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January 24, 2013 -- On January 23rd, STATS ChipPAC announced the implementation of breakthrough performance and packaging innovation in multiple advanced chipsets for the rapidly developing smartphone market in China. Spreadtrum Communications, a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China, has adopted STATS ChipPAC’s packaging innovations for a number of its mobile chipsets. The combination of Spreadtrum’s advanced silicon design capabilities with STATS ChipPAC’s next generation embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array (eWLB) packaging technology offers increased performance and compact form factor at a competitive cost for the fast-growing China smartphone market.
Spreadtrum offers mobile chipsets for a range of smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products that support 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards. Spreadtrum’s TD-SCDMA (time division synchronous code division multiple access) chipsets have set a new standard for increased performance and size reduction in the highly competitive smartphone market in China. TD-SCDMA is a 3G mobile telecommunications standard that is currently utilized in China to enable data, voice, video and media in mobile phones and internet-enabled devices.
“China is now the single largest smartphone market in the world and is rapidly growing,” said Brian Chen, Vice President of Operations at Spreadtrum. “By combining our unique chip architecture and leading TD-SCDMA modem technology with STATS ChipPAC’s technology and manufacturing leadership, we have been able to deliver high performance TD-SCDMA chipsets in a package format that continues to provide Spreadtrum and our customers with a clear competitive advantage in the China market.”
eWLB is a powerful fan-out wafer level packaging (FOWLP) technology and integration platform that provides significant advantages including a more space-efficient package design enabling a smaller footprint, higher density input/output (IO) and a lower package height than is possible with laminate or flip chip semiconductor packages. Spreadtrum and STATS ChipPAC are jointly working to utilize innovative packaging technology across a full spectrum of complex product designs such as dual and quad core mobile processors.
“Our extensive collaboration with Spreadtrum demonstrates the transformative advantages of eWLB technology. We have been able to rapidly optimize the overall functional performance of their silicon with an innovative packaging technology designed to optimize speed, performance and size at an overall lower cost of ownership,” said Dr. Han Byung Joon, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, STATS ChipPAC. “Spreadtrum’s success in China and beyond is evident by the numerous product introductions and global customer wins they have had and we are excited to be working together to drive innovations in the smartphone market.”
For more information, please visit www.statschippac.com.


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SYDNEY, AAP – Shares have made an underwhelming start to the week and the Australian dollar has momentarily dropped below 70 US cents.
The Australian market was down about 0.2 per cent on Monday after US markets closed lower on Friday on increasing rate hike expectations.
ASX technology shares were most troubled and lost a little more than two per cent.
Afterpay shares fell as the company adjourned a shareholder meeting which was to consider payments giant Square purchasing it.
The shareholder meeting has been postponed to December 14 while the company waits for the Bank of Spain to approve the proposal.
Shares were down 4.67 per cent to $93.65.
Healthcare shares were the next worst. Market giant CSL declined by a little more than two per cent to $291.14.
Consumer staples shares had the greatest improvement and were higher by almost two per cent. Coles and Woolworths each gained a little more than two per cent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was down 13.7 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 7227.5 points at 1200 AEDT.
The All Ordinaries was lower by 20.7 points, or 0.27 per cent, to 7522.9 points.
Meanwhile, rate hike expectations in the US have helped the greenback higher and send the Aussie dollar lower.
A better-than-expected US jobs report on Friday gave more credence to views that the Federal Reserve will have to raise rates sooner than expected.
In ASX company news, food and grocery distributor Metcash, which supplies the IGA supermarkets network, has lifted first-half profit as more people shopped locally during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Net profit rose three per cent to $128 million, while underlying pre-tax earnings expanded by almost 14 per cent to $231.2 million in the six months ended October.
Shares were up almost 5.5 per cent to $4.16.
Boral is selling its North American fly ash business for about $1 billion.
The company wants to focus on building materials in Australia and has found a buyer in Eco Material Technologies.
Shares were up almost three per cent to $6.35.
The big miners were struggling. BHP shed almost 2.5 per cent to $39.23. Fortescue was little changed at $17.11. Rio Tinto was down about 1.5 per cent to $94.03.
In banking, there was little movement. ANZ was lower by about 0.5 per cent to $26.88. The others in the big four were little changed.
Sigma Healthcare has substantially lowered its full-year earnings forecast.
In September, growth of five per cent was expected. The company has since changed this to a drop of 10 per cent.
A troubled rollout of SAP software has affected customers and sales.
Shares were down 4.76 per cent to 50 cents.
Shares in industrial product distributor Vulcan Steel rose after the company upgraded its earnings forecast.
The New Zealand business has had strong sales since lockdowns ended and increased full-year earnings and profit guidance by about 25 per cent.
Shares rose 6.41 per cent to $8.62.
The Australian dollar was buying 70.16 US cents at 1200 AEDT, lower from 70.76 US cents at Friday’s close.

domain: news


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The current era of social networking began with MySpace which enabled the creation of communities. .
Facebook scaled it to a global community and now the big blue is redesigning again.
This redesign which is partly influenced by the TikTok design of short videos is currently a subject of a challenge by Kylie Jenner and her famous family member.
For now it seems they are winning the battle to the current Facebook design. The reality is completely different.
It’s not the first time Facebook is being challenged for changing its design.
Ever since the platform has existed every change of its website or app infuriates some and excites some of its users.
The backlash, however, has never really stopped Facebook from pushing ahead.
Mark Zuckerberg will find another way of achieving his objective of killing the current version of the social networking platform. This is all about the bottom line.
The change behind Instagram and Facebook is about saving the social networking platform from losing revenue.
TikTok on the other hand has been growing and attracting users at a faster rate and keeping them there.
Mark wants the same for Facebook and Instagram. He is also partly responding to a US national interest of keeping the platform that is considered Chinese, at bay.
At the end of the day we will not have the current version of social networks that are community driven.
Cal Newport explained it in this way: “The effectiveness of the TikTok experience is found in what it doesn’t require. Unlike Twitter, TikTok doesn’t need a critical mass of famous or influential people to use it for its content to prove engaging.
The short-video format grabs the user’s attention at a more primal level, relying on visual novelty or a clever interplay of music and action or direct emotional expression, to generate its appeal.
And, unlike Facebook, TikTok doesn’t require that your friends already use the service for you to find it useful.
Though there are some social features built into TikTok, they’re not the main draw of the app.
TikTok also doesn’t rely on its users to manually share content with friends or followers to surface compelling offerings.
It assigns this responsibility to its scary-good recommendation algorithm”. This is what makes TikTok different and Mark Zuckerberg would like to have the same.
He is prepared to change the current version of Facebook and Instagram to feel like TikTok to get the share of revenue.
Recent financial results have proved the advertising model that has worked for Facebook is no longer working, thanks to changes by Apple and other regulatory developments.
If you are still in doubt about the end of social networking as we know it, just pay attention to the newly found interest in the Metaverse.
This has inspired Zuckerberg to even change the company name from Facebook to Meta. The Metaverse is the next big thing for the founder of the social media giant.
We are now headed to social networking 3.0 where we will be avatars. We are now being moved from our current comfort zone to a different social order.
It will come with its own pitfalls and the road towards the Web 3.0 will be paved with dramatic changes.
The days of likes and friends online are coming to an end. Now we are slowly moving to Web 3.0-inspired social networking. In this world users will not just get likes they may have a potential to earn income from their existence in the virtual space.
* Wesley Diphoko is the editor-in-chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine. He hosts weekly TwitterSpaces about the impact of technology on society. You can follow him on Twitter via @WesleyDiphoko


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Chris Roberts knew, in 2012, that he wanted to create a game that he believed had been missing from the gaming world. After a 10-year hiatus to work on movies, the former Wing Commander creator felt there was a need for an epic space game where you could explore planets and battle ships in an endless field of stars.
He also missed games that would test the limits of his PC hardware, which had outpaced the aging Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles at that time.
"There's got to be other people like me with high-end PCs that can do much more than an Xbox can do, and I don't understand why this type of game isn't popular anymore because it certainly used to be popular," he said.
He said that hunch led him to launch a Kickstarter campaign for the first-person space sandbox Star Citizen. After raising $2.1 million on the crowdfunding site during his allotted 30 days, Roberts moved Star Citizen's crowdfunding to his own website, where it continues to this day.
And now Roberts and his team at Cloud Imperium have pulled in almost $70 million in funding, all pitched in by people excited for big promises of an endlessly explorable space world. That makes Star Citizen the biggest campaign in the history of crowdfunding, and the game still hasn't been released to the public.
Roberts humbly describes his experience as an outlier. But in an interview with Mashable, he also stressed the importance of Star Citizen's highly engaged community of backers.
Being aware of their needs from the start, he said, "changed the DNA of the project." In a traditional model — like how Roberts previously made games — consumers really only had an effect on the game's design at the end, when they decided whether or not to purchase it. Now, backers invited to Star Citizen's closed beta are given a new update every two weeks, and feedback is considered.
"This kind of changing dynamic makes people that have backed Star Citizen think their voice matters in some way. They think, 'This is a universe I can really care about, and if we voice issues they might get changed.' I haven't seen that in any traditional game consumer/publisher relationship," Roberts said.
The most passionate fans, who Roberts estimates make up 20% to 25% of Star Citizen's several hundred thousand backers, are not only enjoying the game in its early stages, but are also getting a direct view of the whole design process with power to improve it. And Roberts and team aim to please them by communicating every step of the way.
Now Roberts will talk about working with an engaged audience in a presentation hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts as the first of its Games Masterclass series, which aims to bring the lessons of successful game makers to other parts of the entertainment industry.
Roberts hopes that people working in other mediums can learn how galvanizing a small group of core fans, and then talking directly to them, can help niche products succeed. He cites the success of the Veronica Mars Kickstarter, which managed to unite fans of a long-dead CW show to raise $5.7 million for a movie.
"For those who are fans of something, the money isn't the issue so much as getting the thing they really want. If I have cable, I'm already paying a lot of money for a bunch of content that I don't watch. I basically pay a lot of money for the few things I want to watch on TV. Maybe I want to take that money away and be more precise on how I want to spend it to get content I like that is tailored to me," he said.
"I think the future will be all about connecting to your audience, being more specific about what they want and removing the middleman."
Roberts' talk will be on Jan. 20 at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles. Tickets are still available for free.


