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Imagine arriving at the airport for a vacation or business trip without your passport, credit card, or physical identification, and still being able to board a plane, rent a car, and check in at a hotel.
This is the vision of next generation identity solutions provider Incode Technology, which uses artificial intelligence to transform the way we travel, bank, shop and live across Europe and beyond.
“Identity is one of the most primitive industries out there,” says Ricardo Amper, founder and CEO of Incode. “Your money, your will, your health information… everything depends on a physical piece of paper or plastic and it was invented by the Egyptians 3,000 years ago.”
“We can apply artificial intelligence, computer vision and facial recognition to create fully automated digital identities that can generate much more trust than a piece of paper. We feel there is a need to recreate the identity.”
There is a reinvention under consideration due to the Inode Omni platform, which uses passive living technology, expert facial recognition and advanced deep learning techniques to revolutionize the way humans verify their identities and interact with the world’s biggest companies. Is.
Today, Incode Omni flourishes in financial institutions, governments, markets, hotels and hospitals around the world, turning its customer interactions into seamless, touchless user experiences.
In just seven years, the San Francisco-based company has established partnerships with some of the world’s largest markets, governments, hotels, fintech companies and banks, including Jumeirah Group, Citi and Rappi, with products focused on payment integration, authentication and verification. Are included.
And now, with 80% of Europeans using smartphones and with this number projected to grow to 85% by 2025 according to Statista, Inode is not only going to drive smart transactions, but will also drive massive social change.
Inode: Providing a privacy-focused user experience
Since businesses hold our most valuable information and resources, every transaction in today’s marketplace must use the right technology to ensure that consumer data is secure and private.
Incode uses a combination of AI and machine learning technology to create an identity verification process that ensures privacy and security, as well as eliminates the need for documentation.
By using biometrics as the primary means of verification, authentication is simplified while maintaining the high level of security that organizations and individuals have come to expect.
To date, Incode has reduced fraud attempts by up to 99% through the use of advanced risk measurement techniques such as ID card activity detection, biometric facial profiling, and data mismatches.
“All platforms are fully consented and users have complete control,” says Amper. It is up to each individual to decide how to use it for maximum safety and ease.
eliminate friction from start to finish
Every bank, credit union, stockbroker, or other financial institution must strictly adhere to Know Your Customer (KYC) rules when integrating apps, which have traditionally been a lengthy and complicated process… until now.
Today, Incode meets all the required criteria, meets government regulations to quickly enroll customers, while significantly reducing the risk of fraud.
Incode enables financial institutions to effectively collect customer data from their identities, verify their identity documents, authenticate facial biometrics and identify any potential security risks up to 5 times faster than traditional onboarding processes Is.
“Instead of going through a lengthy process to go to the bank and prove who you are, it will be a 30-second experience,” says Amper. «You go through the registration process only once, authenticate with a selfie and give your consent; You will be able to open a bank account in 30 seconds.”
“As with all economic activity, whether it is payments or opening a bank account, it starts with identity, so if identity is weak, so does the rest of the economic activity.”
“By creating a digital identity based on AI, we can develop more trust. With this kind of trust, there has been a lot of economic progress.”
So far, Incode has achieved a 40% increase in conversion rates and a 20% improvement in signup abandonment.
Above all, the simple and secure AI-based platform removes the friction in the financial sector and many other industries where a fast and seamless experience is paramount.
Changing the face of hospitality and travel
Whether you check in with a selfie, be greeted by a biometric scanning robot, or pay your bill digitally on your own, traveling with Incode is super easy.
Inode’s fully automated identification solution verifies guest identities even before they arrive at the property, providing a personalized experience from digital keys to room service.
In this post-pandemic era, the hotel industry is realizing the positive impact of technology on the guest experience and its potential to increase customer loyalty and provide additional revenue.
According to social research agency Blackbox Research, with 76 percent of hotel managers looking to implement a contactless experience by 2025, Inode is a big step in the right direction.


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- Quarterly revenue of $6.4 billion, increased 7% year-over-year GAAP diluted EPS of $0.22
- Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $0.24
San Jose, CA, July 26, 2018 – Flex (NASDAQ: FLEX), the Sketch-to-Scale® solutions provider that designs and builds Intelligent Products for a Connected World®, today announced results for its first quarter ended June 29, 2018.
“This marked the sixth straight quarter of year-over-year revenue growth reflecting a balanced and diversified service offering that enables integrated industry solutions,” said Mike McNamara, CEO at Flex.
First quarter fiscal 2019 results of operations
Net sales for the first quarter ended June 29, 2018 were $6.4 billion, growing 7% year-over-year. We adopted the new revenue recognition standard, ASU 2014-09 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers (Topic 606)” starting April 1, 2018. Our net sales for Q1 fiscal year 2019 without the adoption impact were $6.5 billion and within the guidance range of $6.3 to $6.7 billion which also excluded the impact from adoption of the new revenue recognition standard. GAAP income before income taxes was $142 million for the quarter and adjusted operating income was $188 million, above the midpoint of the guidance range of $170 million to $200 million. GAAP net income was $116 million and adjusted net income for the quarter was $128 million. GAAP net income per share was $0.22 for the quarter and adjusted EPS was $0.24 for the quarter.
Balance sheet and cash flow highlights
Flex ended the quarter with over $1.25 billion of cash on hand and total debt of approximately $2.9 billion. The balance sheet remains well-positioned to support the business over the long-term.
In the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, we adopted the new cash flow accounting standard (ASU 2016-15) which resulted in a reclassification of cash inflows related to the deferred purchase price from securitization transactions from operating activities to investing activities. For the three-month period ended June 29, 2018, Flex’s cash from operations was negative $672 million or negative $15 million adjusted for the impact due to cash collections of deferred purchase price of $657 million during the period. Free cash flow was negative $185 million excluding the impact of the new standard as the Company has increased its investments into capital expenditures and net working capital to support its revenue growth.
Second quarter fiscal year 2019 guidance
For the second quarter ending September 28, 2018, revenue is expected to be in the range of $6.6 to $7.0 billion. Adjusted EPS is expected to be in the range of $0.26 to $0.30 per diluted share. GAAP EPS is expected to be in the range of $0.18 to $0.22 and includes stock-based compensation expense and intangible amortization.
The Company has undertaken, and will continue to undertake, measures to improve our internal control over financial reporting to address and remediate the material weaknesses described further in Item 9A “Controls and Procedures” of our fiscal 2018 Form 10-K. Many of our remediation efforts have been implemented already or are in the process of implementation and we will be finalizing our plans over the coming months. Our initiatives are focused on enhancing site level controls, designing and implementing centralized reporting controls and enhancing the quality and frequency of training. While our remediation plan is being executed, we also have engaged and will continue to engage additional resources to support and supplement the Company’s existing internal resources. We are working to have the material weaknesses remediated as soon as possible.
Webcast and conference call
Flex management team will host a conference call today at 2:00 PM (PT) / 5:00 PM (ET), to review first quarter fiscal 2019 results. A live webcast of the event and slides will be available on the Flex Investor Relations website at http://investors.flex.com. An audio replay and transcript will also be available after the event on the Flex Investor Relations website.
Flex Ltd. (Reg. No. 199002645H) is the Sketch-to-Scale® solutions provider that designs and builds Intelligent Products for a Connected World®. With approximately 200,000 professionals across 30 countries, Flex provides innovative design, engineering, manufacturing, real-time supply chain insight and logistics services to companies of all sizes in various industries and end-markets. For more information, visit flex.com or follow us on Twitter @Flexintl. Flex – Live Smarter®

domain: news


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Microsoft has confirmed that a large number of employees will lose their jobs as the company further scales back its efforts in the mobile space, and it will also take a $950m 'impairment' charge.
...of fabulous flagships, Xbox excitement and Microsoft's mobile meltdown
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Your handy guide to all the phones + tablets running Windows 10 Mobile
windows 10 mobile
In Intel's earnings report today, the firm announced that it intends to lay off 12,000 employees, or 11% of its total workforce. It will also be taking a $1.2 billion restructuring charge.
According to sources inside the company, Microsoft is expected to announce a major new round of layoffs as early as today. This is likely to affect employees in the hardware divisions.
According to a new report from Japan, Sony is planning to cut approximately 1000 jobs from its smartphone division in Europe and China. This comes after consecutive quarters of losses.
IBM will go through the biggest shake-up in corporate history, with the company set to lay off a record number of employees. More than 100,000 people around the world will be affected.
Microsoft is laying off a number of people and it seems the Research arm is no exception. The robotics research team has been let go over the weekend and the project is seemingly dead for now.
Preliminary financial reports indicate Nokia has started to slowly recover but the Finnish company will be slashing another 1000 jobs, mostly in Finland, in an effort to get back to profitability.
HP is rumored to be considering a move that could cause as many as 25,000 of its employees to be laid off, or about eight percent of its total workforce, including some early retirement packages.


