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Out-Law Analysis | 21 May 2018 | 1:42 pm | 5 min. read
Those were the views expressed by members of banks and other businesses from the payments market that attended a workshop on cryptocurrency, distributed ledger technology and their regulation at the recent Future of Money conference hosted by Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.
Cryptocurrencies have gained a lot of media attention in recent times. Following the rise in value of bitcoin, thousands of other cryptocurrencies have emerged onto the market. Instead of becoming mainstream methods of payment, however, cryptocurrencies have more commonly developed as investment assets and, in the case of the growing market for 'initial coin offerings', tools for raising capital.
At the workshop, conference delegates debated whether cryptocurrencies should be categorised as money, commodities or securities – their categorisation being central to how such assets are regulated.
Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, recently made a speech about the future of money, including how the regulatory landscape is taking shape for cryptocurrency. In it he referred to economist Adam Smith's definition of money – how it serves as a store of value with which to transfer purchasing power from today to some future time; a medium of exchange with which to make payments for goods and services; and a unit of account with which to measure the value of a particular good, service, saving or loan.
According to Carney, cryptocurrencies do not fulfil the roles of money. He said: "The long, charitable answer is that cryptocurrencies act as money, at best, only for some people and to a limited extent, and even then only in parallel with the traditional currencies of the users. The short answer is they are failing."
He referenced the volatility of bitcoin as an example of cryptocurrencies "proving poor short-term stores of value", and said cryptocurrencies are an "inefficient medium of exchange" because it generally takes longer for payments by cryptocurrencies to be processed than fiat currencies and cost more. He also highlighted that no major high street or online retailer in the UK currently accepts bitcoin as a means of payment. Because cryptocurrencies are not proving to be great stores of value or mediums of exchange, Carney said "there is little evidence of cryptocurrencies being used as units of account".
Despite this, 34% of conference delegates said they believe the use of cryptocurrency will become more prevalent as a method of payment rather than as an investment asset in 2019. The more prominent view expressed in the workshop was that we are more likely to see cryptocurrencies emerge as a more prevalent method of payment over the next five years.
With the growth we have seen in cryptocurrencies, it has not been surprising to hear the likes of Mark Carney and other financial market regulators and policy makers around the world directly address how they should be regulated.
According to the workshop attendees, the biggest concerns that cryptocurrencies raise are around their potential to be exploited as tools for money laundering and in relation to consumer protection. The rise in prominence of cryptocurrencies has given birth to a new fund raising platform: the initial coin offering (ICO), however, there have been reports of ICO scams and highly speculative, unverified white papers. Last year, UK financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning to consumers about the risks involved in investing in ICOs.
Globally, regulators have chosen to address the question of crypto-market regulation very differently. Guidance on whether crypto-assets constitute securities, and fall subject to securities regulation, has been offered by the FCA and regulators in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and New Zealand, among others, while China and South Korea have taken a harder line and banned ICOs altogether. In the EU, the amended Fourth Money Laundering Directive subjects cryptocurrency exchanges to anti-money laundering and customer due diligence rules – earlier this month the new rules were adopted by EU law makers.
The feeling among workshop attendees was that tighter regulation of crypto-markets is inevitable. They warned, however, that too much regulation could stifle innovation and growth, but some also cautioned against loose regulation too.
In this respect, the FCA's 'technology neutral' approach to regulation came in for scrutiny. Some attendees at the workshop accused the FCA of 'sitting on the fence' and failing to give sufficient clarity on the way regulation applies to crypto-assets as a result. Comparisons were made to the State of New York's, albeit not uniformly positive, and Japan's highly proactive approach, concerning regulation in this area.
The potential for a central bank to issue its own cryptocurrency has also been raised in recent times. The topic was directly addressed by both Carney and Jens Weidmann, president of Germany's central bank, earlier this year.
At the workshop, the overall view expressed by attendees was that there is no use case for a central bank developed cryptocurrency (CBDC) in the UK at this moment in time. In addition, their view was that for countries where the central banks and governments cannot be trusted, the idea of a central bank cryptocurrency is also flawed.
The Bank of England is on record as having "an open mind about the eventual development of a CBDC" and has a specific research programme dedicated to exploring its potential.
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is the underlying technology on top of which applications such as bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are built. However, DLT has shown potential in a much broader range of contexts across sectors such as energy, pharmaceuticals and humanitarian aid. In financial services, inter-bank 'know your customer' (KYC) blockchain-based registries is one of the potential use cases being explored.
Despite certain scepticism, the Bank of England has a positive outlook with regard to DLT. It is clear that the Bank is keen to investigate the use of DLT for innovation, and Carney is on record as highlighting the potential of DLT for underpinning the Bank of England's current real-time gross settlement system.
The question of whether DLT can improve banking services, and what the most valid potential use cases are for it, was put to workshop attendees. An interesting discussion around non-cryptocurrency-based DLT use cases was held, with debating centring on the potential for DLT to serve settlement and clearing processes in banking. The attendees concluded that in order for the technology to be widely adopted, there is a responsibility on financial institutions to experiment with it on a small scale in order to build the trust necessary for widespread adoption. DLT is an enabler and will help speed up processes and instil trust in the digital world. It was recognised that DLT will be widely used in the correct use cases across industries.
The evolution of cryptocurrencies, DLT, ICOs and the way they are all regulated is likely to be followed keenly by the banking industry over the coming months. The FCA recently reported that they would be issuing new guidelines on all of these areas later on in 2018.
Charlie Clarence-Smith is a specialist in blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and regulation at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com.


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Toll Group is anticipating a sizeable increase in the volume of freight it handles at Fremantle, after commencing operations at a $26 million container handling facility it is developing at Rous Head.
Toll is targeting July 1 for completion of the 4.3-hectare Rous Head facility, which will also include a 6,000 square metre warehouse.
Its new facility is one of four at Rous Head, using land that was reclaimed with dredge spoil from the deepening of the harbour.
Qube Holdings is developing an empty container park, while Tyne ACFS, which will be a new player in the Western Australian freight logistics market, is developing its own container handling and warehousing facility on a 5.6ha site.
Toll’s business development manager WA, Jason Holmes, said the Rous Head facility would be able to handle 17,000 containers per annum from July, and expected that to rise to 40,000 within 18 months.
The opening of the Rous Head facility allowed Toll to vacate its previous site on Stirling Highway, which was adjacent to residential properties.
The new location meant Toll – like its neighbouring competitors – would be able to operate 24-7, with plans to transfer freight from the wharves at night so the operation could focus on customers during the day.
Proximity to the wharves and the recently expanded North Quay rail terminal are expected to lift efficiency.
Mr Holmes said Toll was taking a long-term view on the central role Fremantle would play in WA freight movements.
“We’ve invested at Fremantle for the next 20 to 25 years,” he said.
“Some of it is a bit of catch-up but mostly it’s around our expectations for growth over the next five years,” he said.
Another major investment was a $19 million upgrade of the Toll Express facility at Perth Airport.
Mr Holmes said Toll had looked closely at other sites, from Muchea to Kewdale to south of Perth on the Tonkin Highway, before deciding Perth Airport was best, in part because of the Gateway roads project.
“When that’s finished it means we can be anywhere in the metro area in 20 minutes,” he said.
In regional WA, Toll has upgraded its Express facility at Port Hedland, adding to investments at Broome, Karratha and Kununurra.
“They are all driven by customer demand,” Mr Holmes told Business News.
He said the new facilities, particularly at Rous Head, were designed so that Toll could deliver all of its divisional services through each site.
“Customers want a one-stop solution from Toll.”
Mr Holmes said Toll was working with customers on new growth opportunities, including the agricultural sector in the Kimberley, which would help to offset the slowdown in work related to the mining and construction sectors.
The two companies plan to bring together their national operations, encompassing metropolitan transport, warehousing, container depots and empty container parks.
The proposed joint venture will be reviewed by the ACCC.
The two companies said their current geographic footprint was complementary.
ACFS is a market leader in the Port of Sydney while Asciano subsidiary Patrick has significant strength in Melbourne.
ACFS said the “soon to be developed” empty container park at Rous Head would complement Patrick’s network of empty container parks on the east coast.
The Rous Head facility will be 50 per cent owned by Tyne Container Services, with the balance held by the joint venture.

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Metro, the third largest retailer in the world, has postponed the opening of a new store in Beijing until the end of this month due to a problem with the store's layout.
Local media report that its business usually requires only one floor for total operations of its "Cash & Carry" operation. However, Metro's new store on Wanquanhe Road is in a two-floor building. This means an elevator must be used to carry heavy goods.
The company is working on quickly renovating the store.
Metro has 29 franchise stores in 25 cities across China and has achieved over US$6 billion in annual sales. Metro plans to open five to six new stores in Beijing in the following five years.


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Hexion Says $700M Note Offering Will Help Offset Debt
The Columbus, Ohio-based company said it intended to use the net proceeds from the sale to repay $500 million of the U.S. term loans under its existing $2.2 billion in senior secured credit facilities.
Hexion said the rest of the proceeds will be put toward providing “incremental liquidity” and paying certain related transaction costs and...
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Natural Grocers Launches Free, Virtual Nutrition Education Program
As part of Natural Grocers' deep commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of the communities it serves, America's Nutrition Education Experts announce an expansion of its free Nutrition Education program.
Customarily available in-person, the program has gone virtual so that Natural Grocers can help customers Be Rooted in Health while adhering to its company-wide COVID-19 health and safety precautions. The expansion includes a specially curated guest presenter series geared towards providing essential building blocks for improved health and wellness, as well as personalized coaching sessions with Natural Grocers' Nutritional Health Coaches (NHCs.)
