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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) today announced that Jeff Williams will be their new Chief Operating Officer (COO), which would elevate him into a position as heir apparent to CEO Tim Cook.
“Williams had been doing the COO job already, essentially,” said Rob Enderle, an Oregon-based analyst who tracks the technology sector. “Apple was able to ease him into the COO job.”
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) also announced that Phil Schiller will now be expanding his current role as senior vice president of worldwide marketing to lead the company’s App Store.
“Apple is more successful than Google at in monetizing its app stores,” Enderle said. “By putting a marketing guy at the head of the App Store means that it looks like Apple wants to preserve that advantage. That’s pretty smart.”
The stock is down 1.06% or $1.18 following the news, hitting $110.15 per share. Approximately 22.91 million shares traded hands. AAPL shares have declined 13.66% since May 14, 2015 and are currently downtrending. It has underperformed the S&P500 by 11.39%.
From a total of 29 analysts covering Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock, 26 rate it a “Buy”, 0 a “Sell”, and 3 a “Hold”. This means that 90% of the ratings are positive. The highest target price is $200 while the lowest target price is $125. The mean of all analyst targets is $149.71 which is 35.91% above today’s ($110.15) stock price. Apple Inc. was the topic of 92 analyst reports since July 21, 2015 according to the firm StockzIntelligence Inc. UBS maintained shares on December 16 with a “Buy” rating. Mizuho maintained shares with a”Hold” rating and a $125 target share price in their report from an October 28. BMO Capital Markets initiated AAPL stock in a recent report from December 11 with a “Outperform” rating. Oppenheimer maintained the rating on October 28. Oppenheimer has a “Buy” rating and a $125 price target on shares. Finally, Macquarie Research maintained the stock with a “Buy” rating in a report they issued on an October 28.
The institutional sentiment increased to 1.18 in Q2 2015. It’s up 0.22, from 0.96 in 2015Q2. The ratio improved, as 103 funds sold all their Apple Inc. shares they owned while 854 reduced their positions. 102 funds bought stakes while 1032 increased their total positions. Institutions now own 3.20 billion shares which is 1.58% less than the previous share count of 3.25 billion in 2015Q2.
Compton Capital Management Inc Ri holds 45.15% of its total portfolio in Apple Inc., equating to 113,694 shares. Raiff Partners Inc owns 100,000 shares representing 32.27% of their total US portfolio. Moreover, Rfg Advisory Group Llc has 25.06% of their total portfolio invested in the company, equating to 70,558 shares. The New York-based Independent Investors Inc has a total of 23.66% of their portfolio invested in the stock. Dock Street Asset Management Inc, a Connecticut-based fund reported 269,584 shares owned.
Since March 6, 2015, the stock had 0 insider buys, and 8 selling transactions for a total of $20.59 million in net activity. Maestri Luca sold 2,908 shares worth $325,347. Williams Jeffrey E sold 46,873 shares worth $5.18 million. Riccio Daniel J. sold 24,085 shares worth $3.01 million. Ahrendts Angela J sold 44,789 shares worth $5.90M. The insider Levinson Arthur D sold 70,000 shares worth $9.20 million.
Apple Inc. designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. The company has a market cap of $620.84 billion. The Company’s services and products include iPhone, iPad, Mac, iPod, Apple TV, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the iOS and OS X operating systems, iCloud, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings. It has 11.98 P/E ratio. The Firm also delivers digital content and applications through the iTunes Store, App StoreSM, iBookstoreSM, and Mac App Store.


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Joe and Myrah Aiello just dropped a line to say that they've finally launched their "back door pizzeria," a takeout-only pizza biz that they're literally doing from the back of their Italian restaurant on Central Avenue.
There are 16 different toppings available on New York-style and Sicilian pizzas -- and the kitchen is only making 50 pies a night. Hungry locals are already on to this, and the pizzas have been selling out almost every single night.
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Measures to spur innovation in services trade unveiled –
A visitor interacts with a portable intelligent robot during the 2019 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on May 28, 2019. [Photo/Xinhua]
China has introduced 26 opening-up measures, including allowing foreign institutions to independently run economic and technological exhibitions, and supporting more overseas professionals to start businesses in the country, to spur innovation in the services trade, said the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday.
The ministry will work with other government branches to conduct open stress tests for the cross-border delivery of business deals and overseas consumption activities such as enabling local firms to partner with overseas institutions to develop cross-border commercial medical insurance products and giving the green light to foreigners to operate non-vessel common carrier service in the country, said Xian Guoyi, director-general of the ministry’s department of trade in services and commercial services.
His remarks came as the State Council, China’s Cabinet, approved a plan earlier this month, allowing more areas to carry out the pilot program, which aims to facilitate a higher level of opening-up in the country’s services trade by further refining government policies and reforming the existing administrative and regulatory systems.
The country has expanded the pilot program to spur innovative development in the services trade in 28 cities and regions, including Beijing, Xi’an and Urumqi, underscoring the country’s efforts to stabilize foreign trade and foster new growth drivers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to exploring the relaxation of restrictive measures in specific service areas and promoting mutual recognition of professional qualifications between China and other countries, the official said the government will further simplify work visa policies to facilitate qualified foreigners to work and develop their businesses in the country.
If all these tests and measures work well, the government will encourage pilot cities and regions to further strengthen international cooperation in services trade, in particular in areas such as education, law and finance, and build international service trade cooperation parks when the conditions are ready, he said.
In contrast to merchandise trade, trade in services refers to the sale and delivery of intangible products such as transportation, healthcare, product development, logistics, tourism, telecommunications, construction, advertising, computing and accounting.
For the next stage, Xian said more resources will be deployed for the growth of services trade in the northeast, central and western regions. As many pilot cities are located in these regions, the government will formulate specific and feasible implementation plans based on their own industrial characteristics and location advantages.
It aims to cultivate new competitive points in areas including digital trade, transportation, tourism, culture, traditional Chinese medicine, service outsourcing and other fields to better boost economic transformation and upgrade coordinated regional development.
Eager to pursue healthy growth in the sector and the country’s emphasis on services trade, Beijing will hold the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services scheduled for early September. The event will have both online and offline exhibitions.
This year’s fair covers areas including trade in cultural products, tourism services, financial services, winter sports, and industrial- and service-themed robots. It includes four major forums and more than 100 seminars and promotional events. The value of tentative deals reached at the fair amounted to $105 billion in 2019.


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Mark Zuckerberg and his company meta have had plans to go into non-fungible tokens for a long time this is the week that Instagram will begin their beta program unpopular photography and influencer network Instagram. they are painting this new feature as a new way for their content creators to display and make money from their digital work.
The Digital Collectibles Showcase tutorial
At the start this feature set won’t be available to everybody and they have selected key athletes, models, and other influencers to participate in this new endeavor. well this is announced as a test it seems that the eventual full rollout will be in available as they expand this feature set across the rest of their property including Facebook and their popular virtual reality Oculus programs.
Interestingly, meta is going to use the popular polygon layer two network for their roll out Polygon announced the surprising but somewhat expected news on Twitter. Stay stay that Facebook or Meadow is partnering with the network because of their carbon-neutral footprint scalable options as the developer ecosystem that is already on the platform. We agree with the sentiment. over the last year we’ve gotten to know polygon very well and appreciate the ease-of-use and low costs for users to innovate on the network / blockchain.
Polygon has become extremely popular as a low-cost option for new nft creators and collectors to experiment with this ecosystem and I’m relatively low-risk fashion. Additionally because of how polygon performs popular web 3 and GameFi experiments including crypto Raiders and zedd run have seen tremendous success.
Instagram is going to test out some new features for these digital collectibles. For example if a Creator posts an item that will be collectible it will have a shimmer effect that will set it apart from other posts that may not be in FTS. When this is tapped the potential collector can see a description of the NST the Creator in the current owner. This is similar functionality that was added by Twitter a few months ago allowing collectors to make their profile picture or pfp an image of an NST by collecting their wall.
The beta will start with the following Instagram users. @adambombsquad, @bluethegreat, @bossbeautiesnft, @cynthiaerivo, @garyvee, @jenstark, @justmaiko, @maliha_z_art, @misshattan, @nopattern, @oseanworld, @paigebueckers, @phiawilson, @swopes and @yungjake.
The timing of this announcement however is unfortunate given that nfts have entered the biggest bear Market since their launch with many projects and cryptocurrency capitulating. all that being said we are bullish long-term on nfts the metaverse and web 3.


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RocketBank, a Russian mobile banking company, has secured USD2m in seed funding from compatriot Runa Capital. The mobile-first banking startup will use the investment to expand services in Russia and finance product development. RocketBank’s app was launched in July 2012 and the firm claims it has a few thousand users to date.
Ilya Zubarev, senior partner commented: “Runa Capital invests in technology projects that can compete in global markets. Rocketbank is exactly such a company with a strong team, innovative approach to banking and its own philosophy of service.”
As the demand for immediate payments implementation grows in the United States, Iliad Solutions have identified one of the largest risks to face the payments industry over the next few years.
Barclays has signed contracts with six of the fintech startups that just graduated from its second New York accelerator programme.
Company card killer Pleo has raised $3m in new funding as it prepares for public launch in the UK and Denmark.
Cheques are become less and less common in the UK according to new research from global market research firm Mintel which claims contactless card use has overtaken cheque payments in the UK for the first time.


