text:
Does a company with an estimated two billion to three billion lines of software code and thousands of date-sensitive assembly machines in 50 countries have a prayer of meeting its year 2000 deadline?
That's the question facing the world's biggest company, General Motors.
Ten days ago, GM notified the US Securities & Exchange Commission that it expected to spend between $US360 million and $US500 million to fix its year 2000 problem. In January, the SEC issued guidelines for public companies to tell shareholders of year 2000 costs and risks.
Sources close to GM said Deloitte & Touche did a technology assessment last year to determine the scope of the problem. The findings, released last fourth quarter, sent shockwaves through GM's senior management, according to one of the sources.
A spokesman for GM denied that the Deloitte & Touche report startled management.
"Everybody has been aware of how much we need to get done here" for several years, the spokesman said.
Then there is the issue of how much GM is spending on its year 2000 problem. A $US500 million year 2000 budget for a $US177.7 billion (1997 revenue) company "just doesn't add up," said Lee Freeman, a consultant at Management Support Technology.
Not when the Chase Manhattan Bank, with $US366 billion in assets, and Wall Street brokerages are spending $US250 million to $US500 million each on millennium projects "without shop floors that need fixing", he said.
Executives at the Detroit-based car maker said the company can get the job done. GM's year 2000 project "is where we want it to be, but the task is extremely large", said Ralph Szygenda, GM's chief information officer, in a recent interview.
Consultants close to the company aren't so sure. "I don't think there's enough time" for the Big Three to get all of their respective year 2000 work finished, said Joe Bione, a consultant at Deloitte & Touche in Detroit, which is doing millennium consulting for GM and Chrysler.
The automotive industry's supply chain "is like a big spiderweb", with automakers such as GM counting on thousands of interdependent relationships, Bione said. GM has relationships with 30,000 suppliers and conducts business in 190 countries.
Still, Bione said all three US car makers, including Ford, "are doing everything possible to lick the problem".
Daron Gifford, the top GM consultant at Deloitte & Touche, said the automaker has a "huge effort under way" but declined to comment on the technology assessment.


text:
On Thursday 21st of February 2013, BellaNaija Style curated an amazing fusion of technology and fashion at the GUESS Fashion Day during Social Media Week Lagos.
The day-long event took place at the Porsche Centre in Victoria Island. The Porsche Centre lobby was transformed into different sections for the events of the day and who could forget all the luxurious Porsche cars. It was an interactive platform for bloggers, media personnel stylists and fashionistas to come together to discuss the synergistic relationship between fashion and social media.
The day kicked off when the first set of panelists were cued to begin their session. It was tagged “Blogging My Way to the Bank: Lifestyle & Fashion Blogging As a Profitable Business“. The panel comprised of Bella Naija Style Editor-At-Large and CEO of Redrick PR, Ijeoma Ndekwu who served as the moderator of the session; Adaku Ufere of Third World Profashional and Abiola Aloba of Maestro Media. It was an upbeat and interesting discussion as Ijeoma posed the major concerns of bloggers. Issues like imitation in blogging and the different tools that could be used to propagate blog presence, such as having a media kit and using FashionTraffic.com and Jumia.com to grow your business rallied up a lot of comments and contributions.
A little controversy sparked during the Q&A when a guest questioned the legitimacy of certain posts seen on fashion blogs. The apparent issue was whether or not bloggers mislead their audience when reviewing items from paid content on their blogs. Adaku put it to rest that a blogger has the right to decide which content goes up on his or her blog, and sponsored content must be identified as such, as is in her case.
After much deliberation on the issue, brunch was finally served. Glasses of juice, cups of coffee and hors d’oeuvres filled the room as the second batch of panelists prepared to get quizzed on “Retailing African Fashion in the Social Media Era“. This session was moderated by Lead Fashion Consultant of Zinkata and Genevieve Magazine Fashion Editor, Ezinne Chinkata with Nana Serwa Kankam of 5th and Quansah, Isoken Ogiemwonyi of L’Espace and Latasha Ngwube, Editor at Vanguard Allure and CEO of FashionPRerogative.
The panel discussion tackled issues relating to retailing African fashion and explored the various roles of social media in the African fashion retailing industry. The panelists highlighted platforms like Keek, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook as strong avenues to creating brand awareness for retailers. They also pointed out that not all media platforms work for everyone. You need to tailor the platforms you use to meet your customer requirements.
“Launching and executing a successful social media campaign – The African Fashion Case Study” closed the sessions for the day. It consisted of successful fashion designers and Media persons in Nigeria who shared their insights on the business of fashion and its relation to the social media. The moderator Bukky Kabiri-Whyte of Bobby Taylor Consulting drilled the panelists; Ayotomi Rotimi of clothing brand Xclamations, Zara Okpara the PR Executive for Jewel By Lisa, Veronica Ebie-Odeka of Vane Style & Vane-Style Showroom and designers Wana Sambo and Mai Atafo. This was a very interesting panel discussion especially given the diverse backgrounds of the panelists. Panelists discussed subjects on brand media presence in the fashion and design world, transferring online customers to physical customers and the issue of African fashion getting lost in the fast paced twitter platform using their brands as case studies.
A Lagos fashion networking event wouldn’t be complete without a few cocktails and some fashion. The Guess cocktail party commenced with drinks and models outfitted by GUESS. Music boomed courtesy of DJ Neptune and Lagos fashions finest came out to bring the event to a fabulous close.
Informative, laid back and fabulous was in the theme for the evening and if you happened to miss it, which I hope isn’t the case, check out all the fabulous people who came out for drinks and networking.
The event was filled with people from all over who came out to support Fashion and SMW…see all the beautiful faces
Guess Fashion Day at SMW Lagos Cocktail Event – Strike a Pose
The models’ beautiful make up was courtesy of House of Tara
Check out the cool models who showcased clothes from GUESS (my fav is the red & black see-through dress. Love it!)
Photo Credit: Kola Oshalusi for Insigna, TEJ Pictures, Third World Profashional and Maestro Media

domain: news


text:
Maersk — the world’s largest container shipping line — has just ordered 8 new ships that will run on green methanol. Each vessel can carry 16,000 containers and will be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries. Reuters says deliveries are expected to begin in 2023 and to be completed by early 2024.
The vessels will be 10-15% more expensive than normal container ships and will cost $175 million a piece, says Ole Graa Jakobsen, head of fleet technology for Maersk. The new ships will be fitted with engines which can run on both green methanol, which is produced by using renewable sources such as biomass and solar energy, as well as normal bunker fuel, since adequate supplies of green methanol are not yet available. Traditionally, methanol is obtained from unnatural gas or coal.
Maersk says more than half of its 200 largest customers, including Amazon, Disney, and Microsoft, have set or are in the process of setting targets to cut emissions in their supply chain. “We’re in it for our customers … and thankfully they are very appreciative of this and demand is really growing,” Morten Bo Christiansen, head of decarbonization for Maersk, told the press recently.
Maersk says the new vessels will result in annual CO2 emissions reductions of around 1 million tons of carbon dioxide. Last year, Maersk’s operations emitted 33 million tons of CO2. 90% of all goods manufactured and sold internationally are transported by sea. In total, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s carbon emissions.
The Danish firm said this month it had signed a contract with Denmark’s REintegrate to produce 10,000 tonnes of carbon neutral e-methanol for the first of its new ships. In total, the shipping company burns 20 million tons of fuel each year.
“Let’s stop talking about fossil fuels and instead focus on scaling this prototype because it’s actually solving the problem,” Christiansen says. “It’s actually not that much more expensive, because even if we double our fuel cost, the impact on a pair of sneakers is less than five cents. The good news is that because of the amount of oil we consume we can actually start shaping a market just on our demand,” he says.
Maersk and other large shipping companies have been pushing for cleaner fuels for years, but the issue is cost. Bunker fuel is cheap. Every other kind of fuel is more expensive, which means shipping rates have to go up as a result. There are many other companies using ships built 40 years ago who are only too happy to offer lower prices to customers unconcerned about the environmental impact of their activities.
It’s the dirty little secret of capitalism. When the bottom line is all that matters, anything that adds to it is scrupulously avoided. In that respect, capitalism is like a virus, consuming everything it touches, including its host.
So what is this green methanol, exactly? For the answer, we turn to ThyssenKrupp, which says, “The technology for synthesizing renewable methanol from hydrogen and carbon dioxide in small-scale plants was developed in an exclusive partnership between ThyssenKrupp and Swiss Liquid Future AG. For industrial scale plants, ThyssenKrupp will employ its own Uhde Methanol technology.
“The hydrogen is produced by means of the proprietary and highly efficient alkaline water electrolysis process which is based on the proven chlor-alkali electrode technology developed by ThyssenKrupp Uhde Chlorine Engineers. The carbon dioxide is recovered from biogas or other fermentation plants, flue gas, or waste gas. By removing or keeping this greenhouse gas from the atmosphere, the process makes an important contribution to climate protection.
“The electric power required for green methanol production comes from renewable sources, such as wind power, geothermal energy or hydropower. In other words, this green methanol technology makes particular sense in countries where there is plenty of renewable power as well as a legal framework that further renewable energy and its conversion into chemicals.”
The company’s website goes on to say,
“Our renewable methanol is not just environmentally sound but can also be used in a variety of ways, e.g. as an energy carrier for storing electricity generated from renewable sources or as a transportation fuel. Methanol can be added to conventional liquid fuels or used to fuel 100% methanol-based drive systems.
“For example, a methanol-reforming technology developed by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems produces the hydrogen required for the unique HDW Fuel Cell System that powers non-nuclear submarines. Leading shipping companies are also investigating the use of methanol as fuel in conventional combustion engines and in methanol-powered fuel cells. The great advantage of methanol is that existing infrastructure for liquid fuels can be used directly or modified easily and inexpensively.”
Maersk is to be applauded for taking action to lower its carbon emissions, but there is so much more that needs to be done. Ridding the Earth of the scourge of excess carbon dioxide created by human activity is going to create wrenching dislocations in the “business as usual” model. All that global trade is created by the incessant hunt for lower wages, which may be an economic paradigm the world can no longer afford.


