, in 2-3 years battery capacity will probably be at 500 miles. Within 3-5 years the EV will just be the ‘car’, we won’t be talking about them as EVs anymore. In 10 years I’m absolutely convinced that in we will have full autonomy. You’ll be able to order a car to you and it will be able to take you where you need to go – that will be normal.
The key thing is that the ownership model of cars is changing. Everything is moving to on-demand services like ride-hailing or the ability to simply book a car to go away for the weekend or travel to a meeting. I think some families will look at switching from two cars to one, and gradually ownership will move to usership – paying for vehicles only when we use them. You’ll still have people buying and owning cars, but a big percentage of people will think: “Why bother? It costs me money to keep it, parking is a nightmare; why on earth would I want to own one?”
So that’s where car sharing comes in. How does your EV sharing platform work?
The intent of our platform is to increase the utilisation of idle vehicles and provide people with easy access to an EV experience, so we’re working with the likes of auto dealers; councils whose vehicles sit idle on weekends; and individuals who want to share their own EV. We’re also in discussion with Housing Associations who are looking at providing a shared EV service to their residents. The whole point is do more with EVs, get people into them and get people using them, reducing vehicles on the roads and obviously having a positive impact on carbon emissions.
We’re through our testing phase, so we’re now in the process of rolling out more engagement and getting people and businesses registering their vehicles on the platform. In the next 12 months you’ll see us really pushing this model, creating a community where you can take and do more with these cars, and building our brand around that. And of course, once we’ve helped people get into an EV, we can provide the services they need to set themselves up and insure their vehicle. The aim is to have an end-to-end process to make that transition as easy as possible.
Last question. What do you drive at the moment, and what would you like to drive next?
I currently drive a Renault Zoe. There’s some exciting cars coming out, but I personally think Tesla stand apart; they build the car, they build the software and their charging is just better than everyone else’s. So for me it’ll be a Tesla, they might get me to Mars quicker too!
This article originally appeared on http://www.greenintelligence.org.uk/article/conversation-zoom-ev


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[JAKARTA] The trendy cafe looks like a typical coffee shop in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, but in fact it sells herb-infused brews promising to fix every ailment from coughs to impotence.
Indonesians have for generations taken herbal medicine, known locally as "jamu", as a remedy for common ailments, and many children's early memories include being forced to gulp down concoctions of ingredients such as ginger and turmeric.
Now entrepreneurs have fused the age-old love of tonics made from the archipelago's vast selection of herbs with the younger generation's desire for a fashionable setting, and come up with beverages that focus on modern-day problems.
And as demand for alternative medicines grows from the Middle East to Africa, Indonesian jamu manufacturers hope the country can use its expertise in the sector to become a major player in the global herbal medicine industry.
A resurgence in domestic popularity is being driven by hangouts such as the Jakarta cafe, which welcomes young professionals and students to a retro setting that mixes old-fashioned furniture with touches of the past, such as black and white prints and vintage bicycles.
"Potent!" exclaims the menu, which features a picture of a beaming man wearing a traditionally patterned cap and a smart suit as he promotes a "stamina-boosting aphrodisiac", named the Ginseng Prakoso Plus.
Next to him is a picture of a woman with her hair meticulously styled into a bun, offering a drink called the "Tight Cavity", which aims to help improve a couple's sex life after a woman has given birth.
Other brews at the cafe, named "It's a long time such we had jamu", tantalisingly promise to "keep husbands at home" and "wives always smiling".
The cafe, which opened two years ago, also offers a range of lighter, more palatable jamu, such as drinks made from the herb rosella to recharge the immune system, turmeric to boost stamina, and ginger to fight colds and coughs.
"Initially the bitter taste put me off, but I have grown accustomed to it," said graphic designer Io Woo, 23, who gets her particular amu fix at the cafe three to four times a month.
"It's less dreadful to consume it with friends here, where it's cosy and comfortable." It is not just hipster cafes seeking to breathe new life into jamu. Traditional healer Retno Widati has since 2011 been teaching people seeking to open their own businesses how to make jamu ice cream from green beans, rice and galangal, a herb related to ginger common in Indonesia.
"Young people are not taking jamu as often as in the old days, they fear the bitter taste," she said, adding her aim was to re-introduce it to people in a "more modern form".
The "jamu movement" has some high-profile supporters, notably Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who reportedly starts his day with a glass of boiled turmeric and ginger.
The government has thrown its support behind the industry, which currently employs 15 million people and boasts more than 1,000 manufacturers, including some listed on the Jakarta stock exchange.
Industry Minister Saleh Husin in September urged more exports of jamu products, and said the sector aims to generate revenue of up to 20 trillion rupiah (S$2.04 billion) this year, up from 15 trillion rupiah in 2014.
Producers of jamu products see great opportunities abroad. Asia remains the stronghold for herbal remedies but their popularity is growing around the world, according to experts.
But Jamu Entrepreneurs Association chairman Charles Saerang said Indonesia, which is home to around 6,000 varieties of herbs, was still punching below its weight and remained a small player in the US$50-billion herbal remedy industry, which is dominated by countries including China and India.
He said the sector should focus on exporting good quality, cheap raw ingredients instead of simply ready-made products, as it mainly does now, which could increase annual earnings four fold.
Despite the arrival of hip cafes seen as key in driving jamu's modernisation, there remains a hardcore of Indonesians who prefer the old ways - tonics served at streetside stalls, or in unpretentious, inexpensive local shops.
"Why should I pay five times more for something that's essentially the same? I'd rather save my money because more money means more jamu to enjoy," said school handyman Agustinus Martanbaim, 38, who buys his herbal drinks from local vendors.


