text:
Phillips Auction House Had Its Most Successful Year Ever in 2018, Generating $916 Million in Sales Worldwide
Revenue-driving day sales, a strategic focus on modern art, and expansion in Asia contributed to the historic auction house's stellar 2018.
Last year was a good one for Philips. The best, actually.
The auction house announced that it sold $916 million worth of art and collectibles in 2018, the highest total in its 220-year history.
The record sum comes a decade after the Russian luxury goods conglomerate, the Mercury Group, acquired the business, and five years since former Christie’s CEO Ed Dolman took the top job there.
According to the house, auction sales rose 27 percent, to $794.3 million, while private transactions rose 46 percent to $122.2 million. In the house’s marquee category of 20th century and contemporary art, sales jumped 40 percent to $592.9 million.
Phillips’s totals still pale in comparison to those generated by its much larger rivals, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, which both exceeded $4 billion in sales last year. But the bronze-medal winner has made serious gains in market share. According to data collected by the artnet Price Database, Phillips’s public auction sales have more than doubled in the past five years. In 2013, its fine art sales made up 4.1 percent of the total generated by all three houses. By 2018, that figure grew to seven percent. And while three percent may not sound like a lot, it represents an increase of around $350 million.
So how did they get there? “Our strategy of focusing exclusively on the 20th and 21st centuries, our continued expansion in Asia, and our move to increase our modern art offerings have all played a role,” Dolman said in a statement.
In a conversation with artnet News, Dolman emphasized the importance of the less glamorous but more profitable day sales. “The middle market day sales that accompany the high-profile evening sales are extremely important to the revenue generation for the company,” he said, adding that the category grew by 50 percent year-on-year.
At the same time, Dolman highlighted a strategic shift to pursue a greater number of high-quality modern artworks as another driver of its record total. “It’s something we’ll be focusing on more and more,” he said, citing as examples Picasso’s La Dormeuse (1932), which sold in London for $57.9 million, and Matisse’s fresh-to-market bronze sculpture Nu Allonge 1 (Aurore) (1917), which sold for $20.5 million in the same sale.
But above all, the CEO credited the recruitment of key staff members as the key to its success. At a time when auction-house rainmakers are departing Sotheby’s and Christie’s at a steady clip, Phillips has managed to recruit and retain top business-getters, including Cheyenne Westphal, Jean-Paul Engelen, and Robert Manley.
“We’ve got a really stellar bench now,” Dolman says. “They bring with them clients and a reputation for expertise and we’ve really benefited from that.”
The question now is whether Phillips will be able to repeat its success in 2019, a year most have agreed will be a challenging one. In the face of “significant apparent headwinds in the market,” including China’s economic slowdown and Brexit, Doman said cautiously: “I’m hoping 2019 will be a year where people continue to buy and sell art and that Phillips will continue to see growth.”
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.


text:
Liberating, that feeling you get as you’re flying through the clouds at 30,000 feet, comfortably ensconced in your first-class cabin chair. Now, you can feel that same rush of freedom and serenity on the blacktop, cruising along I-40 in command of your Lincoln Aviator. “You are cleared for takeoff.” The Lincoln Motor Company is […]
Breaking news and the latest updates from Lincoln.
Things are looking pretty bright in the direction of Lincoln. Actually, bright is putting it mildly. Things are looking quite radiant … luminous is a better way to word it. The road just got a lot more exciting. That’s because another exceptional vehicle is being added to the Lincoln lineup. Introducing the 2019 Lincoln Nautilus […]
All kinds of savings are happening right now at Leith Lincoln in Raleigh. You’re invited to the Leith Model Year-End Sales Event for the best savings of the year. Special lease and financing offers are now available on new Lincoln vehicles, including the 2017 Lincoln MKC, 2017 Lincoln Continental, 2017 Lincoln MKX and more. […]
For 2017, the new Lincoln MKZ is redesigned with a sleeker look and is more elegant than ever before. This five-passenger vehicle’s new front end comes with a new one-piece Lincoln signature grille that is sure to make a statement on the road. You’ll notice the stylish adaptive HID headlamps with LED signature lighting. Less […]
Lincoln proudly Introduces the all-new 2018 Lincoln Navigator coming soon. It may not be available until this fall, but you can get a sneak peek of this luxury SUV here, right now. Compromise isn’t even an option when it comes to the Lincoln Navigator. In most compromises, you have to give up something and […]

domain: news


text:
If you were surprised Sprint passed on the BlackBerry Z10 to concentrate on the QWERTY-equipped BlackBerry Q10, then a new report from AllThingsD may clear up the confusion. An anonymous source told the site Sprint has already bagged one of BlackBerry’s next devices, which will boast a full touchscreen, giving the carrier the best of both worlds when it comes to the new OS.
During CES, BlackBerry’s chief marketing officer said the firm had at least six devices in the pipeline for the coming year. Although he didn’t provide any firm details, he did say the complete range would see BlackBerry have phones available at all key price points. BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins said in an interview recently all the BlackBerry 10 phones released this year would have, “The whole ten yards,” in terms of features, including 4G LTE support.
Despite prior statements regarding price points, he killed any talk of super-cheap hardware headed for emerging markets, saying sub-$100 phones are, “not BlackBerry.” Sprint will be carrying one of these new phones, and despite it being another touchscreen device like the Z10, it will be an entirely new model. The Verge says its sources have confirmed AllThingsD’s report, and refer to the forthcoming touchscreen BlackBerry phone as version 2.0 of the Z10, although there are no rumors regarding the specification.
The news comes soon after AT&T announced the launch date for the BlackBerry Z10 in the U.S., where it has been stuck in carrier testing limbo for sometime. Verizon and T-Mobile will also sell the Z10, but its arrival on both those networks has yet to be announced, however March 27 has been mooted as T-Mobile’s big day. The Z10 is already on sale in 21 countries around the world.
- BlackBerry trailer depicts the rise and fall of the iconic phone
- BlackBerry’s latest revival attempt crashes before launch
- The BlackBerry Key2 shows why software updates really matter
- Classic BlackBerries are finally losing suppport as company shuts down services
- BlackBerry rises from the grave: New 5G phone with a keyboard coming in 2021


text:
TEAM USA PRESIDENT JEREMY SHAW IS LATEST “ASK A PRO”
Jeremy Shaw, President of the Team USA Scholarship and leading TV and radio announcer, is the latest online driving instructor for SAFEisFAST.com.
An internationally-acclaimed motor racing writer and broadcaster for more than 40 years, Shaw is the founder of the Team USA Scholarship which has provided opportunities for young American drivers since 1990. He has spent years giving advice to aspiring racers and is now available to answer your questions www.Autoglassguru.com.
British-born and US-based, Shaw began his career on reporting assignments with Motoring News and Autosport before taking on dual roles as an editor at Autosport and Press Officer at Brands Hatch, followed by a life-changing opportunity to become Editorial Director for On Track Magazine in 1985. He then went on to become a commentator for CART/Champ Car (1993-2007) and various other on-air gigs not to mention continuing to provide editorial content to major motorsports publications.
Shaw founded the Team USA Scholarship in 1990 and continues to run the SAFEisFAST-backed initiative that has seen the likes of Jimmy Vasser, Bryan Herta, Buddy Rice, and Josef Newgarden graduate and go on to become race winners in IndyCar, NASCAR, IMSA Sportscar Championship, Indy Lights, Pro Mazda Championship and many more.
RACER JOINS FORCES WITH USA TODAY TO EXPAND IMSA COVERAGE
Racer Media & Marketing, Inc., publishers of RACER magazine and RACER.com, and USA TODAY Sports Media Group have aligned with sports car sanctioning body IMSA to produce and distribute original sports car racing content to audiences across the USA TODAY Sports Media Group platform. As a result, RACER’s authoritative and respected coverage of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is positioned to reach a broader cross-section of mainstream sports and general motorsports audiences.
USA TODAY NETWORK reaches 125 million digital consumers each month, with 52 million unique visitors consuming sports content, making it the fourth largest digital sports network in the United States. Of these readers, eight million identify as motorsports fans.
RACER.com is America’s number one digital motorsports media platform, averaging 2.3 million page views per month, while RACER magazine and sponsors like greasemonkeydirect.com put their face for the media. RACER Studio produces authentic, original native content for many leading automotive brands and sanctioning bodies including the upcoming 2018 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season preview as part of the December 2017/Winter issue of RACER.
“We’ve always taken great pride in our coverage of IMSA, going back over 25 years,” says Paul Pfanner, RACER’s founder, president and executive publisher and RRDC member. “With this alignment, we have the chance to spread our enthusiasm for this great series beyond our traditional core motorsports fan base, and we hope it, in turn, helps bring more fans to IMSA to watch some of the best that sports car racing has to offer.”


