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Tourico Strikes Deal to Book Hotels for Virgin Holidays
A little more than four months after it announced that it would to become a purely direct-sell tour operator after 30 years of selling through the trade, Virgin Holidays has announced a partnership with Orlando-based Tourico Holidays in which the latter will open up Tourico’s inventory of hotels throughout the world.
Virgin Holidays, which bills itself as “the largest, most successful transatlantic tour operator, and market leader for travel to the USA,” provoked a strong negative reaction from travel agents as well as other UK tour operators when it announced late last October (just weeks before the World Travel Market convened in London) that it was circumventing the trade by selling directly to consumers through its website and national network of retail stores in the UK.
At a news conference during WTM held early last November in London, Mark Anderson, managing director of Virgin Holidays, said that the decision “has not won me any popularity awards with agents,” but emphasized that there would not be any reversal of the move. “Owning the customer experience end-to-end is really important to us as it helps us enhance the overall experience for the customer, particularly pre-departure,” he said. He added that the company would be securing even more leisure flying from its sister airline, Virgin Atlantic, going forward.
For Tourico, the venture is about more than just the UK outbound market to the USA. The company also plans to grow inbound travel to the UK by adding to its partner support team on the ground, increasing the number of hotel partners in the market, securing deals at hotels in London, and by leveraging its network of tour operators and other distributors in primary source markets—including Canada, the United States, China, and the Middle East. Tourico has also committed to opening an office in downtown London, which will house nearly 100 team members by 2018.
Good News and Better News: In UK, Family Travel Bounces Back—So Does Number of Operators
Two new reports tell us that the UK tour and travel industry is returning to levels of business not seen since the prior to the trough period of the 2008-09 economic recession:
First, the elimination of the Air Passenger Duty (APD) has led to a double digit increase over two years in departures to Florida, according to ABTA.
Second, the number of tour operators, travel agencies, travel agents and travel business volume has grown dramatically—almost reaching pre-2008 levels. More detail follows:
1. Elimination of the APD: Beginning May 1, 2015, the British government eliminated the APR for children under 12 years of age ABTA said figures from GfK‘s Leisure Travel Monitor show sales for the Caribbean are up 29 percent for this summer and bookings for Florida are up 13 percent over two years. Both destinations, especially Florida, are sold as family destinations in the UK.
ABA said the increase was “perhaps partly boosted” by the abolition of APD for children. Now, beginning this week (March 1st), families with teenage children will fly for less with the removal of APD on economy flights for children under 16. The effective result of this is to lower the cost to a long-haul destination such as Florida by some $400 in airfare.
Originally, when it was first implemented in 1994, the APD was a flat £5 charge on flights within the UK or elsewhere in the EU, and a £10 charge on all other flights. It was aimed at raising revenue to fund environmental programs, but soon grew to cover more individuals and increased in size as it was found to provide substantial revenue for the government’s general fund. In recent years, the travel and tourism industry had been waging a vigorous campaign to have it eliminated or reduced. The exemption of children under 12 (and later 16) was first announced in the fall of 2014.
2. Business and Businesses are Back for UK Trade: It was revealed last week that combined travel agency and tour operator turnover in the UK increased for a sixth successive year in 2015 to almost £32 billion ($44.4 billion). The 12 percent year-on-year rise, said an analysis of the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) data by the UK’sTravel Weekly’s sister publication, Travolution, was the second-highest annual increase since 2008.
ONS data also showed the number of agencies surpassed 4,000 in 2015 and the number of travel agents in the UK will recover to near pre-recession levels next year. The data analysis for the 2016 Travolution Innovation Report shows there were 66,224 agents in the UK last year. This figure is forecast to increase to 68,514 in 2016, close to the 69,471 recorded in 2008 at the start of the downturn, and sizable increase over the nine-year low in 2013 of 59,289.
The data show tour operator numbers and employment fared even better than agents during the recession, weathering the downturn better and recovering earlier.
—In 2008 there were 1,590 tour operators with 18,757 staff.
—By 2011, after two successive years of decreases, there were 1,615, with 19,090 employees.
—In 2015, there were 1,920 tour operators and 22,215 employees.
—in 2016 the figure is forecast to top the 2,000 mark, with employees rising to 23,364.
NAJ’s RTO Summit West Photo Gallery—Part 2
The peripatetic Laszlo Horvath, CEO, Active Media, moves from the podium and then table to table during his presentation, How to Use Google Predictive Analytics to Forecast International Intent to Travel to Specific Destinations from a Variety of Source Countries.
Evan Saunders, founder of Attract China and a regular featured speaker at NAJ’s RTO Summit series, furnishes delegates with an update on the overall condition of the travel market from China.
Gary Oldfield, travel industry sales manager, Greater Palm Springs CVB, closely follows the opening “State of the Industry” presentation by Jake Steinman, founder and CEO of the NAJ Group.
Just finished with their discussion of what social media techniques suppliers should consider when dealing with receptive tour operators are: Patrick Swen, marketing director, Lassen Tours; Roselle Masse, product director, TeamAmerica; and Aniseh Dalju, co-founder of Onward, a new Anaheim-based receptive tour operator.
Sharing a moment together during the Summit’s morning coffee break period, are Robert Graff, corporate vice president of marketing and international sales, Papillon Group-Papillon Helicopters/Scenic Airlines; and Elaine Kellogg, executive director, business development/international marketing, Grayline-City Sightseeing New York.
Could you please get serious? Remarks off-camera by Ko Ueno, executive director of Agent Kai (the Japanese Tour Operators Association of California) prompted this candid moment of laughter among the operators attending following a group luncheon program that had a presentation featuring NAJ’s new website, TourOperatorland.com.
Front row (left-to-right): Betsy Cooper, tour operator community manager/marketing, NAJ Group; Katsuhisa Seki, JTB USA; Osuke Ishiguro, JTB USA; Jake Steinman, founder and CEO Group; Michelle Kariyone, Kintetsu; and Shigekazu Kuwamura, Kintetsu.
Second row (left-to-row): Shinsuke Takahashi, HIS; Bobby Valenciano, HIS; Mike Miura, TTA; Ko, Shota Tsukamoto, HIS; Tomomi Soliz, Meitetsu; Hiromi Huaman, TTA; and Erika Mason (Kintetsu).
At his table preparing to give one-on-one advice to Summit delegates during the closing program’s “Genius Bar” feature is Florian Herrmann, president, HMS International.
Pepe Avila, director of tourism development, Visit Anaheim, listens as Elena Ferranto, director of strategy, Sparkloft, explains some of the finer points of using social media to connect with international travel buyers.
Jake Steinman (right), founder and CEO of the NAJ Group, works at the laptop of Brian Jemison, director of sales and marketing, Legends OUE Skyspace Los Angeles, as he explains some of the unique features of NAJ’s new website, TourOperatorLand.com.
A close-knit collection of Pennsylvanians made the trip to Marina del Rey. From the group at the Summit’s closing reception are (left-to-right): Ann M. Pilcher, tourism sales manager, Pocono Mountains CVB; Anni Jirapatnakul, tourism supervisor, Philadelphia CVB; Greg Edevane, director of sales, Chester County Conference & Visitors Bureau; Nathan A. Claycomb, business development manager, Sight & Sound Theatres; Peggy Nana-Sinkam, group manager, The Amish Farm and House; Jennifer L. Buchter, managing director of hospitality and sales, Amish View Inn & Suites; Jenny McConnell, director of sales, Destination Gettysburg; and Mara Sultan convention and international sales manager, Discover Lancaster.
Brazilians Spending Overseas Dwindled Down by 32% Last Year
A recent report from Brazil’s Central Bank for the year 2015 confirmed what travel suppliers in the United States and in other key international destinations favored by travelers from Brazil have reported for the past year to the Inbound Report: They cut their overseas spending dramatically. The nation’s Central Bank said that Brazilians spent 32.1 percent less overseas (the USA is the number one destination for Brazilians traveling overseas) in 2015, for a total of $17.357 billion, the lowest volume since 2010.
And unless the Brazilian Congress takes action to reverse a measure implemented last month by the central government—it applied a 25 percent tax on tourism services paid abroad, meaning that tour operators and travel agents booking hotels and packages overseas will have to charge their clients an additional 25 percent levy—the situation will likely get worse.
“It’s not Rocket Science.” For much of last year, especially at last June’s IPW in Orlando (there, we visited two major shopping mall favorites of Brazilian travelers and spoke with tour operators and journalists who covered the market), last September’s La Cita de Las Americas trade show in Boca Raton, Fla. and last November at NAJ’s RTO Summit East in Orlando, the Inbound Report has heard report after report of how Brazilians are spending less on shopping. One receptive tour operator told us that, while travelers from Brazil were still shopping, “they’re only putting one shopping bag in the overhead bins instead of two.”
Actually, from the perspective of Brazilians, they are spending the same amount of Brazilian reais—it’s just that the currency is worth much less. As one reader wrote in a Rio Times article on the decline in spending: “To put it another way, Brazilian tourists are spending the same amount abroad, but their money is worth 50% less so they have the same number of reais available to spend, but it buys half the dollars/Euros/Pounds or whatever that it did a year ago. It’s not rocket science.”
Here is a table cataloging the decline of the real against the U.S. dollar over the past year-and-a-half.
The Dwindling Power of the Real
Brazilian Real : U.S. Dollar
Last 18 Months, by Quarter
|Value of Real
| Rate recorded on 15th of each month
|Source: Xe.com; prepared by Inbound Report
For a table showing a two-year history of the real-dollar currency exchange rate, visit:
Outlook Remains Bleak: In addition to the 25 percent tax on international tour products, the Brazilian economy is in the midst of a recession. In December, economic activity fell 0.5 percent over the previous month in seasonally-adjusted terms, according to the Central Bank’s monthly indicator for economic activity. This compares to November’s revised 0.6 percent decline. This print marked the tenth consecutive month of decline as the economy remains in recession.
I chat, You Chat, We all Chat for We Chat!—China’s Most Powerful Platform
In the first few years following the December 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between China and the U.S. that authorized the marketing and promotion of Visit USA leisure travel in the country, the phrase “China Ready” meant that U.S. hotels and travel suppliers should furnish their guests with in-room tea kettles and slippers; provide Chinese language menus and brochures and have Mandarin-speaking staff and tour guides.
Clearly, the tour and travel industry has upgraded (or should have upgraded) to “China Ready 2.0,” which integrates the earlier features with readily available and free Wi-Fi everywhere and platforms for digital devices and apps that accommodate the 659 million Chinese consumers who rely on their smartphones to use WeChat in order to conduct all of their travel-related conversations, exchange messages and photos, conduct research and make and pay for their bookings. This is what Brian Chuan, the newly minted director of travel trade development at South Coast Plaza in Newport Beach, California—he joined recently from Macy’s—made clear to delegates at NAJ’s recent RTO Summit in Marina del Rey, California.
In keeping with the spirit of Digital Day—the first day of the RTO Summit dedicated to familiarizing international tour and travel professionals with digital techniques and applications—Chuan focused on the importance of WeChat as an international marketing tool that will help enable (or enhance the ability of) U.S. travel suppliers to penetrate the Chinese market. While there is an international version of WeChat, that version does not have the numbers or in-country possibilities that a Chinese hosted account does.
From Chuan’s notes …
—Known as Weixin, the largest messaging app in China
—Developed by Tencent, released in January 2011
—Mobile text and voice messaging communications service
Its key functions are:
-Others (includes photo, video, coupon, lucky money, GPS location, group chat)
WeChat by the Numbers
|Number of registered WeChat accounts
|1.1 billion (January 2015)
|How many people use WeChat
|650 million monthly active users (Nov. 2105)
|Number of WeChat users that access it on smartphone
|639 million (January 2016)
|Number of people who use WeChat outside China
|100 million (March 2014)
|Average amount of time Chinese adults spend on WeChat daily
|40 minutes (April 2015)
|Percentage of WeChat that use it more than 10 times a day
|55.2% (January 2015)
|Ave. number of times WeChat users visit it daily
|7.8 (September 2015)
|Percentage of WeChat users that purchase products online
|83% (August 2015)
|Percentage of population in Tier 1 cities in China that user WeChat
|93% (December 2015)
|Percentage of population in Tier 2 cities in China that user WeChat
|69% (December 2015)
|Number of offline stores that accept WeChat payment
|300,000 stores (February 2016)
|Percentage of WeChat usersmale : female
|64.3% male to 35.7% female (August 2015)
|Percentage of millennials that use WeChat globally
|60% (February 2015)
|Percentage of WeChat users that are between the ages of 18-36
|886.2% (January 2015)
|Source: South Coast Plaza
Comparison Monthly Active Users of Selected Sites
|Monthly Active Users
|Source: Statista 2016
How it Can and Will Work in the Future: To illustrate the latest application of WeChat, Chuan played a video explaining how Caesars Entertainment has partnered with WeChat with its “connected room” at its Linq hotel in Las Vegas. Everything from booking the room (from China) to setting the lighting, temperature and coffee timer for the room can be done through the app. There is more, which is explained in the three-minute video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMDLPKWI1w
Merlin Entertainments Buys Share of Big Bus Tours To Expand Ticket Distribution Network
UK-based Merlin Entertainments last week announced that it had invested more than $34 million for a 15 percent share in Big Bus Tours. The arrangement will open up additional channels of distribution for both companies as they will now cross-promote product globally and sell each other’s tickets.
In the USA, Big Bus—founded in London in 1991, it is the largest operator of open-top sightseeing tours in the world, it has sightseeing tours in 18 cities across three continents—operates hop on-hop off tours in Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Miami, Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Headquartered about 110 miles southwest of London, Merlin Entertainments, whose portfolio makes it the second-largest operator of theme parks/attractions in the world—behind only Disney—owns such properties as Madame Tussauds, Legoland parks and Discovery Centers, the London Orlando Eye and the Dungeons attractions. Some of its USA properties include:
—Legoland parks and resorts near Orlando and north of San Diego
—Madame Tussauds in Washington DC, Las Vegas New York and San Francisco
—Legoland Discovery Centers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Kansas City, suburban Detroit and Tempe, Arizona.
For more information, visit:
HODGE PODGE: Shifts, Shakeups and Occasional Shaftings in the Tour and Travel Industry
Cathy Domanico joins Brand USA as vice president of global trade development (effective March 14) after serving the past 11 years as the vice president of tourism and leisure sales for Choose Chicago. Prior to joining Choose Chicago in 2005, Domanico served as the vice president of marketing and business development for the Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago.
Sharon Siskie is the new senior vice president of sales for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, U.S.
In this role, Siskie, who has been with Disney for more than 20 years, will be responsible for leisure and non-leisure sales channels within the domestic Walt Disney Parks and Resorts segment. A highly regarded industry veteran, she will also oversee the sales and marketing organizations for Canada and Latin America, as well as global in-bound receptive channels. A 21-year Disney veteran, Siskie most recently served as vice president, marketing and sales, international.
Crockatt takes over from Interim president & CEO Dick Brown who has filled in since June 2015.
He comes to the position from InterVISTAS Consulting, where he served as senior vice president, air service and business development. Previously, Crockatt served as vice president, business development & marketing with the Ottawa International Airport Authority for over eight years.
Tracy Lanza has joined Brand USA in the newly created position of vice president of Integrated marketing (effective March 7). Lanza has worked at Brand USA since 2012 as the vice president and global account director on behalf of J. Walter Thompson and JWT Action/Geometry Global (part of the WPP portfolio of agencies and Brand USA’s former agency of record). Lanza has spent more than 20 years in the advertising and marketing industry including the past 11 years with a wide variety of WPP portfolio holdings including Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, Hill+Knowlton and Mediacom.
Helene Hall has left the lowcosttravelgroup where she was a marketing director and led global marketing teams in nine key European markets as well as the U.S., focusing on the UK and Ireland, and has joined the senior team of content marketing digital agency, Melt, as chief commercial officer. Previously she held director level roles at digital agency Gravytrain, where she was responsible for search and more recently for digital marketing. Before that she was global head of SEO at Holiday Autos.