text:
Sandwich buyers prefer sustainable tuna, survey shows
More than half of people would be more likely to buy a tuna sandwich if they knew the fish filling was sustainably sourced, a poll suggests.
But less than half of those quizzed (46%) trust claims made by retailers on labels such as "pole and line caught" or "dolphin friendly", the survey for the Marine Stewardship Council revealed.
The poll of 2,090 people by YouGov found four out of five (80%) thought it was very or fairly important that sandwich retailers used sustainably caught tuna, while 54% said they were more likely to buy tuna sandwiches when they knew that was the case.
And while there was limited trust in claims made by retailers, more than two-thirds (67%) said they trusted independent labels such as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or the Soil Association.
The MSC said it certifies around 15% of the global tuna catch, requiring fisheries demonstrate they are well managed to maintain healthy population levels of tuna and minimise impacts on other marine species such as dolphins and turtles.
In the UK just two British retailers - Sainsbury's and Waitrose - have the MSC "blue tick" ecolabel on their tuna sandwiches, accounting for only 3% of the estimated 210 million sold each year in the country, the organisation said.
Toby Middleton, programme director for MSC in the UK and Northern Atlantic said: "Maintaining healthy tuna stocks is essential for the marine environment and for fishing communities around the world that rely on tuna for their living.
"We can all play our part in safeguarding stocks by choosing tuna that's sustainable, but when you're buying a sandwich on the high street, you're often in a rush and don't have time to check what type of tuna it contains, or how it was caught, let alone remember whether skipjack supplies are more plentiful than bluefin. It's no wonder shoppers are baffled.
"By using the MSC's blue tick ecolabel on their tuna sandwiches, Sainsbury's and Waitrose are making it easy for their shoppers to see at a glance that the tuna has been independently certified as sustainable, when tested against the world's most credible and robust environmental fishing standard."
He urged other supermarkets, high street sandwich retailers and coffee shops to follow suit.


text:
BMW has strengthened ties with Solid Power, which will provide the automaker with proprietary technology.
BMW and Solid Power, a battery developer in the US, have announced the strengthening of an existing partnership that will provide the automaker with a research and development license to the firm's all-state cell design and manufacturing knowledge.
The newly-defined relationship will see BMW reproduce Solid Power's pilot assembly lines at a German facility to manufacture prototype cells based on the battery developer's proprietary technology. BMW employees will work closely with Solid Power to advance these manufacturing processes.
As part of the deal, the German automaker will pay Solid Power $20 million to gain access to the battery technology. The battery company is keen to point out that the Joint Development Agreement only includes sharing intellectual property pertaining to solid-state electrode and cell manufacturing technologies, not electrolyte materials.
"BMW remains committed to the pursuit of all-solid-state batteries, a technology which we believe has significant potential for the future," said the company's Frank Weber. "We look forward to working even more closely with Solid Power and adding the capability to produce solid-state cells based on Solid Power's designs at our own pilot facility."
BMW, which already builds premium EVs like the iX SUV and i7 luxury sedan, is betting big on solid-state technology for future electric vehicles. As soon as the experimental production line has been implemented, Solid Power has said it will supply electrolyte material for prototype cell manufacturing.
"Over the past several months, we began delivering 20 Ah cells to our partners, including BMW, for initial testing and commenced production of our initial EV cells. We look forward to bringing our electrolyte manufacturing facility online and commencing the formal automotive qualification process," remarked Solid Power Interim CEO David Jansen.
Solid Power's battery technology relies on a sulfide-based solid electrolyte. This is considered to be far safer than a comparable lithium-ion battery, as the solid material is less likely to overheat or catch fire.
Even though BMW is forging ahead in the solid-state battery field, the German premium brand recently introduced a sixth-generation version of its lithium-ion cells. The automaker made some big claims about the new setup; not only does it afford 20% quicker charging speeds, but increases range and cuts C02 emissions in the production stage.
Importantly, the production costs have essentially been sliced in half. Hopefully, these savings will be passed on to the customer and make for more affordable electric cars. The marque says the batteries have been designed for the upcoming Neue Klasse platform and will play a key role in the structure of future vehicles.
These new cells, similar to Tesla's 4680 batteries, will be constructed by external firms.
This isn't the first time BMW has invested heavily to further its EV ambitions. In September 2021, CEO Oliver Zipse said the automaker had spent nearly $24 billion to secure batteries for existing products. "We're following the market. The first half has shown that we're growing and gaining market share. We're right in the middle of electrification," said the chief executive at the time.
Like Toyota, the German premium brand is taking a unique approach to electrification. While it will offer a range of battery-powered cars in the near future, Zipse has openly spoken out against an outright ban on ICE-powered cars and believes there's still a market for them. Elsewhere, BMW continues to work with hydrogen technology and recently started producing the iX5 SUV in small batches.


text:
Last month, Spotify released a bundle pack for Students who have subscribed to Hulu for $5 a month. This is we can say an amazing deal for college going students. Now, Spotify has further updated the deal by adding Showtime subscription to the previous offering at no additional price.
All the college students can now enjoy Spotify premium plan on their TV for $10 a month, $8 a month with Hulu commercial and $11 a month for Showtime subscription. If you are a student and already subscribed to any plan, then you can upgrade the plan with no extra cost or if you are new to this, then you can avail this service at reasonable cost at $0.99 for the first quarter.
Alex Norstrom in a press conference with the leading media agencies told that the company has been able to connect to more than millions of users through this plan released especially for students. The addition of Showtime in the plan will definitely woo more and more students in the coming future. We can say that the partnership is emerging out to be a great success for our company. He also said that we always try to offer the best and premium content to our privileged customers especially through a partnership or long-term relationship with the subscriber. If we do something for our customers, then they will definitely get delighted and remain loyal to our company.
If we talk from Showtime point of view, then it is amazing as the company has successfully locked the next generation in its premium plan. All the cable subscribers are now turning into channel subscription. The company also said that we were searching for a platform where kids can easily stream our content and this has become possible with Showtime partnership. No other brand in the market is as much popular as Spotify in streaming service.
With Spotify subscription, the Showtime will cost half of what HBO charges from the student, a move with the view to increase the number of the premium channel on top streaming service. If you are a not a student, then you can get Showtime for $12.99 a month with Spotify Hulu subscription. This pack has not announced yet in the market.
According to company officials, Conversations are still going on between their company and Showtime premium and we will soon come out with the best solution.
Don’t be surprised with the streaming bundle announced by Showtime as the company is still increasing the number of services with the rising number of cord cutters and streaming platforms are looking forward to providing the best stuff with less confusing ways. It has been found out that companies are providing lots of apps but all these apps are creating confusion over the minds of the consumer.
Conversations are in pipeline for making the consumer experience on these services simpler and easier than earlier. So, we can expect more flexibility in the streaming bundle packages in the coming years.
The new Hulu and Spotify bundle pack is available for $5 a month for college students. You can avail this pack today if you are above 18 and enrolled in any college or university in the US.


text:
Cider for China as Illawarra producer targets lucrative and thirsty Asian market
An Illawarra cider producer could soon be exporting product to one of the largest and most lucrative markets in the world.
Having recently secured a place as one of a group of Australian businesses at the Shanghai Mart — China's largest permanent trade expo — the signs are looking promising for Glenbernie Orchard.
The apple and stone fruit orchard in northern Illawarra's Darkes Forest began producing cider in 2013 as a way to diversify the business and create an extra income source in the unpredictable farming industry.
Just two years on, what started out as a local product for the Illawarra could go international.
We can meet the demand if they want more, but we don't want to be a supermarket shelf item in China.Jo-Anne Fahey, Illawarra cider producer
"We've had two Chinese companies so far who have taken a trip to Australia to see us on the farm and they're excited about our product," Glenbernie Orchard owner Jo-Anne Fahey said.
"We now have to see if the companies match with our ethos and whether our product is suitable for the market they're in.
"We may need to change our packaging and the Chinese people are still discovering cider — they often think it's a beer — so there's some education that has to happen."
The orchard has been given the opportunity through the NSW Business Chamber's Export Growth China program, for small to medium-sized Australian businesses.
"We've decided to try and chase the Chinese market because it gives us another opportunity to spread the risk, in terms of sales and manufacturing of cider, but it also gives the farm a chance to spread its risk for the total activities we do," Ms Fahey said.
"Instead of relying on fresh food, we've got something else we can do with our products in a number of marketplaces."
She said any deal would involve months of negotiations, but given the early interest, the orchard could be shipping their first batch of Illawarra cider to China by mid-2016.
International deal 'the icing on the cake'
When Ms Fahey started making cider, designed for local bars and to be sold at the orchard, she thought it would not go beyond the Illawarra.
She has also begun making a non-alcoholic cider, and both beverages may soon be bound for Asia.
"It would be the icing on the cake," she said.
"The 'cake' is everything we do in Australia, and this would be a little extra that could keep us over the line.
"We can meet the demand if they want more, but we don't want to be a supermarket shelf item in China."
For the Fahey family, it's about finding a high-end niche market where the cider can be marketed and sold as a premium product.
It also means she can relax a little when it comes to getting her product into the heavily crowded Australian cider market.
There is also a potential employment benefit for the Illawarra.
"The more successful we are in production, the more people we can employ to work in the cider business," Ms Fahey said.
The orchard is the last remaining apple farm in the Illawarra and produces about 800 tonnes of apples for Australia's major supermarkets, on a 65 hectare property.