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Trump Has New Plans to Keep China Away from U.S. Tech. Here’s What You Need to Know
President Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly planning a serious fightback against China’s “Made In China 2025” policy, by blocking some technology exports to the country and stopping Chinese-controlled firms from investing in U.S. technology firms.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the White House’s new measures will be announced this week.
Here’s what you need to know.
What’s Made In China 2025?
It’s a major, government-led push that’s a bit like Germany’s “Industry 4.0” drive, intended to upgrade industry with robotics, AI, new energy technologies and lots of sensor-derived data. In short, it’s a shift from China’s current, labor-intensive model into a more high-tech future model based on automation.
However, the most controversial elements of the Made In China 2025 drive is Beijing’s intention to make China both self-sufficient and the dominant exporting force in these areas. That would severely hurt countries that want to export such technologies to China, to a degree that arguably breaks international trade rules.
How does China hope to achieve this?
Alongside domestic research and development efforts, China is widely believed to be keen on gaining intimate access to foreign technologies, in order to find inspiration for its, ahem, homegrown technology.
There are several ways to do this. One is straight-up commercial espionage. Another is to have Chinese companies—which some believe are all ultimately controlled by Beijing—invest in the foreign firms making this tech. Big examples of Chinese takeovers of U.S. firms include Lenovo buying phone-maker Motorola, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science buying machinery firm Terex, and Tianjin Tianhai buying Ingram Micro.
And then we have China’s rules on foreign firms accessing its own market. In the automotive sector, for example, overseas manufacturers have to form 50-50 joint ventures with Chinese companies in order to sell there. This gives those local players access to the foreign firms’ intellectual property.
Why hasn’t Trump targeted this behavior before?
He has. Last year, Trump blocked a Chinese-backed investor from picking up Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC). And when he unveiled big tariffs on Chinese imports earlier this year, “reciprocity” was the name of the game.
So what’s new?
Firstly, the context has moved on. Trump hit China with his tariffs, and China is predictably reciprocating—as with Europe, also stung by U.S. action on steel and aluminum, the strategy appears to be to unsettle Trump’s blue-collar base with targeted, retaliatory tariffs.
So now the White House is preparing to take things up a notch or two. One element of the new offensive involves “enhanced” export controls, while another would stop companies with at least 25% Chinese ownership (or possibly even less) from buying U.S. firms dealing in “industrially significant technology.” As Chinese investment has already drastically tapered off, it’s the export controls that seem to be worrying U.S. industry.
According to the Journal, the National Security Council is working out recommendations on export blocks involving tech that is relevant to the Made In China 2025 drive, and there’s still a window of opportunity for industry to voice its concerns.


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NEW YORK — A new study finds more people want to play Santa this year than receive a gift from jolly old Saint Nick. Nearly seven in 10 Americans (68%) are more excited to give gifts than receive them this holiday season.
As families look to reconnect with their loved ones this winter, two-thirds also agree that spending quality time with family is the highlight of their holidays.
Reason for the season
A recent survey asked 2,005 Americans who celebrate a winter holiday to pinpoint what makes the season so joyful and found that 57 percent look forward to giving a greater number of gifts this year and have added more names than usual to their shopping lists.
The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Minted, explored the highlights of the holiday season and identified how people’s holiday values differ across generations. Almost half of millennial respondents (45%) say sending holiday cards is one of their favorite holiday activities, while over half (52%) of baby boomers think sharing gifts is the reason for the season.
While many Americans are looking forward to reconnecting with their loved ones, more boomers (72%) are looking forward to gathering with their friends and family than millennials (63%). During this year’s holiday downtime, nearly four in five Americans (78%) plan on breaking out the tried-and-true family traditions, while 68 percent of those respondents will be trying out brand-new traditions this year.
It’s not a celebration without decorations
Watching holiday movies (57%) and decorating the Christmas tree (54%) are the top two traditions people plan on partaking in this year. Roughly half of respondents picked preparing family recipes (51%) and watching holiday movies (49%) as the most beloved traditions that people have continued from their childhood into adulthood.
If you’re looking forward to trimming the tree this year, you’re not alone. Three in five respondents say putting up holiday decorations with their families is the most important part of the season, while two in three plan to “go all out” with the decorations this year.
Nearly half the poll (46%) say they also own an ornament that has been passed down in their family for generations. Vintage decorations have grown increasingly popular over the years, as more millennials (56%) are owners of decorative family heirlooms, compared to baby boomer respondents (30%).
“With a focus on quality family time and giving gifts rather than receiving, this year’s holiday season is shaping up to become a joyful return to the beloved values and traditions of years past,” says a Minted spokesperson in a statement.
How will this holiday season look different?
One in three respondents say they’ll be sending care packages to their loved ones who live far away. More than anything else, boomers are looking forward to receiving gift cards to their favorite shops in their holiday stockings this year (44%).
While 51 percent of millennial respondents are hoping to see a shiny new piece of tech under the tree, 52 percent would prefer a sentimental gift, such as a custom framed picture or a puzzle.
In fact, two-thirds of all respondents say a custom gift is the best present to give to a family member or friend. Over seven in 10 (72%) also agree that including a holiday card with a handwritten note is the perfect way to make any gift more meaningful. It’s likely that those gift recipients will appreciate the gesture for a long time, as more than half (53%) have amassed a collection of treasured holiday cards they’ve received over the years.
“We love helping customers create custom gifts for everyone on their list. Each one is designed by an independent artist around the globe. We take pride in crafting unique gifts that feature the work of emerging talent, especially because recipients will keep them as family mementos for years to come,” the Minted spokesperson adds.


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Mad Systems has announced that Toni Losier has joined the growing team, where she will help to extend the company’s reach to cover East Coast clients. Losier will be based in Orlando, Florida, and will be responsible for covering the East Coast region for Business Development and Client Retention.
Losier first joined Mad Systems in July 2020, bringing more than two decades of experience in the AV industry with her.
“I’m super excited for my new venture with the Mad Systems family!” says Losier, who adds that she looks forward to “being a part of our growth of our business and continue to maintain existing relationships while creating new ones.”
Losier began her career in the pro AV industry by building racks, and soon gained useful experience as a site supervisor and project coordinator. She then moved into business development, where her previous hands-on experience gave her an advantage as she has in-depth knowledge and insights into many different aspects of the AV and interactives industry.
“We are thrilled and pleased to have her, and are very excited to see her growth in the industry with us,” says Mad Systems Inc. owner, Tricia Rodriguez.
Mad Systems also recently announced that it has been issued a patent for its recognition based media delivery. This covers its development of personalized media delivery and personalized interactive exhibits based on recognition technologies. For instance, facial recognition, colour recognition, and license plate recognition with an option for correlation of cars, their drivers and their passengers, as well as transactions relating to the use of recognition systems.
In addition to this, the company has been developing touchless technology to help museums, visitor centres, theme parks and more reopen safely in the wake of COVID-19.


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United Airlines has agreed to pay more than $49 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to postal service fraud for transporting international mail.
The Chicago-based carrier has agreed to settle the charges stemming from incidents between 2012 and 2015 during which it charged for mail it did not actually ship. The airline will pay $17.2 million in criminal penalties and separately, $32.2 million in civil penalties to settle the case.
“United was entrusted by the US Postal Service (USPS) with fulfilling a critical government function – the transportation of US mail abroad,” says acting assistant attorney general Nicholas McQuaid of the criminal division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ). “Instead of performing this duty with transparency, United defrauded the US Postal Service by providing falsified parcel delivery information over a period of years and accepting millions of dollars of payments to which the company was not entitled.”
According to the agreement, United entered into the contracts between 2012 and 2015 and “engaged in a scheme to defraud USPS by submitting false delivery scan data to appear that United and partner airlines were complying with [international commercial requirements] when in fact they were not”, the settlement reads.
“Instead of providing USPS accurate delivery scans based on the movement of the mail, United submitted automated delivery scans based on aspirational delivery times. These automated scans did not correspond to the actual movement of the mail, as mandated by the contracts,” DOJ says.
The DOJ adds that through this falsified data, the airline secured millions of dollars in payments to which it was not entitled. In addition, “certain individuals at United” knew that the data was incorrect and that its transmission violated the terms of the contracts.
In a statement, United Airlines says on 26 February that the USPS ”is a valued customer”.
”We are glad to have remedied these procedures and look forward to serving the Postal Service in the future,” the airline adds.