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Speaking at GDC today, President of Stardock, Brad Wardell, has announced that the company are giving away their sequel to Elemental, Elemental: Fallen Enchantress as compensation for the original game's disastrous launch . The sequel will be free to anyone who bought Elemental before October 31, 2010.
During "The Failure Workshop" Brad said "We're going to spend a couple of million dollars and give the sequel away to show our fans we've learned from our mistakes. We released Elemental two days early because we were so excited for people see it. We wanted our fans to see the masterpiece we'd put out."
We awarded Elemental 70% in our review , and revisited it after a significant patch was released.
For more information on Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, visit the official website .


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Chef Camp at Richlands Dairy & Creamery in Dinwiddie, Virginia, finally arrived! We donned our cow print face masks, made introductions, then toured the farm.
Owner and herd manager Brittany Jones explained the science behind dairy farming. All cows wear a “cow Fitbit” to track their health and milk output by computer. Cows work less than 2 hours daily, including milking five minutes twice daily. The rest of the time, they eat, sleep and hang out in the herd, plus enjoy a 2-month vacation!
Coley Drinkwater, owner and founder of the creamery, described how her family changed their business model in response to lower milk prices and decreased demand. They opened the onsite store selling their products directly to the public last year. They’ll have a corn maze this fall, and continue adding to their family-friendly activities.
Following lunch, the chefs discussed trials and solutions during COVID-19. Chefs Jason Arbusto and Miles Westgate of Lynchburg closed Shoemakers American Grille during the pandemic. They kept Waterstone Pizza open for delivery and eventually opened outdoor seating with a bar and games. Chef Morgan Botwinick of Whisk Bakery in Richmond remained open for takeout.
All three chefs use Richlands Dairy products, but delivery was initially restricted during the pandemic. Richland Dairy donated the unexpected milk surplus to local daycare centers, as they already donate 1 gallon out of 10 to area food banks.
Chef Kisha Moore of Hummingbird Macrons, in Norfolk, described the session as a mini think tank for chefs. The camp is sponsored by The Dairy Alliance in partnership with Eat Y’all to connect farmers, chefs, and small businesses in promoting solutions and local, thoughtful food sourcing.
Camp ended with calcium-rich food tastings. Portia McKnight of Chapel Hill Creamery in North Carolina led the farmstead cheese tasting. The finale: tasting 17 flavors of deliciously creamy Richlands Dairy ice cream!
Mary-Jo Sawyer, RD is a registered dietitian with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System where she provides outpatient nutrition counseling. A former Richmond-Times Dispatch columnist, she wrote the popular “Practical Nutrition” column. She’s currently a freelance writer, most recently with Boomer Magazine in Richmond, VA. Follow her on Facebook.


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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state will supply free food kits to nearly 1.5 lakh migrant labourers as part of the Centre’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat programme. The civil supplies department has started preparations for the distribution through district labour offices. The Central government is bearing the total cost of `3,500 crore to supply food kits to eight crore migrant labourers across the country.
As part of the programme, the Food Corporation of India in May had granted 151 tonnes of rice to the state. The state civil supplies department plans to supply a food kit comprising 5kg of white rice and 1kg of black chickpeas. The department is awaiting the beneficiaries’ list from the labour department. Though Kerala has an estimated 40 lakh migrant labourers, less than six lakh labourers have registered themselves with the labour department. With many returning to their native places due to Covid-19, only around 1.5 lakh of the registered migrant labourers are left in the state, the labour department has informed the civil supplies department.
Labourers who are not covered under the National Food Security Act and state Public Distribution System (PDS) will only be eligible for the Atma Nirbhar Bharat programme. Ration card holders from 17 other Indian states are eligible to buy goods from PDS shops in the state under the ‘One nation, one ration card’ scheme. Meanwhile, the government has dropped the plan to prepare a buffer stock of food grains. Sources said it was planned when there was a fear of shortage of food grains owing to the Covid-19 lockdown. Now, the government has no such apprehension as the interstate movement of food items has become almost normal.


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Average daily supply of electricity across the country may have dropped to an all time low of 4.5 hours per day, leaving many businesses grounded while households are left without any supply, an indication that total blackout looms.
Latest statistics from Independent Energy Watch Initiative indicate that the Yola Electricity Distribution Company, covering Adamawa, Borno and Taraba states, supplied a paltry 4.5 hours on June 24, while energy sent out was 0.27 mega watts (mw).
This abysmal power supply was followed by Ibadan Disco covering Oyo, Ogun, Osun, and Kwara states with 5.3 hours of daily power supply for the period under review with 0.32mw as energy sent out.
The states were trailed by Eko Electricity Distribution Company covering Lagos South with 6.3 hours of daily power supply and 0.71mw as energy sent out.
The next in line was Kano Disco, covering Kano, Jigawa and Katsina with 7.1 hours and 0.34 as energy sent out.
Ironically, Ikeja Disco with the highest number of industrial customers covering Lagos North was only able to muscle out 8.8 hours of power supply and 0.55mw as energy sent out.
A study by NOIPolls, an Abuja-based research outfit, disclosed that power supply to households in the nation dropped to 30 per cent of installed capacity in the first quarter of this year, from the 37 per cent obtained in last quarter of last year.
The new aggregated power poll results released by NOIPolls for the first quarter of 2017 showed that the lowest power supply to households in Q1 2017 was observed in January at 21 per cent. The drop was attributed to the shortage of gas to the power generating companies and low water levels at the hydro power stations.
For Q1 2017, the monthly average cumulative hours of power supply experienced was recorded as 7.5 hours daily in January, which was the lowest. It went up to 9.8 hours in February, which was recorded as the highest.
The poll’s results also revealed that for Q4 2016, average daily power cumulative supply was 9.6 hours, while in Q1 2017, it dropped to an average of 8.9 hours daily, indicating a 0.7-point decrease.
A cumulative power supply of 8.9 hours per day was assessed to be a far cry from the standard 24 hours power supply, which Nigerian households ought to be experiencing, thus further buttressing the issues inherent in Nigeria’s power sector.
Lamenting the nation’s deteriorating power infrastructure, Mr. Duro Kuteyi, a former chairperson of Lagos State Chapter of Nigeria Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI), said he spends an average of N400,000 on diesel every month just to remain in business.
“I still pay my bills despite the erratic power supply, and Ikeja Disco continues to disconnect companies for supplying electricity for less than four hours in a day.”
For his part, Managing Director, Lydin Pure Water, Mojisola Abbas, said, “l spend over N120,000 weekly on diesel to meet the demand of customers. It seems the Discos do not want us to survive.’’
Meanwhile, consumer rights advocacy groups have equally condemned the operators of the various distribution companies for the non-availability of meters to various homes. The groups argued that Nigerian consumers have suffered enough through the action of the companies, which have failed to provide meters even when they get charged outrageously.
They argued that it was time they stopped allocating arbitrary charges to consumers as such actions were tantamount to ripping off consumers.
The President of Consumers Advancement Organisation (CRADO), Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, said it was disturbing that government had remained indifferent to the issue of poor power supply by the Discos despite numerous pleas to compel them from extorting Nigerians through outrageous charges.
Ogunbanjo stated that it was strange that a critical mass of household still lack metering system, stating categorically that over three million Nigerians at the moment don’t have meters.
According to him, what has become worrisome is the fact that most distribution companies have hijacked the role of meter manufacturers to the extent of now selling meters to consumers.
Commenting on the amount of money ripped off from consumers as a result of non-metering, Ogunbanjo put the estimated figure to N3 billion monthly.
“When you give consumers crazy billings, it is usually N5,000 or N10,000 of what they have not consumed. Now, if you have three million consumers and they are paying at least N5,000 beyond what they are supposed to pay, the amount, if calculated, runs into billions of naira.”
On her part, the convener of Consumer Advocacy Forum of Nigeria (CAFON), Ms. Sola Salako, said it would be wrong to blame the Discos on the non-availability of prepaid meters because many of them lack the desired motivation.
According to her, the issue of estimating billings had been more financially rewarding to them since they do not have adequate data on the number of consumers on their networks. She said based on this, many consumers have been made to bear the cost of those not captured on their networks.
She heaped the blame on government for failing to ensure that Discos provide meters for all Nigerian consumers, stating that such lackadaisical approach by the government had caused the companies to exploit the consumers.
She said: “Government has failed to provide the needed motivation for Discos to make available meters for consumers even long before the forex crisis started.”