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Brown may break his golden rule
PRESSURE on Gordon Brown increased today as a leading economics think-tank warned the Chancellor is in danger of breaking his own fiscal rules.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Brown will need to raise taxes or cut spending to meet his golden rule - to borrow only to invest over the economic cycle.
Just two days before the Pre-Budget Report, it said: 'If the output gap has already closed and potential growth is only 2.5% (as in the OECD projection), further fiscal retrenchment would almost certainly be required to ensure that the golden rule is met.'
The organisation added that Government debt this year is likely to exceed the 3% of gross domestic product stipulated by the European Union's Maastricht Treaty.
The OECD estimates Britain's economy will grow by 3.2% this year before slowing to 2.6% in 2005. 'Future growth is likely to be less reliant on consumption and more driven by investment, with net exports being much less of a drag,' it said.
Surprisingly, it said further interest rate rises, totalling around three-quarters of a percentage point, may be necessary next year to bring growth back to trend.
Slower growth and low inflation warranted a pause for now, however. The City has largely assumed that rates, at 4.75%, have peaked.
It added that the housing market posed the biggest threat to the economy, although the risk of a crash was less than in the past.
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Engineers at Intel Corp are applying lessons from aircraft design to create sturdier laptops in a bid to reduce the prices of the new ultra-thin computers the top chipmaker is promoting heavily.
Intel is counting on the super-thin laptops, a category it has dubbed ultrabooks, to add some pizzazz to a PC market languishing due to the growing popularity of Apple Inc's iPad.
Models expected later this year will have large touch screens, "instant on" responsiveness and razor-thin dimensions - all expensive features that have left some on Wall Street wondering if they might be too expensive for average consumers.
Engineers at Intel's Dupont, Washington R&D center, including former Boeing Co employees, have come up with a design method to make plastic laptop cases as strong as more-expensive metal ones typically used in ultrabooks, said Ben Broili, head of the team.
He said that may cut the cost of future ultrabooks by between $25 and $75 by letting manufactures use plastic cases instead of metal ones without sacrificing quality.
Their work is an example of the steps Intel is taking to find ways to make future ultrabooks more affordable - without cutting the prices of its processors.
At a meeting with analysts last month,... Source/Origin >> Read More


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Although the GDT price index slipped for the sixth time in the past seven auctions, a rise in whole milk powder means this is a "not a bad result" says Emma Higgins.
"With whole milk powder above that US$3000 per tonne mark, that's a really good result for this time and this season", Rabobank's Dairy Analyst told The Country's Jamie Mackay.
The GDT price index dropped 0.2 per cent from the previous auction two weeks ago and whole milk powder climbed 2.1 per cent to US$3100 a tonne.
Listen to the full interview below:
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
The current GDT results are "crucial" to set good foundations for the future milk price said Higgins, and the next few months are key in terms of production and volume.
In further good news, Higgins said she is sticking with her $7.15 milk price forecast for the 2019/2020 season.
Also in today's interview: Higgins takes a look at how global geopolitics or a potential recession could affect the forecast milk price and how a trade war isn't all bad news for New Zealand.