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TV Still Tops10/07/2005 08:00:00 PM Eastern
Americans consume far more media than was previously believed, according to an eye-opening new study. Not only that, but the syndicated research the industry relies on may not be as sound as advertisers think.
An update of Ball State University's periodic “Middletown Studies,” the new study did something researchers who rely on samples cannot do: It followed 400 people around for an entire day, observing how they use media.
Past versions of the Middletown Studies have shown that sample research generally underestimates the amount of time people spend with media. But the new research—using a much bigger sample and more rigorous data-gathering techniques—found it may be far greater than most imagined.
Among other things, it found that the average person uses media 39% of their waking day, far more than any other life activity, including work (21%). In fact, if concurrent use of media is factored in (such as reading the paper while watching television), the study estimates that people spend the equivalent of 96% of their waking day using media. And at 8.7 hours per day, people spend more time using media than they do sleeping.
BSU found that, not surprisingly, TV remains the dominant medium, representing about four hours of daily media usage—nearly twice the amount of time people spend with the next most popular medium, the computer. Radio ranked a distant third.
The study also appeared to affirm some of the findings from Arbitron's portable people meter tests, which show that a large amount of TV usage comes from outside the home, including work, “other locations” (bars, friends' houses, etc.), and even the car.
“Almost 30% of the people watch TV outside the home, and it accounts for 9.4% of all TV viewing,” reports the study, which concludes that the shifts taking place in terms of TV's role in the consumer media mix are more an “evolution” than a “revolution.”
While television's place atop the media totem pole does not appear to be in jeopardy, the study did acknowledge the shifting role of advertising. “The fact that TV still dominates across all groups in terms of time is indicative that the position of the medium within the hierarchy of media choice for ordinary Americans is not under imminent threat,” it states. “That is not to say that issues relating to ad avoidance are not real, nor that concurrent media exposure doesn't compromise attention–both of which will continue to be of concern to many.”
|All in a Day|
|How people are using media|
|% of People Using Media||Average Use Medium (Minutes)|
|Source: Ball State University
*Any computer includes all Internet (uses) and software. All Internet includes Web browsing, e-mail and instant messaging.
**All phone includes standard land line and mobile phone.
***Music includes cassette, CD, MP3 and other sources, but not music on the radio.


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Over the past few years the average meat consumption per capita in Canada has been falling, leading to a decline in the country's meat, beef and poultry processing industry. The trend can be detected both in export volumes and in employment, industry research firm IBISWorld stated in its latest report on the state of Canadian meat and poultry industry.
However, IBISWorld noted that as the national economy has generally recovered and is back on the path to growth, improved consumer sentiment is also expected. This is likely to result in increased industry revenue over the next five years, the report stated.
The industry is one of the key parts of Canada's food processing industry. It accounts for about 10 percent of the total export of agriculture and food products and employs about 66,500 workers across the country. In light of its prominence and significant contribution to the economy, the decline experienced in recent years has been concerning. IBISWorld industry analyst Agiimaa Kruchkin commented that the bleak picture resulted from lower consumer confidence and decreased meat and poultry consumption driven by a number of factors.
A series of foodborne disease outbreaks linked to meat and poultry was one of the main reasons for falling consumption. The outbreak that had the biggest impact on the industry occurred in 2009, when the global swine flu pandemic played a significant role in shrinking the market, reducing downstream demand from wholesale trade by as much as 15 percent. As a result, industry revenue dropped to $24 billion in the five years leading up to 2013, falling at an average annual rate of 0.2 percent, the report said.
At the same time, health organizations' campaigns have been trying to raise awareness of the health risks linked to red meat consumption. Over the five years to 2013 consumers have become increasingly conscious about the risks associated with the consumption of pork and beef, including obesity, heart disease and certain types of cancer. As a result, a significant number of consumers have shifted their preference to more healthy sources of protein, such as poultry, fish, seafood, soy meats and beans. This has fueled steady demand in the poultry sector, which has balanced the state of the overall industry to a certain extent, IBISWorld found.
However, as meat is still a favorite food category for the majority of Canadian consumers, an expected boost in disposable income in 2013 is predicted to lead to a rise in revenue of 0.6 percent, the report pointed out. Kruchkin added that downstream demand is likely to recover to levels seen before the economic downturn over the next five years but there are other challenges to be taken into account. The impact of potential disease outbreaks and changing weather conditions could result in industry volatility. In an attempt to reduce the adverse effect of these factors, meat and poultry processors are likely to focus on technological improvements that can boost efficiencies, the report concluded.


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wholesale suppliers of snacks and drinks for Lancashire
In America, September 13 is National Peanut Day. Peanuts are big news over there, where the average peanut farm is 100 acres, and two previous presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter, were peanut farmers.
Here in the UK, the peanut is one of our oldest established snacks, so it seems only right that we give it some recognition.
According to the Soil Association’s Organic Market Report for 2017, the UK’s organic food market is now in its fifth year of strong growth, and it’s worth £2.09 billion.
As a wholesale food and drink supplier in Bury, serving our local area and the wider Lancashire region, we can see how more and more people are opting for organic, including the snacks and drinks they enjoy.