text:
|| Print ||
|Articles - April 2010|
|Wednesday, March 24, 2010|
Sixteen Portland State University students sit in a classroom, taking notes as German professor Bill Fischer details the day’s assignment in German and professor Maggie Elliott retranslates in French. Fischer tells the students that during their presentations for the class’s annual Exposition and New Product Rollout there needs to be a “high point” in their speeches to capture audience attention.
Student Brett Condron questioned the idea of incorporating excitement into the presentations, saying speeches about sales and marketing strategy can’t help but be boring. “Have you ever seen a shareholder meeting?” Condron asks.
“But we’re a small, hungry firm,” Fischer responds.
This isn’t just any foreign language class. Fischer calls the class “SpeakEasy.” It’s a third-year German course conducted as a student-run business startup company. “This is far more difficult than putting verb charts on a board,” Fischer says.
Speaking in German and French, students are in charge of a small business that designs, manufactures and sells multilingual greeting cards. Their products include Valentine’s Day, Christmas, birthday and thank-you cards that are printed on paper made from recycled elephant dung. Their message is expressed in all 23 languages taught at PSU, plus Dutch, and the cards cost between $1.50 and $3.
Business is booming.
“We’ve already exceeded everything we thought was practical,” says Condron, who is the equivalent of the company’s chief financial officer.
The class sells the cards once a week from an on-campus booth. Sales during the spring academic quarter (about half completed) are at $600. “Since we have a real presence, more people have been finding out about us,” Condron says.
Students first sold cards to friends and family. “It was like being a new Avon sales representative,” Condron says.
Fischer began the class in 2001 when he incorporated business and occupational language into a third-year German course and decided to craft the class into a workplace environment. It took seven years to develop a product.
The first was small, portable vocabulary cards packed in plastic carrying cases, with early capital between $750 and $1,000 coming out of Fischer’s pocket. “Quality control was horrendous,” Fischer says.
The class switched to producing cards in 2009. A student suggested using a sustainable paper product, which Fischer says amounted to instant advertising. “There was an immediate return,” he says.
Sales increased by 600%. Production has doubled as marketing efforts increased in late February, and Condron hopes that in two years sales will increase to $10,000 per quarter.
There’s more at stake than gaining practical language skills. Foreign language programs are getting cut from university department offerings because of budget cuts and the perception that foreign languages are not useful.
Fischer hopes that part of the profit can help lessen the impact of institutional budget cuts. “We’re frightened that German [classes] won’t survive if we don’t adapt to the times,” Fischer says.
Tuesday, July 01, 2014
BY HANNAH WALLACE | OB BLOGGER
Demand for organic food continues to soar: Last year, sales of organic food rose to $32.3 billion — up 10% from 2012. In Oregon, organic produce wholesaler Organically Grown Co. has been championing organic growing methods for four decades.
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
Citing the transition to catch shares management as a key to rebuilding stocks and reducing bycatch, 13 species caught by the West Coast trawl fishery today earned designation from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as sustainable.
Friday, May 30, 2014
BY DEBRA RINGOLD | OB GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
Since 1970 the performance of our public education system has steadily deteriorated.
Wednesday, July 02, 2014
BY JESSICA RIDGWAY | OB WEB EDITOR
Dress for Success Oregon promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and career development tools.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
I was in a rut. A few months ago, I was at my desk trying to come up with cover story ideas for our June “green” issue. But I was stuck on a concept that is a bit too tried and true in the magazine business.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
How serious a problem is climate change? Readers want to have their cake and eat it, too.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Oregon is known for its green-minded citizens, and many workers are attracted to firms and organizations that practice green, not just pay lip service to it.
|The Private 150: Bigger But Leaner|
|The Perfect Food|
|Powerlist: Staffing Firms|
|What I'm Reading|
|Washington volcanoes receive more scientific scrutiny|
|Edward Snowden: Racy photos often shared at NSA|
|Forbes Media to sell majority stake|
|FedEx indicted for delivering illegal prescription drugs|
|Microsoft to cut 18,000 jobs|
|Profits surge at Morgan Stanley|
|Apple joins with IBM on business apps|
Vigilant enters a New Year with a new president.
How George Fox has become one of Oregon's largest private universities.
Forest Grove sees growth in the burgeoning food and beverage scene.
Geffen Mesher is saddened to announce the passing of long-time shareholder, Tom “Mike” Anderson, who died on July 10, 2014, from liver disease diagnosed after recent heart surgery. He was 55 years old.
Fifteen Lane Powell attorneys have been named 2014 “Oregon Super Lawyers,” and another five attorneys have been named as “Oregon Rising Stars” by Super Lawyers magazine.
From its first-ever member forum, to upcoming Board elections, the Oregon-based, non-profit health organization is focused on letting members control their healthcare destiny.


text:
In the world of online video, there is a battle brewing over the next dominant standard for online video, especially on HTML5 Web pages. Today, Google took the gloves off and declared that it will soon stop supporting the H.264 video codec in its Chrome browser. Instead, it will only support open-source technologies such as its own WebM initiative (with its VP8 codec) and the open-source Theora video codec, which is used by Firefox. You could see this a mile away .
Den främsta nyheten i andra generationens Intel Core-processorer är att dessa fått inbyggda grafikfunktioner vilket ska innebära en rad förbättringar för video, 3d och multimedia. Som exempel på detta nämner Intel att man kan konvertera ett fyraminuters videoklipp i hd-kvalitet till en Ipod på endast 16 sekunder. Totalt kommer Intel med 20 nya processorer i serierna Core i7, i5 och i3. Bland de första leverantörer som står klara med bärbara och stationära datorer med nya Intelprocessorer märks Fujitsu. Företagets produktchef Bo Lennström uppger att samtliga tolv nya datorer får mer prestanda samtidigt som de blir mer energieffektiva.
Ning Fang, Wei Sun and Gufeng Wang, researchers at the US Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory, recently made advancements in understanding rotational motion in living cells that may help researchers shed light on the causes of deadly diseases, such as Alzheimer’s. Credit: US Dept. of Energy's Ames Laboratory Advancements in understanding rotational motion in living cells may help researchers shed light on the causes of deadly diseases, such as Alzheimer's, according to Ning Fang, an associate scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory and faculty member at Iowa State University.
January 13, 2011, 2:58 PM PST Takeaway: The Consumer Electronics Show is about the future and General Motors gave us an interesting peek at an electronic vehicle that could be the future of crowded urban areas. One of the things that I look for every year at the Consumer Electronics Show is the company that’s not afraid to look ahead a few years and show us a product that — even though it may be little more than a concept or demo — gives us a peek at the future.
An official introduction to The Daily, Rupert Murdoch’s new iPad newspaper, is expected on Jan. 19, possibly at an event with Apple’s Steve Jobs . [Update: The launch date has now been pushed back .] But peeking inside the source code of its recently-launched companion website, TheDaily.com , I came across the image below, which appears to be a house ad for the new app.
This post is part of our special coverage of Tunisia Revolution 2011 . 'Long live Ben Ali' Tunisian president depicted on wall in Karouine, Tunisia (2009). Photo by Niqie on Flickr (CC-BY-2.0)
Activists of Civil Society protests against the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, in Hyderabad, Sindh Pakistan. Image by Yasir Rajpot. Copyright Demotix. Much has been said in the wake of the assassination of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer.
Being the first affordable all-electric car on the market, the Leaf was kind of guaranteed to be a big seller. But their way of going about selling the thing seems to have given their customers unrealistic expectations of when their cars would actually arrive. People have been given extremely vague promises of when their car will arrive (“4-7 months”?), and theories have arisen in the community to the effect that Nissan is attempting to manufacture scarcity.
Tunisia's long-standing president has left the country amid violent protests and the prime minister has taken over control of the government. "Since the president [ Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ] is temporarily unable to exercise his duties, it has been decided that the prime minister will exercise temporarily the [presidential] duties," Mohammed Ghannouchi, the Tunisian prime minister, said on state television. Ghannouchi is now the interim president. He cited chapter 56 of the Tunisian constitution as the article by which he was assuming power.


text:
Caterpillar Farm, Inc
Patrick Fitzmaurice, who will be the facilitator for this event, brings a long track record of innovative industry leadership in the marketing, sales and shopper/retail space. Along with other industry leaders he recently formed a new company, Caterpillar Farm, Inc., where he serves as ‘Head Farmer’/CEO. Caterpillar Farm is a change activation firm, advising companies operating in fast moving environments on how to quickly envision and activate organizational change to capture growth and beat competition.
Prior to Caterpillar Farm he was on the Executive Team at the Path to Purchase Institute, an EnsembleIQ company, where among other industry initiatives he drove the development and launch of the Institute’s Path to Purchase Leadership University, a training and professional development program for building knowledge and competencies around what Shopper Marketing is and what powers great shopper efforts.
Prior to the Institute, Fitzmaurice spent more than 10 years helping to build a boutique consulting firm, The Capre Group, helping leading companies like Hershey, Coca-Cola, J&J and other drive new organizational capabilities in the shopper and path-to-purchase space. And before joining the Capre Group in 2003, he held leadership roles at companies such as Unilever, Nielsen and Donnelley Marketing as well as in several successful startups, in addition to serving as president of the American Marketing Association in Georgia.


text:
Innovative Life Sciences CEO Dru Riess knew he couldn’t take a desk job. The former reality TV star would never sit in a corner office and is always searching for the next business adventure. “I want the fate of the championship in my hands,” he says.
After graduating from college and waiting tables, Riess founded McKinney-based Popular Ink in his 20s when he and his business partner came across an old printing press in a barn. They turned it into a flexible packaging giant that made labels for individual packaging for supplements, protein shakes, and other nutraceutical products.
Even though it was founded during the Great Recession, it grew quickly. It was doing $25 million in sales in 2016. Soon after, Riess and his Popular Ink partner were featured on the CNBC show Blue Collar Millionaire.
Riess says he could have retired at 37 when Morgan Stanley bought Popular Ink for a record multiple, but ended up taking a couple of consulting jobs and was the COO of another nutraceutical company before he decided to exit the workforce for good–so he thought. But Rosewood Private Investments, owned by the Caroline Rose Hunt Trust, soon came calling. They wanted to see if he would be interested in looking at a nutraceutical gummy operation that Rosewood had purchased in Utah.
Riess was game. He headed to Utah and began to learn the business. He observed the process of making gummies and saw the potential for the company. The gummy industry is booming, with more growth likely on the way. According to MarketsandMarkets, the global gummy vitamins market was valued at $5.9 billion in 2020 and will reach $10.6 billion by 2025. There are also trials and other developments underway to make over-the-counter medication like Tylenol and Advil into gummy form.
“It’s an ideal delivery system,” says Paul Richardson, the CEO of Innovative Life Sciences Group LLC, Rosewood’s holding company that owns ILS. “My dad has dementia and can’t swallow pills, but can chew on a gummy. Children on the other end of the spectrum are the same. Nutraceutical gummies as a delivery system is huge and expanding.”
Riess was so impressed that he wanted to do more than just run the enterprise–he wanted to invest and partner with Rosewood. Next, they brought the company to Texas. Riess found an industrial shell in McKinney with the space and power potential to run the operation, and the company retrofitted the space to house what is now Innovative Life Sciences.
Richardson says the move to start a business from scratch isn’t usually what Rosewood does, but Riess’ history and skillset convinced them. “He’s energetic. He doesn’t need a rulebook,” Richardson says. “He can think and solve problems that have never been thought of before, which is what you need in a startup situation.”
ILS makes many of the vitamin and supplement gummies found in major retailers across the country, but they only make products for other brands. The facility focuses on elderberry, sleep formulas, brain and cognition gummies, electrolytes, and other products for boutique batches. The company doesn’t use stock formulas but partners with brands to produce their specific recipes. Riess says the approach is a novel one for the industry.
“People are buying bulk gummies from China or Australia, bringing them here, and basically dropping them into different sized and shaped bottles, and slapping their logo on it,” he says. “There’s no innovation in these products. It’s all just a cash grab. There’s no differentiation for the customer. We wanted to change the game and be disruptive.”
The 70,000-square-foot McKinney facility will generate more than 70 jobs in the first year and is already producing 1 million gummies daily for 60 different brands, with the capacity to double production. Riess says ILS will look to expand with potential mergers and acquisitions to grow the company.
And while the gummy industry is often tied to candy or more borderline products like THC and CBD, Riess says the company is focused on nutrition and staying away from those areas.
“We want to sell high-end, healthy, high-margin products with better service,” Riess says. “Our gummies are high-end ingredients. I want to charge a premium and do it right.”


