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Decided to sell my Macbook Pro and Air and have purchased a new Macbook instead!
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I’ve owned since new, purchased from the Apple store. Screen is perfect, body has some marks to it around the palm area and on the bottom so please expect cosmetic wear and tear. All keys operate as they should and are perfect.
Had a new battery last week so battery count is like 15.
Specs are in the pictures attached.
Collection welcome from Sheffield during working hours. Postage okay via 24 hour courier with insurance.
Comes with laptop and original charger. I’d replace the charger but its perfectly useable. Just 5 years old thats all.
As so many organizations have shifted to remote work during COVID-19, we are hearing inspiring stories from customers discovering new ways to connect, collaborate, and keep business moving. From Sydney, Australia, to Seattle, Washington, schools, hospitals, small businesses, and large companies alike have found inventive ways to enable remote work across their organizations. We want to share what they are learning. Each week we will be spotlighting customers in one impacted region around the globe. First up: the Greater China Region. My colleague Lily Zheng in Shanghai is sharing stories for customers who, faced with extraordinary and difficult circumstances, have found innovative new ways to work.
Since we last heard from Lily and team, the region has begun to move into recovery mode. “Many businesses reopened, and more and more people have started going back to work,” Lily reports. “In the past two months, Teams has certainly played an important role in helping our customers pass through the most difficult time.” Looking ahead, she says: “Teams can play an even bigger role in helping our customers boost their productivity and increase their business resilience.” Here are some examples of how organizations in the Greater China Region kept things moving over the past few months.
With travel bans and health concerns keeping students, faculty, and staff at home over the past months, schools and universities have experienced a crash course in moving to remote learning. In February, the Peking University Guanghua School of Management used Teams to hold a digital school-opening ceremony with thousands of students. Meanwhile, Tamkang University, a private university headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan, quickly enabled distance learning for students in China, Macau, and Hong Kong by leveraging Microsoft Teams and cloud resources on their iClass Mobile Learning Platform. A total of 637 students and 1,041 teachers were set up to use the platform in 2,366 classes. Hong Kong Polytechnic University is conducting 120 to 160 concurrent teaching sessions daily through Microsoft Teams, with 10,000 to 11,000 students connecting simultaneously during peak times. And Wellington College International Tianjin, quickly established a solid e-learning program where students have been able to continue their learning journey with lessons conducted over Microsoft Teams.
The healthcare industry has faced extraordinary pressure during COVID-19. We’ve all seen news stories about medical supply challenges, but these organizations have experienced challenges in the IT space, too, including a lack of video conferencing solutions and heavy dependency on manual patient data inputting. Staff at the largest hospital in WenZhou, China, 2nd AffiliatedHospital of WMU, for instance, were unable to communicate with personnel inside the quarantined area. They had never used Teams before, but quickly deployed it and were able to communicate with quarantined-area colleagues. The team at Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai hadn’t used Teams before the outbreak either, but they put it to use to hold their first remote leadership meeting. “It only took a few days to get reports,” said Mr. Li, Chief of Information Management Center at Zhongshan Hospital, “and we were able to successfully hold our first leader’s meeting, which was well-received by the whole leadership team.”
SF-Express is one of the best-known logistics companies in China. CIO Sheng Wang said, “Fortunately, we deployed Teams after we revamped our network branches [in] December of 2019. “It solves our needs for remote working, meeting, and training, and allows our staff to collaborate with high productivity.” DHL Supply Chain China also deployed Teams to handle its increasing remote collaboration needs.
The manufacturing industry has been hit hard by the impact of the outbreak, but also used it to discover new ways to digitally transform. Headquartered in Ningbo, China, Joyson Electronic has more than 100 bases in 30 countries and over 50,000 employees globally. “Microsoft Teams really helps Joyson improve our cross-regional and boundary collaboration productivity during the COVID-19 outbreak,” reported CIO Zong Jia. “We hold daily internal meetings, co-edit documents, and interview candidates on Teams.”
Over 50 percent of China International Marine Containers (CIMC) Group Ltd.’s business comes from export, which brings an urgent need for project-based management and real-time communications. CIMC has been using Teams to easily enable multiple collaborative team channels and remove restrictions imposed by different work locations. They’re finding it facilitates employee collaboration and has helped them complete their first successful step towards a modern workplace transformation.
We hope you’ve found it helpful to read about some of the innovative ways our customers have transformed their organizations during this difficult time. We have seen how schools have moved quickly to remote learning in virtual classrooms, and are continuing to hold important meetings, with Teams. We’ve seen how healthcare workers, faced with communication barriers brought on by COVID-19, have used Teams to connect. And we’ve seen how commercial enterprises are bringing distributed teams together and are bringing formerly in-person-only meetings—including job interviews—online. As the Greater China Region enters a new phase of its COVID-19 experience, we look forward to learning about how they apply what they’ve discovered in the days to come. We’ll be sharing more inspiring customer stories here soon, so check back often.
As ERP software providers have created cloud-based versions of their products, they’ve opened up these capabilities to small businesses.
The per-user, per-month pricing model makes ERP software more accessible to small businesses, and running it in the cloud means that they don’t need to invest in servers or IT staff to deploy, manage and troubleshoot it.
ERP software is ideal for small businesses that have outgrown their spreadsheets, paper-based systems or general small business accounting software. These software systems are now more widely available to businesses that had outgrown spreadsheets or small business accounting software and are looking for something that could better handle accounting, customer relationship management and other business functions.
There’s no hard-and-fast rule as to when small businesses should switch to ERP software. But if they’re struggling with a lot of manual tasks, want to get a better picture of the financial health of their business and take advantage of analytics, it might be time to start evaluating different vendors. Some other indicators that it’s time to look at ERP software include spending too much time trying to integrate other software packages to get a full picture of inventory, supply chain and customers, as well as difficulty meeting customer demands.
Here are the top five ERP software choices for small businesses:
Aimed squarely at small businesses in the distribution, wholesale, retail and services sector, OnCloud ERP is a fully cloud-based ERP software product. The OnCloud ERP suite of applications includes the expected accounting modules for real-time information on cash flow, as well as sales, inventory, purchase order and receipt tracking, inventory management and production planning. Add-on modules provide the ability to manage payroll, track and maintain assets, leverage CRM functions like lead tracking and manage projects.
One of the most attractive features for small businesses is that companies can implement OnCloud ERP without an IT department and uses a single platform for all the ERP functions. The software also offers mobile device and remote access capabilities.
OnCloud ERP offers a free trial for 14 days. Pricing starts at $10 per user per month for the “StartUp” plan, with a minimum of five users.
Microsoft Dynamics Business Central
While Microsoft Dynamics 365 is geared toward larger businesses, Microsoft offers a Business Central application for small businesses. This product includes financials, supply chain management, customer service and project management in one product.
The analytics capabilities in Business Central include the ability to connect data across accounting, sales, purchasing, inventory and customer transactions, then run reports in real-time using business intelligence dashboards. The product also enables users to access data modeling and analysis to create financial forecasts.
Because it’s a Microsoft product, users can integrate the product with Excel, Word, Outlook and Azure. Microsoft also offers pre-built add-on products like Continia Document Capture 365 for recognizing documents and approving invoices and Jet Reports to create financial reports inside Excel.
The pricing model is a per-user, per-month fee, based on whether the company chooses a basic or premium version. Microsoft delivers Business Central entirely in the cloud, and the vendor also offers a mobile application for remote access.
While Oracle markets NetSuite as ideal for businesses of any size, where NetSuite really shines is with smaller businesses. It’s an all-in-one software suite that includes financials, customer service and e-commerce capabilities, so small business owners don’t have to figure out how to use APIs to connect different software packages. NetSuite also packages analytics in with its ERP software to provide insight into how the business is performing, using key performance indicators.
NetSuite is delivered entirely in the cloud, on the NetSuite Cloud Platform. This enables organizations to add other applications and modules — such as SuitePeople, its human capital management system — to the software. The product is billed as good for manufacturing, media and publishing, nonprofit, retail, services, advertising, distribution and wholesale and software industries.
Potential users must contact NetSuite for pricing information.
The focus of Sage Intacct is finance and accounting, and Sage bills it as being “built for finance by finance.” Some of the features it offers includes the ability to automate complex processes, analyze data, create structured transactions and approvals, and manage multiple currencies and locations. It also provides the ability to track multiple accounts in real-time.
For companies that want to extend Sage Intacct beyond core financial functions, the software offers modules for fixed assets, inventory management, and time and expense management, among others. It also offers web services in the form of APIs to integrate with other software systems, as well as a built-in Salesforce integration.
Sage Intacct is priced on a quote basis and is cloud-based.
SAP Business One
As SAP’s ERP product for small businesses, SAP Business One is a single suite that includes financial management, sales and customer management, purchasing and inventory control, and analytics and reporting capabilities. It also includes a mobile access module so that users can check inventory, manage sales and service, and complete approvals from iOS or Android devices.
Companies can customize SAP Business One for their industries, including consumer products, manufacturing, retail, wholesale distribution and professional services. The can also customize the software using application extensions from SAP partners, create web applications that run on desktops or mobile devices, and use self-service options within SAP Business One to create additional fields, tables and forms.
Unlike a lot of other small business ERP products, companies can implement SAP Business One on premises. It’s also delivered in a cloud-based model, priced on a per-user, per-month basis. It’s sold exclusively through SAP partners.
ERP selection advice
Before beginning the ERP software evaluation process, small business leaders need to first identify the business problems they’re trying to solve. They will also want to audit their existing processes to see if the ERP system they’re considering has these processes built in or will let them create workflows.
As small businesses begin the evaluation process, it’s important to keep in mind what the company actually needs and what it can support. Most of these systems will let companies add users as needed, as well as extend capabilities using APIs. These top five ERP software for small business have features that go beyond basic accounting and let small businesses compete with larger companies, using tools that previously were not affordable.
The coronavirus pandemic will have short-, medium- and long-term implications for how IT buyers negotiate contracts and their overall relationships with vendors, according to several experts.
Many companies will add and already have added SaaS tools to support remote workers. Others will cut back on IT projects and investments through layoffs. And most, if not all, may seek financial relief through IT contract negotiations.
“What we’re seeing with a lot of clients right now is that there’s a lot of uncertainty,” said John Belden, project execution advisory services practice leader at UpperEdge, an IT strategy consulting firm in Boston. “Companies should put together a plan for what they’re doing with long-term [IT assets and projects]. You basically should talk [with critical vendors] about what it means to be a partner in this time of peril.”
IT vendors and customers commonly reference words like “partner ” and “partnership” in good times, particularly when the technology in question supports major IT infrastructure components such as ERP systems.
The concept will now be put to a critical test amid coronavirus-related economic distress, especially when once-acceptable, agreed-upon contract terms prove untenable in the current environment. What’s a CRM customer to do when it has 10,000 subscription licenses on the books, but suddenly must lay off several thousand sales reps and contact center workers?
Indeed, SaaS subscriptions seem like a potential source for angst as the economic impact from coronavirus deepens.
Customers with foresight will have built-in “flex down” clauses in their deals, which allow for reductions in paid licenses based on shifts in a business’s actual demand, said R “Ray” Wang, CEO and founder of Constellation Research. But many customers didn’t do that during IT contract negotiations in recent years, as they quickly moved to adopt cloud-based software and agreed to stricter terms in exchange for better pricing and other considerations, he added.
Every customer with a looming contract renewal should ensure that flex-down language is part of the deal, according to Wang. That’s not to say vendors won’t attempt to broker workable arrangements with customers now — and the smart ones will, according to Wang, who has helped hundreds of clients with IT contract negotiations.
“It’s all about loyalty,” he said. “You want to be able to show you’ve been able to work with your customers in good times and bad times.”
A growing number of vendors have made public shows of good faith amid the coronavirus pandemic. For example, many software companies with tools for online communication, collaboration and file-sharing are offering free access to services for a limited time.
But skeptical observers will question how much that largesse also serves as a lead-generation tool for vendors keen to land new customers when the free trials are over. And with so much money at stake, the legal concept and contract term known as force majeure will likely come up in discussions between vendors and customers in all industries, as noted in a recent blog post from the large U.S. law firm Akerman.
However, “determining whether a force majeure clause can be invoked is a fact-intensive inquiry, as it depends on the specific language of a contract,” Akerman lawyers Lawrence Rochefort and Meghan Boland wrote. It could make things quite difficult if epidemics and pandemics aren’t specifically listed as force majeure events.
A vendor could also cite force majeure as a defense against contract fulfillment. “If a vendor is committed to do certain things for you, but they can’t travel to your site, you can’t sue them for that,” said Duncan Jones, an analyst at Forrester who advises sourcing and vendor management professionals. “It’s just too bad.
Duncan JonesAnalyst, Forrester
“I am more a believer in the soft contract,” Jones added. “It’s a business relationship between you and the supplier that is at a higher level than the hard contract and the legalese. … It’s much better to say this is something that no one’s foreseen, and how are we going to react to that.”
Many vendors should be sympathetic and willing to work with customers in that regard, Jones added. “If they don’t, then now you know what you’re dealing with and you can start your exit strategy.”
Prior to a divorce from a vendor, however, customers can take other steps. “You get the best service if you’re a good customer,” Jones said. “Sometimes the problem is that the salesperson is in the way.” Now may be the time to call in chits that get you access to executives higher up the vendor’s organizational chain, according to Jones: “Get beyond the salesperson and make the case.”
Coronavirus costs for IT measured in more than dollars
Many major IT projects will hit the pause button, but there’s both a wise and risky way to go about that, said UpperEdge’s Belden. “A [customer] has a choice,” he said. “They could stop these [projects] and all those vendors go away.”
But that could be a mistake in a longer-term context, he added. For one, much of the hands-on knowledge that consultants had built up regarding a customer’s project could be lost. A better alternative is to negotiate with the consultancy to find cost savings and “share in the pain,” Belden said.
There are several possibilities here. One could be to negotiate lower hourly rates — perhaps at the consultant’s base cost — and continue work. Another option is an alternative approach to project delivery. “You can tell the vendor, ‘We’re going to keep the project on a percolate, with not all of the same services you were delivering, but once this [crisis] is over, we can accelerate further,'” Belden said.
The cost of delivering services within the project should drop a meaningful amount as well. Consultants could be forced to work remotely, which reduces travel costs. The lack of travel can lead to greater productivity on the part of consultants as well, since they’ll have more time. It’s likely that a general drop of 10% to 15% of project costs will occur due to these factors, Belden said.
Coronavirus’s aftereffects on IT strategy
The pandemic has had a drastic impact on how companies operate, as employees are compelled to work from home with the help of online collaboration and workflow tools. This has been a radical shift for companies with a previously conservative or skeptical view of telecommuting. If broadly successful, this could prompt many enterprises to ramp up their digital transformation efforts and alter any future IT contract negotiation.
“All of us can’t sit here and say this was a one-off event,” Belden said. “This will happen again, and how are we going to prepare? People now recognize companies have to operate differently and be open to change.”
That change may include shifts in IT procurement habits toward a best-of-breed approach as customers recover from the coronvirus’s impact and look to spread out risk, according to Jeff Lazarto, commercial advisory practice leader at UpperEdge. “If a customer really values that balance of powers, they might have SAP for finance and Workday for HCM, knowing that Workday has finance that isn’t as mature right now but will get there.”
Data centers have become an important part of our data-driven world. They act as a repository for servers, storage systems, routers and all manner of IT equipment and can stretch as large as an entire building — especially in an age of AI that requires advanced computing
Establishing how much power these data centers utilize and the environmental impact they have can be difficult, but according to a recent paper in Science Magazine, the entire data center industry in 2018 utilized an estimated 205 TWh. This roughly translates to 1% of global electricity consumption.
Enterprises that utilize large data centers can use AI, advancements in storage capacity and more efficient servers to mitigate the power required for the necessary expansion of data centers.
The rise of the data center
Collecting and storing data is fundamental to business operation, and while having your own infrastructure can be costly and challenging, having unlimited access to this information is crucial to advancements.
Provoking the most coverage because of their massive size, data centers of tech giants like Google and Amazon often require the same amount of energy as small towns. But there is more behind these numbers, according to Eric Masanet, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering at Northwestern University and coauthor of the aforementioned article.
The last detailed estimates of global data center energy use appeared in 2011, Masanet said.
Since that time, Masanet said, there have been many claims that the world’s data centers were requiring more and more energy. This has given policymakers and the public the impression that data centers’ energy use and related carbon emissions have become a problem.
Counter to this, Masanet and his colleagues’ studies on the evolution of storage, server and network technology found that efficiency gains have significantly mitigated the growth in energy usage in this area. From 2010 to 2018, compute instances went up by 550%, while energy usage increased just 6% in the same time frame. While data center energy usage is on the rise, it has been curbed dramatically through the development of different strategies.
Getting a step ahead of the data center footprint
The workings behind mediated energy increases are all tied to advancements in technology. Servers have become more efficient, and the partitioning of servers through server virtualization has curbed the energy required for the rapid growth of compute instances.
A similar trend is noticeable in the storage of data. While the demand has significantly increased, the combination of storage-drive efficiencies and densities has limited total increase of global storage energy usage to just threefold. To further curb the rising desire for more data and therefore the rising energy costs and environmental impact, companies integrating AI when designing their data centers.
“You certainly could leverage AI to analyze utility consumption data and optimize cost,” said Scott Laliberte, a managing director with Protiviti and leader of the firm’s Emerging Technologies practice.
“The key for that would be having the right data available and developing and training the model to optimize the cost.”
By having AI collect data on their data centers and optimizing the energy usage, these companies can help mitigate the power costs, especially concerning cooling, one of the more costly and concerning of the processes within data centers.
“The strategy changed a little bit — like trying to build data centers below ground or trying to be near water resources,” said Juan José López Murphy, Technical Director and Data Science Practice Lead at Globant, a digitally native services company.
But cooling these data centers has been such a large part of their energy usage that companies have had to be creative. Companies like AWS and GCP are trying new locations like the middle of the desert or underground and trying to develop cooling systems that are based on water and not just air, Murphy said.
Google utilizes an algorithm that manages cooling at some of their data centers that can learn from data gathered and limit energy consumption by adjusting cooling configurations.
For the time being, both the demand for data centers and their efficiency has grown. Now the advancement of servers and storage drives as well as the implementation of AI in the building process has almost matched the growing energy demand. This may not continue, however.
“Historical efficiency gains may not be able to outpace rapidly rising demand for data center services in the not-too-distant future,” Masanet said. “Clearly greater attention to data center energy use is warranted.”
The increased efficiencies have done well to stem the tide of demand, but the future remains uncertain for data center’s energy requirements.
With more people working from home due to the coronavirus, some companies have had to adjust how they handle backup and business continuity.
The spread of COVID-19, which is the disease caused by the new coronavirus, created a unique challenge for data protection experts. Instead of threatening data or applications, this disaster directly affects personnel. Because of social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, many employees must work remotely. Not all businesses’ IT infrastructure can easily accommodate this shift.
In recent months, MDL AutoMation, based out of Roswell, Ga., has been testing a business continuity plan for when its employees can no longer come to work. This includes Carbonite software installed on all laptops, Dell DDPE encryption and Absolute DDS for asset tracking and security. This level of endpoint data protection is largely unnecessary when everyone works in the office, but MDL AutoMation manager of infrastructure Eric Gutmann said they may not have that option for long.
“We will be able to continue functioning as a company with all our employees working remotely as if they were in the office,” Gutmann said.
MDL is a software company that sells car tracking capabilities to car dealerships. It has a client base of about 250 dealerships and manages 1.4 TB of data gathered from IoT devices.
Gutmann said he has VPN and remote desktop protocol (RDP) ready, and the switch to remote working and enhanced endpoint data protection is meant to be temporary. He is prepared to implement it for two months.
No going back
Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting, said it’s highly unlikely that any business that implements endpoint data protection will want to go back. Endpoint data protection is a separate investment from workstation data protection and involves extra security measures such as geolocation and remote wiping. Businesses that do not already have this will need to invest time and money into such a system, and will likely want to keep it after making that investment.
Many businesses may already be in a good position to support remote work. Staimer said organizations that use virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) do not have to worry about backing up laptops, and less data-intensive businesses can have everyone work off of the cloud. Bandwidth is also much more abundant now, eliminating what used to be a roadblock to remote work.
With SaaS-based applications such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google Docs and cloud-based storage such as OneDrive and Dropbox, teleworking isn’t complicated to implement. The difficulty, according to Steven Hill, senior analyst at 451 Research, part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, comes from making sure everything on the cloud is just as protected as anything on premises.
Unlike endpoint data protection, using the cloud is more about locking down storage being used than protecting multiple devices. Whether it’s Dropbox, OneDrive or a private cloud NAS, an administrator only has to worry about protecting and securing that one management point. Aside from native tools, third-party vendors such as Backblaze and CloudAlly can provide data protection for these storage environments.
“Rather than storing business information locally, you could dictate that everything goes to and comes from the cloud,” Hill said.
Staimer said the pandemic will make many businesses realize they don’t need all of their workers in a single location. While some organizations won’t treat the coronavirus seriously enough to implement any of these systems, Staimer expects that for many, it will be the impetus to do what they should’ve been doing.
Marc StaimerPresident, Dragon Slayer Consulting
“Coronavirus is going to change the way we work — permanently,” Staimer said.
For some businesses, the biggest challenge will be accommodating workers who cannot perform their jobs from home. They may include partners or customers, as well as a company’s employees.
KCF Technologies, based in State College, Penn., which manufactures industrial diagnostic equipment, is already invested in endpoint data protection. Myron Semack, chief infrastructure architect at KCF, said the company is cloud-centric and many of its workers can work from anywhere.
However, the business would still be impacted if it or its customers go into lockdown because of the coronavirus. Not only would KCF be unable to produce its sensor products, but any installation or project work in the field would have to be suspended. This isn’t anything IT can fix.
“Our manufacturing line employees cannot work from home, unfortunately. If they were forced to stay home, our ability to build or ship product would be impacted,” Semack said.
It would work together yes and I have an unused stock Intel cooler. I would need £155 + postage for that bundle, with the ssd.
I would rather keep the bundles as they are though. The Z97, k-processor and ram are better suited together. You can’t overclock and take advantage of the 4690k on a h81 so the Xeon would better in the h81 and the DDR3 is far too fast to waste at standard 1600 speeds in the h81.
The 4690k is 3.5ghz boost to 3.9ghz, 4 cores 4 threads The Xeon is 3.5ghz boost to 3.8ghz, 4 cores, 8 threads so very little difference single core and much faster multi core with 8 threads and more cache
I can do the Xeon with the h81 board & ssd for £110 delivered and you could buy ram from here – undefined – CeX (UK): – Buy, Sell, Donate. I think I have a Geforce 8800 I can throw in for free with it too. Need to have a hoke in my box of bits.
first up is an Intel NUC7I7BNH, all firmwares fully updated and HDMI 2.0 working from HDMI and USB-C, comes with 16 gig of ram and 256gig SSD drive $410 Delivered now £350 + postage of your choice, work great with the HDR kodi build
CPU’s all chip only except 9100f
one Intel i3 9100F used for about 2 months retail boxed £75 delivered now £65 + postage of your choice