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The Terry Fox Foundation is looking for a volunteer run organizer in Kamloops for the annual run, which takes place in September.
This year's national Terry Fox Run Day will take place on Sunday, Sept. 18, and needs an organizer to help increase awareness about this event. The foundation is a not-for-profit organization and 84 cents of every dollar raised is donated to cancer research. Community involvement is needed to maintain the level of donations the event contributes toward cancer research.
Those interested can email email@example.com.
Clothesline has expanded in Kamloops, adding pickup to its drop-off bins in town. Clothesline is a program that picks up used clothing and small household items, which are then sold, with all the proceeds going to the Canadian Diabetes Association.
Household pick-ups are free and can be arranged by calling 1-800-5055525 or by going online to diabetes.ca/clothesline. Kamloops residents can also go online to diabetes.ca/dropbox to find the location of their nearest clothing donation box.
In Canada, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions -- with an estimated 11-million people living with diabetes or prediabetes.
Another Canadian is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes. Diabetes increases a person's risk for many serious complications, including heart attack, stroke, kidney failure leading to dialysis and blindness.
"It is important to us that we not only raise funds for diabetes, but that we do so in a way that makes a positive difference to the environment by diverting items from our landfills," said Ed Laverock, operations manager for Kamloops Clothesline.
Proceeds raised from Clothesline help the Canadian Diabetes Association send more than 2,400 children and youth with type 1 diabetes to the CDA's D-Camps, summer and family camps offered across Canada where kids meet and are inspired by each other to manage their diabetes well in a medically supervised setting.
Additionally, funds raised have helped the Canadian Diabetes Association fund $130 million over the last 40 years in world-leading Canadian research that has contributed to the development of new treatments and devices, ways to prevent type 2 diabetes and search for a cure. Until July 31, residents can participate in the Clothesline contest, "Where will your donation take you?", for a chance to win a $5,000 travel voucher that can be used anywhere around the world, or one of ten $500 VISA gift cards when they donate reusable clothing. Go online to diabetes.ca/pickitup for contest details.
The main types of diabetes are: Type 1 occurs when the body is unable to produce insulin, a hormone that controls the level of sugar in the blood. The cause of type 1 diabetes is unknown and it is not preventable. It most commonly begins in childhood and occurs when a person's immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. It is found in five to 10 per cent of Canadians with diabetes.
Type 2 occurs when the pancreas either cannot effectively use or produce enough insulin. The causes of type 2 diabetes can be genetic, behavioural and/or environmental. It usually develops in adulthood, although more children and adolescents are being diagnosed. It is found in approximately 90 per cent of Canadians living with diabetes.
Prediabetes occurs when an individual's blood sugar levels are elevated, but not yet high enough to be type 2 diabetes. About half of those with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes.
This year's Tim Hortons Camp Day raised $12.6 million for the Tim Horton Children's Foundation.
The June 1 event, the 25th annual, raised money via coffee sales at participating Tim Hortons restaurants, along with Camp Day bracelet sales and donations from guests and restaurant owners.
All proceeds will go to sending kids from low-income families to one of seven camps across North America this year.
In the past 25 years, more than $162 million has been raised -- including proceeds from this year -- to send more than 237,000 kids to camp.
If you get a call or email that sounds like a scam, it probably is. When the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) calls, it ensures personal information is protected. The CRA will never: o Ask for personal information by email or text message; o Request payment by prepaid credit card; o Share tax information with another person or organization, unless you have agreed that it can be shared; o Leave personal information on an answering machine; o Threaten with police arrest or use nasty language.
When in doubt, check My Account or call 1-800-959-8281. To report scams, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre online at antifraudcentre.ca or toll free at 1-888-495-8501. If you believe you may be the victim of fraud or have given personal or financial information by mistake, contact the local police department. Kamloops RCMP can be reached by calling 250-828-3000. For more information, go online to cra.gc.ca/fraudprevention.


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Fort Lauderdale, Florida (PRWEB) October 13, 2014
Fresh–Tips, a new and innovative disposable travel toothbrush, has launched a unique free sampling program at many of South Florida’s hottest restaurants.
The patented Fresh-Tips, founded and developed by South Florida dentist, Dr. Debbie Luis, uniquely combines the benefits of a portable toothbrush, toothpick, and breath mint all in one discreet, easy to use (like a lollipop) and fun product – making it the perfect dental hygiene product for the person on the go.
The free Fresh-Tips samples are available at popular South Florida restaurants such as:
- Big Pink
- Prime Fish
- Prime Italian
- Meat Market
- BLT Steak
- Fogo De Chao
- The Forge
“We are thrilled to be partnering with some of South Florida’s finest, hottest and most popular restaurants”, said Dr. Debbie Luis, Founder and Creator of Fresh-Tips. “We believe restaurant patrons will love using Fresh-Tips as an alternative to the toothpick and candy mints, typically provided by restaurants”, added Dr. Luis.
For a complete list of restaurants the Fresh-Tips free samples are available visit the company website at http://www.freshtips.com.
South Florida restaurants interested in joining the free sampling program can simply contact the company at its website.
Fresh-Tips, founded by Dr. Debbie Luis and her husband Rene, was developed as an easy and effective way to brush teeth without toothpaste. This convenient travel toothbrush is the simple solution to dental hygiene on the go. The company’s goal is to promote fresh breath and oral health worldwide. Fresh-Tips was founded in an effort to advance today’s dental care methods to meet the needs of our changing world. Fresh-Tips® is the first in the company’s new and innovative line of dental care products that is poised to revolutionize the oral care industry.


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Ducati India has delivered the first two units of its litre-class superbike, the Panigale V4 R. The two bikes were delivered by Ducati India’s dealer in Delhi-NCR and they will soon be seen in action..
After the company’s CEO, Claudio Domenicali, its Ducati’s Head of Innovation, Pierluigi Zampieri, who has confirmed the electric future for the brand. Zampieri has confirmed that the company is alread..
As much as we enjoy the internal combustion engine, there is no denying the fact that the planet is running out of resources to power those motors. Thus, it would not be long before electric mobility..
Italian bike maker Ducati has unveiled its 2019 product line-up ahead of EICMA 2018. These include the Ducati Multistrada 950S, Ducati Monster 821 Stealth and the Panigale V4 S Corse. The company has..
Ducati has unveiled its 2019 product portfolio that comprises of new and updated models. The Bologna-based motorcycle manufacturer will display its 2019 range of products at the 2018 EICMA motorcycle..
Ducati will launch the new 959 Panigale Corse edition in India very soon, reports Autocar India. The new variant of the Ducati 959 Panigale will reportedly arrive with a price tag of approximately INR..
Ducati India launched its flagship track-friendly motorcycle, the Ducati Panigale V4 in January. The initial 20 units of the bike were booked out within a week of the announcement. Hence, due to heavy..


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When O2 signalled that it planned to move into the voucher market, it was clear that the news would get the industry buzzing.
Competition from other operators was not enough for O2, which is now going head to head with deal market giants such as Groupon and Vouchercloud with the launch of a major extension to its loyalty scheme, O2 Priority Moments.
We joined industry movers and shakers yesterday (14 July) for the highly-anticipated launch of the new loyalty service and checked out the experiences and offers O2 and its 30 partners now offer the network’s customers.
Press invited to the launch event at London’s Oxo Tower were treated to a sneak peak of the experiences and offers O2 customers can look forward to with O2 Priority Moments.
Among the array of deals on offer to O2 customers are free drinks from Zizzi, Harvey Nichols tote bags and half price cinema tickets.
Meanwhile, O2 also offers some special freebies that go beyond simple discounts, such as a free box of O2 chocolates at Hotel Chocolat.
The new service is part of O2’s long term retention and acquisition strategy, according to O2 marketing and consumer director Sally Cowdry. She tells us: ‘This all about getting our customers to feel like they’re having a party. We want to give them money off products and experiences. If other customers are attracted to O2 because they see the way we treat our customers then that's great.’
O2 customers can download the app for free from the Android Market.
And according to Cowdry, there are a lot more conversations going on about future brand tie-ups. She says: ‘To be honest, there is not a limit to how many brands we can have. We want to be able to offer our customers money saving from as many categories as they are interested in. We are excited and can’t wait to see where we go from here.’


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Coles are planning to buy two milk plants in Sydney and Melbourne for $105m from Saputo. The plants were built by Murray Goulburn in 2014 and 2015 during its push into the Australian domestic fresh milk market. The factory in Melbourne cost $80m and the one in Sydney totalled $60m to build. Each facility has capacity to process around 225m litres annually and are primarily used to process Coles Own Brand 2 and 3-litre milk products. Saputo’s fresh milk products, including Devondale items, will continue to be processed at the two plants. Saputo employees at the sites will be offered employment with Coles.
Saputo had expressed concerns about the profitability of the two sites and 10-year Coles deal before completing its takeover of Murray Goulburn in 2018 and inheriting the plants. In 2019 Saputo announced it was trying to process more milk, and expressed dissatisfaction with the Coles contract terms. While Saputo found a resolution with Coles, it has continued to struggle with dwindling milk supply, and announced plans last year to streamline it Australian operations.
Coles CEO Steven Cain said the acquisitions would improve security of the retailer’s milk supply chain and help facilitate further growth opportunities. Coles said the transaction is unlikely to complete until the second half of 2023.


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The Apex Entertainment facility at the Crossgates Mall in Albany, N.Y., is able to reopen once again – welcoming back guests this Wednesday, May 5.
According to PRNewswire, the 55,000-sq.-ft. venue first opened in December 2019, closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, reopened in September but closed again due to increased restrictions in December. Now, they’re back at it.
Apex Entertainment has other locations in Marlborough, Mass., Syracuse, N.Y., and Virginia Beach, Va. Its Syracuse location is also slated to reopen soon. The Albany location features 22 lanes of bowling, more than 60 arcade games, laser tag, bumper cars, escape rooms and more.
For more information, visit www.apexentertainment.com/albany.