text:
Microsoft’s Head Of Sales Blames Social Media site for Low Online Ad Prices
Keith Lorizio head of Microsoft’s US sales has said that Facebook and other social networks are driving down the price of online ads, particularly on a Cost Per 1000 impressions basis.
Social networks generally have high user usage and therefore a much larger number of page views to regular sites. These social media sites have much lower ad rates on a cost per thousand impressions (CPM) basis than the rest Internet at large.
ComScore reports that on average Facebook and MySpace only get a $0.56 CPM.
The rest of the internet is getting somewhere around $2.43 CPM.
Lorizio says, “Social networks are going to be a challenge for everybody, as the sheer dominance of the impressions they’re making flood the marketplace with inventory… And it’s especially a challenge for every publisher, as they drive down CPMs.”
This is interesting as it could be argued the traffic provided by social networking sites is not as ‘quality’ as other sites, eg news paper sites, shopping sites etc.
The Google / MySpace agreement is up next month and people have speculated that the traffic product by MySpace has low user click through and even lower sale conversion.
It can be argued, but whatever was we look at it – social networking are becoming an affordable online advertising option for many.
Now that Facebook has almost tipped 500 million users a lot of this traffic is high quality, and of course with Facebook’s advanced advertising platform you can only market your ads to certain people based on gender, age, location, and many more criteria.
Here is a graph showing the movement of CPM ad prices:


text:
Microsoft may be planning to go in a neck-and-neck battle with the Chromebooks and its ammo may include a low-cost Surface laptop that will run a new, possibly stripped-down, version of Windows 11 called the Windows 11 SE. That SE suffix may stand for Special Edition, just like how it does in the case of iPhone SE. The new Surface laptop, according to a new report, will be a better alternative to the Chromebooks that are available on the market for cheap.
As reported by Windows Central, the watered-down version of Surface may be called Surface Laptop SE and it may be meant for the education segment. This laptop may come with an 11.6-inch display with a 1366×768 resolution. It may use an Intel N1420 Celeron processor with up to 8GB of RAM inside. That makes sense since Microsoft is keeping K-12 students in mind as the target audience for this laptop. That is also why the laptop will come with a single USB-A and a USB-C port.
At the heart of the Surface Laptop SE will be Windows SE, according to the report. Microsoft has used the “SE” moniker for some of the previous versions of Windows, such as Windows 98 SE. However, Windows 11 SE is unlikely to stand for what Windows 98 SE did, which is the second edition. Instead, Windows 11 SE is expected to be more like Windows 10’s S version. The new software version will power low-cost laptops designed to cater to a market where Chromebooks have recently flourished.
The details of Windows 11 SE are not entirely available, but if it is going to work like ChromeOS, then it needs to have features that are extremely convenient. Google’s Chromebooks are extremely simple to use, and they do not require special knowledge to download and install an application, unlike Windows where you still may have to download an .EXE file to use an application. Microsoft has been working towards making Windows easier to use for anyone, but that has not happened yet, at least to the level of ChromeOS.
The report does not talk about when Microsoft will launch the Surface Laptop SE with Windows 11 SE inside. There is also no information if Windows 11 SE will be exclusive to devices like the Surface Laptop SE or if PC brands, such as HP, Dell, and Asus, will have their own versions, just like they have Chromebooks. In any case, Microsoft will need to price the Surface Laptop SE very strategically. Maybe a price point lower than that of a Chromebook will help.
Watch Live TV in English
Watch Live TV in Hindi


text:
Boost Mobile, a virtual mobile network owned by Sprint, has confirmed hackers have broken into an unknown number of customer accounts.
The company quietly posted a notification of its data breach almost exactly two months after March 14, when Boost said the breach happened.
“Boost.com experienced unauthorized online account activity in which an unauthorized person accessed your account through your Boost phone number and Boost.com PIN code,” said the notification. “The Boost Mobile fraud team discovered the incident and was able to implement a permanent solution to prevent similar unauthorized account activity.”
A Sprint spokesperson didn’t say how many customers are affected, but said Boost “was the target of a security data breach.”
“The Boost IT team identified unusual activity on a page of the Boost.com website, blocked access and not long after implemented a permanent solution,” said the spokesperson. “Customers’ credit card and social security numbers are encrypted and were not compromised.”
The company also notified the California attorney general, which companies are required to do if more than 500 people in the state are affected by the same security incident.
Boost Mobile reportedly had 15 million customers in 2018.
The hackers used those phone numbers and account PINs to break into customer accounts using the company’s website Boost.com, said the notification. These codes can be used to alter account settings. Hackers can automate account logins using lists of exposed usernames and passwords — or in this case phone numbers and PIN codes — in what’s known as a credential stuffing attack.
Boost said it has sent to affected customers a text with a temporary PIN.
Updated with remarks from a Sprint spokesperson.


text:
Digital Living Room The Apple TV cheese stands alone. For all the nifty new functionality built into iOS 5 and Apple’s new multi-device iCloud platform it appears that very little of it will find its way into Apple TV. About the only new reindeer game Apple TV will get to join in for now is Photo Stream, which automatically syncs and downloads your photos to all your registered iOS devices, including the Apple TV set-top. For everything else — including your own home videos — Apple TV is on the outside of the iCloud looking in.
I’m starting to believe Steve Jobs when he describes Apple TV as a hobby, rather than as a strategic business for Apple.
Why the iCloud dis? One large reason, of course, is that Apple has not secured rights to store iTunes video downloads in the cloud, let alone make multiple copies of them across multiple devices. Without sync-able video, why sync with Apple TV?
But video is not the only application Apple TV is capable of supporting. It runs iOS so it ought to be able to run other types of App Store apps. Now that apps, documents and other types of content can be synced via iCloud, why not let Apple TV in on the fun?
In part, I suspect, for the same reason Apple hasn’t enabled the App Store on Apple TV. As I’ve noted before, navigation and integration remain significant limiting factors for Apple when it comes to the TV. The iOS UI is geared entirely for multitouch inputs on a touch-sensitive screen. Most apps would need to be completely re-imagined and rewritten for limited, point-and-click navigation to work on Apple TV.
While it’s possible for Apple TV owners to mirror their iPads or iPhones on the big screen through the set-top box using AirPlay, Apple has yet to figure out an elegant way to interact with the TV from across the room without using a second screen.
Integrating cable or satellite service into Apple TV also remains out of reach, as does making it portable on an iPad or iPhone outside a subscriber’s home WiFi network.
That inability/unwillingness/indifference to integrating Apple TV into the iCloud platform has left Apple’s living-room flank exposed just as competitors are marshaling their forces there.
Contrast Apple’s isolation of Apple TV, for instance, to Microsoft’s announcements at E3 this week. With the integration of Bing into the Xbox 360, along with the Kinect interface, Microsoft is making genuine strides toward solving the problem of TV navigation at a distance. As shown in the video embedded below, Xbox owners will now be able to use voice commands to search for and retrieve movies, games, music and TV shows from multiple content sources by leveraging Kinect’s voice-recognition capability.
At the same time, Microsoft announced the first integrations of live TV services into Xbox will be coming in the U.S. in the fall. Microsoft already has deals in place to bring live TV to Xbox in the U.K., France and Australia.
At least one high-profile analyst thinks U.S. MVPDs should leap at the chance to integrate their services with the Xbox. In a June 1 blog post, BTIG Research analyst Rich Greenfield wrote:
If a cable operator’s goal is to drive revenue and reduce capital expenditures, than letting others leverage their FAR more innovative set-top boxes/remote control interfaces and treating cable video services simply as an “app” on these platforms makes perfect sense.[snip]
The faster cable operators can enable IP-content on the TV, in conjunction with their package of live television, the more important a fatter broadband pipe will be to the average consumer (demanding faster speeds, means more ARPU for ISPs). We see no reason for cable to invest cap/ex in new boxes (video is a mature biz, not a growth biz); rather they should be working with any and all companies that can integrate their cable video product with IP-enabled services (XBox 360, PS3, Tivo, Roku, Boxee, etc.), as long as consumers are required to keep taking both video and data products from cable operators.
Win-Win-Win. If a BSkyB-XBox model plays out in the US among MVPDs, we see it as positive for MSFT, positive for cable operators and most importantly, positive for consumers, who increasingly expect to access content wherever, whenever and on whichever platform they want.
Unlike Apple, moreover, Microsoft is integrating its living-room device into its broader OS ecosystem, at least at the UI level. The new Xbox Live dashboard will look a lot like the new, touch-compatible Windows 8 UI when that’s introduced sometime in 2012, which in turn looks a lot like the Windows Phone UI. Microsoft announced at the D9 conference last week that it will also bring that UI to a new generation of tablets. So at some point, it’s conceivable that applications and services will be portable among Windows-powered mobile devices, desktops and the Xbox 360, with Kinect standing in for a multitouch screen in the living room.
This is not a prediction that Microsoft will win the battle for the living room. Or even that Microsoft will actually pull off such a multi-dimensional integration.
It is a prediction that, in leaving the living room door open, Apple will find competitors to its media platform strategy building strongholds there.


