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VARTA Storage is set to enter the UK market with smart energy storage system – the VARTA pulse as part of an exclusivity agreement with Waxman Energy.
The highly anticipated domestic energy system will be unveiled in the UK for the first time at an exclusive product launch event at the Waxman Energy headquarters, West Yorkshire on the 6th June 2018.
Beginning at 5:30pm with a drinks reception and hot and cold buffet, the evening will be led by VARTA Storage – an operating subsidiary of the German based VARTA AG, and include talks and a live installation of the smart compact energy storage system.
Guests are also able to take part in a question and answer panel with Gordon Clements – General Manager of Power & Energy and other experts from VARTA Storage who were voted “Top Brand PV Storage 2018” by EuPD research.
Speaking of the launch, UK Key Account Manager Steve Saunders said “After successful launches in Italy & Australia earlier in the year, we see the UK as the next growth market for early adoption for home energy storage, with reducing feed-in tariff, storage from PV for self-consumption is becoming a focus for UK households”.
The EuPD has calculated that the market volume for energy storage systems has more than doubled since 2015. The outlook of the energy storage market in the UK is strong, with growth expected and forecasted by leading market analysis reports. It was therefore important for VARTA to choose a partner they could rely on when entering the UK market.
Clements said “We are extremely pleased to have found an experienced distribution partner for the UK and Ireland in Waxman Energy. Our companies share a commitment to deliver not just high-quality and reliable products, but top-class customer service, too.”
Part of the Waxman Group, Waxman Energy Ltd. is committed to offering only the highest quality energy solutions for private and commercial use. With the addition of the fully inclusive system from VARTA Storage, Waxman can now expand on their domestic product range to offer all-in-one solutions to their customers in the UK.
As a stand-alone energy storage system, the VARTA pulse measures just 60 x 69 x 18.6 centimetres, making it perfectly suited to domestic environments where space is limited. Available in two power classes; 3.3 kWh and 6.5 kWh and designed to be “plug & play”, the VARTA pulse can be installed in as little as 30 minutes provided the relevant services are available – setting it apart from competitor products. Its high flexibility and connectivity makes it seamless integrate able into smart home systems.
Managing Director of Waxman Energy, Sam Waxman said “We are delighted to partner with such a strong and reliable company that allows us to now offer an all-in-one battery storage solution to our customers. We see a huge potential for this product and look forward to working with VARTA Storage to shape the future of battery storage in the UK and Ireland.”
Those interested in attending the launch event are asked to register their place, by emailing email@example.com with their name, number of guests and any special dietary or accessibility requirements. Alternatively, places can be booked by calling 01422 371811.


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Entrepreneur in focus: Royden Evans of PlumbNation
ENTREPRENEUR Royden Evans has built a £14m turnover business in just six years and is now targeting sales of £50m over the next four years.
The Chester-born, Wirral-based businessman, who set up PlumbNation in 2007 after working in the building supply sector for Plumb Center and latterly Travis Perkins, says 2013-14 will be a year of exciting growth.
"As a young business in an online market we have always to be innovating, adding new products and also a new platform. It's an exciting time for the business &n... You can carry on reading TheBusinessDesk.com for free, but you have reached the maximum number of pages an unregistered user can view. To register for an account, click here or login below...

domain: news


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Apple has been targeted in a $50 million ransomware attack following the theft of a trove of engineering and manufacturing schematics of current and future products from Quanta, a Taiwan-based company that manufactures MacBooks and other products for Apple.
The leak, first reported by The Record, was carried out by REvil, a Russian hacking group that’s also known by the name Sodinokibi. The group had already begun posting the stolen images on April 20th, timed specifically to coincide with Apple’s latest “Spring Loaded” event, after Quanta refused to pay the $50 million ransom for the data. The group is now hoping to get Apple itself to pay up by May 1st, promising to continue to post new images from the leak daily until it does.
Quanta has confirmed that its servers were breached in a statement to Bloomberg, commenting: “Quanta Computer’s information security team has worked with external IT experts in response to cyber attacks on a small number of Quanta servers.” Quanta also says “there’s no material impact on the company’s business operation” as a result of the hack.
The documents appear to be accurate
REvil has a history of similar ransomware attacks, Bleeping Computer points out, with the group also carrying out similar hacks on Acer and other companies in the past several months. But the Quanta attack — by virtue of its connection to Apple and the potential to reveal unannounced Apple hardware — marks the group’s highest-profile target yet.
The company hasn’t clarified the extent of the leak yet, but images leaked by REvil so far include schematics for Apple’s just-revealed iMac redesign — which, prior to yesterday, hadn’t been seen by anyone outside of Apple’s sphere of influence, lending credence to the fact that the documents are indeed accurate. The schematics also include warnings on nearly every page: “This is the property of Apple and it must be returned,” and they specify that the documents are not to be reproduced, copied, or published.
Also contained within the revealed files are manufacturing diagrams for Apple’s already-released 2020 M1 MacBook Air refresh and an as-yet-unreleased laptop that features additional ports in line with the existing rumors for the upcoming laptop refresh from Apple.
These documents were stolen and are being leaked to extort Apple and Quanta. Due to the nature of their origin, we believe it would be unethical to extensively report on their contents. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update this post with any new information.


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The price of Xiaomi CiVI has dropped significantly, and the extreme light and thin feel is super good. Is it suitable for buying?
As the beginning of xiaomi’s change in the mobile phone market, Xiaomi Civi’s previous market performance in the mobile phone market seems to be really good. After all, as a very successful female mobile phone market product of Xiaomi, Xiaomi Civi’s market performance is really good.Especially in appearance, but its performance level, millet civi with very good market performance, has just been released in the mobile phone market have attracted a lot of female consumers, do have a very good market in the mobile phone market opening performance, its performance and its configuration is also very suitable for female consumers.But don’t know if mobile phone market development of millet previously was really too obsessed with male consumers, women consumers know more or less is one-sided, resulted in the performance of millet civi on the mobile phone market is a flash in the pan, just released when the heat is really high, but in a group are attracted to appearance level to the consumers of the later,In the mobile phone market, the popularity of Xiaomi Civi has declined significantly.Why is that?After discarking the appearance level performance, its internal comprehensive configuration does fall behind other manufacturers, especially in the case of xiaomi’s own mobile phone products, which will indeed lead consumers to be attracted by other mobile phone products.After all, in an era when mobile phones also have important entertainment functions, female consumers also have a large demand for games and start to pay attention to the performance of mobile phones.So why are they attracted to other products?Of course, it is because of the performance configuration, and we should know that consumers will compare when they look at mobile phone products, especially in the case of many official flagship stores now, even online stores, after clicking into the home page, they will be dizzy by many products.And selected mobile phone products because the price is not cheap, may let the mind of the consumer have contrast, and millet civi in addition to the level of advantage in appearance, and feel the advantage, in terms of performance of carrying Xiao dragon 778 g, it did also has a lot of market competition, like millet 10 s, or mobile phone products such as millet 11 youth version,It is difficult to compare performance in the mobile market.And front we said the most began to just released heat millet civi this product market is not poor, but like the appearance of the level of consumers are less, it reflected the nature of the mobile phone manufacturers products, in the eyes of consumers, millet still has a very big price tag,Obviously, at that time, Xiaomi Civi began to lose popularity in the mobile phone market due to its low cost performance.But now it may be in order to develop the market, or the new generation of Mi Civi products are ready, so the price of mi Civi, the female mobile phone market product of MI Civi, has suddenly dropped more than 500 now, which is the first time for mi Civi to reduce its price?After the price reduction, The cost performance of Xiaomi Civi is indeed much higher. There is indeed a market for buying Snapdragon 778G in the early 2000’s, and xiaomi Civi’s appearance level and feel performance are indeed not bad, plus other aspects of the configuration is also very good, now we can really consider buying.As for its front-shooting strength, not only the pixel performance is very good, the shooting performance is really attractive, and it also has the advantage of soft light selfie, the shot picture performance is really better, and the ranking refresh rate of 120Hz, it does have a lot of market appeal.Besides, the battery also has a capacity of 4500 mah. Besides, the snapdragon 778G itself is not high in consumption and is not suitable for high consumption. The daily performance is really good and the battery life is definitely not bad.But such a mobile phone product even cut, is also more suitable for female consumers to obtain, in the mobile phone market is attractive for male consumers is not large, if also brought gifts such as bought up, after all the advantages and disadvantages, is pretty good, but for boys to play this kind of high consumption is not very appropriate.


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A Christmas greeting from owner-operator business service firm ATBS.
While industry analysts say rising owner-operator compensation for both leased drivers and independents is on a slow rise, anecdotal reports and some polls suggest otherwise.
Those of you who’ve been in the business for even 10 years know that a lot has changed.
Country star John Anderson, national championship truck competition and more distinguish event-packed 2012 GATS
A roadside midwife, an apnea proposal, bedbugs, the rigors and routines of the road, plus Truck Gauge and Truck Gallery are among the industry news items and oddities featured.
The Arrow Truck Sales 2012 Back on the Road winner is named, the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners is required, a woman's rescuer is named Goodyear's Highway Hero, cargo theft increases and other ...
Keep your debt low and your credit rating high to land a loan with good terms.
A trucker joins a national fitness program, a natural born truck driver, a truck makes its film debut, plus Truck Gallery, Channel 19, Calendar events and more industry news items are featured.
Sign up to get Overdrive's daily newsletter.