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New study forecasts that auto makers’ use of aluminum will continue to grow, but pace will slow as vehicles incorporate a patchwork of materials
Aluminum may not be the new steel, according to a new study, as auto makers’ use of a single predominant lightweight material such as aluminum in vehicles like Ford Motor Co.’s F-150 pickup is giving way to a patchwork of materials replacing heavier sheet metal.
Long seen as a lighter but far more expensive alternative to steel for automotive manufacturers, aluminum has enjoyed a surge as engineers scramble to shave weight amid tighter emissions standards. A new study to be issued Monday by Ducker Worldwide says the use of aluminum in vehicles is projected to grow 42% over the next decade, but at a slower pace than in previous forecasts.
The average vehicle sold today weighs nearly 4,000 pounds and is made of rubber, plastic, steel, aluminum, upholstery and other materials. Auto makers have worked to make every component—from body panels and engines to brackets and windshields—lighter, often by substituting materials that can add costs but improve miles per gallon.
Ford’s shift in 2014 from steel sheet metal to aluminum for the best-selling F-150’s body panels, which represent a meaty portion of a vehicle’s structure, was seen as a tipping point for aluminum because sales and production volumes of Ford’s truck are so high.
Designers, more recently, have decided to use a mix of materials including magnesium and carbon fiber to achieve weight savings, and steelmakers have rolled out stronger but thinner, lighter steels.
For the rest of this article: https://www.wsj.com/articles/more-aluminum-cars-not-so-fast-1501473660?mod=e2fb


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The Biden–Harris Administration has authorized $1 billion in American Rescue Plan funds for the expansion of independent processing capacity to help independent meat and poultry processors compete with the big companies.
Currently, four large meat-packing companies control approximately 85% of the beef market, while the top four poultry processing firms control 54% of the market, and the top four pork processing firms control nearly 70% of the market.
“When too few companies control such a large portion of the market, our food supply chains are susceptible to shocks,” said the White House in a statement. “When COVID-19 or other disasters such as fires or cyber attacks shutter a plant, many ranchers have no other place to take their animals. Our over-reliance on just a handful of giant processors leaves us all vulnerable, with any disruptions at these bottlenecks rippling throughout our food system.”
After sitting down with farmers, ranchers, and independent processors from across the country, the President enacted the Biden–Harris Administration’s Action Plan to create a fairer, more competitive, and more resilient meat and poultry supply chain.
Corwin Heatwole, a sixth-generation farmer in Harrisonburg, Va., and CEO of Farmer Focus, participated in the roundtable with President Biden, and noted that competition is key to a thriving poultry industry that provides fair pay to farmers and transparency to consumers. “We are optimistic about the administration’s focus on increasing processing capacity for independents,” he tells Food Quality & Safety. “In addition to opening up options and opportunities for generational family farmers, consumers will benefit from choice in how their chickens were raised and through the added transparency of labeling as laid out by [USDA] Secretary [Tom] Vilsack and President Biden.”
The plan includes four core strategies for creating a more competitive and objective meat and poultry sector, designed to create better earnings for producers and more choices and affordable prices for consumers.
As part of the plan, USDA will award $32 million in grants to 167 meat and poultry slaughter and processing facilities to support expanded capacity and efficiency through the Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grant program.
Kathleen Merrgian, former U.S. deputy secretary of agriculture who now leads the Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems at Arizona State University in Tempe, noted the plan isn’t just about money, although that is a critical component to the plan. “It is also about enforcing statutes as they relate to anticompetitive behavior,” she says. “This is a potential big win for small and specialty-product producers who, due to the small number of animals they raise, find it difficult to find processing facilities willing to halt industrial scale lines and accommodate them. This oftentimes includes organic producers, who are required to process their animals under strict rules that require segregation. “
She adds that opaque contracts and insufficient competition have long plagued the meat sector. From producers through the supply chain to consumers, she believes the industry will be better off if the Biden Administration successfully addresses monopolistic behaviors and creates a more resilient sector.


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Content discovery platform Outbrain is launching an industry-first certification programme for video and content discovery.
Native content discovery has become an integral part of many marketers’ digital strategies. Outbrain’s new certification programme is designed to provide digital professionals with advanced skills and the best-practice methodologies required to turn brand stories into measurable brand results via the Outbrain platform.
“Outbrain is evolving quickly and marketers can now execute against extremely targeted digital consumer journeys,” said Ayal Steiner, managing director of Outbrain, Asia Pacific.
“Responding to an explicit industry need our goal is to provide professional training and recognition to individuals who have the skill sets required to deliver concrete outcomes and positive ROI for their brands. These more advanced content marketers have moved beyond ‘traffic’ as the singular success metric for video and content.”
Called ‘The Outbrain Academy’, the certification programme will launch this Thursday, May 19 and is already fully subscribed with strong representation from major agencies including OMD, Society, Dentsu and Publicis.
Participants in the program will be led in the development of practical skills including campaign set up and management, measurement and performance optimization and video storytelling to drive business results. Outbrain will also share data and its unique consumer insights with the certified agencies.
The one-day program will be conducted in person by the Outbrain team and led by Yoav Tourel, Outbrain’s head of marketing for Australia and New Zealand.
This Agency Certification will be the start of an ongoing commitment by Outbrain to lead the investment in industry understanding of the still relatively new Native and Content Marketing discipline. The Outbrain Academy already has additional course dates available for eligible executives representing all aspects of using content in marketing, media and the agency landscape.
Twitter has just experienced its fastest growth in revenue since 2014, with the social media platform benefiting from increased interest from advertisers. Revenue was up 74 per cent YoY, according to the company’s Q2 results, reaching $US1.19 billion ($1.6 billion) from $US683.4 million ($925 million) 12 months ago. The strong results came in the same […]
Wild Turkey has announced the launch of its new global creative campaign and platform, ‘Trust Your Spirit’, featuring the brand’s creative director and spokesperson, Matthew McConaughey. The global campaign and platform ‘Trust Your Spirit’ is to encourage people to be bold, unapologetically themselves, and stay true to who they are. The global tagline and ethos […]
Telecommunications company Optus has announced it will launch the world’s first TikTok sign-language activated filter. Featuring Optus ambassador Ian Thorpe, Optus will unveil a branded effect that shows TikTok users how to say key phrases in Auslan sign language, including ‘How are you?’ and ‘It starts with Yes’, through the hashtag challenge #SignYes. Optus will […]
Podsights has revealed new insights into the effectiveness of advertising in podcasts, tracking global and Australian podcast advertising trends. This is the first Australian report to be published since ARN partnered with Podsights to set the standard for best-in-class podcast advertising measurement. The report includes additional analysis and follows a series of Measurement Masterclasses held for […]
NGEN’s 2021 charity cup has raised over $175,000 for UnLtd charity partner Gotcha4Life. Gotcha4Life is a not-for-profit foundation raising awareness and funding to provide educational workshops and innovative programs that build mental fitness in individuals and communities. While Sydney and Brisbane completed the Charity Cup in June, before Covid restrictions hit, the final leg in […]
Australian tech incubator Cicada Innovations and Biennale of Sydney are launching the ‘New & Sustainable Materials Challenge,’ in an effort to create a more sustainable future. The works of chosen material-makers will be showcased to millions of Biennale audiences, exhibition partners, and exhibition makers globally. The Challenge is open to any Australian and UK startups, […]


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An important global coffee report that monitors sustainability claims was released yesterday, and paints the picture that the industry has reached a crisis point in meeting its own climate targets.
“… the coffee sector finds itself immersed in a state of crisis.” … “Amidst the grand claims of sustainability and rosy promises of a prosperous future in coffee agriculture, the harsh reality faced by coffee producers is marked by price volatility and rising production costs … Coupled with rampant inflation and the profound consequences of a rapidly changing climate in the most vulnerable origins.” (2023 Coffee Barometer)
The Coffee Barometer, published at coffeebarometer.org and supported by Conservation International, Solidaridad, Ethos Agriculture and Belgiun and German development agencies, reports on the coffee industry’s attitude and progress towards climate readiness and sustainable supply chains; and is widely recognized as the most accurate “mainstream” depiction of where the coffee industry sits with regards to sustainability.
The last Coffee Barometer report, published in 2020, summed up the “all talk but no action” existing claims and efforts of the biggest coffee corporations, (like Olam, Nestle and Starbucks) as “disappointing”.
This new 2023 report identifies that coffee has now clearly reached a crisis point.
What it Summarizes
- Coffee growing habitat is at severe risk … Projecting a loss of 45.2% of global Arabica production by 2050 (due to loss of suitable habitat). Poses an even greater threat to existing high elevation forests.
- The exploitive and extractive nature of coffee will keep millions of growers below the poverty line.
- The new EU Deforestation Law (10 years in the making) is the first big government regulation requiring commodities like coffee and cocao to prove their supply chains did not contribute to deforestation in order to be approved entry. However, so far the largest coffee companies are challenging the law rather than incorporating the needed changes to be compliant, claiming that the burden will ultimately hurt the farmers.
- Key finding about coffee’s carbon footprint state an increasing loss of more than 130,000 hectares of forest each year, equaling approximately 45 million metric tonnes of carbon emissions.
- The coffee industry is opaque and doesn’t disclose the basic information needed for global stakeholders to properly assess supply chains.
- Multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) like Global Coffee Platform (GCP) and Sustainable Coffee Challenge (SCC), that include associations and recognized NGOs, are allowing companies to benefit from media attention that make it seem like they are acting on climate when they aren’t having any impact (essentially green-washing). “[Multi-stakeholder Initiatives] allows them to portray themselves as “taking action” while conveniently sidestepping the more complex and contentious issues.” (2023 Coffee Barometer)
Conclusion & Next Steps
The report paints a scary picture for high elevation tropical forests, coffee farmers, and people all over the world affected by climate change. So, everyone.
But there is hope in action …
From the report: “Clearly, agroforestry should not be seen as a substitute for natural forests, but rather as a means to restore degraded landscapes. Agroforestry has the potential to contribute to global restoration efforts and store vast amounts of carbon, potentially amounting to millions of metric tons.”
The foundation of YBC’s Yoro Model starts with the local community (i.e. farmers) and introduces a new way of growing, processing and trading (i.e. transparent transactions throughout the supply chain). Its multi-disciplinary approach address all of the issues outlined in the report and is here for coffee companies to embrace.