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Players on US based fantasy operator HypSports now have the option to try out League of Legends for the LCS Summer Split.
Of course, real money fantasy esports is no new thing. DraftKings continue to offer League of Legends and ESP (otherwise known as Esports Pools) offer yet more options across multiple titles. Fantasy esports took a hit in 2016 when real money options Vulcun and AlphaDraft (which had been acquired by FanDuel) were shut down, but there are a number of companies looking into a ‘Take Two’ situation.
What HypSports is offering however is not daily fantasy, it’s season (or tournament) long. HypSports is available as an app on both iOS and Android, and Facebook too, and the beta platform launched in November 2016. Since then over sixty thousand players have taken part in competitions across basketball, baseball, American football and so on. Now it’s entering esports.
Mike Taramykin, CEO and Co-Founder of HypSports, said of their decision: “The popularity of fantasy sports has proven that fans want to be more than just spectators, and they become more engaged when they compete alongside with their favorite athletes.
“This applies to esports fans as much as it does to traditional sports fans. People are now growing up spending more time playing video games than traditional sports which is redefining ‘sports’ and what it means to be an ‘athlete.’ We believe that esports fans also want an extra level of fun and strategy that goes beyond the number crunching of fantasy sports, which is exactly what HypSports delivers.”
Taramykin has a background in gaming and has worked at the likes of EA Sport and was heavily involved in the release of the free to play versions of Madden NFL. The operator will begin its esports fantasy offering with League only, but has plans to expand beyond this.
Speaking to Esports Insider, Taramykin said: “We will be adding more esport leagues soon… starting with CS:GO. For now, we’re off to a great start. Since we added LoL at the beginning of June, we have had more than 10,000 LoL players from more than 100 countries. We chose LoL as our first esport because of audience size, league/event structure, and timing. Our goal was to launch esports this summer so it made most sense to align with the start of the EU and NA LCS splits in June.”
As to the crossover of its current user demographic and how they plan to market the esports side, he answered: “We do see strong crossover. In fact, 47% of LoL players are also playing MLB events. Given the general age gap between these two sports, we think that’s an excellent start.
“As you know, esports is a rapidly evolving industry with a lot of creative opportunities to promote products and services. But of course, not every opportunity makes sense for every business so we are trying a few different things right now including social, influencer, and small ad campaigns to get a sense of what works best for us. We are also developing platform features that will enable us to market/promote more organically as well.”
The HypSports CEO also confirmed that they will be looking into signing partnerships and brand ambassadors. This is something ESP announced recently with Thorin coming on board to help promote the company and its products. Taramykin noted: “Definitely. We are looking into several options. Since our platform is designed to bridge the gap between sports and esports, we are looking for (and talking to) potential ambassadors who can do the same.”
Esports Insider says: The resurgence of fantasy esports is on, and companies evidently believe they can make it work where others failed. The HypSports model is an intriguing one, but if the reported crossover in interest of its users is consistent and they establish the right partners, there’s no reason it can’t be a success and add value to their overall platform.


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World's Largest Online Poker Company Heads for the Fastest-Growing Smartphone MarketBy
PokerStars owner Amaya sees start of India operations in 2017
India online poker market to be $150 million over time: CEO
The world’s largest online poker company will soon enter the fastest-growing smartphone market.
PokerStars owner Amaya Inc. -- soon to be renamed The Stars Group Inc. -- plans to start services in India with a local partner by the end of this year, lured by the country’s 1.2 billion mobile users. The Montreal, Quebec-based company is aiming for at least half the Indian market, which it estimates could reach $150 million over time.
“It’s a booming country,” Chief Executive Officer Rafi Ashkenazi told reporters after an annual meeting in Montreal Wednesday, where shareholders agreed to rename the company and move its headquarters to Ontario. “We want to be there in time and we want to make sure that we are, as usual, the market leader when it comes to poker.”
The venture into India and proposed legislation that could make online poker legal in some U.S. states could help offset expected revenue loss in Australia, which Amaya will exit to comply with upcoming legal changes. While India too has a lack of legal clarity, some states have given licenses to online poker companies on classifying their products as "games of skill."
Ashkenazi said his chief operating officer is currently in India to finalize details of the agreement with the local partner, which already has a license. He didn’t name the company. The deal will give PokerStars access to all of India except "a couple" of states, Ashkenazi added.
KPMG estimates that India’s online gaming industry will more than double to $1 billion by 2021, adding 190 million gamers with the majority on mobile devices. Amaya shares have climbed 22 percent this year year as Ashkenazi focused on paying down debt, installing a new management team and growing the casino and sports betting business.


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British nanotechnology company “Nanoco” has accused Samsung of infringing on its quantum dot display technology patent. The case is currently in a local court in Texas, USA for hearing. Nanoco claims that Samsung Electronics and its subsidiaries deliberately infringed on its patented technology. Thus, it is seeking a permanent injunction from the court to prevent Samsung from further infringement, thereby protecting the company from major economic losses and demanding compensation.
Gizchina News of the week
Christopher Richards, Nanoco’s chairman, said: “We have worked with Samsung to develop enhanced quantum dots, so when Samsung terminated its cooperation, we launched its quantum without a patent license or supply agreement with us. We were very disappointed when we ordered the TV. “
Quantum dots (QLEDs) are considered to be the only liquid crystal display technology with picture quality called OLED. For a long time, the outside world believed that QLED was a product developed exclusively by Samsung, and this time it was indeed unexpected that many people were sued. However, the British nanotechnology company (Nanoco) has little visibility in the industry, making it difficult to determine the rigor of its prosecution.
Huge companies like Samsung handle tons of these patent infringement cases yearly. Thus, this shouldn’t pose any threat to the South Korean manufacturer.


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According to founder and CEO of ISB Global Chris Williams, new US legislation supporting the development of the circular economy can drive growth for waste and recycling firms.
UK-based business ISB Global, which stands for Integrating Systems and Business, provides software to the waste management and recycling sector.
The company’s founder has said that US waste management companies can supplement their main income by selling waste materials to the secondary market once they ensure they’re compliant with state regulations.
However, in a blog post, Williams called for all states to tighten regulation of waste disposal. Williams also discussed how waste management companies stand to benefit from local governments that prioritise the circular economy.
Williams acknowledged that inconsistent legislation across states presents compliance challenges but he also underlined how waste management businesses can actually profit from the uptick in demand for recycled materials such as paper, timber and certain metals.
A growing circular economy also creates a considerable commercial opportunity for these companies.
He writes in the blog post: “Legislation to improve recycling rates is being implemented at a state and federal level across the USA. This doesn’t just affect consumers and businesses – it also affects the organisations that collect, sort and process waste materials. They have to show that they can handle more stringent recycling requirements and that they are disposing of the waste they collect responsibly.
“That said, a growing circular economy also creates a considerable commercial opportunity for these companies. Instead of collecting waste and sending it elsewhere, they can generate new income by selling materials such as metals and timber into a secondary market. The increased legislative requirements come with significant potential for growth, with proper planning in place.”
Williams continued that organisations who embrace policy changes and invest in infrastructure, such as anaerobic digestion (AD) plants and materials recycling facilities (MRFs) with the associated technologies to speed sorting like AI, Robotics and Optical Recognition, will both gain financially and be at the “forefront of new and emerging opportunities” from with the circular economy.


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Futura Does Hennessy
After their collaboration with the artist KAWS, Hennessy has created a new look for their bottle with the American artist Futura. The bottle features the iconic visual signature of the artist. A special edition bottle has been created for Colette, Paris. Futura will be performing live and doing a bottle signing at Colette on October 22.
Posted by: TAWD on September 25, 2012


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Gerry Weber and Raimund Axmann to part ways
Gerry Weber is planning to deliver the last collection of its discontinued Talkabout brand in early 2019, however Raimund Axmann, Executive Vice President of Product for the brand and the core Gerry Weber label is planning to leave the company much earlier.
Axmann is stepping down from his role on 31 October to pursue new opportunities, the troubled German clothing company said. He had already announced in July that he would not renew his contract past the 30th June 2020 due to personal reasons.
Axmann joined the group in September 2006 as managing director of the Gerry Weber Life Style Fashion business with responsibility for the categories of knitwear, shirts, trousers, skirts, tops and outdoor.
Most recently, he was executive vice president of product for the Gerry Weber and Talkabout business units.
“We would like to thank Mr. Axmann for his many years of successful work for the Gerry Weber Group and wish him all the best for his professional and personal future,” said CEO Ralf Weber in a press release this week.
The company has not yet announced who will be taking over his role.
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text: The LUMIX GH3 offers some improvements over its predecessor the GH2, but those improvements come at a very steep price. Camera Labs says the GH3 is "one of the most capable compact systems cameras around for stills shooting," and Photography Blog felt the same way, saying it "produced images of outstanding quality." Even though the GH3 is intended to be a compact camera, Camera Labs noted it has "dimensions that almost match those of the smaller consumer DSLRs." Even with the larger size, Expert Reviews was still happy with the camera's dimensions, saying "taller body and more substantial handgrip ... are big boosts to ergonomics." The GH3 is also plenty fast in focusing as Pocket-Lint found out, saying "we have no qualms with speed when the camera's set to single autofocus." Panasonic offers great picture quality and speed in the latest GH3, but it also costs $1300 for just the body. If you're already invested with Panasonic lenses and are looking to step up your photo game the GH3 can make sense, but for those looking to get into the compact interchangeable market should instead look at the Sony NEX-5R which costs half the price and comes with a lens.