A series of free, virtual Nutrition Education classes will empower customers to take charge of their own health and gain a better understanding of how supporting their immune system, improving their diet and nutrient intake, and caring for the environment can all have a positive impact on their health. Starting October 7, 2020, new classes will be available every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. MDT on Natural Grocers' site.
Burger King Is Replying to Complaints About McDonald's on Facebook
PCMag says that, if a brand wants to stand out from the crowd it needs to get a bit creative with its marketing campaigns, especially on social media, and that's true even for the biggest brands. Burger King's latest marketing tactic? Target Facebook users complaining about McDonald's.
As Adweek reports, advertising agency Uncle Grey launched a new and clever social media campaign for Burger King Denmark recently targeting its biggest rival McDonald's. The clever part is the fact the campaign didn't target McDonald's directly, instead focusing on disgruntled customers complaining and commenting on McDonald's Facebook page.
McDonald's teams with singer J Balvin for its newest celebrity meal
After McDonald's Travis Scott's meal became a smash success, McDonald's is creating another celebrity meal. This time, the fast-food chain is partnering with Latin pop superstar J Balvin.
The aptly titled "J Balvin Meal" includes all of his favorites together: a Big Mac, medium fries with ketchup and an Oreo McFlurry. The combination goes on sale Monday through November 1 in the United States. Prices vary depending on region, but customers who order the meal on the McDonald's app will get the Oreo McFlurry for free.
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Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 28, 2011, 10:39 a.m. EST by TheMaster
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Initial reports show a record number of shoppers hit the mall or bought gifts online during the holiday weekend. Thanksgiving weekend is a make-or-break time for many retailers. For the past six years, Black Friday has been the biggest sales day of the year.
More proof of the irrelevancy of OWS.
Time to pack it in, losers.


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Vickers clinches deal
Defence and engineering group Vickers has unveiled a host of international partnership agreements aimed at bolstering its position in the light armoured vehicles market.
The company has agreed to team up with no fewer than six companies to establish a firm foothold in the £8 billion-a-year market.
One of the deals involves Vickers buying mine-protection engineer and big-wheeled vehicle manufacturing operations of South African engineer Reumech - a supplier of vehicles to NATO, the UN and armies across the world.
Vickers will pay £11.6 million for the business.
Further development deals have been struck with MOWAG of Switzerland, Singapore Technologies Automotive, Krauss Maffei of Germany, Adval and GIAT of France.
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updated 11:40 am EDT, Sun March 20, 2011
Archos plans to ship Gen 9 Android tablets in June
Archos in a presentation caught late this past week has confirmed that it would ship its Gen 9 (ninth generaiton) tablets in June. The designs would theoretically be some of the fastest with a dual-core, 1.6GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor inside. The speed would put Archos at the "forefront" of performance over the 900MHz to 1GHz chips in the iPad 2 and the Xoom, Le Journal du Geek saw in its view of the presentation.
The designs would likely be Archos' first with Android 3.0. Some of them will still use hard drives and will have had a "deep redesign" at the OS layer to optimize them for spinning storage, Archos said. They would also have a "disruptive" approach to 3G that would help get a foothold with carriers wanting to sell tablets.
Along with the future vision, Archos also painted an optimistic picture of its market share in 2011. It still saw Apple claiming half of the entire market to itself, but it saw itself participating in the 21 percent of tablets under iPad pricing. Archos' spread is wide and will include tablets just below 400 euros ($567) down to very low-cost Arnova tablets in the 100 euro ($148) range.
The France-based company was one of the earliest to put out non-Windows tablets but has often had trouble competing outside of Europe, especially in the wake of the iPad. Its strategy has nonetheless been successful both outside of those riskier areas as well as in the budget realm, where Apple doesn't choose to compete.


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Your Christmas dinner is under threat from a shortage of essential trimmings like potatoes and parsnips.
Extreme weather has driven crop yields down 23% – and the veg that does make it on to the plate will be “smaller and uglier”.
The “Beast from the East” freeze, a wet spring and then the hottest summer on record all contributed to the problem.
The weather had been “absolutely the antithesis of what a plant needs to grow properly,” said Jack Ward of the British Growers Association.
One parsnip grower warned: “Everybody tries to play it down but there will be a shortage.”
Rob Clayton of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board said stores would end up with smaller and mis-shaped veg.
“We’re not going to see empty shelves but what’s on those shelves might look a little different,” he said.
But there was better news for Halloween– Tesco says there’s been a bumper pumpkin harvest.
- Artichokes are Britain’s most hated veg, followed by okra, yam, celeriac and aubergines, a poll by sauce-maker Dolmio found.


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Articles on this Page
- 12/17/18--07:01: _28 useful kitchen g...
- 12/17/18--07:02: _Uber's bike and sco...
- 12/17/18--14:10: _The number of globa...
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- 12/17/18--14:54: _10 underrated place...
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- 12/17/18--07:01: 28 useful kitchen gadgets you can get under $25
- Jump, the bike and scooter rental company owned by Uber, appears to be preparing to launch throughout Europe, as well as in more US cities, according to new job postings.
- The company is looking to flesh out operations teams in Amsterdam, London, Miami, Dallas, and more.
- CEO Ryan Rzepecki said to expect a "massive ramp-up in scale" next year during an interview with Business Insider earlier this month.
- The number of esports fans globally is anticipated to climb 59% over the next five years, but there’s still significant room for growth.
- This expansion will be driven by many factors, including investment from traditional sports leagues, a higher number of broadcast deals, and the expansion of the mobile-based esports scene.
- The majority of esports fans are millennials, while data suggests that Gen Zers are more receptive to nontraditional sports, like esports, than traditional sports.
- Brands can sponsor esports leagues, competitions, and players as well as advertise on digital platforms like Twitch to reach the eyeballs of esports fans.
- Whatever shape a brand's esports ad campaign eventually takes, displaying an authentic commitment to the gaming world is paramount.
- Outlines the drivers and potential barriers to esports audience growth.
- Details the various reasons esports fans are a compelling advertising opportunity for brands.
- Discusses the different ways brands can invest spend to reach the eyeballs of esports fans.
- Explains best practices brands advertising to esports fans should adopt in order to make inroads with the gaming community.
- 12/17/18--14:11: 15 of the most underrated movies of 2018, according to critics
- Film critics and audiences can have very different reactions to films.
- Many 2018 movies were adored by reviewers but not loved by normal viewers.
- These are some of the more divisive films of the year.
- White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller is on the front lines as President Donald Trump's administration butts heads with Democratic lawmakers over Trump's wishes for a $5-billion border wall.
- Miller was previously identified as the driving force behind the Trump administration's controversial immigration policies.
- At 32 years old, he has been a rising star on the far right for years, making headlines because of his polarizing demeanor and statements long before his time in the administration.
- 12/17/18--14:11: The 11 biggest Photoshop scandals of 2018
- Editing photos is commonplace today, with everyone from Kim Kardashian to regular people using photo editing apps to alter their appearance.
- But where there's Photoshop there are Photoshop fails: from Instagram selfies to on the covers of famous magazines.
- At least 11 photos caused a ruckus on the internet in 2018 for being alleged "Photoshop fails." In other words, the editing was a little too easy to spot.
- You be the judge if these "mistakes" were just tricks of the light, or an attempt to change someone's appearance.
- Google has won the K-12 education technology market.
- Part of their motivation to move into that market is to get kids acclimated to Google products, like the Chromebook.
- However, teenagers prefer to buy iPhones and MacBooks when they graduate high school.
- A new report prepared for the Senate highlights the thousands of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts created by the Russian firm Internet Research Agency, which has been charged with interference in the 2016 campaign.
- The report, which will be made public on Monday but was shared online by the Washington Post, found that the IRA had engaged with millions of American voters through millions of tweets and thousands of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube posts.
- The report found that the threat posed by the IRA persists.
- Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms were used to specifically target black Americans as part of the massive online campaign out of Russia to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
- According to two new reportscreated for the Senate's intelligence committee, Russian-linked accounts and posts were used to spread content focused on racial tensions and suppress black voter turnout.
- After the reports were released, the NAACP called for a week-long #LogOutFacebook campaign to protest the targeting of black voters that ran rampant on the platform.
- Facebook "avoided mentioning" to the Senate the extent that its subsidiary, Instagram, was used for spreading disinformation, the report says.
- 12/17/18--14:31: 5 ways to nail your holiday baking while saving time and money
- Holiday baking doesn't have to be an insurmountable or expensive task.
- Here, author Sarah Wells lists five tips that can help your holiday baking while saving you time and money.
- Telehealth is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems, including rising healthcare costs, an aging population, and the transformation of healthcare from service-centric to consumer-centric, which is straining healthcare system resources and threatening to drive up payer costs.
- Although telehealth solutions aren't suitable for all patients, right now, about 45% of the US population, or 147 million consumers, falls within the addressable market.
- Despite low usage rates, most consumers are open to using telehealth solutions, according to the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study.
- A range of companies are well-positioned to generate savings in terms of revenue and avoid potential pitfalls by deploying telehealth solutions.
- Offers an overview of different types of telehealth services and their applications in the US healthcare ecosystem.
- Highlights the growth drivers and opportunities of these applications.
- Includes exclusive data and insights from the 2018 Business Insider Intelligence Insurance Technology Study.