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Sony bigwig Kaz Hirai is hoping that this next fiscal year, which begins in April, will mark a point where the PlayStation 3 loses its money sink status and becomes profitable. Said the president of SCE at the Consumer Electronics Show (via Reuters), "We want to get to the positive side of the...
Thanks to the folks at the Gamerscore Blog, we've learned that the next Xbox back compat update "should be out in the next few weeks." In his earlier blast against BC, Peter Moore proclaimed that nobody is concerned about it anymore, but thankfully the gentler Gamerscore peeps have set the...
Posted on Jul 22nd 2014 1:00PM
Posted on Jul 22nd 2014 12:00PM
Posted on Jul 22nd 2014 9:01AM


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National retailers Sport Chek and Bulk Barn will soon be new tenants at Prosperity Ridge Shopping Centre in Williams Lake, Platform Properties Ltd. of Vancouver announced this week.
“We are pleased to announce that construction at Prosperity Ridge has commenced for these two outstanding retailers,” said Kyle Shury, principal of Platform. “We are looking forward to them opening for business later this fall and joining our existing complement of tenants.”
Shury said it was exciting news because both businesses are new to Williams Lake.
“There aren’t too many Bulk Barns in B.C. The first one opened in West Bank Kelowna,” he said Thursday.
Mayor Kerry Cook described the announcement as great news.
“New, growing developments such as Prosperity Ridge further cement Williams Lake’s position as a regional shopping destination,” Cook said.
In conjunction with the adjacent Wal-Mart Supercentre, both retailers will be joining existing tenants at the centre, including Dollarama, Bosley’s, Warehouse One and Subway, amongst others.
Upon completion, Prosperity Ridge Shopping Centre will offer more than 100,000 square feet of destination retail space to service the community, and as a retail draw for the broader region, Shury added.
Platform is presently in talks with another large retailer to join the centre and hopes to be in a position to make an announcement later this summer.


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1 The level of home ownership among young adults has “collapsed” over the past 20 years, with the sharpest decline among those on middle incomes of between £20,200 and £30,600, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
2 The UK should follow Turkey and negotiate a “partial customs union” with the EU after Brexit, according to the Institute of Directors. It said that a customs agreement covering industrial goods and processed agricultural products would be a “compromise” that would avoid disruption for major British industries.
3 The government has been condemned by its own advisory body for delaying crucial construction projects. The National Infrastructure Commission believes that the government’s credibility on major projects rests on making a final decision on Heathrow’s third runway this summer.


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- December 03, 2012
Systems management expert Don Retallack offers details of next year's Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1.
- November 29, 2012
Microsoft is making strides in making Azure more accessible to hybrid infrastructures. This week, it rolled out a change that could benefit those who authenticate with Windows Azure. The Azure ...
- November 27, 2012
November 19, 2000. The U.S. still didn't know who the president-elect was and "hanging chads" were a relevant term. It was also the date some administrators saw last week when machines connected to ...
- November 20, 2012
Admins evaluating running an instance of Windows Server 2012 have one more option: Amazon Web Services.
- November 15, 2012
With the release of Windows 8 comes a raft of new features and considerations. Find out the good, the bad and the ugly.
Sponsored by Splunk - Organizations all around the world and across every vertical are moving to the cloud to increase business agility, gain economic benefits and take advantage of a rich breadth and depth of services. However, when reviewing their bills, organizations can be surprised. See More
Sponsored by Dell - Business intelligence and big data analytics workloads place high demands on the underlying infrastructure in terms of performance, capacity, reliability and security. In addition, the enormous growth of unstructured data and the Internet of Things (IoT) forces IT departments to embrace infrastructure solutions that are both cost efficient and simple to deploy. See More
Sponsored by SimpliVity - Virtual desktops are a very different workload from virtual servers, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has designed or deployed a virtual desktop environment. There is also a lot of variation among virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) workloads, including different customers and different groups of users within a single customer. See More
Sponsored by Rackspace - To stay competitive, businesses must innovate and grow while improving time to market, increasing ROI and decreasing TCO. One of the biggest challenges in achieving these goals is growing complexity in the data center. In order to succeed in the new technology landscape, IT must embrace simplicity. Federating public and private cloud resources allows organizations to streamline IT services and run Microsoft workloads in the most optimized and appropriate environments. See More
- November 14, 2012
Two months after general availability, Windows Server 2012 received its first Patch Tuesday fixes.
- November 08, 2012
For the first time since its release in September, Windows Server 2012 will receive critical patches during this month's Patch Tuesday. According to an advance security bulletin released this week, ...
- November 07, 2012
Small businesses and their IT departments looking to take advantage of Microsoft's latest server operating system now have an option to try out.
- November 01, 2012
In this monthly feature, we round up the most popular content of the previous month and share it with you. For October, our most popular pieces involved this year's best ways to manage Windows ...
- October 29, 2012
An independent IT expert goes over his favorite features in Windows Server 2012 and explains how they will make life easier for IT pros.
- October 24, 2012
Microsoft's big data products inched closer to a public release today, as the company released refreshed previews of Hadoop products. They also gained new names: Windows Azure HDInsight Service and ...
- October 10, 2012
Can Microsoft be more like Apple with consumers and yet continue to grow in the enterprise? CEO Steve Ballmer talks about the new business model.
- October 10, 2012
By Stuart J. Johnston, Senior News Writer Microsoft this week began beta testing a set of cloud features designed to give Windows Server 2012 customers the ability to provide Windows Azure services ...
- October 09, 2012
Improperly time stamped certificates mean rereleased patches, on top of fixes for Microsoft Word and Kerberos vulnerabilities this month.
- October 09, 2012
Windows Server 2012 Essentials was released to manufacturing and will be generally available in less than a month, Microsoft said Tuesday. Sinead O'Donovan, director of program management for ...


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"Anderson-based Bright Automotive will soon roll out the start-up company's made-in-Indiana plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that's capable of achieving 100 miles per gallon.
But the unveiling -- scheduled for April 21-- won't be in Central Indiana, but in Washington, D.C.
Executives of the 1-year-old company say their prototype vehicle deserves a bigger stage because of some of the landmark qualities, ranging from fuel efficiency to aerodynamics and 'clean-tech' design."
The company plans to create over 5,000 jobs by 2013.
Energy Systems Network CEO Paul Mitchell said he thinks the rollout "throws out the whole playbook of Detroit" in terms of the design an functionality.
Prick up your ears - Yes, we can do things like this in Anderson and in Indiana. Or to play on something from Cole Porter and President Obama, we can-can.


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Beyond Identity Raises $75 Million to Take Customers Beyond Passwordless to the Identity Platform of the Future
Funds Will be Used to Advance “Passwordless” Into the Era of Continuous Authentication and Meet Exploding Demand for the Company’s Advanced Passwordless Identity Platform
Beyond Identity announced a $75 million Series B round, funded by existing investors and bringing total investment in the company to $105 million. Investors in the company include New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Jim Clark, and Koch Disruptive Technologies, LLC (KDT). The company will use the proceeds to fuel further innovation of its industry-leading, advanced passwordless identity platform and to build a global footprint, including the acceleration of distribution channels, OEM partners, and international sales and support.
Recommended AI News: Global Cisco Study Reveals What Works In Security Is Not What You Might Think
Launched in April 2020 by Silicon Valley icons Jim Clark and Thomas (TJ) Jermoluk, customers have been attracted by the company’s secure, scalable, and frictionless passwordless authentication, but what has really gotten their attention is the platform’s advanced architecture and ability to incorporate granular endpoint security data into a continuous risk policy-based authentication model. The company is currently supporting customers whose workforce counts range in size from less than a hundred, to hundreds of thousands of employees and is attracting businesses that are working to deploy its advanced identity platform to tens of millions of their end-user customers.
“The past seven months have been a challenging time and have forced organizations to rapidly adjust to supporting fully remote workforces, a change that will be largely permanent,” said Forest Baskett, General Partner at NEA. “The industry was moving incrementally in the direction of passwordless approaches, but Beyond Identity’s innovation leapfrogged all others with an elegant architecture and powerful solution. As investors, the opportunity to ride that wave with the leadership team they have assembled was simply too hard to ignore.”
Recommended AI News: MRI Software Joins the Innovation Collaboration Group for Estate Agency Software
Unlike previously available solutions like two-factor/multi-factor authentication (2FA/MFA) or password managers (which attempted to increase security but also greatly increased user friction), Beyond Identity’s advanced passwordless identity platform increases both usability and security, lowering cost and complexity while removing friction for users. The company has continued to rapidly extend its coverage – expanding its Beyond Identity Authenticator to all major operating systems (macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android). The company has streamlined the adoption of passwordless identity management across any business context by offering a completely cloud-native platform, supporting proven industry standards (e.g., OpenID Connect, SAML, TLS, and X.509), and developing formal integration partnerships with single sign-on (SSO) providers, including Ping Identity, Okta, ForgeRock, Microsoft, and others.
“Passwords are so repeatedly exposed that they have become a commodity for criminals. The result has been an exponential rise in account takeover fraud that is costing companies billions annually,” said TJ Jermoluk, CEO of Beyond Identity. “Too many companies use the phrase ‘passwordless’ totally wrong. They aren’t actually eliminating the password at all, just applying Band-Aids to existing legacy password systems. Fundamentally strong authentication requires that companies completely eliminate passwords. But that is just the first move, not the end game. Forward-looking companies are adopting continuous authentication, a new model that provides fundamentally strong, risk-based access, significantly reducing exposure to account takeovers and protecting user privacy.”