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Honeybees are plentiful this year, says Joe Traynor, Bakersfield. At mid-February, beekeepers were advertising to place several thousand hives for almond pollination.
“There is no shortage of beehives, but there still is a shortage of strong colonies, as has been the case for the past five years,” he says.
“A bee hive is a wooden structure box — it’s what’s in the box that is the important thing. A strong colony is eight full frames of bees.”
Beekeepers have struggled to maintain healthy colonies while beset by a wide range of maladies, from varroa mites to viruses to nutrition issues to the latest colony collapse problem no one has yet identified. “It looks like it is caused by a variety of things,” says Traynor.
Prices for bees to pollinate almonds have ranged from $75 per colony to more than $200 this year; the wide range is related to colony strength.
During early bloom, daytime temperatures were well below that 55-degree to 60-degree range where bees start moving and pollinating. Weather warmed considerably Feb. 18-20, but another series of storms was forecast to start moving through over the weekend bringing more rain and cold weather.
“Growers who have a good supply of irrigation water have increased bee numbers to counter the wet, cold weather,” Traynor says. “It’s not much, maybe a quarter of a hive more per acre.”


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Dr. Pepper’s limited dark berry-flavored soda was the latest craze to hit the market on April 25, a marketing stunt for “Spiderman: Far From Home.” While soda has generally been championed for its sugary flavor and its inexpensiveness, California lawmakers have been trying to place a cap on how much people consume it.
Assembly Bill 138, introduced by Assemblymember Richard Bloom on Feb. 20, would have placed a 2 cent-tax per fluid ounce of soda and other sugary beverages such as energy drinks and tea, but the bill was subsequently put on hold on April 22.
“Soda has no redeeming qualities,” said Nutrition Professor Timaree Hagenburger. “Soda is just a chemical mixture and we know that it contributes to weight gain.”
Alyssa Fletcher, a 19-year-old psychology major, said she seldom drinks soda but will have a bottle every couple of weeks.
“It doesn’t make me feel good,” Fletcher said. “I don’t really think it makes anyone feel good, so I think that we should re-evaluate what we’re selling.”
Drinking two or more sugary drinks every day can increase the chance of premature death due to cardiovascular disease, according to Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association.
The bill hoped to use the tax income to finance programs aimed at helping people with diabetes and other chronic health conditions, according to an article published by CNBC.
“I’ve taken two nutrition classes with Professor Hagenburger and she goes really in depth with how soda is very bad for you,” Fletcher said. “I think that people need to know about it more.”
When Bloom officially shelved AB 138 in April, he said that the bill will move forward through the legislative process next year, according to the CNBC article.
This is the third time the bill had been proposed.
Previous efforts have been stalled after the American Beverage Association funneled millions of dollars into a counter effort led by the California Business Roundtable to place an initiative that would require a two-thirds majority of local citizens to pass any new local taxes, according to the nonpartisan political website Ballotpedia.
Matthew Stringfellow, a 22-year-old communications major, said he would “appreciate” the tax if AB 138 would ever pass in the future.
“It shows that the California government cares enough to go against lobbyists and create incentive to not drink soda,” Stringfellow said.
Fletcher said that a soda tax would be an “excellent incentive” to try and get people to stop drinking soda.
“I think that since a lot of young people drink soda and young people tend to be on really strict budgets, I think it would discourage people from buying it,” Fletcher said.
At the end of the day, Fletcher said it’s ultimately up to consumers to figure out whether they want to buy soda or not.
“I think it depends on how bad they want it,” Fletcher said. “There’s a cigarette tax but people still buy cigarettes.”