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Toyota Motor Corp. (7203)’s small sedan revealed today in Detroit is the most important model the company will never sell. Called Furia, it gives a hint of what Akio Toyoda wants from a company not known for its style.
Toyota, poised to take back the title of world’s biggest automaker, teased out a video and rear quarter-panel shot of Furia showing little more than a stylized knife-shaped LED taillight it never has used before. While Furia itself isn’t headed to dealerships, elements of the car may show up on a revamped Corolla, the company’s best-selling model globally, which is due for a new look this year.
Toyoda, 56, became chief executive officer in June 2009 after the company reported its first fiscal-year loss in 59 years. Soon, he faced charges of unintended acceleration that led to recalls of millions of vehicles around the world. To steer the company out of the quality crises and through the March 2011 tsunami, he pushed a return to the manufacturing basics that established Toyota’s reputation. Now, he wants to go beyond that to secure profitable sales gains into the future.
“What’s not to like about the job Akio Toyoda has done?” said Jim Womack, author of “The Machine That Changed The World,” an influential study of Toyota’s production techniques. “The real test for Akio is the future: Can he take them up another peg?”
Seeking an unprecedented 10 million annual sales, Toyoda faces a world of challenges, from those he can’t do much about, such as the strong yen and tensions between China and Japan, to those he can, such as competition from South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. and changing Toyota’s reputation for boring cars. Making better-looking cars can protect profit margins now and win new customers into the future.
While Toyota’s shares have risen 62 percent in the past year, they remain 49 percent below their peak in February 2007. Investors are less enthusiastic about owning Toyota, relative to its size and peers, than they were from 2003 to 2007. The price- to-sales ratio, which shows the value investors place on each dollar of revenue, reflect concerns about the stronger yen and about Toyota’s ability to increase profit now that its quality lead is less pronounced against U.S. and Korean peers.
A reenergized General Motors Co. (GM) took the global sales lead from Toyota in 2011; Volkswagen AG (VOW) has pledged to become the world’s biggest carmaker by 2015; and Ford Motor Co. (F) doubled its dividend last week. GM reached a 17-month high on Jan. 10 and Ford closed on Jan. 11 at an 18-month high. On Jan. 2, VW was its highest in more than three years.
Toyota rose 1.3 percent to 4,260 yen on Jan. 11, matching the top closing price since October 2008. Its market capitalization remains the highest in the world — $165 billion compared with VW’s $105 billion and GM’s $48 billion. Of 25 analysts following Toyota, 19 have buy ratings, six say it’s a hold and none recommend investors sell, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“In terms of stock price, they are nowhere near where they were at the peak, around 8,000 yen, but they are off the bottom,” said William Fries, the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based manager of the $28 billion Thornburg International Value Fund. “This is a company that still has a lot of headroom.”
Toyota’s net income soared from $4.93 billion in fiscal 2002 to $15.1 billion in 2008 before the loss that rushed Toyoda into leadership. The company may earn $10.1 billion in the fiscal year that ends March 31 and $12.8 billion the next year, the averages of 24 estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“If you get them back to even approaching the kind profitability we saw in that earlier period, around 2006 and ’07, it’s going to look pretty good,” said Fries. Thornburg owns 14.7 million Toyota shares and 1.5 million of its American depositary receipts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Toyoda family scion is a car enthusiast who “wants the design to match the driving dynamics of the car,” said Mark Templin, who oversees global marketing for the company’s luxury Lexus brand and runs that unit in the U.S. “He’s also not changing the culture of what we stand for.”
Toyoda knows quality is the cornerstone of the company. He’s a CEO so steeped in company lore he can operate the automatic loom his great grandfather developed that began a family fixation with defect-free output. At the same time, he knows quality is no longer enough. He insists on testing each new model to make sure it’s fun to drive and looks just as good.
When Toyoda took control of the carmaker his grandfather founded in 1937, the company was reeling from its biggest annual loss and downgrades from Moody’s and Standard Poor’s Ratings Services highest credit ratings. The global recession triggered a 35 percent contraction in U.S. auto demand, Toyota’s largest market.
Then came a deadly traffic accident in late 2009 that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and three family members after a loose floor mat in the Lexus loaned to him by a dealer jammed the gas pedal. The incident spurred 10 million recalls over the next year, rattling the company’s reputation.
Accusations arose almost daily and Toyoda flew to Washington to testify.
“My name is on the company,” he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 24, 2010. “You have my personal commitment that Toyota will work vigorously and unceasingly to restore the trust of our customers.”
While the recalls addressed floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals, plaintiffs’ lawyers argued faulty electronics were the culprit. Probes by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA found no such flaw.
In his House testimony, Toyoda said Toyota’s growth, coinciding with record earnings under his predecessor, Katsuaki Watanabe, had come too fast.
“Priorities became confused,” Toyoda said. “We were not able to stop, think and make improvements as much as we were able to before.”
He vowed to empower company officials in the U.S. and elsewhere to make future recall and parts-fix decisions, traditionally the responsibility of Toyota City. He named chief quality officers for North America and other regions and outside advisory panels to assess company flaws.
Quality centers opened around the U.S. and Canada to dispatch technicians to quickly inspect vehicles and meet with customers who had technical complaints. New cars would spend four extra weeks in development for additional quality checks.
Toyoda pushed the U.S. unit to reach out to nervous customers to resolve questions and complaints.
To aid flagging U.S. sales in 2010, the company made two years of free maintenance standard on new Toyota models and offered low-interest loans and cheap leases for its top-selling vehicles.
Then in 2011, when it seemed Toyota was back on its feet and ready to run at full speed again, Japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami that killed 16,000. The disaster also knocked out more than 650 suppliers, hobbling Toyota’s global production for months.
After grueling weeks of helping parts makers resume operation, Toyota began ramping up production throughout late 2011. Toyoda touted the on-time release of a revamped Camry on Aug. 23 that year as a victory.
“This vehicle has become a symbol of Toyota’s success over the years,” Toyoda said in a speech to workers at the Georgetown, Kentucky, plant that builds it, broadcast for the car’s unveiling. “This is an opportunity to show the world again what Toyota is all about.”
The company’s initial fears it would be further slowed in late 2011 by floods in Thailand that shut down auto plants and parts factories there for weeks weren’t borne out.
Still, the disasters took their toll, trimming the company’s production a further 7 percent in 2011 to 7.91 million cars and trucks, including those made by subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd. (7205) With that decline, Toyota was surpassed as the world’s largest automaker by GM, renewed with lower costs after its U.S.-backed bankruptcy restructuring.
With the recession receding, natural disasters sparing the automotive supply chain and the addition of new products, Toyota delivered a big rebound in 2012.
It sped back ahead of GM in first quarter sales and never let up, winning the first three quarters. Toyota now expects to report 9.7 million vehicle deliveries worldwide for the year, the most in company history. The company looks ahead to selling an unprecedented 10 million autos annually by mid-decade.
Demand for the revamped Camry, which remained the best- selling U.S. car for the 11th year in a row in 2012, and the expanded line of Prius hybrids in the U.S. pushed Toyota’s volume back above the 2 million-unit level last year for the first time since 2008.
“They’ve not only regained most of the market share lost, but at a much faster pace than we thought they would,” said Jesse Toprak, industry analyst for TrueCar.com, an auto pricing and data service in Santa Monica, California. “Their loyal buyers turned out to be even more loyal than we expected.”
Quality scores for Toyota’s brands were slipping prior to the recall crisis that pushed them lower still. Consumer Reports magazine in 2007 said it would no longer assume Toyota vehicles had better than average quality because of flaws with some Camry and Tundra pickup models.
By 2012, the company had returned to pre-crisis levels of quality, according to assessments from J.D. Power Associates, Consumer Reports and ALG Inc., the Santa Barbara, California- based company that sets automotive residual values.
“He had to get Toyota back to what it was, but that’s just rework; it’s not improvement,” Womack said. “Doing rework at Toyota is a bad, bad thing. It’s a form of waste.”
In Japan, Toyota estimates its sales jumped 35 percent last year to 2.4 million, the highest in 22 years.
Government incentives worth as much as 100,000 yen ($1,120) and tax breaks for highly fuel-efficient cars made Toyota’s Prius hybrid and the smaller Aqua, sold in the U.S. as the Prius c, Japan’s No. 1 and 2 sellers.
Toyoda’s advocacy of “back to basics” quality was necessary to retain its large and deeply loyal U.S. customers. When the restyled Camry arrived in August 2011, Toyota estimated more than 6.8 million Camrys were on U.S. roads.
“That high level of buyer loyalty cannot be underestimated,” said Larry Dominique, president of ALG. “It’s money in the bank.”
Jim Press, Toyota’s former U.S. sales chief and first and only non-Japanese board member, said in a 2004 interview he didn’t see the Camry’s bland looks as a drawback.
“Do you know what the best-selling flavor of ice cream is?” he said. “Vanilla.”
While exterior styling changes on the 2012 Camry were modest, Toyota executives touted its higher quality interior materials, roomier layout, fuel-economy gains and livelier handling, particularly on sporty SE and V-6 engine versions.
Jim Lentz, Toyota’s U.S. sales chief, credits those changes for cutting the age of the average age of Camry buyers to 51 from 60 on the previous iteration. U.S. sales of the car topped 400,000 last year, the best since 2008.
“When I see a strong company recover from controversy, I see strong leaders behind that,” said Dominique, formerly Nissan’s product planning chief for North America. “Akio Toyoda has done a good job of leading.”
Another coda to Toyota’s recall-related turmoil sounded last month.
A U.S. judge in Orange County, California, on Dec. 29 gave preliminary approval to the company’s $1.1 billion settlement plan for claims arising from its recalls.
“This settlement is a way to deal with uncertainty from the recalls, and investors like to see uncertainty go away,” said Alan Baum, principal of auto-industry researcher Baum Associates in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Toyoda ties his advocacy of strong design and performance for Toyota vehicles to his personal passion for driving.
“I love cars as much as anyone,” Toyoda told House members at the start of his 2010 testimony. He has blogged about his experiences driving in a 24-hour race on Germany’s famed Nuremberg track.
His push for more desirable cars has included threats to kill products he deemed insufficiently exciting. That included the company’s Lexus GS sport sedan, said Templin.
While the midsize, rear-wheel-drive sport sedan is intended to be a muscular competitor to Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s BMW 5 Series, it was falling short, Templin said last week in an interview in Las Vegas.
“Driving dynamics were initially not up to his expectations,” said Templin, who works directly with Toyoda on global product plans for Lexus. “When he drove one of the very first prototypes, which at that point was the new suspension under the old car basically, he said, ‘If you can’t make it fun to drive, we shouldn’t do this project.’”
The engineers responded.
“That’s when they really went to work making the body more rigid, lowering the seating position, lowering the angle of the steering wheel, really developing the suspension to make it fun to drive,” Templin said.
U.S. sales of the GS jumped more than 500 percent last year, the new car’s first full year of availability. Race-car like elements, such as car’s sporty suspension and low-center of gravity, are also being applied the revamped Lexus IS sedan to be unveiled in Detroit tomorrow.
While Toyota has thrived on a reputation for durability, fuel efficiency and value, Toyoda has said its hallmarks must include design and performance.
“Those are the right directions for Toyota — and by the way, for every other carmaker,” said Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab, an industry researcher and consultant in Orange, California. “The challenge isn’t knowing where you want to go. The challenge is knowing how long the hike will be to get there.”
The new Avalon sedan Toyota added in late 2012 moved further in the design-oriented direction Toyoda desires.
The large sedan designed in California, engineered in Michigan and built in Kentucky, is a “bold departure from the current path,” both in terms of styling and U.S. development, said Kevin Hunter, president of the carmaker’s U.S. studio.
Its leaner chassis and new grille, similar to Ford’s new Fusion midsize sedan, shifts away from the previous Avalon’s more bulbous profile.
Toyota wants a 30 percent gain in Avalon sales this year from the new model and to cut the average buyer’s age to the mid-50s, from 65 for the previous version.
“Is Avalon a perfect product? No,” Noble said. “Is it a far more interesting product than previous Avalons, and was more of it done in the market it was planned for — North America? The answers are yes and yes.”
Other models embodying Toyoda’s styling and performance push include the Scion brand’s rear-wheel-drive FR-S sports coupe, which Lentz says remains in short supply, and the new Lexus ES sedan released in 2012.
That new design ethos is starting to take hold throughout the company, said Dominique.
“You see with the newer products, the styling of the Lexus products is much more aggressive, the new Avalon is a significant departure and an improvement,” he said. “Camry was a little bit conservative when it came out. They’re making changes for 2013 that are a little more aggressive.”
Toyota’s global rebound last year was curbed by tension between Japan and China over a territorial dispute that has yet to be resolved. Problems between the countries triggered a sales slump in China, the world’s biggest auto market, for Japan’s carmakers and spurred protesters in September to set fire to Toyota vehicles and showrooms in China.
Watching scenes of the unrest was “unbearable,” Toyoda told reporters in Tokyo.
Toyota pushed back plans to make China its third million- unit market until after 2013 as it waits for anti-Japan sentiment there to subside. Toyota’s China sales in December dropped 16 percent to 90,800, the sixth straight monthly decline.
China’s demand for Lexus luxury vehicles is moderating that slowdown a bit. “China is coming back faster for us than we expected,” Templin said last week, without elaborating.
A persistent crisis for Japan’s exporters in recent years has been the yen’s strength relative to the dollar and other global currencies.
In October 2011, Toyoda warned that the yen’s rate had risen so high Japan’s carmakers might collapse. The currency hit a postwar high of 75.82 to the dollar, further complicating the ability of Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and other carmakers to recover from natural disasters and compete against Hyundai.
Since then, the yen has weakened against the dollar, trading at 89.18 against the U.S. currency on Jan. 11.
“We’re beginning to see the light,” Toyoda told reporters in Tokyo last week. An “appropriate” level is 90 to 100, Toyoda said.
With GM, Ford, Hyundai and Volkswagen all targeting bigger shares of global auto sales, Toyoda can’t rest on the 2012 rebound.
As a so-called concept car, the Furia is meant as a mind- expanding engineering exercise and won’t be produced commercially. Still, the reception of the Furia, the new IS and restyled Corolla due in 2013 are critical indicators for Toyoda’s strategy.
“Toyota seems to fully recognize that their products have to connect at more than just a rational level with consumers,” Noble said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jamie Butters at firstname.lastname@example.org
Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda


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BYRON TOWNSHIP, MI -- Next month, Spartan Stores will begin supplying the Ohio-based Chief Super Market Inc., which is ending its longtime relationship with struggling grocery giant SuperValu.
CEO Dennis Eidson saysSpartan will continue to seek additional distribution deals in the region to help the Byron Township grocer grow its Midwest wholesale operation.
"It's strategic for us because we are in a water locked peninsula so we can only go south," CEO Dennis Eidson told analysts on Thursday, Feb. 14, during a conference call to discuss third quarter results. "It's a great springboard for us that we can capitalize in the coming year."
In January, the Byron Township grocer inked a distribution deal that makes Spartan Stores the primary wholesale grocery supplier for the chain, which operates 12 stores in the Northwest and West Central Ohio under the Chief and Rays banners.
"We are committed to delighting our customers with great food and experiences, and believe that our new partnership with Spartan will help us achieve our mission as we offer our customers superior value and service," said Chief's CEO Stephanie Skylar.
Eidson said Chief, known for having a strong grocery selections and well-merchandised stores, will have access to a broad selection of Spartan’s own private brand along with national brand products, as well value-added services.
“We are just thrilled to have them on board as customers,” said Eidson, adding that Spartan Stores' approach to the distribution business is to "offer more value-added service and thought leadership than other wholesalers in the space.”
Spartan had been “building a relationship” with Chief for years, setting the foundation for the grocer to switch this year, he added.
“Changing a wholesale is a very significant event if you are an independent owner,” Eidson said. “It takes a lot of courage to make the decision.”
Expanding the grocer’s distribution business outside of Michigan is a key strategic business growth initiative for the company.
“As we are successful in integrating that business into our Spartan family, I think it will provide a roadmap and template for other Ohio and Indiana retailers,” Eidson said. “It may allow them to have the courage to make that change.”