text:
“Hoop has always been my life, and SLAM’s point of view has always been something that I admired,” the former Nike exec tells Boardroom. “It’s the perfect convergence.”
For the first time in its illustrious history, SLAM magazine has a new CEO.
Les Green will replace founder Dennis Page. Green’s background is not one of producing magazines, per se, but it does signal a more modern approach for basketball’s definitive print publication. After a prolific run as a Brand Director at Nike and a year as the vice president of marketing at socially driven e-commerce company Teespring, Green is on to his next legacy brand.
“It’s just the perfect timing. And to be frank, any timing for this role would have been perfect for me,” Green told Boardroom of his cross-industry jump to a legacy media brand. “Hoop has always been my life, and SLAM’s point of view has always been something that I admired. So the opportunity to come in and steer the ship as we evolve into a modern media company is just unbelievable.”
Green is tasked with the continued evolution of a publication that has always prided itself on being ahead of the curve. Page founded the magazine in 1994, introducing SLAM as the “In Your Face Basketball Magazine” — a melding of hoops and hip-hop culture that became a groundbreaking monthly not just for basketball fans, but the magazine industry as a whole.
The brand has remained an authority for nearly three decades, organically cultivating iconic moments and giving the basketball world a comfortable place to continue telling its stories.
As SLAM stepped into the digital age in the past decade, commerce and social media became more prevalent as print waned into the realm of special attraction.
In that sense, Green is a perfect fit to continue that evolution, taking SLAM from a subscription-based publication to a modern media brand that can not only inform its consumers and show them something they haven’t seen before, but go as far as dressing them and entertaining them with live events.
Green cites his time at Nike and Teespring as when he began to get a clearer picture of the connection consumers need to have with their content creators, and how that can be applied to bigger brands.
“People that are creating daily content and a relationship with their consumers, that’s what is going to win the day,” Green said. “When you take it to a brand like SLAM that is literally a 27-year-old, beloved basketball brand, you can put that in the same category. They’ve been creating amazing content for many, many years, and obviously, it’s gone from print to digital to social and now even long-form, and I just feel that that relationship is going to be paramount moving forward with the way consumers engage with product services, experiences, and events. To me, I feel like it’s the perfect convergence.”
With SLAM, Green has a fully functioning vessel to test the theory — a brand its consumers have been invested in for decades and a content team that has touched all corners of the culture it covers.
“We look at it as one spectrum, and all of it is a part of the culture,” Green said. “We’re not a brand that is covering NBA basketball; we’re covering the culture of basketball. And we would not be true to that if we just focused on one particular element.”
From its inception in 1994, SLAM has aimed to establish authority in all avenues of basketball, from youth ball to high school and college, to the NBA and overseas, to women’s basketball, to the fashion of the game both on and off the court. Green’s leadership is a new day, but those values aren’t going to change.
They’re going to be enhanced.
“The culture is prevalent and omnipresent, but it hasn’t really been presented or commercialized,” Green said. “You could argue there is no definitive basketball culture destination, and that’s the void we want to fill.”
SLAM has done just that over the course of its transformation into media’s digital age. LeagueFits has become a phenomenon unto itself, covering the fashion of the sport and the way it has transcended arena tunnels and made its way into runways around the world
“What a lot of people get confused about and don’t remember is basketball culture existed before streetwear culture,” Green said. “Between basketball and skate, those are the foundations of streetwear.”
As networks and bigger publications begin devoting resources to covering the fashion of the NBA, they’re doing the same with other portions of the “spectrum” that SLAM has always devoted space to as well.
SLAM’s high school coverage has always been a key function in its mission, as has its coverage of women’s basketball, which was taken a step further this year with the introduction of WSLAM, its women’s-only spinoff.
“I think it gives us an opportunity to do two things: One, have another facet of basketball culture that we can really sink our teeth into from a storytelling standpoint, because there’s so much, more there than just basketball when it comes to the women’s game,” Green said. “Then also, another opportunity for us to separate ourselves from what anybody would consider competition — because I think that we can do a better, more robust, and tactful job of telling that story right. Because to me, the SLAM superpower is storytelling.”
So begins Green’s reign atop the In Your Face Basketball Magazine, an opportunity he is fully embracing.
“I’m super humbled and grateful for this opportunity and I don’t take it lightly. I know the weight of what it means to be the second CEO ever in SLAM’s history, with the first being the founder,” he said. “Being a man of color doing that, that’s not lost on me. I definitely step into that humbly and graciously but also anxious and ready to hit the ground running. I’m super excited about all of the different things we’re going to be able to take advantage of and just really solidifying and putting this brand where it needs to be.”
And just like that, Green kicks off his tenure with one simple message:


text:
By Tiernan Ray
In case you missed it, The Wall Street Journal‘s Will Connors and Dana Mattioli a short while ago reported that BlackBerry (BBRY) management traveled to California to meet with representatives of Facebook (FB) to explore whether the latter would be interested in buying BlackBerry, citing multiple unnamed sources.
Both companies won’t comment, and the authors write that it’s unclear whether Facebook has made or will have any interest in making a bid.
BlackBerry has announced the intention of its largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial Holding, to take the company private, but there has been no news of any deal details since that initial announcement on September 23rd.
BlackBerry shares are up 20 cents, or 2.3%, at $8.40, still below the proposed $9 take-out price of the Fairfax deal. Facebook shares are down 62 cents, or 1.2%, at $49.61.


text:
If you know anything about smartphones, especially Android smartphones, there’s no way you haven’t heard of Qualcomm. Throughout the years, a lot has been said about Qualcomm’s products, mostly the company’s Snapdragon SoCs. But recently, the focus has been shifting from the chipset company’s products to the company itself. There’s a good chance you’ve read about Apple going up against Qualcomm. There are a lot of articles about the same and mostly they talk about legal matters and how everyone is turning against Qualcomm.
This sort of paints Qualcomm as the big bad company. And you know it’s bad when not only Apple’s iPhone partners but also some of its competitors are siding with it. But what is all the fuzz about?
Qualcomm has done tremendous work
Well, let’s start by saying that Qualcomm has done an amazing job when it comes to its products. Qualcomm’s chipsets have driven the smartphone revolution for a good chunk of time now. Even though their CPUs and GPUs are no more the best, their networking technology is still unmatched. The technology used in these products was developed by the company itself too. And like any other company, they got it patented.
Including Qualcomm’s networking technology (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LTE) is a must if you want to sell your phone anywhere in North America. Yes, Canada too. This is because not only is it the best, but also it is absolutely necessary to connect to the current as well as future generation of LTE networks in the said region. This earned Qualcomm a fair-use patent for its LTE technology. Meaning anyone can use it, but for a cost.
That sounds fair, doesn’t it? You’ve done some amazing work and now everybody wants to make a profit off your work. It is only just that you get a cut out of that.
But this is where the problem starts. The way Qualcomm is charging for their patents has other companies such as Apple up in arms. The Snapdragon manufacturer has different pricing models for those who buy the full Snapdragon package and those who just want the network patents. This is why Samsung hasn’t brought its Exynos powered devices to North America even though they’re arguably the better versions.
This isn’t something that other companies don’t or won’t do. In fact, it is a fine way of urging customers to buy your product. Everyone does this, from restaurants to smartphone manufacturers themselves. So when some companies stand up against Qualcomm for the pricing model, you’ve got to side with Qualcomm.
That is not the only problem, however. Instead of a fixed price for its patents, Qualcomm is charging a fixed percentage out of the retail price of the product. Qualcomm is said to be charging around 7% of the price out of every device sold under its FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, And Non-Discriminatory) terms. This gives rise to a couple of issues.
The pricing conundrum
First, this would mean that if I’m selling a $400 device, and you’re selling a $700 device with the same internals but yours is a more premium device, you’ll be paying more to Qualcomm for the same technology. If you didn’t already get why that makes no sense, let me explain a little.
Let’s take the 32GB iPhone 7 and the 256GB iPhone 7 Plus as examples. Now, Apple makes it’s own processors and Intel’s LTE modem. And they are supposed to pay more to Qualcomm for the 256GB iPhone 7 Plus compared to the 32GB iPhone 7 when the price difference is because of a larger display, better camera sensors, more battery life, extra storage etc. All of which are made by Apple and it’s partners and do not involve the use of Qualcomm’s patents.
In other words, as the prices for other components of a smartphone (materials used for the display, camera glass, body, etc.) rise, Qualcomm earns more money. So in a way Qualcomm is earning money on things it hasn’t made or has no relation to in any way. Even hardcore Apple haters will have to acknowledge that this can not be justified.
Over-charging for patents
Yes, Apple accusing Qualcomm of overcharging is ironic. But not every company is a Samsung or Apple. These are huge behemoths and even if they do pay a 7% cut of their large profit margins to Qualcomm, they still make a lot. Samsung makes around 20% profit on average while for Apple it’s above 30%, sometimes way above. Many companies don’t even have a profit margin of 7%. So they’re out of business, and it’s no short of a death blow to companies who can make a profit of 7% to 10%. Such companies can’t afford that big a cut in their profit margins. Qualcomm has used the fair-use patents to drive such companies out of the competition.
So what is your take on the whole Qualcomm vs the rest battle? Do you think Qualcomm is fair is the usage of its patent licenses? I’m no legal expert and sure some of you might be more familiar with patent laws, feel free to shed some light if you feel like.


text:
Business Services (96)
Robocops in jail
The Korean government is testing robots that will act as security guards in correctional facilities. The robots’ duties include general video surveillance and to warn staff in case inmates attempt suicide.
Why it matters
Introducing robots into the security sector will cut down costs and the risk of violence for jail staff. Leading mechatronic (robot building) brands seem to have a promising future, yet the question is how to cope with consumers justified fear of such ‘products’. Will a friendly robot design and PR campaign be enough?
Shop-Script software now offers online retailers a simple way to embed storefronts directly into Facebook as a native app. Orders can be placed directly from here so that users don’t to leave the Facebook network to carry out their online shopping. In some cases it may also be possible to pay for goods in social network currency.
A business card that comes with a near-field communication (NFC) chip that makes it possible to interact with NFC-equipped smartphones. It can link to a website, music, app or a map. There is also an Android app in the works that will allow users to update the contents of the NFC chip without having to buy a new set of cards.