- Provides examples of key players in the telehealth market, including insurers, medical device makers, and health networks.
- Gives recommendations on how health networks and payers should approach using and deploying telehealth solutions.
- The traditional television-advertising business is increasingly under threat as Americans shift their viewing habits, Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said in a new report.
- New data from Nielsen indicates that streaming-video services are making significant gains against ad-based broadcast and cable television networks.
- TV-ad spending already is declining, but things could get worse, Wieser said.
- The new American Express® Gold Card features a new metallic design, in addition to competitive rewards on restaurants and supermarkets in the US, airfare, and more.
- You can request a limited-edition rose gold version of the card, but only until January 9, 2019.
- New cardholders can also get a unique, limited-time welcome bonus if they apply before the same date.
- Here's what you need to know about the AmEx Gold Card.
- Judge Reed O'Connor's ruling declaring the entire Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was unconstitutional took many experts by surprise.
- Many health policy experts questioned O'Connor's legal judgement and pointed to his long history of favoring conservative positions and attacking the ACA.
- The experts also agreed that the ruling would likely be overturned.
- Some of Amazon's Alexa-enabled speakers are out of stock, and customers are being warned that they might not arrive until after Christmas.
- The out-of-stock items include the second-generation Echo Show and the third generation of Amazon's popular Echo Dot.
- The third-generation Echo Dot was the No. 1 bestselling product on Amazon across all manufacturers and categories worldwide on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- CBS Corporation CEO and Chairman Leslie Moonves left the company in September after reports detailing sexual harassment and assault allegations from six women against the media executive.
- On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Moonves would not receive any of his $120 million severance.
- An investigation found that Moonves violated company policies and intentionally refused to cooperate with the investigation.
- Moonves is worth an estimated $700 million and was one of the highest-paid CEOs in the US, according to Forbes.
- 12/17/18--14:54: 10 underrated places in North America for your next girls trip
- There's nothing like a girls trip to strengthen even the strongest of friendships.
- With so many beautiful cities in North America, there are several destinations easy on the eyes and the wallet.
- Wine country in New York is a nice change of pace while Mexico's self-proclaimed surf town are among some of the most underrated cities for a girls getaway.
- Dr. Andrew Ng, one of the most famous computer scientists in the world, revealed his "playbook" for helping all businesses adopt AI.
- Ng is best-known for his time at Google and his stint as chief scientist at Chinese tech giant Baidu, though he's also affiliated with Stanford and cofounded Coursera.
- He says the best thing to do is to start with a small project before you even think about trying to form a grand strategy.
- He also says that a lot of companies make a crucial mistake — they hoard lots and lots of data, to be used in AI systems. But that data is often useless, Ng says, as it's impossible to separate signal from noise.
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
You might think you won't be able to make any major upgrades to your kitchen for a while, but there are actually plenty of small tools and accessories that make a big impact without costing hundreds of dollars.
For under $25, you can grab these gadgets that will make life in the kitchen a lot easier, whether you're chopping, baking, mixing, or cleaning.
Scissors to snip your herbs into perfectly sized pieces.
An adjustable rolling pin that makes it easy to roll dough to your desired thickness.
A masher to make great mashed potatoes and guacamole in no time.
Dreamfarm Smood - One-Press Spring Coil Potato Masher with Silicone Pot Scraper, $14.99, available at Amazon
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
New job postings on the company's website show an appetite for new markets in Europe, including Paris and London, as well as major US cities like New York, Miami and Dallas ahead of Uber's expected IPO next year.
Jump's General Manager for Northwest Europe will oversee the company's operations and strategy in France, according to a role posted late Sunday. It follows a posting last week for a manager in London for the UK and Ireland. Currently, Jump is only active in Berlin in Europe, according to its website.
In the United States, Jump is looking to hire a scooter operations manager in Sacramento, California, already a popular market for its bikes, according to a role posted Monday morning. In Miami and Dallas, meanwhile, Jump is looking for operations managers to grow the business it has been in talks to launch for months.
Finally, in New York, where Jump bikes are already active in small, isolated areas of the Bronx and Staten Island, the company is looking to hire for two roles focused on expansions: an application specialist and a civic proposals manager. It's not clear if these jobs are focused on New York or on other cities — Jump maintains an office in the city, and the postings mention work in other expansion cities.
A Jump spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Earlier this month, Jump's CEO Ryan Rzepecki said he hoped to leverage Uber's massive network of cities where it has launched car rides to help with getting bikes and scooters in more cities.
"When you couple the hardware expertise and relationships with cities that the Jump team brought,"he said at Business Insider’s IGNITION conference,"and couple that with the operations we've got at Uber with the global teams on the business and policy side, it looks pretty exciting. You'll start to see a pretty massive ramp-up in scale over the next half."
This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here. Current subscribers can read the report here.
Esports, which is short for electronic sports, refers to competitive video gaming watched by spectators. Esports are not as mainstream as traditional sports in the US, but the number of esports fans globally is still sizable. The worldwide esports audience reached 335 million in 2017, according to Newzoo.
And there’s still significant room for growth beyond that — we predict that 600 million consumers globally will watch esports in 2023, up 79% from 2017.
A growing number of brands are acting to capitalize on the growth of esports as the majority of professional gaming fans are millennials and open to brand sponsors. Sixty-two percent of US esports viewers are aged 18-34, according to Activate, while 58% have a positive attitude towards brand involvement in esports, per Nielsen.
Meanwhile, Newzoo anticipates global esports sponsorship revenue to reach $359 million in 2018, up 53% year-over-year. The growing esports audience and brand activity helps explains why high-profile public figures are jumping in to capitalize on the action: In late October, basketball legend Michael Jordan and platinum-selling artist Drake both made investments into separate esports ventures, for example.
In this report, Business Insider Intelligence will explain the growth of the esports audience and why it presents an attractive advertising opportunity for brands. We'll begin by exploring the key drivers and barriers affecting esports audience growth. Finally, we'll detail the benefits of advertising to esports fans and outline the best practices for implementing a successful esports ad campaign.
The companies mentioned in this report are: Alibaba, Arby's, Audi, Bud Light, Hyundai, Intel, Mastercard, McDonald's, Red Bull, Skillz, and Turner.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:
In full, the report:
Some films are adored by critics but don't get the same warm reception from regular viewers. What makes a great movie can vary greatly between professional film reviewers and the average moviegoer. No matter how many cinema hours you logged this year, you may have missed a few of these critically-acclaimed gems.
Here are the 15 most underrated movies of 2018 that film reviewers loved, based on comparing the critic and audience ratings reported onRotten Tomatoes.
"The Old Man & The Gun" is a drama that critics loved more than audiences.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92% critics rating; 64% audience rating.
Synopsis: The true story of Forrest Tucker, a man who escaped San Quentin prison at the age of 70 and went on to orchestrate a series of dramatic heists that captured the public's attention and baffled law enforcement.
What critics said:"Loose-limbed, rascally and Texan to its bones, 'The Old Man & the Gun' is a throwback to an era when making beautifully understated crime comedies was the peak of Hollywood's ambition (before all the spandex took over)."— Time Out
Cinematic drama "Sweet Country" definitely satisfied reviewers.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95% critics rating; 66% audience rating.
Synopsis: An Aboriginal man from Australia's Northern Territory is accused of murder and flees his home after killing a white war veteran in self-defense. When a gang is assembled to hunt down the killer, new details come to light about the circumstances of the crime.
What critics said:"Uncompromising, deliberate, and eerily beautiful, director Warwick Thornton's rugged Australian Western puts a new spin on an old story."— The Seattle Times
"Madeline's Madeline" is an experimental drama that critics raved about.
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87% critics rating; 54% audience rating.
Synopsis: When a young girl joins a prestigious physical theater troupe, her troubled family life begins to bleed into her performance and causes tension with her mother.
What critics said:"One of the best films of the year, if also one of the hardest to initially get your head around."— The Boston Globe
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White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller has once again emerged on the front lines as President Donald Trump's administration butts heads with Democratic lawmakers over Trump's wishes for a $5-billion wall along the US-Mexico border.
At 32 years old, he has been a rising star on the far right for years, often making headlines because of his polarizing demeanor and statements long before The New York Times reported June 16 that he was the origin of the controversial policy.
One of the few remaining staffers from Trump's 2016 campaign, Miller also writes the president's biggest speeches, including Trump's first State of the Union address.
His hard-line positions and knack for policy have made him a force to be reckoned with. But before Miller became a major figure in the Trump administration, he was an outspoken, conservative activist in high school and college who worked on congressional campaigns.
Here's how Miller became Trump's right-hand policy man:
Stephen Miller was born in Santa Monica, California, on August 23, 1985, to a Jewish family whose ancestors fled persecution in what is now Belarus. His family was liberal-leaning, but Miller says he became a stalwart conservative at an early age.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
In 2002, at age 16, Miller wrote in a letter to the editor that "Osama Bin Laden would feel very welcome at Santa Monica High School" because of the student body's anti-war attitude after 9/11. Soon enough, Miller began appearing on conservative talk radio in the Los Angeles area.
A video emerged in 2017 of his giving a student-government campaign speech at Santa Monica High in which he argued that students shouldn't have to pick up their own trash because there are "plenty of janitors who are paid to do it" for them. The audience quickly booed him off the stage.
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Photoshop is ubiquitous today, whether you're aware of it or not.
While by now it's a given that magazine covers and celebrities do some editing, it has seeped into popular culture in the form of editing apps on phones.