text:
Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery will be visiting with fans and signing copies of his new album, Christmas With Scotty McCreery at Opry Originals located in downtown Nashville at 300 Broadway on Fri., Dec. 7th from 9:30-10:30 p.m. following his performance on the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium.
Christmas with Scotty McCreery was just released on October 16th and already the album has been certified gold by the RIAA.
An autograph voucher is required to participate in the signing.
Opry Originals will open on Friday, Dec. 7 at 11 a.m.
Autograph vouchers will be available on property starting at 11 a.m. on Fri., Dec. 7 with purchase of a Scotty McCreery product from Opry Originals.
Scotty McCreery will sign a limited number of autographs.
No person is guaranteed an autograph voucher, which will be given out on a first-come, first-served basis.
Only one (1) autograph voucher per person.
Only two (2) items per person can be signed due to time constraints.
Performances at the Grand Ole Opry are held every weekend of the year and on Tuesdays through Dec. 11. To plan an Opry visit, call (800) SEE-OPRY or visit opry.com.


text:
Things didn't go well for the PlayStation Network over the holidays.
But as a thank you for sticking with the service during the tough time, Sony previously announced a 10 percent discount.
At the time, however, they didn't provide us with any details, such as a start date. Now we've got them, as announced over at the PlayStation Blog . The 10 percent discount deal will run from 9:00 a.m. PST on January 23 through 9:00 a.m. on January 26. You'll get a one-time promotion code and it can be used on all "eligible items," which we assume will be just about anything on the PSN.
Furthermore, for those Plus members impacted by the service fiasco, they've started to roll out the 5-day Plus membership extension. You don't have to do anything; you'll just receive an email confirming the details of that extension.
Is this appreciated or do you think Sony should've done more? …or do you think they weren't obligated to do anything?


text:
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added 390,000 jobs in May, extending a strong hiring streak that has supported an economy under pressure from high inflation and rising interest rates.
Last month’s gain reflects a resilient labor market that has so far ignored fears that the economy will weaken in the coming months as the Federal Reserve steadily raises interest rates to fight inflation . The jobless rate remained at 3.6%, just above a half-century low, the Labor Department said Friday.
May’s job growth, while healthy, was the weakest monthly gain in a year. But it was high enough to keep the Fed on track to continue what will likely be the fastest round of rate hikes in over 30 years. Stock indices fell on Friday after the government released the jobs report, reflecting that concern.
Companies in many sectors are desperate to hire because their customers have continued to spend freely despite growing concerns about high inflation. Americans’ finances have been boosted by rising wages and an unusually large pool of savings accumulated during the pandemic, especially by high-income households.
“Given all the talk we’ve heard about the recession and economic headwinds, it was very reassuring to see solid job numbers,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo.
An encouraging sign, Vitner said, was that hiring was widespread across most of the economy.
“When the economy loses momentum,” he said, hiring tends to happen in just a few sectors, “and that’s not what we’re seeing today.”
Almost all major industries added workers in May. A major exception was retail, which lost nearly 61,000 jobs. Some major retailers, including Walmart and Target, reported disappointing sales and profits. Last month, Walmart said it overhired and then reduced its workforce through attrition.
Construction companies have created 36,000 jobs, a sign of hope for Americans who have bought new homes that have yet to be built due to labor and parts shortages. Shipping and warehousing companies, still struggling to keep up with the growth of e-commerce, added 47,000 jobs. Restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues hired 84,000 people.
Last month, according to Friday’s report, more Americans withdrew from the labor force and found jobs, a sign that rising wages and plentiful opportunities are encouraging people to look for work. Yet the proportion of people who have a job or are looking for one remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Rising prices may also have led some to take jobs: The number of people aged 55 or older who are working rose last month, suggesting that some older Americans are not retiring after quitting their jobs – or have been laid off – during the pandemic and its aftermath.
The average hourly wage rose 10 cents in May to $31.95, the government said, a solid gain but not enough to keep up with inflation. Compared with 12 months earlier, hourly wages rose 5.2%, down from a 5.5% year-over-year gain in April and the second consecutive decline.
Nonetheless, more moderate wage increases could ease inflationary pressures in the economy and help support growth.
Workers, in general, enjoy almost unprecedented bargaining power. The number of people leaving their jobs, usually for better, better paid positions, has reached or is approaching a six-month high. Layoffs are at their lowest level on records dating back 20 years.
Still, there are signs that some companies, faced with rising parts and labor costs, are beginning to resist demands for higher wages.
One such leader is Jackie Bondanza, CEO of Hounds Town, a chain of dog daycares with 30 locations in 14 states. Bondanza said people were applying for jobs at the company’s headquarters in Garden City, New York, which didn’t necessarily have relevant experience but required a higher salary than listed.
“People come in asking for 30% more,” she said. “We can’t afford to overpay for someone.”
Even so, Bondanza plans to continue hiring to support the company’s expansion. Hounds Town, which plans to open 50 new franchise outlets over the next 18 months, is looking to fill three positions, including a training manager and a marketing manager. The company now has 17 employees at its headquarters, up from five a year ago.
Inflation, she said, has yet to deter most customers from seeking the company’s services, which include daily dog care and boarding.
“We see more dogs in our facilities than some of our stores know what to do with,” Bondanza said.
Tom Gimbel, chief executive of the LaSalle Network, a staffing firm in Chicago, said his corporate clients are always eager to hire and offer solid compensation to new employees. But they are also more selective about job applicants.
After making it clear to companies in the aftermath of the pandemic that they should pay more, he said, his company is now starting to warn job seekers that they may not get the huge raises they seek. , given the higher costs of many companies. are struggling with.
“We’re now coming to a healthier, more normalized place,” Gimbel said.
A report by Reuters on Friday said Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk was considering laying off 10% of the company’s workers, sending its shares plummeting. Musk also voiced his concerns about the economy in an email to executives in which he said to “suspend all hiring globally.”
By contrast, on Thursday, Ford Motor Co. said it plans to create 6,200 jobs in three states over the next few years as part of its electric vehicle production expansion.
Nationally, the strength of the domestic labor market is contributing to inflationary pressures. As wages continue to rise across the economy, companies are passing on at least some of their increased labor costs to their customers in the form of higher prices. The costs of food, gasoline, rent and other items — which fall disproportionately on low-income households — are accelerating at nearly the fastest rate in 40 years.
Inflation had started to soar last year as growing demand for cars, furniture, electronic equipment and other physical goods came up against overstretched supply chains and shortages of rooms. More recently, prices for services such as airline tickets, hotel rooms and restaurant meals have jumped as Americans shift more of their spending to these areas.
In an attempt to cool spending and slow inflation, the Fed last month hiked its short-term rate by half a point, its biggest hike since 2000, to a range of 0.75% to 1%. . Two more half-point rate hikes are expected this month and in July. And some Fed officials have suggested in recent speeches that if inflation shows no signs of slowing, they could implement another half-point hike in September.
The Fed’s actions have already raised mortgage rates sharply and contributed to lower sales of new and existing homes. The rate hikes have also amplified borrowing costs for businesses, which may respond by reducing investment in new buildings and equipment, slowing growth.


text:
Displaying items 73-84 of 549 » View wsbtradio.com items only< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11-46 Next >
The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission needs to look for more cost saving measures to avoid future toll increases. For example, it's been revealed the four part-time members of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, whose main responsibility is to attend...
KickingTiresAnd it???s a wrap! Day One of the 2013 North American International Auto Show in Detroit is in the books. Several new and redesigned vehicles from here and afar made their debuts at Detroit???s Cobo Center. High-powered sports cars like......
Mercedes-Benz on Friday unveiled the mid-life updates for two more versions of its venerable E-Class, with a preview of the 2014 Coupe and Cabriolet. The pair will join the previously announced sedan and wagon variants as the full lineup is unveiled at...
Tags: Audi, Infiniti, Mercedes-Benz, Cadillac, Passenger Cars
Automakers ended the year with one of the strongest U.S. sales months in years in December and the industry posted its best annual sales results since 2007. Ford’s F-series trucks, Chevrolet’s Camaro, Toyota’s Camry and Honda’s...
Tags: Infiniti, Audi, Luxury Vehicles, Chrysler Group LLC, Sports Cars
Lincoln pulled the cover off a concept crossover dubbed the MKC on Sunday morning ahead of the Detroit Auto Show. But don't put too much stock in the whole "concept" part. Based on the same platform that underpins the compact Ford Escape crossover, the...
Audi will use the 2013 Detroit Auto Show to add a little more speed to its lineup. The company will be unveiling on Monday, Jan. 14 a revised R8 lineup for 2014, an RS5 convertible and the fastest version yet of its Q5 crossover SUV, the SQ5. R8 The...
Tags: Audi, Infiniti, Luxury Vehicles, Cadillac, Passenger Cars
KickingTiresInfiniti, one of the last luxury holdouts to have model numbers that actually indicate engine size ??? as opposed to BMW, Mercedes and Lexus ??? will rename its entire lineup using Q or QX monikers starting with the 2014 model......
Tags: Automotive Equipment, Audi, Infiniti, Consumers, BMW
KickingTiresNovember's 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show debuted many production cars and few concepts, which leaves us with a ton of new cars to track into 2013. The small SUV segment is one of the most notable to watch in 2013......
KickingTiresBy James R. Healey, USA Today and Kelsey Mays, Cars.com The simple act of parking your car is the focus of extraordinary technology. Backup cameras and warning sensors have become old hat. Surround-view cameras are slowly arriving, and the big......
Tags: Infiniti, Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury Vehicles, Vehicles
KickingTiresCar sales continue to roll along as the industry continues to release redesigned new models with buyers eager to snap them up. In November, two newly redesigned vehicles ??? the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Nissan Pathfinder ??? were the fastest-selling......
Tags: Infiniti, Luxury Vehicles, Honda, Scion, Suzuki
KickingTiresCompetes with: Lexus LS, Hyundai Equus, Infiniti M, Lincoln MKS, Jaguar XF Looks like: The return of a big luxury sedan for Acura Drivetrain: 310-hp, 3.5-liter V-6 with direct injection and a six-speed automatic transmission Hits dealerships: Spring...
The CTA attempted to de-crowd buses and trains Monday — and da crowd cheered and da crowd booed. Old habits, particularly commuting habits, are highly resistant to change. That was the case for many transit customers forced to try a new way to...
Jan 23, 2013 |Story| Daily American
Jan 14, 2013 |Blog| Cars.com
Jan 4, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 3, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 14, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Jan 9, 2013 |Story| Los Angeles Times
Dec 17, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Dec 14, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Dec 6, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Dec 4, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Nov 28, 2012 |Blog| Cars.com
Dec 17, 2012 |Story| Chicago Tribune
Original site for Lincoln topic gallery.