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Why Companies Still Choose On Premise Business Intelligence Deployments
By Editorial Coordinator for TechnologyAdvice.com, Cameron Graham
The growing popularity of the cloud
These days it’s difficult to have a conversation about the future of technology without mentioning cloud computing. For invested companies, such as Microsoft and Amazon, cloud computing is the future of business technology. Whether by accelerating innovation, enabling new business solutions, speeding time to market, or just promoting cost savings, these companies believe it’s no longer a question of if, but when, most companies will adopt cloud technologies.
In many ways, Business Intelligence software seems like a natural fit for the new cloud-based office. Analytics solutions, like Yellowfin, are designed to process incoming data in near real-time. Increasingly, these data sources are both generated and housed online. Executives also want the ability to view (and interact with) their BI dashboards from anywhere in the world. Software as a Service (SaaS) programs offer them this flexibility, without the need to jump through extra IT hoops.
Yet, most enterprise BI companies still offer on premise deployments. Largely, this comes down to two factors – data transfer speeds and security. Solutions are beginning to emerge for both problems, but they remain a hurdle for wary enterprises.
Cloud-based Business Intelligence concerns: Data transfer speeds & security
The growth of cloud computing has unlocked mountains of previously inaccessible data, from smart phone user behavior, to the data from internet connected appliances. Yet, in order to efficiently process this data, cloud computing has to overcome its own technological limitations. The problem with moving enterprise-level volumes of Big Data in the cloud is that they’re … well, big. Sometimes as big as exabytes, or one billion gigabytes.
Uploading this amount of information from an on premise network to the cloud over a standard connection is like trying to suck up all the water in Lake Michigan with a household vacuum cleaner – in other words, highly ineffective. There are a few software vendors, such as Aryaka, that are developing solutions to help optimize wide area network (WAN) connections to speed up such data transfers. However, this type of solution is a work in progress and still requires a large time investment.
Jeff Kelly, the Principal Research Contributor for professional tech community Wikibon, stated at BigData SV 2014 that “it’s going to take some time before the cloud becomes a place where you are bringing your enterprise workloads.”
That’s why enterprises which produce most of their data in-house (such as financial companies), or have extensive private-cloud infrastructure already in place, generally opt for an on premise deployment.
The second issue is security. When building a private cloud, companies purchase the servers and infrastructure up-front. While these investments come with maintenance costs, they also allow companies to have direct control over their servers and security systems. While physical installations are certainly not immune to hackers – see Target’s recent data breach – it’s a lot easier for companies to restrict access to their own hardware than a server located across the country, or overseas.
Public cloud platforms: Risky business?
Enterprises are becoming more open to the idea of public clouds – a recent Verizon survey found more companies than ever are putting data on public cloud platforms – but recent security lapses such as the Heartbleed bug are likely to be a setback. And for some, then there’s the continued wariness over the US government’s digital surveillance initiatives.
These are the concerns that enterprises have to consider when deciding between a SaaS BI solution, and an on premise deployment. Luckily, most large-scale BI companies offer both options.


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What’s the difference between a steer with Zilmax and a steer without? Just about 30 pounds.
“Cattle are similar to humans,” says Len Steiner, co-author of the Daily Livestock Report, “you keep eating and eventually you stop growing and you put on fat.”
Zilmax changes that. It’s like a get-buff drug for cattle. “Instead of putting on fat, they put on some additional muscle,” says Steiner. And we’re talking a whole lot of muscle on a whole lot of cattle.
Merck, which makes Zilmax, estimates that 70 percent of U.S. cattle sold to slaughterhouses are fed either Zilmax or a similar but less potent drug, Optaflexx.
Now, without Zilmax, feedlots are looking to switch fast.
Turns out there just aren’t that many untapped ways to beef up beef. “We already, in American agriculture and the cattle feeding industry, use all the available nutritional information that we have to maximize growth rate of cattle in the feed lot,” says Dan Schaffer, an animal sciences professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, “so there is nothing that is held back.”
A cattle industry without Zilmax will be a smaller-cattle industry. “We’re looking at a total of about a 1percent drop in nationwide beef production from this issue by itself,” says Rich Nelson from Allendale Inc.
Less beef equals higher prices. At least, slightly higher prices. “On a per pound basis we’re probably looking a maybe an increase of about one to three cents per pound,” Nelson estimates.
He says one thing to watch is just how much consumers care that these drugs go in to making their steak.
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Your donation — as little as $5 — helps us create more content that matters to you and your community, and to reach more people where they are – whether that’s radio, podcasts or online.
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Deezer hits the stock market seven years after original plan, valued at $1.1 billion
- July 6, 2022
- No Comment
Music platform is worth about the same as in 2015 when it first planned an IPO
THE DeezerFrench music streaming platform and competitor to names like Spotify, Apple and Amazon, finally managed to be listed on the stock exchange this Tuesday and the shares began to be traded on Euronext Paris. The debut is a product of the incorporation by SPAC I2POwhich has among its founders the Pinault family, from Kering, holding of luxury brands such as Gucci and Balenciaga, businessman Matthieu Pigasse and Iris Knobloch, former director of WarnerMedia.
The company had already announced the transaction at the end of April, but was awaiting approval by shareholders on both sides – which happened at the end of last month. For the transaction, Deezer was valued at $1.1 billion. The minimum objective was to raise US$ 135 million, which was guaranteed at the start, by the company’s shareholders. Now, the company begins to build its history as a publicly traded company. A chapter that begins in 2022, but with a 2015 flavor.
The implied valuation is very similar to seven years ago, when Deezer first attempted an IPO. The difference is that, at the time, it planned to raise approximately US$ 345 million on the French stock exchange (2.5 times the amount obtained now). At that time, the company even said that there was “great demand from investors”, but withdrew shortly afterwards citing “adverse market conditions”. Didier Bench, chairman of the company, told the WSJ in 2015 that Deezer had withdrawn from going public especially because of what had happened to Pandora Media — whose shares lost 36% in value, at the time, following the loss of subscribers due to of increased competition. Since then, the competition has not cooled down. It just increased.
Proof of this can already be seen at the start of the company as a publicly traded company. On I2PO’s first day of trading with Deezer incorporated, the share price had just fallen by almost 25%. Yesterday, while it was just a SPAC, the vehicle ended the day with the share quoted at 8.50 euros, the same opening price this morning. Minutes ago, the screen price was 6.50 euros.
The new money, according to the company, will be used to fund future growth, which will prioritize music — contrary to what Spotify and Amazon have done, with podcasts and audiobooks as a central strategy, respectively — and B2B partnerships. the goal is reach the first billion sales in 2025 and become profitable in the same year. That is, doubling current revenue and finally taking the company out of the red. These are bold goals compared to what Deezer has presented in the last three years.
The prospectus showed that Deezer generated 400 million euros in revenue in 2021, a growth of 5.5% compared to the previous year, and its main markets are France (responsible for more than half of the revenue) and Brazil, which generated 28.1 million euros. It is important to note that revenue growth is not linear (there was a drop from 2019 to 2020) and, even with the small expansion in 2021, the company ended the year in the red, with a loss of 120.3 million euros, even higher than the negative 95.3 million euros recorded at the end of 2020.
By the end of 2021, Deezer had 9.6 million subscribers, according to a statement sent to investors in April this year. The total was enough for the company to be called “the number two independent music platform in the world” in the same statement, despite the great distance to the first place, Spotify. The company’s ‘strong’ is in France, where it has 30% of the share of downloads of apps of this type and, in second place, is Brazil, where it accounts for a market share of 17%. Still, the company has just 2% of the world market — far behind global leader Spotify, which has 31%.
The prospectus presents some data to try to encourage the investor in the midst of this scenario. One of the information in the document is that streaming has grown at a record pace in the music industry, with a CAGR of 28% between 2016 and 2020. And it is expected to continue to expand at a rate of 10% between 2020 and 2027.
It is the argument defended by the rival Spotify, at its Investor Day held in early June. The long-term potential of the sector, combined with the estimated margin gain over time, in general, caused Goldman Sachs to project an 18.8% increase in the share price of the global leader, establishing a price- target of $133, even with the recommendation remaining neutral. The bank also estimates a 12% compound annual growth between 2021 and 2030 for the music streaming apps market and reinforces that, according to analysis, the segment can be more resilient amid economic turmoil. Another data from the report is that the time spent listening to music has increased since 2018, from 17.8 hours per week to 18.4.
“We estimate that the music streaming share of users in developed markets will increase to 53% in 2030, up from 34% in 2021, and in emerging markets to 14%, up from 6% today,” the analysts say. The growth, if confirmed, could benefit Deezer, which has Brazil as one of its main target audiences.
By going public, Deezer wants to show that the streaming segment can become profitable, in addition to the market’s bad mood with technology companies. For now, again, the scenario is not the most comforting. O Spotify, the main rival, debuted on the North American stock market worth US$ 26.5 billion and is currently worth US$ 18.7 billion. Extending the gaze a little, the layoffs in Netflix and the weaker results presented by the company in the post-pandemic period also had their impact. In April, the company lost US$ 54 billion in market value and was valued at US$ 100 billion. Today, it is worth US$ 79.9 billion.
At the same time, it is not a completely sluggish market either. Last year, rapper Jay-Z sold the Tidal platform to the CEO of Twitter in a $297 million deal. The singer Beyoncé’s husband had bought the tool in 2015, for about 56 million dollars.
B2B in focus?
Today, of Deezer’s 9.6 million subscribers, 5.6 million come directly (or B2C) and another 3.9 million come indirectly (users who have access to Deezer when contracting a telecommunications service, for example ). The company’s idea, to reach the billion, is to take these amounts at a ratio of 50/50. To this end, new music-focused business verticals – not specified in the prospectus – and new B2B agreements are planned. Today, in Brazil, it is worth remembering, streaming operates in partnership with TIM. Outside the country, the company has agreements with Orange (French), and has recently established agreements with RTL Interactive, a leading media company in Germany.
To collaborate with this growth, I2PO highlights in the prospectus that it can collaborate with the contacts it has with companies in Deezer’s target countries, helping the company to gain territory there. Fulfilling this mission can be made easier with Iris Knoblochformer director of Warner Media, on the board of the combined company.
It is not yet known, of course, what effects the increase in these partnerships may bring. What Deezer wants to convey, for now, is that the listing on the Paris stock exchange could be the first step for the company to find the path to growth and, finally, to be able to take advantage of the potential that the music streaming market presents. The question of how the company will get there, at least for now, remains.