But whether it's a big-name magazine, a famous celebrity, or a regular person fine-tuning their Instagram selfie, sometimes the editing goes a little too far.
We've rounded up some of our favorite Photoshop fails— or alleged fails, because often the perpetrator won't admit to altering images.
Keep scrolling to see who might be getting a little help from editing software.
In September 2018, a French art school was caught Photoshopping their students to appear more diverse.
This year, the Émile Cohl art school in Lyon, France, was caught editing their photos to make their student population seem more diverse ahead of a planned opening of a new American branch. Specifically, three students were edited to appear as people of color, and two black students were inserted into the photo.
A former student posted both images on Twitter in a now-deleted tweet, which proceeded to go viral. The school was forced to issue an apology, with the school's assistant director Emmanuel Perrier telling CNN that an American communication company "decided on its own to darken the skin of some students to add diversity. The communication campaign was made from the US."
Both Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt were Photoshopped in promotional images for their upcoming movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood."
Due to a mistake by Sony, the wrong promotional images for "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" were uploaded to their publicity site in August — anyone who opened the photos in Photoshop were able to see their edit history. And that history revealed that the studio had tightened both Pitt and DiCaprio's chins, and nixed a few of 54-year-old Pitt's wrinkles.
Sony claimed full responsibility and claimed that both actors had no knowledge of the edits — the correct images were quickly uploaded. But the snafu proves that not only women in Hollywood are held to unrealistic beauty standards.
Kourtney Kardashian's arm all but disappeared in an ad for Calvin Klein, but the brand claimed it was just bad lighting.
Kourtney's forearm appears superhumanly thin in this August 2018 ad for Calvin Klein.
However, the brand disputed this in a statement to INSIDER: "As you'll see from the high-res version of the image, there are no issues with Kourtney's arm. However, the light is hitting it, which makes it slightly less defined. Unfortunately, when the image is posted to social media in a lower-resolution format, the shape of her arm loses its definition, creating the effect which social media users have commented on."
This didn't stop the internet from having a field day.
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At least, that's what the rumors are suggesting. Even Samsung's mobile-business leader, DJ Koh, has chimed in to hype up the next Galaxy S smartphone.
If the rumors are accurate, we should expect a pretty significant overhaul in the Galaxy S10 lineup that could see the adoption of new technologies, next-gen specs, and a more modern design. The rumors paint a futuristic vision of the Galaxy S10's looks.
Check out the leaks and rumors about the Galaxy S10, with a little visual help from a video render made in collaboration with popular, and often spot-on, gadgets leaker Steve Hemmerstoffer, known best as @OnLeaks on Twitter:
There will be three models of the Galaxy S10.
Samsung is supposedly planning to offer three variants of the Galaxy S10, according to technology analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has accurately predicted elements of new Apple iPhones, as well as various subsequent leaks and rumors.
Kuo believes one model will have a 5.8-inch display, another will have a 6.1-inch display, and the third will have a 6.4-inch display.
A recent Bloomberg report suggests that one of the models will be a more budget-friendly version of the Galaxy S10 that won't come with the curved edges, but rather a more traditional flat display. A rumor featured in Gizmodo suggests that the "budget" Galaxy S10 will be called the "Galaxy S10 Lite."
There's talk of a fourth Galaxy S10 model in the premium category that was certified in Russia, but its only extra feature appears to be dual-sim support.
One of the Galaxy S10 variants will support the new 5G network.
The larger Galaxy S10 Plus model could come in two variations, one of which could have 5G support, XDA Developers reported, citing information it found in the code of an upcoming software update for the Galaxy S9 Plus.
Bloomberg's report suggests the Galaxy S10 models will be compatible with Verizon's 5G network, but it isn't clear exactly which models it was referring to, whether it's the two higher-end models, or even all three variants.
5G is a new wireless standard that promises extremely fast data speeds and potentially less congestion than today's 4G LTE standard. That means 5G data speeds could still be fast even during times of peak data traffic.
So far, however, 5G availability is extremely limited and hasn't been fully deployed by most carriers. If a 5G model is released, it'll only fulfill its potential in a few cities where 5G is starting to roll out.
Rumors are suggesting that the Galaxy S10 will have a front-facing fingerprint scanner underneath the display.
A front-facing fingerprint scanner embedded underneath the display is perhaps the most hotly anticipated feature that could come to the Galaxy S10 — and the rumor mill says it's well on its way.
So far, the OnePlus 6T is the only phone in the US that has an in-display fingerprint sensor. Elsewhere in Asia and Europe, some phones from Chinese manufacturers — including Vivo, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Huawei — have in-display fingerprint sensors, too.
It's also said that Samsung's in-display fingerprint sensor uses ultrasonic technology rather than the optical technology that the OnePlus 6T uses. Apparently, ultrasonic fingerprint sensors offer better reliability and accuracy.
Samsung is still deciding whether or not the lower-end Galaxy S10 model with a supposedly flat display will come with an in-display fingerprint sensor, according to Bloomberg. The Investor suggests it could have a regular fingerprint scanner on the side of the phone. The rumor lines up with Kuo's earlier predictions.
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High school senior Kendra Lodewyk uses a Google Chromebook at school every day — and has since eighth grade. "Just today, I used one in first hour, third hour, and fifth hour," she told Business Insider.
And when Lodewyk goes home, she logs into Google Classroom. It's the online tool where her teachers post homework, quizzes, essays, classroom activities, deadlines, readings, and so on. Google Docs and other Google productivity tools are available there as well.
The usage of Google products isn't unique to Lodewyk's public school in Bay City, Michigan. There are 80 million educators and students globally using G Suite for Education, which allows users to access Gmail, Google Cloud, Google Docs, and other productivity tools. In 2017, Chromebooks and other Google devices made up 58% of all devices purchased for US classrooms, according to Futuresource data.
Lodewyk is a fan. "My peers and I benefit from both of these tools," she said.
But Lodewyk is all about Apple when it comes to the devices she actually buys. Lodewyk said she has an iPhone 8 and plans to get a MacBook when she goes to college.
That's like most Generation Zs — the generation born after 1997 that's on track to overtake millennials in population.
Google has become wildly popular in K-12 classrooms like Lodewyk's, even though Google doesn't make much money distributing that technology in the education sphere. Indeed, Jonathan Rochelle, a product management director for G Suite for Education, even told Business Insider that Google's push into education is partially "philanthropic."
Analysts say Google's interest in schooling stems from a desire to get children and teenagers accustomed to the Google ecosystem.
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"It's pretty clear what motive Google has,"Gartner Research vice president Kelly Calhoun Williams, who focuses on K-12 education and was in public education for 25 years, told Business Insider. "This is not a product they're selling; this is not a commercial product. It's getting lots of people very used to working in a Google environment."
So, if teens aren't falling in love with Chromebooks, why does Google keep pushing into the education market?
Apple is losing the ed-tech market, but it's still won over the teens
Even as Google dominates the classroom, teens are typically more likely to buy an iPhone and a MacBook than a Pixel and a Chromebook.
Investment bank and asset management firm Piper Jaffray found that, in their semi-annual survey of around 6,000 American teenagers, 86% plan to buy an iPhone for their next cell phone. And Worth Ave. Group found that 40% of college students shopping for a new computer will buy a MacBook. HP, which 15% chose, was the second-best brand.
Ishan Goel, a 19-year-old creative marketing strategist who has worked with Mark Cuban Companies, Frito Lays, and other brands, told Business Insider that Apple is the top choice for most Gen Zs shopping for tech.
"Apple built a product with a user interface and experience that embodies what Gen Z stands for — simplicity, connectability with other devices and programs, ease of access, and, most importantly, speed," Goel said.
This is despite Apple's decreased presence in the K-12 education technology market. Apple produced more than half of all education devices in the US in 2012, according to Futuresource. Just five years later, that market share has dropped to 19%.
Of course, not all teens are gaga for Apple. The prices are too high to be the universal choice for Gen Zs.
Still, Topete yearns for a MacBook. "The truth is, all of us prefer Apple technology because of its advanced features and more user-friendly layout, but not everyone can afford one," she said. "Those I know with a Mac got one from Mommy and Daddy, so to speak."
Even if teens prefer iPhones, Google is still winning
Students who use Chromebooks might not love the hardware, but they're getting acclimated to the Chrome browser, Google Search, and YouTube. All of those products can be used on non-Google devices.
"There is some anchoring effect," Avi Greengart, the research director for consumer devices at GlobalData, told Business Insider. "If you're familiar and comfortable with one environment, you're more likely to stick to that atonement more than if you've never encountered it."
And moreover, Google makes the lion's share of its income from Search and YouTube — not hardware sales. Alphabet generates $27.2 billion from advertising from Google searches and from YouTube; revenue from its cloud, device, and other sales comprise just $4.7 billion.
So, while MacBook-littered college campuses suggest the opposite, Greengart said Google has actually won in the education battle.
That's because many Gen Zs use Google Search, YouTube, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, and so on with their non-Google devices. And Greengart said getting a new generation of users acclimated to sharing its data with Google is a win for the company's advertising-dominated bottom line.
Goel agreed that Google's cloud technology has kept its productivity tools popular for Gen Zs. "When I was in school, we would have a group Google Doc," Goel said. "We would all take notes in the same file together at the same time, which helped create a class review for midterms and finals."
"I would argue that that shows Google's strategy for education has worked quite well even if you're not using (Google hardware) anymore," Greengart said. "There are long-term benefits for Google there."
The report found that the IRA targeted African-Americans extensively. The IRA efforts "appear to have been focused on developing Black audiences and recruiting Black Americans as assets."