text:
MADRID — For Spain’s TV channels, market fragmentation is a bittersweet story.
In 2006, payboxes notched a record 8.9% aud share. But their ad revenue — a paltry e44.5 million ($64.1 million) — repped just 1.4% of the country’s total TV spend. The supposedly back-against-the-wall free TV took 98.6% or some $4.5 billion.
“Pay TV ad investment’s seen as experimental,” says Juan Maria Romeu, SPTI Networks Iberia senior VP, explaining the disconnect.
“Thematic channel advertising’s been undervalued. It’s been established as a low-cost alternative,” says Eduardo Garcia Matilla, prexy of aud research company Multimedia Corp.
“Spanish thematic channels are still sub-driven,” says Pablo Romero, programming director at Sogecable satcaster Digital Plus, Spain’s pay TV leader. “The low ad investment hardly helps the development of multi-channel strategies in Spain.”
Just 28% of Spanish households subscribe to pay TV, one of Western Europe’s lowest penetration rates. Now the payboxes are battling for a bigger piece of the ad cake.
Their latest move is Conect, the Specialist Council in Thematic Channels, unveiled to Spain’s media agencies and advertisers Oct. 25 in Madrid.
Inspired by the U.S.’ Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau and Latin America’s Lamac, Conect is backed by the producers of 28 paywebs in Spain, including TBS, Fox Intl. Channels Iberia, MTV Nets, NBC U Global Networks, SPTI Networks Iberia, Multicanal Iberia and cable operator ONO’s Factoria de Canales.
Their aims include improving audience measurement and a campaign to promote the upside of pay TV ad spending, says Conect g.m. Maite Rodriguez.
“We want to raise advertising to half our ad share in two years,” she says.


text:
Updated from 7:47 a.m. EST
topped third-quarter earnings estimates and lifted its profit forecast for the year, noting improved results at its U.S. division and a tightened focus on inventory.
The profit beat and relatively optimistic outlook helped ease some fears about the retail giant's position ahead of a holiday season that is largely expected to be sluggish. Shares of Wal-Mart were jumping $2.32, or 5.4%, to $45.64 early Tuesday.
The Bentonville, Ark., company reported third-quarter earnings of $2.86 billion, or 70 cents a share, up from $2.65 billion, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier. The results included a 1-cent-a-share tax-related gain.
Last month, Wal-Mart bumped up its third-quarter earnings per share estimate to a range of 66 cents to 69 cents from an earlier forecast of 62 cents to 65 cents -- a surprise move amid continuing weakness in its home furnishings and apparel categories as well as an overall lackluster retail environment.
Analysts, on average, most recently expected a profit of 67 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial.
Wal-Mart's revenue rose to $91.95 billion from $84.47 billion a year earlier. Analysts projected revenue of $91.77 billion.
Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, inched up 1.5%.
"Our results for the third quarter reflect the improved performance of our U.S. operations. Both Wal-Mart Stores U.S. and Sam's Club increased profits faster than sales. Wal-Mart International posted a solid quarter as well," said Lee Scott, Wal-Mart president and chief executive, in a statement. "Our focus on managing inventory this quarter was very positive."
At the Wal-Mart Stores U.S. division, operating income jumped 11.1%, while sales climbed only 6.4%. In raising its guidance last month, the company pointed to improved expense controls at the division, which has been struggling over the last two years with meager sales growth.
For the fiscal year, Wal-Mart now expects earnings from continuing operations of $3.13 to $3.17 a share. In its last quarterly report, the retailer's shares were slammed after it trimmed its earnings target by a dime to $3.05 to $3.13 a share.
Wall Street anticipates fiscal-year earnings of $3.09 a share.
For the key holiday fourth quarter, Wal-Mart projected earnings of 99 cents to $1.03 a share, offering some downside to analysts' target of $1.02. The company expects same-store sales to be flat to up 2%.
The holiday season is expected to be a tough one for retailers, who largely have been reporting weak sales in recent months amid fears of an economic slowdown. Wal-Mart has been aggressively slashing prices in preparation for the holiday season under the banner, "Save Money. Live Better." In early October, it
began discounting toys, which are usually the biggest end-of-the-year sales drivers.
"During the Christmas and holiday season, our price leadership position will benefit both our customers and the Company," Scott said Tuesday. "We have set the stage for a successful fourth quarter."
In an acknowledgement that it can no longer grow as fast as it used to, Wal-Mart told analysts and investors at its annual meeting last month that it was cutting back on its capital expenditures, which will total $15 billion this year vs. its earlier forecast of $15.5 billion. The company is moderating the growth of its so-called supercenters but plans to accelerate its expansion overseas.


text:
In the new year, Barclays bank have announced that they are to close 4 smaller branches, and move them into local Asda stores. The scheme is expected to expand later in 2014 with a further 4 branches making the move from street to supermarket. The branches will be open during normal bank opening hours but customers will have access to the cash and cheque machines during the hours that the supermarket is open.
Barclays have said that none of the branches closing are major high street outlets and that by moving into the Asda stores their customers will find parking a lot easier than in side streets in a town. The first branch within Asda is set to open in February in Birchwood, Cheshire and those to follow are in East Kent, Hertfordshire and West Yorkshire but as yet no specific details of the town or Asda stores involved have been released.


text:
- The National Retail Federation's Big Show this year features a slew of companies showing off technology that would revamp the grocery shopping experience.
- America's grocery stores lag behind those across Europe and parts of Asia.
- Amazon's Whole Foods deal pushed companies like Kroger and Walmart to accelerate innovations.
U.S. grocers are playing catch-up.
Held back by razor-thin profit margins, which have made investing difficult, grocery retailers lagged behind their peers in Europe and parts of Asia in making strides with technology that reduces the time shoppers spend navigating aisles, ringing up purchase and bagging items.
Then Amazon showed up and acquired Whole Foods. Now, there's more pressure to roll out projects that may have been in a pilot phase — or try new things entirely.
"The technology is more mature now, and these things are becoming easier to do," Mike McNamara, the executive vice president, chief information and digital officer for Target, told CNBC.
He said retailers have complained that the technology for such innovations as speeding up checkout has been bulky and visually unpleasant. "You have to design something that's practical," he said.
The future of America's grocery stores will include more scanning devices, smart shelves with digital displays and self-driving shopping carts. The Innovation Lab at The National Retail Federation's Big Show this year featured a slew of companies showing off their ideas that would revamp the grocery shopping experience.
Start-up SwiftGo was previewing a device to weigh an item as it's placed into a cart, ensuring everything is accounted for as a shopper scans food and drinks, and checks out from a mobile app. As more companies look to add "scan and go" options inside their stores, theft remains a major issue of concern, but weight scales in carts offer one way to mitigate that challenge. SwiftGo had also added red lights to grocery carts that would light up to notify employees when it appeared a customer hadn't scanned an item to pay for it.
Focal Systems showed off grocery carts equipped with a tablet to help a shopper navigate the store, locate relevant promotional offers and automatically pay without a cashier. Anheuser-Busch InBev and other food brands are also working with Focal Systems to monitor out-of-stock items, by accessing the images taken from cameras on the sides of shopping carts.
Target's partnership with Zebra, which sells scanning devices and label printers, among other items, was highlighted at the Big Show. The big-box retailer is also working with payment platform Verifone, which can help a retailer "save the sale" on the floor of a store with portable credit card readers.
"All around the world people want to save money and they want to save time," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said during a keynote speech at the event. "We want to foster a culture that supports change and helps us go along the journey we're all on, which will lead to even more change in the future."
Walmart and Kroger are some of the biggest names testing some variation of a "scan and go" option for shoppers, with plans to roll out that technology to 500 additional stores combined in 2018.
Meanwhile, Kroger (which owns Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer and Roundy's) is in the midst of rolling out Kroger Edge, a new shelving system for its grocery stores. The company is planning to outfit hundreds of stores with digital screens that will be able to instantly update an item's price or feature other information. Eventually, the technology will link to shoppers' phones to help them navigate the store.
Just this week, New York-based Fairway Market announced that it has chosen FutureProof Retail, a line-free checkout provider, to power its mobile app, which will allow shoppers to scan and pay for groceries on their phones.
Building on this trend, more companies and namely grocery chains will be piloting similar technology in 2018.
Walmart's Lori Flees, who serves as the senior vice president of the company's Store No. 8 incubator group, said the company will make a bigger push in grocery and fresh food this year, with automation and personalization in mind.
As options like buy online, pick up in store become more popular for grocery shopping, technology goes hand-in-hand with that, and will start to roll out on a grander scale across the country, she said.