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No one really knows what the metaverse is going to look like yet — but that hasn’t put investors off so far. European metaverse startups have raised around $666m so far in 2022 according to Dealroom, a significant rise against 2021’s $143m. The two biggest rounds of 2022 have both gone to London-based metaverse platform builder Improbable, which landed $150m in April followed by another round of $112m in October. In third place came AI-powered 3D visualisation software startup nfinite’s $100m Series B, led by Insight Partners. Investors are clearly keen to get in on the game, just in case the virtual reality world truly is the future. So which are the next big companies who will shape the direction of this nascent industry? Sifted asked some VCs with their eyes on the metaverse to share which early-stage companies they’re keeping tabs on. Here are the 13 startups they highlighted.
Namat Bahram — associate at Omers Ventures OMERS Ventures is a global early-stage tech investor with around $2bn in assets under management. Founded in 2011, the firm is part of OMERS, one of Canada’s largest pension providers. The company typically invests at Series A to C across both consumer and B2B. Portfolio companies include Deliverect, which helps restaurants sell online, search engine DuckDuckGo and tech data platform Crunchbase.


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The Dutch privacy watchdog said Microsoft could be breaching data privacy rules in the way it remotely collects some user data.
The Dutch Data Protection Agency (DPA) said it discovered practices, associated with Windows Home and Windows Pro users that could be in breach of data privacy rules.
According to a Reuters report DPA unearthed the potential breaches when testing privacy protection changes in Windows by Microsoft last year.
The DPA said the testing revealed that Microsoft has complied with the agreements made but added that “the check also brought to light that Microsoft is remotely collecting other data from users. As a result, Microsoft is still potentially in breach of privacy rules.”
The Dutch ergulator has passed the information to the regulator in Ireland, where Microsoft has its European headquarters. The Irish Data Protection Committee (DPC), said: “The DPC has had preliminary engagement with Microsoft and, with the assistance of the Dutch authority, we will shortly be engaging further with Microsoft to seek substantive responses on the concerns raised.”
A Microsoft statement said: “The Dutch data protection authority has in the past brought data protection concerns to our attention, which related to the consumer versions of Windows 10, Windows 10 Home and Pro. We will work with the Irish Data Protection Commission to learn about any further questions or concerns it may have, and to address any further questions and concerns as quickly as possible.
Microsoft is committed to protecting our customers’ privacy and putting them in control of their information. Over recent years, in close coordination with the Dutch data protection authority, we have introduced a number of new privacy features to provide clear privacy choices and easy-to-use tools for our individual and small business users of Windows 10. We welcome the opportunity to improve even more the tools and choices we offer to these end users.”


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The most glamorous night for the celebration of outstanding performances in film and television, the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards is only a few days away and this year, an Amstel Malta sponsored new award category will be launched: Best Dressed Male and Female!
The biggest showcase of fashion, glitz, and glam
“We are excited about this new category because not only is the AMVCAs a night when the best stars in African film and TV are celebrated, it is also famed for being the biggest showcase of fashion, glitz and glam on the continent,” said Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, Channel Director, Africa Magic channels.
Mba-Uzoukwu explained that the AMVCAs have also been a significant contributor to the growth of other ancillary industries including the fashion and beauty industry, which receives a boost in patronage and publicity with each edition of the awards.
“We look forward to this addition to the awards event and we urge celebrities and guests to make a bold statement on the red carpet and enter for a chance to win the inaugural AMVCA Best Dressed statuette,” she added.
Here's how it'll work:
- The award for the Best Dressed Male and Female at the 7th edition of the AMVCAs will be voted for on Instagram by fans and viewers across the continent.
- Attendees interested in this award are to be on the red carpet between 16:00 WAT and 17:00 WAT to have their pictures taken in a specially designed AMVCA photo booth.
- The top 50 (25 for men and 25 for women) will be selected by a constituted AMVCA Style Council and shared on Africa Magic’s Instagram account @africamagic.
- Fans will then be given the opportunity to vote by indicating their likes for their favourite picture between 18:00 WAT and 19:00 WAT.
- During the live award show, the male and female pictures with the highest likes will be the winners of the first-ever award for the AMVCAs Best Dressed, which will be announced on stage.
Watch as the King of Cloth, Ebuka explains more:
The seventh edition of the AMVCAs are brought to viewers across the continent by Africa Magic in association with MultiChoice and proudly sponsored by Amstel Malta. Watch the event live on Saturday, 14 March on all Africa Magic channels and keep up with the conversation using the hashtag #AMVCA7 on Twitter.


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Change is coming fast in the mobile world. From developing new, immersive mobile experiences to responding to global economic trends, smartphone manufacturers and app developers are constantly innovating to meet users’ expectations. With that in mind, I wanted to talk to some of the most famous experts in our field to get their opinions on what we can expect from mobile in the near future.
Device Evolution: Delivering a next-level mobile experience
Before we delve into the latest and most exciting app developments, it’s worth looking at how mobile devices themselves have evolved. Leading smartphone manufacturers are at the forefront of advancing applications by optimizing devices so that they are able to facilitate the most advanced application experiences.
Charlene Fang, Managing Director of leading smartphone brand OPPO UK, said that the main focus of many brands will be to improve the battery life of smartphones. “For example, if a gamer uses an app for 6 hours a day without charging, they want the same experience after a few years of use,” she explained. “One example of innovation in this area is the Battery Health Engine (BHE) which provides faster, safer, longer-lasting battery charging performance, an area where we are seeing increased demand. Not only is this great for the consumer experience because it means they can continue to enjoy the same levels of use for the apps they love for longer periods of time, but it also means the batteries are more sustainable.”
Fang also expects demand for lithium-ion batteries to increase over the eight years, to the point where it will reach more than two terawatt hours in 2030. “Whether we start to see applications based on artificial intelligence or more applications that enable synchronization and compatibility between devices – the challenge is The challenge facing manufacturers in 2023 is to ensure the longevity of the batteries inside consumer devices.”
According to recent findings by data analytics and brand consulting firm Kantar Group, Android experienced stable growth in the third quarter of 2022 in all markets except Italy and mainland China, which was reportedly a result of Huawei’s stunted growth. Across Europe, Samsung’s Galaxy A series remains one of the most popular devices, while the flagship S series dominates the US market. As many know, Huawei had a disastrous year that the company blamed on a weak economy, as well as ongoing disruptions from the coronavirus and supply chain issues. Huawei’s rapid decline in Europe has helped other Chinese brands gain a much stronger foothold, notably Xiaomi and Oppo.
Attracting Diversity: Developing apps for all consumers
A big focus over the next year for many companies is looking at how they can make their apps more accessible to all customers. For telecoms giant BT Group, this means helping foster a closer relationship between designers and engineers to make new and existing apps more usable for disabled users. Developers are currently falling short in this area, said Roniz Nepomuceno, director of accessibility at BT Group. “You would think that all popular applications would offer, for example, support for both portrait and landscape mode, dynamic text, effective screen readers, improved navigation and improved color contrast. The truth is that there is more work to be done to make sure that Proper support is a common occurrence, whether it’s to improve screen readers for blind customers or make it easier to navigate content for those with dexterity problems.
App developers need to be proactive when it comes to global health trends, too, said James Sanders, principal analyst, cloud and infrastructure at CCS Insight, who noted the rise in people seeking mental health support after the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown. Sanders believes that smartphones are important tools for providing mental health support and wellness advice to clients. “Given the challenges around accessibility to mental health care, and the use of wearable devices such as the Apple Watch to track physical activity and health, using smartphone apps to manage mental health is a natural next step in app-based healthcare. Leveraging existing data from physical health apps and sensors such as exercise, sleep, weight, and menstrual cycle with user inputs about their mood throughout the day and alcohol or tobacco use, smartphone apps can use analytics to identify external factors that influence your mood,” he said.
Inside the Verticals: Games, Shopping, and Social Media
What can we look for in terms of trends affecting specific sectors? Lexi Sydow, Head of Insights at data.ai, predicts more and more users are gravitating towards different social media habits, particularly sharing visual content. She said the data shows that users are “no longer satisfied with just communicating through text” as evidenced by the growing popularity of apps like BeReal, which encourages users to post pictures of what they’re doing within a set two-minute window each day.
In e-commerce, data from the Adjust analytics platform shows just how bright the future of these applications can be. The first half of 2022 saw e-commerce usage was 8% over the 2021 average and 6% higher than the first half of 2021. The revision noted that this indicates that mobile shopping is more than a temporary trend – it is a pillar essential. Furthermore, Adjust expected more shoppable ads on CTV in the future. Marketable CTV leads to a more impulsive purchase, as customers experience fewer purchase barriers and a shorter lead time. It is widely expected that e-commerce giants like Amazon will follow this trend and pave the way for smaller e-commerce companies in the process.
Next year also looks set to deliver the most immersive mobile gaming experience yet. There will be a sharp increase in the availability of AAA titles on devices as publishers benefit from the continued growth of mobile games, said Manit Khera, CEO of Backbone, which develops mobile game consoles for iPhone and Android. He said, “People are looking to play games on their mobile phones more than on their game consoles, and that is something we will see more of in 2023. Cloud gaming makes it possible to play HD games anytime, anywhere, on any device. This means that console owners can Now take their console experience beyond the confines of their living room or gaming setup and play Xbox, PlayStation, and PC games anywhere on their mobile device.”
Economy Bites: How Apps Will Help
The world also faces increasing economic challenges, with inflation being a particular concern for many. Lexi Sydow, of data.ai, warned that a looming recession would affect the app market in the coming months. It noted that while we are seeing an increase in downloads across sectors, there was also a decline in consumer spending in the third quarter of 2022. However, Seidu said that the decline in disposable income among consumers presents an opportunity for apps that offer affordable services. “In the US, Temu, an e-commerce site that provides more affordable wholesale prices to the retail market, has seen explosive growth with 1.37 million downloads, since its app was launched in September 2022,” she said.
Samsung has led the way in developing new services to help its customers deal with the cost of living crisis. For example, the brand has successfully launched the SmartThings Energy app to allow consumers to track their energy usage and set spending limits. Tej Dosanjh, Director of Content and Services, Samsung Europe, commented: “As the cost of living continues to be affected by rising food prices and rising gas and electricity bills, household budgets continue to shrink. With the onset of winter, consumers will be wary of turning on the heating. There is something for people to do. done to help mitigate that and take back some control – right from their smartphone app.”