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You’ve heard of flash mobs, where people appear to randomly gather and break into elaborate song and dance routines. But now, a new phenomenon, called “Cash Mobs,” is spreading across the country.
Instead of breaking into song, members of Cash Mobs break open their wallets to spend money at locally owned businesses.
The idea is the brainchild of Buffalo blogger and engineer Chris Smith. He says Cash Mobs are sort of a reverse Groupon. Instead of offering people bargain-basement deals, people pay the regular price to support retailers in their communities.
Smith says the Cash Mob is also a chance for business owners to begin building a longer-term relationship with customers.
He also wants consumers to rethink the value of locally owned stores.
“[I want to] make them think once a month that you don’t have to go to Target for everything you need and everything you want,” Smith said.
Since he launched the first Cash Mob back in August at a Buffalo wine shop, the idea has caught on.
In Warwick, R.I., Annie Johnson of “Anything Goes” says about 35 people came to her store for a recent Cash Mob.
“It was a total surprise to me,” said Johnson. ”I thought, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe this is really happening.’ ”
Her store features the work of 50 local artists, and Johnson said the Cash Mob exposed new customers to their goods.
“We’ve already had people return,” Johnson said. “We’ve had people who couldn’t come to the original Cash Mob come into the store because they want to support the concept of Cash Mobs.”
Johnson said a local business group hopes to organize one Cash Mob a month to build awareness for the local business movement.
A group in Cleveland started a website with “Mob Rules” to help other communities get started. And they’ve even declared March 24 as National Cash Mob day.
As for the original Cash Mobber, Chris Smith says that he hopes to do something of a mash-up next time, where he infuses some of the music from Flash Mobs with the shopping from Cash Mobs for a whole new experience.
Jeremy Hobson joins Robin Young as co-host of Here & Now in its new 2-hour format, from WBUR and NPR.
Residents have decided not to hold a public commemoration to mark the first anniversary this coming Saturday of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.2 Comments | more »
School bullying used to take place in hallways and classrooms. Now much of it happens online. Some school districts are hiring private companies to monitor social media for potential problems.9 Comments | more »
Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, was a friend of former South African President Nelson Mandela. She joins us and says, “He was the best of us.”Comment | more »


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The Dubai Airport Freezone Authority (Dafza) is eyeing foreign investment opportunities with the launch of its new halal industries guide.
The guide is said to help the country achieve its aim of becoming the capital of the Islamic economy from 2017-2021 and highlights halal products and investment opportunities within Dubai in fields such as the cosmetics industry.
Looking to assist foreign investors in decision-making regarding the halal industry, the guide is said to be the first of its kind and aims to help the Islamic economy exceed $3 trillion by 2021 at an 8 percent growth rate.
Mohammad Al Zarouni, Director General of Dafza, said in a statement, “Dubai’s free zones have played proactive roles in developing the emirate’s vital sectors, including the halal industry that has achieved an annual growth of 8 per cent, according to official statistics.
“Due to its steady growth and consistent contributions to the national economy, the sector has been receiving unprecedented government support as well as posting strong trade flows due to the investment opportunities it facilitates, which advance the market among the ranks of global players.”


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Ever thought you'd see the day when you could pay for your Metro ride with a phone?
That day might not be too far off. Metro announced Wednesday that it will pilot a program later this year to test a new system of payment for riding on Metrorail and on Metrobuses, WMATA announced.
Metro recently awarded the company Accenture (NYSE: ACN) a contract to replace the existing fare collection systems for Metrorail, Metro-operated parking facilities, Metrobus and MetroAccess services with an electronic fare payment system, Metro reported.
According to Metro’s website:
"The new system will be designed to provide a state-of-the-art system for Metro customers that enables them to continue to use SmarTrip cards, while expanding fare payment to chip-enabled credit cards, federal government ID cards and mobile phones using 'near field' communications."
A program later this year will test the new system in 10 Metrorail stations, on 50 Metrobuses and in two parking lots. Also, 2,000 Metro riders will be selected to participate in the pilot program to test the performance and reliability of the new system.
The new system will not accept paper tickets and Metro will continue the gradual phasing out of paper fare cards. Fewer than one in 10 Metrorail riders pay for a trip with a paper farecard, according to Metro.


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The serious outbreaks over the past few months indicate that industry continues to experience “significant food safety problems”, said Stephen Ostroff, FDA deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine at the IAFP annual meeting last week. He referred to the most recent sizable produce-associated outbreaks involving romaine lettuce, pre-cut melon and veggie trays, as well as the Kellogg Company recall of Honey Smacks cereal and the Rose Acres eggs recall, both of which were due to Salmonella. “We have a lot of work to do,” said Ostroff, adding that the numerous recalls involving kratom products is concerning.
These issues highlight how the increasingly complex supply chain further complicates problems once they arise. Ostroff emphasized the necessity of end-to-end tracing, from product origination to where the consumer can access the product, and that it needs to be efficient, standardized and rapid, especially for commodities. Regarding the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak involving romaine lettuce, FDA is still trying to determine the source and mode of the contamination. And while the recent finding of the outbreak strain in the irrigation canal water is important, it still does not answer the question of how the contamination got into the canal, said Ostroff.
The latest FDA update on the outbreak investigation stated that additional samples are being analyzed on an ongoing basis and any new matches would be publicly disclosed. As of June 28, the CDC announced that the outbreak was over.


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CEA Line Shows: GPS Apps Tap Smartphone Data
At CEA Line Shows, two different GPS apps, Waze and INRIX, showed that more and more, the smartphone is the brains of the operation.
As part of their demonstration of Appradio 2, Pioneer had one of its dashboard units showing off Waze, a new social GPS app.
Waze is free and uses crowdsourcing to deliver real time traffic reports to drivers, and inform them of the fastest route. Waze uses a reward system with points and characters that participants can earn by submitting information.


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Diplomat Specialty Pharmacy is among several Flint, Mich.-area companies that have signed on to a council to support a local business that makes scrubs and is interested in expanding beyond traditional markets.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner Margaret Hamburg faced strong criticism Tuesday in a hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to investigate the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, but she conceded the agency could have done more.
DSN spoke at length with two Catamaran executives — Albert Thigpen, SVP pharmacy operations and industry relations, and Sumit Dutta, SVP and chief medical officer — about the PBM’s new approach to managed pharmacy care and the changes driving that strategy.
The governor of North Dakota has signed into law a bill that would require pharmacy benefit managers to inform pharmacies about how reimbursement for generic prescription drugs is calculated under maximum allowable cost benchmarks and provide a more detailed appeals process to pharmacies to contest the MAC reimbursement caps that PBMs set up.
The National Association of Specialty Pharmacy has named James Smeeding its first executive director, the group said. The announcement was made during its first Specialty Pharmacy Conference in San Diego, which drew more than 500 participants.


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Under CEO Jensen Huang, NVIDIA has become the undisputed leader in gaming, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and self-driving vehicles.
Its graphic processing units (GPUs) are expected to increase by 1,000-fold by 2025, and it has a decided advantage in the massively data-hungry tech industries of tomorrow.
It has soundly beaten Street estimates four quarters in a row, achieving earnings of $1.72 per share, up nearly 52% from the previous year. Revenues surged 34% to $2.9 billion, which included increased demand for bitcoin, ethereum and other crypto currencies.
Revenues from gaming GPUs for Netflix (NFLX), YouTube and Hulu rose 29% to $1.7 billion. And sales more than doubled to $606 million, aided by data centers adopting AI supercomputers.
Those data centers include the U.S. Department of Energy and Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). AI technology is being applied to transportation, energy, manufacturing, smart cities and health care. The company’s Volta-based V100 GPU accelerator offers 10 times more deep-learning power.
Finally, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, NVIDIA announced contracts for self-driving vehicles with Uber and Volkswagen, among others. More than 320 companies and research institutions are using its DRIVE platform, which represents 50% year-over-year growth.
Several analysts think it easily could double or triple its dividend this year, which is now at a pitiful 15 cents per share (0.25% yield).
Guidance for the California-based tech company is positive for revenue, gross margins, cash flow and earnings. NVDA is expected to increase its dividend and share repurchases to the tune of $1.25 billion.
Earnings estimates are on the rise. In sum, NVIDIA is still a Buy.
Mark Skousen is editor of Forecasts & Strategies.
About MoneyShow.com: Founded in 1981, MoneyShow is a privately held financial media company headquartered in Sarasota, Florida. As a global network of investing and trading education, MoneyShow presents an extensive agenda of live and online events that attract over 75,000 investors, traders and financial advisors around the world.


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With the launch of new official stores by global leading brands on KrisShop.com, customers can now purchase an extended range of exciting merchandise from labels such as Clinique, Estée Lauder and Bang & Olufsen for both pre-order and home delivery, even after their flights.
The Bobbi Brown and Origins official stores on KrisShop.com will feature both makeup and skincare products, while Clinique’s official store will now offer new makeup products and fragrances alongside skincare items.
Meanwhile, audio aficionados can take advantage of the expansive Bang & Olufsen catalogue, which will include more headphones, earphones and sound systems.
To find out more, please visit KrisShop.com
This article was originally published in the November 2018 issue of SilverKris magazine


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Ashley Greene does some shopping and buys a bundle of firewood at Bristol Farms on Thursday (August 14) in West Hollywood, Calif.
The 27-year-old actress recently posted a pic of her mom and BFF out to dinner and captioned the pic, “My Best, My mama, and Mexican food…. Perfect. Now I’m ready for my bed.” So cute! Check it out below.
Ashley also posted another pic showing off a cute new bag.
“Obsessed with my new @CamSatchelCo mini! And officially addicted to @Gilt” Ashley captioned the pic.
FYI: Ashley is wearing a Krisa tank and Level 99 shorts.
10+ pictures inside of Ashley Greene doing some shopping…


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Google WiFi, OnHub routers inexplicably crashed today
Google is advising affected owners to try hard resets.
'Skullgirls' heads to iOS and Android this spring
Get your fighting-game fix on the go.
Alphabet sues Uber over Waymo's self-driving car tech
Former Google employees stole thousands of secret documents, Waymo claims.
Spotify gets into podcasting with three music-themed shows
The streaming service looks to original content to stand out in a crowded market.
Facebook is inserting ads midway through videos
They're basically commercials.
The Wirecutter's best deals: Save $100 on a Dell UltraSharp monitor
Other savings include a RAVPower 22,000mAh charger and Samsung Gear Fit 2 wearable.
Indie devs with disabilities win full ride on Train Jam to GDC
AbleGamers are on a mission to make video games accessible to all.
It will cost $670 to get 90 percent of 2017's 'Hearthstone' cards
If you’re just using real money, expect to pay over $200 more than last year.
Twitter and PBS will livestream Trump's speech to Congress
'NewsHour' anchor Judy Woodruff will host the coverage.