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General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra says this is the year that GM moves past its traditional rivals and starts its attempt to close the gap on Tesla in the electric-vehicle race.
It's a long-awaited push. GM has talked for four years about 30 new EVs that will use its Ultium battery, but only recently started production of it. The battery will let the company roll out seven new EVs this year, including the Cadillac Lyriq SUV, Chevrolet Silverado pickup and Blazer SUV. In Barra's estimation, GM will pass traditional rivals like Ford in EV sales and start taking ground won by Tesla over the past decade.


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LinkedIn recently surveyed Black entrepreneurs nationwide to better understand their experiences pursuing entrepreneurship.
The survey sought to highlight the experiences of Black business owners and further understand the tools they need in order to be successful in their endeavors.
LinkedIn is currently investing in multi-hyphenate Black professionals and entrepreneurs by sharing Black business stories on the platform and working with strategic partners to provide grants that will help to elevate Black businesses and provide them with the capital they need to get off the ground.
Here are a few key findings from the survey:
There are diverse reasons for pursuing entrepreneurship.
Black entrepreneurship may be growing, with a 38% increase since February 2020, but the growth is not a new phenomenon.
There are many reasons why individuals have opted to pursue entrepreneurship over a corporate job presently and in the past.
According to the survey, 55% of people decided to pursue entrepreneurship in order to have more flexibility and autonomy over their schedule, while 48% reported their top reason for pursuing it was to build financial security and generational wealth. 30% reported wanting to feel fulfilled doing purpose-driven work.
It can be challenging to find a strong network.
According to LinkedIn’s survey, nearly 1 in 4 Black entrepreneurs believe that the top challenge they face as a business owner is a lack of mentorship and a limited network.
The strength of your network can impact your business’ ability to be successful.
The US Chamber of Commerce Institute For Organization Management describes networking as a way to create new avenues for your business, attract and retain customers, and stand out. Fifty-eight percent of Black business owners surveyed believe that they would be more successful if they had a stronger network.
Many individuals reported going to LinkedIn or similar platforms in order to foster a community of support for their business.
Funding can be difficult to access.
The survey also found that while 43% of Black entrepreneurs believe having access to funding/capital is the key to growing their business, only 1 in 4 Black business owners have received funding. Furthermore, 35% of Black entrepreneurs have been discriminated against when applying for or seeking funding.
Many Black entrepreneurs have to be self-sufficient or work a full-time job in addition to their business pursuits.
Another study done by The Business Journals found that Black entrepreneurs are often turned away from loans.
It found that the annual number of Small Business Administration loans to Black-owned businesses decreased by 84% since its peak before the 2008 financial crisis.
In an effort to combat these issues with Black entrepreneurial funding, LinkedIn has recently announced a $500,000 grant to support programs and organizations that advance and accelerate Black entrepreneurship.
In the past two years, LinkedIn has also donated $5 million in funding and services to organizations that intend to economically support and provide resources to the Black community.
While Black entrepreneurship is growing quickly, the opportunities available to them are growing much slower. LinkedIn is one of many platforms trying to help close to gap, hosting a Black Entrepreneurs Summit to help educate and propel entrepreneurs forward.


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The new Maruti Suzuki Swift Facelift has been teased for a while now and was supposed to go on sale in India along with the new Maruti Suzuki Dzire four months back. Since that did not happen we were expecting the new Swift to be launched in time for Diwali but that did not happen either. Now Maruti Suzuki has launched a new limited edition Swift which is based on the existing platform that has been on sale since 2014.
The new Limited Edition Swift gets various customisation options to choose from and a whole lot of features on the inside. This means that the new Maruti Suzuki Swift Facelift, however, will not be launched in India before the Delhi Auto Expo 2018.
What does the Limited Edition Maruti Suzuki Swift Get?
The Limited Edition Maruti Suzuki Swift gets only cosmetic changes and remains identical under the hood to the outgoing model. The car gets decal on the bonnet, roof and the doors and you can choose to form a number of different options. The interiors are now in line with the decals outside and the steering wheel is sportier than before. Maruti Suzuki also equipped the new Limited Edition Swift with a new infotainment system that comes with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. This infotainment system is different than the one in Baleno and the Brezza.
The thing to be noted here is that the limited edition Swift will be sold alongside the existing model and will not be a replacement to the latter.
Price and Launch of the New Limited Edition Swift by Maruti Suzuki:
Since the launch of the Dzire four months back the Indian car buyers were expecting that Maruti Suzuki will soon launch the new Swift too in the market but that does not seem to be the company’s game plan at all. The new major facelift of the Swift will likely be launched in March at the time of Auto Expo 2018. The limited edition Swift by Maruti Suzuki petrol is priced at a premium of 45,000 Rupees to the LXi(O) model and the diesel is 20,000 Rupees more expensive than the LDi(O).


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The HiPhi Y is HiPhi's key effort to enter the mainstream premium EV market, targeting the segment where the Nio ES6 is present.
(Image credit: HiPhi)
Chinese premium electric vehicle (EV) maker Human Horizons' HiPhi brand has begun delivery of the HiPhi Y in China, with the lower-priced electric SUV expected to be the brand's main sales driver going forward.
HiPhi delivered the HiPhi Y to its first owners in 21 cities on July 29, according to a Weibo post by the company.
HiPhi launched the HiPhi Y on July 15, the company's third model after the ultra-luxurious HiPhi X and HiPhi Z, and its least expensive to date.
The model is currently available in four variants with starting prices of RMB 339,000 ($47,460), RMB 369,000, RMB 399,000 and RMB 449,000 respectively.
For comparison, the HiPhi X starts at RMB 570,000 and the HiPhi Z at RMB 610,000.
HiPhi's product launch strategy is somewhat similar to that of its local counterpart Nio (NYSE: NIO), which started with a higher-priced model and followed it up with lower-priced models aimed at a wider market.
Nio's first production model was the first-generation ES8, and the latest version of the SUV remains its flagship model and the most expensive in its lineup.
After Nio launched the ES6, the less expensive SUV contributed to nearly half of Nio's sales for a long time.
The HiPhi Y is aiming at the same market segment as Nio's new ES6, based on the NT 2.0 platform, which was launched by Nio at the end of May. And the HiPhi Y's pricing has already been influenced by that Nio model.
HiPhi had originally considered setting the starting price of the HiPhi Y at RMB 369,000, which is RMB 1,000 higher than the starting price of the new Nio ES6 at launch.
However, on June 12, Nio removed the free battery swap entitlement from its vehicles' prices, thereby lowering the starting prices of all new models by RMB 30,000, making the starting price of the new ES6 RMB 338,000 yuan.
When HiPhi launched the HiPhi Y on July 15, it set the SUV's starting price at RMB 339,000, RMB 1,000 higher than the adjusted price of the new ES6.
The HiPhi Y measures 4,938 mm in length, 1,958 mm in width and 1,658 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,950 mm, and is available in both single-motor and dual-motor versions.
For comparison, the Nio ES6 measures 4,854 mm in length, 1,995 mm in width and 1,703 mm in height, and has a wheelbase of 2,915 mm. The ES6 comes standard with dual motors.
As the lowest-priced model launched by HiPhi to date, the HiPhi Y is expected to help the company enter the mainstream premium EV market.
On July 24, HiPhi's brand and communications manager Xu Bin said in a Weibo post that the HiPhi Y had received 2,000 firm orders and more than 50,000 purchase intentions about one week after launch.
The number of available test drives of the model in showrooms was very tight, and HiPhi was accelerating the process of making test drives available in stores to schedule more test drives and increase the conversion rate of orders for the HiPhi Y, Xu said at the time.
($1 = RMB 7.1423)


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For the eleventh consecutive week, gasoline prices increased, climbing 7.4 cents to 287.6 cents per gallon for the week of April 16, 2007. Prices are now 9.3 cents per gallon higher than at this time last year. All regions reported higher prices. East Coast prices were up 8.4 cents to 283.9 cents per gallon. The Midwest saw prices rise 6.3 cents to 280.7 cents per gallon. The largest regional increase was in the Gulf Coast, with prices up 8.8 cents to 276.3 cents per gallon. Rocky Mountain prices increased 8.2 cents to 280.1 cents per gallon. West Coast prices were up 5.7 cents to 319.5 cents per gallon, with the average price for regular grade in California up 5.3 cents to 330.5 cents per gallon, 40.9 cents per gallon above last year's price.
Inventories are still down
And prices are still increasing:


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A vulnerability in Android that was publicly disclosed in mid-March could be exploited by malicious applications to force devices into an endless reboot loop, according to security researchers from Trend Micro.
Symantec fired its second CEO in less than two years on Thursday, dismissing Steve Bennett and putting a board member in charge while the security vendor searches for a permanent replacement
A Linux worm that targets routers and set-top boxes is now looking for full-fledged computers to use its new feature, a cryptocurrency mining function, according to Symantec.
Symantec has spotted a phishing campaign leveraging Google Drive that would be hard for users to discern as a scam.
A new commercial tool designed to allow cybercriminals to easily transform legitimate Android applications into malicious software has hit the underground market, paving the way for cheap and easy development of sophisticated Android malware.
The number of attacks exploiting a yet-to-be-patched vulnerability in Internet Explorer has increased dramatically over the past few days, indicating the exploit is no longer used just in targeted attacks against particular groups of people.
Symantec said that the damages from a U.S. investigation into its compliance with government contracting rules may be about US$145 million.
Retailers will face an increased risk of data breaches after Microsoft ends support for Windows XP, a version of which powers the majority of modern cash registers, security vendor Symantec warned in a report published Monday.
A new computer Trojan program attempts to install mobile banking malware on Android devices when they're connected to infected PCs, according to researchers from Symantec.
At least three security companies have scrubbed information related to Target from the Web, highlighting the ongoing sensitivity around one of the largest-ever data breaches.
You have to give spammers credit for effort: Symantec found a spam campaign that manages to abuse three Web services at the same time.
Attackers are compromising Linux and Windows systems to install a new malware program designed for launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, according to researchers from the Polish Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT Polska).
A new worm is targeting x86 computers running Linux and PHP, and variants may also pose a threat to devices such as home routers and set-top boxes based on other chip architectures.
Symantec plans to close down its Backup Exec.cloud service, saying it lacks mobile and content-sharing features and wouldn't be the right platform for delivering them.
Cybercriminals are increasingly using the "Blackshades" malware program whose source code was leaked three years ago, according to an analysis by Symantec.
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Samsung has been working on Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) technology for quite some time, their first DMB chip for cellphones was unveiled over a year ago. Today they have announced their SCH-B200 DMB handset with horizontal screen for comfortable multimedia viewing.
The B200 is pretty stacked, it has a 2-megapixel camera, MPEG4 video recording and messaging, MP3 player, video player and a vivid 2.2-inch wide LCD screen with 260k colours. Samsung has also boosted the battery to 1300mAh for over 3 hours of video playback. It also offers TV-out functionality and external memory support via TransFlash.
Samsung covered most of the features on this unit, it will be out in Korea by mid-2005. They also announced the release of their SPH-B1200 terrestrial DMB phone to Europe.


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How to break the colonial legacy of exporting goods ‘overseas’ and raise the level of trade between African countries? This has been an issue the African Union (AU) has grappled with since it devoted its January 2012 summit to the issue of ‘Intra-African trade’.
The annual Economic Development in Africa report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched in Ethiopia last Friday, 11 July 2013, gives interesting answers to some of the questions African governments and the AU have been asking.
African governments are increasingly aware that socio-economic development is an essential pillar of securing a peaceful and stable continent. Former Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi often spoke about the pursuit of greater cooperation among African countries in this regard.
During last year’s debate at the AU summit in Addis Ababa, he reprimanded his peers for being too short sighted. One couldn’t simply scrap tariffs and speed up bureaucracy at border posts to ensure intra-African trade, he believed. If every country in East Africa produced ‘tea and coffee’ why would they export to one another, he asked. Zenawi and a number of other heads of state also complained at that debate that the AU’s plans for creating a continental free trade area in 2017 was, at best, unrealistic.
Intra-African trade – which is linked to greater regional cooperation and stability – has become quite a buzz word in Africa since it was pointed out that only 11% of Africa’s trade is within the continent, compared to Asia, where 50% of total trade is between countries in the region. African governments have, over the last number of years, taken up the challenge and announced ambitious plans for mega continental infrastructure projects, development corridors and free trade areas – a continental integration seen as one of the essential drivers of African development.
But UNCTAD says this is not enough. In its report entitled ‘Intra-African trade: unlocking private sector dynamism’, it calls on the AU to make a ‘paradigm shift’ and for governments to let go of plans that have become outdated in a globalised environment. They should instead look at new notions like a ‘developmental regionalism’ built around value chains, be more realistic and face the fact that it is actually the private sector that imports and exports and not government institutions. The advice to governments is also to look at outcomes rather than only removing barriers to trade.
UNCTAD does acknowledge that lifting tariffs within Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and one-stop border posts are good steps towards improving intra-African trade. However, many discrepancies remain.
How can it be that, for example, an Ethiopian company exporting to Tunisia faces tariffs of up to 50% on average while a Tunisian exporter to Ethiopia faces a protection rate of 16%? A Moroccan exporting to Nigeria faces an average protection rate of 66% while a Nigerian exporting to Morocco faces an average protection rate of 18%, the report states.
Too many external trade agreements taking advantage of colonial trade patterns are another potential obstacle to intra-African trade. UNCTAD praises AU Commission chairperson Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for announcing a moratorium on external trade agreements at the AU’s January 2013 summit. ‘This is a step in the right direction and should be welcomed and supported by development partners,’ it says.
In this debate, figures can be misleading. According to the report, intra-African trade as a share of African world trade declined to a low of 11% in 2011, compared to 22% in 1997.
However, it acknowledges that much of this is because of the surge in African trade with the rest of the world, which grew at 12% per year. The report is also based only on official figures. ‘Substantial and thriving informal trade in Africa is an indication that intra-African trade is not as low as official statistics suggest,’ it warns.
Institute of Security Studies


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- Ex-Austin Ventures executives launched Tritium in 2013
- Tritium Fund II will follow same strategy as Fund I
- Tritium has put GIACT Systems up for sale
Tritium Partners, the Austin private equity firm founded by former Austin Ventures executives, is out marketing its second fund.
The firm is seeking $375 million for its latest flagship, according to September pension documents from Texas Municipal Retirement System.
With Fund II, Tritium is targeting 12 to 14 control transactions, investing $15 million to $50 million equity per deal, the documents said.
Tritium is staying with the strategy it used with its first fund. The buyout shop in 2015 closed its debut at its $309 million hard cap.
Tritium seeks to invest in U.S. companies that are generating from $2 million to $20 million in Ebitda. Sectors of interest include internet and information services, supply chain and logistics, as well as business and financial services in the U.S.
Texas Municipal’s board recommended that the pension plan invest $60 million in Tritium Fund II. The board has approved all recommendations, said Bill Wallace, a spokesman.
Ex-Austin Ventures executives launched Tritium in 2013. Phil Siegel, a managing partner, was a GP at Austin Ventures, while David Lack, also a co-founder, was a partner.
The firm is seeking a buyer for GIACT Systems, Buyouts reported in September. Raymond James is advising.
GIACT is the Allen, Texas, provider of verification, authentication and funds confirmation to more than 1,000 customers. Clients include financial and lending institutions, insurers, and retail and ecommerce merchants.
Executives for Tritium and Texas Municipal could not immediately be reached for comment.
Action Item: Contact Phil Siegel at +1 512-493-4100


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After a few days’ break, Elon Musk resumed selling shares in Tesla Inc., now coming more than halfway to making good on his promise to offload 10% of his stake in the electric-car maker.
The billionaire sold an additional 934,091 shares for $1.05 billion, according to regulatory filings late on Tuesday U.S. time. He also exercised 2.15 million stock options, and the sales were made to cover the taxes related to that transaction, the documents showed.“);]]>
With the most recent disposals, Musk now has offloaded 9.2 million shares and collected about $9.9 billion of proceeds since he conducted a Twitter poll asking whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stake. A chunk of that money will go to taxes.
To reach the 10% threshold, Musk would need to sell some 17 million shares, or about 1.7% of the company’s outstanding stock. If his exercisable options are factored into his overall ownership, he’d need to sell even more.
Musk has exercised millions of options since the Twitter poll, all of which were less than a year from their expiration date. In September, he established a pre-arranged trading plan to carry out “an orderly sale of shares related to the exercise of stock options,” filings show. The Nov. 6 Twitter poll didn’t disclose the existence of that plan.
Tesla shares have rebounded 9.4% after initially slumping following the poll. Its tokens on the FTX crypto exchange slipped to $1,102.70 as of 12:38 p.m. in Hong Kong Wednesday after closing at $1,109.03 in New York.
Musk, 50, is the world’s richest person with a $303.7 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He’s added $133.9 billion to his net worth this year, more than anyone else, amid a 57% jump in Tesla shares.
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Weltrend recently announced the release of its WT6676F and WT667F USB Power Delivery (PD) controllers which it claims are the industry’s first which support the USB PD Revision 3.1, enabling full support for output voltages up to 48V and power output up to 240W.
Since the USB IF announced the USB PD specification revision 3.1 in May 2021, only a few USB PD 3.1 enabled solutions have entered the market capable of delivering more than the previous 100W power limit. Apple’s 140W USB-C charger for its updated MacBook Pro which launched in October 2021 was the first known to SAR. Xinspower has since launched two multi-port fast chargers with PD 3.1 capable of 140W output. Availability of chipsets which enable full 240W capability via PD will be a welcome development. SAR predicts that the first products to launch with PD 3.1 at a power rating greater than 140W will be gaming laptops (and their adapters).
Full analysis and projections of the market, including by charging interface, are included in SAR’s USB Power and Charging service.