text:
The living are facing the end of the world in the latest ‘Game of Thrones’
With death in the corner of their eye, they all made the most of what might be their final night.
Parked Tesla Model S bursts into flames in shocking video
Tesla sent a team to investigate.
Pro gamers shocked to discover their big tournament venue is Buffalo Wild Wings
This is gonna be awkward.
After Titan cancellation, fans wonder what’s next for Blizzard
"We didn't find the fun," Blizzard CEO Michael Morhaime told Polygon.
© The Daily Dot, all rights reserved. Represented by Complex Media, Inc. for advertising sales.


text:
THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Huntsman Corp. said Tuesday its shareholders approved the chemicals maker's $6.5 billion buyout by an Apollo Management LP affiliate.
Under the terms of the merger agreement, Apollo will acquire Huntsman for $28 per share in cash through its Hexion Specialty Chemicals Inc. unit.
Huntsman's board had unanimously recommended that shareholders approve the deal.
The transaction remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe.
In July when the proposed buyout was announced, Huntsman president and CEO Peter Huntsman acknowledged that a Huntsman-Hexion combination likely will face antitrust scrutiny due to the overlap between the two chemical businesses.
If the deal does not close by April 6, Hexion has agreed to raise its offer by an annual rate of 8 percent.
Before receiving Apollo's bid, Huntsman had previously accepted an offer of $5.6 billion, or $25.25 per share, from Dutch manufacturer Basell AF.
Huntsman paid a $200 million breakup fee to cancel the Basell deal. Hexion has agreed to reimburse half of the fee.


text:
VeriFone's (NYSE:PAY) history of poor acquisitions and earnings misses has weighed on the market-based valuation. But VeriFone could benefit from the recent attacks of retailers by hackers. The shares have increased about 25% since the Target breach was first reported. But PAY could be set for larger gains, as it is increasingly likely that the credit card industry in the U.S. will adopt new technology. EMV, Europay, MasterCard, and Visa, creates a new code for every transaction, making it difficult for hackers to duplicate.
The probability of the new technology being adopted in the U.S. is increasingly likely because Visa is warning that the merchants' banks may start bearing the costs of fraud starting in 2015, if merchants...
|FREE||SA PRO MEMBERS|
|IDEA GENERATOR||X||Exclusive access to 10 PRO ideas every day|
|INVESTING IDEAS LIBRARY||X||Exclusive access to PRO library of more than 15,000 ideas|
|SECTOR EXPERT NETWORK||X||Exclusive access to all sector experts for direct consultation|
|PERFORMANCE TRACKING||X||Track performance of all PRO stock ideas|
|PROFESSIONAL TOOLS||X||Professional Idea Filters to zero-in based on industry, market cap and more|


text:
'Tap and go' pay surge as 10% of card transactions go contactless
Shoppers now use contactless cards for one in ten card payments.
Figures from trade body the UK Cards Association reveal that in October 10.3 per cent, or £929million, of card transactions were made this way.
By contrast, in October 2014 just 4 per cent involved ‘tap and pay’.
Growing in popularity: Shoppers now use contactless cards for one in ten card payments
Contactless has been touted as an alternative to cash for low-price items. Customers do not need to use a PIN as their card links with the till terminal through a tiny antenna when the card is pressed against it.
Since September, customers have been able to spend up to £30 this way, but the average spend is £7.72.
Tap and pay has surged in some areas since then, though. Barclaycard says that since September it has been used 100 per cent more in pubs, bars and petrol stations than in the same period last year.
Most watched Money videos
- Jaguar Land Rover opens UK's biggest state-of-the-art design centre
- Sarasin Food fund manager on investing from field to fork
- Couple reveal top three tips for buying a renovation property
- Top interior designer reveals tips to give your home a designer look
- Entrepreneur promotes his own rum ahead of Dragon's Den appearance
- Man carries disabled daughter down stairs in Tui holiday 'disaster'
- Bristol Mayor explains the 'logic' of a proposed diesel car ban
- What next for Woodford investors as the fund shuts?
- Aston Martin reveals the engine roar of its first SUV
- Are beaten up UK bank shares an opportunity to profit?
- How to invest in the new era of falling interest rates
- H&H Classics auctions the classic 1983 Ferrari 308 GTB QV


text:
Iran imports over 111 million cigarettes
Tehran, Iran, Dec. 19
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iran imported 111.6 million cigarettes in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21 - Nov. 21).
According Iran's Custom Administration, the figure stood at 108.4 million cigarettes in the same time span last year, Iran's Fars News Agency reported.
Iranian Tobacco Company's managing director, Masoum Najafian, said previously that some 65-66 billion cigarettes were smoked in Iran in the previous calendar year, which ended on march 20.
"Around 20 billion cigarettes were smuggled into the country in the previous year," he said. The smuggled cigarettes account for around 25 percent of the domestic $11-billion market.
According to Najafian, Iranian Tobacco Company sold 7.05 trillion rials ($235 million based on the exchange rate of USD at the free market) worth of products in the previous Iranian calendar year.
The figure is 32 percent more than its preceding year.
The company produced 19 billion cigarettes in the previous year, which shows a 15-percent increase compared to its preceding year.
The high price of Iranian-made cigarettes in comparison to the price of smuggled foreign brands has become a tough challenge for Iranian Tobacco Company.
Iranian dealers are having a hard time selling domestically-made cigarettes in the market.
Delays in issuing holograms for imported cigarettes have also encouraged smugglers to trade more and more cigarettes illegally.
The average price of a pack of smuggled cigarettes is around 80,000 rials ($2.5 based on the rate of USD at the free market), while Iran Tobacco Company's average price stands at 130,000 rials ($4.1) per pack.


text:
Despite the continuing increases in truck and sport utility vehicle sales, the fuel economy of new vehicles sold during March and April improved, according to the monthly survey by the University of Michigan Transportation Institute.
UMTRI researchers Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle reported the average fuel economy or window-sticker value of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in April was 25.3 miles per gallon —an 0.1 mpg improvement from the value for March.
The small increase last month basically matched the gain in the average fuel economy of new vehicles sold in the U.S. in March, which was 25.2 mpg — 0.1 mpg from the value for February.
The value for April is up 5.2 mpg since October 2007, when UMTRI officially launched its monthly monitoring of fuel economy, but down 0.2 mpg from the peak of 25.5 mpg reached in August 2014. For March, the fuel-economy figure was up 5.1 mpg since October 2007 but off 0.3 mpg from the August, 2015 peak.
(VW sweetens the deal to move leftover diesels. Click Here for the story.)
The drop off from the peak in fuel economy in the summer of 2014, followed a sudden drop in the price of gasoline and crude oil on global market, which has helped lift sales of truck and SUVs.
While passenger-car sales have dropped, the addition of compact sport-utility vehicles or crossover vehicles with more efficient engines by a number manufacturers has helped offset and further drops in the fuel economy numbers due to the aforementioned sales of trucks and SUVs, which account for almost two-thirds of the vehicles sold in the U.S.
(Click Here for details about U.S. new vehicle sales in April.)
UMTRI also reported that the University of Michigan Eco-Driving Index (EDI)—an index that estimates the average monthly emissions of greenhouse gases generated by an individual U.S. driver—was 0.85 in February 2017, up 0.01 from the value for January 2017.
A lower the value is better in terms of greenhouse gas emissions since the value expressed by the figure, indicates that the average new-vehicle driver produced 15% lower emissions in February 2017 than in October 2007, but 7% higher emissions than the record low reached in November 2013, according to the records compiled for UMTRI by Sivak and Schoettle.
(To see what TDB thinks of the new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, Click Here.)
The EDI takes into account both vehicle fuel economy and distance driven (the latter relying on data that are published with a two-month lag.


text:
Circuit City Stores Names Exec VP, COO
Richmond, Va. Circuit City Stores announced that John T. Harlow has joined the company as executive VP and COO. Harlow will oversee the company’s retail stores, real estate, information technology and supply chain.
Harlow most recently was a retail director with Deloitte Consulting LLP and has been involved with Circuit City over the past year. Prior to joining Deloitte, Harlow was senior VP of operations for the A&P U.S. division of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc.
F.C. Dadson Hires Construction Manager
F.C. Dadson announced the addition of Rick Cline to its new construction-management team. He will be responsible for developing and implementing a construction consulting and management program aimed to assist customers through the permitting and construction phases of their build-out projects, and will serve as a knowledgeable resource for general contractors throughout the process.
Clines comes to Dadson with over a decade of construction-related experience as a manager for a contractor-based building material supply house, and most recently as an area general contractor.
Tuesday Morning Appoints Acting CFO
Dallas Tuesday Morning Corp. announced Tuesday that Michael J. Marchetti, currently executive VP and COO, will become the company’s acting CFO, secretary and treasurer effective Jan. 16. Marchetti will fill the position made available by the Dec. 5 resignation of Elizabeth A. Schroeder, which becomes effective Jan. 15.
Marchetti, 50, joined Tuesday Morning in Feb. 2001 as senior VP, strategic planning and was promoted to executive VP, operations in Feb. 2002. In April 2003, Marchetti was promoted to COO.


text:
Tilting Point will become its exclusive publisher worldwide while WhaleApp will continue development and live ops for the game.
This partnership enables WhaleApp, to focus on managing game operations, while Tilting Point takes the lead on growing “Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery” through its publishing platform, including UA funding and management, app store optimization (ASO), ad monetization, platform deployment and more. Tilting Point will have the option to fully acquire the game and take over all game operations after the first anniversary of partnership with WhaleApp.
“We are very happy stepping into this partnership with Tilting Point in our ‘Hidden Hotel’ genre, and trust that they will prove our expectations and continue scaling ‘Hidden Hotel’ to even greater heights, while our publishing teams will be concentrating on new titles we are soft launching now,” says Ilya
Since its launch in 2019, “Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery” has remained one of the Top Five grossing hidden-object games on the mobile market. The game has surpassed $40 million in gross revenue and 25 million downloads since its launch.
“WhaleApp has created an incredibly successful brain-stimulating title, and with this partnership, Tilting Point will power up ‘Hidden Hotel: Miami Mystery’ by scaling its presence on mobile charts through leveraging our live publishing offerings,” says Samir Agili, co-chief executive officer and president, Tilting Point.
Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes, it’s completely free.