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Town Crier “Briefs from the Region” (2) – 9/9/20
Gov. Steve Bullock is suing Postmaster Louis DeJoy, claiming he has “taken steps to undermine an institution that since this nation’s founding has defied the odds and delivered the mail,” the governor said in a Sept. 8 statement. The lawsuit challenges actions that General DeJoy and the Postal Service have taken to delay and obstruct the delivery of mail, a service that Gov. Bullock says is crucial to Montanans receiving medical prescriptions, payments, application materials for jobs, important supplies for farming and ranching as well as their ability to vote in the upcoming election.
“We’re not giving up the fight to ensure timely mail delivery,” Bullock said. “State agencies in Montana rely on the Post Office to serve Montanans from every walk of life. Montanans rely on the Post Office for the timely delivery of essential goods and services, Montana veterans and seniors rely on the mail for the delivery of life-saving medication, and small businesses in Montana rely on the mail to remain competitive.”


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SINGAPORE: Singapore's core inflation in February eased to 2.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, down from the 2.4 per cent in January, official data released on Wednesday (Mar 23) showed.
This was reflected in lower inflation for services, food and electricity and gas, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a joint media release.
February's consumer price index (CPI), or overall inflation, came in at 4.3 per cent year-on-year, up from 4 per cent in January.
Core inflation excludes accommodation and private transport costs. These items are excluded as they tend to be significantly influenced by supply-side administrative policies and are volatile.
"Global inflation is expected to stay high for some time before easing in the latter half of the year," said MAS and MTI.
"In the near term, heightened geopolitical risks and tight supply conditions will keep crude oil prices elevated."
"Supply-demand mismatches in commodity markets due in part to geopolitical factors, bottlenecks in global transportation, as well as labour shortages in a number of Singapore’s major trading partners are also likely to persist."
INFLATION EASED FOR FOOD, SERVICES, ELECTRICITY AND GAS
On a year-on-year basis, food inflation in February eased to 2.3 per cent from 2.6 per cent the month before. This was because lower inflation for non-cooked food such as fish and seafood, fruits and vegetables more than offset higher inflation for prepared meals.
Electricity and gas inflation in February dropped to 16.7 per cent from 17.2 per cent the month before. Prices rose at a slower pace as the average electricity prices paid by households under the Open Electricity Market saw a smaller increase, MAS and MTI said.
Services inflation fell to 2 per cent from 2.4 per cent.
Meanwhile, private transport inflation rose to 17.2 per cent from 14 per cent as car prices picked up at a stronger pace.
Accommodation inflation also rose, by 0.2 per cent to 3.3 per cent in February, due to a larger increase in housing rents, MAS and MTI said.
The cost of retail and other goods also went up, to 0.2 per cent from a decline of 0.3 per cent.
"On the domestic front, the labour market should continue to tighten and lead to strengthened wage pressures over the course of the year," MAS and MTI said.
"Cost increases are likely to filter through to higher services prices as private consumption picks up."
They added that car and accommodation cost increases are "likely to remain strong in the near term, keeping headline inflation elevated".
Core inflation is forecast to pick up further in the near term, and could reach 3 per cent by the middle of the year before easing in the second half of 2022 as external inflation recedes.
The rising cost of air travel is expected to account for a significant part of the increase in core inflation in the near term, MAS and MTI said.
"For 2022 as a whole, MAS core inflation is projected to average 2–3% while CPI-All Items inflation is forecast to come in within 2.5–3.5%."