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Long-term lending institution the European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched a first-ever scheme that involves strengthening local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients in Africa and scaling up drug manufacturing.
The scheme, in which €50-million will be invested, will contribute to reducing dependency on drug imports on the continent and address medical supply chain weaknesses linked to Covid-19, which currently exacerbate public health challenges in Africa.
“Covid-19 has highlighted how public health in Africa is vulnerable to global supply chains and dependent on international production.
“Increasing local specialist manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients will help to improve the public health of millions of Africans. This new initiative demonstrates how specialist pharmaceutical and financing expertise can create jobs and a better future for Africa,” says World Health Organisation assistant director-general Dr Mariângela Simão.
The scheme will enable Africa to benefit from a predicted doubling in local pharmaceutical sales over the next decade, improve access to healthcare and create specialist jobs on the continent.
Demand for pharmaceutical products in Africa is expected to have reached €60-billion in 2020.
The initiative will provide long-term financing for pharmaceutical production across sub-Saharan Africa and specifically target the manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients that constitute 45% of final drug costs.
The new financing programme will also ensure that African pharmaceutical manufacturing can benefit from technological innovation that is transforming the industry and making local production easy through digital connectivity, automation and cloud computing.


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Four priorities your health plan must embrace to thrive in the future
Health plans of the future will focus on consumers: designing products, care and services to support improved health.
“Health plans of the future will make it easy for consumers to understand their coverage, and also how to access the best care for their condition. This includes convenience, quality and costs,” says Andrea Walsh, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, HealthPartners. Successful plans “will understand consumer values and preferences using engagement and data analytics. And they’ll use that to support better health and care, both individually and in communities.”
Five to 10 years ago, plans fundamentally focused on two stakeholders—employers and provider networks, says Patrick James, MD, chief clinical officer of health plans and policy and medical affairs at Quest Diagnostics. “Over the last several years, the member has become a key part of the stakeholder triad. Several plans have even designated the equivalent of a ‘chief consumer officer charged with understanding the consumer, as well as keeping an eye on the larger marketplace and competitors,” James says.
Successful plans of the future will also better adapt to shifting healthcare policies. Based on the new administration and Trump’s stated priorities, reduced regulations will likely be a big focus over the next few years, with less utilization review and fewer reporting requirements, according to says Ron Geraty, MD, chief executive officer of AxisPoint Health.
Plans “will answer to market forces rather than government mandate, leading to lower costs,” Geraty says. They will also encourage greater provider alignment by easing and simplifying reporting requirements, he says.
“Health plans of the future will partner with care systems. In doing so, they will redesign more affordable care and advance payment reform. Changes to the underlying business model in healthcare will be another central focus for the future. Care and coverage will become much more integrated. And community health will emerge with increased importance,” Walsh adds.
To thrive, plans will also need to take a proactive role in managing member outcomes and provide consumers with the resources they need to improve their health, says Clover Health Chief Operating Officer Wilson Keenan. “Health plans must show their value to consumers and providers.”
Here’s more on the above changes, and four priorities your plan must embrace to thrive in the future.


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Company party planners and impromptu holiday gathering hosts in California can now order their favorite wines and other alcoholic beverages on a mobile device or PC and have it delivered within an hour. The service results from an agreement between Saucey Inc., which bills itself as an alcohol delivery e-commerce company, and BevMo, a specialty beverage retailer.
Saucey provides the delivery service for BevMo, a Concord, Calif.-based liquor store chain with 158 stores and a website, BevMo.com. The agreement enables BevMo to grow market share by accessing new customers. “Partnering with Saucey allows us to deliver to customers who can’t make it to our store for whatever reason with all same great assortment and exclusive products they enjoy when they shop with us in-store,” says Tamara Pattinson, chief marketing and information officer at BevMo.
BevMo customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and Sacramento can now order alcoholic beverages, cigars and barware for delivery in under an hour.
Saucey says it has hundreds of corporate accounts under which businesses order products for corporate events, client gifting and employee incentives programs. As companies or consumers place their orders, Saucey routes the orders to the nearest partner in its service area, such as BevMo, to fulfill them.
After registering, shoppers use a free app provided by Saucey to place orders. For example, a customer in Los Angeles opens the app, enters an address or activates the location function and places an order with the closest BevMo store. The customer pays BevMo for the goods through the app, then a Saucey courier receives the order, picks it up from the BevMo store and delivers it to the designated address.
There’s no fee for the retailer, but Saucey charges customers a $2.99 delivery fee for orders under $35. The fee is waived for orders above $35 and for premium members, who also get 5% off their order. Premium members subscribe to Saucey $7.99 per month.
Under a process designed to weed out underage buyers, the customer must certify he is 21 years of age or older and then verify that claim on delivery. Saucey couriers scan the buyer’s identification card to ensure its validity and only the purchaser can accept delivery. Failed deliveries result in restocking fees charged to the buyer’s credit card.
With the BevMo agreement, Saucey has online access to the retailer’s store inventory, and its selection of beverages and related goods has grown from an average of 950 products in a given delivery area, to more than 9,500, the company says.
“While the average brick-and-mortar retailer captures less than six purchases per year per customer, Saucey is capturing on average 23 purchases per customer annually, almost four times the purchasing behavior,” says Alan Johnson, who is a former CEO of BevMo and a Saucey board member. “It’s not that people are drinking more, it’s that Saucey has consolidated a customer’s shopping behavior to one platform, instead of across five or six traditional retailers throughout the year.”
The retail alcohol industry sells more than $113 billion per year in the United States, according to Saucey, “but as an industry it has been almost completely untouched by technology.” Saucey fills a perceived void in the alcohol delivery world, says Chris Vaughn, CEO and co-founder. “Our strategy to build a sophisticated logistics platform was more difficult than building an ordering portal, but our commitment to quality has enabled us to offer a platform that scales with demand, offering reliability to both consumers and retailers.”
Saucey launched in May 2014 and serves Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento in California, and Chicago. It’s one of many alcohol delivery services springing up in recent years, including Drizly, which serves 26 U.S. markets; grocery delivery app Shipt, serving 30 markets; Minibar, in 28 markets; and Amazon.com Inc., which sells alcohol through its Prime Now and AmazonFresh grocery units in select markets. Amazon is the parent of Amazon Business, No. 104 in the 2017 B2B E-Commerce 300.
Sign up for a free subscription to B2BecNews, a twice-weekly newsletter that covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B e-commerce industry. B2BecNews is published by Vertical Web Media LLC, which also publishes the monthly business magazine Internet Retailer. Follow Bill Briggs on Twitter @BBriggsB2B.
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The healthcare, manufacturing and construction sectors are the most confident small businesses in Australia, feeling optimistic for the rest of 2020.
Businesses that are (understandably) not so confident include professional services, accommodation, food and the education industries.
The research comes from a report released by global small business platform Xero.
Its stats show that nearly half (48%) of surveyed small business owners are optimistic about their prospects in the second half of this year, and that one in four (23%) expect revenue to jump up by more than 10% by December.
“Here we are in the middle of both a pandemic and the worst recession in three generations,” says one of Australia’s leading social commentators, Bernard Salt.
“The fact that half of all small businesses remain optimistic about their prospects in the second half of the year says something about sheer determination and inherent optimism of the small business community in Australia.”
Transformation in the new world
COVID-19 will change the way that everyone does business in the future, with remote working set to be the new norm with the emergence of ‘self-contained’ suburban regional centres.
Managing Director of Xero Australia and Asia, Trent Innes says: “Small business has long been the backbone of Australia’s economy, and so when the pandemic hit, the sector bore the brunt.
“We also see that the pandemic has hastened the adoption of digital trends by businesses, highlighting the importance of continued investment in digitisation in the revival of our small business economy.”
Another common theme among businesses that report prospering is investment in technology, with 35% expecting to increase their investment in tech even further in the next three months. Of those looking to invest in the coming months, sales and marketing platforms will be the primary investment focus, followed by product/service innovation and project management.
“Small businesses that have prospered during the pandemic may well have been in the right industry at the right time but, according to the survey, the best-of-the-best adapted, found new markets and invested in technology,” concludes Mr Salt.


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The restructuring plan announced last week by AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson, along with the resignations of four top leaders at the company, raises questions about Jackson's eventual successor.
Chevy believes much of Silverado's future growth will come from new customers to the pickup segment, so it's reaching out to nontraditional audiences.
A new port investment at Mobile could help Alabama challenge the East Coast for auto export, import traffic
Jailed former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn speaks out in court on accusations that he received compensation from Nissan that was not disclosed.
Dealers featured this week include Norman Frede, dealer principal of Norman Frede Chevrolet in Houston; and Steven Serra, dealer principal of Serra Toyota in Birmingham, Ala.