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NeuraFlash Sets New Standard in AI Innovation with Generative AI & Einstein GPT Practice Launch
For Immediate Release - Burlington, MA – June 5, 2023: NeuraFlash, a leading AI and Consulting/ISV Partner of Salesforce and AWS, announces the launch of their Generative AI and Einstein GPT Practice to provide customers business-changing results with the most cutting-edge technology and equipping them to improve their productivity and bottom line.
Since NeuraFlash first entered the Salesforce Partner ecosystem, they have been recognized as a first mover. As one of the first partners to implement Einstein Bots as well as Service Cloud Voice, they will also be among the first to help customers drive value from Einstein GPT as the product becomes generally available later this summer.
NeuraFlash’s GPT practice will be spearheaded by Patrick Beyries, long-time Salesforce executive, creator of Salesforce Service Cloud Voice, and Head of Product at NeuraFlash. This team has built out multiple Generative AI accelerators, data models, and integrations to help customers implement Einstein GPT at a lower cost with less complexity.
“We continue to be inspired by the AI innovation Salesforce is developing and look forward to helping customers turn that innovation into real business results,” said Patrick Beyries, Senior Vice President of Product & Innovation at NeuraFlash. “Generative AI will change the way we work and communicate with our customers and we are excited to help our customers drive that change.”
NeuraFlash is embracing the future with AWS Generative AI and Salesforce's Einstein GPT, revolutionizing businesses and empowering customer success through innovative solutions and digital transformation. NeuraFlash positions themselves as a deeply trusted partner by building out a custom roadmap for each customer to allow them fully harness advanced technology including the latest digital, automation, AI and Generative AI solutions.
For more information about NeuraFlash's Generative AI practice and how it can drive your business forward, contact NeuraFlash.
NeuraFlash is a leading AI and Consulting/ ISV Partner of Salesforce and AWS. Their mission is to help businesses reimagine how they deliver personalized service and sales experiences that scale, empower teams, and uncover revenue. Working across industries, NeuraFlash enables intelligent business automation that drives real-time ROI.


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Though the modern Internet has only been available to the average home for about 20 years, it has made enough of an impact for the United Nations in 2012 to suggest that access should be considered a human right. Whether or not you agree with that (Google's Vint Cerf is skeptical), Internet access is a hot-button issue, as evidenced by the ongoing net neutrality debate at the FCC.
But while the commission figures out how best to regulate the Internet in areas that already have broadband service, a number of tech giants are working to bring Web access to the corners of the globe that have not yet been touched by social networking, memes, online shopping, and all the other bounties a connected life provides.
According to recent stats, just over 40 percent of those in the Middle East, 15.6 percent of those in Africa, and 27.5 percent of those in Asia use the Internet (compared to 78.6 percent in North America and 63.2 percent in Europe). Though adoption of low-cost smartphones has helped boost Internet usage in certain under-served areas, companies like Facebook and Google are now taking more drastic measures to make sure all corners of the world have access to the Web (and their services, of course).
What type of projects are we talking about? Check out the slideshow for a rundown of some innovative ways that well-known tech giants are trying to expand the reach of the Interwebs.


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It took less than a day for Luminary to become enemy number one of the podcast industry. Last month, on the same day that it unveiled its subscription podcast service, the company tweeted a typed-out image of a bunny holding a sign: “Podcasts don’t need ads.” Fans of the famously ad-supported industry revolted.
“This is toxic,” one person responded.
“Luminary don’t need customers,” said another.
Luminary CEO and co-founder Matt Sacks looks back on the situation now and tells me, “It was a mistake. It was a miss, and we own that. The bunny put a foot in our mouth.”
What the $100 million venture-backed podcasting company was trying to communicate, Sacks says, is that podcast listeners should have a choice: pay for subscription-based shows without ads or listen to podcasts for free but deal with ads as a price.
The New York Times and Spotify have asked Luminary to withhold their shows
“We really do feel like what we’re introducing is choice and optionality and trying to help elevate premium and paid podcasting, which would be good for creators and listeners, as well,” he says.
But the industry hasn’t accepted Luminary or its impending launch. When it rolls out to the public on iOS, Android, and the web, Luminary’s podcast app will be missing some of the industry’s biggest shows, including The New York Times’ The Daily and Gimlet Media shows like Reply All and Homecoming. Shows by Anchor’s network of smaller creators won’t be on the app, nor will series from Parcast, both of which are owned by Spotify.
By withholding their shows, the Times and Spotify are setting Luminary up to fail — or at least struggle to get off on the right foot with users. It certainly seems like the first shot fired in the inevitable premium podcast war and could destabilize one of the first buzzy, well-funded entrants before it can make a dent in the industry. The decisions that happen now will reshape the way podcasts are distributed in the future.
There are two pieces to Luminary: a podcast app, which anyone can use for free, and a network of exclusive shows, which will cost a monthly fee and only be available through the app. Both launch Tuesday, April 23rd, in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Through the app, listeners can access most podcasts that are distributed through publicly available RSS feeds, except for those that the big networks have asked Luminary not to include.
Luminary can be used like any other podcast player, but what the company really wants is for listeners to pay $7.99 a month to access its exclusive programming. Daily Show host Trevor Noah, Queer Eye star Karamo Brown, and Girls writer and actress Lena Dunham will all release shows, as will already established podcast stars, like Guy Raz of How I Built This, Manoush Zomorodi of Note to Self, and Adam Davidson of Planet Money. The more than 40 ad-free shows that Luminary has planned will come out on a rolling basis, and they won’t be available anywhere else but Luminary.
Other companies, like Stitcher, the BBC, and Spotify, have also made exclusive content a priority, but Luminary was the first company to structure its entire launch and marketing pitch around the idea.
Luminary has to convince listeners to pay for a traditionally free product
Its shows, combined with other networks locking down their programming, could fundamentally change the podcast industry. People who likely already pay for Netflix, Hulu, and any number of other subscription services are now being asked to start paying for podcasts, and RSS feeds, which have produced the open industry we have today, might be left behind for walled gardens.
Given the immediate backlash to Luminary’s tweet, it’s a tall order. Listeners used to hearing shows for free might not be willing to start paying for the programs that Luminary is bringing behind its paywall; other listeners won’t be able to access those shows at all because they’re outside of Luminary’s service areas.
Luminary has competition for premium podcasts, too. Spotify recently announced plans to invest up to $500 million in podcasting. The company has acquired Gimlet Media, a renowned podcasting studio; Anchor, a podcast creation app; and Parcast, a network known for crime and mystery shows. For Spotify’s monthly fee, $9.99 per month for a single person in the US, users can also listen to ad-free and unlimited music. That’s an enticing option versus Luminary’s podcast-only promise.
Still, Sacks isn’t discouraged. The podcast industry is projected to grow enormously over the coming years, and Luminary’s subscription model and premium content could be part of that. The entire industry brought in $314 million in revenue in 2017, and it’s expected to grow to $1.6 billion by 2022, according to an Interactive Advertising Bureau / PwC report.
“If we do those two things, we’re very confident that we’ll be able to find our best market.”
“We think the industry’s early,” Sacks says. “It’s been around for a bit, but it’s still early in terms of content development, and it’s a pretty new concept.”
He cites the company’s upcoming exclusive show Anthem: Homunculus, a musical podcast that stars six Tony Award winners, including actress Glenn Close, as an example of pushing the medium forward and content people would likely be willing to pay to access.
“We’re focused on building a great product experience and having great content, and if we do those two things, we’re very confident that we’ll be able to find our best market,” he says.
To date, Sacks says the entire podcasting industry has only spent $10 million on advertising, building out an audience of 62 million daily listeners. That’s a tiny figure; one movie can cost studios as much as $200 million to market. The suggestion seems to be that if Luminary spends big money marketing its own shows, the opportunity could be huge. Already, the company ran ads in Austin during South by Southwest, and billboards have gone up in Chicago and New York.
Luminary’s marketing efforts won’t just focus on its exclusive shows, but on the app experience, too. While the app is free to use, it provides Luminary with valuable listening data as well as the ability to sell users on its subscription service.
“As far as how people come in the door, it’s going to be a mix,” Sacks says. “Some people are going to come in because they heard it’s a great podcast app. Some people are going to come in because Anthem sounds really interesting, and they want to listen to it. Even for a non-premium user, once someone gets Luminary, we have a good chance of becoming your podcast player and handling all your freely available RSS feeds as well.”
The other portion of Luminary’s launch is its prized app, which acts like most any other podcast player. It most closely resembles Apple Podcasts with its curated and automatically generated charts.
When users first sign up, they’re asked to pick a few content categories that most interest them, like true crime, health, music, or pop culture, among others. Joe Purzycki, co-founder and chief strategy officer, says the team settled on these suggestions based on metadata about how people talk about podcasts and how podcasters describe their own shows. This information is then used to curate personalized show suggestions and to create an initial taste profile.
“We want to be partners of the whole ecosystem.”
Luminary wants you to be able to do just about everything from its app’s home screen, from discovering new shows to finding new episodes of podcasts you already subscribe to. The most interesting aspect of the home screen is a feature called previews, which appear as small circles, like the ones you see for Instagram Stories, that users can tap to hear a show’s trailer. Similar to how Apple and Google allow podcasters to set a trailer, Luminary does the same. The team has around 10,000 previews ready for launch.
Users will also see a carousel above those previews that features what the company deems is worth hearing at that moment. This will certainly feature a bunch of Luminary shows (when I previewed the app at home, only Luminary exclusives populated in that carousel), but Purzycki says the team will use it to highlight other shows the team enjoys.
“We want to be partners of the whole ecosystem,” Sacks adds. So when the Mueller report came out, he says, they might have placed a show that reported on it in the top carousel while also creating a separate carousel below with additional related programming.
The carousels on the page will change depending on the user, and every user will have a custom home screen that adjusts based on their interests. They might have chart suggestions like “top in technology” or “top shows.” The team tells me these top ratings come from both internal and external sources, so it’s pulling top charts and “chatter data” from around the podcast ecosystem and is especially reliant on external data at launch.
The data will help Luminary determine what premium shows to make
Comparing them to Apple’s charts shows some similarities. In top business, for example, The Dave Ramsey show is the second most popular on both. But the most popular show on Apple Podcasts is third on Luminary’s charts, as Luminary’s own listening data affects the rankings. Luminary will rely on outside sources while also drawing from its own data about listening time and user ratings of shows.
Luminary also takes other factors into account when offering up suggested programming. The company transcribes podcasts automatically and also looks for “audio similarity,” Purzycki says, which means tone, the speed at which people speak, and the subject matter. The team then tries to figure out what one show offers, what the hosts bring to a show, and how that might relate to other programming.
All of this data will ultimately help Luminary make decisions about what programming to greenlight and which creators have the potential to make a subscription-worthy show. Some of those shows will be made in-house, but Luminary could also reach out to existing podcast creators and ask them to make additional, paywalled content if it sees their show or a related genre growing in popularity.
“Our model has two different pieces to it: there’s existing shows that we’ve licensed, take Russell Brand’s podcast, for example, and then there’s original shows that partners help us create, and so this data will no question inform both of those things,” Sacks says.
Luminary’s app offers a couple of other nice features: users can “bookmark” episodes (which adds them to a playlist of sorts), set a sleep timer, and adjust preferences for automatic downloads. The app supports Bluetooth for streaming audio, but Luminary doesn’t have any third-party audio partners at launch, which means users won’t be able to listen through their Sonos speakers.
A Luminary spokesperson says the company is hopeful that it’ll soon be able to offer The Daily, citing positive conversations with the Times. It’s also in conversations with Anchor, but Luminary doesn’t appear to have made progress yet in being able to distribute Spotify’s core collection of hit series like Reply All.
In a statement to The Verge, a New York Times spokesperson said that the team is “proud of the success The Daily has had in helping new audiences develop a relationship with Times journalism and in growing our own base of subscribers, and we intend to be judicious about where it is placed.” The company will “look forward” to working with Luminary to distribute its other podcasts, and is “excited by the potential podcast audience that Luminary can attract to our others shows.”
Meanwhile, Anchor says it’s working with Luminary to come to an agreement and that if the startup begins allowing creators to submit their own RSS feeds, Anchor won’t stop them from doing so. However, Anchor says it hasn’t committed to any distribution yet because of Luminary’s ad stance.
In a statement to The Verge, Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano said the company was keeping its options open. “We’ve recently heard concerns from creators around Luminary’s very clear anti-ads stance, given that advertising is how most creators on Anchor make money,” Mignano said. “Because Luminary’s business model is new, unproven, and frankly opaque in how it plans to monetize its free tier, we are being especially cautious regarding the potential to automatically distribute Anchor creators’ content, without knowing exactly how it will affect their podcasts.”
We’ve reached out to Spotify for comment.
When asked if he really thinks people will pay for podcasting and how the company will handle competition in the space, Sacks plays the role of the rookie who’s just trying to learn from the already established all-star team.
“I really believe that podcasting has way more than enough room to go around,” Sacks says. “There will be multiple successful companies. But we look at Netflix, and we look at Spotify, we look at SiriusXM, and lots of businesses as role models, and lots of people do things very, very well. We’re learning from all of that, and then trying to apply it in a very podcast-focused way.”
Unfortunately for Sacks, Spotify’s already in the podcast world, and it isn’t playing nice.
Update 4/22, 12:40 PM ET: Updated to include New York Times statement
Correction 4/22, 2:47 PM ET: This piece initially stated that Spotify charges for its exclusive shows, but that was incorrect. Both free and paid users can access them.
Update 4/22, 6:05 PM ET: Updated to include Anchor’s statement.