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News from The Business Journals
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The makers of social media app TikTok eliminated several vulnerabilities in its platform, which security experts claim could have been used by hackers to interfere with accounts and expose sensitive user data.
In a post on its website, security company Check Point said the flaws could have enabled attackers to access accounts, delete and upload content, make private videos public and reveal users’ personal data.
Prior to publishing full details of the issues, researchers informed the app company which subsequently fixed the vulnerabilities.
In its post Check Point’s research team said: “Such risks enforce the essential need for privacy and data security in the cyber world we live in. Data breaches are becoming an epidemic.”
“This is a lethal problem that many organisations face globally simply because data is pervasive and all around us. Our data is stored across a number of networks and within it our most valuable, private information. It’s our joint responsibility to keep our data safe from compromise.”
TikTok is headquartered in Los Angeles and owned by Chinese developer ByteDance.Subscribe to our daily newsletter Back


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Bank of America Leasing has been revealed as the seller of a 2014-built Japanese capesize to Greek owner Safe Bulkers. Safe Bulkers recently revealed it was paying $33.8m for a cape which will be renamed Maria. VesselsValue fleet register reveals details about the Sinokor-controlled ship. Sinokor was reported adding the 2014-built ship as South Trader for $28m in 2016 from Japanese shipping giant Mitsui OSK Lines, while Bank of America was registered as the owner.
While the latest acquisition was financed with cash on hand, Safe Bulkers added a two-year older sister vessel, Stelios Y in August last year. This Koyo Dock-built ship was sold on a bareboat hire purchase including a one-year time charter at $14,500 per day with $4.5 m paid upfront, and $4.5 m to be paid upon delivery, plus an option to buy the vessel for $18m at the end of the charter.
Bank of America Leasing is listed as the registered owner of 47 ships in Equasis’s ship register, most ships added between 2016 and 2020.


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A new feature helps improve fuel economy for the 2015 model year.
Read This Article
Get off the couch.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation on both the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan and the 2010 Jeep Wrangler SUV.
In a move that surprised very few, Jeep has announced it will be adding an eight-speed automatic transmission to the new Grand Cherokee.


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SkyShowtime, a joint venture between Comcast and Paramount, will launch on 20th September 2022. It’ll give both companies access to millions more homes across Europe.
Changes to how BT offers products and services to consumers means its budget brand Plusnet is under review.
Netflix is planning is bring forward the launch of its cheaper ad-supported subscription option. And the UK is one of the countries confirmed to be among the first.
Netflix plans to reduce the cost of subscribing in exchange for seeing adverts, unlike the ad-supported Disney Plus.
Sky Glass is now available in the Republic of Ireland. But with a high price tag and some versions coming bottom of the energy efficiency ratings, it could be a hard sell
For the second time in just over two years, BT TV customers are being asked to choose between losing channels or missing out on new services.
As streaming services face increased competition and a spending squeeze, Apple is making Apple TV+ available for free for three months if you have an eligible device.
BT’s latest update removes the need for its TV customers to have a TV aerial to use its service. Viewers will be able to access a greater number of HD channels. But there’s a catch.
ITV’s new streaming service ITVX will go live just before the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
TV owners will need to know which components are inside their TV – but there is an easier way to find out if ITV Hub will continue working after 28th September 2022.


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Starbucks seems to be running into some legal trouble following its successful launch of the Unicorn Frappuccino. In fact, one New York City cafe is claiming that they had come up with their unicorn drink first.
Montauk Juice Factory Inc, the company that owns The End Brooklyn in New York City filed a complaint against Starbucks Corporation on Wednesday. According to the company, Starbucks’ Unicorn Frappuccino has “infringed” on its trademark over its very own drink, the Unicorn Latte.
Unicorn Latte came before the Unicorn Frappuccino, lawsuit challenges.
According to the Montauk Juice Factory, Inc. their cafe had launched the Unicorn Latte back in December 2016. To capitalize on the popularity of their product, they registered the name “Unicorn Latte” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on January 20, 2017. Several months later, Starbucks launched its own hit unicorn drink. And when Starbucks introduced its new product, the company said they received no notification concerning the similarly named product. ” At no point prior to developing, marketing, and launching its product did Starbucks approach Plaintiffs for permission to use a name deceptively similar to Unicorn Latte,” copy of the complaint stated.
And when Starbucks began to publicize its Unicorn Frappuccino, the company said it created confusion between the two drinks. Montauk Juice Factory, Inc. says that some customers had started to refer to the Unicorn Frappuccino as a Unicorn Latte. Moreover, some customers had started to assume that the Unicorn Latte is a “copy-cat or knockoff” of the Starbucks drink. At the same time, customers have also been coming to The End, asking for a Unicorn Frappuccino. The two unicorn drinks, however, could not be any different. In fact, the only similarity between the two is that neither drink creations contain any coffee.
The two unicorn drinks are quite different from each other.
According to Starbucks, its Unicorn Frappuccino is a made with a crème Frappuccino with mango syrup and sour blue drizzle. It’s finished off with some vanilla whipped cream and sweet pink and sour blue powder topping. On the other hand, The End’s Unicorn Latte is said to be a “blend of fresh juices and healthy ingredients.” Moreover, it does not contain processed sugar, food dye or cow’s milk.
Furthermore, the lawsuit states that even if Starbucks had only offered its unicorn drink at a limited time, the damage had already been done. According to Montauk Juice Factory, the damage done its trademark and business “continues and, to an extent, may well be irreparable.” According to a report from ABC News, the company is now seeking for $10 million in damages from Starbucks.
Will there be a fight over mermaids next?
Meanwhile, as the lawsuit continues, The End seems to be marketing another drink that bears similarity to one of Starbucks’ recent popular drinks. Whereas Starbucks has a Mermaid Frappuccino, The End is calling their drink the Merbabe Latte.


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Kroger, Albertsons To Merge In $24.6B Deal
View Source | October 17, 2022 5:01 am
Click to read full article
- Grocery chain Kroger will buy rival Albertsons in a deal valued at $24.6 billion, the companies announced on Friday.
- “This merger advances our commitment to build a more equitable and sustainable food system by expanding our footprint into new geographies to serve more of America with fresh and affordable food and accelerates our position as a more compelling alternative to larger and non-union competitors,” Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen, who will continue to lead the combined company, said in a statement.
- Together the companies employ over 710,000 people and operate nearly 5,000 stores across 48 states and the District of Columbia.
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Nissan today introduced the all-new 2018 LEAF, the next evolution in zero-emission electric vehicles. The best-selling electric car of all time has been completely reinvented, combining greater range with a dynamic new design and advanced technologies, wh
Next-Gen Nissan LEAF: ProPILOT Assist
This video showcases the ProPILOT Assist technology that will be standard equipment on the next-generation Nissan LEAF.
New Nissan LEAF with e-Pedal premieres in the U.S. September 5 (September 6 in Japan)
Simple things can be amazing.
The new #Nissan #LEAF with e-Pedal, premieres September 5
Nissan announced today that the widely anticipated new Nissan LEAF will come with e-Pedal, a revolutionary technology that transforms the way we drive.
With the fli
It's Amazing When Nothing Holds You Back\ New Nissan LEAF
The new #Nissan #LEAF. Simply amazing.
The new Nissan LEAF will feature improved aerodynamic design that makes it even more efficient, allowing drivers to travel farther on a single charge.
Aerodynamics is key to how efficiently an electric car moves.


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Bollywood actor Salman Khan has bought a new Nissan Patrol Bulletproof SUV. The actors opted for white colour and was seen on the streets of Mumbai. The huge Bulletproof Patrol SUV was accompanied by a black Toyota Fortuner SUV. The actor was previously using a Bulletproof Toyota Land Cruiser
LC200 SUV and now the Nissan Patrol replaces it. Nissan India does not sell the Patrol SUV in the Indian market it seems that the actor has imported it privately.
Talking about the Nissan Patrol, this SUV is quite popular in Gulf countries.
The SUV is powered by a 5.6-litre V8 engine which puts out 405hp of power and 560Nm of torque. The engine comes paired with a 7-speed automatic gearbox which sends power to all four wheels. The SUV also gets front and rear differential locks for better off-road capabilities.
Maruti Suzuki Jimny launch time revealed: Fronx name meaning explained | TOI Auto
The actor also owns other luxury and super exotic cars which includes, Range Rover Autobiography, Audi RS7, Audi A8 L, Mercedes-Benz GLE 43 AMG, Mercedes-Benz GLS, BMW X6, Porsche Cayenne, Toyota Land Cruiser, Lexus LX and many more. What do you think about Salman Khan's new bulletproof Nissan, let us know in comments.