One of these accounts, the popular "Blacktivist" Facebook page, gathered 1.4 million reactions from viewers. It was popular among African-American activists and used racial issues — particularly police violence — to stoke outrage among viewers. In some cases, it also encouraged African-American voters to stay home and not vote.
"Being Patriotic" is another Facebook page found to belong to IRA. The page, which shared conservative memes and articles, gathered more than 6,312,000 likes.
While it was active, the page shared memes featuring the faces of many of the 2016 presidential candidates. It also encouraged armed insurrection at times, according to the report.
"STOP A.I."— A.I. referring to Alien Invaders — was another of IRA's main Facebook accounts. The profile received 773,305 comments, the most out of all of the agency's 81 Facebook pages. It posted right-wing conservative articles and memes.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
New reports on Russia's political disinformation campaigns across social media platforms concluded that black Americans were specifically targeted with posts on Facebook and Instagram.
Ahead of the 2016 presidential election, Russian-linked accounts and paid-for advertisements were strategically used to encourage black voters to "boycott the election and focus on other issues instead." Posts about Black Lives Matter, police shootings, and racial violence were shared prolifically by Russian social media accounts for the purpose of "recruiting Black Americans as assets," the reports said.
The two reports released Monday — one from New Knowledge and the other from Graphika and University of Oxford researchers — provided further insight into the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm out of Russia previously charged in connection with its efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election. Commissioned by the US Senate's intelligence select committee, these reports show just how many social media sites and millions of users the IRA's campaign was able to reach.
The reports identified popular, influential IRA accounts on Facebook and Instagram that "cross-promoted authentic Black media to create an immersive influence ecosystem." The IRA operated a popular brand, BlackMattersUS.com, not only on Facebook and Instagram, but also Twitter, Tumblr, Soundcloud, YouTube, and Google+. One of the IRA's most influential accounts was @blackstagram_, which amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and thousands of likes on Instagram in 2017.
New Knowledge concluded in its report:
The greatest effort on Facebook and Instagram appears to have been focused on developing Black audiences. There was significant and extensive integration into the Black community, particularly on Facebook, via the creation of a dedicated media ecosystem, the sharing and cross-promotion of legitimate media content, and ongoing attempted development of human assets.
Researchers also revealed that Instagram was a "significant front" in the IRA's operation, and that its reach was even greater than Facebook following the 2016 election. The report noted that Facebook "avoided mentioning" Instagram's reach in its Congressional testimony in October 2017 related to Russian political propoganda efforts.
In response to the reports, the NAACP announced Tuesday it was returning a donation recieved from Facebook. The civil rights group called on supporters to boycott Facebook and Instagram for one week, "to signify to Facebook that the data and privacy of its users of color matter more than its corporate interests." The #LogOutFacebook protest starts Tuesday.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been long criticized for ignoring warning signs that Russia was using the social media platform to spread disinformation about US politics. By the time Zuckerberg publicly acknowledged the role Facebook played, the social network revealed thatRussia-based trolls had published an estimated 80,000 posts seen by 126 million Americans in a two-year period.
SEE ALSO: The 21 biggest data breaches of 2018
As December creeps to a close, you may suddenly find yourself inundated with holiday party invitations, work get-togethers, and family gatherings – usually all run potluck-style.
Sure, you could bring a bottle of wine or pre-packaged cheese plate, but why not take the last chance of 2018 to whip out your baking skills?
And if the mere thought of watching your yule log go uneaten on the communal table in favor of superior baked goods leaves you panicked, I can guarantee your treats will shine just as brightly as the rest with these few simple tips and tricks.
1. Plan ahead
Like any great plan of attack, a truly successful sweet table spread must be planned in advance. Before even choosing your recipes, one of the most important things to consider is how many treats you'll need to crank out.
If you're serving a more intimate get together, then maybe something like a gingerbread cake or a yule log (which both serve roughly 10 to 12 people) would be a good option. But if you're serving a family reunion or an office-wide party, mixing up a recipe like sugar or gingerbread cookies (which usually make about 20 to 30 per recipe) might be a better option.
An added benefit of high-yield cookie recipes is that they can stay chilled in your fridge for a few weeks – ready to defrost and roll out whenever you are.
2. Doubled recipes are twice as nice
Another time-saving tip is to consider how many different treats you can create from just one basic recipe. For example, you make one batch of sugar cookie dough, split it in two, and flavor one with chocolate and one with peppermint. Roll out flat both sheets, place one on top of the other and re-roll tightly into a log. When cut, you'll have delicious chocolate-peppermint pinwheels.
For another multi-purpose recipe, try making a double batch of a basic spice cake. You can frost one half and save the other to turn into festive cake pops. All you'll need to do is crumble the cake, combine with a few generous spoonfuls of buttercream, shape the dough around lollipop sticks and place in the fridge to set. After that, the cake pops can be dipped in melted chocolate and decorated.
3. Look for sales
Around the holidays you're likely to see baking essentials like flour and both granulated and powdered sugar go on sale. If you know you'll be baking for a big group or that you'll need to make a lot of frosting for your creations, this is a great time to stock-up! Not only that but your stock pile might just come in handy when you get a sweet craving come mid-January.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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The holidays are in full swing, which means you probably already have too ugly Christmas sweater parties and family gatherings to think about. While you're busy shopping for holiday gifts, you may want to consider getting something for all the hosts that'll be making you feel welcome in their homes this season.
At a bare minimum, a host gift is a small but generous way to say "Thank you for having me." At its full potential, it's a way to make someone feel valued and recognized for all the time and effort they've spent to give you a wonderful and warm place to be. These host gifts are ones they'll remember and enjoy even after the party is over — once they're over the stress of cleanup (for which your voluntary help is probably the best host gift of all).
Looking for more gift ideas? Check out all of Insider Picks' holiday gift guides for 2018 here.
A trio of chai tea that made it onto Oprah's Favorite Things list
This tea trio made Oprah's Favorite Things list for 2018, so if it's good enough for her, it's good enough for your host. We've actually tried some of Vahdam's teas and were particularly impressed by its beautiful packaging.
A wine tote and a nice bottle to go with it
Draper James X Crate & Barrel Cheers Wine Tote, available at Crate & Barrel or Draper James, $12.97
Wine is a classic host gift, but sometimes it doesn't quite feel like enough. But wrap a bottle in this sweet tote from Reese Witherspoon's brand Draper James and Crate & Barrel and you've got a perfectly complete gift for your party host.
And if you're looking for an easy way to order wine online for the holidays, we've got you covered with this list.
A never-fail candle from one of our favorite new startups
Otherland's candles offer the most beautiful unboxing and gifting experience. They're both a joy to give and a joy to get. You can choose candles from the newest limited-edition collection called Gilded Holiday, or go for the company's five base candles that are carried year-round.
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This is a preview of a research report from Business insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. To learn more about Business Insider Intelligence, click here.
Telehealth — the use of mobile technology to deliver health-related services, such as remote doctor consultations and patient monitoring — is enabling healthcare providers and payers to address the US healthcare industry’s growing list of problems.
The proliferation and rapid advancement of mobile technology are spurring telehealth adoption, and many believe that 2018 could be the tipping point for the telehealth market.
In this report, Business Insider Intelligence defines the opaque US telehealth market, forecasts the market growth potential and value, outlines the key drivers behind usage and adoption, and evaluates the opportunity telehealth solutions will afford all stakeholders. We also identify key barriers to continued telehealth adoption, and discuss how providers, payers, and telehealth companies are working to overcome these hurdles.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
In full, the report:
Streaming video could soon have a big impact on the TV-ad business — even bigger than it's already had.
Americans are increasingly watching video on their televisions via streaming devices such as Roku's players instead of from traditional broadcast or cable services, Brian Wieser, a financial analyst with Pivotal Research Group, said in a new report. That's bad for the ad industry because the kinds of video that consumers are streaming are less likely to have advertisements in them than video from broadcast or cable.
"Overall, the industry-level conditions remain negative for ad-supported national TV as a medium," Wieser said in the report.
Wieser's report followed up on new data from Nielsen about November television viewing. Nielsen found that overall TV watching was basically flat in the month compared with November of last year. The average household spent about 0.2% more time watching television in the month compared with the year before, while the average viewer between the ages of 18 and 49 spent about 3.8% less time.
Americans are watching more streaming video and less cable
But Nielsen's data showed an ongoing and significant shift away from watching cable or broadcast television and toward watching video through electronic devices. Viewers aged 18 to 49 spent about 36.1% of their total TV time watching ad-supported cable-television shows in November, according to Nielsen data cited by Wieser. That was down from 38.9% in November last year and 41.3% in November 2016.
The portion of the total TV-watching time that viewers in that age group spent watching English-language broadcast TV saw a similar decline. It went from 21.5% of their TV time in November 2016 to 19.9% in November last year to 19.2% this year.
By contrast, the amount of time viewers are spending watching TV through Roku's boxes or other internet-connected devices has grown rapidly. In November, viewers aged 18 to 49 devoted about 16.5% of their total TV time to watching shows through such gadgets. That was up from 11.9% last year and just 8.4% in November 2016.
The amount of time viewers are spending watching video through streaming players has grown by about 40% on an annual basis throughout much of the last year, Wieser said.
Video-game consoles are also seeing increasing usage as video-watching devices. Viewers in the same age group spent 10% of their TV time watching video streamed through their game machines. That was up from 9.5% in November 2017 and 8.6% in November 2016.