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Nigerians on social media on Tuesday criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Finance Bill into law which among other things, implemented the upward review of 5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT).
Others, however, also supported the move, insisting that Nigeria can only make steady progress by being weaned off its dependence on oil.
Many Nigerians took to their Twitter handles to express their views about the news:
It would be recalled that yesterday, Monday, January 13, President Buhari signed the Finance Bill into law.
With the signing of the Finance Bill, early-stage startups with revenues of N25 million ($68,900), would no longer have to pay the requires company income tax (CIT).
For medium scale businesses with revenues between N25 million and N100 million, a 20 per cent CIT will be required, instead of the standard 30 per cent which will now only be for large scale companies with revenues above N100 million ($277,000).
The Bill also incentivises investments so that shareholders may be encouraged to invest more in small and early-stage startups, knowing that there would be enough wiggle room for taxes in the growth period.
Also, startup/SME employees who have managed to avoid paying taxes may soon find it difficult to escape as a result of the new bill.
Besides the changes to company income tax, the bill will also implement changes to the personal income tax as a tax identification number (TIN) will now be compulsory for anyone to operate a bank account.
Last year, the FIRS revealed plans to begin charging 5 per cent Value-added Tax (VAT) on online transactions for VATable items starting from 2020. With the change in the FIRS chairman, the fate of that plan remains up in the air.
However, if it is implemented, it could change the face of e-commerce in Nigeria, since according to the Finance Bill, the said VAT would no longer be 5 per cent but 7.5 per cent on all VATable items for online transactions.