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The spate of high profile cyberattacks have raised the awareness of cybersecurity to the board level and encouraged venture capitalists to pour money into this sector. In 2013 the industry received $1.7 billion of VC money across 240 deals, hitting a five-year high in both funding and number of deals, according to CB Insights. Today the cybersecurity landscape is comprised of nearly 500 companies, CB Insights says.
- What Open Colleges did to bolster lead generaition
- Apple and Salesforce announced strategic partnership
- Former Virgin Mobile CMO and CEO joins oOh! as first customer chief
- How natural selection AI is generating huge conversion increases for RateCity
- Adobe confirms acquisition of Marketo for US$4.75bn


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I was thinking the other day that it must be time to have another rant about a survey to do with parenting. I didn't have a particular survey in mind but, you know, it's been a while. I considered hunting around for one, then I decided not to bother. Poorly reported pieces of research are like health scares - there's bound to be one before long.
Sure enough, three have been brought to my attention in the last week or so. At least one of them is also a health scare. Yeh!
I had to laugh when I saw a tagline asking 'Is there too much sex in videogames?' because sex barely features in games at all. On investigation, I found the related article cites a recent YouGov survey as finding 74% of parents are worried about sexual content in games. It then goes on to list the ten most sexually explicit games ever in an effort to show that, really, there's not much to worry about. Sadly, that's all very well, but the survey actually found that 74% of parents are concerned about the content in general of some videogames. To be honest, this is only right and proper - there are plenty of games out there that children shouldn't have access to. Parents ought to be keeping an eye on what they're kids are playing. Even the game companies are quick to encourage this, since parents exerting more control over their childrens' habits is really the only way to stop the kids encountering inappropriate material. The big news here is, in fact, that 26% of parents don't know or don't care about the content of any videogames. Let's just hope their kids don't play them...
Meanwhile, in England, the government is running a health campaign trying to persuade parents that getting their kids to do some exercise and eat healthier food is good for them and will help them live longer. Allegedly, feeding children cake the whole time simply isn't good parenting:
Obvious? Er, yeah. Unfortunately, the games industry hasn't been too pleased with some of the adverts:
There have been loud rumblings that it's unfair to single out computer games, since there's no definitive evidence linking them with obesity and surely everything from books to cars are blame. What about the exercise people get from playing the Wii? How dare the government denigrate such an important and creative industry!? Sony should sue!
Unfortunately, this makes games industry spokespeople sound like tobacco execs from the 1970s. Clearly, sitting around playing computer games every day while eating cakes isn't going to do wonders for anyone's health. Better to admit it and move on. Computer games aren't being singled out as an easy target, they're simply top of the list of sedentary pastimes favoured by kids. The adverts aren't claiming computer games are evil, they're encouraging parents to exert more control over their kids' habits to make sure they get some exercise. This is exactly the same kind of control the games industry is constantly trying to encourage in an effort to shift onto parents the responsibility for controlling access to violent games. Videogames already have age restrictions and scary warnings about taking regular breaks in order to avoid photosensitive seizures. Including some suggestions to go and play outside every so often to avoid turning into a tub of lard wouldn't be hard.
Of course, it should be noted that parents can get too concerned about controlling what experiences their children encounter. I stumbled across the whole forwards/backwards buggy thing again this week as well. The University of Dundee did some research into whether it makes a difference which way toddlers face while riding around. Apparently, those facing the world tend to have a slightly higher heart rate, while those facing their parent get talked to more, laugh more, cry more and are more likely to fall asleep. Somewhere along the line these results got interpreted by the papers to show that forward-facing buggies produce stressed kids with poor communication skills. This certainly isn't a justified conclusion, however. Kids facing out-the-way see lots of stuff to get excited about and those facing in-the-way get more of a chat. Who knows which is 'better' in the long-run?
Although I frequently had my kids in our forward-facing buggy for a couple of hours a day when they were small, there were only three normal scenarios:
- They were asleep, so chatting wouldn't have been hugely worthwhile.
- I was trying to get them to sleep, so I was avoiding chatting to them.
- I was desperately trying to keep them awake, so I was chatting to them for all I was worth or getting them to do the actions to a rousing chorus of If you're happy and you know it as we manoeuvred round Tesco.
Yours in a woman's world,


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Siem Industries is our member of the month in June. A week ago Siem Shipping launched their new car carrier, MV Siem Ashanti – named after the famous Kingdom in Ghana. Chairman of Siem Industries, Mr. Kristian Siem, met His Majesty Otumfuo Osei Tutu II for the first time at the NABA Summit in Oslo in 2012 when they were both speakers, and the Ashante king’s wife, Lady Julia, was the ship’s God mother.
Chairman Kristian Siem and Lady Julia with other invited guests in Croatia for the launch of MV Siem Ashanti.
The MV Siem Ashanti has a capacity to take 7000 cars.


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Decline in breeding herd suggests producers leaving industry after very challenging year.
CFTC Agricultural Advisory hearing focuses on lessons learned from pandemic and update on ag economic outlook.
Feedstuffs Livestock & poultry cash market comparisons, 9/23/2020
Feedstuffs Grain & ingredient cash market comparisons, 9/23/2020
Feedstuffs Ingredient market prices, 9/23/2020
Wheat sales slump moderately below the prior four-week average.
Dairy farmers appear to have responded to strong milk prices seen in June and July.
Corn quality improves slightly, with soybeans holding mostly steady.
Jeff Simmons of Elanco discusses how agriculture industry can emerge post-pandemic.
Corn, soybeans and wheat volume all fall again last week.


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The president-elect Donald Trump made an announcement that Japan’s SoftBank has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. and as a result the company will create 50,000 job opportunities. The announcement came after Trump held a meeting with Masayoshi Son who is the CEO of SoftBank. Masayoshi is a Japanese billionaire and technology investor. The two met at Trump’s tower in New York. In a statement made on twitter by Mr. Trump, he said that Masayoshi wouldn’t have invested in the US if Trump had not won the presidential election.
In a statement made by Dow Jones, the $50 billion will be part of the formerly announced $100 billion international fund that had been set up with Saudi Arabia.
Eighty percent of Sprint is owned by SoftBank, earlier this year, it also purchased ARM Holdings which is a British chipmaker in. The billionaire investor Son said that he likes the president-elect very much and that he organized the meeting.
The president-elect and Son did not hint on the specific investment that SoftBank intended to make. However, Son suggested that the company will dwell on the technology sector.
After the good news was announced, both T-Mobile and Sprint’s shares exploded. However, they gave up most of the gains. Part of Trump’s agenda is to eliminate the regulations that hinder business growth and for this reason, Son, who has severally attempted to combine Sprint and T-Mobile but was faced by regulatory resistance will take up this golden opportunity.
As the two were having a photo session, the paperwork that they finalized from the meeting showed the Foxconn logo also known as Hon Hai, the company supplies Apple’s iPhones. It’s not yet clear what role the company will play.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Trump said that he had told Apple CEO Tim Cook that he expected him to construct big plants in the U.S. instead of outsourcing in other countries.


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The Indian Car Loan Market is Anticipated to Grow at a Brisk Rate During the Forecast Period on Account of Growing Disposable Income, Declining Fuel Prices and Increasing Ownership of Vehicles.
The Indian Car Loan Market is anticipated to grow at a brisk rate during the forecast period on account of growing disposable income, declining fuel prices and increasing ownership of vehicles. Moreover, shift from combustion engine vehicles towards electric vehicles, product launches, subsidies offered by the government on purchase of electric vehicles and high vehicle replacement rate are promoting to sales of car across India, which is consequently driving the car loan market in the country as well. Additionally, high GDP growth rate and surging population in the country have made India, one of the largest car markets after China, Japan, US and Germany with sales of 3.3 million passenger cars in 2018. As a result, major automakers are setting up their production plants and focusing on launching new vehicles in the country, subsequently, driving the car loan market in India.
The Indian Car Loan Market can be segmented based on the type, car type, source, percentage of amount sanctioned, type of city, tenure and region. In terms of car type, market can be segmented into SUV, hatchback and sedan. Sedan is the dominant car type in the country and the trend is likely to continue in the forthcoming years as well. This is due to the riding comfort, safety and lower noise, vibration when compared with other counterparts in the same segment. In order to promote the adoption of electric vehicles, the government of India has reduced the GST from 12% to 5% on the purchase on electric vehicle and the government is also offering INR1.5 lac tax exemption on loan taken for the purchase of electric vehicle, thereby driving the car loan market in India. On the basis of type, the demand for used car has increased in the past few years and the trend is likely to continue in the upcoming years as well due to high yield and low price of these cars. Major companies offering loans for the purchase of car in India are categorized into banks, OEM or non-banking financial company (NBFC). Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are coming up with various credit provision in order to attract more buyers and borrowers and are offering loan based on individual needs for the purchase of car in the country. Some of the banks providing car loan include State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, etc.
The public and private sector banks are the major players in the market when compared with NBFC and OEMs due to large customer base, better customer service and competitive rates. However, share of NBFC has grown in the past few years and the trend is anticipated to continue over the next five years as well. This is due to the fact that NBFC has major share of customers from non-metro and rural areas.