"The fact that internet connected device-based viewing — whose viewing can include ad-supported content but more often does not — is sustaining ~40% growth rates is particularly negative" for the TV-ad business, Wieser said.
TV-ad spending is already declining
The TV-ad industry is already starting to take a hit because of shifting viewing habits. TV-ad spending in the US fell last year by 1.5% to $70.2 billion and will fall by 0.5% this year to $69.9 billion, according to eMarketer.
Marketers have been increasingly shifting their spending to digital ad formats, buying spots on Facebook, Google, and elsewhere. Advertisers have also been moving some of their spending to ad-supported streaming-video services, including Hulu and the Roku Channel. Amazon may cash in on that trend too; it reportedly has its own ad-supported streaming channel in the works.
EMarketer expects traditional TV-ad spending to rebound in 2020. But Wieser thinks things for the industry could get increasingly worse as viewership declines.
"Budgets are generally unaffected by changes in ratings in the short-term," he said. "Unfortunately, sentiment towards the medium worsens as commonly reported or relied-upon measures such as adults 18-49 fall, especially by the significant levels observed recently. Negative sentiment ultimately leads to advertisers efforts to explore and encourage the use of alternative media vehicles."
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When looking for a new credit card or charge card, aesthetics should not be your biggest concern. Your focus — assuming you pay your bills in time and don't carry credit card debt — should be on things like rewards.
That said, it's nice when you're able to enjoy both.
As part of the overhaul, AmEx unveiled a new chic, gold-colored metal version of the card, similar to the Platinum Card's design. AmEx also introduced a limited-edition rose gold variation of the card — it was so popular that AmEx encountered shipping delays of the rose gold product. Current and new users are able request it. However, that option goes away on January 9.
That means that this is the last chance to get the rose gold version of the card.
Also going away January 9: a unique limited-time bonus for new members. If you don't have the Gold Card and open one by then, AmEx will "pick up the tip" when you dine out. During the first three months, new card members will get 20% back on restaurant charges — in the form of a statement credit — up to $100 total.
That's in addition to the standard welcome bonus of 25,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $2,000 in the first three months. Some people may be targeted for a higher bonus.
The new Gold Card earns 4x Membership Rewards points per dollar spent at US restaurants, as well as on the first $25,000 spent each calendar year at US supermarkets (and 1x point after that). It also earns 3x points on flights booked directly through the airline, and 1x point on everything else.
That makes it among the most competitive cards for restaurants and supermarkets in the US — since it's possible to get more than 1¢ of value for each Membership Rewards point, the value is more than 4% back.
The Gold Card features several other benefits, too. Cardholders can get up to $120 in dining credits a year — split into $10 chunks each month — when they use their cards to order food through Grubhub or Seamless, or at The Cheesecake Factory, Ruth's Chris Steak House, and participating Shake Shack locations. That's in addition to a $100 airline fee credit each calendar year.
The card's annual fee is $250, but between the annual credits and the rewards, it should be easy to earn enough value to more than make up for that.
Click here to learn more about the American Express Gold Card from Insider Picks' partner: The Points Guy.
The shock decision by Judge Reed O'Connor on Friday that ruled the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, unconstitutional was made with a partisan tinge and likely will not stand, experts say.
Health policy experts from across the political spectrum rejected O'Connor's reasoning for the decision and expected it would be overruled on appeal.
O'Connor's decision determined that when Congress reduced the ACA's individual mandate — or penalty for not having health insurance — to $0, this effectively made the rest of the law unconstitutional. This is a broad view of Congress's intent, legal scholars said.
"Congress amended one provision of a 2,000 page law and did not touch the rest of the law so it is implausible to believe that Congress intended the rest of the law not to exist," Abbe Gluck, a health law expert at Yale Law School, said following the ruling.
Under O'Connor's decision, the entirety of the ACA would be thrown out, including popular provisions like preexisting condition protections. Given that such changes could throw the healthcare system into chaos and leave as many as 20 million people without insurance, it has caused an uproar among both politicians and healthcare advocates.
In a Washington Post op-ed, Nicholas Bagley, a law professor with a focus on health policy at the University of Michigan, failed to make sense of O'Connor's legal case. He determined that the "logic of the ruling is as difficult to follow as it is to defend."
"This case is different; it’s an exercise of raw judicial activism,"Bagley said. "Don’t for a moment mistake it for the rule of law."
Indeed, O'Connor has been a favorite judge of conservative lawyers and has ruled against Obamacare on numerous occasions.
And even many Obamacare critics have spoken out against the ruling. Conservative lawyers that previously criticized the law took issue with the breadth of the ruling. Philip Klein, executive editor of the conservative-leaning Washington Examiner and author of a book on "overcoming" Obamacare, called it an "assault on the rule of law."
"If Congress repealed all of Obamacare tomorrow, I'd throw a party. Despite my policy preferences, I'd say the latest decision from U.S. District Court Judge Reed O'Connor of Texas declaring Obamacare unconstitutional is an assault on the rule of law," he wrote in an op-ed Monday.
While most experts agree that O'Connor overstepped, the prevailing sense is that nothing will change for the time being.
The judge issued what is known as a declaratory judgment — which, unlike an injunction, allows the law to continue unabated until the case is taken up by another court. Democratic states have pledged to appeal the ruling, so O'Connor's decision will likely not be the last word. Meantime, people who get access to healthcare through Obamacare's marketplaces or Medicaid expansion will continue to have coverage.
Looking to the future, many health policy experts also believed a higher court — whether it's an appellate court or Supreme Court — will eventually reject O'Connor's huge scope.
"This is insanity in print, and it will not stand up on appeal," Bagley tweeted on Friday.
If you're ordering an Amazon Echo speaker for a Christmas gift this week, make sure you read the small print.
A spokesperson for Amazon did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
Amazon's third-generation Echo Dot will be back in stock before Christmas. However, there is a warning sign that says the item may not arrive to the customer in time for the holidays.
Leslie Moonves, former CEO and Chairman of CBS Corporation who left the company in September after a wave of sexual assault and harassment allegations, will not receive any of his $120 million severance, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Investigators concluded that CBS had grounds to terminate Mr. Moonves for violating company policies and intentionally not cooperating with the investigation, the CBS board of directors said in a statement obtained by the Journal.
Lawyers for the network previously said Moonves should not receive his severance because he "destroyed evidence and misled investigators" as he faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations, according to the New York Times.
The departure of Moonves from the company came after a report by The New Yorker detailing accusations against the media executive from six women. This followed CBS hiring multiple law firms to launch an investigation against Moonves in August, after six other women accused Moonves of sexual misconduct or harassment. Moonves has denied the allegations against him.
Moonves was one of the highest-paid CEOs in the US, thanks to a compensation package of cash, restricted shares and stock options worth $57 million in 2014, Forbes reported. He's worth an estimated $700 million.
CNBC had previously reported that the board was considering giving him a $100 million exit package, but CBS said in a statement that any severance benefits would be pending the results of an independent investigation.
Here's how Moonves made his $700 fortune.
Moonves worked as an actor in the 1970s, with small roles in TV series including "Gemini Man" in 1976 and "The Six Million Dollar Man" in 1977.
He went on to take over Lorimar Television in 1989, which then merged with Warner Bros. Television.
Source: CNN Money
In the early 1990s, Moonves developed hit TV shows including "ER" and "Friends" as president of Warner Bros.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Traveling with your family or significant other is great, but sometimes it takes more than a happy hour to bond with your girls. Enter girls trips. A much-needed getaway masked as a "bonding experience" for you and several of your closest partners in crime.
You've solidified the crew and decided on a date, but now comes the hardest part — figuring out a place that's not only cost-effective but also bustling with endless attractions and trendy restaurants. Las Vegas, Miami and yes, San Diego, are fine. However, there boasts a bevy of underrated cities across North America that not only cater to large crowds of ladies looking to let loose but also don't make a huge dent in one's wallet.
Here are 10 of the most underrated places for a girl's trip.
Oregon's Columbia River Gorge is the perfect place for active ladies who enjoy the outdoors.
Whether you fancy a dip in a hidden waterfall or a scenic hike up Dog Mountain, the Columbia River Gorge region in Oregon is a low-key yet breathtaking place for a girl's trip. With plenty of wide open road one can cruise on via bicycle or car, the scenery lends itself for plenty of Instagram-worthy shots.
While you're there, take in the craft beer scene of the Pacific Northwest. Not a beer fan? Thankfully, the Willamette Valley located just an hour south boasts over 400 wineries and known for its famous pinot noir. Start planning your trip here.
Squaw Valley, California is home to the largest ski resort in the United States.
If hitting the slopes sounds more fun than laying on the beach, then Squaw Valley Ski Resort is the ideal place for a girls getaway. It's rare to find so much snow in California, and the developers of this venue have made great use of this asset. There are condo-style suites so everyone stays in one room and some budget-friendly rooms.
Everything you will need is on the property, including nearly 20 shops to fuel some retail therapy. Between The North Face to gourmet chocolate, the stores are diverse.
Sedona, Arizona is for the army of ladies looking to benefit from a relaxing time.
Located near Flagstaff, Sedona is a haven for ladies interested in escaping their day jobs for some rest and recreation. Aptly nicknamed "Red Rock Country," lodging in Sedona ranges from resorts and cabins to bed and breakfasts.
Sedona is well-known for its spiritual vortexes, which their site describes as "swirling centers of energy that are conducive to healing, meditation, and self-exploration."