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27 March 2015
This week rhino owners, conservation NGOS and other stakeholders had a chance to address the Rhino Horn Trade Proposal Committee of Inquiry with their support or concerns for re-opening of international trade in rhino horn. WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa) voiced strong concerns against trade as it risks exposing our few remaining rhinos to heightened poaching pressure.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is considering requesting international wildlife trade regulator CITIES to allow restricted trade in rhino horn. It has established the Committee of Inquiry, a panel of trade, law and conservation experts to advise it on this proposal. DEA’s stance on this matter was evident when they elected a panel heavily weighted with pro-trade advisors, but later included more no-trade proponents after many conservation NGOs complained of its obvious bias. On 26 and 27 March the Committee of Inquiry heard public submissions from stakeholders and concerned organisations on this proposal that will have far reaching implications for conservation, community development and international relations.
WESSA warns that the current trade proposal carries an unacceptably high risk of being corrupted by the poaching syndicates and illegal horn traders, and that re-opening legal trade will encourage a growth in horn consumer demand and speculation buying. This will undoubtedly exacerbate rhino poaching above current levels, as was the case with the CITES approved once-off sales of elephant ivory in 1999 and 2008. Those ivory sales were intended to undercut the illegal ivory trade prices and hence discourage poaching, as well as to divert the illegal trade revenue into legally benefiting the conservation agencies that are protecting elephants. This is what pro-traders also intended with rhino horn trade. But global evidence shows that the very opposite occurred, with considerable stockpiles of poached ivory being laundered through loopholes in the legal ivory sales chain. It also relaxed social acceptance of ivory ownership in consumer countries, which in turn stimulated market demand for ivory. The Born Free Foundation reports that between 2008 and 2013 an estimated 30,000 and 50,000 elephants were poached each year.
WESSA is convinced that the South African authorities, authorities of other range and consumer states and CITES are highly unlikely to achieve the capacity and mechanisms needed to prevent the same situation happening through the legalising of rhino horn trade. Not even the extremely tightly controlled Kimberly Process has managed to adequately suppress the entry of blood diamonds into legal markets, nor has the severe South African copper trading restrictions prevented widespread copper theft. WESSA does not believe that the criminal syndicates will passively react to the threat posed by legalised horn trade. They are more likely to succeed in corrupting the proposed central horn selling organisation (CSO), to launder their illegal stockpiles.
Part of the proposed trading mechanism is for the CSO to sell horn at a regulated, discounted price, set low enough to discourage poaching and undercut illegal horn traders. The ivory sales example, where the supplier sale price was also set low, evidenced that ivory purchase prices for the ivory carving factories and that of the end products remained fairly constant, but with an increased price for poached ivory. Similarly, the foreign market for rhino horn price is predicted to remain so high as to still encourage widespread poaching of rhinos.
Pro-trade proponents argue that a CSO monopoly selling to a cartel of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) suppliers will be able to drive the price of horn down, which will reduce the appetite speculators now have for buying horn. WESSA is not in any way convinced that the TMC suppliers would sell at a much lower price than what they can currently get for it now – the price is likely to stay high enough to encourage poaching and speculation buying. If end consumer prices remain high, illegal suppliers will remain in business, just like with illegal cigarette smuggling.
Internationally traditional medicines sales are fading due to the availability of cheaper synthetic modern medicines, which are favoured especially by younger generations. Stimulating legal horn trade could set back this natural consumer trend which is acting in favour of endangered wildlife. Furthermore, creating legal access to horn risks reawakening demand in older markets, such as Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, and Yemen, where demand for rhino horn was prevalent in the 1970s and 1980s and has since decreased. If demand grows again in these markets, it will put upward pressure on the horn price, incentivising poaching. And it is not just South African rhino populations that DEA’s proposal places at such high risk, but also that of Indian, Javan, northern white, and Sumatran rhinoceros species. DEA’s trade proposal risks compromising the concerted international efforts and resources already made towards conserving these endangered species.
WESSA supports the principle of sustainable utilisation of natural resources. We recognise that the protection of rhino is incurring substantial costs, both financial and human, to public and private reserves stocking them. We support the right of game reserves to financially benefit from the consumptive and non-consumptive use of their wildlife resources; provided that it sustainable, humane, ethical and in accordance with best practice principals and relevant legislation. WESSA believes that revenue from ecotourism, increased hunting (where such is genuine, sustainable and without permitting the export of trophy horns or other rhino body parts), live rhino sales, as well as other uses of rhino products – such as innovative products like rhino horn infused wines and spa treatments – can offset rhino management costs.
Research conducted in 2014 amongst communities living in and alongside the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Park, and that of experts working in this park, has illuminated concerning community attitudes towards the park and that of poaching wildlife. These include common feelings of being economically marginalised, anger towards the park, seeing huge financial and social status incentives for participating in or supporting poaching and perceived widespread corruption amongst parks and police officials acting in support of rhino poaching. Until community development and anti-poaching efforts are ramped up, and communities nearest the parks see it in their best interest to protect endangered animals, gaining greater traction through efforts to bring an end to poaching will be difficult.
Instead of going through the lengthy process of trying to get rhino trade approved, WESSA urges that the DEA and SANParks should rather address the more immediate issues of the affected communities who are facilitating the costly poaching of rhino in direct competition to their conservation efforts and investments. Responses to these community issues should not be dependent on income from rhino horn sales, rather they need to be conceived with community direction, implemented independently from political interference and be held accountable to their communities.
The horn trade proposal is complex, involving international-level legal systems, crime syndicates and foreign cooperation agreements; national-level issues of taxation opportunities, conservation budgets and endemic corruption across state agencies. It also interfaces with the local communities’ relationships with reserves and the status-seeking adventurism of youth at risk. The priority is to address local community factors which, unless effectively challenged, will see rhino populations fall to critical levels, before any trade mechanism can be put in place. WESSA hopes that the Committee and the Minister of Environmental Affairs will heed the submissions of stakeholders in which they caution that this down-listing proposal is premature. South Africa does not yet have a mature and accountable democracy that has a reasonable chance of implementing a horn trading system that can sufficiently restrict illegal trade. To trade now is to risk too much.


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By Michael Bachelard
Prestige carmaker BMW will pay back $72 million to ordinary Australian car buyers who were misled into believing they could afford one of the luxury German vehicles.
The massive consumer pay-back – perhaps Australia's largest ever – will also see the Munich-based company's finance arm paying $5 million into a "community benefit fund" to help educate people about financial literacy.
Fairfax Media can reveal that BMW Australia Finance has signed an enforceable undertaking with the corporate regulator to repay the money after we revealed in August that the company was giving big loans to people with zero or even negative disposable incomes.
A scathing review found that, while the company's most reckless salesmen were rewarded with bonuses, BMW had given a loan of $27,000 to a single mother of 10 children even though she was in casual employment and had negative disposable income.
It gave $23,300 to a refugee aged 21 who had been employed for just one month and whose income was overstated. And it granted a loan of nearly $50,000 to a 76-year-old man based on earning projections rather than the man's real income. The loan was almost twice the value of the car.
The company accepted false loan documents to justify their decisions.
The "remediation" program, agreed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, is open to all customers of BMW Finance, Alphera Financial Services and Mini Financial Services brands – all fully-owned subsidiaries of BMW.
The company will write off $50 million in loans that the company should never have made, will make $14.6 million in direct payments to people who were ripped off or misled and grant $7.5 million in interest rate reductions on current loan contracts.
The program is understood to identify at least 15,000 customers who suffered hardship when borrowing to buy the European marque between January 2011 and August 2016.
The agreement came as BMW Australia Finance faced the real threat of a class action from disgruntled borrowers, who were often left owing more than their car was worth. Sources said such a class action would have had a good chance of success because there was evidence that the company's management was aware of the failures and lack of controls in its business.
ASIC believes that BMW Finance had a "sales-driven culture" that failed to comply with the requirements of the credit laws.
"This is an example of the staggering cost of poor business practices and should act as a warning to other car financiers to get their houses in order."
Details of the company's poor lending practices came to light in August when an ASIC-appointed accounting firm, Ernst & Young, conducted a forensic audit of the company's books. Out of 100 BMW customer files that it considered questionable, the accountants found 98 per cent breached the consumer credit code. In the vast bulk of these files, the finance company had underestimated people's monthly spending when assessing them for a loan.
Ernst & Young's appointment has been extended until the end of next year, and it will conduct a "live review" of a sample of new loans that BMW is writing.


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And with consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies slated to represent $4.2 billion in digital ad spend this year – a number eMarketer predicts will hit more than $7 billion by 2018 – bots, and their human creators, are starting to add CPG brands to the top of their shopping list.
Ari Jacoby, CEO of digital ad company Solve Media, noted Q2 2014 had significantly higher amounts of bot activity among CPG brand advertising largely due to US mobile-based bot traffic, which was 40% higher than what Solve has seen in the past. Global mobile bot traffic was up a little more than 20% – a phenomenon corroborated by Andy Fan, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based fraud detection solution RTB Asia.
“CPG vertical campaigns have a higher percentage – possibly the highest – of bot-related fraud over travel, gaming, auto or financial services,” Fan told AdExchanger. “In China, the goal of most CPG vertical campaigns is branding, not direct response or ecommerce, and this usually leads to loose goal measurement, which makes CPG advertisers less likely to notice fraud.”
Spend on search and desktop display is up among CPGs – there's been a roughly 11% year-over-year increase, according to Kantar Media – but it's mobile that's going to be the future bugbear, especially as CPG brands start to spend more on mobile programmatic.