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R2Games Presents Heroes of the Banner
R2Games offers a trailer for a new title, Heroes of the Banner.
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Big tech companies have been forced to reevaluate their strategies to minimise the impact that new and upcoming cookie changes will have on advertising and analytics.
As described in a previous blog, Digital Marketing and Advertising Without Cookies, big tech companies, including Google, Meta and Apple are forced to address their concerns as we edge towards a cookie-less world.
Ever since the iPhone iOS 14 update in September 2020, which allowed users to opt out of having their data collected, there has been unstable ad revenue generated from Meta ads, due its reliance on customer data for targeting and tracking. In 2022 alone, this new update has reported to lose Meta as much as 16 million dollars, or around 13 million pounds.
As a retaliation, in April 2021 Mark Zuckerberg CEO of Meta claimed that they will:
“build the best privacy enhancing technologies to provide accurate targeting and measurement to advertisers even when purchases aren’t happening within our apps.”
This blog aims to summarise a couple of actions already taken to minimise the effects of data loss on Meta advertising.
The Facebook Pixel was a highly valuable tool for tracking business data on Facebook. However, its effectiveness had been declining in recent years due to ad blockers, cookie blockers and the iOS 14 update.
Hence the introduction of Facebook Conversions API, a Facebook data tool which collaborates with Facebook Pixel to ensure marketers get all the data they need. It is designed to create a direct connection between your marketing data and the systems which help optimise ad targeting.
Facebook Pixel and Facebook Conversions API, together, help marketers efficiently track, attribute and improve Facebook marketing performance.
Instead of relying on cookies, the conversions API tracks web conversions, post-conversion events and page visits. Since the launch last year, it has successfully improved the accuracy of Facebook tracking by capturing data that would have otherwise been lost.
On top of tracking benefits, it also assists with marketing sales funnels by incorporating information such as CRM data and qualified leads.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, is reportedly in the process of developing a new type of ad which is less reliant on consumer data for targeting.
These ads, to be named ‘Basic Ads’, will rely on basic metrics like engagement and video views rather than personal data. They will seek to build brand awareness to a wider audience and shape product perception, rather than granular targeting.
As most would assume, these less targeted campaigns would be less effective in generating direct results. However, it is predicted that marketers could still be able to successfully boost their exposure, through broad-reaching campaigns.
The advertisement’s reach will depend on the amount of engagement it generates. Ads that receive a high level of engagement would theoretically reach a large audience, and therefore allow advertisers to connect with the right audience and generate ad revenue.
Benefits to digital marketing efforts
Although it is an unpredictable environment for digital marketers as we edge closer to a cookie-less world, it is obvious Meta is innovatively seeking new ways to reduce the data losses.
The introduction of the Facebook Conversions API last year has already begun to help with tracking and optimisation of Meta Ads. Additionally, Meta is continually evolving their technologies, and the introduction of providing alternative ad options will likely attract significant ad spend, even with reduced targeting.
How Click2Convert can help
At Click2Convert, we use our proactive expertise to stay ahead of the game to ensure our clients’ digital strategies keep up with ever changing industry updates and data privacy changes. Our PPC experts implement profitable paid marketing strategies, drive incremental revenue and increase leads, whilst also supporting other marketing activities.
If you’d like to discuss how Click2Convert can help with your PPC activity, discover our PPC services and get in touch today!


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ministry of electronics and information technology
LAST UPDATED : Mar 27, 2021, 09:27 AM IST
- Parliamentary panel to question Facebook on WhatsApp's privacy terms: Source
Facebook executives will field questions from a parliamentary panel on Thursday about the changes to WhatsApp's privacy, a source said, days after the messaging platform was asked by the country's technology ministry to withdraw them.
- CIC pulls up government for ‘evasive’ RTI reply on who created Aarogya Setu
The CIC slammed MEITY and NIC for “prima facie obstruction of information and providing an evasive reply”. Noting that none of the CPIOs was able to answer who created the app, Information Commissioner Vanaja N Sarna said MEITY and NIC responses were “extremely preposterous”.
- Give ‘candid opinion’ for protecting small traders’ interests in new policies for industry, e-comm: Som Parkash
With the Union government in the process of making new industrial policy together with e-commerce and logistics policies, it is inviting ‘candid and frank opinion’ from the industry on how to protect the interests of 5-7 crore small traders and make Prime Minister’s clarion call for self-reliant India successful, minister of state for commerce and industry Som Parkash said in an ASSOCHAM virtual summit on Friday.