text:
Comic fans can now pre-order the new 80-page ComicScene Summer Special (Issue 5) in print or digital, on sale this Thursday, 20th June, in selected newsagents, or from GetMyComics. The magazine includes six comic strips, expanding that aspect of the magazine, and articles on Sweeney Toddler, Spider-Man, Batman, the upcoming Tammy & Jinty Special fromContinue reading ComicScene Summer Special Issue 5 out this week
There’s a host of British comic goodies on offer in the latest Phil-Comics eBay auction, including a terrific number of Holiday Specials from the 1970s, Beano, Dandy, TV21 comics, annuals – and rarities such as promotional flyers and moreContinue reading Holiday Specials galore, and more, in latest Phil-Comics eBay auction
With Dan Dare enjoying huge success in Eagle, it’s no surprise that the British news stand was awash with space heroes in the 1950s. Some are better known than others. Swift Morgan, published by Boardman and visualised by Denis McLoughlin had already been running long before Frank Hampson’s hero debuted of course, as had GarthContinue reading Britain’s Forgotten Space Heroes: Space Commander Kerry
Brand new Commando issues 5235 – 5258 are out now in all good newsagents and via various digital platforms from DC Thomson. From secret messages to Douglas Boston bombers, from Nazi rail guns to a booby-trapped Lee Enfield – these issues have it all… including a new Ramsey’s Raiders story from Ferg Handley and Keith Page!Continue reading Ramsey’s Raiders blast back into Commando!
Effectiveness prediction agency System1 has teamed up with comics creator Lew Stringer to showcase its recent work on classic advertising characters as a unique cartoon strip. Lew, who has drawn strips for the Beano, VIZ and Marvel UK, and has worked on iconic characters like Lord Snooty and Rasher, as well as developing his ownContinue reading System1 teams up with Beano artist Lew Stringer to create a unique Cannes Lions giveaway


text:
While COVID-19 restrictions in India appear to be easing amid a lower rate of new cases in recent days, its hope of re-establishing travel connections with foreign countries may hinge on its ongoing effort in bringing the pandemic under control.
New Delhi is in touch with Beijing regarding the latter's "suspension of visas", seeking China to allow Indians to travel to the country for work and education, the Times of India reported on Sunday. A spokesperson from India's Ministry of External Affairs recently told the media that "essential two-way travel should be facilitated, especially keeping in view the fact that Chinese nationals are able to travel to India."
According to the spokesperson, China has suspended visa issuance for Indians since November. Yet, information from the website of the Chinese Embassy in India showed that although the Visa Office of the Chinese Embassy was closed due to the pandemic, applicants can still apply for Chinese visas by submitting online forms starting from May 10.
While it is not clear what caused the misunderstanding about the so-called visa suspension, India's anxiety in seeking an early resumption of travel to China is evident.
As the second wave of coronavirus cases has devastated India since April, many countries and regions around the world have tightened restrictions on travel from India. Thus, re-establishing travel to foreign countries will mark a necessary step toward normalizing India's economic activity. Since China is a crucial trading partner to India, its desire to resume travel connection to China is understandable.
However, it is worth pointing out that the principle of reciprocity cannot be simply applied to travel resumption between countries in the post-pandemic era. It is not based on political reasons that some countries around the world have imposed on various COVID-19 restrictions on travel from India. The UK government added India to the "red list" travel ban in late April.
At present, the Civil Aviation Administration of China implemented circuit breaker measures on airlines in a bid to curb imported COVID-19 cases, and the rules are not directed at India specifically. But because of the severity of the outbreak in India, travel between the two countries has been halted from time to time.
India recorded 70,421 new cases on Sunday, the lowest since the end of March, according to The Indian Express, but the daily infection rate is still relatively high. In this sense, the key for India to resume foreign travel is to be able to bring its epidemic under control.
Fundamentally speaking, despite political frictions between China and India, it has not affected their economic and trade ties. Trade between China and India soared 70.1 percent in US dollar terms in the first five months of this year to $48.16 billion. As long as the Indian government does what it should do well, China-India economic activities can be carried out in a more favorable environment.


text:
“California bans hotels from using tiny plastic bottles” – Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Hotels in the nation’s most populous state will have to stop giving guests small plastic shampoo bottles under a new law set to take effect starting in 2023.
- The law follows similar actions by some of the world’s largest hotel chains.
- Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday he had signed a law banning hotels from giving guests plastic bottles filled with shampoo, conditioner or soap.
- Last year, Walt Disney Co. said it would get rid of small plastic shampoo bottles at its resorts and cruise ships.
Reduced by 86%
|Test||Raw Score||Grade Level|
|Flesch Reading Ease||45.63||College|
|Coleman Liau Index||11.91||11th to 12th grade|
|Dale–Chall Readability||7.38||9th to 10th grade|
|Automated Readability Index||19.5||Graduate|
Composite grade level is “College” with a raw score of grade 12.0.


text:
FRAMINGHAM – The City of Framingham has fined nine businesses a total of $2,700, due to COVID violations since businesses re-opening after the spring shutdown. The fines are through November 20.
Under the state’s re-opening guidelines, each type of business had strict rules for re-opening, including but not limited to employees wearing masks, capacity limits for customers, cleaning, and what happens when an employee tests positive.
Samba Steak & Sushi on Route 9 was the first business fined and the business most fined by the City of Framingham. Samba was first fined on May 29. The restaurant was fined a total of four times between May 29 and July 13, for a total of $700.
Lowe’s on Route 9 was fined $100 on July 20 for violating the state’s Phase Ii re-opening order, according to the City of Framingham.
The only fine issued in August to a business was Dollar Tree at 24 Blandin Avenue n August 19. The $100 fine was issued for violating the state’s Phase II re-opening order, according to the City of Framingham.
No business fines were issued in September and only one business fine was issued in October. That fine was issued to Friendly Farms at 155 Cochituate Road on October 24. the $300 fine was issued for violating the state’s Phase III re-opening plan. Friendly Farms was the first business to pay its COVID fine to the city on November 16.
The City of Framingham has issued five COVID fines to businesses in November.
Those fines were:
- Chipotle at Shoppers World on November 4 for $300.
- Auto Zone at 341 Cochituate Road on November 5 for $300. The fine has been paid.
- Sweet Home Furniture at 145 Concord Street on November 13 for $300.
- The Buckley Apartments at 480 Franklin Street on November 13 for $300. The fine was paid on November 19.
- Framingham Convenience at 189 Concord Street on November 19 for $300


text:
The OnePlus 8 Pro delivers a lot of flagship phone for the money versus the iPhone 11 Pro but is it better overall?
The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro promise the biggest update in years. Here's what we know so far about Apple's next flagship phones.
iPhone SE 2020 deals can be found everywhere. Here are the best iPhone SE deals you can get right now.
Kaspersky Safe Kids is the cheapest good option for monitoring Android, but Net Nanny is better for keeping an eye on Apple mobile devices.
Verizon-owned Visible offers unlimited LTE smartphone data for just $40 a month — and now without a speed cap, for a short time.
Apps for Apple's iPhone have just as many security holes as their Android counterparts, says a security researcher who's examined both platforms.
Welcome to the brotherhood of truly wireless earbuds! Learn how to use and customize your AirPods with this collection of tips, tricks and tutorials.
Based on an iPhone 12 display photo, it doesn't look like the notch will shrink on this year's phones.
iPhone 11 deals are easy to score if you know where to look. From Best Buy to Verizon, here are the best iPhone 11 deals right now.
Our comparison will help you decide if you should save on iPhone XR or splurge for the iPhone XS or XS Max.
The best HomeKit devices for your smart home can be controlled by speaking to Apple's voice assistant, Siri.
A hidden option in iOS 13.6 lets iPhone users download system updates automatically but install them manually.
The iPhone XR delivers fast performance, great cameras and longer battery life than other flagship phones, all in a colorful and affordable package.
A new investigation by Which? shows that pre-owned smartphones could put users at risk because the phones may be too old to get critical security updates.
A report claims that the iPhone 12 displays won't have a 120Hz refresh rate. That feature's expected in the Galaxy Note 20.
Apple's current iPhone lineup is headed up by a trio of new phones. Here's what's different — and what's the same — with the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max.
Don't get caught out in the rain. Get up to date forecasts with the best weather apps for Android and iOS devices.
Qualcomm says a 'global 5G flagship phone launch' in the fall will be delayed. That likely means the iPhone 12, which uses Qualcomm's modems.
The iPhone SE 2020 looks a lot like the iPhone 7, but that’s where the similarities end. Here’s how Apple’s latest phone compares to its flagship from a few years ago.
Here's a guide to the best photo editing software for amateur photographers, enthusiasts and professionals.
A new rumor suggests Apple will announce the iPhone 12 in September but wait until October for the release date.
From widgets and App Clips to picture in picture, iOS 14 is loaded with features that will change the way you use your iPhone.


text:
One of the sectors that has taken a very significant damage of the pandemic and the lock down thereafter, are the brick and mortar convenience stores.
Over 85% consumers prefer online shopping over the… read more
It's rush hour at the warehouse! The pickers are waiting with their completed lists at the scanner to create their packets for distribution! But there are only a few scanners for the large number of pickers with their huge pick-lists! Counter-… read more
2018 can be defined as the era of digitization and multiplication of devices in our society, where the consumers are on the constant lookout for a… read more
Software support for an organization implementing a new retail ERP system is always a major point of concern. Even with a mature, installed retail ERP, support is essential as time lost in chasing support issues is costly. The experience can be… read more
Now, Ginesys Retail Software users can create the purchase order for multiple sites at once through import excel option. A new Excel import class option has been provided to help users to create Multiple PO for Multiple Sites at one go.