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Aiming to dispel insinuations that the two-decade partnership between Renault and Nissan was in tatters, Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard said on Thursday a "real desire" was there at the forefront of making the relationship with Nissan a success.
The arrest of its former chairman and CEO, Carlos Ghosn, on financial crimes charges in November 2018, led to chaos within the company. Along with this, the partnership has been marred by internal rivalries.
The Ghosn fiasco
Attempts to restore calm have recently been thwarted by Ghosn's dramatic flight from Japanese justice and a series of no-holds-barred allegations he has made from his refuge in Lebanon, including that he was the victim of a plot to oust him and that the alliance is now a "masquerade".
Nissan has vigorously denied any suggestion of a plot, while both the Japanese firm and Renault have rubbished suggestions their 20-year-old partnership is falling apart.
"We have a board overseeing the alliance which is made up of people who are all extremely in favour of the alliance," Senard told a news conference, defending the changes he had made since joining Renault after Ghosn's arrest.
"There is a common desire to associate our strategic plans and a real desire to make this alliance a success," said Senard, who used to run tire maker Michelin, has become the de facto senior figure in the partnership, though without the commander-in-chief aura Ghosn had, which had helped hold the alliance together.
While that is partly deliberate - as both parties are keen to avoid another Ghosn-style strongman and created a four-member operating board to oversee the alliance for example - Senard will have to deliver on launching joint new projects.
The 66-year-old has said these will move into focus once the management revamp is complete. A new CEO started at Nissan in December, and Renault is in the midst of seeking a new CEO after ousting Ghosn-ally Thierry Bollore in October.
Front runner Luca de Meo
Luca de Meo, who recently stepped down as the head of Volkswagen's Seat brand, is seen as the frontrunner, although a non-compete clause in his contract is proving a problem, sources close to the matter have told Reuters. Interim CEO Clotilde Delbos is also in the frame.
Analysts view Renault-Nissan's cost-cutting alliance as vital to both companies' fortunes as the car industry battles a slowdown in demand and huge investments in cleaner vehicles and automated driving, particularly as rivals PSA and Fiat Chrysler are merging to help meet these challenges.
(With agency inputs)


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Bertelsmann in control of BMG
The German media giant Bertelsmann is buying out its partner in the music-publishing company BMG, giving it full control of a catalogue boasting one million songs by artists such as Bruno Mars (left), Duran Duran and Frank Ocean. The private-equity group KKR will receive more than £500m for its 51 per cent stake in the business.
WPP wins 'ugly' in breaking record
WPP smashed annual profit records for the second year in a row in 2012 but the advertising giant's chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell yesterday admitted "we got there ugly". Pre-tax profits in 2012 jumped 8 per cent to almost £1.1bn but underlying sales rose only 2.9 per cent to £10.4bn, below the 4 per cent forecast a year ago.
BSkyB pays £200m for O2 operations
BSkyB made a significant move to grow beyond pay-TV yesterday, paying up to £200m for mobile giant O2's broadband and fixed-line operation. The move means Sky leapfrogs rival Virgin Media to become the UK's second-biggest broadband provider by customer numbers and also closes the gap with BT.
Stagecoach hit by bad weather
The blizzards that battered North America this winter kept Megabus coaches off the road and hit profits at Stagecoach's US arm in the 10 months to February. City analysts still expect the firm, which also runs South West Trains and is a partner in Virgin Rail, to post full-year profits near £210m.
Rightmove posts 26% profits jump
Rightmove has posted a 26 per cent jump in underlying profits to a record £87.5m last year. The homes website saw traffic grow 18 per cent to more than 11 billion page views last year. That meant Rightmove could squeeze more out of advertisers, with average revenue per advertiser hitting £529 per month.
Results are boost for Taylor Wimpey
The UK's biggest housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey, capped a week of stellar results from the industry as it unveiled a 106 per cent rise in profits to £185m for 2012. Wimpey, which nearly went bust in 2009, sold 10,886 homes last year and halved its debt pile to £59m. The firm is "cautiously optimistic" for this year.
William Hill's online punt
William Hill has spent £424m to take control of its online operation. The deal – buying out Playtech's 29 per cent stake – gives it a freer hand to invest in the £1.5bn online business. The boom in mobile betting helped to fuel a 48 per cent rise in the firm's profits to £278m last year.
Hammerson reaps rewards of offers
The shopping-centre owner Hammerson, whose malls include the Bullring in Birmingham and Brent Cross in London, saw annual profits rise 8 per cent to £153m. It said retail parks in out-of-town locations were benefiting from the rise in click-and-collect offers from retailers.
Tablets trend aids Laird's £520m
Laird, which makes parts used in wireless devices such as Apple's iPhones and iPads, posted a 17 per cent rise in underlying profits to £61m for 2012 amid a surge in demand for tablets and smartphones. The firm said revenues rose 6 per cent to £520m.
Recovery pushes Vertu forward
Vertu Motors said full-year figures would be better than expected after a recovery in the new-car market saw like-for-like sales volumes leap 13.6 per cent ahead in the five months to 31 January. Like-for-like used-car sales edged 0.4 per cent higher against a flat market, it added.Reuse content


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Global digital document and printing firm Xerox has partnered with cloud computing and software company Oracle to allow new businesses born inside Xerox to launch and monetize their services more quickly.
By choosing Oracle’s integrated set of Oracle Cloud software offerings, new Xerox businesses can sell online, create orders, process invoices, track performance and carry out financial planning within weeks, as opposed to several months. For Xerox’s 3D printing business, the team was able to stand up the IT infrastructure needed in just six weeks to “transact right out of the gate”, and can now use this as a template to future ventures.
“We’re able to operate in a very nimble way, where we can spin up a new business in just a few weeks, all without switching to a different platform,” said Naresh Shanker, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Xerox. “That’s the beauty of the Oracle Cloud solution.”
Xerox’s increasing interest in 3D
Having historically traded in 2D rather than 3D printing, Xerox announced its intentions to develop a roadmap to “participate” in 3D printing back in 2018. Shortly after, the firm acquired liquid metal jet 3D printer manufacturer Vader Systems and made its Formnext debut in 2019 with a substantial presence at the show.
In the two years since, Xerox has continued its expansion into 3D printing, having lined up and eventually scrapped a speculative $27 billion bid for multinational printing firm HP, and incorporated Vader System’s technologies into its first printer, the ElemX. The ElemX is currently being tested at the US Naval Postgraduate School as part of a research partnership exploring the potential for 3D printing to transform how the military supplies its deployed forces.
Most recently, Xerox continued its foray into the additive manufacturing space through leading a recent $3.5 million seed funding round for 3D printing software developer CASTOR. Through its investment, Xerox is potentially eyeing the professional market, with the companies’ ongoing relationship offering a glimpse of where Xerox’s expansion could be heading next.
The “Oracle-in-a-box” approach
Prior to its partnership with Oracle, it reportedly took Xerox up to three months to implement the IT systems required to support a new business venture. To speed up this process, the firm began reviewing cloud-based systems that would allow new businesses born inside Xerox to launch and commercialize their services more quickly.
The company settled on Oracle’s integrated cloud approach, which is designed to give businesses all they need to get up and running. The “Oracle-in-a-box” cloud infrastructure offering includes an online storefront in Oracle Commerce, finance and accounting in Oracle NetSuite, budgeting and financial planning in Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), and integration capabilities via Oracle Integration.
These offerings are all included within the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), which also gives Xerox access to the firm’s Oracle Autonomous Database, an enterprise digital warehouse that enables new businesses to manage their data with no admin and run advanced analytics. Additionally, Xerox will be able to leverage Oracle’s OCI High Performance Computing when researching new businesses.
“We wanted to keep these solutions all in the family, so to speak. This avoids the headaches of too many vendors and platforms,” said Sreedhar Vaidyanathan, Vice President of Digital Transformation at Xerox. “Oracle’s solutions make it simple for our new businesses to roll up to the mother ship and vice versa. It’s easy to track performance.”
Leveraging Oracle’s software, Xerox was able to stand up the IT infrastructure for its 3D printing business in as little as six weeks. By automating processes such as procure-to-pay and quote-to-cash, the 3D printing team “gained the ability to transact right out of the gate,” said Vaidyanathan.
“There’s no waiting to generate invoices and start collecting revenue, and we’re able to scale as much as needed,” he said. “We can replicate this process for any new venture. We don’t have to implement a different platform every time we launch. We can look under the hood to see how each business is doing. What do their financials look like? Are they in compliance? We have clear lines of sight.
“Because we are an innovative company, speed to market is very important. Oracle Cloud innovations let us hit the ground running, without a lot of customization.”
Xerox’s recently launched software business CareAR is already powered by Oracle’s integrated toolset, which enables field technicians to work remotely to help customers solve problems faster and skip costly on-site visits.
“[Oracle] has come up with a lot of creative ideas to keep things moving forward,” Vaidyanathan added. “They’ve been instrumental in our journey. If someone has a greenlighted idea, they can come to us today and tomorrow we’ll give them the basic toolset. With Oracle, there’s a complete package that any new business can run with.”
Oracle is also powering the HR, customer experience, financial services, and supply chain management of other 3D printing companies with its technology, with 3D printer OEM Carbon having integrated the Oracle Cloud back in 2017. Oracle also has ongoing partnerships with the likes of geometric deep learning specialist Physna, among other players.
Looking for a career in additive manufacturing? Visit 3D Printing Jobs for a selection of roles in the industry.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest 3D printing video shorts, reviews and webinar replays.
Featured image shows Xerox ElemX liquid metal 3D printer. Photo via Xerox.


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As part of a strategy to enhance financial results during the next several months, ConAgra is increasing prices, the company announced.
Profits during the company's second quarter were weaker than anticipated, which is what was predicted earlier this month. ConAgra slashed 2011 forecasts for a second time and various price increases already have been implemented while others will follow soon.
"We are confident that the net effect of these pricing increases will be positive, despite some potential modest volume decline," chief executive officer Gary Rodkin said in a news release.
Net income decreased in this year's fiscal second quarter to $200.9 million as compared to $239.7 million from last year's fiscal second quarter. Losses also derived from the rising cost of commodities and tepid reaction to promotional campaigns.
The company's commercial foods division, of which French fries are a staple, also did not meet expectations. Rodkin attributed that to high costs and low quality of potatoes. But he did underscore the company's belief that brighter days are ahead.
"Our products will continue to deliver outstanding value to consumers even after these pricing actions," he said.