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The Current Situation and Trend of Chinese Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Logistics
On March 16-17, 2017 (sixth) China Pharmaceutical Cold Chain Logistics Summit was successfully held in Hangzhou. Cui Zhongfu, Vice President and Secretary General of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing, came to the conference and published the status quo of China's pharmaceutical cold chain logistics. Trends important speech.
First, the monitoring performance of vaccine cold chain changes, 2016 is a milestone for the development of China's vaccine cold chain. In March, the media exposed the Shandong vaccine incident shocked the industry. In just over a month, on April 13, the State Council announced and implemented a new version of the Regulations on Vaccine Circulation and Vaccination Management. The most profound impact on vaccine circulation and vaccine cold chain is Article 15 of the new regulations. The vaccines are organized by the provincial disease prevention and control institutions in the provincial public resource trading platform. After the county-level disease prevention and control institutions purchase from the vaccine production enterprises, the suppliers form regional inoculation units, and the vaccine production enterprises should directly go to the county. Class-level disease prevention and control institutions distribute the second type of vaccine, or entrust a company with cold chain storage and transportation conditions to deliver the goods, and enterprises that receive the second-class vaccine for distribution must not entrust the distribution.
After the implementation of the new regulations, the production enterprises became the main responsible party of vaccine cold chain distribution and the purchasers of cold chain services. Drug wholesale enterprises without vaccine qualifications were forced to withdraw from the vaccine business. From channel distributors to cold chain service providers, especially group companies have responded quickly. Through the re-distribution of resources, the cold chain system of vaccines was established to complete the transition from the vaccine business entity to the cold chain service entity.
In the re-development of the market structure, the cold chain logistics enterprises are undoubtedly the most active category. For the third-party logistics enterprises with perfect network, through the establishment of the standardization system of cold chain logistics of drugs, they are deeply involved in the cold chain market of vaccines. Become a new force in the industry. SF Express is the most typical, and it has achieved remarkable results last year. It is a very representative enterprise in this respect. It can be said that the impact of the new regulations on the vaccine circulation channel and the cold chain service model is fundamental and subversive, and its implementation process is accompanied by various problems. For example, due to imperfect provincial procurement platforms and insufficient cold chain distribution capabilities, there has been a shortage of second-class vaccine products in several regions. On January 15th, 2017, in order to improve the new version of the vaccination management regulations, the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Further Strengthening Vaccine Circulation and Vaccination Management”, which refines the procurement, storage and use management of vaccines. The processes and measures are more operational, which is conducive to the problems that arise in various places after the implementation of the regulations, and promotes the standardized management of the vaccine cold chain market.
Second, medical quarantine, segmentation logistics in the CRO field. In recent years, China's pharmaceutical market has developed rapidly, not only becoming the world's largest new pharmaceutical market, second only to the United States' second largest pharmaceutical market in the world. At the same time, the development of medical and medical segments such as medical tests and CROs is also worthy of our attention. The CRO market in China has grown rapidly due to the increase in research and development investment, the penetration rate, and policies. In 2015, the market size of CRO is about 35 billion yuan. The size of CRO market in 2016 is expected to exceed 42 billion, which contains huge demand for cold chain. From the distribution of pre-medicated drugs to the recycling of back-end drugs, a very strict and efficient cold chain system is required as a guarantee. According to our research, there are not many companies engaged in this field, but the degree of specialization and standardization of management is still worthy of recognition. The requirements are very high.
Medical tests started late in China, but the industry is growing very fast. Because it is a new type of industry, statistical data is not perfect now. However, according to some special researches, the growth rate of the third-party medical inspection industry in the past five years has remained between 30% and 40%, and will continue to maintain this high-speed growth in the future. The third-party medical inspection institution is independent of the medical institution, and the business is closely related. There will be a large number of biological samples and medical materials flowing during the operation of the business. The cold chain logistics is required as the whole process guarantee, and the requirements are extremely guaranteed. Most of the companies in the cold chain are originally engaged in inspection agencies and internal departments. It is very difficult for third-party companies to cut in.
From the perspective of the overall development of the market, third-party logistics companies are difficult to cut, mainly because the industry lacks independent industry standards. At this point, we are also actively promoting the preliminary research work of pharmaceutical cold chain enterprises and introducing relevant industry standards as soon as possible.
Third, from the perspective of third-party pharmaceutical cold chain logistics, we will make a prospect for the 2017 market. If 2016 is the “policy year” of the pharmaceutical cold chain and the policy direction is adjusted, the company is advancing in the process of exploration and looking for a model that is suitable for the development of the enterprise and matches the market demand. Then 2017 will be a year of explosive growth of the pharmaceutical cold chain. Pharmaceutical business and third-party logistics companies have initially found the path and model of development in the past year, and new industry policies may emerge in the future. For example, the separation of business flow and logistics, we already have a certain ability. With the release of industry logistics demand, pharmaceutical cold chain logistics will show rapid growth.
2017 will be a year worth looking forward to the cold chain of medicines!


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At £20.56 per share the FTSE 100 firm — which bottles drinks on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company in parts of Europe and Africa — was last trading 5.9% higher on the day. This made it the biggest daily riser on London’s blue-chip index.
Net sales soared to all-time highs of €9.2 billion in 2022, Coca-Cola HBC said, which represented a 28.3% year-on-year increase. Organic revenues per case meanwhile increased 15.9% thanks to price hikes and steady improvements to product mix.
Volumes rose 12.4% to 2.71 billion cases, though on an organic basis these were down 1.5%.
Russian Withdrawal, Cost Inflation Weighs
Excluding sales from Russia and Ukraine, organic revenues leapt 22.7% last year whilst organic volumes rose 8.1%. Coca-Cola HBC suspended its Russian operations last March following the outbreak of war in Eastern Europe.
Operating profit dropped 11.9% last year to €703.8 billion mainly because of impairment charges related to its Russian business.
The FTSE firm’s operating profit margin dropped 350 basis points on-year to 7.7%. And on a comparable basis it was down 150 basis points to 10.1%. This reflected the impact of high cost inflation and the sale of property in Cyprus in 2021.
But free cash flow increased 7.3% year on year to €645.1 million. This encouraged the company to lift the full-year dividend 9.9%, to 78 euro cents per share.
Zoran Bogdanovic, chief executive at Coca-Cola HBC, said that “we delivered a strong performance in 2022 against a challenging backdrop, achieving record levels of revenue, comparable EBIT and free cash flow.”
He added that “the power of our portfolio and consistent investment in our capabilities allowed us to balance pricing and mix enhancements, while also achieving another year of strong share gains.”
Bogdanovic described consumer demand last year as “good” with sales driven by the bottling company’s sparkling, energy and coffee categories.
Volumes of its sparkling drinks (excluding Russia and Ukraine) increased 7.7% in 2022, with sales of its flagship Coca-Cola product rising 9.1%.
Energy volumes meanwhile increased 16.3% last year as “strong momentum in most markets… more than offset declines in Russia and Ukraine.” Coffee volumes jumped 28.2% thanks to “encouraging share gains driven by both rate of sales and distribution increases.”
For 2023, Coca-Cola HBC said it expects to grow organic revenues above its 5% to 6% target range. As a consequence the company reckons organic operating profit will range between a 3% year-on-year fall to a 3% increase.
The business added that inflationary pressures will also persist, with its cost of goods sold per case increasing by low-teens percentages. It said too that currency movements will likely create a profit headwind of between €25 million and €35 million.
Royston Wild owns shares in Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company.


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According to Maersk, OBE Organic, an Australian organic beef exporting company, has become the first refrigerated meat exporter in Oceania, to vastly lower the ocean emissions of its North America exports. OBE Organic’s entire supply chain is fully certified organic, from buying certified organic cattle from producers, having the cattle processed at modern certified organic abattoirs to selling grass fed organic beef worldwide. The company is taking further steps to reduce its carbon footprint with Maersk’s low emission ECO Delivery product which reduces CO2 emissions by more than 80%.
According to the company, the choice of Maersk ECO Delivery for sea freight to North America provides direct carbon savings rather than carbon offsetting, in line with aims to act upon their sustainability initiative.
“Since its introduction in 2019, customer demand for Maersk ECO Delivery has grown more than 170% year-on-year. Maersk is also working to expand the ECO Delivery product to 3rd party verified low emission landside Logistics & Services products to serve customers across the entire value chain with green solutions.” Said Henrik Jensen, the managing director of Maersk Oceania.


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The owner of the car privately swallowed 7 million yuan in express delivery and burned a car to fake the packaging, but the fire came too fast
Famous watches, digital cameras, brand-name clothing… A van full of express parcels worth more than 7 million yuan suddenly caught fire, and the police found it ignited after investigation It is the owner of the vehicle.
At 7:40 on March 22, thick black smoke suddenly rose on the south side of Xuelin Road Station on Line 13 of Zhangjiang Rail Transit, Pudong, and a van near the construction site was burning with a raging fire.
The Sunqiao Police Station of Pudong Public Security Bureau received the fire alarm and immediately worked with the fire department to deal with it. The fire was quickly extinguished and no injuries were caused.
The owner Ju Shengde rushed to learn of the situation.
He said that he parked the car here at 7 o’clock in the morning and left. According to him, this car is usually used by his friend Mei Xin, who is responsible for the delivery of an online shopping mall, and he does not know the details.
During the investigation, the police did find a large number of express parcels in the wreckage of the vehicle. They quickly found the online shopping mall to which Mei Xin belonged and learned that the total value of the express lost in the car was more than 7 million yuan.
But the police also noticed something strange-these packages almost all have traces of man-made dismantling, and there is no residue of burnt items at the fire scene.
Is this fire an accident, or was it intentional?
When the police asked, Mei Xin, who was informed of the bad news, had a dull look, saying that most of the parcels in the car had incomplete receiving information and could not be delivered, and they were temporarily placed in the car.
On the other hand, the owner Ju Shengde constantly emphasized that the cause of the vehicle fire was spontaneous combustion and had nothing to do with him. The contrast between the two makes Ju Shengde’s suspicion rise sharply.
After further understanding of the situation, the police found that Mei Xin had entered the online shopping mall under the introduction of Jushengde. Since there was no vehicle available for express delivery, Jushengde also provided vehicles with him many times. Distribution.
These burnt packages were also delivered by Ju Shengde and Mei Xin. Those undeliverable couriers were packed in the van. After the delivery on the same day, Ju Shengde drove away.
At this time, the police had almost concluded that the fire was planned by the owner Ju Shengde. After investigation, it was found that these couriers were registered by Jushengde with false identities, placed the order in the online store for cash on delivery, and used a false address and contact number, which made the delivery impossible.
Faced with various investigation results raised by the police, Ju Shengde finally admitted his criminal behavior. Without Mei Xin’s knowledge, he dismantled and restored the undeliverable couriers he ordered one by one, took out the goods inside, and then deliberately caused a short circuit of the wires in the car, which ignited the vehicle and caused a false fire.
In addition, in order to make the vehicle burn out as soon as possible, Jushengde also purchased a large amount of roll paper and alcohol in the order. But I didn’t expect that the fire was quickly extinguished by the fire department, revealing”horse feet”.
According to Ju Shengde’s confession, the police successfully found 18 brand-name watches, 92 sets of brand-name headphones, 1 digital camera, and 22 pieces of brand-name clothing hidden by him in a remote green belt. Pants, 766 various savings and consumption cards.
In fact, this is not the first time that Ju Shengde has used similar modus operandi to commit a crime. In 2019, he registered a fake account to place an order, then falsely claimed that the express was lost and obtained 3 iPhones illegally. After being found out by the police, he was sentenced to criminal detention and finally expelled from his online shopping mall.
At present, Jushengde has been detained for criminal detention on suspicion of fraud, and the case is under further investigation.
(The names involved in the text are all aliases)
Editor in charge:Gao Wen