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The wrapped car is part of an exhibition at the LA County Museum of Art. Can a BMW Art Car be far behind for this artist?
With the People’s Republic of China being the world’s largest national car market, the country’s most significant auto show is an important event for automakers, both foreign and domestic. Obviously, it’s been hit-or-miss if public health conditions allow
A strangely interesting video appeared on my social media feed yesterday. The video was filmed at the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles, California. The footage focuses primarily on a skateboarder as he launches out of a bowl, pulls a nosegrab high in
In the flurry of announcements revealing new sportscar prototype programs, I was surprised to see the name “Vanwall” among manufacturers like Peugeot and Porsche. Vanwall was a 1950s British racing car manufacturer that also competed in Formula One and wo


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What they can’t agree on is whether having hundreds of Mercedes diesel vans idling curbside each night while Wonder employees prep meals is a good idea at a time when most experts agree climate change is fast becoming an existential crisis.
A story published in yesterday’s edition of the Wall Street Journal details the bickering that has broken out amongst residents of South Orange and Maplewood, New Jersey, about the omnipresent vans zig-zagging through their towns each night.
On the one hand, some feel the Wonder trucks are an unnecessary and carbon-emitting extravagance.
“There’s a stigma of calling the Wonder truck and having them idle outside your house for the decadent purpose of making you dinner in a truck,” resident Will Meyer told the Journal. “It feels like this is late empire sort of stuff.”
And then there are those who don’t see a problem with the trucks.
“It doesn’t bother me,” said Lisa Bressler, who didn’t see the trucks being much different from Amazon and UPS trucks driving around town. “I guess I like unnecessary luxuries.”
For my own part, the trucks seem a bit out of step with efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of food delivery. Serve, a maker of sidewalk delivery robots, asks on their Twitter page why should we use a two-ton car to deliver a two-pound burrito. It’s a legitimate question that makes me wonder if a three or four-ton diesel van sitting outside my home cooking food for 20 minutes is a good idea.
Ok sure, so maybe a couple of hundred vans probably don’t make a huge difference in the grand scheme of things, but what about a scaled-up, USA-wide Wonder? The company has grand plans to eventually take this to cities across the country and if it’s as disruptive as Marc Lore thinks it is, it could essentially reinvent food delivery. In a scenario like that, we’re looking at tens of thousands of Wonder vans driving around every night and sitting curbside.
Wonder’s Scott Hilton told the Journal they are evaluating electric vehicles, so maybe by the time the company rolls out across the country, they’ll have this thing figured out. But for now and the foreseeable future, residents of this New Jersey suburb will continue to debate the impact of Wonder’s vans on the environment.


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Khosla Ventures’ Keith Rabois recently invested in Bart Stein’s new startup, Sup. Sup is a mobile video app that lets you see what your friends are doing through their phone’s camera upon request.
Prior to Sup, Stein was the co-founder of another social app, Stamped. Stamped let people list their favourite things, and it was acquired by Yahoo in October 2012. But Rabois, who was COO of Jack Dorsey’s hot startup Square back then, also wanted to acquire Stamped. The local information Stamped was collecting from users was interesting to Square, which works with local vendors to accept mobile payments.
But Stein and his co-founders turned Rabois down in favour of Marissa Mayer, who had recently become CEO of Yahoo. “They were crazy enough to turn me down for Yahoo,” Rabois told Business Insider while discussing his investment in Sup this week.
Why did a startup choose a struggling media company over one of the hottest startups in the world? (keep in mind this was two years ago, before Square’s business struggles were made public.)
The Stamped founders previously worked at Google under Marissa Mayer, so they were familiar with her. “As a team of mostly former Googlers, we’ve all worked with and are big fans of Marissa,” Stein wrote on Stamped blog post when the startup was acquired.
Also, Mayer was willing to let the Stamped team stay in New York. Stamped was the first startup Mayer bought before she went on a buying spree, snatching up dozens of companies including $US1 billion Tumblr. She also promised to let Stein and his partners help build up Yahoo’s New York office.
“The Stamped team will be creating a brand new product and engineering office for Yahoo in NYC’s Bryant Park,” the company wrote in 2012.
If you ask Stein now why he chose Yahoo over Square, his answer is the same. “Square and Stamped were both in the local space, and Stamped had built a core technical competency in that area,” Stein told Business Insider via email. “We loved Keith and the team at Square but Marissa gave us an opportunity to build an office for Yahoo in New York City, which was too exciting an opportunity to pass up (and it let us stay in NYC!)”
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Bluesheets needs to raised handle monetary knowledge and workflows with its enterprise automation platform.
blue sheetsSingapore’s AI-powered knowledge platform that powers monetary automation for companies has raised $4 million led by Insignia Ventures.
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The newest funding, which brings the whole raised to $5.7 million, will assist bluesheets increase its software program use circumstances and attain extra corporations in worldwide markets. Since launching the SaaS product in September 2021, Bluesheets claims to have automated the monetary knowledge of over 10,000 corporations on its platform.
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Christian Schneider in addition to Claire Leighton co-founded bluesheets in 2020 to deal with the inefficiencies confronted by companies on the subject of consolidating, reconciling and processing monetary knowledge. The co-founders confronted challenges of their workflow as operators whereas working for high-growth corporations reminiscent of Rocket Internet, Foodpanda and Uber APAC previous to launching bluesheets.
Bluesheets co-founder and CEO Schneider instructed Thealike that the pandemic-driven wave of enterprise digitization has been a big tailwind to the corporate’s rising adoption. However, there have been no versatile platforms to fulfill the wants, particularly for companies attempting to consolidate offline and on-line knowledge in Southeast Asia, Schneider stated.
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The firm says that the majority automation and integration platforms are nonetheless unable to totally digitize workflows because of the fragmentation of expertise stacks and the upkeep of offline knowledge information in enterprise processes.
“From the beginning, we’ve designed our platform to handle the full range of financial data with a comprehensive product offering, enabling bluesheets to be a turnkey solution for companies of any size or industry,” stated Schneider. in your assertion.
According to Schneider, Bluesheets excels in offering flexibility for various use circumstances and ease of integration for customers. It affords a listing of monetary integrations (over 11 million so far) with a various set of instruments together with Slack, Google Drive and WhatsApp, in addition to NLP capabilities serving over 75 languages with over 100 million knowledge factors automated by its AI. , based on Schneider. It might additionally specialise in processing unstructured offline knowledge, which many corporations in Southeast Asia nonetheless work with, Schneider added.
“Bluesheets users can use its platform to automatically process unstructured financial data from any source and in real time,” Schneider stated. “Bluesheets is already doing end-to-end processing with APIs, powerful classification algorithms, and machine learning techniques.”
The platform needs to offer a one-stop monetary knowledge answer, mechanically connecting all of its knowledge sources to any vacation spot so staff can deal with extra necessary duties and have entry to vital knowledge for choice making.
Bluesheets is at present focusing on the Southeast market and can ultimately scale globally in seven international locations, together with Australia, South Africa, the UK and the US, the corporate’s CEO instructed Thealike.
“In the months following its launch, Bluesheets validated its product across multiple verticals and rapidly increased its paid user base,” Samir Chaibi, head of Insignia Ventures Partners, stated in a press release. “Both businesses and SMBs use the Bluesheets platform to streamline the way they ingest, normalize and process their data across hundreds of integrated platforms.”