domain: news


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Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos
German carmaker BMW will unveil a roadster concept at the Geneva auto show next month that combines a futuristic design with new innovations to the car's telematics and "infotainment" systems. BMW is calling the new system "VisionConnectedDrive."
The car has a head-up display that places a 3-D display of key information in the direct sight line of the driver, eliminating the need for the driver's eyes to refocus on a screen in the middle of the dash. "The display allows the real view to be overlaid with virtual information, highlighting hazards allowing the driver to assimilate all of the information quickly and take appropriate action," BMW said in a statement on Thursday.


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The ice cream mega-producer, Ben and Jerry’s, intends to release a CBD ice cream brand as soon as possible. With last year’s passage of the Hemp Farming Bill, CBD became legal in all 50 states. However, the addition of CBD to food and drinks remains prohibited by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
For those that are new to cannabis, CBD is the major non-psychoactive component of hemp, meaning that it doesn’t get you high, no matter how much you consume. You can blame that effect on tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, responsible for the mind-altering feeling associated with smoking cannabis.
A recent post put out by the popular ice-cream company reads, “Trend alert! CBD-infused ice cream is (maybe, hopefully) coming to a freezer near you! Find out more at the link in our bio.”
With public support for cannabis legalization continuing to grow, the time for change is at hand. In fact, the FDA held a public hearing on May 31st, and in response, Ben and Jerry’s said in a statement, “We are open to bringing CBD-infused ice cream to your freezer as soon as it’s legalized at the federal level. Currently, the FDA prohibits adding CBD to food and beverages. But change is on the horizon: they’ve set a public hearing on the legalization of CBD-infused foods and beverages for May 31st, and we’ve submitted a comment to them in support of legalization.” CBD-containing food and beverages are, nonetheless, already available in many stores.
Ben and Jerry’s has never been one to shy away from a controversial topic, and medical marijuana is no different. Active on many social justice fronts, more recently, Ben and Jerry’s has focused its altruistic efforts towards criminal justice reform, and specifically, the end of cannabis prohibition.
Principal deputy commissioner and acting CIO for the FDA, Dr. Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, had this to say on the subject: “Today I wanted to pick back up on the cannabidiol (CBD) theme. It remains top of mind. You may have noticed that many products containing CBD are being introduced widely and are sold in many different forms, such as oil drops, capsules, lotions and tea. Other than one prescription drug product to treat rare, severe forms of epilepsy, the FDA has not approved any other CBD containing products. We want consumers to be aware that there is only limited information about CBD, including about its effects on the body.”
According to Ben and Jerry’s CEO, Matthew McCarthy, “We’re doing this for our fans. We’ve listened and brought them everything from Non-Dairy indulgences to on-the-go portions with our Pint Slices. We aspire to love our fans more than they love us and we want to give them what they’re looking for in a Ben and Jerry’s way.”
This year, that means CBD; after all, CBD is looking to be one of 2019’s hottest top trends.
Earlier this year, Ben and Jerry’s expressed public support for expunging criminal records for those charged with low-level marijuana-related crimes in a statement on their website, saying, “Legalization without justice is half baked.”