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The Power of B2B Marketing and Technology for 2017
It’s great to see that B2B brands that sell online are increasingly modernising by providing their services in a way that today’s digital-native buyers engage with, as highlighted in a report from Gorilla Group in November. B2B brands are now using features that B2C adopted years ago, including responsive website design and showing pricing guidelines upfront. The report also uncovered that B2B brands are more than twice as likely to offer click-to-chat features on their websites compared to a year ago.
…But many big brands still aren’t taking digital transformation seriously enough
With B2B brands needing to modernise to stay relevant in a digital world, it’s rather worrying that only 2% of the world’s largest businesses have digital-focussed leaders in senior positions, and only 5% of FTSE companies have a CDO at a senior level, as revealed by research from PeopleTECH.
Using social media for product launches
Research from Five by Five revealed that 74% of marketers are prioritising social media over other channels for product launches. This is likely because 81% say that the time between the initial idea and the product launch has decreased over the last five years, with 70% saying they now have an average of only six months of preparation time.
Where do senior executives go for thought leadership online? Not where you think
When you think about senior executives using social media to find thought leadership, Facebook is the last place you’d think of. However, a new study by Grist revealed that 79% of senior executives now use Facebook as a source of corporate advice, beating Twitter (73%) and LinkedIn (68%).
It’s true: millennials really do prefer social media and mobile
Most millennials grew up with technology, so it’s no surprise that they use social media more than any other generation, but an infographic by University of Southern California Dornsife has the stats to prove it. Some of the standout facts include:
· 89% of millennials use social media
· 82% of millennials engage with brands that they like
· 85% of millennials own smartphones
· 87% of millennials prefer socially responsible brands
· 85% of millennials are more likely to make a purchase if the marketing is personalised
The trends of millennials further show that marketers need to transform if they are to effectively engage today’s digital-native buyers.
Events are increasingly favoured by B2B marketers
Can events still engage modern B2B buyers? We think so, and so do B2B brands, with a survey from Ceir showing that 76% of executives believe that events help engage existing customers, and 63% say the same for new customers.
With Facebook opening up its Messenger platform to allow developers to create chatbots, and Microsoft experimenting with their own on Twitter, it’s safe to say that they’re here to stay. A chatbot is an AlI computer programme that simulates human conversation, and while Twitter users did manage to corrupt Microsoft’s machine-learning ‘Tay’ account, chatbots are likely to play a big part in B2B in the near-future.
In B2B you could, for example, free up time by asking a chatbot for information you need instead of using email conversations, or B2B customers could tell a chatbot about a specific product or service they need and be told how much it will cost without having to talk to a sales person.
We should see a quick adoption rate over the next couple of years, since more people than ever before are using messaging apps (overtaking social media use), which is where most chatbots currently reside. A study by Oracle, titled ‘Can virtual experiences replace reality?’ suggests that 80% of big brands will be using their own chatbots within the next three years.
B2B tech in 2017: a ‘digital mesh’
What changes are going to happen in B2B in 2017? Gartner has highlighted ten technology trends they think will disrupt businesses in their research paper, ‘Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2017’:
1. Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Machine Learning
2. Intelligent Apps
3. Intelligent Things
4. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality
5. Digital Twins
6. Blockchains and Distributed Ledgers
7. Conversational Systems
8. Mesh App and Service Architecture
9. Digital Technology Platforms
10. Adaptive Security Architecture


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🏎 ChatGPT is selling cars!
🚘 Car giants Fiat and Kia have integrated ChatGPT technology into their metaverses. They will offer visitors consultations and presentations of their top models in virtual reality or through a chatbot.
🤖 In the future, Fiat plans to integrate the chatbot not only into the metaverse but also into the onboard computer.
📁 Source: Axios