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It may be April Fools' Day, but it's doubtful that Microsoft finds anything funny in a federal appeals court having declined its latest request for a multiple-judge review in an intellectual property lawsuit. The case, in which i4i alleges that Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007 violate its custom XML-related patents, has already resulted in a $300 million judgment against Microsoft.
"This has been a long and arduous process, but this decision is a powerful reinforcement of the message that smaller enterprises and inventors who own intellectual property can and will be protected," Loudon Owen, chairman of i4i, a small Toronto-based company, wrote in an April 1 statement reprinted on Reuters.
Reuters also indicated that Microsoft has the option of taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the short term, however, Microsoft was vague about its plans.
"We're disappointed with the decision," Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz wrote in an e-mail to eWEEK. "As far as next steps, we continue to believe there are important matters of patent law that still need to be properly addressed, and we are considering our options going forward."
In August 2009, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas ordered Microsoft to yank copies of Word from store shelves within 90 days and pay i4i damages. Microsoft immediately filed an appeal.
On Dec. 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided to uphold the verdict, ordering that copies of Word be pulled from store shelves by Jan. 11. Microsoft responded at the time by asking for the review of the decision by all 11 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and by making an attempt to sidestep the alleged infringement by issuing a patch for Word.
"With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Kutz wrote in a Dec. 22 statement. "Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date" of Jan. 11, Kutz said.
The 12.9MB patch, made available on Microsoft's OEM Partner Center Website, removed custom XML elements from documents with those file types. On the OEM site, Microsoft placed a note that indicated the patch was "required for the United States" and would work "with all Office 2007 languages."
Microsoft may have hoped that the patch, combined with a positive review from the 11 judges, might have put an end to the long-running case. At this point, however, it looks like at least a few more legal maneuvers may be necessary before both parties exhaust themselves.
In previous interviews, i4i executives seemed to indicate a willingness to fight Microsoft to the bitter end. "Where we come from, if someone tries to take something that belongs to you, you stand up to them; you don't just reach for the calculator," Owen told eWEEK on Aug. 17, 2009. "We're not in a position to guess or second-guess or speculate as to what the court is going to do."


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The United States is currently focused on fighting the coronavirus outbreak, which has surged in the country since early March. Containment efforts are occupying much of the government's time, and with good reason. The massive health and economic threat posed by the virus means that Washington has little time for less pressing matters. Yet underlying tensions between the U.S. and China remain, with the financial sector the next front of an emerging cold war.
In early March, U.S. lawmakers sought to curb the access of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei to American banks. The White House had mulled doing so in December but decided against it amidst a flurry of activity to reach a phase-one trade deal with China. The NETWORKS Act introduced earlier this month would effectively ban 5G producers such as Huawei from accessing the U.S. financial system if they are found to be violating sanctions or engaging in industrial or economic espionage.
Gaming company Razer isn't the most obvious shoo-in for one of Singapore's digital banking licenses, but has unique advantages it brings to the table. Those include a user base 80 million strong primarily composed of millennials, one of the key target demographics of neobanks. Razer established a fintech unit in 2018 to respond to the need for in-game payment. If it gets the license, Razer wants to expand its digital banking services beyond East Asia to the Middle East, Europe and North America.
The leading enabler of digital commerce across the Middle East and Africa region, Network International, made an agreement with Tencent Holdings Limited in February 2020 that will enable millions of Chinese tourists to transact through Network International’s extensive UAE merchant network with their WeChat mobile wallets.
The largest merchant acquirer in the United Arab Emirates, Network will perform as a settlement partner or acquirer as well as solution provider in order to enable mobile-based transactions via WeChat Pay at points of sale as well as for online purchases.
Well before COVID-19 broke out, Hong Kong's future as a global financial center was in question. The protests that broke out last year have raised concerns about the city's ability to maintain its unique competitive strengths. Further erosion of political stability and the rule of law will augur ill prospects for the former British colony. In the short run, it is true that none of Hong Kong's neighbors can challenge its position as the region's preeminent financial center. But Hong Kong cannot assume that will never change.
Peer-to-peer lending is one of the fintech segments that most struggles to gain credibility. Next to cryptocurrency, it may be the most susceptible to scams. But it is not only borrowers who are at risk. Lenders can easily get burned when borrowers default. Since many borrowers on P2P lending platforms are those unable to get a loan elsewhere, their credit is typically not optimal.
P2P lending began growing quickly in South Korea about four years ago, offering attractive returns to investors amidst very low interest rates. Some P2P businesses began venturing into risky investments such as real estate project funds, non-performing loans and mortgages. South Korea had 239 P2P lenders in December 2019, up from just 27 four years earlier. Their outstanding loan balance totaled 2.38 trillion won.
North Korea's growing nuclear program has long been a point of contention between the U.S. and China. Beijing prefers to handle its mercurial neighbor with kid gloves while Washington favors a tougher approach, namely economic sanctions. To evade sanctions in the digital age, Pyongyang has upped its hacking game. Both banks and cryptocurrency exchanges are victims. Digital currency offers North Korea a way to raise funds and do business outside the US dollar led global financial system. North Korea stole more than US$2 billion from both traditional financial institutions and crypto exchanges - including South Korea's Bitthumb - the United Nations said in an Aug. 2019 report.
The novel coronavirus outbreak has crimped business activity across China, bringing the world's second largest economy to a virtual standstill. Yet amidst those unprecedented conditions, China's fintech giants have been busy developing digital solutions to mitigate COVID-19's impact. Some of the solutions are aimed squarely at the consumer economy, while others support government efforts to track people's health status.
Cambodian and Thai regulators recently announced the launch of an interoperable payment QR code for use between Cambodia and Thailand. Cambodian tourists who visit Thailand may now use their mobile banking app to pay in Cambodian riel when shopping at stores that display a Thai QR Payment sign, while the same functionality will be extended to Thai tourists in Cambodia by Q3 this year.
A collaboration between the Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) and five Cambodian commercial banks, the interoperable QR code was developed upon domestic electronic transfer system PromptPay which runs on Vocalink infrastructure. ACLEDA Bank PCL, Cambodia Commercial Bank (CCB) and the Foreign Trade Bank of Cambodia (FTB) are sponsoring banks of the collaboration, which mean that other banks would be required to work with the three in order to provide the service.
Ant Financial's international expansion runs on two separate tracks. The first is a concerted push into emerging markets, especially in South Asia. In these countries, Ant is laying the groundwork to become a primary provider of digital financial services to the local market. In many cases, incumbents and digital infrastructure are both weak. Ant sees opportunities to leverage both its banking and technology acumen in countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal.
It's a very different story in Western Europe. There, Ant is making gradual inroads. The Chinese fintech giant says it wants to serve the local market, but its products are designed for Chinese consumers and businesses. European incumbents, meanwhile, are often entrenched. There's no easy way around that. Growing in Western Europe through acquisitions in local companies makes more sense than going it alone. With that in mind, Ant recently took a minority stake in Swedish payments platform Klarna, the most valuable fintech startup in Europe alongside the UK's Revolut. Klarna is currently valued at US$5.5 billion and says that it has 80 million customers globally.
Singaporean ride-hailing giant Grab is set upon becoming a top digital bank in Asia. Over the past year, the company has raised billions from investors in a bid to fund the transformation from app-based neo-taxi service into neobank. It has inked numerous deals with financial services incumbents and applied for one of Singapore's coveted digital full banking (DFB) licenses. If Grab's application is successful, it will be allowed to conduct both retail banking and corporate lending in Southeast Asia's financial center.
While Grab has troves of user data and digital acumen, it lacks financial industry expertise. Addressing this shortfall is crucial for the company to gain the trust of customers as a financial services provider. The segue from ride hailing to banking is not as seamless as Grab sometimes suggests. Partnering with a large commercial bank could help Grab bridge that gap, and increase its chances of securing the DFB. Japan's Mitsubishi UJF Financial Group (MUFG), which led Grab's recent US$856 million funding round, is just that type of partner.
The novel coronavirus outbreak is crimping global business as people avoid travel and even going out in public. The sharp contraction in business activity augurs ill prospects for the financial industry. Banks are not optimistic about their first quarter results. If the virus isn't contained soon, the second quarter could be even worse.
For the nascent virtual banking segment, Covid-19 is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, e-commerce demand remains strong thus far. Consumers still need to buy essential everyday items. If they are hesitant about visiting a physical store, the best option is to make the purchases online. In the short term, that means a rise in online transactions and in many cases the use of digital wallets.
Malaysia is set to introduce digital banking following the passage of a new regulatory framework by its central bank in December. The central bank said it would issue up to five licenses to qualified applicants to set up digital banks. The licenses will allow the holders to conduct either conventional or Islamic banking business in Malaysia. Capital requirements are not low, with an absolute minimum of RM 100 million (US$23.7 million) necessary during a three to five year foundational phase and thereafter RM 300 million.
Roughly a year ago, Hong Kong looked set to take a leading position in Asia's nascent digital banking space. In late March 2019, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) awarded three digital banking licenses. It later issued five additional licenses. The eight neobanks, which include consortia led by Chinese tech giants Ant Financial, Tencent and Xiaomi, were reportedly set to begin operations in the second half of 2019.
Then came the Hong Kong protests. The political turmoil that erupted in June 2019 has shaken confidence in Hong Kong's once unassailable position as the region's top global financial center. Amidst the economic fallout, Hong Kong has slipped into recession for the first time since the global financial crisis of 2008-09. Given unenviable economic conditions, all but one of Hong Kong's digital banks have postponed their launch.
Singapore has 21 applicants for just five digital banking licenses. There are going to be many more losers than winners in this race. Speculation about the likely winners is reaching a feverish pitch ahead of the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) expected announcement of the winners. The decision is expected by June.
MAS has made clear that it has little interest in large-scale disruption of the financial-services sector. The regulator certainly wants to boost competition and the quality of digital-banking services in the city-state, but in a steady, incremental manner. Evolution is necessary. Revolution is not. With that in mind, the MAS designed the application process to ensure that only firms with ample capitalization and strong potential for profitability would meet the licensing criterion.
China has demonstrated a willingness to innovate in the financial services technology sector. For example, the Chinese government has announced accelerated plans for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the People's Bank of China (PBOC) has filed scores of CBDC patents and fintech initiatives like Baidu’s Xuperchain network have been introduced to great fanfare. What's more, the PBOC's Fintech Development Plan (2019 – 2021) expresses support for technological innovation, including the use of public cloud.
However, the Chinese government is also traditionally cautious in regard to security and control. Thus, financial services companies in China who are contemplating the migration of critical business applications to the cloud would be well-advised to plan carefully. To that end, Chinese regulators have reportedly engaged in private conversations with information security representatives from several foreign banks, advising them that critical hosting engagements in the cloud will need to be handled exclusively by specialised "Financial Community Cloud" providers who have been certified by the government.