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The market opened to the upside this week following almost three weeks of consolidation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and Standard & Poor’s 500 indices are both within 4 percent of their all-time highs. April’s second quarter numbers will figure prominently in this week’s data. Chinese economic data will also impact commodities. A two-week wave of consumer and retail sector earnings will kick off the U.S. earnings season today.
Consumer companies and several major retailers will be reporting this week. Disney (DIS) is expected to beat quarterly earnings after the closing bell this afternoon. Analysts will evaluate Disney’s blockbuster movie revenues and the current state of the company’s ESPN sports division, which has been losing subscribers. A big opening weekend for its latest superhero blockbuster will give DIS some positive forward guidance and Zootopia was a hit for this reporting quarter, but investors will likely overweight the troubles at ESPN if they see any deterioration from the trend. Fast food companies Shake Shack (SHAK) and Wendy’s (WEN) will also report.
On Wednesday, Macy’s (M) is expected to miss analysts’ expectations and the company recently cut its yearly sales forecast. Kohl’s (KSS) is scheduled to report on Wednesday, with analysts estimating earnings per share of $0.39 and revenues of $4.14 billion, which would be the lowest in two years. Analysts also expecting high-end retailer Nordstrom’s (JWN) to report a shrinking bottom line. On Friday, JC Penny (JCP) is expected to report a quarterly loss. The brick-and-mortar retail sector faces low expectations, but JCP has the lowest of this bunch. Last week, the New York Post reported the firm was taking “emergency measures” due to slower than expected April sales and bankruptcy rumors have swirled around the firm for months.
On Sunday, China’s April trade data reflected slower than expected imports and exports. Chinese copper and iron ore prices were down on Monday, continuing a slide that started last week when Chinese officials clamped down on commodities futures trading. China’s inflation data will be available late Monday. On Thursday, the Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged ahead of the upcoming vote on Britain’s EU membership. On Friday, economists forecast the European Union will report first quarter GDP growth of 1.6 percent year on year.
Key U.S. economic reports include today’s Job Opening and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), Wednesday’s mortgage purchase applications index and the weekly initial unemployment claims data Thursday. All three reports are expected to show improvement over previous releases. March wholesale inventories will be released today. A deviation from expectations could impact the first quarter GDP revision. April retail sales figures, the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Survey and the Producer Price Index (PPI) for April will be released on Friday. April retail sales are expected to rise 1.0 percent, with sales ex-autos forecast to rise 0.6 percent.
The overall retail sector is doing well, with firms such as Amazon (AMZN) showing excellent growth rates. Last quarter’s slower than expected GDP growth was partially attributed to slow consumer spending. Economists forecast faster growth in this quarter and April’s retail number could go a long way to shoring up confidence in the 2.4 percent growth estimate.


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Earlier this month BlackBerry announced its new phablet, the BlackBerry Z30, in Malaysia. The company didn’t exactly say when this device would be released in North America. Well, here’s a sign that the release just might be around the corner. BlackBerry’s new phablet has made the customary FCC pit stop, it needs approval from this regulatory body to be sold in the market. A GSM version that has passed through touts 4G LTE support on both 1,700MHz and 2,600MHz bands, which hints that the device may be coming to major Canadian carriers such as Bell, Rogers and Telus soon.
This particular model does not have support for the 700MHz and 1,700MHz 3G that AT&T and T-Mobile would require, respectively. Moreover, the rumored Verizon branded model which was pictured recently hasn’t made the FCC stop as yet. It is not known at this point in time which of the remaining major U.S. carriers will be offering this device, no confirmation has been received from any one of them as yet. It also remains to be seen if BlackBerry will directly sell an unlocked GSM version of the Z30 through its website. We reported yesterday that the company has once again started direct online sales, it is currently selling the Z10 and Q10 through its website, in the U.S.
- 2014-04-15: BlackBerry And NantHealth Team Up For Healthcare-Specific Smartphone
- 2014-04-15: BlackBerry Will Shift Focus To High-End QWERTY Handsets
- 2014-04-14: BlackBerry Security Patches For iOS And Android BBM Apps To Prevent Heartbleed Exploits
- 2014-04-14: BlackBerry Pushing For Immediate Ban Of Typo Keyboard Sales
- 2014-04-13: BlackBerry Windermere Concept Case Renders Surface
- 2013-12-22: AT&T Compatible BlackBerry Z30 Shows Up At The FCC
- 2013-10-28: Verizon BlackBerry Z30 Launches This November For $199 On Contract
- 2013-10-27: Verizon BlackBerry Z30 Render Leaked
- 2013-10-10: Rogers Decides To Sell The BlackBerry Z30 After All
- 2013-09-18: BlackBerry OS 10.2 Release To Take Place Next Month


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The Barbie movie has swept the box offices globally, garnering over $1 billion and becoming the second biggest movie of the year. With this phenomenal success, it’s no surprise that fans are now eagerly awaiting the day they can stream this cinematic spectacle from the comfort of their own homes and not have to head to the cinemas and spend $30 on a small popcorn.
But, when will Barbie be available on streaming platforms in Australia?
The Journey to Streaming Platforms
The question on everyone’s lips is “When will Barbie be available to stream?”. Unfortunately, an official answer to Barbie’s streaming release date is yet to surface.
Looking at recent precedents set by Warner Bros, movies like The Flash were made available for streaming approximately 45 to 60 days post their theatrical release. If Barbie follows this timeline, it should make its digital debut around September or October.
However, given the colossal success of Barbie, the streaming release date might get pushed further. One only needs to look at the case of Universal’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which took three months to hit the digital platforms, to understand how box-office success can influence streaming release dates.
Where to Find Barbie on Digital Platforms?
Based on current reports and speculations, Barbie is likely to be released on a number of platforms including Amazon Prime Video and Apple for digital purchase following its theatrical run.
Barbie Digital Release Australia
On September 12, Barbie will be available for early Premium Digital Ownership at home for $34.99 and 48-hour rental via PVOD for $29.99. Australian users will be able to buy the movie through Amazon Prime and Apple as well as Fetch, Foxtel Store, Google Play, Microsoft, Telstra TV Box Office and YouTube.
Barbie Streaming Release Australia
When will Barbie be available to stream and where? While there is no official streaming release date for Australia, the relationship between Binge and HBO could see Barbie released on Binge.
Barbie Movie 2023 FAQ
When will Barbie Movie 2023 be available on Apple TV?
Barbie Movie 2023 will be released on Apple in Australia on September 12th to buy for $34.99.
Grab your copy here.
Will Barbie be available on Netflix?
While there are currently a number of Barbie movies available on Netflix — including Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie Dolphin Magic, and Barbie Mermaid Power. There are currently no official plans to release the blockbuster Barbie movie on Netflix.
Will Barbie be available on Disney+?
There are currently no plans for Barbie movie to be released on Disney+.
Never miss a moment on the big screen with the latest movie news on So Binge.


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In the hunt for the next billion-dollar business, Microsoft Corp. may have discovered one in mobile software. It costs Microsoft nothing to produce and sell, and it's not Windows Phone.
US online giant Amazon on Thursday reported profits doubled in the past quarter, as it attracted more customers with video and other services, but the results missed Wall Street forecasts.
(AP) -- The personal computer industry needs a jumpstart - and it's counting on a rescue from emerging markets and a late-to-the-party push into tablet computers.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion's share of the US smartphone market declined during the three months ending in November, while Apple and Google's Android platform both made gains, industry tracker comScore said Thursday.
Federal agents Friday arrested two Bay Area men who allegedly used stolen trade secrets to start their own Silicon Valley semiconductor company.
When Twitter inventor Jack Dorsey decided to start a new company last year, he bypassed Silicon Valley and set up shop in San Francisco.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt said on April 17 that there is absolutely no merit to the accusation by Microsoft and others that Google's acquisition of DoubleClick for $3.1 billion raises antitrust and privacy concerns.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife have donated $500,000 to the Wikimedia Foundation that runs free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Amazon is buying the videogame platform Twitch for $1 billion, bringing it access to millions of people who watch games being played on the site, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Revenue for plasma televisions took a substantial hit in February, according to the latest figures released by the NDP Group on Tuesday, generating only $181 million compared to the nearly $216 million in February 2006.