text:
WANTED: Chief Executive Officer for multi-million dollar business; little or no control over product line.
Not many CEOs would sign on for that job — except in the fashion biz.
This may be the only industry where the CEO is in essence, the No. 2.
The No. 1 spot goes to the designer. And while that may be great for design, it’s not so good for business.
“As a CEO you’re trying to plan a business,” says Bud Konheim, CEO of Nicole Miller. “And she’ll say, ‘No more ankle length skirts. I want cheek-high black dresses.’ And I’m so shell-shocked, or Alfred E. Neuman, that I go along.”
That actually happened to him in the 1980s, and the transition from the hot-selling long skirts to the initially unpopular short dresses nearly sank the company.
The story ends happily, because the dresses finally caught on. The business recovered; Konheim and Miller still work together.
But imagine what GM’s Jack Smith would do to a car designer who stopped producing marketable designs because he was bored.
Now consider Donna Karan’s deal, which pays her a royalty on every item sold with her name.
That netted her $17 million in 1997 — while her company lost $81 million.
John Idol, Karan’s CEO, has struggled to get around that; after two rounds of restructuring he’s eked out small gains for the company.
Can he turn that profit into a big one? Who knows? But if he does, it will be without her help.
In the meantime, the company’s stock price is stuck at $7 — which could eventually cost Idol his job.
There are rewards in the fashion business.
Glamorous parties and free clothes, for example, are not plentiful in conventional businesses that make soap or paper cups.
But many fashion companies have asked to be treated like traditional companies, because they have gone to the public markets for funding. And since they don’t do business like other companies, investors have pounded their stocks.
The fashionistas are trying. Most designers now have licensed products to generate revenues. Many have their own stores. Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren are pursuing growth with multi-media deals.
But I think there’s a better solution — and like many great fashions, it comes from Europe.
Bernard Arnault, Domenico De Sole and Patrizio Bertelli have been collecting fashion companies like baseball cards and bundling them together with luxury businesses.
Products like Dom Perignon (part of LVMH), which rarely changes, make steadier profits than fashion.
And bulk buys leverage. Own one fashion house and you’re a slave to fashion. Own 10 that are dependent on you for financing and you suddenly get a little respect.
It’s a lot like being a studio mogul. Talent bugging you? Just replace them.
Will it be good for design? (We’ll see how the house of Jil Sander does without its namesake designer.)
But with workers turning every day of the week into casual Friday, it might not matter.
Please address e-mail to firstname.lastname@example.org


text:
Timothy J. Muris (left), accompanied by former Assistant Secretary of Defense Charles S. Abell. (Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)
A few months back I opened up a series on a ghastly hustle, which saturates the culture of the right: “multi-level marketing” (MLM)—pyramid schemes, if you will. To review:
• When the industry emerged in the mid-1960s, schemes in which original investors, and the companies themselves, thrived even as almost all new recruits further down the chain made nothing, were considered to be frauds, plain and simple. They were thus widely prosecuted.
• The burgeoning “industry,” led by the DeVos family’s Amway, adjusted via clever lawyering—successfully reframing pyramid schemes as “direct selling,” each new “distributor” was now induced to purchase goods each month as part of their “investment”—only under such staggering prices that it’s almost impossible for the distributor to make money. The lawyers in a case against one such MLM company, Trek Alliance, which “sold” (not many) water filters, cleaning products, nutritional supplements and “beauty aids,” did an analysis in which they concluded that of their distributors “98.8 to 99.6 percent fail to achieve any earnings,” and “in all likelihood more than 96 percent…experienced business failures.”
• As noted in a report called “The Main Street Bubble: A Whistleblower’s Guide to Business Opportunity Fraud—How the FTC Ignored and Now Protects It” by Robert L. FitzPatrick, author of False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes and an expert witness or consultant in more MLM cases than any other private citizen, such massive failure rates “are intrinsic to the design. 99 percent of consumer/investors must lose for a tiny group at the pyramid’s peak to gain…. The system is closed. Value is not exchanged. Money is merely transferred.”
• These hustlers also have to grow or die—expanding the scheme to new marks is key to their business model. Writes FitzPatrick, they “churn through 50-80 percent of victims annually, replacing them with new ones.”
I concluded that opening post, “Under the Clinton administration, regulatory efforts were stepped up.” The Federal Trade Commission’s senior economist was an expert on MLM, and devised a test that determined what percentage of purchases by “distributors” would have to be resold to actual retail customers (instead of future “distributors” down the chain) for the “distributor” to actually make money without recruiting further marks—70 percent, the FTC concluded, which virtually no one ever achieved. “His schema made it easier to prosecute and protect the victims. The prosecutions began.”
Which brings us to the chapter of the story when the prosecutions stopped. According to “The Main Street Bubble,” the Federal Trade Commission has direct regulatory oversight over multi-level marketing. This oversight was effectively abandoned in 2001 following President George W. Bush’s appointment of Timothy Muris to chair the FTC. At that time, Muris was an anti-trust lawyer whose largest client was… Amway.”
I shit you not.
Muris promptly halted the investigation and prosecution of MLMs and failed to monitor enforcement orders against companies already prosecuted (many companies, FitzPatrick writes, “are blatantly violating these orders”), Additionally, he “issued a widely circulated letter that obscured and appeared to permit practices—paying rewards for ‘endless chain recruiting’ without retail sales as a revenue source—that the courts, and 30 years of earlier FTC policy have declared are illegal. The letter was used by MLM companies to persuade millions of consumers that previous FTC policies and court actions that defined pyramid selling fraud were no longer valid.”
And that’s not all.
Muris also ignored consumer requests for action on frauds from which they suffered. When a proposed FTC rule on “business opportunity” frauds that was years in making—what Doug Brooks, an attorney who’s brought ten class-action suits against MLM over the last twenty years, told me was “a very modest pre-sale disclosure regulation”—approached fruition, his staff rejected the approaches of whistleblowers, instead meeting with MLM lobbyists seeking to exempt their industry. (Which, it turned out, they were, making the new rule virtually moot.) The revolving door started spinning: Muris going to work as an MLM lobbyist, to influence the agency he had only just left—a Bush director of consumer protection went to work for Amway. Under Bush, FitzPatrick told me, the FTC “effectively legalized this form of Main Street business fraud”—as Business Week has documented in 2010. “It was only this past January,” Brooks says, “that the Federal Trade Commission announced its first prosecution of a multilevel marketing scheme in six years.”
Amway: it’s the Republican way. The GOP and MLM, it turns out, go together like tea and toast. Or maybe like fossil fuels and SUVs: the first fuels the second, and everyone loses. That’s the story we’ll turn to next time.


text:
GoodWeave will exhibit at The Rug Show in New York from September 10 to 13, using the trade show as a platform for its work to prevent child labor. The nonprofit network guarantees that its member company rugs are “free of child labor, forced labor and bonded labor,” via a verification process that relies on “regular, unannounced on-site inspections, thorough supply chain auditing and complete transparency.”
GoodWeave will exhibit alongside some 70 rug purveyors at the Javits Center. According to the organization, its participation in the show will focus on the “ethical importance and commercial benefits of the GoodWeave label to global rug buyers, producers, designers, and architects.” Additionally, four GoodWeave-licensed importers will be on hand exhibiting: Asha Carpets, Lapchi, New Moon and Robin Gray Design.
The team will also discuss new programs that implement its ethical focus and program to industries and products, including home textiles, apparel, fashion jewelry, tea and bricks.
GoodWeave was founded 22 years ago and works to stop child labor in the handmade carpet industry, through inspection, education and other outreach initiatives.


text:
Posted 3/21/17 (Tue)
By Cecile Wehrman
The identity of a buyer for city land in Crosby’s Southridge Acres is now public following the release of several documents from city hall.
Though a purchase agreement released last week doesn’t specifically name a retailer, an engineer’s request received at City Hall Monday seeks information in planning a Family Dollar store location.
The real estate firm named in the purchase agreement is connected to a construction company specializing in the development of commercial properties for companies, including the Family Dollar chain, according to information publicly available on the Internet.
The identity of the firm -- and the store potentially interested in a Crosby location -- was unknown to at least three members of the city council at the time the deal was discussed at a meeting last week.


text:
Nokia is ending its bundled Ovi Music Unlimited offering in most markets across the world, but will continue with 12 month subscriptions in India, reports Reuters. Ovi Music Unlimited, Nokia's answer to Apple iTunes, offers consumers in India 12 months of access to 4 million DRM protected songs. The service, which will phased out in 27 countries, will also continue in China, Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa. As per a recent PTI report, the service offers four million tracks from across 19 genres, in partnership with Indian Music Industry (IMI) and Hungama, among others. Readers should note that Hungama has its own music download service at Hungama.com, with DRM protected music. Ovi Music Unlimited was launched in India in April last year, which, if you look at it in the context of the Reuters report, makes the timing of the PTI report appear rather odd. * Nokia has also launched the Ovi Store in Hindi for users of some of its Series 40 handsets - like the Nokia X3-02 or Nokia C3-01, the Nokia 6300, and updated its web and mobile web interface as well, the company said in a blog post. Subsequently, the language interface will also be launched for its new Symbian devices. We tried the Ovi Store on a Nokia X3-02 and found that - despite updating the Ovi Store - the Hindi interface was not available for the mobile application. It it did work for the mobile Web, and the web. Currently, Hindi is the only Indic language available…
- Video: Maharashtra may soon have regulations for Ola, Uber June 6, 2023
- Bombay HC Directs Netizens To Remove ‘Defamatory’ Posts on Adar Poonawalla and The Serum Institute June 6, 2023
- US Securities regulator charges Binance and its founder with 13 counts of security violations June 6, 2023
- Summary: Petition in Supreme Court against prolonged internet shutdown in Manipur June 6, 2023
- Access providers must create a unified consent seeking platform: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India June 5, 2023
MediaNama’s mission is to help build a digital ecosystem which is open, fair, global and competitive.
Is it safe to consider all "publicly available data" as public?
PhonePe launched an e-commerce buyer app for ONDC called Pincode. We, however, believe that it should also launch a seller app.
Amazon announced that it will integrate its logistics network and SmartCommerce services with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
India's smartphone operating system BharOS has received much buzz in the media lately, but does it really merit this attention?
After using the Mapples app as his default navigation app for a week, Sarvesh draws a comparison between Google Maps and Mapples
Please subscribe to MediaNama. Don't share prints and PDFs.
You May Also Like
Google has released a Google Travel Trends Report which states that branded budget hotel search queries grew 179% year over year (YOY) in India, in...
135 job openings in over 60 companies are listed at our free Digital and Mobile Job Board: If you’re looking for a job, or...
Twitter takes down tweets from MP, MLA, editor criticising handling of pandemic upon government request
By Aroon Deep and Aditya Chunduru You’re reading it here first: Twitter has complied with government requests to censor 52 tweets that mostly criticised...
Rajesh Kumar* doesn’t have many enemies in life. But, Uber, for which he drives a cab everyday, is starting to look like one, he...