People apparently leave feeling inspired, recharged, or uplifted after visiting a vortex. Sound like something fit for you and your girl? Start planning.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Dr. Andrew Ng has one of the most enviable resumes that a computer scientist could work for.
He's probably best-known in America for his time at Google, where he cofounded the Google Brain artificial intelligence project with famed engineer Jeff Dean. From there, he served as chief scientist at Chinese tech giant Baidu, where he grew its AI organization into the thousands. For a time, too, he was director of Stanford's AI Lab. Oh, and he cofounded online learning company Coursera.
Nowadays, Ng is the chief executive at Landing AI, a consultancy that helps the largest businesses pursue their own strategies for artificial intelligence, which stands to revolutionize everything from warehouse labor, to retail, to writing your own e-mails. Indeed, he says that the AI trend to watch nowadays is the adoption of the technology by non-tech companies, from fashion brands to factories to farms.
To that end, Ng released last week his "AI Transformation Playbook," a five-step plan for businesses to follow if they want to dip their toes into the water, all drawn from his experiences at Google and Baidu. We spoke to Ng earlier in December to get his perspective on the playbook, and his further advice for companies chasing AI.
First thing's first, Ng says, is not to worry so much about the hand-wringing in Silicon Valley about Facebook, Google, and other giants hoovering up all the AI talent, calling those concerns "overhyped." If you can pay well, he suggests, and you're working on interesting projects, you won't have any trouble finding AI engineers.
And besides, he says, there are lots of engineers out there doing work that might be considered AI (or, at least, AI-adjacent), insofar as they're parsing large amounts of data to help the system make smarter recommendations. Whatever they don't know, he says, they often pick up on the fly as the project demands.
"All education is self-education, because what's the alternative?" quips Ng.
"I see CEOs go big too often"
Once you're ready to get going, Ng says that it's a common mistake to start by forming a broad strategy. This is tempting, but it's usually a mistake, he says: You don't know what your company is capable of, AI-wise, let alone what it's good at. Rather than rush into timetables and grand designs you later have to alter, start small, he says.
The really crucial first step, he says, is picking a project that's not so big that you get discouraged, but also, not so small that "even if you succeed, no one cares."
"I see CEOs go big too often, then I see them go too small," Ng says. "Try to do something you can get done in a year."
In that sense, it's usually good to start with something core to the business — starting with something behind-the-scenes like HR or payroll could be doable, but it also might be hard to get the team jazzed about it, he says. This is also good, he says, because it forces you to think about how AI can actually be put into use in your business, rather than an abstract cure-all.
"AI doesn't magically solve your problems," says Ng.
From there, it's time to invest in people. For large companies, he says, it's worth the time and effort to formally train your people, even as you hire outside experts. The major cloud platforms, like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, offer a smorgasbord of AI-powered services for developers. Still, Ng says, those are pretty generalized tools; every company faces their own problems, and you want your own team building your own solutions.
"They're just fine, but you need to build on top of them," says Ng. "You want to be good at AI, you need your own team," he later added.
Don't be a hoarder
Then, once your team is on board and fully trained up on your own particular problems, then you can think about your AI strategy — a way to apply what you've learned to actually make a difference.
Finally, Ng says that there's one big mistake that he sees lots of companies make. Over the last several years, companies have been hoarding all of their data, from all parts of their business, with the expectation that it will some how, in some way, form the cornerstone of an AI or data analysis strategy.
Not so, says Ng, who routinely sees clients sitting on vast warehouses of irrelevant or otherwise useless data, where the signal is indistinguishable from the noise. Ultimately, Ng says that when you're training an AI model, it's better to have a few hundred high-quality data points than it is to try to use all of that extant data.
"To this day, I don't think their engineers know what to do with this supposedly valuable data," says Ng.


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MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. - (WXYZ) — For small business owner Mike Sheppard, the phone doesn’t ring quite like it used to ring.
"You’re going through your day to day business, and all the sudden you come to grinding halt, and your expenses are still there," said Mike Sheppard owner of Northern Audio in Madison Heights.
Mike owns Northern Audio Service, an 80-year-old Madison Heights mainstay, that specializes in repairing and rebuilding music related equipment.
"Going from full throttle, everybody working overtime to zero and then having to tell customers you have to wait till couple of months, you know, that's hard to do," said Sheppard.
When the pandemic began, Mike was forced to lay off his employees and close up shop and he began wondering if the business would live to see another.
Then a lifeline appeared! Madison Heights Economic Development Supervisor, Giles Tucker, is helping city businesses find funding.
"When things are difficult, we rely on our community to help build us back up," said Giles Tucker from the city of Madison Heights.
"The city, Main Street Oakland County, Madison Heights- Hazel Park chamber of commerce and our DDA, they all kind of pitched together," said Tucker.
The county coming up with an innovative idea, a mom and pop business relief fund all aggregated through crowdfunding, the first program of its kind in the country.
Here’s how it works: Each Oakland County city crowd sources from its own community and the county matches dollar for dollar up to $4000.
For Madison Heights, the success was unexpected.
"We set our initial goal at $10,000 and we raised it in six days so we actually did a stretch goal of $15,000," said Tucker. "It's been a real team effort."
An effort aiming to keep businesses like Mike’s alive.
"This is a way our residents are saying thank you because when things get back to normal, these are the types of businesses that support what we do locally," said Tucker.
Those businesses saying thank you in return.
"Any extra income you can get is phenomenal," said Sheppard. "It's like the old thing, if you all stick together, and where we go one, we go all."
The city of Madison Heights is now accepting applications from businesses Click here to apply
Click here to donate to Madison Heights Patronicity campaign
SO HERE’S THE REBOUND RUNDOWN
- IF YOU OWN A SMALL BUSINESS IN OAKLAND COUNTY AND NEED FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE- CONTACT YOUR CITY AND APPLY TO RECEIVE THE FUNDING
- SUPPORT THE MOM AND POP SHOPS IN YOUR COMMUNITY BY HEADING TO THE CROWDFUNDING SITE PATRONICITY. COM


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UPDATE: The market has spoken: EA and Ubisoft's PlayStation 4 and Xbox One games now cost the same across both consoles' digital stores.
This morning Eurogamer exclusively brought you the news that Sony had negotiated a price reduction for FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed 4 after it emerged the PlayStation Store versions of these games were £8 more expensive than the Xbox One Games Store versions.
Now, this price reduction has kicked in, and there is price parity across both PS4 and Xbox One - just in time for the PS4's UK launch tomorrow at midnight.
Assassin's Creed 4 is now £54.99 on PSN - the same as on Xbox One. FIFA 14, Battlefield 4, Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14 and Need for Speed: Rivals are all £54.99 on PSN. Just Dance 2014 is £39.99.
While the price drop will be seen as a victory for prospective UK PS4 owners, many are still upset at the high cost of the digital versions of these games compared to their physical high street costs. FIFA 14 is £47 on Amazon, for example.
So, what caused the price discrepancy in the first place?
Ubisoft told Eurogamer this was down to Sony and Microsoft offering different "pricing matrices" for games sold on their digital stores. Basically, it's to do with different methods used for converting things like currency, with Microsoft using one method and Sony another.
Ubisoft's statement is as follows:
Both Microsoft and Sony provide pricing matrices for games sold digitally via their respective services, similar to the way tiered wholesale pricing works on Apple's iTunes. Developers, including Ubisoft, then select a wholesale price within those tiers that best corresponds to our expectations of the games' overall value and market potential.
"However, the final retail prices are determined by the vendor. Also, because those two matrices are not identical the resulting prices on the two online services don't always align. We're aware this is potentially confusing for customers and are looking into what can be done.
ORIGINAL STORY: The prices of games on the PlayStation 4 Store will be adjusted ahead of the console's European launch, Sony has told Eurogamer.
Sony and third-party publishers EA and Ubisoft were criticised this week after it emerged that games such as FIFA 14, Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed 4 were more expensive on the PlayStation Store than they were on the Xbox One Games Store.
EA PS4 games were an incredible £63 earlier this week. Then, they were reduced to £60 - still five pounds more expensive than on Xbox One.
Now these games look set to drop further to fall in-line with the Xbox One store prices.
"Although PS4 launches in Europe on the 29th November, we have switched on the European PSN early to test and make sure that features and functionality are fully operational for launch," Sony told Eurogamer.
"However, as PS4 and PSN have not yet officially launched in this region, nothing on the PSN is final, including pricing on the store. You will continue to see some prices adjusted over the next few days in preparation for launch on Friday."
So, what happens if you've already forked out your hard-earned cash for a PS4 game on PSN and it drops in price? The difference will be refunded, Sony told Eurogamer.


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The familiar blue garbage truck made its rounds in a Dallas suburb last week. There appeared to be nothing different — except when the truck stopped in front of a home to pick up recyclable trash.
Usually, two workers run to the curbside to empty a huge green trashcan into the enormous holding bucket of the truck. But this time around, a robotic arm extended out into the curb, picked the can and neatly emptied its contents into the bucket. No human stepped out. The arm was being silently controlled by just one worker, who was standing in the warmth of the truck on the passenger side. The second pickup worker — who used to be a mainstay while emptying cans until as recently as two weeks ago — was nowhere to be seen.
This is how technology is killing jobs that are repetitive, manual and do not require as much skill. It is a dangerous trend which threatens the livelihood of millions around the world at a time when there just aren’t sufficient jobs for the college educated.