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Dhaka, Oct 11 (UNB) - Leading technology and smartphone manufacturing company Huawei has announced the appointment of Mr. Kelvin Yang as Country Director of Huawei Consumer Business Group in Bangladesh.
In this role, Mr. Kelvin will be based in Dhaka and have operational responsibility and provide strategic oversight for the consumer business group in the country, said a press release.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Kelvin served as Country Director of Huawei Device Tunisia, directing Device business.
This appointment will strengthen Huawei's business as the company expands its recognition as a leading global brand.
Shanghai (China), Oct 11 (UNB) – Huawei and Audi on Thursday unveiled their future plans of a cooperation in the field of intelligent connected vehicles (ICV), featuring the new Audi Q7 as a demonstration of this state-of-the-art technology.
The announcement of their future plans came out from ‘HUAWEI CONNECT 2018’ at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center on Thursday.
The three-day HUAWEI CONNECT 2018 – “Activate Intelligence” – is being held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center and Expo Center from October 10.
Executive Vice President of Audi China R&D Saad Metz commented on the German automobile manufacturer’s plans that “We evaluate a joint development of highly automated driving functions and future oriented vehicle-2-infrastructure communications. Audi proved in many events over the world to be one of the technology leaders in the area of highly automated drive.”
“We are looking forward to intensify the partnership with Huawei in the future, because we are convinced that a closer cooperation between our two companies will bring substantial benefits for both sides.”
William Xu, Director of the Board and Chief Strategy Marketing Officer of Huawei, agreed that “As cars get smarter, we take advantage of our leading ICT technologies with Audi – one of the world’s most successful premium car brands – to lead automatic driving into the fast lane. Very soon, consumers will enjoy more secure, comfortable, convenient, and intelligent self-driving services.”
Huawei’s Mobile Data Center (MDC) – is integrated into the Audi Q7 for urban automatic driving environments.
The prototype was showcased to the public during HUAWEI CONNECT 2018.
Earlier, on July 10, 2018, Huawei and Audi signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in Berlin to jointly develop intelligent connected vehicles.
This time, their collaboration is further progress in overall strategy between the two parties.
ICV is defined as a future generation of vehicles, equipped with advanced in-car sensors, controllers, actuators and other devices and integrated with modern communication and network technologies, which are able to achieve the exchange and sharing of intelligent information between vehicles.
Dhaka, Oct 10 (UNB) - Microsoft signed an agreement with the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications, and Information Technology of Bangladesh on Government Security Program (GSP) here on Wednesday for ensuring cyber security in the country.
As part of the agreement, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) will provide Bangladesh Cyber Threat Intelligence Programme (CTIP) data to the National Data Centre and CIRT team of the ministry.
Combatting malware risks, botnet takedowns and digital crimes and protect vulnerable populations by leveraging innovative technologies such as big data and AI, forensics, law and partnerships are key focus areas of Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) based in Seattle, USA.
The agreement was signed on Wednesday at the ICT Ministry in presence of Mustafa Jabbar, Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Sook Hoon Cheah, President, Microsoft South East Asia New Markets (SEANM), and Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director for Microsoft Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos, said a press release.
Tarique M Barkatullah, Director, National Data Centre, Bangladesh Computer Council, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology signed the GSP agreement on behalf of Bangladesh Government.
DCU is an international team of attorneys, investigators, data scientists, engineers, analysts and business professionals focused on protecting people, organizations and Microsoft cloud against cybercriminals.
The report will reflect a snapshot of known malware threats and vulnerabilities in Bangladesh and this data would help the Government identify risks and threats of IT infrastructures and to mitigate these threats through remedial measures to ensure a secured Digital Bangladesh.
Minister of the Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology, Mustafa Jabbar, said, “Maintaining our national security and addressing the cyber threats are crucial for Bangladesh as we envision to build a Digital Bangladesh. As the government is working to tighten our national security on the virtual space, this agreement with Microsoft will come to our help.”
“Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In this age of digital transformation, cyber security is a crucial topic for every technology company. Microsoft treats this topic seriously; we spend over $1B per year on the issue on cyber security to help our customers create a safe, secure and reliable computing experience,” said Sook Hoon Cheah, President, Microsoft South East Asia New Markets (SEANM).
Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director for Microsoft Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos stated, “This agreement is an enabler for Bangladesh Computer Council, as it will help them identify security concerns and address imminent threats through various counter measures. It will eventually help tighten the national security and build a secure Digital Bangladesh where individuals and organisations are free from cyber threats.”
Shanghai (China), Oct 10 (UNB)- Huawei, a leading ICT solutions provider, has announced its AI strategy, as well as its full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio.
The third annual HUAWEI CONNECT, a global event for the ICT industry, opened on Wednesday at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.
At the event, Huawei Rotating Chairman Eric Xu announced the AI strategy.
The Theme of the vent is “Activate Intelligence”, which focuses on AI: its challenges, opportunities, innovations, and practices.
Huawei’s full-stack portfolio includes chips, chip enablement, a training and inference framework, and application enablement. By “all scenarios”, Huawei means different deployment scenarios for AI, including public clouds, private clouds, edgecomputing in all forms, industrial IoT devices, and consumer devices.
With its full-stack AI portfolio, Huawei aims to provide pervasive intelligence to help drive industry development and build a fully connected, intelligent world.
At the event, Huawei’s Rotating Chairman Eric Xu said,“ Huawei’s AI strategy is to invest in basic research and talent development, build a full-stack, all-scenario AI portfolio, and foster an open global ecosystem,”
He explained, “Within Huawei, we will continue exploring ways to improve management and efficiency with AI. In the telecom sector, we will adopt SoftCOM AI to make network O&M more efficient.
In the consumer market, HiAI will bring true intelligence to our consumer devices, making them smarter than ever. Our HuaweiEI public cloud services and Fusion Mind private cloud solutions will provide abundant and affordable computing power for all organizations – especially businesses and governments – and help them use AI with greater ease. Our portfolio will also include an AI acceleration card, AI server, AI appliance, and many other products.”
Huawei predicts that by 2025, the world will see upwards of 40 billion personal smart devices, and 90% of device users will have a smart digital assistant. Data utilization will reach 86% and AI services will be readily available.
Huawei has defined ten changes that will help pave the way, faster model training, abundant and affordable computing power, AI deployment and user privacy, new algorithms, AI automation, practical application, real-time, closed-loop system, multi-tech synergy, platform support and talent availability.
Huawei’s AI strategy has focused on the following five areas: invest in AI research, build a full-stack AI portfolio, develop an open ecosystem and talent, strengthen existing portfolio and drive operational efficiency at Huawei.
HUAWEI CONNECT 2018 will continue from October 10 to 12. This year’s HUAWEI CONNECT conference is designed to help all businesses and organizations step over the threshold and stake their claim in the intelligent world.
New York, Oct 10 (AP/UNB) — Google's new Pixel phones mirror an industry trend toward lusher, bigger screens and add twists on the camera for better pictures.
The third generation of Pixel phones unveiled Tuesday at an event in New York features screens that span from one edge to another. It's the first time Google has embraced the format, which Samsung has had for a few years and Apple adopted last year.
But Google is undercutting Apple on price. The Pixel 3 will be available Oct. 18 starting at $799 — $200 below the least expensive iPhone XS. A larger version, the Pixel 3 XL, costs $100 more.
Google is also hiring photographer Annie Leibovitz to take pictures with the new Pixel in an effort to persuade consumers that its camera is superior.
The camera, for instance, promises better low-light and close-up shots by using artificial-intelligence software to combine multiple shots taken in succession. It will also warn you if someone blinked or if the shot is otherwise poor. The camera automatically takes about three seconds of shots, at lower resolution, and will recommend an alternative.
The Pixel joins LG's V40 in sporting a second front lens to fit more people into selfies. But it lacks a zoom lens on either side, something available on some iPhones and Samsung phones. Instead, Google uses software to mimic that effect.
Beyond the camera, Google is using artificial intelligence to help screen calls. Just tap on a button for Google's voice assistant to ask the caller about the purpose of the call. You see a transcript of the response on the screen. You can choose to pick up or ignore the call. Callers are warned that they are talking to a robot and that a transcript would be made.
Although the Pixels have barely made a dent in the market since their debut two years ago, Google uses them to highlight what it considers to be the best features of its Android operating system. A previously announced feature in which software will call businesses to make appointments and restaurant reservations for you will debut on the Pixel first, for instance — initially in New York, Atlanta, Phoenix, Arizona, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
IDC analyst Ramon Llamas said the Pixel 3 doesn't break new ground on hardware, but "software is a different story. It's mostly about convenience here."
As usual, the Pixel phones focus heavily on Google's search engine, maps, digital assistant and YouTube video service.
Google has sold an estimated 7 million Pixels over the past two years, almost imperceptible next to the 3.6 billion phones shipped during that time, according to IDC. Apple alone sold 388 million iPhones during the same period.
Tuesday's announcements come a day after Google disclosed a flaw that could have exposed personal information of up to 500,000 users of its Plus social network. Google declined to address that further Tuesday, though executives emphasized privacy and security throughout the event in New York.
For instance, the camera's features for better shots will take advantage of software on the device itself, so that nothing gets sent to Google's servers — unless you enable a backup feature with Google Photos. The Pixel 3 will have a new chip, called Titan, to store keys to the most sensitive information, including those needed to unlock the phone and descramble stored data. Many other phones already have similar hardware for security.
Google also rolled out Home Hub, which couples a small display screen with an internet-connected speaker. That's similar to Amazon's Echo Show and a new Facebook device called Portal. In another apparent nod to privacy concerns, Google didn't put a camera on its Home Hub like Amazon and Facebook did with their respective devices to enable video calls.
Again, Google is attacking its rivals on price. The Home Hub will sell for $149 when it comes to stores Oct. 22. The new version Echo Show starts at $229, while the least expensive Facebook Portal sells for $199.
There's also an upcoming tablet featuring Google's home-grown Chrome OS system. It will run Android apps, but offer functionality that's closer to a desktop. The Pixel Slate starts at $599; a keyboard costs $199 more and a stylus another $99.


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Epic video from the US-Canada border shows a bunch of truckers blocking roadways between the two countries with “Freedom” signs.
Several videos from the scene show a convoy of over a dozen semi-trucks marching up and down highways near the border with signs like “Mandate Freedom” and “Trudeau Has Caused Hate, Division, and Anger.”
The anti-mandate rally started on Monday, ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s executive order prohibiting unvaccinated truck drivers from crossing the Canadian border, which took effect on January 15.
According to NNY 360, only 50% to 60% of U.S. truckers are vaccinated, according to an estimate from the American Trucking Associations. The rules will make thousands of drivers ineligible for cross-border shipments, exacerbating a shortage at a time when the transportation industry is already strained.
Manufacturers are warning that the snarling of a supply chain that relies on an open border for the transit of $45 billion worth of goods every month might force them to reduce output and increase expenses. According to the Department of Commerce, Canada is the top export market for 32 US states.
More truck drivers are calling for an anti-mandate protest on January 23, saying they can bring Trudeau’s government to “its fucking knees.”


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ICEIE to be held in Xiamen next June
The China International Cross-border E-commerce Industry Exhibition (ICEIE) will be held from June 11, 2021 to June 13, 2021 at Xiamen International Conference & Exhibition Center.
With an area of over 20,000 square meters, the exhibition strives to become a cross-border e-commerce exhibition with the largest scale, the highest standard, the widest influence and the most complete range of industries among the domestic exhibitions of its kind.
It will also be the first time for Xiamen to hold such a high-level cross-border e-commerce exhibition.
Four theme areas will be set up to provide more cooperation opportunities for global cross-border e-commerce enterprises.