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|Bid||124.56 x 1100|
|Ask||125.47 x 1100|
|Day's Range||125.15 - 128.17|
|52 Week Range||84.41 - 135.70|
|Beta (5Y Monthly)||N/A|
|PE Ratio (TTM)||40.30|
|Earnings Date||Feb 05, 2020|
|Forward Dividend & Yield||N/A (N/A)|
|1y Target Est||135.70|
Joining Yahoo Finance's Myles Udland is Brian Shannon, CMT and founder of www.alphatrends.net, who breaks down the price action in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) as well as Take-Two Interactive (TTWO).
Once again, ‘Fortnite’ holds the title for the top grossing online video games of 2019. According to Nielsen’s Video Game Arm Superdata, Epic Games' 'Fortnite' earned $1.8 billion in sales. Yahoo Finance's On The Move panel discuss.
It's not completely clear what might be coming this year and when from game makers Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc (NASDAQ: TTWO ), MKM Partners said in a Friday note. The Analyst MKM's Eric Handler ...
While some investors are already well versed in financial metrics (hat tip), this article is for those who would like...
The video game industry is involved in the development, marketing and sale of hardware and software, fueled by advances in technology, high-speed connectivity, and customized gadgets. Some of the top companies in the industry today include Sony Corp.
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is benefiting from franchise strength. The upcoming launch of Galakrond's Awakening for Hearthstone expands its gaming portfolio.
(Bloomberg) -- The electronic sports industry is likely to grow significantly in coming years and stocks in the sector are poised to benefit, according to DBS Group Holdings Ltd.E-sports, or multiplayer video games played competitively by professional gamers, is a key investment theme in the Singapore-based bank’s quarterly CIO outlook as the phenomenon gains traction among increasingly wealthy millennials and their Generation Z counterparts. Live streaming will help lead to “exponential growth,” with companies such as Activision Blizzard Inc., Nintendo Co. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. set to benefit, according to Thursday’s report.“E-sports is expected to undergo phenomenal growth in the coming years - from both a viewership and monetization standpoint,” the report said. “Game developers are predominantly the biggest beneficiaries given that they are involved in almost every facet of e-Sports – from games publishing to the creation of leagues and the hosting of tournaments.”Streaming platforms and hardware manufacturers will also benefit, it said.Read: Even Small Esports Names Gain as Industry Matures, Stephens SaysExposure to the field has already been paying off for investors. The MVIS Global Video Gaming and eSports Index is up 47% since the end of 2018, compared with the S&P 500’s 31% advance. The gauge of 25 companies which includes NetEase Inc., Zynga Inc., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc., has risen 3.4% this year versus a 1.4% gain in the broader benchmark.(Adds story link after fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Joanna Ossinger in Singapore at firstname.lastname@example.orgTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at email@example.com, Cormac Mullen, Naoto HosodaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) today announced that it plans to report financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2020, ended December 31, 2019, after the market close on Thursday, February 6, 2020. The Company plans to hold a conference call to discuss its results at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, which can be accessed by dialing (877) 407-0984 or (201) 689-8577. A live, listen-only webcast and a replay of the call will be available at http://ir.take2games.com/.
It has been a fantastic year for equity investors as Donald Trump pressured Federal Reserve to reduce interest rates and finalized the first leg of a trade deal with China. If you were a passive index fund investor, you had seen gains of 31% in your equity portfolio in 2019. However, if you were an […]
Global e-sports industry is expected to witness a boom in 2020 on growing revenues from advertising, sponsorships, media rights, ticket sales to live events and merchandising. Here are few stocks to watch.
The video game stocks have been very volatile over the past 15 months. Of the group, Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:ATVI) has certainly seen its share of ups and downs. Despite a steady economy and strong consumer, Activision Blizzard stock has been under tremendous pressure.Source: Piotr Swat / Shutterstock.com Instead of rallying to new highs like many other stocks this year, ATVI stock is simply trying to recover from its massive losses. From peak to trough -- from October 2018 to February 2019 -- shares lost more than 52%.Now though, the stock is in breakout mode. Activision Blizzard stock just hit new 2019 highs and is pushing through some notable levels on the charts. Can it keep up the run or is it just a holiday squeeze?InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsLet's look at the charts. Trading ATVI Stock Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.comThe first is the daily chart, followed by weekly action for Activision Blizzard stock below.On the daily chart, ATVI stock is above all of its major moving averages and is making new highs. From here, it looks like it can continue higher, as it's not too overbought (blue circle) and shares are consolidating.A look at the weekly chart unveils a few different notes -- some good, some bad. Starting with the former, we can see that Activision Blizzard stock is also clearing its 200-week moving average. It has been a year since ATVI stock has been above this metric. Further, the breakout on the weekly chart looks very clean from a technical perspective. This is a textbook ascending triangle. Click to Enlarge Source: Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com On the downside, Activision Blizzard stock is nowhere near making new highs. While shares may be hitting their highest levels of 2019, they're well off the 2018 highs up at $84. In fact, ATVI stock would need to rally another 42% just to hit those highs.That's a lot to ask of a stock, even if the chart does look bullish. So what now?I would love to see a rally up to $65, which has been a notable level over the past several years. While atypical to study the three-year chart in regards to Fibonacci levels, the 61.8% retracement does come into play at $65.07 in this case.That would represent a rally of about 10% from current levels. Over that mark and a rally to $70-plus is possible. It won't be a straight line and I'm certainly not sure that Activision Blizzard stock can make new all-time highs in 2020. But rallying to $65 and eventually clearing this mark is the first step.On a pullback, see that $56 to $57 -- the breakout level -- acts as support. If ATVI rallies further before pulling back, see if the 200-week moving average buoys the name. Valuing Activision Blizzard StockLike the charts, there is good and bad in the fundamentals for Activision Blizzard stock. Again, let's start with the good, then the bad.After a tough 2019, where earnings and revenue are expected to sink 15% and 12.2%, respectively, 2020 is forecast to be a better year. Analysts expect revenue to jump 8.3% to $6.9 billion. Further, they expect double-digit earnings growth of 13.1% to $2.50 per share.Some will certainly argue that 24 times earnings is too expensive for ATVI, even if it does have high single-digit revenue growth and double-digit earnings growth. My issue isn't so much the valuation, but rather, the recovery.Let's say the company comes right in line with estimates. That is, earnings of $2.50 per share on sales of $6.9 billion. That's still below 2018's results of $2.60 per share on revenue of $7.26 billion.From a technical perspective, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is in a similar boat. It's making new 2019 highs, but at $235, it's still well off the 2018 highs north of $290. Also like Activision Blizzard stock, NVDA saw a big decline in sales and earnings this year. However, its bounce back is vicious, with sales and earnings forecast to rebound ~20% and ~30%, respectively, and make new highs. The Bottom LineObviously chips and video games are two different businesses, but from a fundamental perspective, Nvidia's rebound is what we want to see in Activision Blizzard.The question is, will the market overlook ATVI's modest rebound and accept a return to growth as good enough? Unfortunately, we won't find out until we're slogging through 2020.With all that said though, the company has put the worst behind it and the technicals favor the bulls. Further, the earnings and revenue growth outlook for Activision Blizzard stock is better than both of its two main peers, Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:EA) and Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ:TTWO).Let's see if Activision Blizzard stock can maintain momentum after the holidays.Bret Kenwell is the manager and author of Future Blue Chips and is on Twitter @BretKenwell. As of this writing, Bret Kenwell is long NVDA. More From InvestorPlace * 2 Toxic Pot Stocks You Should Avoid * 10 2019 Losers That Will Be 2020 Winners * 7 Safe Dividend Stocks for Investors to Buy Right Now * 5 Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Consider The post Activision Blizzard Is Breaking Out. Can It Get Back to New Highs? appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Electronic Arts (EA) is expected to benefit from portfolio strength with the release of Apex Legends Global Series for PC despite intensifying competition.
2K and UnitedMasters today announced the 10 winners of a global contest who will have their songs added to the NBA 2K20 in-game soundtrack. Announced in July, the contest gave artists from around the world the chance to submit songs to UnitedMasters for the opportunity to be featured on the in-game soundtrack. This is the first-time users and fans of NBA 2K have been able to submit their own music to be included in an official soundtrack for the video game.
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is benefiting from franchise strength. The introduction of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Battle Pass is expected to boost revenue growth.
Producers of The Game Awards on Thursday will lead into that event with a new offering called The Game Festival, an opportunity for gamers to try out new games. Today I'm introducing a brand new aspect of #TheGameAwards It's called #TheGameFestival, and tomorrow for 48 hours, you'll get to play 12 new game demos for the first time on @Steam. Other games that will be part of the trial are "Röki," "Wooden Nickel," and "Haven," according to organizer Geoff Keighley.
Take-Two Interactive Software shows rising price performance, earning an upgrade to its IBD Relative Strength Rating
Activision Blizzard (ATVI) is likely to benefit from portfolio strength with the launch of Hearthstone's Descent of Dragons expansion pack despite intensifying competition.
Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) announces the launch of new studio to expand portfolio and push the boundaries of interactive entertainment.
Oakland University in Michigan recently announced it will launch a varsity esports program next fall, investing $100,000 into the program, which will offer partial scholarships to student gamers. The team will play “Super Smash Bros.,” “Rocket League” and “League of Legends,” the school said during a press conference. Oakland University is just the latest to officially sanction esports as an intercollegiate competitive program, joining more than 150 other schools that are members of the National Association of Collegiate Esports and about 170 that have varsity esports programs.
Take-Two (TTWO) is likely to benefit from portfolio strength with the launch of Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground expansion pack despite intensifying competition.
2K today announced the founding of Cloud Chamber™, the newest, wholly owned game development studio under the Company’s publishing label. A collective of storytellers eager to push the frontlines of interactive entertainment by making unique, entertaining and thoughtful experiences that engage the world, Cloud Chamber will build its team at two locations: 2K’s San Francisco Bay Area headquarters in Novato, Calif., as well as in Montréal, Québec, which marks the first-ever Canadian office for a 2K studio. In addition, 2K announced that Cloud Chamber has started to work on the next iteration of the globally acclaimed BioShock® franchise, which will be in development for the next several years.
Private Division and Panache Digital Games today launched Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey for PlayStation®4, PlayStation®4 Pro, and across the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey is a third-person, exploration, survival game from Panache Digital Games, the independent development studio co-founded in 2014 by Patrice Désilets, the original creative director behind Assassin’s Creed. Previously released on PC in August 2019, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey was praised by Comicbook.com as "Truly unique" and "As engrossing as it is dangerous" by Screen Rant.
Private Division and Squad today announced that Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition: Breaking Ground Expansion is now available for PlayStation®4, PlayStation®4 Pro and across the Xbox One family of devices, including Xbox One X. This highly- anticipated second expansion for Kerbal Space Program Enhanced Edition, brings plenty of fresh content for new and current players on console. The fan-favorite expansion Kerbal Space Program: Breaking Ground previously launched on PC in May 2019.