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Is Tim Cook Contradicting Steve Jobs With the iPad Pro and Pencil?
Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 2007: “If you see a stylus, they blew it.”
Apple CEO Tim Cook, 2015: “Apple Pencil blah blah blah.”
It seems that Apple’s latest CEO can’t stop contradicting his predecessor. Jobs hand-picked Cook to succeed him when he left the company, but several recent moves by Cook seem to go against what Apple co-founder Jobs has said in the past.
The cries are loudest on social networks, so much so that someone made a whole website about it: Steve Jobs Would Never. But is Tim Cook trying to create his own legacy by trailblazing a different path from Jobs or are we simply misinterpreting Jobs?
Context Is King
Walter Isaacson’s biography — one of the must-read books about Steve Jobs — makes it clear that he wasn’t afraid of distorting words to make a forceful point. It’s hard to know how much Jobs himself believed some of the things he said, but he knew the right things to say to convince people of his agenda. Heck, he even contradicted himself often:
“We have no plans to make a tablet,” Jobs said at All Things D in 2003. “It turns out people want keyboards. Tablets appeal to rich guys with plenty of other PCs and devices already.” As we found out later, Apple had already started exploring touchscreen tablets back then.
That aside, however, some of the statements Jobs made are often taken out of context and applied to what Cook does now. In those cases, it seems like Cook is going against his former boss, but a closer look reveals a different picture. I went through some of these seeming contradictions to try and find the truth.
The Apple Pencil
Among Apple’s recent launches , the Apple Pencil stylus seems to be the most anti-Jobs move that Cook has made.
What Jobs said in 2007: “Who wants a stylus? You have to get them and put them away, and you lose them. Yuck. Nobody wants a stylus. So let’s not use a stylus. We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world. We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with… we’re born with ten of them. We’re going to use our fingers. We’re going to touch this with our fingers… It works like magic.You don’t need a stylus. It’s far more accurate than any touch display that’s ever been shipped.”
The context here is two-fold. First, Jobs was talking about an iPhone — a device with a 3.5-inch screen, compared to the iPad Pro’s 12-inch screen. Apple has shown no indication that it’s bringing Pencil to other iPads, let alone the iPhones. But even if it did bring a stylus to a smaller screen, there’s a second context.
“Nobody wants a stylus” was a remark made in 2007, when stylus technology wasn’t that great. The stylus of today is far better and much more useful, as we have seen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 3’s S Pen . The larger point Jobs was making then was that your touchscreen should be completely useable with your fingers, without needing a stylus. Remember, the stylus was the norm back then, not the exception.
That, to a large extent, still holds true today. The Apple Pencil is a $99 optional accessory with the iPad Pro—you can still buy an iPad Pro and not buy the Pencil (but I believe you should buy the Pencil since the accessories make it more than just a bigger iPad ).
However, one of Jobs’s original points is absolutely valid: “You have to get them and put them away, and you lose them. Yuck.” For a $99 device, there is no way to dock it into your screen or cover, unlike the Microsoft Surface Pro or Samsung Galaxy Note. There is a real chance of losing your Apple Pencil easily, and that’s a huge miss that Jobs probably wouldn’t have let happen, given his notoriety for attention to detail.
The Smart Keyboard
In the same keynote address, Cook and team debuted the new Smart Keyboard for the iPad Pro. This $169 Bluetooth attachment props up the iPad Pro at an angle and turns it into a laptop-like device. It’s not a convertible laptop, it’s a “hybrid lite” . But it goes against The Word Of Jobs.
What Steve Jobs said in 2010: “Touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical… It’s ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal. Hence, pads! For notebooks, that’s why we have perfected multi-touch trackpads over the years. That’s the best way we have found to introduce touch into notebooks.”
Watch the full clip:
In this instance, Cook has gone absolutely against what Jobs said. Even if you bring up the context that Jobs was talking about Mac OS X-like notebooks against the iPad tablet, the fact remains that Apple has gone completely against a core Jobs dictat: touch surfaces want to feel flat.
The Smart Keyboard does not include a trackpad, which means your hand has to keep moving back and forth between the keyboard and the slanted, propped-up screen. That’s not ergonomic, that’s not user friendly, and that’s not great design. And you can’t just connect a mouse like with the Surface Pro either.
It could be said that most people will only use the iPad Pro’s keyboard attachment for extended periods of typing, and so it won’t be detrimental to the overall user experience (as it could be argued some hybrid laptops are).
Jobs was adamant that Apple had perfected the size for the iPhone. That was when it had a 3.5-inch screen; in fact, according to Isaacson’s biography, the iPhone 4S was the last smartphone Jobs tested. And that one had a 3.5-inch screen. If Jobs were asked, “Should you buy the bigger iPhone 6 Plus?” , we know what his answer would be.
What Steve Jobs said in 2010: “Making a phone so big your hand can’t get around it helps (to avoid antenna troubles). Some of these guys are making Hummers… You could make that, but nobody would want to buy it.”
In 2011, Samsung outpaced Apple to become the world’s largest smartphone maker. Last year, Apple finally launched larger iPhones—the iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch screen and the iPhone 6 Plus with a 5.5-inch screen. The latter is as mammoth as the Samsung Galaxy Note.
Cook has definitely defied Jobs here, but no matter how much Jobs believed he had the right size, the sales of iPhones have rallied after the bigger models were released. The iPhone 6 Plus is the largest selling phablet (phone-tablet hybrid) in the US and Apple has been reporting record sales of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus already.
Again, Jobs believed Apple had perfected the size for tablets. In the pre-iPad Mini era, he had nothing but disdain for smaller 7-inch Android tablets.
What Steve Jobs said in 2010: “There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps…. The seven-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.”
The Guardian has a full transcript of what Jobs said during that earnings call conference, and even compares his claims against the 8-inch iPad Mini that was eventually launched. And well, most of his problems with the smaller form factor were not addressed. The original iPad Mini didn’t even take Jobs’s suggestion of increasing resolution, but the new iPad Mini with Retina Display fixed that.
Cook definitely went against his mentor’s wishes there, but it was a good call. In this case, Jobs was wrong. The iPad Mini is a huge success and many claim it’s the best tablet around — particularly if you have smaller digits. Indeed, it’s not even a battle of sizes — as we’ve discovered you can use both iPad Air and iPad Mini for different tasks.
Do You Like Cook’s Apple or Steve’s Apple?
There is no doubt that Apple has changed a lot since Tim Cook took over as CEO. Do you like the new Apple, or do you yearn for the Jobs era once again?
Image Credits: Apple, Skype
Affiliate Disclosure: By buying the products we recommend, you help keep the site alive. Read more.