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How Businesses Might Benefit From Self Isolation
The high street has faced many challenges in recent years. However, the COVID-19 outbreak is certainly the most significant. Over the course of a few weeks, all areas across the UK have been put under lockdown, closing businesses and isolating people in their homes. Shopping centres are now empty and, aside from food retailers, stores are looking for alternative ways to maintain their business during a time of closed doors.
While some businesses are able to operate well online, others will have to turn to government funding to be able to survive the period of closure. This may mean great changes ahead for shopping as the general public has come to know it and, once the pandemic is resolved, our high streets will certainly be different.
However, there are many businesses that appear to be doing quite well. As people are isolated from each other and in their homes, certain necessities and luxuries are becoming widely popular. Retailers who stock these supplies or operate in these sectors are finding a silver-lining success.
In the absence of hairdressers, hair clippers and beauty products are in great demand. Online orders for electronic razors and trimmers have rocketed in a matter of weeks. Baking equipment, such as bannetons and bread trays, has also begun selling out from many sites as more people begin collecting flour and making their own bread. Manufacturers selling homemade fitness products have seen increased sales now that gyms are closing and people are restricted to recreate their workouts at home.
Other businesses are finding similar demand, often in unexpected ways. There has been a greater demand for furniture, shelving, and redecorating equipment. Now that most of the population are confined to their homes, either wanting to create a home office or having the free-time to decorate, redesigning and redecoration is on people’s minds.
Orders for a wide variety of items, from paint and wallpaper to slatwall panels and cupboards, are being placed all over the UK as homeowners begin using the time to transform their homes. Gardening centres too are seeing similar developments now that outside space is limited to personal gardens. Soil and seeds are being ordered online and people are spending their days redeveloping their gardens with new designs and plants.
While this concentrated demand has put a strain on the supply chain in some cases, it has meant a small semblance of sustainability for some businesses, especially those who operate well online and have their own delivery services. As the pandemic spreads and lockdowns are extended, it seems the orders will continue as more people begin to utilise their time constructively within their home.
It is predicted that some sectors will dedicate more resources to remote working once the pandemic is resolved. Such a transition will already be well established and it will follow that having a home office will become more than a passing trend as businesses come to expect the ability to work well and consistently from residential spaces. Additionally, a greater general consideration for the home and garden space will likely occur too as more people recognise the reality of having to spend time at home.


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The apparel chain filed for bankruptcy in January and closed its e-commerce site and stores.
Mobile accounts for nearly a quarter of consumers' paid search clicks.
Mobile is taking a bigger share of the paid search pie. Search engine marketing firm Marin Software Inc.'s U.S. clients saw their share of Google paid search clicks from mobile devices rise from 14.2% in 2011 to 23.4% last year, the firm says. In that same period, advertisers increased the share of their search budgets designated for mobile devices from 10.0% to 18.4%.
The average paid search ad click-through rate for Marin Software's U.S. clients in 2012 was 2.28% on desktop computers, 4.72% on smartphones and 3.12% on tablets, Marin reports.
The average paid search ad cost per click for Marin's U.S. clients in 2012 was 75 cents for desktop computers, 48 cents for smartphones and 62 cents for tablets.
The average paid search ad conversion rate for Marin's U.S. clients in 2012 was 3.9% on desktop computers, 2.8% on smartphones and 3.3% on tablets.
"It's important to note that conversion rates for tablet devices are improving relative to desktops and smartphones," the company says. "During 2012, tablets saw a 31% increase in conversion rates, compared to 9% for smartphones and 7% for computers."
Though smartphones underperformed on conversion rates, more research is warranted on their role in paid search, the marketing firm says.


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Apple will reportedly announce “several” new Macs at its upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) which is scheduled to be held next week.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman tweeted on Wednesday: “I’m expecting three major focus areas next week: 1) several new Macs, 2) the mixed-reality headset, 3) the new OSs.”
“With all of the new hardware and software, I expect the keynote to be one of Apple’s longest ever and easily exceed two hours.”
Later, Gurman reported that the tech giant is testing two new Mac desktops” labeled as Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14– which will feature M2 Ultra and M2 Max chips.
Last week, the iPhone maker unveiled the lineup for this year’s WWDC, which will help developers learn about the latest technologies, tools, and frameworks coming to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.
Free for all developers, WWDC23 will take place in an online format from June 5 through 9, with an opportunity for developers and students to celebrate in person at a special experience at Apple Park on opening day.
Throughout the week, developers will be able to connect directly with Apple engineers and experts through one-on-one labs and activities in Slack for guidance on building innovative and platform-differentiating apps and games.
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Thorntons is recalling its Garden Salads and Chef Salads. The salads were distributed in Chicago as well as Cincinnati, Ohio; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.; Evansville, Ind.; Lexington, Ky.; and Nashville, Tenn.
The presence of salmonella was found in grape tomatoes used in the salads, a news release said. The recalled salads were manufactured and distributed by Greencore U.S.A.
The product comes in a black bowl with clear lid and is marked with expiration dates 9/30/2011, 10/2/2011, and 10/3/2011 on the label on the front of the package. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-866-473-0017 from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
No illnesses have been reported.


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A similar kind of drive is expected in Gujarat and Haryana next followed by Rajasthan and Punjab
New Delhi: Telecom operator Aircel is believed to be cutting down operations in at least five circles, starting with Madhya Pradesh, to cut cost of service following severe margin pressures and a maturing voice market.
According to sources, Aircel has told distributors in the MP circle that it plans to restructure its entire business model and it may not require their services anymore.
A similar kind of drive is expected in Gujarat and Haryana next followed by Rajasthan and Punjab later.
The company is also believed to have given transfer orders to various of its staff personnel in the state.
When asked to comment, an Aircel spokesperson said, "Aircel is revamping its business model innovatively to lower 'cost to serve' without compromising on customer service or network experience."
However, the spokesperson said that the company is not shutting down its operations in Madhya Pradesh.
"The telecom industry is facing severe margin pressures as the voice market is maturing and the data demand in its true sense is still nascent. Operational costs are high and incremental market demand for relatively new players is prohibitive," the statement added.
Asked if the company will layoff staff also, the spokesperson refused to comment but said that the company is taking steps to cut down costs and a new business model will be put in place.
"As is obvious with shift in models, the organisation itself is being repurposed," it added.
According to reports, due to this revamping drive, over 500 people are expected to given pink slips.


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The NatWest Great British Entrepreneur Awards has launched the Great British Entrepreneur Scale-Up Conference in association with Coutts.
The inaugural Scale-Up Conference takes place in Central London on 20th November 2017. It will be a one day event offering advice and practical ideas to support exciting fast growth UK businesses.
The Coutts conference will attract an audience of 500 founders, entrepreneurs and business owners from aspiring businesses looking to gain knowledge to take their business to the next level.
The event will deliver interactive learning, networking and idea-generation sessions to help businesses fulfil their potential. In addition, attendees will hear from entrepreneurs that will discuss trade, talent, tech & funding from their own experiences including the many challenges they face.
Speakers at the summit include Paul Lees, Powwow Now, Gordon McAlpine, serial entrepreneur, sales guru & author, Stephen Boyle, Chief Economist, RBSand Brett Akker, LoveSpace
For more information about The Great British Entrepreneurs Scale-Up Conference visit http://www.scaleupentrepreneur.com/


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The global market for organic personal care products is a budding industry, and it's one that's intrinsically tied to the "new green revolution," which is good news for environmental activists. By 2020, the organic personal care market is expected to grow to $15.98 billion, according to findings from Grand View Research, a California-based market research firm.
"Adoption of Montreal Protocol and Kyoto Protocol in the U.S. and Canada for restricting greenhouse gas emissions has forced personal care manufacturers to utilize natural ingredients in their product," reads a press release announcing the findings. "Aforementioned factors for promoting use of natural ingredients in personal care products are expected to favor industry growth over the forecast period."
Regulating organic products: Though the Food and Drug Administration regulates products labeled as organic, the department has yet to adopt a formal definition for the term. "FDA regulates cosmetics under the authority of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA)," the organization explains in a statement. "The term 'organic' is not defined in either of these laws or the regulations that FDA enforces under their authority."
Instead, the Agricultural Marketing Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in charge of the National Organic Program (NOP), which in turn holds brands accountable for labeling standards, which it defines based on the percentage of organic ingredients that make up a given product.
It's important to note that, due to the projection that the organic personal care marketplace is expected to grow significantly in the coming years, many brands are strategizing to get on board. This can, at times, lead to heavy marketing campaigns that can obfuscate a product's actual ingredients.
Natural or nah? Just because a product is organic, that doesn't mean it's innately safer than non-organic products. "An ingredient's source does not determine its safety," reads a statement from the FDA. "For example, many plants, whether or not they are organically grown, contain substances that may be toxic or allergenic."
And the word "natural" carries no weight at all. Brands are free to use the label at their discretion. And big brands that may not have eco-friendly practices in their DNA are looking to get involved — take Clorox's 2007 Burt's Bees acquisition for instance.
"'Natural' has a fairly sturdy antonym — artificial, or synthetic — and, at least on a scale of relative values, it's not hard to say which of two things is 'more natural' than the other: cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup? Chicken or chicken nuggets? G.M.O.s or heirloom seeds?" author Michael Pollan wrote in an April article for the New York Times. "The most natural foods in the supermarket seldom bother with the word; any food product that feels compelled to tell you it's natural in all likelihood is not."
With all that in mind, here's a roundup of seven ecologically-conscious skin care lines to explore, all of which hold organic ingredients as a No. 1 priority. Happy bathing.