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You may soon be able to transfer money through WhatsApp. According to a review by The Economic Times, the social messaging service is in talks with the State bank of India (SBI), the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) as well as other institutions to launch a peer-to-peer payments system. This system will reportedly be powered by the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
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- Digit SquadVideosPhotos Contest Hot Deals


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It appears to be a week of good news for the crypto community as another crypto company prepares to go live on the stock market. Bakkt, a crypto financial services company founded in 2018 and headquartered in Atlanta, has announced that it would go live on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. Bakkt is set to be listed under two sticker symbols; BKKT and BKKT WS.
Bakkt Holdings, established to give users a platform to purchase, sell, and store digital assets, is an arm of top financial giants, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), tasked with the management of digital assets. Bakkt will become a publicly traded company from Monday, giving investors a wider range of investment options to explore the crypto market.
Bakkt had announced on Friday that it was merging with VPC Impact Acquisition Holdings to further its business interests. VPC Impact Holdings is a Chicago-based finserv firm, completed the merger after an overwhelming vote of 85.1% made the decision. The merger is expected to generate about $448 million for Bakkt; the money has been earmarked for developmental investments and partnerships.
Recall that just last week, Bakkt had announced a partnership with the foremost internet giants Google, to implement a payment platform that will allow users to purchase products and services with bitcoin. In his statement after the merger, Bakkt CEO Gavin Michael said that Bakkt’s merger with Google was a testament to its strong position in the digital financial industry and its commitment to providing clients with safe and reliable access to digital assets.
Bakkt started out by offering exclusive Bitcoin futures trading to approved investors. Later in March this year, Bakkt began offering payment services through its app, helping people to buy goods and services with cryptocurrencies.
Cryptocurrency Adoption in the U.S.
There is an increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies in the US, despite the government making moves to regulate the industry. Bakkt had reached an agreement with Quiznos earlier this year to deploy a pilot program that will allow customers to pay for food with bitcoin in select restaurants across the US. Bakkt said that the success of the pilot program will influence further opinions and actions regarding further deployment.
Several crypto ETFs have reportedly received approval from the SEC and are set to go live on Monday when the NYSE opens. This comes as senators are pushing for regulations that will make digital tokens safe for the economy. It is expected that more mergers between finsev companies will be seen in the coming months as the push for more adoption intensifies.
The market responded positively to the announcement that the SEC approved the first Bitcoin ETF. Cryptocurrencies combined market cap pumped beyond $2.5 trillion this week and bitcoin soared above $60, 000 for the first time since May. Further collaborative efforts to develop payment platforms through which users can buy goods with cryptocurrencies will surely increase the success of bitcoin in the U.S.


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On October 31st Tele2, a Sweden-based mobile phone operator, announced the completion of its acquisition of the Swedish unit of TDC, a Danish telecommunications group.
Tele2 has said that it aims to tap into TDC's robust corporate subscriber base in Sweden with the Skr2.9bn (US$324m) deal, first announced in June. The deal received unconditional regulatory approval from the European Commission back in on October 7th, having concluded that the two company's operations did not overlap.
TDC Sweden offers mobile, fixed, Internet and other related services exclusively to institutional and corporate customers in Sweden. The merged entity will have a market share of over 20% for retail mobile telecommunications, the European Commission (EC) said after approving the deal. The European regulator's approval followed its rejection of a proposed merger of the Danish units of Sweden's Telia Co AB (TeliaSonera) and Norway's Telenor Group, owing to concerns such as diminishing competition and rising consumer costs.
On October 21st Tele2 posted a net loss of Skr2.3bn (US$254.7m) for the third quarter of 2016, compared with a profit of Skr397m a year earlier. An impairment charge of Skr2.5bn recorded in the Netherlands offset a 3% rise in net sales to Skr6.9bn. Domestic sales accounted for 45% of overall net sales.
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit


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POPPY RELEASES “MOSHI MOSHI” MUSIC VIDEO
CURRENTLY IN THE MIDDLE OF HER SOLD OUT “POPPY.COMPUTER” US TOUR
Photo By: Titanic Sinclair
November 10, 2017 – The new music video for “MOSHI MOSHI” from art-pop music sensation Poppy, is out now on Im Poppy Records/Mad Decent.
The song and “Poppy.Computer” album are available for digital download and streaming via all participating digital retailers HERE.
Poppy is currently on her sold out US “Poppy.Computer Tour.” The highly-anticipated tour continues its UK leg December 13th in London.
“The Magic of Poppy is that, to understand Poppy, you have to keep watching Poppy. Poppy means nothing. Poppy means everything. Poppy is exactly what she purports to be.” – WIRED
“(Poppy) turns in a weirdly delightful pop debut full of brand-reinforcing ear candy that’s rich with sonic detail and brain-Velcro refrains” – ROLLING STONE
“By the time I receive an invitation to attend poppy’s album release party at the YouTube space LA I am a woman possessed. For a week now I’ve been trying to crack the code to this mononymous, mysterious entity that has taken the web by storm” – FLAUNT
Poppy’s YouTube channel has amassed over 222 million views to date. Her channel has captured the attention of everyone from Diplo and Katy Perry to WIRED Magazine and most recently Apple which mentioned Poppy’s song “I’m Poppy” at the Keynote WWDC 2017.


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Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World - "With interviewees ranging from Elon Musk to a gaming addict, Werner Herzog presents the web in all its wildness and utopian potential in this dizzying documentary." (via)
The Future of (Post)Capitalism - "Paul Mason shows how, from the ashes of the recent financial crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy." (previously; via) [more inside]
In case you missed it Ethereum announced its first developer release a week ago. What is Ethereum? According to the video it's a "planetary scale computer powered by blockchain technology." Given the breathlessness, some skepticism is in order, but what if it purports to do on the tin is true? [more inside]
Foundation: Public Goods and Options for the Bottom Billions - "Human beings just don't handle the very long run well" and that's where government increasingly comes in... (via) [more inside]
BIG and BOT Policy Proposals (transcript) - "Many of our current economic policies originated during times of scarcity. But now, says investor Albert Wenger, we live in an era of 'digital abundance', when creating new products costs virtually nothing. To adapt to the resulting economic upheavals, we won't need just more tech, says Wenger, but some strong policies. Here he explores two: basic income guarantee and the right to be represented by a bot." [more inside]
Super WiFi - "How the FCC paved the way for the next generation of wireless innovations." [more inside]
FCC paves way for free use of vacant airwaves -- white space -- available in February as TV spectrum is cleared up by digital conversion. Apparently another vote for change will take place November 4. The FCC btw also recently backed a free (ad-supported) nationwide wireless broadband plan in another hunk of spectrum to be auctioned off in 2009.


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WASHINGTON - The government says hospitals are becoming safer for patients due to a quality improvement partnership between industry and federal agencies.
A report out Wednesday from Health and Human Services finds that adverse events such as medication mistakes, falls and infections went down by 9 percent from 2010 to 2012, the latest year that such statistics were available.
That prevented nearly 15,000 deaths and saved $4 billion in costs, the report estimated.
Separately, a key quality indicator for Medicare patients also showed continued improvement: Readmission rates declined in 2013 for the second year in a row.
Under President Barack Obama's health care law hospitals can face financial penalties if too many Medicare beneficiaries are readmitted within 30 days of an initial hospitalization.
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Ford expands air bag recall nationwide
The automaker added 447,000 vehicles to its recall list, bringing the total to more than 502,000.
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Airlines play the Grinch with new add-on fees
John Matarese has a caution for holiday travelers.
How to read a car repair estimate
Here's how to read a car repair estimate.


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Microsoft is planning to ship System Centre Data Protection Manager, its continuous data back-up software, in the next 30 days.
DPM, which is already available in beta form, allows companies to back-up business-critical information on to hard discs, as opposed to more expensive tape systems, which are more difficult to manage.
Data Protection Manager also allows end users to retrieve files on their own, without the involvement of IT staff, which is expected to deliver time and cost savings.
The estimated retail price is £540, which includes one server licence and the management licences to protect three file servers. Data Protection Manager makes high-quality data back-up technology and long-term data recovery more affordable, Microsoft said.
The software is designed to help companies of all sizes to implement, deploy and use disk-based backup systems, the company said.
The software is especially useful for organisations which find tape back-ups too expensive or too complex to use.