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How Multifamily Builders Are Tackling Lingering Construction Challenges
Despite continued headwinds, developments are still pushing forward.
In spite of ongoing economic headwinds and persisting geopolitical issues, the multifamily sector experienced exceptionally high demand throughout 2022, driven by strong fundamentals and evolving demographic trends.
According to Yardi Matrix data, multifamily construction starts across the U.S. through the third quarter of last year totaled 363,575 units—or one-third of the total number of units underway at that time—which was only 3.2 percent lower than the figure recorded over the same interval in 2021.
The same data provider expects 2023 to be another strong year for new multifamily supply, with more than 400,000 units scheduled to come online by the end of the year. But despite record-breaking numbers and positive forecasts, pre-existing conditions and unforeseen construction challenges are creating a perfect storm for multifamily development.
“Aside from construction costs escalating significantly over the past two years and rent growth not keeping pace, capital markets headwinds have also come into play. Exit cap expansion and interest rates make it difficult to reach a desirable return on investment,” Matt Sayre, vice president of construction for multifamily and senior living at Ryan Cos., told Multi-Housing News.
The lingering effects of the pandemic on the supply chain continue to fuel construction challenges for multifamily contractors. Over the past three years, Levine Builders has been constantly faced with the uncertainty of when construction materials would actually end up arriving at their sites. Even after follow-up contact with subcontractors and vendors, there was a new surprise arising every week.
“While not present to the same extent as at the height of the pandemic, the flow of the supply chain has not yet returned to where it was pre-pandemic,” said Levine Builders CEO Paul Finamore. “As we all continue to adapt to this new normal, supply chain grievances will likely continue to be an issue. While it has overall been a difficult time, pivoting and finding various solutions in lieu of current conditions has, in a way, been an exciting process,” Finamore further noted.
Dealing with today’s multifamily construction challenges
To overcome the issues constantly coming at them, multifamily builders had to get creative and change the way they operate, specifically how they procure materials. Some companies started to do more in-house work to minimize costs and wait times, while others such as Levine Brothers took a more proactive approach to its trade procurement strategies.
“In the past, we might have taken for granted getting elevator machine room equipment delivered in four months after it was released for fabrication. Today, it could be eight months or more,” Finamore confessed. “These challenges have led us to move up the procurement strategy in purchasing with some trades, with an understanding of which trades are experiencing the most difficulty due to post-pandemic recovery as well as economic constraints,” he added.
Not so long ago, Levine Builders would rely on subcontractors to prepare shop drawings, get them approved, and release material for fabrication and installation. Today, they know where these subcontractors are buying their materials from and other behind-the-scenes details, subsequently becoming more in tune with their subcontractors’ businesses.
Having become dialed into the global markets as it pertains to what types of materials and location sources are experiencing the most delivery delays has given Levine Builders the chance to steer away from using products and materials from areas that are still going through significant supply chain and shipping issues.
And while the current economic climate has inevitably created delays in multifamily project completions, Sayre believes that having robust relationships with suppliers, banks and equity partners can go a long way in making up for the lost time.
What’s ahead for multifamily construction?
It’s no secret that home purchasing has decreased because of higher interest rates, and this translates into higher demand for market-rate rentals. Sayre expects the construction slowdown to lead to a lack of housing available for the next two years, which will only further intensify the need for multifamily construction.
“The current headwinds the multifamily sector is experiencing are just speedbumps on a long road, not a cliff,” Sayre said. “Demand and demographics aren’t changing any time soon, and that presents an abundance of opportunities,” he added.
In the short term, however, the fight against inflation will likely lead to an economic deceleration that will curtail job growth, and a potential recession in the second half of the year, according to recent Yardi Matrix research. For multifamily, this translates into fewer households forming as the labor market weakens, and a decrease in migration.


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Kenya’s mobile telecom firm, Safaricom, has opened up M-PESA’s API to developers.
With this development, Safaricom expects apps that will be compatible with the M-PESA portal to be developed leveraging the M-PESA data and infrastructure, IT News reports. Developers are expected to come up with state-of-the-art and timely apps such as business to consumer (B2C), consumer to business (C2B), business to business (B2B) or anything creative and innovative.
“As we have always said, innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We do however accept that innovation cannot come from us alone – it takes partnerships to come up with some of the best possible solutions that will help transform lives,” said Betty Mwangi, Safaricom’s Director of Financial Services.
The opening up M-PESA’s API to developers may have been made possible due to the recall of Safaricom’s servers to Kenya from Germany and the introduction of an ecommerce platform, Lipa Na M-PESA, according to IT News Africa.


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DELFT, 20 September 2016 — Holland Container Innovations is presenting its 4FOLD foldable container during live demonstrations at the HCCR depot in Hamburg. 4FOLD is revolutionising the container industry. Folding the container saves time and money and contributes to reducing CO2 throughout the entire logistics process.
The 4FOLD demonstrations will take place on Tuesday, 27 September, Wednesday, 28 September and Thursday, 13 October and are open to everyone following registration.
4FOLD is revolutionising the container industry because 4FOLD significantly reduces the problem of empty transport. 4FOLD is, in principle, a standard container that can easily be integrated into everyday logistics. The empty container is folded to a quarter of its normal height. Four folded containers can be stacked and bundled and have exactly the same dimensions as a single standard container. This allows four folded containers to be handled and transported as if they were a single standard container, which delivers significant cost savings and reduces CO2 emissions.
Various shipping companies are already using 4FOLD. They confirm that operational savings are being made: ‘We’ve noted that the demand for innovation is greater than ever right now, while the sector is seeing difficult times. 4FOLD delivers efficiency by, among other things, reducing handling and storage costs by up to 75%. Using a personal approach, we would be happy to show how we can make a difference to every player in the market’, says Simon Bosschieter, CEO Holland Container Innovations.
The demonstrations have been supported by the allocation of a subsidy of €2.5 million from the SME instrument of the Horizon 2020 European Innovation Programme.
If you would like to know more about 4FOLD and Holland Container Innovations, or if you want to register for these free demonstrations, please get in touch with us at email@example.com.
Co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 711257


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Recognising growing calls for better privacy protection, Google promised to “phase out” third-party cookies from its Chrome browser by 2022. But the tech giant has delayed its plans to shut-down the tracking technology after pushback from regulators, privacy advocates and the digital-media industry.
- Google announced last week that its Chrome browser will stop supporting third-party cookies late in 2023, almost two years after its original deadline of early 2022. “While there’s considerable progress with this initiative, it’s become clear that more time is needed across the ecosystem to get this right,” Google said on its Keyword blog.
- The delay is designed to give the publishers, advertisers and regulators more time to adapt to replacement technologies. Google’s preferred replacement for ad targeting – an interest-based identity solution known as FLoCs – has met with broad resistance.
- Google’s decision to delay highlights the challenges faced in balancing demands for stronger user-privacy protections, protecting the $455 billion global online-ad ecosystem and defending itself against allegations that it’s third-party cookie replacement creates special advantages.
Writing for the Verge, Dieter Bohn said: “The more Google cuts off third-party tracking, the more it harms other advertising companies and potentially increases its own dominance in the ad space. The less Google cuts off tracking, the more likely it is to come under fire for not protecting user privacy. And no matter what it does, it will come under heavy fire from regulators, privacy advocates, advertisers, publishers, and anybody else with any kind of stake in the web.”
- Regulators across the world have been examining Google’s plans to kill off the third-party cookie and the creation of alleged advantages built into replacement tracking solutions that will allow Google to continue individual-level targeting on its own properties.
- In the U.S Google’s cookie-replacement plan was raised in a December antitrust lawsuit against the company bought by Texas and nine other U.S. states.
- The EU has said it is investigating Google’s plan to remove cookies as part of a wide-ranging inquiry into allegations that Google has abused its prominent role in advertising technology.
- In the UK, Google has had to commit to giving the competition watchdog 60 days’ notice before it cancels third-party cookies to allow it to review and impose changes to its plan.
The decision to delay has been broadly welcomed by publishers and advertisers. But ad-tech vendors are warning publishers and advertisers to keep working towards a future when third-party cookies finally disappear.
- Konrad Feldman, CEO and Co-Founder of Quantcast said: “Google may have called extra time on the third-party cookie, but brands, agencies, publishers, and technology companies should remain focused on finding a long-term alternative.”
- Joe Root, CEO & Co-founder at Permutive said: “Don’t place your reliance on Google coming out with a solution in all this. Cookie-less solutions that scale and meet regulation are already live and many advertisers are spending heavily here.”
- Travis Clinger, SVP Addressability and Ecosystem, LiveRamp said: “While the deadline for cookie deprecation has extended, urgency persists and the industry should remain committed to moving beyond this identifier. This is simply a delay, not a change in strategy.
Google has always acknowledged that a hard stop to third-party cookies is hugely problematic, and will continue pushing for an agreed-upon set of standards to draw a balance between privacy and targeting.
It is now pointing to a “rigorous, multi-phased public development process, including extensive discussion and testing periods” for FLoC and other proposals. Dieter Bohn says this is a ‘fairly obvious signal that it will end up changing or replacing FLoC’ meaning the search for a workable replacement to third-party cookies continues.


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COMPANY NEWS; CONE MILLS ADVANCES ITS PLAN FOR REORGANIZATION
Published: September 27, 2003
The Cone Mills Corporation, the world's largest denim maker, won interim court permission to finance its bankruptcy reorganization by selling as much as $35 million in uncollected bills to the GE Capital Corporation. Cone Mills will also sell as much as $15 million in inventory in the next two weeks, as part of the bankruptcy reorganization intended to clear the way for a $90 million buyout by Wilbur Ross's W L Ross & Company, lawyers said at a court hearing yesterday in Wilmington, Del. Judge Mary Walrath scheduled a hearing on Oct. 10 to consider extending the bankruptcy financing beyond that date.