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Global Customer Success Platforms Market Report 2021: Opportunities in the Emergence of AI and Ml to Better Monitor Customer Journey
DUBLIN, March 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Customer Success Platforms Market by Component, Application (Sales and Marketing Optimization, Risk and Compliance Management, Reporting and Analytics), Deployment Mode, Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2025" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
The global customer success platforms market size is expected to grow from USD 1.0 billion in 2020 to USD 2.5 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20.4% during the forecast period.
COVID-19 is disrupting the world, businesses, and economies, thus impacting the livelihood of people, their interaction, and the way they manage their businesses. The ability to sustain is becoming the new normal for enterprises as they are shifting their focus from growth opportunities to the implementation of drastic measures for mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The competition among major customer success platforms companies is expected to be furious as most upcoming AI and analytics projects are kept on hold due to the pandemic.
Hence, several companies would fight to gain a single project. Businesses are trying to return back to normal and facing multiple challenges on the customer as well as the operational side. Meeting customer expectations in terms of optimizing processes, increasing security cocerns due to various voice-related recording systems and networks, growing network connectivity issues, and declining industrial and manufacturing operations are some of the key business challenges.
New practices such as work from home and social distancing are creating the need for remote monitoring, smart payment technologies, and building digital infrastructure for large-scale deployments. With a sudden surge in remote workers, there is an increase in the demand for advanced customer success platforms and services to effectively store and safeguard a huge amount of customer data.
Key Topics Covered:
2 Research Methodology
3 Executive Summary
4 Premium Insights
5 Market Overview
6 Customer Success Platforms Market: COVID-19 Impact
For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/jkgqpg
Research and Markets
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SOURCE Research and Markets


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Toyota Motor Corp is headed for a fall of sorts.
The Japanese auto giant is expected to slip to third in worldwide sales of new vehicles, according to an analysis by Japan Times. General Motors, long the world’s largest automaker, is expected to slip into fourth place when all the sales numbers are available later this month.
Toyota surrendered its position as the as the world’s largest automaker in 2016 as Volkswagen AG, thanks to the German automaker’s strong sales in China and economic recovery in Europe, moved into first place.
Meanwhile, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance has tightened its grip on the second spot, based on sales data available for the first 11 months through November, according to Japan Times.
In the 11-month period, worldwide sales of Toyota group brands rose 2.8% from a year earlier to 9,474,000 vehicles, while Volkswagen, the world’s largest automaker in 2016, increased sales by 3.9% to 9,743,400 vehicles.
(Toyota creates new mobility company in Tokyo. For the story, Click Here.)
The combined sales of the Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Renault alliance were estimated at 9,601,916 vehicles.
Volkswagen’s sales have been brisk in the Chinese and European markets, and the trend is likely to continue in December.
The annual sales of the Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors and Renault alliance are also expected to surpass Toyota’s, bolstered by robust overseas markets and despite Nissan’s domestic sales being hurt by an inspection scandal involving uncertified workers conducting final tests, Japan Times noted.
(Click Here to see why Toyota expects electrified vehicles will make up half of sales by 2030.)
Toyota’s domestic sales fared well but were almost flat from a year earlier in the key U.S. market, where its sedans struggled with the popularity of big sport utility vehicles and trucks as gasoline prices remained around a six-year low.
For 2017, the Toyota group has upgraded its sales forecast by 102,000 vehicles to a record high 10,354,000, up 2% from 2016 and the highest since 2014 when it sold 10,231,000 cars.
In 2016, General Motors Co. ranked third in global sales and the Nissan-Renault alliance fourth.
Mitsubishi Motors’ sales become part of the same alliance after Nissan bought a 34% stake in late October 2016.
(Toyota to launch at least 10 EVs by 2020. Click Here for the story.)
General Motors has not yet announced its sales for the 11-month period. But it could fall to fourth by sales in 2017 as its global sales for the nine months through September fell 2.2% from the corresponding period last year. In addition, GM has given up on the European market, selling its European operations to PSA in a deal that closed last summer.


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Europe Needs a Green New Deal Instead of Austerity
All week we have heard about the need for more monetary and fiscal union in the European Union (EU) in order for the Euro to work. Another key point repeated is that global imbalances must be checked: "surplus" countries (those that export more than they import, like Germany) must increase domestic demand of goods produced by deficit countries (UK, France, etc), and the latter must focus on reforms that will allow their economies to become more competitive.
Yet the reforms we then hear about are different types of cuts, rather than spending. This makes little sense as the surplus countries have become surplus not by old-style devaluation, or protectionism, but by their ability to produce knowledge intensive competitive products. A fruit not of their "austerity" plans but of their spending in the right places.
Take Germany and China, the surplus countries most commonly named. They export more than they import because the world wants their products, as was recently witnessed in the UK when a German train manufacturer (Siemens) won a UK government procurement bid for green fast trains (for details, see myprevious blog).
Germany and China have high R&D to GDP ratios, and are targeting it on up and coming sectors (yes, "picking" them), such as green technology, which is surely going to be the "next big thing" after the internet (for more on green technology spending and industrial policy, see here). Currently risky, but with huge potential commercial returns down the road. And this spending means that they will continue to be surplus countries, as will countries like South Korea which in July 2010 announced that it would double its spending on green research to the equivalent of £1.9 billion by 2013 (almost 2 per cent of its annual GDP), which means that between 2009 and 2013 it will have spent £59 billion on this type of research (see "PIRC: The Green Investment Gap," Machynlleth, Public Interest Research Center, March 2011).
So what is the solution? A common EU fiscal policy that sees EU countries becoming more competitive, producing more products that the world, including China, wants to buy. This will mean not just "reforms," but spending on a Green New Deal, as many of us have been arguing for, as in the Plan B launched today by UK economists (Plan B is an alternative to austerity economics).
It is a myth that there is no money. Companies are hoarding cash, and the public sector can "create money," which, as long as it produces growth (which green tech will) will not produce inflation. This is much better than quantitative easing, or different types of "bailouts" which simply end up in the coffers of banks, which have no intention of lending, or engaging with the "good" type of risk that creates new products, processes and markets.


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Vaping has been identified as a gateway for teenagers to smoke combustible cigarettes. A new study looks at the characteristics that might create that gateway.
The data are in, and now it’s a proven fact that many teenagers who engage in vaping also smoke combustible cigarettes. There has been little information, however, on whether certain types of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) or specific e-cigarette characteristics have an impact on future combustible cigarette use. A new study in Pediatrics offers some illumination.1
Investigators used data from an online survey of participants in the Southern California Children’s Health Study from 2015 to 2016, which was the baseline, and 2016 to 2017, the follow-up. They looked at the link between 3 nonmutally exclusive characteristics on e-cigarettes most frequently used and the number of combustible cigarettes smoked in the 30 days prior to the follow-up survey. Characteristics included the device type (vape pen and/or modifiable e-cigarette), use of nicotine in electronic liquid, and use for dripping, which means directly dripping e-liquid onto the device.
When compared with never e-cigarette users, those who had past-30-day e-cigarette use showed a greater frequency of past-30-day combustible cigarettes. Among participants who had past-30-day e-cigarette use at baseline, those who used modifiable e-cigarettes instead of vape pens smoked more than 6 times as many combustible cigarettes at follow-up, after adjusting for number of days of e-cigarette use, baseline frequency of cigarette use, and sociodemographic characteristics. Use of nicotine e-liquid and dripping were not associated with frequency of cigarette smoking, after adjusting for device type.
Because device type appears to be associated with increased use of combustible cigarettes, regulating the device type could be an important strategy to reduce combustible cigarette use among teenagers who vape, the study concludes.
1. Barrington-Trimis JL, Yang Z, Schiff S, et al. E-cigarette product characteristics and subsequent frequency of cigarette smoking. Pediatrics. April 1, 2020. Epub ahead of print. doi: 10.1542/peds.2019-1652


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Welcome to our new series. At the end of every month (We know we’re a bit late this month!) we take a look at the past month on Birmingham Eastside and bring to you a curated list of the very best content.
We learnt that Birmingham had retained its place in the world ranking of the most sustainable cities in the world. The report looked at elements from the economy, quality of life of its citizens and the environment of the city.
We discovered an app that turns the images you take on your iPhone into melody based audio clips, the result a full soundtrack of Birmingham.
The BBC announced brand new iPlayer laws that could impact a number of students who live in the Eastside area. You now need a TV Licence to watch any content on the television, including catch-up services.
There were a number of Pokemon Go events across the West Midlands in September. We had a look at them.
It was announced this month that trains between Birmingham and London will get a massive upgrade soon including more options for tickets, more seats and free wifi for all passengers in standard class.