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AsianScientist (May 9, 2011) – A study by Neuroscience Research Australia has found that low vitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of falls in the elderly, particularly in men.
The team, led by Dr. Jasmine Menant, investigated the relationship between vitamin D levels and falls in people aged 70-90 years.
The results showed that about one third of participants were vitamin D deficient. This same group was also physically weaker, had a slower reaction time, poorer balance and slower gait, and performed worse in cognitive function tests.
Amongst men, vitamin D deficiency was associated with an increase in falls.
In explaining the results, Menant says that sunshine and vitamin D are essential for the maintenance of physical strength and cognitive abilities.
“Our study shows the importance of ensuring that vitamin D levels are adequate in all older people, particularly as the benefits seem to extend beyond cognition and the musculoskeletal system to our ability to prevent ourselves from falling,” she said.
Vitamin D is produced by the skin after exposure to sunlight. With aging, the skin’s ability to produce vitamin D is diminished. Also, many elderly people spend more time indoors due to frailty, immobility, poor health, or a fear of getting skin cancer.
“Our study suggests that a balance is required between avoiding an increase in the risk of skin cancer by excessive sun exposure and achieving enough sun exposure to maintain adequate vitamin D levels,” Menant said.
“In particular, those with lower cognitive and physical performance may benefit from spending more time outdoors or taking vitamin D supplements,” she said.
Current recommendations from Osteoporosis Australia and the Cancer Council Australia state that people should expose the face, arms and hands to direct sunlight for a few minutes a week in summer, and for 2-3 hours a week in winter.
Source: Neuroscience Research Australia.
Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.


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Malaysian economy robust in 2013, despite GDP dip
WATARU YOSHIDA, Nikkei staff writer
SINGAPORE -- While Malaysia's real gross domestic product growth fell to 4.7% in 2013 from 5.6% the year before, the country's economy stayed relatively sure-footed, thanks to the recovery of exports in the latter half of the year and robust domestic demand.
Still, the uptick in exports owed mainly to goods headed to such places as China and Southeast Asia, meaning Malaysia faces the risk of a slowdown should demand from emerging markets shrink.
According to the data, which the country's central bank released Wednesday, GDP for October-December grew 5.1% on the year, a slight improvement over the 5% seen in July-September.
The recovery in the nation's exports -- and for the manufacturing industry in particular -- was the most significant factor behind relatively steady economic growth. Amid flagging demand from Japan, the U.S. and Europe, exports had fallen on the year for four consecutive quarters through the April-June term, but finally returned to the growth path from the July-September quarter.
According to the Malaysian trade ministry, exports ticked up 2.4% last year, buoyed by growth in the second half. Even so, while exports to China, Thailand, Indonesia and other destinations increased, figures declined for those headed to such markets as the U.S. and Japan. As rising wages have made Malaysia less attractive for foreign manufacturers, it is unclear whether exports will continue to grow.
Robust domestic demand also played a role. Private and government consumption rose 7.6% and 6.3%, respectively. Seeking to improve the nation's fiscal health, the government is reducing subsidies aimed at curbing growth in fuel and other prices. Inflation is apparent, with consumer prices edging up 2.1% last year and 3.2% in December alone.
Prime Minister Najib Razak's government has announced plans to introduce a consumption tax in 2015. That, along with inflation, may cause consumers to cinch their purse strings.


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Hotel bans LLB drinks service to minors and staff
A pub in Victoria has reportedly banned the traditional lemon, lime and bitters drink from service to minors and their own staff.
The Panton Hill Hotel has responded to new Victorian laws prohibiting the supply of alcohol to minors on licensed premises under any circumstances.
The mainstay of responsible drivers and teetotallers has apparently fallen foul of the pub’s strict approach to recently introduced Victorian liquor regulations.
While the traditional lemon, lime and bitters mix ordinarily features Angostura bitters, the bitters’ relatively high ABV of 44 per cent has caught the eye of the hotel’s management.
Panton Hill Hotel Venue Manager Julie Buckingham told Australian Hotelier: “Anything that has an alcoholic content in it shouldn’t be served to children.
“We had liquor licensing out just before Christmas and it made us a little more wary of everything. They said kids can’t even come up to the bar to be served a soft drink, they would have to be accompanied by an adult. We did have kids coming up to the bar asking for an LLB and it’s a really fine line. We don’t know what sort of fines they could impose on us. At $19,000 a pop for serving a minor liquor, it’s really unaffordable for a hotel like us.”
Beyond fines, Buckingham also confirmed the hotel’s concerns around apparently contradictory licensing regulations, along with the potential impact for over-18 customers blowing over zero in a breath-test.
“In our opinion, for us to purchase bitters for behind the bar, we have to have a liquor licence – to purchase it and to sell it on. If I have to have a liquor licence to purchase it, why am I then able to serve it to minors? I think that contradicts the whole liquor licensing policy. You can’t walk into a normal shop to buy it [bitters] – you have to walk into a bottle shop to buy it. Yet parents expect us to serve it across a bar,” says Buckingham.
“If we’re serving an alcoholic drink across the bar, even an 18 year old, they’ve got to be zero to drive – they can’t have any alcohol in their system. We’re not saying one LLB will put them over on a breatho, but say they sit there drinking for four hours with their parents and have four, five or six of them and then get in their car and drive, are they going to blow over? I don’t think there’s been a test to see and we don’t want to be the ones that cause that and receive the fines later on.”
The Panton Hill Hotel, (c) Google 2019
In response, a spokesperson for the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation said: “A bottle of bitters is liquor, and a mixed lemon lime and bitters drink can be considered alcoholic, however it does depend on the amount of bitters used in the drink.
“The minor addition of bitters to a soft drink would not normally constitute liquor under the legal definition.
“We advise all our licensees to take care that an appropriate mix is used, particularly if being supplied to minors, given the recent legislative changes mean that licensees must ensure no liquor is supplied to minors on licensed premises, even if they are partaking in a meal and accompanied by adults.”
Buckingham believes the recent regulation still leaves many questions unanswered. “[Licensing] said there’s now no alcohol to minors, but they’ve never come out and said whether bitters is an alcohol, they talk about the percentage of alcohol in a drink. But what you pour into a drink may be different to what I pour. One person may pour four or five drops, somebody else might like it stronger and put eight to twelve. Does it make it double the strength? Does it show up [on a breatho]? Will it cause drama for somebody when they go to drive home? Do we really need kids to have alcohol, even if it’s just a couple of drops? We’re trying to stop kids from drinking alcohol and yet people come in [to the hotel] expecting us to serve their kids.”
Responding to the ban, Tanya Mah, Angostura Brand Manager, Australia told Australian Hotelier: “The recommended serve of a Lemon, Lime & Bitters contains five dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters, which creates a non-alcoholic beverage. By law, a drink is deemed alcoholic at 0.5 per cent ABV and as the bitters are added at such a small volume, the drink doesn’t register as being alcoholic.
“Over 100 million serves of Lemon Lime and Bitters are consumed by Australians every year because the drink has become the signature Australian bar soft drink.”


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KT Tunstall released her new Golden State EP last week. To support the release, there's a brand spankin' new video for the track "Evil Eye". Check it out below.
She's gearing up for the release of a full length album that's scheduled to hit stores in September 2016 via Caroline Records. In the meantime, grab the infectious Golden State HERE.
"This is an album all about joy, although some of these songs are like cats," says KT gleefully, "they're really furry and sweet and then they fuckin' scratch you, and they won't let you put a leash on them, ever."


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While wasting some time watching Scary Movie 4 (do people actually like this stuff?) and not laughing once, I happened to catch an ad for a Starz special called Hollywood Goes Gaming. From the short clip, it was hard to tell if it was going to suck or not, but the list of interviewees was pretty impressive including the likes of Clive Barker, Don Bluth, Nolan Bushnell, Jordan Mechner and everyone's favourite smiling game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto. As the title implies, the show will discuss the growing relationship between Hollywood and gaming ranging from classic stinkbombs like the Super Mario Bros. Movie to more recent collaborations. The show premiers on Nov. 26 at 9pm so set your DVRs, grit your teeth and hope for the best.
Hollywood Goes Gaming
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Back in 2015, Valve got sued by a French consumer organisation called UFC-Que Choisir (not to be confused with non-French, non-consumer organisation the Ultimate Fighting Championship). UFC-Que Choisir had a multitude of bones to pick with the longtime Steam steward, the biggest among them being that Steam doesn’t let users resell their games. Four years later, a French court has ruled in UFC-Que Choisir’s favour. Valve plans to appeal.
I'm coming off the back of a pretty solid fever, so the weekend is a perfect time to recover. But while I'll be doing that, I'll be watching my partner recover in her own way -- which undoubtedly means a good deal of Fire Emblem.


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High street giant Debenhams has brought back one of its most in demand sale events, but this time shoppers will need to be quick to get their hands on the bargains available.
The 'summer spectacular' launched online this morning before being rolled out across stores tomorrow, including its Liverpool ONE branch and includes discount on clothing, garden furniture and household items such as bed linen.
For today only, customers using the Debenhams website can save up to 40% on swim and beachwear too.
The event takes place each year, with customers able to make huge savings on big brands stocked by the retailer.
So, it's not surprise it is always so popular.
Stand out deals include 15% off make-up and beauty products including the Clarins Limited Edition compact bronzer and blusherwas £32 now £27.20 , Yves Saint laurent 'Touche clat No Need To Sleep' gift setwas £25.50 now £17.85 or the Lancome 'La Vie Est Belle' eau de parfum gift setwas £52 now £44.20.
Other deals include up to 30% off kidswear including shoes occasionwear and swimwear too.
You can shop the full sale online here.