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- SEBI announces changes to cyber security and cyber resilience framework for QRTAs
- Government approves guidelines for small business cluster development programme for 2021-26 period
- Government to come up with framework to check fake reviews on e-commerce websites
This Rakesh Jhunjhunwala stock barely made money; should you invest?
Updated: July 10, 2018 14:57 pm
This Rakesh Jhunjhunwala portfolio stock has barely made money for the ace investor in the last 10 years. But you should buy it!


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Autumn bull sale price records tumble amid uncertain times
High demand for bulls is a certainty this autumn, with that being borne out in early season prices. But there much that is uncertain also, amid Victoria’s Stage Four coronavirus lockdown.
PRICE records were broken time and time again across the first week of annual autumn bull sales in Victoria, South Australia and NSW, driven by record-high cattle prices across the east coast.
But the enduring volatility of the coronavirus outbreak and a snap five-day lockdown across Victoria could disrupt sales this week, if the Stage Four lockdown is extended.
An analysis by The Weekly Times of key stud sales last week showed price averages lifted year-on-year, with many studs breaking price records.
Granite Ridge Angus in South Australia recorded a top price of $36,000; up on last year’s top price of $12,500.
The stud recorded an average price of $10,681; an increase of more than $4300 on last year.
Clearance rates across most bull sales were also up on last year.
Woonallee Simmental Elite Production, Stoney Point Angus and Serita Park Angus all sold 100 per cent of bulls offered across their autumn sales.
At Mount William Charolais, Willaura, two bulls achieved a top price of $20,000, with 36 of the 37 bulls offered sold on the day.
Mount William Charolais stud principal Rob Abbott said clients didn’t seem swayed by present market trends, and instead were focused on buying bulls specifically for their breeding program.
But the enduring strength of the cattle industry did drive prices, Mr Abbott said.
“I’ve read a lot about people wanting heifer bulls (this season),” Mr Abbott said.
“I don’t think that necessarily plays out here. A lot of people won’t join their heifers to Charolais anyway; what you’re buying is a powerful product here.”
Elders Hamilton livestock agent and auctioneer Ross Milne said while the industry was waiting to see whether the Victorian Stage Four lockdown would be extended, he was optimistic sales would continue.
“At the present time, it shouldn’t affect the majority of Victorian bull sales,” Mr Milne said.
“People can still go to sales under the definition of essential services. If the lockdown does continue … it might affect some of our Victorian clients who rely on South Australian buying support.
“The next 24 hours are key in terms of hopefully coming out of lockdown. If not, we may see a few sales postponed.”
Despite the ongoing coronavirus disruptions, Mr Milne said the first week of sales was impressive.
“Sales have certainly been stronger than last year, and clearance rates have been great,” Mr Milne said.
“Averages are up substantially on last year, and that’s probably to be expected considering where the beef industry is at the moment.”


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Farm to Table Guam is offering a new service to bring more revenue to local farmers while also helping the community eat more healthfully.
Guam – Bringing fresh fruits and vegetables home can be as easy as subscribing to a magazine.Farm To Table Guam is launching a new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Subscription Service later this month.
For $300 CSA subscribers will have a new box of local produce each week for six weeks. A new box of produce will be available for pick-up at the Farm to Table office or the Mangilao Night Market.
“It’s a variety of at least ten different fruits, vegetables, roots, and herbs and spices,” Community Outreach Assistant Cassie Brady told PNC. “It depends whats in season.”
Registration will open at 10am May 14th but you’ll have to act quickly if you want to participate.
“It’s like a rock concert the first thirty that sign up are going to be the thirty that get the boxes,” Program Director Melanie Mendiola said. “Then once that 30 closes the subscription actually starts on May 28th.”
The boxes will also include recipes, nutritional values, storage tips for the contents of the box, and farmer profiles.
For more information visit the Farm to Table Guam website: Farmtotableguam.org


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Fitzgerald orders a review into treatment of beauty pageants
CHILDREN'S Minister Frances Fitzgerald has ordered a review into how other countries treat controversial beauty pageants.
The Fine Gael minister last night said money would be put aside for the project, which is being commissioned on the back of strong criticism of pageants in Ireland.
While Ms Fitzgerald said she does not believe legislation is required to ban such events, she told the Seanad that she wants Ireland to be a "cold house for pageants".
“Catapulting little girls and boys into a sexuality for which they are neither physically nor cognitively ready is a form of theft. It is the theft of childhood," she said.
Ms Fitzgerald was speaking during a debate on a private members motion proposed by Independent senator Jillian van Turnhout.
She said she has had major concern in the past about retailers selling sexually provocative clothing for chldren, adding that some of the largest retailers have now signed up to a code of conduct which ban suuch products.
Dunnes Stores last year become the latest retailer to agree to the guidelines -- which ban the sale of sexually suggestive clothing, slogans and imagery.
The list of signatories includes Arnotts, Brown Thomas, Clerys, Debenhams and House of Fraser.
Marks & Spencer, Next, Penneys, Tesco and TK Maxx have also signed up to the guidelines.


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A well-known name in Indiana agbiosciences has changed. Sheridan-based JBS United Inc. is now United Animal Health Inc., a brand the animal nutrition and health company says will differentiate it from any other company named JBS.
"Our new name also keeps us connected to our heritage: United Feeds, the name we started with over 60 years ago. We are more focused now, than ever, on building our nutrition business, adding facilities and people, and expanding into different geographies," Chief Executive Officer Doug Webel says. "We’ve added Animal Health to our corporate name as we believe that nutrition is health and feel the research we do and the solutions we offer the industry all revolves around the health of the animal."
Chief Operating Officer Trent Torrance says the more than 60-year-old Hamilton County company has "never had any relationship or connection to with any other JBS company" and the new name makes that "abundantly clear."
The rebranding includes a new name and logo, as well as "modernization to the way the company does business." United Animal Health was founded in 1956 has more than 400 employees. In late 2015, founder John Swisher transitioned to chairman emeritus and Doug Webel became president and CEO. Swisher, who built his United Feeds business from the ground-up with a loan from his family, was awarded the 2016 Watanabe Life Sciences Champion of the Year Award.


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Digitising payments could bring substantial cost savings for micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), not only by simplifying cash management processes but also reducing potential opportunities for misappropriation or corruption, according to the central bank chief.
Speaking at the 9th Global SME Finance Forum in the capital last week, National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) governor Chea Chanto stressed that MSMEs play a crucial role in the world’s economies, particularly in developing countries.
He shared that in the Kingdom, MSMEs account for 99 per cent of enterprises nationwide, and contribute over 70 per cent to employment and 58 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP).
MSMEs are key drivers of “decent jobs”, entrepreneurship for women, and income generation for vulnerable populations, he said, adding that these smaller businesses contribute to inclusive economic growth, shared prosperity, sustainable production and consumption, and reductions in poverty and inequality.
“Despite their important roles and contributions to the economies, MSMEs continue to face many challenges, and one of the most critical issues is access to finance. Their challenges have been exacerbated by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in emerging and developing economies where MSMEs are mostly in the informal sector,” Chanto said.
Small businesses often have poor bookkeeping records and lack appropriate financial accounts and audited financial statements, leading many of them to be unserved or underserved by formal financial institutions, he added.
“The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of payments. According to the latest Red Book Statistics from the Bank for International Settlement [BIS] Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, consumers have shifted from physical cash to digital and contactless payment instruments at a rate unprecedented since the start of the Red Book Statistics.
“Recognising the massive potential of digital payments, the [NBC] recently introduced Bakong, a national payment system based on Blockchain technology, which aims to offer low-cost, secured, fast, and convenient payment services to people and small businesses in Cambodia,” he said.
According to Chanto, the NBC has been building Project Bakong since 2017, seeking to avail a peer-to-peer fund transfer service to retail customers of local banks, financial institutions and payment service providers. After a pilot run that started in July 2019, the Bakong system was officially launched in October 2020, he added.
The project is named after a prominent 9th century Hindu monument dedicated to the god Shiva, built by King Indravarman I as his official state temple in the middle of the Khmer Empire’s then-capital city Hariharalaya, located about 13km east of Siem Reap town along National Road 6 in an area now called Roluos.
Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation director for small and medium enterprises (SME) and handicraft Chhea Layhy told The Post on September 27 that fintech (financial technology) development has markedly increased MSME activities, especially against the backdrop of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
He pointed out that fintech has substantially cut down on production costs and wasted time for MSMEs and other businesses, while by and large remaining consistent with government objectives. “Judging from the feedback I’ve gotten from MSMEs, they appear to be happy to integrate fintech into their business processes, like e-commerce for example,” he said.
Layhy affirmed that “our goal” is to transform family-owned SMEs into corporations, with larger labour forces as well as greater productivity, access to funds, and overall capabilities.
According to the International Finance Corporation’s 2017 MSME Finance Gap report, 40 per cent of formal MSMEs across various industries in emerging markets – or the equivalent of 65 million enterprises – require about $5.2 trillion to develop and support their businesses. Moreover, the informal sector remains woefully underserved with a roughly $2.9 trillion demand for finance.