text:
British company JLI Trading Limited will move into BIK Wroclaw II. A preliminary contract has been signed with Logicenters to lease an area totalling 6,050 sqm. The lease will come into effect in the third quarter of 2022.
The 22,500 sqm expansion of Logicenters’ BIK Wroclaw II logistics facility in southern Poland is well under way with completion scheduled for the beginning of September. Atlas Ward is the main contractor for the construction, which is in line with Logicenters’ clear sustainability profile.
A preliminary contract has already been signed with British company JLI Trading Limited, which will occupy 6,050 sqm in the newly built hall. The new space will primarily be used for warehousing purposes and for a modern office.
JLI Trading Limited operates in the e-commerce sector and was founded by young businessman Jack Lear. The company began its journey by setting up the online store Bodysocks, which today is one of the leading fancy dress design and supply companies in the world. The company’s portfolio also includes other brands such as BargainFox.com, Jobalots and JLI Fulfillment.
The new agreement will come into effect as early as the third quarter of 2022.
“Even before the expansion is completed, we are noticing how attractive BIK Wroclaw II has become to our customers. Our first building, completed two years ago, is still fully occupied and we are now expanding even further. Even now, 77% of the new space has already been leased to future customers, a testament to the facility’s ideal geographic location. I’m incredibly excited to bring JLI Trading Limited on board and to help it grow even more in the future,” says Søren Rodian Olsen, Managing Director at Logicenters in Poland.
The logistics facility is located adjacent to the A4 motorway exit. It is an ideal location for a warehouse near the city of Wroclaw. In addition, the property offers excellent logistics to the rest of Poland and also the German market.
Last summer, Logicenters announced its intention to expand beyond the Nordic region with a first venture in Poland. The country is the fifth largest logistics property market in Europe and is also one of the fastest growing markets on the Continent.
Get in touch with any question or inquiry.
We are looking forward to hearing from you!


text:
WHAT would happen if your AFL team logo ate too much? A recent contest run by DesignCrowd, a custom design website, asked its team of contributing designers from around the world to supersize their favourite AFL logos.
Here’s what they came up with ...
THE WINNER — SYDNEY SWANS
WEST COAST EAGLES
PORT ADELAIDE POWER
ST KILDA SAINTS
Originally published as My AFL team is stuffed!


text:
Stemco Kaiser, a provider of kingpin and suspension kits, announced that it is expanding its market presence outside of the United States by launching its product line in Canada. Stemco Kaiser products previously were offered under the V.W. Kaiser brand until the company was acquired by EnPro Industries in February. Kaiser joined EnPro’s Stemco business and now is operated as a part of Stemco’s truck products division.
“Serving markets in Canada is our first step in offering our products to a broader customer base,” says Todd Anderson, vice president and general manager of the Millington, Mich.-based company. “With the superior performance of Stemco Kaiser products, it makes sense to increase the availability of these products, and we plan to expand sales into other countries in the near future.”


text:
According to J.D. Power and Associates, we don’t just like our iPhones — en masse, we adore them. It just released its fourth and latest customer satisfaction report for the smartphone industry, and Apple has edged out Motorola and HTC for the number one spot.
Ease of use, feature set and form factor were some of the major areas in which the iPhone got high marks — despite the PR swamp of “Antennagate.” Though there may be some dissatisfied customers out there (and we know this to be true, based on the reader feedback here at TiP — Yes, we do read your comments!), it looks like the overwhelming majority of iPhone 4 users are pretty ecstatic about their device.
University of Michigan also released its American Customer Satisfaction Index recently, and it put Apple at the top of the heap in customer satisfaction as well. It won the honor for the seventh year in a row.
All this lovin’ is enough to make an Apple blush, no? But then again, even though the gear is happymaking, the service that comes with it certainly doesn’t seem to be.
In another survey, J.D. Power polled people about the quality of their cell calls. Verizon topped the list, and AT&T… well, it came in dead last everywhere except in two regions of the country.


text:
Amazon to Launch it’s Android Tablet Late Summer?
There is some interesting news this morning about the heavily rumored and worst kept secret in the Android world, namely the tablet device that Amazon is working on to compliment it’s Android app store. According to an article over at Digitimes, the Taiwan based component makers for said tablet are leaking that the units will start shipping in late August early September. Along with the ship date leak, it seems that the sources are confirming that the Amazon device will offer video streaming services from it’s vast library of movies. Check out the text from the article after the break. I have to admit, I am pretty excited to see this tablet get released, here is to hoping that it is priced in the right space!
The info from the Digitimes piece:
Amazon is poised to step into tablet PCs and will launch models as son as August-September, with targeted global sales of four million units for 2011, according to Taiwan-based component makers.
The timing of launch is to meet the peak sales period prior to Thanksgiving in the US and the year-end holidays in the US and Europe, the sources pointed out.
Amazon adopts processors developed by Texas Instruments, with Taiwan-based Wintek to supply touch panels, ILI Technology to supply LCD driver ICs and Quanta Computer responsible for assembly, the sources indicated. Monthly shipments are expected to be 700,000-800,000 units.
Amazon will provide streaming movie services for users of its tablet PCs, the sources noted.
You might also like
Motorola’s latest unlocked smartphone delivers 4G LTE connectivity for $150 Motorola on Wednesday introduced a slightly larger take on its Moto E smartphone. What’s more, the new version also includes 4G LTE
Over the past few years, tablet devices have become a hot item. Many people consider this a new generation of computing. In the United States, people prefer the larger screens
Word on the street today is that Samsung’s much-anticipated Galaxy S III is slated for a March announcement followed by an April launch. The news of this comes from ZDNet Korea who


text:
|PS3 / XBOX 360 / PC||Europe USA|
By Ishaan . June 10, 2013 . 12:09pm
Namco Bandai have shared a new trailer for Dark Souls II, which they debuted earlier today at Microsoft’s E3 press conference. The is headed to PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and will be available March 2014:
For more on Dark Souls II and its world, check out this previous report on the game.