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Honda CBR500R may be a display unit at the upcoming Auto Expo but its launch has not been hinted for the Indian market. There is no such motorcycle segment in the Indian as the category of super bikes start at 650 cc only. Honda too had launched the CBR650F last year whereas it should have been the CBR500R instead. The bike comes with 471cc, 2-cylinder engine producing 46.9 Bhp @ 8500 rpm and 43 Nm @ 7000 rpm. if planned for India, the bike would launch for around INR 4-4.5 lakh.
Will Honda actually launch CBR500R in 2016? If yes, when?
ABIR SUR asked
Rajdeep Singh answered


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Weakening sales in Sanofi's ($SNY) U.S. diabetes franchise are not only hammering its top line, they're roughing up its executives ranks. Shortly after former CEO Chris Viehbacher got canned, in part, for an unexpected announcement about how diabetes drug sales would be soft next year, a vice president of sales in the U.S. left Sanofi.
The French drugmaker, which started shaking up the diabetes franchise sales operation as soon as Viehbacher was gone, has confirmed to Bloomberg that Bob Rossilli left Nov. 17. That was a couple of weeks after Viehbacher's warning to investors and his firing the next day. A former GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK) exec like Viehbacher, Rossilli joined Sanofi after Viehbacher became CEO in 2008. Rossilli directed sales of diabetes medicines to doctors in the eastern U.S., Bloomberg reports, an area of the business that Chairman Serge Weinberg had disparaged in a call with analysts after the CEO's departure.
|Sanofi chairman Serge Weinberg|
Weinberg said work in selling to doctors was inadequate. "It appears that our sales force management on Lantus in the U.S. could have been better," Weinberg said. Rossilli's exit came after Sanofi put Andrew Purcell in to head up the U.S. diabetes business. Purcell spent time at Novo Nordisk ($NVO) and then between 2012 and his hiring several months ago at Sanofi, spent very short stints at Becton Dickinson, Bristol-Myers Squibb ($BMS) and AstraZeneca ($AZN).
In the Q3 earnings call Oct. 28, Viehbacher, said pressure from payers had forced Sanofi to offer discounts on its top selling drug, long-acting insulin Lantus, which in turn would pressure revenues for the company next year. Lantus is Sanofi's top revenue producer and was the fifth best-selling drug globally last year, according to the FiercePharma list of top selling drugs. Analysts had been expecting growth in that area in 2015 and the news gut-kicked Sanofi share prices, sucking €9.2 billion ($11.7 billion) in value out of its market cap that day.
It was already rumored that Viehbacher's candid style had gotten him into trouble with the board and the next day, the board turned those rumors into action and fired him. The company reaffirmed shortly after Viehbacher was out the door that sales of diabetes drugs in the U.S. would be flat in 2015.
The executive revamping in North America had started even before Viebacher's departure when Anne Whitaker, who headed North America Pharmaceuticals, bailed out earlier this summer to take the CEO spot at a small biotech. Sanofi replaced her with Jez Moulding, who previously headed up its operations in Japan.
In a side note to the executive suite drama, a former Sanofi employee in the contracts department has accused Viehbacher and the company in a whistleblower lawsuit of boosting sales of diabetes drugs through a kickback scheme. The former CEO denied the allegations, as did the company, which called the accuser a "disgruntled former employee who is opportunistically attacking our company."
- read the Bloomberg story
Special Reports: The 10 best-selling drugs of 2013 - Lantus | Top women in biotech 2014 - Anne Whitaker, Synta Pharmaceuticals


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Over the years, smartphone makers have stretched the screen sizes, used new materials such as glass and installed cameras that take stunning pictures. Even mid-end phones sport some of these features today.
The next battle could be fought in the new processors in these phones. Apple has a “neural engine” in its new A11 chip, while Samsung is said to be dedicating a core in a processor for artificial intelligence (AI).
Huawei, however, is the one that has been making the most noise of late about an AI-enabled chip. Its Kirin 970, unveiled last month, is aimed at letting its future smartphones do what the cloud has often done until now – make sense of the data we feed it.
So instead of seeking an answer from Siri, Bixby, Alexa or Google Assistant, Huawei’s new chip wants to do the processing on the phone itself. A separate neural processing unit (NPU) is specially tasked with the job, just as the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) do theirs.
Better control of privacy control is one benefit it is selling. More relevant results too, from analysing what’s happening on your phone directly, say Huawei executives here in Singapore last week to showcase the technology.
In the Kirin 970, the NPU handles many of the AI aspects of the smartphone operations, possibly eliminating the need to go on the Net to process the information.
The obvious advantage is speed. With machine intelligence onboard, tasks can be scheduled, apps can be prioritised based on user needs (say, a photographer would use Snapseed more often than Instagram filters) and requests can be answered almost instantaneously without the need to go online.
This is not the first time Huawei has talked about this. During its Mate 9 phone’s launch last year, it said machine learning was built into the then-flagship Kirin 960 chip as well. It learns how you use your phone so it allocates resources automatically and even prioritises data packets to speed things up.
The new Kirin 970, expected in its the Mate 10 to be launched later this month, will take this further. The dedicated NPU in the chip is said to recognise objects in an image at a much faster pace (2,000 images per minute) while using less battery to run the operation (0.19 per cent of battery capacity).
It also promises to process raw data from an image sensor faster, focus faster, detect a subject and scene more quickly, and reduce noise for low-light scenarios such as night cityscapes and indoor shots.
For avid photographers, this is a very exciting development. If a smartphone is able to recognise objects in an image quickly, say, a man and his dog, the image processor can tune the colour differently for a more saturated colour for the dog and achieve accurate skin tone for the man.
If it is a night scene, the processor will apply a heavier noise reduction algorithm on the image to produce a much clearer photo. In other words, the phone “knows” what you’re shooting and adjusts automatically for a better image.
During the presentation last week, Huawei showed how a woman’s face was recognised quickly in an image and picked out for further enhancement by the image processor.
Having to quickly ‘tag’ an image with the relevant descriptive terms also helps in archiving photos for easy search in the future. For professional photographers, such tags can also be used to easily list photos on stock imaging services for sale.
While the AI capabilities take centrestage, they are not the only enhancement in the Kirin 970. Huawei says users can expect improved car navigation accuracy, upgraded security, faster mobile network access, and more efficient use of battery power. The new chip can also handle up to 1.2Gbps of data with dual 4G SIM support with Voice over LTE.
The new chip looks certain to get top billing for Huawei’s upcoming Mate 10, as it seeks to strengthen its position as the number two smartphone maker. How well it does could also determine if AI-enabled chips will be the next big thing in smartphones in the coming years.


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New Delhi, Aug 22: HMD Global, that makes and sells Nokia-branded phones, on Thursday said Android 10 will soon arrive on entire Nokia smartphone portfolio. Starting in Q4 2019, Nokia smartphone fans can get their hands on the very latest Android 10 software upgrade. HMD Global has also confirmed that an affordable Nokia 5G phone that would cost around half of the existing ones would arrive next year in the US. Google Officially Names Android Q as Android 10; Ditches Long Used Dessert-Based Naming.
"Nokia smartphones were the first whole portfolio to benefit from a 2-letter upgrade from Android Nougat to Android Oreo and then Android Pie. We were the fastest manufacturer to upgrade from Android Oreo to Android Pie across the range," Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer, HMD Global, said in a statement. Android 10 Launched by Google: From Astroid to Pie, Check Names of All Versions of the Most Used Mobile Operating System.
Android Q will be called #Android10. As a global operating system, it’s important that the release names are clear and relatable for everyone in the world. Learn more: https://t.co/VKBcoSBGLt pic.twitter.com/Ek7izFEnuq
— Android (@Android) August 22, 2019
"With today's roll-out plan, we look set to do it even faster for Android Pie to Android 10 upgrades. We are the only manufacturer 100% committed to having the latest Android across the entire portfolio," he added.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 23, 2019 04:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).


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Tesla delays Model 3 international expansion in Europe and Asia by nearly six months
In a recent comment, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the automaker has pushed the international expansion of its Model 3 electric car in Europe and Asia to early- and mid-2019. Tesla has been facing issues in production of Model 3 and the company has recently achieved over 500 vehicles per day production rate.
Presently, Tesla Motors is delivering the Model 3 only in the US and Canada. Musk has been closely monitoring Model 3 production as the company faces tough questions about its ability to deliver the pending Model 3 order pipeline.
The disclosure about the delayed international expansion of Model 3 in Europe and Asia coincides with the automaker’s ongoing efforts to iron out Model 3 production ramp-up issues, due to which the electric car has hit some delays.
Tesla had commenced the production of Model 3 in July 2017. It had originally planned to launch the electric car in Europe in the second half of 2018. However, that timeline has now been pushed back by nearly six months.
In announcing the delayed international launch of Model 3, Musk recently commented that the electric car will make its way to the left-hand-drive markets in Europe and Asia during the first half of 2019, while the expected timeline of the arrival of the vehicle in the right-hand-drive markets will “probably” be around the middle of 2019.
Musk also drew attention to the fact that Model 3 has been designed in such a way that it has a certain ‘symmetry’ because of which its production can easily be switched between left-hand-drive and right-hand-drive.
In a recent report, BMW-focused German website BimmerToday has revealed that BMW’s i3 all-electric car will be getting a new battery cell upgrade, aimed at giving the car a range of more than 200 miles.
Chinese electric vehicle market is fast growing and acceptance of green vehicles in China has increased over the last two quarters.
In Berlin this week, German automaker Audi shared some notable details about the 1,576-pound, 95-kWh lithium-ion battery pack of the company’s forthcoming 2019 e-tron battery-electric SUV.
At the Auto China 2018 event held in Beijing this week, General Motors (GM) took the wraps off a stunning new all-electric concept SUV --- the Buick Enspire.
According to the results of a recent Autolist consumer poll, US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors has received the highest trust rating among automakers presently involved in developing self-driving technologies.
According to the latest electric vehicle (EV) sales report for China for the month of March 2018, the number of EVs sold in the country during the month touched a total of 59,000 units; thereby marking a noteworthy 85% year-on-year increase as com