text:
Ethereum (ETH) has surged previous $2,000, gaining 11% previously 24 hours, hitting the very best level since July. The latest catalyst for ETH’s surge is the information of BlackRock, a monetary big managing virtually $10 trillion, planning to launch an Ether spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). This growth boosted ETH by 10%, reaching $2,100 mark, highlighting the market’s pleasure about large gamers getting into the crypto panorama.
As Ethereum made headlines, analysts have singled out the highest 5 best-performing Layer 1 tokens anticipated to observe go well with within the rally. Let’s take an in depth look.
Polkadot (DOT): Bullish Pattern Targets $6
Whereas Ethereum takes heart stage with its spectacular rally, Polkadot (DOT) has signaled a bullish momentum. The present stay value of DOT is $5.09 USD, reflecting a 24-hour buying and selling quantity of $293,253,840 with 4.11% enhance throughout the previous 24Hrs.
As we finish this month, Polkadot goals to shut the yr on a excessive be aware. Final month, Polkadot reported outstanding quarter-on-quarter development in staking. The token noticed a 34% enhance from $3.56 to $4.78 in mid-October 2023. Moreover, crypto analysts predict that DOT has the potential to achieve a minimal of $6 by the start of 2024, making it an intriguing asset for traders eyeing substantial returns.
Vulcan Cast’s Elysium is a Layer 1 carbon-neutral blockchain, designed for blockchain gaming and metaverses. The platform has witnessed an explosive development in its native utility token $PYR, hovering by 8% previously 24 hours and reaching $6.22 on the press time. Notably, the adoption of Vulcan Cast’s $PYR and Elysium chain within the web3 ecosystem presents a particular edge over the likes of Solana and Immutable.
With a present buying and selling quantity of 51,219,588, $PYR is up by a powerful 60% in only a week. A crypto analyst on Twitter not too long ago predicted “over a 43% breakout for $PYR,” including that the token will quickly attain a $6.72 resistance stage. Nonetheless, it’s already buying and selling at over $6 now, and the token has made a major motion upwards after a breakout.
Anybody can purchase, hodl, or commerce this token throughout main crypto exchanges, together with Binance, KuCoin, Coinbase, and extra, in a number of buying and selling pairs. The mission’s exponential development is highlighted by its newest itemizing on Bithumb, marking its speedy enlargement throughout Asian markets.
Moreover, the Elysium chain aligns with Vulcan Cast’s dedication to sustainability, addressing issues concerning the energy-intensive nature of blockchain expertise. Therefore, $PYR and Elysium each fulfill a tangible utility throughout the web3 ecosystem.
Over the previous two years, the mission has skilled important natural development, boasting an lively group of 200,000 customers throughout 15 video games. As a blockchain sport studio and NFT market, Vulcan Cast has launched Vulcan Studios, a web3 gaming studio that has revealed over 10 video games, together with notable titles reminiscent of VulcanVerse, Forge Enviornment, and Berserk. Vulcan Cast claims that their upcoming launch, MetaScapes is a patented metaverse-as-a-service and has not too long ago unveiled Tartarus which is the first-ever Oculus VR NFT Recreation.
KASPA (KAS) Skyrockets 75% to All-Time Excessive
Yet one more Layer 1 platform is Kaspa. The platform’s native token, KAS, has skilled a surge of over 12% within the final 24 hours and a powerful 75% within the earlier week, reaching its all-time excessive. The token is on the market throughout a number of cryptocurrency exchanges, together with KuCoin, Gate.io, Bybit, Poloniex, and lots of others. The newest itemizing is with South Korea’s outstanding crypto alternate, Coinone. KAS is impressively ranked as the highest 33 cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
LUKSO (LYX) – Redefining Digital Life
Lukso, a Layer 1 blockchain, has formally launched Common Profiles on Mainnet. Created by former Ethereum Developer Fabian Vogelsteller, Lukso goals to be the Blockchain for the brand new digital life-style. As of now, the stay Lukso value stands at $6.20 USD, with a 24-hour buying and selling quantity of $513,718 USD. The platform has skilled a 3.42% enhance within the final 24 hours and month-to-month development of 21.87%. A daring prediction means that $LYX may attain $800 by 2025/26, underlining the optimistic outlook for Lukso’s future.
Aptos (APT): 9% Weekly Development Drive
Aptos is a scaling layer 1 blockchain platform which has not too long ago entered a partnership with SK Telecom, a number one cellular firm in Korea. The mission’s token APT is valued at $7.25 within the present market, having 9.3% once more on a weekly chart and 53% on a month-to-month chart. The mission is poised for a major occasion because it prepares to unlock over 24 million APT tokens. A crypto analyst has set a value goal for APT within the subsequent bull run, ranging between $6.69 and $35.
As Ethereum grabs headlines with a powerful value surge, the rise of notable Layer 1 tokens like PYR, DOT, KAS, LYX, APT, and lots of others offers traders with numerous alternatives.


text:
Timothy McKimmy, the US man who says he lost his non-fungible token (NFT) due to a problem related to the design of OpenSea’s user interface (UI), has filed a lawsuit against the NFT marketplace, claiming that the platform was aware of the problem, but did not “take adequate security measures in a timely manner”.”
In a complaint to the Federal Court of Texas, the plaintiff claimed that his NFT, *Bored Ape *# 3475, was sold without his consent for a fraction of its actual value. He said that the buyer managed to acquire the NFT for ETH 0.01 (USD 25) and immediately resell it for ETH 99 (USD 251,300).
“Instead of shutting down its platform to address and fix these security issues, Microsoft continued to work. The defendant risked the security of the NFTs and digital vaults of its users in order to continue to collect 2.5% Of each transaction continuously”the complaint says, accusing OpenSea of negligence and failure to ensure the security of the platform.
According to Rarity Tools, the Bored Ape in question is one of the top 1,400 of the -part collection in terms of rarity. According to the same source, Mckimmy’s Ape NFT is significantly less common than Bored Ape#3001, which was last sold to Canadian singer Justin Bieber for ETH 500 (USD 1.4M).
McKimmy pointed this out and said he was looking for “the return of the bored monkey”..] And/Or damages over [USD] 1 million.”
Has asked OpenSea for a comment.
As reported, in January some opportunists were able to buy NFTs below their actual price due to a problem with OpenSea. In a statement to * *, the platform explained that the problem occurs when users create listings for their NFTs and then transfer the listed NFTs to another wallet without canceling the listing.
“OpenSea cannot cancel entries on behalf of users. Instead, users have to cancel their own entries,” OpenSea said at the time.
Apart from McKimmy, a number of other users have also reported the sale of their blue-chip NFTs without their consent.
OpenSea has refunded ETH 750 (USD 1.9M) to the affected users. However, the reimbursement could only cover a very small part of the losses.
Meanwhile, OpenSea has also been the victim of a phishing attack at the weekend. The platform managed to narrow the list of people affected, but could not establish the exact cause of the problem.
You said today that your contract migration tool has been excluded as a vector for the attack, adding that it is “safe to migrate your offers.”
The attack no longer seems to be active, but we continue to monitor. We have not seen any activity from the attacker’s wallet for > 36 hours. We’re still investigating.
- OpenSea (@opensea) February 22, 2022
In the meantime, the list of affected persons has been narrowed to 17.


text:
Need for increased consumer awareness of sustainable seafood leads Bumble Bee Seafoods to launch MSC certified Wild Selections® brand
Like many food companies sourcing from the natural environment, Bumble Bee Seafoods, a leading North American seafood company, has a compelling reason to support responsible global fisheries management. If there isn't a sustainable fish supply, then there isn't a sustainable seafood business. However, in order to give consumers a reason to pay a premium for a certified sustainably sourced fish, Bumble Bee Seafoods needed to educate and engage consumers in North America about the benefits of sustainable sourcing.
Identifying the need for change
Bumble Bee Seafoods had long been involved in supporting and promoting conservation efforts for global tuna stocks. As a founder of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) in 2009, it had worked alongside WWF, global scientists, tuna processors and other leaders in promoting marine resource management.
Todd Newman, Vice-President of Emerging Categories at Bumble Bee Seafoods, recalls:
"Sustainability had become an integral part of our business but in 2012, those conversations shifted to the need to drive change by raising consumer awareness of the importance of seafood sustainability. It was through our continuing work in global fisheries we saw the unique opportunity to introduce a line of certified products. We wondered, how can we leverage a branded product to educate the trade and consumers?"
Good business opportunity
Bumble Bee Seafoods already had a commitment to source 100% of its tuna from sustainable fisheries, so why create a new product line? Todd Newman explains: "Growing interest from the trade and consumers for eco-labelled tuna meant that there was an attractive business opportunity.
Within the industry, there is a lot of different messaging about sustainability that is frankly confusing to most. It's difficult to penetrate that if you are a consumer. We wanted to influence that conversation with retailers and consumers. We felt that some of the product messaging was not helping the sustainability issue. There wasn't a player that was directly addressing the supply side and others were just making claims without substantiation so the importance of a credible label was critical."
In April 2013 Bumble Bee Seafoods, launched Wild Selections®, a new high-quality branded line of products that carry the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) ecolabel for sustainable, wildcaught seafood.
This new line was designed to provide consumers with the confidence that their seafood was sustainably caught as well as give them the opportunity to contribute to improving the health of the world's oceans.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Wild Selections® supports WWF's efforts to protect marine life and expand sustainable fishing practices globally and helps build continued awareness of MSC certified sustainable seafood. Wild Selections® product range includes MSC certified albacore, lightmeat tuna, salmon, shrimp and sardines.
The Wild Selections® branding and packaging includes the WWF logo and MSC eco-label, providing consumers with the opportunity to support fisheries and marine conservation efforts while making an informed choice in wild-caught seafood.
Todd Newman said: "We wanted to put the highest quality and most objective sustainable sourcing together. WWF supports the MSC Standard as the gold standard for sustainability. It is the only third-party, consumer facing eco-label based on UN FAO guidelines and compliant with ISEAL requirements on sustainable fishing and we felt it was watertight when it comes to potential critics.
Being a large seafood company we are under the microscope more than smaller brands so wanted to make sure we were doing it well and had a credible and sustainable story for the positive impact of our brand. Our long term goal is to catalyse sustainability initiatives on the water that can have a direct impact on the supply of wild seafood a generation from now."
"The ecolabelled canned seafood category is roughly doubling each year in the U.S., so the growth is very attractive but it is still emerging and it is a small business opportunity today. Ecolabelled seafood still represents less than 2% of the more than $2bn mainstream shelf stable seafood category.
Our reason for being is the sustainability mission of the Wild Selections® brand, so the credentials of our MSC certification and WWF partner were and remain the primary pillars of our branding and marketing efforts."
Increased traceability, enhanced credibility
Global seafood markets are increasingly demanding credible, independent certification and full traceability of their seafood choices. Bumble Bee Seafoods chose MSC certification to provide that assurance.
"The MSC ecolabel means that a seafood product can be traced back through every step in the supply chain to a sustainable, MSC certified fishery," said Geoff Bolan, MSC's U.S. Program Director. "These fisheries have been independently assessed against the science-based MSC Fisheries Standard, which reflects global best practice for sustainable fishing. By looking for and choosing MSC labelled products, such as Bumble Bee Seafoods' Wild Selections line, consumers are able to reward sustainable fishing practices and contribute to the health of the world's oceans. The sustainable seafood commitment of Bumble Bee Seafoods is helping to safeguard seafood supplies for this and future generations."
Todd Newman states: "By participating in the MSC programme, you can trace the fish from catch to can and know there is certification in every point in the supply chain. This gives credibility with retailers who have pressure from NGOs to make sure they are good stewards of the food supply.
MSC is well recognised and chosen by retailers to provide assurance. More and more retailers are incorporating some degree of MSC sourcing into seafood policies so the Wild Selections® brand is well positioned to meet these needs."
The confusion of seafood certification labelling in North America and the opportunities for credible standards to build market momentum led to a new brand with clear consumer messaging.
"Consumer awareness and education is our primary marketing aim. We're giving the mainstream tuna shopper the opportunity to trade up to an ecolabelled product when they see the brand or MSC ecolabel. For this reason, while we support any credible ecolabel, we made the choice to have just one certification, MSC and one partner, WWF and create a credible, recognisable brand."
Newman continues "We're educating consumers about sustainable seafood in store, via retailers and through social and digital media. And it's working - consumers are switching a percentage of their tuna sales from regular to Wild Selections®. Our distribution has exceed my expectations. Wild Selections® is now represented in 41% of the mainstream retail channel and we haven't had our second anniversary yet."
And the future? "We would love to have the level of success where we're catalysing the adoption of MSC. In reality, while there isn't currently enough MSC certified supply, eventually we would like to see the number of fisheries certified to the MSC Standard, and therefore the quantity of certified seafood, grow from around 10% of the global wild-capture harvest today. It's the right thing to do for the environment, as well as securing the future of our business."
Originally published 2014