text:
A Washington nonprofit group, the Coalition for a Safer Web, sued Apple in federal court Sunday, demanding that it remove Telegram, a chat and social media app, from its app store for failing to crack down on “violent, extremist conversation.”
[The Coalition for a Safer Web] complained about Telegram’s role in hosting white supremacist, neo-Nazi and other hateful content, and argued in the lawsuit that such content puts Telegram in violation of Apple’s terms of service for its app store. A similar suit is planned against Google, said the coalition’s lawyer, Keith Altman.
“Telegram stands out by itself as the superspreader [of hateful speech], even compared to Parler,” [the coalition’s president, Marc] Ginsberg said in an interview.
Ginsberg, who is Jewish, asserts in the suit that Telegram’s anti-Semitic content puts him in peril and that his ownership of an iPhone gives him standing to sue Apple in federal court to require that the company enforce its terms of service barring hate speech and incitement to violence on apps carried by the App Store.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California, alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of the California business code, and seeks unspecified compensatory damages and an injunction requiring Apple to remove Telegram from its app store.
Telegram, which says it operates from Dubai, was developed by Russian Internet entrepreneur Pavel Durov. The app is popular with people who want to keep their communications shielded from autocratic regimes and others seeking online privacy. Durov himself has clashed with the Russian government over censorship and encryption.
But Telegram also has a reputation for being the go-to app of terrorism and hate groups. For years, it was used by Islamic State militants to communicate and spread propaganda, until European police worked with Telegram to take down accounts associated with the group in 2019.
MacDailyNews Take: by SteveJack:
Welcome to the slippery slope, Apple.
If this keeps up, Apple’s own Messages app, end-to-end encrypted and baked into Apple’s operating systems (therefore not subject to App Store rules), could be subjected to similar lawsuits.
You’ll recall that Apple’s App Review Board wrote to the developers of Parler, in part:
We have determined that the measures you describe are inadequate to address the proliferation of dangerous and objectionable content on your app.
Parler has not upheld its commitment to moderate and remove harmful or dangerous content encouraging violence and illegal activity, and is not in compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines… Specifically, we have continued to find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action in violation of Guideline 1.1 – Safety – Objectionable Content…
While there is no perfect system to prevent all dangerous or hateful user content, apps are required to have robust content moderation plans in place to proactively and effectively address these issues.
For these reasons, your app will be removed from the App Store until we receive an update that is compliant with the App Store Review Guidelines and you have demonstrated your ability to effectively moderate and filter the dangerous and harmful content on your service.
Again, Apple’s reasoning for pulling Parler is fine, if applied uniformly.
Beside the fact that Twitter, Facebook, etc. remain on the App Store, I see another issue: Using Apple’s stated reasoning to ban Parler, encryption should therefore be disabled from Apple’s iMessage system and a robust content moderation plan should be put in place or Apple’s Messages app should be removed from the platform.
On February 16, 2016, Apple CEO Tim Cook published “A Message to Our Customers” on Apple.com in which he stated, in part:
For many years, we have used encryption to protect our customers’ personal data because we believe it’s the only way to keep their information safe. We have even put that data out of our own reach, because we believe the contents of your iPhone are none of our business.
…The U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone… make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control…
In today’s digital world, the “key” to an encrypted system is a piece of information that unlocks the data, and it is only as secure as the protections around it. Once the information is known, or a way to bypass the code is revealed, the encryption can be defeated by anyone with that knowledge… In the physical world, it would be the equivalent of a master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks — from restaurants and banks to stores and homes. No reasonable person would find that acceptable…
We are challenging the FBI’s demands with the deepest respect for American democracy and a love of our country. We believe it would be in the best interest of everyone to step back and consider the implications.
While we believe the FBI’s intentions are good, it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect.
So, what’s more “dangerous and harmful,” a social network’s app, in this case Parler, that might at times publicly display “dangerous and objectionable content” or an app which is totally opaque like Apple’s Messages app using the end-to-end encrypted iMessage system where “dangerous and objectionable content” can be relayed at will in total secrecy?
Some might say “Oh, but it’s not the same thing! One is a social network where people follow one another and a dangerous message could be relayed to a large group of people, but the other one is just a messaging system!”
Yes, it’s true that Apple’s Messages limits group chat to a maximum number of 32 people. How could 32 people cause any damage? Well, for one example, nineteen hijackers carried out the September 11 attacks. Further, in Messages, information can easily be forwarded to others or copied and pasted into other group messages, making the capacity to send “dangerous and objectionable content” via Apple’s encrypted iMessage service virtually unlimited.
Would someone trafficking in “objectionable content” or planning “dangerous and harmful illegal activity” choose to use a public social network or would they use a completely private system explicitly designed to be impenetrable by anyone outside of the group?
It doesn’t matter what you call it. Any app that allows the passing of messages, Parler, Messages, or even apps with messaging attached like Words With Friends, Fitbit, or many thousands of others – if they don’t have a commitment to moderate and remove harmful or dangerous content encouraging violence and illegal activity, they are not in compliance with Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines.
The fact is that Apple’s Messages app lacks any measures whatsoever to address the same issues of which they accuse Parler of not adequately addressing. Apple’s Messages app is perfectly “inadequate to address dangerous and harmful content” or “illegal activity.” With the Messages app, Apple itself has not upheld any commitment to “moderate and remove harmful or dangerous content encouraging violence and illegal activity,” and, accordingly, is not in compliance with Apple’s own guidelines.
Clearly, with Messages and iMessage end-to-end encryption, there is no way at all to moderate content much less “find direct threats of violence and calls to incite lawless action,” but, it’s highly likely that such threats exist in violation of Apple’s guidelines.
Of course, Apple could claim that “hey, nobody knows for sure, it’s a black box, so Messages is technically A-OK,” but that’d be a weasel’s way out of this ill-constructed box that Apple’s concocted since Messages is obviously a much more effective tool for secretly transmitting “dangerous and harmful content” than is Parler or, for that matter, Twitter and Facebook et al.
Perhaps Apple own apps — baked right into their operating systems, no less — are exempted from complying with App Store Review Guidelines with which select other companies must comply or face expulsion? If so, surely competent antitrust investigators would find this example of self-favoritism interesting, if not evidentiary.
SteveJack is a long-time Macintosh user, web designer, multimedia producer, and contributor to the MacDailyNews Opinion section.
MacDailyNews Note: Today is Martin Luther King Day in the U.S. and the markets are closed. As usual on such trading holidays, we will have limited posting today.


text:
GlobalFair, a supplier of building materials in the cross-border space, has raised $20 million in its Series A round through a mix of equity and debt. This round was led by Lightspeed with participation from Saama Capital, India Quotient, AUM Ventures and Stride Ventures.
According to GlobalFair, the funds will be used to strengthen its manufacturing base across India and Vietnam. It will also launch capital finance solutions and build a sustainable cross border supply chain, it said in a press statement.
The company provides procurement as a service and deals in categories including quartz, tiles and cabinets. Its USPs lie in offering upfront pricing, real time tracking, latest machines and technology.
It also makes supply chain cost efficient by maximising load capacity utilisation and predictive demand manufacturing models. According to its website, the company has 110 employees across India, the US and Vietnam.
Lightspeed Venture Partners had raised its largest fund dedicated to India and Southeast Asia at $500 million in July this year. The Silicon Valley-headquartered venture capital firm, which has backed startups such as Oyo, Udaan, Sharechat and Byju’s, has increased the size of its fourth India fund substantially from its previous corpus of $275 million in 2020.


text:
The Italian supercar manufacturer signed a contract with Joni Quince, who used to be an Apple chef designer.
The Ferrari autocompany has conceived global change in design — it says the beginning of cooperation with John Aiv, who used to led the design department in Apple. The Italians emphasize in the official comment, which is no coincidence to appeal to a person with the experience of creating «
In order to cooperate Ferrari and Studio IIV LoveFrom signed a long-term contract. Details are not reported, only streamlined plans — in particular, the creation of projects in the field of luxury goods. LoveFrom told that they would interact with the team of designers led by Flavio Manzoni.
Most likely, the former «stylists» iPhone will work on the new Ferrari design. There are two potential directions for this cooperation. The first is to create the design of the latest models — for example, future electrical crossovers. The second is the development of high-tech interiors with a multifunctional interface.
In the meantime, Apple develops its own car — on the electrical and autonomous control. The project «Titan» due to the increased attention of the public and silence on the side of the Apple has already been overgrown with rumors. At the moment it is known that Americans
Photos taken from open sources.


text:
Google Released a Spam Update on June 23
Google has released a spam update on June 23, 2021. This is yet another Search Update that the company is calling a “spam update”.
Furthermore, Google has also confirmed that they will run another “spam update” next week and will share the time it starts and concludes.
Unlike Google’s core algorithm updates, these spam updates are not rolling out over a period of multiple days. Instead of rolling out over multiple days, these spam updates are one-day updates that usually start and conclude on the same day.
“As part of our regular work to improve results, we’ve released a spam update to our systems,” Google tweeted.
In another tweet, Google confirmed the next spam update that will happen the following week, “This spam update will conclude today. A second one will follow next week. We’ll add to this tweet thread when that happens.”
Should website owners be concerned?
Generally, the average website owner should not be worried about spam updates. Google has a very strict definition for what it considers spam, and most websites do not fall under that category.
Unless you are tricking your website visitors into providing personal information, installing malware, or stealing their credit card information, you won’t have much to worry about.
Follow the best practices
Having said that, it is always important to closely follow Google’s guidelines and best practices to ensure that your website passes every algorithm or spam update with flying colours.
Compared to changes in core algorithm updates, it is likely more difficult to gauge the potential impact of spam updates.
We will have to wait at least a few weeks to see any impact whatsoever that the two spam updates might have had on websites. We will learn, however, more about the results of these spam updates once Google publishes its annual spam-fighting report in 2022.
If you are interested in learning more about internet spam and how Google fights spam, you can watch this video.


text:
Google Caffeine is essentially Google’s new, upgraded search engine. While Google has said the official launch of the new search will not be made until after the holidays, it’s actually live in a few data centers already.
Google announced the new search platform development back in August of this year (2009) and has provided us a cool sandbox to test results in. While the sandbox is no longer available, we can tell you that for *most the ranking changes will be mild. I would like to, however, discuss the expected ranking metrics that will likely be changed or tweaked when the the Caffeine update goes live.
Back in August Google had the following to say regarding the needs of a quality search engine.
To build a great web search engine, you need to:
- Crawl a large chunk of the web.
- Index the resulting pages and compute how reputable those pages are.
Rank and return the most relevant pages for users’ queries as quickly as possible.
So what can you expect?
We think you can expect Google to really go after website quality metrics such as, speed, broken links, navigation and content. This will likely have a far greater impact on rank that in the past.
We also believe Google will add even more rank consideration to the signs of regularly maintained websites. We tell customers that Google likes to know the lights are on AND someone is home. The freshness and quality of content has been hugely important this year and we believe this will not only continue… But become even more important with Caffeine.
You can expect Google to continue to show strong distaste for paid and reciprocal links and can add linking out to bad neighborhood and spammy websites to boot. Certainly you have little or no control over who links to you, but you *should have complete control over who you link to. This is just another responsibility factor…. Many of the noted items that we feel are being weighted better center around professionalism, maintenance and effort. These are all things you should already be doing, this is your business… remember?
Spam. Google has consistently demonstrated that spam will not be tolerated. Things like hidden text, unnatural text, pumped up keyword density and comma separated lists are not going to be tolerated. We have already seen Google moving quickly and efficiently on these spam and quality issues over the last 4 months… Do not make this mistake, the cost can be more than your business can afford.
I think you can expect to see some very long time huge ranking factors fall away from the added weight they currently carry. Metrics like the age of the website will still be important, but not enough to maintain rank as they have been in the past. Those old, unmaintained authority type websites will begin to topple, making way for fresh and maintained content from any age website.
Shoot me now… But I think you will see Google taking a much deeper look at the type and quality of backlinks, as opposed to a number of backlinks or inventory type attitude. So links from Social media sources, which are considered highly fresh and indicate activity will carry more weight that they currently do. I think additionally, links from seed sites, which are ranking well and relevant will carry even more weight than ever before.
The way i see this, is that Google is doing its job and delivering the best search experience to their users they can. As a company they have consistently made advances and changes to better their products and services… I think you should understand, they expect the same from you. Remember, being ranked and indexed by Google is NOT your right… You have no rights, it is rather a privilege by contrast.