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The biggest update in the history of COD Mobile will release very soon. Slated to launch tomorrow, Wednesday, October 14 at 5 pm PT, the community eagerly anticipates Season 11. Since the popular mobile game is celebrating its one-year anniversary, the developers are going big. There’s going to be a new event, a stacked Battle Pass, and other content coming both at release and throughout the season. Earlier today, the COD Mobile team confirmed some of the content arriving tomorrow. This includes the Fennec submachine gun, along with a new map and mode.
What’s coming in the COD Mobile Season 11 update?
While players got a peak of the roadmap for Season 11 earlier in the week, it wasn’t 100% official. Still, its information was correct, as the official Twitter account for COD Mobile tweeted out the same details earlier today.
Now, fans know exactly what to expect when the Season 11 update rolls through. Coming at launch, players can expect to see the Fennec SMG, which is a popular weapon in Call of Duty: Warzone right now. Also, a new Gunfight and Duel map called King is slated to arrive along with the game mode Cranked.
In terms of cosmetics, there is a slew of items featured on the premium Battle Pass. This includes weapon variants, as well as skins for the various characters in the game. However, if you’re not looking to spend the $10 for the premium pass, you’ll still receive some items on the free version. One of those items is the new Advanced UAV scorestreak, which has been highly requested for months.
There’s a solid amount of content coming as soon as Season 11 launches. However, what won’t be coming on arrival is the Halloween Standoff map. COD Mobile developers stated that the map would be “coming soon,” most likely closer to October 31.
You can presumably start downloading the Season 11 update tomorrow, October 14, at around 8 pm ET. Just keep a lookout on your device’s update page. Make sure to keep up with Daily Esports for all Call of Duty news.
Source: Read Full Article


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HP Thailand, the local operating unit of the global tech firm, has unveiled its "Future Ready" strategies for 2023-24, aiming to capture growth in Thailand's digital economy.
The company also plans to explore offering new business models for consumer subscription and device-as-a-service.
According to global research firm IDC, Thailand's personal computer market is forecast to grow 7.9% to 2.2 million units in 2023.
"HP is pivoting to be more growth-oriented, enabling technology to inspire meaningful change," said David Tan, vice-president and managing director of HP Southeast Asia.
"We see trends in urbanisation, sustainability and digital equality, which were all incorporated in our strategy."
HP's Future Ready vision and actions revolve around customers, with portfolio, operations and people its three pillars.
A more growth-oriented portfolio means tailoring its offerings to the ways people live, work and play, while the operations pillar strives for more supply chain resilience.
The people pillar aims to empowers its staff to do great work in a purpose-driven culture.
Mr Tan said the company sees business opportunity in the Thai education segment as the government is investing a lot in this arena. In Southeast Asia, education spending on technology is growing by 6%.
In Indonesia, HP is joining with the government to offer computers in either a rental or subscription model to schools, part of its digital equality efforts, he said.
Endpoint device security represents another growth segment, as HP offers Wolf endpoint device security solutions to protect data in hybrid work environments, said Mr Tan.
The device-as-a-service model is intended to support corporate customers in Thailand. HP set up a workforce solution group to work with partners and customers to support this model, he said.
In the consumer space, the company offers an instant ink and toner subscription model in Singapore, New Zealand and Australia, and is considering introducing it in Thailand.
Thailand has young digital workers, a high internet penetration rate, and a government policy driving adoption of technology, which makes it attractive, said Varanit Athijiratroj, managing director of HP Thailand.
The country has an 85% internet penetration rate and many small and medium-sized enterprises that employed 12.6 million people in 2022, accounting for 71% of total employment.
Roughly 57% of Thai businesses adopted hybrid work in 2022, while Thailand is the second-largest gaming market in Southeast Asia.
According to IDC, HP was the No.1 printer and personal computing vendor for unit shipments in Thailand in the first quarter 2023.
"Our product portfolios support work and play, security and sustainability by using sustainable design concepts, such as computer notebooks that use resins made from recycled cooking oil," said Sutee Suwongwatthanakun, market development manager for consumer PCs in Thailand.


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According to recently report from Japanese newspaper Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun, they interviewed with Nikon’s president Mr. Kazuo Ushida on upcoming products from Nikon. Nikon president said that they are working on a brand new mirrorless camera (Could be Full Frame), the Nikon’s 100th Anniversary is coming, there is a chance that Nikon will release this kind of new mirrorless camera.
In an interview with Nikon executives by Yahoo Japan, Nikon said that they will concentrate on medium and high-end DSLR cameras and mirrorless cameras and lenses. You can read full interview below: (Translated by Google) Read More »
According to a recently interview with Nikon Europe product manager Jordi Brinkman by Amateurphotographer, Nikon has denied reports that the Nikon 1 system is no longer in development, but says it is considering making a higher-end mirrorless camera.
Nikon Japan has filed another Nikon full frame mirrorless lens patent today. This is AF-S NIKKOR PC-E 19mm f/4 Tilt-shift full frame mirrorless lens. The second full frame mirrorless lens from Nikon, the first one is Nikon 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 VR lens.
According to recently rumors on NR, Nikon is currently working on the rumored Nikon Full Frame mirrorless camera. This Nikon FF mirrorless will announced in late 2015 to early 2016. Nikon has already filed a patent for a 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 VR full frame mirrorless lens.


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Shoppers enlist tech tools to get best deals.
LEWISVILLE, Texas -- Today's shoppers are utilizing technology to help them find the best products at the best prices, according to results of an annual survey conducted by Blackhawk Engagement Solutions, an international incentives and engagement company.
The survey reveals that customers are developing more beneficial shopping patterns for themselves by harnessing connected technologies that allow them to simplify and optimize the path to their purchases.
Blackhawk's shopper research surveyed more than 2,500 respondents nationally to uncover the ways they pre-shop, discover and filter options. It explored the devices they use, their influences along the multiple paths to purchase, and the many ways retailers and marketers can disrupt those paths.
"Gone are the days of retailers only worrying about keeping up with their competitors," said Rodney Mason, global vice president of marketing at Blackhawk Engagement Solutions. "Today, the key to winning at retail is keeping up with your customers.
"By charting where shoppers are landing as they explore new shopping territories, retail marketers can position their businesses in front of the competition and closer to targeted and underserved customers."
A key finding from the Blackhawk survey is that the smartphone is the most prevalent Internet device, with 71% of shoppers using one daily. Following smartphones are laptops at 66%, desktop computers at 50% and tablets at 43%.
The research also found that television watching and Internet shopping are closely linked, with 58% of consumers shopping at home while watching television, and 47% learning about products, special sales and shopping news from TV, according to Blackhawk.
Finally, shopping at work, the survey found, is also significant, with 37% of consumers admitting to shopping while at work.
Overall, the study determined that the peak time for online shopping is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Mobile technology, according to Blackhawk, changes how customers shop not only online but also in stores. Showrooming is now an ingrained behavior, with 19% of shoppers reporting that they purchase competitors' products on their smartphones while standing in stores.


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French payments firm Worldline has collaborated with buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) outfit Splitit to offer an integrated card-based instalment payments tool for its North American merchants.
The partnership is based on Splitit’s instalments-as-a-service platform.
It will see Worldline initially incorporating Splitit into its processing platform across North America.
Worldline will also allow Splitit application programming interfaces (APIs) through its front end to make it easier for its merchants to adopt card-based instalments.
After the initial launch, both the firms will explore ways to bring their solution into new territories.
Splitit’s instalments-as-a-service platform has been designed to offer one-click instalments capability into the merchant’s current checkout flow.
The merchant-branded platform, co-delivered by Splitit and Worldline, is capable of minimising issues related to various payment logos during checkout.
It also ensures brand consistency as well as help in recurring purchases, among others, stated Splitit.
Worldline managing director North America Anthony Chalhoub said: “The growing merchant demand for next-generation instalment options provides a significant opportunity.
“Splitit delivers a unique white-label instalment service that provides consumers with a way to utilise existing credit better to split the cost of purchases while providing merchants more control over the entire experience.
“We want to enable our customers with value-added payment services that are quick and easy to implement, and Splitit provides that.”
In addition, Splitit noted that it enables existing consumer credit on payment cards for no interest as well as instalments that can be paid over time.
Earlier this month, the company announced an agreement with Google to provide consumers in the US, Canada and Australia with instalment solutions.


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The BBC and the ITV Plc UK media companies have announced that their joint venture called “BritBox”, and which was available only in the US and Canada will finally get launched in the UK. This is another effort of two “traditional” European broadcasters to take on Netflix and Amazon Prime, both of which are enjoying amazing market response in the UK, already counting 12 and 6 million subscribers respectively. Britbox has a subscriber count of 250k in the US and Canada, and industry observers are already writing off its chances to compete in the UK.
One of them, Claire Enders, who also happens to be the founder of Enders Analysis has made the following statement: “I don’t think any of the ventures being developed are going to be successful. They haven’t got the scale to survive now that their markets have been colonized by Netflix and Amazon. I think they’ll all be loss-making and they’ll all weaken the core business.”
According to this estimation, traditional broadcasters will only accelerate their downfall through ventures like the BritBox, as they are already aboard a sinking ship. Conventional television consumption is reportedly in steady decline since 2014, and the situation gets worse year by year. Investors have of course noticed this and have been selling their shares of European broadcasters at a steady rate. In the same time that the stock value of companies like the ITV Plc falls to unprecedented levels, that of Netflix has quadrupled.
The story is the same everywhere in Europe and not just in the UK, as Netflix and Amazon Prime have invaded Germany and France, and as long as the other broadcasters continue to fight each other for some ad revenue, online streaming service providers will continue to march without competition. This has forced traditional broadcasters to consider coalitions and collaborations, but still, they are not moving either quickly or decisively enough towards this direction. Even if they did, however, experts claim it is already too late for them to compete.
The only possible way for these companies to save the day at this point is to shift all investment focus from their traditional media and put it into developing original shows and series for their online platforms. Some tried to do just that, but it was the European regulators who pulled the rug under their feet, making them wait for years for antitrust clearances. The years pass by, and the Netflix invasion has already taken place in Europe, so this may be an irreversible situation.
What do you think about BBC’s new streaming service BritBox and its chances to compete against Netflix in the UK? Express your views in the comments down below, or on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.