text:
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into Amazon's
The investigation adds to the pressure on the online retailer in Europe, where it is already being investigated for the low tax rates it pays in Luxembourg.
The Commission said it would look in particular into certain clauses included in Amazon's contracts with publishers.
These clauses, it said, required publishers to inform Amazon about more favorable or alternative terms offered to Amazon's competitors, a means to ensure Amazon is offered terms at least as good as those of its competitors.
In April, the EU executive opened a formal investigation into web giant Google's
Antitrust agents are also probing the European tax affairs of Apple
President Barack Obama, whose administration is trying to negotiate an ambitious transatlantic free trade deal with the 28-nation bloc, warned earlier this year against Europe turning to protectionism to the detriment of the U.S. tech sector.
In the Amazon e-books case, the Commission said it had concerns that such clauses may make it more difficult for other e-book distributors to compete with Amazon by developing new and innovative products and services.
"Amazon has developed a successful business that offers consumers a comprehensive service, including for e-books," Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
"Our investigation does not call that into question. However, it is my duty to make sure that Amazon's arrangements with publishers are not harmful to consumers, by preventing other e-book distributors from innovating and competing effectively with Amazon."
(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)


text:
Galaxy Mega 6.3 , officially announced in June, is one of the biggest screen phones in the mobile world with its huge screen. In the first stage, the phone is offered to consumers with black and white color options. The purple color option will first be available in Hong Kong.The Galaxy Mega 6.3 features an HD-resolution display, a dual-core Qualcomm processor running at a frequency of 1.7GHz , 1.5GB of RAM , Android 4.2.2, 8MP resolution camera, 8 / 16GB storage and microSD card support.The issue that some One users experienced was raised in many forums and users complained a lot of purple color in the photos taken. In the new update, the color ratios will be reflected in the most accurate shots.
The Android 4.3 update will start first for American carriers, and soon European users will benefit from the update. News continues to come for Google’s new Nexus 5 smartphone Nexus 5 . Now this device is displayed in a bar. You’re going to say “bar” again, but this time the story is different. This time, the device, Apple’s iPhone, such as the bar was not forgotten. The device was viewed in the hands of a Google employee by a curious waiter . Of course, it is also debated how accurate it is.One of the new information is that the Nexus 5 will be introduced on October 14 with the new Android 4.4 KitKat .Used by a Google employee in a bar, Nexus 5 was videotaped with short footage by the waiter working at the bar.


text:
Wholesale used vehicle prices softened again in September, the fifth consecutive month decrease, according to the latest Kontos Kommentary from ADESA Chief Economist Tom Kontos.
September’s modest year-over-year increase in average prices reflects a higher percentage of institutional sales of late-model vehicles this year versus last, and therefore masks the softness in prices seen by looking at those sales on a disaggregated basis, says Kontos. Improved retail sales of used vehicles cushioned the blow to wholesale prices from growing supply.
According to ADESA Analytical Services’ monthly analysis of Wholesale Used Vehicle Prices by Vehicle Model Class, wholesale used vehicle prices in September averaged $9,557 — down 0.4% compared to August but up 0.8% relative to September 2013.
Average prices for minivans were up significantly, but this reflects an increase in the percentage of current and one-year-old models sold in factory sales in September, according to ADESA. Trucks and cars moved in opposite directions — with prices for trucks rising significantly on a month-over-month and year-over-year basis, while cars showed major sequential and annual price declines. Crossovers also showed price declines.
Prices for used vehicles remarketed by manufacturers were down 4.2% month-over-month and down 3.3% year-over-year, as manufacturers sold off elevated program vehicle inventories, according to ADESA. Prices for fleet/lease consignors were down 2.0% sequentially and down 1.1% annually, while prices for off-rental “risk” units within this segment were down again significantly.
For dealer consignors, there was a 1.9% average price decrease versus August, although prices were up a modest 0.3% relative to September 2013.
Based on data from CNW Marketing/Research Retail, used vehicle sales in September were up 4.1% month-over-month and up 4.6% year-over-year.
And based on figures from Autodata, sales of certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicles were down 15.4% versus August, but that was based on three fewer selling days. A better reflection of certified used vehicle demand is that September CPO sales were up 19.7% from the prior year.
|Wholesale Used Vehicle Price Trends|
|Average Prices ($/Unit)||Latest Month Versus:|
|Sep-14||Aug-14||Sep-13||Prior Month||Prior Year|
|Total All Vehicles||$9,557||$9,595||$9,477||-0.4%||0.8%|
This Kontos Kommentary analysis is based on nearly six million annual sales transactions from more than 150 of the largest U.S. wholesale auto auctions, including those of ADESA as well as other auction companies. ADESA Analytical Services segregates these transactions to study trends by vehicle model class
See all comments


text:
Today is World Hijab Day! Fellow Bangladeshi American Nazma Khan created World Hijab Day to foster personal freedom of religious expression and cultural understanding by inviting women from all walks of life to experience the hijab for one day.
There is no one as visible to the outside world as a hijabi. It symbolizes someone who embraces Islam as their faith to anyone who sees them. Let me tell you from personal experience: It takes a strong person to wear the hijab because it exposes you to a lot of hatred from Islamophobia (prejudice against Muslims or Islam).
However, there is hope. Representation can help promote acceptance and address bias.
Muslim Representation In Beauty
The beauty industry has made significant strides in diversity within marketing campaigns. However, it is still rare to see women wearing hijab in beauty marketing campaigns. The first hijabi Cover Girl was named in 2016. The following year, we saw the first hijabi model, Halima Aden, get signed by the modeling agency IMG. Yet, beyond a token hijabi model, have we seen diversity within beauty?
Muslim editors are finally starting to speak up about how the beauty industry has rarely asked them about being Muslim within the beauty space. Shyema Azam writes:
“At most, because there are relatively few Muslims in my line of work, my identity would come into play on rare occasions when my colleagues needed an unofficial "Muslim consultant" any time an Islam-sensitive question might arise. But seeing how fashion and beauty brands have begun to embrace representation of Muslim women — and how that increased visibility is changing the larger conversation — has reminded me just how uniquely positioned the industry is to be able to help break down boundaries.”
But are Muslims really breaking the boundaries in the beauty industry seven years later?
As a Muslim beauty brand founder, it is rare to find a fellow hijabi beauty brand founder. Yes, there are Muslim beauty brand founders, but it is hard to see one as visibly Muslim as I am. While it can be disconcerting to attend beauty events and be the only visibly Muslim beauty founder, I am okay with being the first. I hope I am not the last and can help forge a path for others to follow.
The beauty industry needs more models, editors, beauty executives and brand founders.
Here are to finding many more visible Muslims in the beauty space!


text:
Fans of action RPGs will have to wait a little longer to play Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, the new game from the acclaimed studio DON’T NOD. The game, which was originally scheduled to release on November 7, 2023, has been pushed back to February 13, 2024. The delay was confirmed by an official statement from the game’s publisher, Focus Entertainment, which was posted on DON’T NOD’s official website.
Banishers Ghosts of New Eden Delay
The decision to postpone the release of “Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden” by three months was not taken lightly, and it reflects a careful consideration of the current gaming landscape. One of the primary factors behind this delay is the intense competition within the AAA gaming market towards the end of 2023. As the statement from Focus Entertainment notes, there is a significant influx of highly anticipated titles set to release in the latter part of the year, making it a saturated period for new game launches.
Some of the notable AAA titles scheduled for release in the same timeframe include “Horizon Forbidden West,” “Starfield,” and “God of War: Ragnarok.” These games are expected to draw substantial attention and demand from gamers, potentially overshadowing the launch of “Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden.” The delay aims to provide the game with the breathing space it needs to stand out and receive the recognition it deserves.
The delay allows the development team to ensure that the game lives up to their established reputation, providing players with a high-quality and immersive experience. So, while fans may have to wait a little longer, the hope is that the extra time invested will result in a truly exceptional gaming adventure when ‘Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden’ finally arrives on February 13, 2024.
Upcoming Featured Games
Some of the notable games set to launch in the coming 3 months are ‘Alan Wake 2,’ ‘Sonic Superstars,’ ‘Forza Motorsport,’ ‘Super Mario Bros. Wonder,’ ‘Robocop: Rogue City,’ ‘Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth,’ and ‘Tekken 8.