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Bangalore International Airport Ltd. (BIAL) – operator of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (BLR Airport) – today announced the first phase launch of the ‘BLR Metaport’.
With this new launch, BLR Airport’s T2 becomes one of the first terminals in the world that can be experienced on the metaverse.
Built in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Polygon, the BLR Metaport offers an immersive, three-dimensional (3D) virtual experience of the newly launched Terminal 2 at BLR Airport.
Interested travellers and the public can log on to www.blrmetaport.com and virtually tour and navigate the new state-of-the-art terminal, using their smart devices.
The BLR Metaport is an outcome of the Joint Innovation Centre (JIC), announced in April 2022 by BIAL, AWS, and Intel.
The JIC focuses on driving the development and adoption of digital solutions in aviation.
For BIAL, the mission of the JIC is to leverage emerging technologies to build new business models and passenger experiences and be at the forefront of technology innovation in India’s commercial aviation.
Developed in line with this mission, the BLR Metaport is one of the first airport metaverse experience, designed to deliver an enhanced digital experience for travellers.
A 3D interface will offer customers new ways to interact with the airport, such as checking into flights, navigating terminals, shopping, and social aspects like connecting with other travellers.
BLR Metaport brings the virtual and physical worlds together to provide consistent engagement, and aims to excite travellers with new, unique, and immersive experiences.
BIAL’s Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Satyaki Raghunath said, “We are very excited that BIAL is entering into the new world of metaverse through the BLR Metaport.
“This is our first foray into the world of Web3 and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and we aim to delight travellers with a unique, immersive, and virtual experience.
“We believe that it is important to connect with a new generation of our global audience through the metaverse.
“We also have several initiatives planned around the BLR Metaport, which promise to increase ways in which we can engage with our global audience and enhance business impact over the next few years.”
BLR Metaport is built on the fundamentals of decentralisation, where control and decision-making are transferred from a centralized entity to a distributed network.
It uses the Polygon Blockchain, which will act as a medium of digital economy in the future for users to trade digital assets seamlessly and securely.
These digital assets could be digital artwork at the BLR Metaport, certificates that are given for completing various industry-related training courses, collectibles, utility and commemorative NFTs.
In the future, BLR Metaport will enable users to shop from their favourite brands sitting in any part of the world.
Polygon Companies APAC Head, Arpit Sharma said, “Polygon is committed to leading blockchain innovation, which will drive a digital economy that can be accessed by every individual in the world.
“BLR Metaport is one example of how big enterprises can collaborate and innovate to bring blockchain solutions to the masses.”
The BLR Metaport platform is built on AWS, leveraging its compute, storage, databases, and data visualization services to achieve high performance and scalability.
It is optimized for Unreal Engine 5, a real-time 3D creation tool for photo-realistic visuals and immersive experiences, and leverages the full extent of the engine’s multiplayer collaboration toolset.
Pixel Streaming offered by Unreal Engine 5 for BLR Metaport allows users to take advantage of the graphics processing unit (GPU) on AWS through their desktop or mobile web browser, without the need to have special GPU hardware themselves.
To provide an immersive metaverse experience, BLR Metaport leverages Amazon EC2 G4 instances, the industry’s most cost-effective and versatile GPU instances offering high performance to graphics-intensive applications including remote workstations, game streaming, and graphics rendering.
As a result, BLR Metaport can offer a fully immersive and photo-realistic experience to its users. Additional features offered by BLR Metaport include video conferencing, messaging and spatial audio, and avatar creation.
AWS’s Head of Service Lines for Public Sector in India and South Asia, AISPL*, Kanishka Agiwal said, “AWS is delighted to collaborate with BIAL and showcase the art of what’s possible in the metaverse with the BLR Metaport.
“The BLR Metaport is testimony to how customers can leverage AWS to build innovative, engaging, and immersive metaverse experiences, while benefiting from some of the fundamental advantages offered by the cloud – agility, low latency, scalability, and cost-efficiency.
“AWS is committed to experiment with the latest technologies to accelerate industry innovation and drive positive experiences.
“We look forward to building exciting solutions through the BIAL JIC and extending the innovation center’s value to BIAL and its stakeholders.”


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CreditMate Has Been Growing 40% Month-on-Month In Terms Of Number Of Loans Disbursed After Paytm’s Nov '17 Funding
Mumbai-based digital lending startup Creditmate is reportedly looking to raise $5 Mn -$10 Mn in funding from Paytm. The startup is now expected to foray into the auto insurance space.
As said earlier, Paytm aims to utilise CreditMate’s proprietary credit and asset valuation technology. Over time, it aims to use the platforms to make credit available both offline and online to its users.
Founded in 2016 by Jonathan Bill and Aditya Singh, CreditMate claims to provide affordable loans for second-hand two-wheelers. It has a technology-based credit engine, which uses data-driven algorithms that allow assessment of customers’ credibility for loans quickly, as compared to traditional lending solutions. It has a dealer network of over 150 across Mumbai and Gujarat.
CreditMate claims to have disbursed around 10,000 loans and have received more than 15,000 applications. “The first 12 to 18 months have been very well in terms of business and we have managed to restrict repayment failures to less than 1%,” said Bill.
He further claimed to have seen a 40% Month-on-Month growth in terms of thr number of loans disbursed by CreditMate since the November 2017 funding. The startup, which caters mainly to second-hand two-wheeler buyers, has an average loan size of INR 52K and a longer repayment cycle than its peers.
After its massive $1.4 Bn funding from SoftBank, Paytm is currently valued at $9 Bn. Paytm is trying to expand into different verticals to bolster its position amid new entrants such as Hike, WhatsApp, Google, etc, in the digital payments space. Hence, it is eyeing strategic investments and consolidations.
Most recently, the company revealed its plans to invest $745.16 Mn (INR 5,000 Cr) in payments and financial services. It recently also set up its financial products arm, Paytm Money, to focus on building investment and wealth management products for its users.
The development was reported by ET.


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Apple has taken the top spot in Fortune’s most admired companies for the fourth straight year.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]Fortune asked businesspeople to vote for the companies they most admired, in any industry. Following behind Apple is Google, a company that has been increasingly competing with Apple in more markets over the last couple of years.
Rounding out the top 20 companies on Fortune’s list of 50 are Berkshire Hathaway; Southwest Airlines; Procter & Gamble; Coca-Cola; Amazon.com; FedEx; Microsoft; McDonald’s; Wal-Mart Stores; IBM; General Electric; Walt Disney; 3M; Starbucks; Johnson & Johnson; Singapore Airlines; BMW; and American Express.
You can view the list by location, best and worst, No.1s or by industry.


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Tesla has announced the prices vehicle owners will have to pay to use its Supercharger stations. A trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco will now cost about $15 under its plan. But, early adopters will still be able to juice up for free.
Nine out of 10 consumers recently surveyed said they are aware of privacy issues related to electronics in their vehicles and willing to share that data -- as long as they get something in return.
Intel plans to spend an additional $250 million over the next two years to make fully autonomous driving a reality.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will probably add photovoltaic charging technology on its future cars.
On the same day Elon Musk said Tesla's new vehicles will have fully-autonomous capabilities, a consumer watchdog group called on the California Department of Motor Vehicles to prohibit cars without human driver capabilities.
Pal-V is opening the first flying car school in North America to help prospective clients obtain a pilot's license before the company distributes the first commercial flying car in 2018.
The soft whirring of electric cars was barely audible amid the pounding music and the babble of voices at the Paris motor show on Thursday, but we'll be hearing a whole lot more of it in the years to come.
Karamba Security announced a new product for connected and autonomous vehicles that performs in-memory software authentication that it claims would have prevented a Tesla hack demonstrated last week by Chinese security experts.
The Tesla hack is the latest sign of trouble, says Adrian Davis of (ISC)2
Nissan's car of the future will use Microsoft's Azure cloud services to pay tolls, transfer settings between cars, and even—gulp!—possibly bring Office features to the dashboard.
Microsoft has signed a deal to work with Renault-Nissan to create a new vehicle communications platform via the Azure cloud.
Researchers from Chinese technology company Tencent found a series of vulnerabilities that, when combined, allowed them to remotely take over a Tesla Model S car.
MIT and two Dutch universities are collaborating on a $27 million project to create a fleet of autonomous canal-going vessels. At the same time, private companies are already building open water vessels for a myriad of transportation and shipping nee...
Autonomous cars are set to take off but they are less likely to be driven by private owners and will in all probability be part of networks operated by ride-hailing services, according to the co-founder and president of Lyft.
Columnist Rob Enderle writes that marketing isn’t about selling stuff anymore. It’s about selling experiences. A recent trip made it clear that Tesla gets this and Mercedes does not.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.
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GBP/AUD Slips as UK Parliament Enters Final Hours before Brexit Vote
UPDATE: Over the course of the day the Pound has slipped against the Australian Dollar as the UK Parliament entered the fifth and final day of debate over Theresa May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement.
It is expected that May will lose the vote scheduled for later on in the evening as she faces her agreement rejected by opposition parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) as well as an estimated 100 members of her own party.
That there will likely be volatility in the Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) pairing regardless of the outcome of the vote, depending on how many votes May loses by.
If the deal is rejected by MPs, the Prime Minister has three sitting days to return to Parliament with her ‘Plan B’, which some have suggested will result in her going back to Brussels to continue negotiations.
GBP/AUD Remains Buoyed Despite Predictions of a US-China Trade Agreement
UPDATE: The Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate remains buoyed despite the prediction from US President Donald Trump that the US and China will reach a deal, which would then spark a rise in risk-sensitive currencies such as AUD.
Trump stated: ‘We’re doing very well with China, I think that we are going to be able to do a deal with [them] … China wants to negotiate.’
A statement from Theresa May in which she warned that failure to approve her Brexit agreement could result in the UK remaining in the European Union has kept the Pound Buoyed throughout the day, as it raised the hopes of markets that Brexit could be reversed or softened.
Today: Australian Dollar (AUD) Weighed Down By Weak Chinese Figures
The Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate rose over the course of Monday morning, as weak Chinese data weighed heavily on the ‘Aussie’.
The value of year-on-year Chinese imports and exports contracted rather than the expected increase, leading to broad based ‘Aussie’ weakness which allowed GBP/AUD to rise.
Parliament entered its fourth day of Brexit debate today, with Prime Minister Theresa May stating that she would not be extending Article 50, and that the European Union had rejected her request for a time limit on the Irish backstop.
Currently the GBP/AUD exchange rate is trading at AU$1.7854 on the inter-bank market.
Last Week: Pound Sterling Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) Rises on Article 50 Delay Rumour
The Pound (GBP) kicked off the week in a position of strength as the Australian Dollar (AUD) fell following the release of the AiG performance of manufacturing index, which revealed a contraction to 49.5 in December.
A decrease in global risk sentiment saw the ‘Aussie’ benefit, which was further boosted by the US and China engaging in a third, unscheduled day of trade talks in Beijing.
Wednesday revealed that Australian building permit figures had slid to a five-year low, which saw the GBP/AUD pairing rise before subsequently falling again.
Thursday saw the pairing plummet as UK like-for-like retail sales figures were released, showing that retailers had suffered their worst Christmas in a decade despite slashing prices.
The Australian performance of construction index for December showed the construction market had also contracted further to 42.6, although this did little to prevent the Pound from sliding.
November’s seasonally adjusted retail figures showed that retail sales in Australia had increased by 0.4%, higher than expected that further strengthened the ‘Aussie’, although this boost is expected to have been a result of Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
Friday morning saw the Pound spike, as rumours circulated that Britain would seek to delay the departure from the European Union in March.
The pairing still remained buoyed despite the claims by Prime Minister, Theresa May’s spokeswoman denying these claims.
A better-than-forecast increase in British GDP for November to 0.2% also likely caused the Pound to rise against AUD earlier in the morning.
GBP/AUD Exchange Rate Forecast: Will Consumer Confidence Buoy AUD?
Tuesday will see the ‘meaningful vote’ which is likely to see MPs vote against May’s withdrawal agreement, meaning the Australian Dollar (AUD) is likely to rise against the Pound (GBP).
Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, is due to give a speech Wednesday morning, with the tone of this speech likely to cause the Pound to drop if it is dovish.
Wednesday evening will see the release of the Australian Westpac consumer confidence for January followed by Australian home loans, with the forecast suggesting this figure will fall by -1.5% in November, which may cause the ‘Aussie’ to drop.
The end of the session could see the Pound fall further as retail sales figures for December are set to be released, with forecasts suggesting that sales in December will have slowed down.