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KIEV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s railways are backlogged with grain shipments trying to find alternative export routes after Russia’s invasion blocked the main Black Sea ports, Reuters reported, citing APK-Inform.
Ukrainian railways had 12 terminals opened for traders, but trains were backing up and the railways will need two or three weeks to process them, APK-Inform said.
“Traders are continuing to search for the possibility of redirecting exports to the EU by rail or via Romanian ports, but the key barriers remain limited bandwidth logistics ability and its high cost,” APK-Inform said.
The cost of delivering Ukrainian grain to the Romanian port of Constanta is around $133 to $166 per tonne right now. Prior to the war, cost was about $40 to transport grain to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
Analysts have estimated Ukrainian grain exports, which were at 43 million tonnes at the start of the season, could reach only 1 million tonnes in the next month due to logistic difficulties.
Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020-21 season, according to International Grains Council data, with most of its commodities shipped out via the Black Sea.


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The Selangor state government, through its official tourism promotion agency, Tourism Selangor, inaugurated its ‘Pusing Selangor Dulu’ Tour in Johor as a promotional campaign for the domestic market at Paradigm Mall Johor Bahru on 13th and 14th August 2022.
Azrul Shah Mohamad, Chief Executive Officer of Tourism Selangor, said, “This ‘Pusing Selangor Dulu’ Johor 2022 Tour is more focused on the domestic tourism market in the state of Johor, which recorded the highest number of tourists arriving in Selangor in 2021 when the Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0 was implemented.”
He also added that the highest number of international tourists to Selangor was from Singapore when the international borders re-opened and China remained closed.
The ‘Pusing Selangor Dulu’ tourism promotion is intended to promote the state’s tourism, particularly in the Southern Peninsular of Malaysia, where its strategic location opens to neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Indonesia.
Ts Dr Mohd Azlan Ab Jalil, Deputy Director of Tourism Johor in the press conference said that in promoting domestic tourism, there is a need for complementing instead of competing.
“Having Tourism Selangor promoting in Johor opens up the possibilities of receiving tourists from Singapore and Indonesia,” he said while adding that the cross-marketing in-between state tourism is vital to helping each other while also retaining currency exchange to stay within the country.
More than 15 tourism operators and products, including Malaysia Airlines, GM Klang, Jumpstreet Malaysia, Chocolate Museum @ Kota Damansara, Selangor Fruit Valley, Farm in the Field, HL Restaurant & Café, Sky Mirror, Avani Sepang, Homestay Banghuris, Le Meridien Petaling Jaya, Park Inn by Radisson, The Blanket Hotels, and Eastin Hotel offered attractive travel packages with promotional discounts of up to 50% for visitors at the exhibition booth.
Among the interesting activities that came with the tour is the promotion of Tourism Selangor’s collaboration with Animonsta Studios through BoboiBoy animation, cultural performances from the Selangor Kembara Anak Seni Organisation (PKAS) and the MahMeri Indigenous People, handicraft demonstrations, Meet & Greet with Che Puan Juliana Evans as a Campaign Tourism Ambassador, a ‘Happy Hour’ session, and much more.


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Charles Hoskinson explains cardano's iterative approach to security, and how its interaction with academic gives it an advantage over other designs.
Ethiopia is exploring the use of blockchain technology to track the supply chain for its largest export, coffee.
IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson announced a sneaker partnership at the Cardano Summit in Bulgaria this weekend.
Apart from a commitment to immutability, ethereum classic is much like ethereum. Now, though, its supporters favor another pillar of differentiation.
Scotland's University of Edinburgh is partnering with blockchain startup IOHK on a new research lab dedicated to the technology.


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It’s tough terrain for brands as they plan how -- or whether -- to communicate and act on their values, and better connect with people.
Do too much, the thinking goes, and potentially alienate customers. Do too little and risk looking noncommittal. Do something too cosmetic and get slammed for inauthenticity -- or worse, pandering. So, how can brands navigate sensitive social waters? A recent survey of U.S. consumers offers insight into their thinking and a way forward.
Tension between words and action. There’s underlying tension between what consumers say and what they do. Americans’ seeming desire for deeper social-justice commitment from brands contrasts with the current reality, in which most brands haven’t made that commitment. Why, then, aren’t customers abandoning brands that haven’t taken a stance?
The easy answer is that not all causes matter equally. For example, consumers said they’re more passionate about companies taking stances on the environment (53%) than political causes (28%); and millennials care far more about human rights issues (68%) than older generations (42%).
But it goes much deeper.
Multidimensional values and expectations . Of course people aren’t defined by a single belief or issue. Despite differences, most Americans understand social issues are complex, and everyone occasionally -- inevitably -- makes compromises or sacrifices just to get through life in a highly interconnected, complex world.
This idea was echoed in survey responses: Three out of five will give their favorite brands a break if they don’t take a stand on pivotal issues. This response may have something to do with deciphering the depth of brands’ convictions, as one in three Americans think the stands brands take are a marketing ploy. That’s the same number as those who think the stands are authentically motivated.
Focus on people, not the cause. Brands should recognize the difference between a cause and the people who are impacted by that cause. The research found that Americans -- especially millennials (77%) -- want to work with brands that treat people with compassion in tough times. That’s more than twice as many who want to see brands take strong stands (31%).
Importantly, people aren’t just “consumers,” they’re also employees; and how brands act on their values internally is also an expression of what they stand for. Consider that while fewer than 10% of companies took a recent stance on women’s reproductive rights, more than half addressed the topic with staff or planned to.
Walking the talk. What truly matters today is a people-centered brand strategy. It’s the mark of authentically held values, and a business imperative. This makes sense -- no matter how dire our ever-spiraling conflicts may seem; all sides are comprised of… people.
Being an authentic brand isn’t a single event – it’s a process that involves consistent listening and thoughtful action that align with your core values. And that, in turn, drives revenue and long-term loyalty between your brand and those you serve.
"A recent survey of U.S. consumers offers insight into their thinking and a way forward." Please provide details on who conducted the survey, sample size etc.


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The 2015 Cadillac Escalade gets priced, what does it mean for those shopping the luxury SUV?
Read This Article
Luxury in the extreme.
We've been seeing a host of data in the past year suggesting the increasing importance of infotainment in vehicles, and it appears Cadillac isn't missing a beat.
Cadillac is debuting a new concept car at this weekend's Pebble Beach concours festivities that will likely draw from its personal luxury coupe past.


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NEW YORK — As part of efforts to rebuild consumer confidence in peanut products, the National Peanut Board will set up a pavilion in Vanderbilt Hall in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal today and tomorrow to meet consumers, answer recall questions and give away samples of peanuts, peanut butter and other peanut items.
“No one is more deeply disturbed by the recent salmonella crisis than the thousands of USA peanut farmers and their families,” said Roger Neitsch, a Texas peanut farmer and chairman of the National Peanut Board, a research and promotion organization funded by peanut growers.
Participating manufacturers include Hampton Farms, Mars, Moon Pie, Peanut Butter & Co., Planters, Smithfield Foods/The Peanut Shop of Williamsburg, Snyder’s of Hanover and Sunland.
The event comes at a time when more than 2,000 products made with ingredients manufactured by Peanut Corp. of America have been recalled since early January. The Atlanta-based Peanut Board wants to get the message across that major national brands of jarred peanut butter found in grocery stores have not been among the products recalled, and a vast array of other peanut butters and peanut products are also unaffected.
At present, the Peanut Board does not plan to execute similar event in supermarkets, a board spokeswoman told SN.
Read More of Today's Headlines


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The Credit Today Awards, sponsored by Qualco, recently honored Cabot Credit for its commitment to customer service at the sixteenth annual celebration at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Cabot Credit, whose leadership includes John Oros of JC Flowers & Co., has made a name for itself as a company that treats its customers fairly. According to the CTA judges, “Cabot Credit Management has shown how a TCF culture is absolutely embedded throughout the organization.” Cabot focuses on acquiring and managing consumer debt.
Ken Stannard, Chief Executive Officer of Cabot Credit Management, expressed his appreciation and the company’s continuing commitment to its customers, saying, “Customers are central to our culture and business model. We continue to work hard to ensure all our colleagues, from customer consultants through to senior management, are engaged in our approach.”
According to its website, Cabot strives to “create long-term, sustainable value through effective partnerships with our customers and clients founded on ethical principles and continuous innovation.”
Cabot received this recognition despite some stiff competition from 1st Credit, akinika, Debt Advisory Line, drydensfairfax solicitors, HML, Idem Capital, and Robinson Way.
Companies from across the industry were represented at the celebration, which was hosted by Rufus Hound, Chris Turner, and Holly Walsh.
In addition to handing out awards, the celebration also included presenting the Money Charity with a £20,000 check raised by the award ceremony attendees. Since 2007, attendees have helped Credit Today raise over £130,000. The Money Charity promotes education and research into budgeting and broader money issues for people of all ages in the UK. They also produce the monthly “Money Statistics,” which leads the industry in providing an overview of personal finance in the UK.


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There are more than 50 different digital currencies out there.
So Much Crypto
Last night, the owner of the tiny crypto-currency exchange Poloniex reported that 12% of its assets had been stolen.
The statement, frank explanation and action plan to deal with the compromise can be found here.
Checking out the exchange, we couldn’t help but be amazed by the sheer number of crypto-currencies which have sprung up. The image above, from Poloniex’s home page, lists 51 of them aside from bitcoin, most being only a miniscule fraction of the size of bitcoin.
Crazy new world…