Until a decade ago, obtaining a job as a cashier at a grocery store in the US was considered a decent start for someone with no college degree. But this began to slowly change when the industry started installing self-checkout kiosks, eliminating the need to hire cashiers. By 2014, these kiosks were so widespread that over $1 trillion per year in goods were being transacted through them, with little or no human interaction.
Now, even growth in self-checkout kiosk deployment has slowed. “Scan and Go” apps have turned customer smartphones into a wandering supermarket. Shoppers simply use their phones to scan items off store shelves as they put it in their shopping carts, and see a running total of items on their phones. When done, they pay within the apps even when they are in a store aisle, completely bypassing the checkout counter.
Upon exit, they show their e-receipt to the security guard, which is the only interaction a customer has with a store employee during the entire shopping visit.
US grocery stores are now deploying “order online but free pickup at the store” services too. They could have offered services, like India’s BigBasket.com , to deliver groceries home, employing thousands of driver and delivery teams to help the time-strapped US consumer.
But labour in the US is expensive for home delivery, and studies have shown that an average US consumer will not pay these delivery costs over and above that of the groceries. There are a few companies in the big cities that deliver groceries home (like Instacart in San Francisco), but the service has not yet caught on in a big way.
Instead, offering free pickup at the store is an easier way of retaining customers, because much of the burden of walking the aisles and bagging items into shopping bags is done by the store personnel for free. All the customer has to do is pull into a separate area of the parking lot, where the order is loaded into the customer’s car. This saves the customer valuable minutes and the expense of having someone deliver the goods home.
But how does the store know you are in the parking lot? When these services started a few months ago, one would have to call the store about 15 minutes prior and the store attendant would come out to meet you when you called a second time to announce that you were in the lot. Now, there’s an app.
You just tap a button on your phone to tell the store you are on your way. The store then tracks your movement by GPS and knows exactly when you are close to the lot. Magically, the attendant comes out to your car at the exact time you are pulling into the parking space. Not only is the store clerk’s job (to receive phone calls and direct attendants to meet customers) eliminated, but customer satisfaction is enhanced because technology is better able to match attendants with your arrival time.
Say Hi to Eric
Two weeks ago, I got a call from Austin from a man who identified himself as Eric. “Hello, may I speak to Mr Rao?” he asked. “This is Rao,” I said. “Well hello,” Eric replied and explained that he was conducting a survey about home electricity use and wanted my input. Would it be ok if I spent a few minutes?
The man was so polite that I agreed. Eric’s intonations were near perfect. His pauses, even his laughs, were spot on. It was only about two minutes after we started talking that I realised that Eric was not a human. He was a machine!
I asked him to repeat something, and he did so using the exact same words, with the same pauses and laughs, all intact! I tried this again, and the response was identical. I hung up on Eric — something I would never do to a human.
Much has been written about how people — those with just a class XII education — who would work in call centres are finding it difficult to get jobs or even hold on to them. These individuals were trained to speak in artificial western accents and even make idle conversations (“Wow, it’s cold today in Chicago, isn’t it?”), all in an effort to sell a new credit card to an unsuspecting customer.
With Eric, there’s no need for such people. His accent is flawless. The back-end of Eric’s system is connected to a cloud where any question you ask triggers an almost-accurate response. Had you agreed with Eric about Chicago’s weather and remarked, “Oh, I just hope it doesn’t snow tonight!”, Eric would have intelligently responded, “Yeah, me too, but unfortunately the forecast calls for two to three inches!”
After Eric scouts out a potential customer with this friendly banter, he routes him/her to a US-based call centre, where a real human takes over the rest of the transaction. This is powerful, because hundreds of thousands of call centre employees in India can never compete with the likes of Eric, who will only get better, and more accurate, with time.
Peter Sondergaard of Gartner said, in an interview with Computerworld in October 2014, that “One in three jobs will be converted to software, robots and smart machines by 2025.” As though things are not already bad enough, the world clearly will look very different nine years from now.


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GM running on fumes and running out of cash
The American auto industry is running on fumes.
General Motors warned Friday that it may run out of money by the end of the year after piling up billions in third-quarter losses and burning through cash at an alarming rate. Ford sustained heavy losses, too.
The situation is so severe, GM has suspended talks to acquire Chrysler and is appealing to the government for help as the slumping economy drags car sales to their lowest level in a quarter century.
GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said the company will "take every action" possible to avoid bankruptcy.
"We're convinced that the consequences of bankruptcy would be dire," he said, adding that the company will use every source of potential funding. "We need to find a way to get through this, and that's really our focus," he said.
GM also plans more job cuts, including an additional 5,500 salaried and factory workers. But company officials cautioned that those measures alone would not be enough and that federal aid is essential.
Ford saw its cash supply decline rapidly and announced its own job cuts Friday. But it's in better shape because the company borrowed billions of dollars in 2007 by mortgaging its factories.
Friday's events called into question the future of Detroit's three automakers and heightened pressure on the government to take action.
President-elect Barack Obama on Friday indicated that help may be on the way. At a Chicago news conference, he said Congress must pass an economic stimulus measure either before or just after he takes office in January, and he mentioned aid for the auto industry.
If GM files for bankruptcy, Fitch Ratings analyst Mark Oline said, there is a very high risk that it would pull in Ford and Chrysler, too, because GM probably would be forced to discount vehicles deeply to generate cash for creditors, and other automakers would be forced to follow.
GM said it lost $2.5 billion in the third quarter, but more important, it spent $6.9 billion more than it took in - nearly double the spending rate of the second quarter.
The news came just hours after Ford said it had lost $129 million for the quarter. The company burned through $7.7 billion in cash, but said it could keep going through 2009. Ford also said it would cut another 2,260 white-collar workers in North America.
GM reported a net loss of $4.45 per share during the quarter, compared with a record-setting loss of $39 billion ($68.85 per share) a year earlier. Its automotive operations saw an adjusted loss of $2.8 billion. Revenue fell to $37.9 billion from $43.7 billion.
The results exceeded Wall Street estimates. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters predicted a loss of $3.70 per share on sales of $39.4 billion.
GM suspended its matching contribution for employee 401(k) plans and suspended tuition reimbursement.


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After 10 long years, there is good news knocking on the door of the First-gen Acura NSX owners and also its enthusiasts. People back in the 1990s are very well aware that whether under Honda or Acura, This is a supercar of its time. This mid-engine sports car was developed with the help of an F1 legend and was loved and appreciated the most. The company is considering a restoration program for its U.S based owners.
There was a similar restoration that began in 2010 of the First-gen Acura NSX in Japan, and the owners are enjoying the benefit ever since. Earlier, only the owners living there could get their cars restored, and for U.S based customers, it was a task to get it done. Through the success of this restoration program, every customer could get access to their favorite driving experience.
In a Zoom Meeting for the 2020 Acura NSXPO, John Watts, the senior manager of Acura, revealed that the company is getting serious about considering a restoration, especially for U.S owners similar to that in Japan. He even said that up to 9000 first-gen NSX got sold in the U.S, and many of them are still in working condition. However, a discussion over this idea is still going on, and the program is not going to be financially cheap.
For anybody who is not familiar with the Restoration of automobiles, it is the mechanical repair, removing, or replacing parts of the cars which keep the car in its original condition so that it remains beautiful and efficient throughout its journey. However, getting the car restored from has several benefits mentioned below:-
- You can customize it according to your needs, which enables you to style your vehicle.
- You can get the restore done according to your wish, for example, full restore or half restore.
- The process will take place, keeping in mind your budget.
- You get a better resale value.
Ultimately it is a value for money. Restoration is a valuable process, and getting access to it will help your car perform better, and you can enjoy all the benefits.


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March 16, 2023
UK-based PCL Direct Group, a leading UK company specialising in the remanufacturing printer hardware and consumables, has joined ETIRA.
In a move aimed at promoting sustainability and eco-friendliness in the office imaging industry, PCL Direct Group, a leading UK company specialising in the remanufacturing printer hardware and consumables, has joined the European Toner and Inkjet Remanufacturing Association (ETIRA).
The announcement was made by PCL Direct Group’s Sales Director, Ian McIntyre, who emphasised the importance of collective action towards reducing carbon footprints and promoting responsible practices in the imaging industry.
“Joining ETIRA is a significant step for us as we seek to promote the benefits of printer hardware and consumable remanufacturing to a wider audience,” said McIntyre. “As a member of ETIRA, we will be able to collaborate with other like-minded companies, share best practices and learn from each other as we work towards achieving our common sustainability goals.”
ETIRA, founded in 2003, is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of European companies engaged in the remanufacturing of toner and inkjet cartridges. The association aims to promote sustainability and eco-friendliness by advocating for the benefits of cartridge remanufacturing, encouraging the development of environmentally friendly technologies and practices, and working with regulatory bodies to promote responsible waste management practices.
McIntyre added that by joining ETIRA, PCL Direct Group will have access to a wealth of knowledge, resources, and networking opportunities that will enable the company to better serve its customers while promoting sustainable business practices.
“With the global push for sustainability and eco-friendliness, there has never been a better time for companies in the imaging industry to join hands and work together towards achieving common goals,” said McIntyre. “As a member of ETIRA, we are better positioned to leverage our expertise and experience in cartridge remanufacturing to drive positive change in the industry and contribute to a more sustainable future.”
The move by PCL Direct Group comes at a time when the office imaging industry is undergoing significant changes, with a growing emphasis on sustainability and eco-friendliness. As more companies seek to reduce their carbon footprints and promote responsible waste management practices, joining a trade association such as ETIRA provides a platform for companies to collaborate and work together towards achieving these goals.
Categories : World Focus