text:
Growing congestion, container shortages, and high spot rates: Suez Canal closure continues to wreak havoc on global shippingEverstream Team
- A month after maritime traffic in the Suez Canal was suspended unexpectedly for almost a week, its effects continue to ripple through global supply chains in multiple forms.
- Growing congestion levels have started to affect container gateways in Europe and Southeast Asia, such as Rotterdam and Singapore, due to simultaneous vessel arrivals.
- As empty containers have been held for longer than usual at European ports, Asian export gateways such as Shanghai and Busan will experience scarcity of container equipment in the coming weeks.
- Spot rates on the Asia-Europe ocean cargo trade lane have been rising due to a lack of capacity following the Suez Canal closure, simultaneously pushing up rates in the air cargo market as shippers convert ocean cargo to air freight shipments.
- While port congestion is expected to remain a concern until at least mid-May, carrier schedules are unlikely to return to near-normal operations before mid-June, in particular on the Asia-Europe route.
- The availability of containers at Asian export hubs is likely to improve towards the end of May, especially when the long queue of vessels outside U.S. west coast ports carrying hundreds of thousands of containers start to clear.
- However, no significant decrease in ocean cargo spot rates should be expected until the fourth quarter of 2021 as carriers continue to be in the driver’s seat, meticulously managing the supply and demand balance with a clear focus on maximizing profits.
Four weeks after maritime traffic in the Suez Canal, one of the world’s busiest waterways, resumed following the grounding of the Ever Given, an ultra-large container vessel operated by shipping line Evergreen, its effects continue to ripple through global supply chains. Growing port congestions, a shortage of containers, and high spot rates in both air and ocean freight markets have all materialized in the aftermath of the Suez Canal closure.
On April 3, the last of the 360 ships stuck in the Suez Canal at the end of March finally transited the crucial waterway, normalizing operations that were disrupted for almost a week and held up trade valued at over USD 9 billion (EUR 7.46 billion) per day. Since then, container gateways in Europe and Southeast Asia have started to experience congestion due to the large number of simultaneously arriving vessels following the blockage. At the same time, empty containers have been held for longer than usual at European ports, exacerbating the scarcity of containers at Asian export gateways and prompting ocean carriers to cut short port stays in Europe to reposition equipment faster back to Asia. Due to the reduced cargo capacity on the Asia-Europe shipping lane in the aftermath of the Suez Canal obstruction, spot rates have not only been rising in the ocean freight market, but also in the air cargo market as shippers opt to convert critical shipments from ocean to air by any means possible.
This report examines how these issues will affect global supply chains, evaluates how long the situation may persist, and outlines a range of recommendations for shippers to help mitigate some of its most disruptive impacts amid the current turmoil.
Which ports are at high risk of congestion?
Despite the normalization of canal operations, shippers have been bracing for knock-on effects from the Suez Canal closure that include growing congestion at container gateways in Europe and Southeast Asia as vessels were expected to arrive in short succession from mid-April onwards.
Since last week, the first vessels stuck in the Suez Canal have been calling at European and Southeast-Asian container ports, which have been quieter than usual in the first half of April due to the canal blockage. In Europe, the Port of Rotterdam was expected to have the greatest number of vessel calls from ships arriving from the Suez Canal. Although contingency measures, such as emptying yards to make space for new containers, have helped terminal operators initially to keep operations running, berth line-ups of vessels have quickly started to become congested, with operational delays now averaging 5-7 days, according to carriers. Berthing line-ups are expected to remain congested until mid-May as more vessels continue to call at the port.
|Ports||Current waiting times|
Terminals in Rotterdam are likely to remain under the greatest pressure with the highest risk of congestion as ocean carriers are considering a strategy that involves offloading cargo at major hub ports, skipping subsequent port calls, and turning ships around early to return to Asian export hubs. This allows container lines to reposition empty containers faster which have been held at European ports since the Ever Given’s grounding and are, therefore, unavailable in Asia. In this way, carriers are likely to benefit from spot rates which are almost four times higher on the fronthaul from China to Europe than on the backhaul.
Should congestion issues in Rotterdam worsen, carriers could also opt to unload cargo at nearby ports such as Antwerp, Felixstowe, or Le Havre. This may cause spill-over congestion at these gateways due to ad-hoc vessel arrivals and leave shippers with cargo at the wrong ports until ships arrive a week later to carry the cargo to their destination ports. Container terminals in Antwerp have already faced congestion issues prior to the Ever Given’s grounding, prompting container lines to push more volumes to terminals in Le Havre in recent months.
In Asia, the Port of Singapore, which is expected to receive the largest number of vessel calls on eastbound services, has also faced an uptick in vessel berthing times over the past 18 days — with vessels now spending 60 hours on average outside the port, compared to 42 hours on April 8. Should congestion issues worsen in Singapore, carriers could opt to discharge cargo at alternative hubs nearby, increasing the risk of congestion at Port Klang or Tanjung Pelepas. The latter has already been facing average berthing delays of more than 2 days in the past weeks.
Will there be enough containers available in Europe and Asia?
Besides the increased risk of delays for import cargo into Europe and Asia, the Suez Canal closure will also have an impact on the availability of container equipment at export hubs in China and Korea, which is expected to decline from mid-April and well into the month of May. This will apply mostly to 40-foot containers, which account for around 75 percent of containers on the major east-west trade.
Among the ports most likely to be affected by the shortage are Shanghai, Ningbo, Qingdao, and Busan, with the biggest impact to be expected between April 19 and early May due to delayed vessel arrivals. According to the Container Availability Index (CAx), equipment availability at the Port of Shanghai has been decreasing every week since the beginning of April and will likely fall further for a period of 2-3 weeks until mid-May, pushing back the recovery across Chinese ports and potentially leading to further spot rate increases.
To remedy the situation, several carriers have opted to turn ships around faster than anticipated from Europe to Asia instead of waiting at potentially congested terminals, making an earlier recovery of shipping schedules as well as the rebalancing of container equipment increasingly likely. While capacity and equipment issues at Asian export hubs could improve by the end of May, the cut-and-run decisions by carriers at European ports will, however, cause significant delays for both importers and exporters in Europe. On the import side, cargo may be offloaded at the wrong ports, causing additional delays and costs for the final leg; meanwhile, on the export side, this will likely result in an increase in rolled export cargo as carriers prioritize moving empty over full containers back to Asia.
Will rate levels in the ocean and air freight markets go up?
With Maersk Line, one of the largest container lines in the world, announcing capacity cuts of up to 30 percent in the second quarter of 2021 on the Asia-North Europe route due to the Suez Canal blockage, spot rates have started to climb upwards in recent weeks for the first time since January 2021. According to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange, spot rates from Shanghai to Rotterdam have increased by 14 percent in the last two weeks and are expected to further rise in the coming weeks due to the ongoing capacity limitations and container equipment shortages. Some carriers indicated that the impact on capacity and equipment are unlikely to be resolved before the third quarter of 2021. In total, rates per TEU have increased by more 360 percent on the Asia-North Europe route since August 2020.
Meanwhile, no significant impact has been recorded on spot rates from East Asia to North America in the aftermath of the Suez Canal closure, although rates remain at elevated levels amid strong ongoing demand. However, the change in shipping schedules has further increased the capacity crunch on the westbound transatlantic lane from Europe to North America as carriers prioritized reallocating capacity to more lucrative routes in recent months, causing a sharp increase of spot rates by 87 percent since January 2021.
At the same time, air cargo rates have been pushed up throughout the month of April following the Ever Given’s grounding as shippers looked to convert critical shipments from ocean to air by any means possible. In particular on the Hong Kong to North America lane, figures from the Baltic Exchange Air Freight Index (BAI) showed that average prices in mid-April were higher than at any point during 2020’s demand surge amid the export boom of personal protective equipment between March and June. The spike in air cargo rates was also fueled by stricter quarantine rules for aircrews in Hong Kong that resulted in reduced cargo capacity due to flight cancellations, such as those from Qantas Airways beginning February 2021.
How long will the repercussions last and what can my organization do about it?
While congestion at ports in Europe and Southeast Asia caused by the Suez Canal closure is expected to remain a concern until at least the middle of May as more vessels continue to arrive, carrier schedules are unlikely to return to near-normal operations before mid-June, in particular on the most affected Asia-Europe route.
In addition, the availability of containers at Asian export hubs is likely to improve towards the end of May, especially if the long queue of vessels outside U.S. west coast ports carrying hundreds of thousands of containers start to clear as well. However, no significant decrease in ocean cargo spot rates should be expected until the fourth quarter of 2021 as carriers continue to be in the driver’s seat, meticulously managing the supply and demand balance with a clear focus on maximizing profits and little interest in honoring long-term agreements with forwarders.
Despite the volatility in the global logistics market, organizations with global supply chains looking to reduce their risk exposure amid the current turmoil can adopt certain measures to improve supply chain agility:
- Keep abreast of the latest developments regarding congestion at ports and airports around the world. By regularly monitoring which critical locations in its network may be at risk of growing congestion, companies can anticipate delays by activating contingency plans with their logistics providers, i.e. by offloading cargo at less congested ports or using alternative air cargo gateways. Using supply chain intelligence & monitoring solutions to track developments can aid this process.
- Strengthen relationships with key logistics service providers, which can prove valuable in times of global market disruption. Logistics partners can give companies a head start in preparing for impact by providing on-the-ground market intelligence and prime access to additional capacity in the form of charter flights or charter vessels.
- Explore new service offerings in a rapidly evolving logistics environment. Due to the turmoil in the logistics market, there is an abundance of new service offerings that provide alternative solutions. In the ocean freight market, forwarders have chartered their own vessels from Asia to Europe, and Europe to North America to ease the capacity crunch. Meanwhile, ocean carriers continue to offer more non-stop, expedited vessel services for new destinations such as between Taiwan and Oakland, while also adding capacity on alternative modes of transport such as sea-rail services from China to the Baltic Sea via Russia. Transport planning capabilities, powered by AI models, can facilitate this exercise.
- Anticipate higher logistics costs and set clear priorities. In the current “seller’s market” in which carriers increasingly disregard long-term agreements and only the highest paying cargo is being shipped from its origin, organizations should set clear priorities as to which shipments should be expedited at higher costs and which shipments can be held at the origin for longer, without jeopardizing production schedules or customer commitments.