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Samsung has recently unveiled its latest generation of flagship foldable smartphones, but it faces competition in the market, notes Gizmochina. Reportedly, Apple and Google are also working on their own foldable devices that could challenge Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5.
READ ALSO: Dubai’s Internet sensation Abdu Rozik has a sweet encounter with UAE ruler Sheikh Mohammed; see image
According to supply chain sources, both Apple and Google are expanding their portfolios with new foldable tablets, and these devices could potentially be launched as early as 2024. Apple is said to be developing a foldable iPhone targeting the tablet market, which is similar to the previous report shared by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
I like the idea. I'd actually really like a Galaxy Fold, especially with the S-pen.— StefanGreybeard (@StefanGreybeard) July 26, 2023
The biggest issues with them right now is the thickness/weight (which is almost equivalent to having 2 standard phones), and the fragility (I have a toddler).
Meanwhile, Google is also gearing up for a major launch with a possible Pixel Fold Tablet, which could be a significant product for Google I/O 2024. While specifications about the upcoming foldable tablets aren't revealed, the reports add credibility to the existing rumours.
The foldable tablets are expected to be top-tier devices, and their launch could bring a significant shift in the tablet market. Samsung, the South Korean giant, is unlikely to step back without a fight. Rumours already hint they are developing Galaxy Z Tab to feature a tall foldable display. More updates are anticipated on the devices.
READ ALSO: Netflix listens to fans: 'One Piece' trailer meets reality with essential correction


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Has the Hershey Foods Corporation filed a new trademark action in an effort to suppress a book unfavorable to its founder?
Lawyers for Simon & Schuster filed a motion to dismiss the case yesterday, calling the suit “frivolous.” They said they have a First Amendment right to use the icons in an artistic depiction. They said that no one will confuse the book with a chocolate bar and that Hershey knew about the book for months.
“Trademark laws are designed to protect the public from likelihood of confusion, not to protect the monopolistic goals of a company that — for whatever reason — appears not to like the fact that a book has been published about its founder without its [approval],” the publisher’s answer says.
If so, the plan is backfiring. (Yesterday’s Amazon rank: 10,036. Today’s: 787.)


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Netflix announced plans to initiate efforts to release more Filipino films and Southeast Asian content in general. In a letter addressed to its viewers, Pinoy Films stated that it will continue its partnership with ABS-CBN to create and offer Filipino content around the world. “Your conversations on our social media pages light up the internet, spark global trends and serve as a reminder that great stories are universal, they can come from anywhere and be loved everywhere,” the letter read.
The producer has been working on growing its Filipino content with other film studios besides ABS-CBN, such as TBA Studios, Regal Film, The Idea First Company, Globe Studios, Mavx Productions, among others. “ABS-CBN’s partnership with Netflix gives our content a platform that reaches new audiences and hopefully paves the way to grow international appreciation of Filipino content,” said Macie F. Imperial, Vice President of Integrated Program Acquisitions and International Distribution at ABS-CBN. “We look forward to providing them with more of our well-loved titles as well as future collaborations in the creation of new ones.”
Some of the new content it has produced through these partnerships include “The Hows of Us,” “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” and “Alone/Together,” which will soon debut on Netflix worldwide. The company also announced the release of the Filipino animated feature on Netflix, “Hayop Ka!: The Nimfa Dimaano Story and other Netflix films such as “Alter Me” and “Finding Agnes.”
Some of the Korean titles the company has released include animation, horror, romance, and local Pinoy films, such as “Maria,” Mikhail's coming of age thrillers “Birdshot” and “Dead Kids,” the heartfelt chemistry between Alessandra and Paolo in “Through Night and Day,” and “The Girl Allergic To Wifi.”
“ABS-CBN’s partnership with Netflix gives our content a platform that reaches new audiences and hopefully paves the way to grow international appreciation of Filipino content. We look forward to providing them with more of our well-loved titles as well as future collaborations in the creation of new ones.”


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As part of an article discussing the fate of The Mary Tyler Moore Show on DVD, the Star Tribune (free subscription required) put together a listing of the top selling “classic” shows on DVD.
What came in at number one? The very first season of M*A*S*H, which was released back in January 2002. As of August 2004, the first season DVD has sold roughly 550,000 units.
By comparison, the second title on the list, All In The Family, has sold only 125,000 units. This is the first real statistic to be released regarding how many sets have been sold and is fantastic news for M*A*S*H.


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Australians in business are signing up to SourceBottle, a new site that helps generate publicity for subscribers by putting them in touch with key journalists.
SourceBottle is a free service that emails subscribers media queries in an effort to unearth ‘fresh’ sources with relevant subject-matter expertise.
SourceBottle founder Rebecca Derrington said the site gives everyone in business an opportunity to “get quoted” by responding to queries from journalists on a range of topics.
“If a subscriber gives a good response to a query, they’re often quoted in that journalist’s story and sometimes called upon for other stories, since they’re quickly positioned as a subject-matter expert,” she said.
“When you sign up, you’re asked to select topics you would like to receive queries on. This is to ensure that you’re only emailed relevant queries and don’t feel spammed.
“Likewise, journalists are drowning in press releases, so it just makes sense to offer a service that gives them a chance to say what they want and when they want it.”
Urgent query headlines are also tweeted @SourceBottle.
For more information visit www.sourcebottle.com.au


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Sustainable - but no 'green angels'
On 13 July 2012, the fashion label Y/O/U will be launched at own stores in Berlin and Vienna. The official opening of the flagship stores in both cities is on 16 July 2012.
Environmental friendly means for Y/O/U sustainable, regional (100% European) production to prevent air pollution.
fig. original: Co-founder jurist Philipp Marouschek. Photo: (C) makesyoureal.com.
Despite sustainable awareness, the fashion makers are not standing with the wagging finger to teach people environmental-friendliness, such as Marouschek explained the label's mission on pressetext.com. He continued that another big challenge of our society today is to share the prosperities of our world and announces that 50% of the profits will be donated to social projects.
The founders of the label Philipp Marouschek and Wilfried Maierhofer work for the realization of the environmental friendly approach to fashion with designers like the Austrian Anna Aichinger.
Video: Fashion film Y/O/U (published on 26 June 2012 by makesyoureal.com).
Source: Original article with image and video on http://www.fashionoffice.org/collections/2012/makesyoureal7-2012.htm.
(C) Sawetz, since 1996


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Chevy vs. Ford: The Truck War is Back On
It’s common to see the Chevrolet Silverado and the Ford F-150 compared: they’re two of America’s most-loved trucks! And now the Chevy vs. Ford war is officially back on with the latest round of Chevrolet ads.
The Silverado is more than just a well-known competitor in the pickup segment—for some, it’s the top of the class. Chevy is doing its best to prove it by launching a new national ad campaign that pits the Chevy Silverado directly against the Ford F-150.
In the ad, the trucks sit next to each other and undergo a series of tests. A demonstration with cinder blocks shows just how tough the Silverado’s truck bed can be. While the F-150 suffered multiple puncture wounds from every brick dropped, the Silverado only incurred dents that wouldn’t affect the truck bed’s utility.
“Our focus is on showing that we put the customer first in everything we do. So it’s not an attack on Ford and it’s not an attack on aluminum,” said Sandor Piszar, Chevrolet truck marketing director.
Chevrolet acknowledges that other trucks are plenty strong, but also emphasizes their new truck bed innovations that help make the Silverado even stronger. Check out the ad below and let us know what you think!