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A report released by Accenture shows that Fintech investments in Asia-Pacific have rapidly increased in 2015 with investments increasing from nearly $880 million in 2014 to about $3.5 billion in the first three-quarter of 2015. The biggest investments were made in payments (40 percent) and lending (25 percent).
Jon Allaway, senior managing director of Financial Services at Accenture said that two trends are emerging. The first is the fact that venture capitalists are already seeing the potential growth of Fintech. The second is that financial services firms are taking advantage of the various opportunities being created by the Fintech industry. Most of these companies are remodeling their business operations using cloud technology, blockchain, and mobile wallets.
The Accenture report showed that the number of investment deals is also expected to increase further. It stood at 122 as of October 1, compared with 117 for the whole of 2014. On the whole, the value of deals has significantly increased. Some large investments have come from big companies in China such as Alibaba. Other big non-traditional financial services firms have also continued to invest in Fintech payments over the past years, an indicator that they may decide to offer Fintech services if existing companies fail to provide high-quality services.
Financial services companies are also turning to Fintech to streamline their operations so as to comply with new regulations and currencies. As a result, most banks, startups, and investors are likely to focus on blockchain technology. This will facilitate cooperation among banks, clearing houses and credit card companies in creating faster and more efficient accounting services. It will also optimize utilization of capital by reducing transaction latency and counterparty risk.
Cloud is another Fintech opportunity that is likely to be utilized heavily in the upcoming future, with Fintech startups expected to develop new cloud products and services. Banks are starting to look for data that can be stored in public cloud and private cloud for the safety and privacy of customers. Users will also gain the benefits of cloud such as flexibility, efficiency, lower costs and its on-demand capabilities.
Several cases of data breaches worldwide have been reported in the media creating an opportunity for more investments in cyber security. Fintech startups are expected to develop systems that will increase cyber security, thus reducing the risk of data breaches.
Fintech innovations remain very widely accessible by continuously presenting numerous investment opportunities. Fintech companies need to identify potential problem areas by finding out what the banks need and subsequently develop relevant solutions.


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China’s DHgate recently integrated and deployed MasterPass into its B2B eCommerce platform, becoming the first merchant in that country to go live with MasterCard’s digital-wallet service. In doing so, it has enabled a simplified online-payment process for its cross-border customers, 90 percent of whom pay with a credit card.
DHgate, which is based in Beijing, says it is the world’s leading B2B online trading marketplace for goods manufactured in China, serving the world’s small and midsize sized enterprises (SMEs) since 2004. The company says its listings exceed 30 million online products, and it connects 1.2 million sellers with 5.5 million buyers from 227 countries and regions. It celebrated its 10th anniversary last month.
In a recent interview with Internet Retailer, Noah Herschman, DHgate chief operating officer, noted the company earns its revenue from commissions charged to sellers. Commissions typically vary by product category, but generally sellers pay a 4.5 percent commission on sales of $300 of more and 8 percent to 12 percent on sales less than $300, he says. DHgate collects the payment from buyers and forwards the proceeds minus its commission to sellers, according to the article.
Through its platform, DHgate says businesses can buy directly from factories at lower prices than retail. DHgate and MasterCard became strategic partners in December, expediting seamless payment solutions for Chinese SMEs and creating convenience for clients globally to source for Chinese products.
More than 40,000 merchants in 10 markets that include China, Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and the U.S. accept MasterPass, which lunched in February 2013. China Construction Bank began offering MasterPass in March, becoming the first issuer in China and Asia to implement MasterPass with its own digital wallet, LongPass, according MasterCard’s DHgate announcement.
More than 40,000 merchants in 10 different markets accept MasterPass. Market Platform Dynamics CEO Karen Webster caught up with Vib Prasad, group head of MasterPass, to talk about how the app is continuing to grow into different market segments around the world, how MasterCard is motivating consumers to use it, and how the company plans to keep issuer brands alive.
When using MasterPass online or through a smartphone, businesses click on the “Buy With MasterPass” button at checkout, unlock their MasterPass account, and select the payment and shipping option. They then confirm the purchase to complete the order. MasterPass also can facilitate in-store payments through Near Field Communication, QR codes or other functionality, depending on the issuer’s desire.
Because the digital wallet is global, it easily facilitates cross-border online purchases, which are becoming increasingly important for many businesses, according to Dennis Chang, MasterCard’s head of China.
“With more cross-border eCommerce activities undertaken by SMEs in China, MasterPass provides an innovative payment solution with just a few clicks to facilitate secure and convenient transactions,” he said in the DHgate announcement. “We are pleased to be working with DHgate to support SMEs in cross-border e-commerce business development.”
Shen Hao, DHgate vice president, also acknowledged MasterPass’ safer, more convenient online transaction capabilities. “DHgate is committed to creating an online ‘silk road’ for the new era, developing overseas channels for Chinese SMEs and bringing Chinese products to the world,” he said.