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Shopping City Timisoara, one of the biggest malls in western Romania, has officially opened. South-African investment fund NEPI has invested €83.8 million in this project, which aims to become a regional shopping centre.
The mall has been developed on an 18-hectare land plot and has a gross leasable area (GLA) of 70,000 sqm, which makes it one of the biggest malls outside Bucharest.
NEPI inaugurated the project’s first phase at end-November 2015, when Carrefour opened its first hypermarket in the region and electro-IT retailer Media Galaxy opened its biggest store in the region.
The second phase, inaugurated on March 31, includes a gallery of fashion brands, which hosts most of the big international retailers present in Romania, such as Zara, H&M, Reserved, Koton, LC Waikiki, C&A, Hervis, and many others. The mall also has cosmetics and accessories shops, a food court, and entertainment area, and a Cinema City multiplex cinema with 13 screens.
The multiplex cinema in Shopping City Timisoara is the only one in Romania that has both IMAX and 4DX.
Timisoara is one of the biggest cities in Romania but, until now, it has only had one modern shopping centre, Iulius Mall, owned by local investor Iulian Dascalu. Dascalu has also started to expand his mall and integrated it into the Openville project.
Two other mall projects have been announced in the city, one by Israeli group Plaza Centers and one coordinated by Turkish executive Ali Ergun Ergen and financed by Alpha Bank.


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Ever since Amsterdam started its very own Bitcoin City initiative, merchants have been chomping at the bit to be a part of the Bitcoin revolution in the capital of the Netherlands. Even though the Amsterdam Bitcoin City initiative only started in November 2014, 24 merchants have signed up so far and are now all accepting Bitcoin payments.
One of the reasons why this initiative is so successful is the partnership between Bitstraat and BitPay. Bitstraat allows retailers to accept Bitcoin payments in a fast and professional way, all payments are converted to Euro and there are no fees involved whatsoever. All of these benefits make accepting Bitcoin payments very attractive to brick and mortar stores.
Thanks to the partnership with BitPay, the first 100 retailers to sign up to the Amsterdam Bitcoin City initiative receive a Bitcoin payment starter kit free of charge. Included in this starter kit are a custom-built payment terminal, 0% transaction fees, and no contracts. As an added bonus, there are also no fees on the exchange from Bitcoin to fiat currency paid to the retailer’s bank account.
Speaking of this Bitcoin payment terminal, Bitstraat is using a modified, small tablet which will be used exclusively for Bitcoin transactions. Each terminal comes with a personal BitPay account, where retailers can keep an eye on their transaction history and download reports. Furthermore, retailers can choose to keep a certain percentage of each transaction in Bitcoin, instead of exchanging the full amount to fiat currency.
The Bitcoin payment terminal remains free of charge until the retailer processes Bitcoin payments in excess of 900 EUR per month. At that time, retailers can choose to pay 10 EUR per month in order to keep using the device, or purchase the terminal outright for 120 EUR. As of this writing, there are 82 sponsored terminals available.
This week, three new retailers joined the Amsterdam Bitcoin City initiative. Open Coop, a creative hub ; Eco-Logisch, an ecological builder’s market, and Trust, a bar & restaurant. The total of participating retailers now sits at 24, which is quite an impressive number considering this initiative has launched less than two months ago.
Bitstraat and BitPay want to make Amsterdam THE bitcoin capital of the world, as they plan to sign up at least 100 brick and mortar stores to accept Bitcoin payments. If they can keep up this rate of expansion, that goal will be reached in 2015.
What do you think Bitstraat and BitPays moves in Amsterdam?
Source : http://coincourant.nl/amsterdam-bitcoin-city-groeit-naar-24-deelnemers/


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The Oculus Rift, which is owned by Facebook, won’t be available until early next year, but many of the two billion consumers worldwide who own smartphones can already try out virtual reality on the cheap with Cardboard, a device from Google that folds into a viewer with a slot for a smartphone. As more devices come to market with the aim of making virtual reality more commonplace, advertisers and agencies hope virtual reality will be the next great medium for persuading consumers to buy stuff.
For now, marketers are producing mostly eye candy in their own apps and on YouTube’s #360Video channel. But with virtual reality movies, shows and stories coming soon, the question is what kind of ads, if any, will work on the platform.
Companies including Coca-Cola, Volvo and HBO are struggling to figure that out. So are publishers like Facebook, which introduced 360-degree ads on Thursday, including video ads from AT&T, Nestle and other brands. The first obstacle is that it is not yet clear what kind of programming besides games will catch on in virtual reality to provide a place for that advertising.
“There’s lots of spectacle, but I can’t name one great story in VR,” said Ben Miller, director of content development at WEVR, a virtual reality entertainment and technology firm in Venice, Calif. And without a clear consensus on what sort of content will succeed in virtual reality, it’s difficult to predict what form the advertising will ultimately take. Success in the new medium will depend on finding the equivalent of the 30-second TV spot or the digital search ad.
Like juiced-up View-Master toy stereoscopes, virtual reality headsets such as the Rift allow viewers to navigate three-dimensional videos and animations. The 360-degree images and sound shift with the user’s head movements, tricking the brain into reacting as if it were all real.
Very real. In one scene of a virtual reality video shot for the outdoors retailer the North Face by the production house Jaunt, mountain climbers leap off a sheer rock cliff in Moab, Utah, before opening parachutes.
“VR is a way to create intense moments and rich, enveloping experiences that can help bolster a brand’s story,” said Adrian Slobin, global innovation lead at the digital agency SapientNitro. It also accommodates old-fashioned branding, like the big North Face logo that hid Jaunt’s 360-degree camera rig in the video.
In April, the luxury denim designer 7 For All Mankind, Elle magazine and Jaunt produced a minute-long impressionistic vignette of a model walking around a French chateau. It was intended more to let the brand bask in the reflected glow of the shiny new technology than actually show off its spring line. “We were, like, ‘Wow, how cool and exciting and new – we’re in,’ ” said Barry Miguel, 7 For All Mankind’s president.
The main event, though, will be advertising that occurs inside other virtual reality content. Samsung, maker of the Gear VR headset, which is due this month, has announced a virtual reality video service for which David Alpert, an executive producer of “The Walking Dead,” plans to create a fictional series.


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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has again generated a rise in bitcoin’s market value after mentioning cryptocurrency deals on Twitter.
This time, the businessman mentioned that the automaker will again accept the purchase of vehicles using cryptocurrencies. The speech comes after confirmation that they are consuming approximately 50% less energy in mining and with better prospects for the future.
In the tweet, he also defended himself from criticism that Tesla had sold its entire bitcoin reserve to take advantage of a bullish moment. According to Musk, it was only 10% of reservations “to confirm that it could be easily liquidated without moving the market”.
According to Reuters, the statement was welcomed by the cryptocurrency industry: it reached the value of US$ 40,000 (about R$ 202,000 in direct currency conversion) for the first two weeks, after a long period. of instability. Only this Monday morning (14), the increase registered was 4.3%.


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The number of bitcoin wallets with at least 1 bitcoin has reached 788,755, according to Glassnode Studio.This could suggest that most bitcoin investors are either holding more of the cryptocurrency or that more investors are entering the market.
Experts suggest that the recent crash presented the perfect opportunity for holders to buy the cryptocurrency at a huge discount. Although momentum has grown for owners of bitcoin, the cryptocurrency has struggled to move past $7,000 since the crash. Weak hands with short-term objectives have proven to be a problem.
Cryptocurrency rates were, to say the least, volatile in 2020. Bitcoin started the year of at around $7,200 and spent the opening weeks rising to highs of around $10,400 by 2020. As worries over coronavirus spread , bitcoin value has faced more shaky prospects. To much of the community’s surprise, the cryptocurrency fell along with the stock market even though it was meant to be considered as a safe-haven asset.
The amount of new Bitcoin addresses usually indicates a continuing development of the network. There are 46.8 million new wallets already this year, a figure which has slowly increased per quarter since the start of 2014.
The use of bitcoin is rising. Statistics show that more merchants are using bitcoin to facilitate transactions. Some regions have experienced as much as a 600 per cent increase in the number of commercial transactions being made with the cryptocurrency.
Wallet security continues to be a hot topic of discussion among players in the crypto space. Owners of wallets have had to go as far as keeping quiet on how much bitcoin they own. Experts suggest that keeping your crypto on different platforms is a great way to minimise losses if some of your wallets are compromised.


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A new chatbot called ChatGPT is in the market. ChatGPT is being tested by Google as it is likely to influence a public product launch. ChatGPT is built in a dialogue format that makes it possible for the AI to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes and challenge incorrect premises. It also rejects inappropriate requests. ChatGPT, which is a large-language chatbot, became famous for its technology and took the public by storm when it was introduced late last year. A “code-red” effort to respond to chatGPT called “Atlas” is being worked on. It is a project by the company Alphabet.
“Apprentice Bard” is another chatbot being tested by Google. Here is where employees can ask questions and receive answers in detail. It is similar to ChatGPT. Google has assigned a product unit to test a new search desktop design. This could be used in a question-and-answer form. Employees are being asked for feedback by their leaders on their efforts in recent weeks. Internal documents have been viewed by a source and conversations with other sources have currently been underway.
During an all-hands meeting, employees raised concerns about the company’s competitive edge in AI. This was due to the sudden rise in popularity of ChatGPT, it was launched by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based startup that's backed by Microsoft.
Google’s AI chief Jeff Dean mentioned to its employees how the company has a high reputational risk. It provides incorrect information and hence is moving more conservatively than a small startup. This was mentioned to the employees. However, CEO Sundar Pichai and chief Jeff Dean teased at the time that Google may also launch products similar to ChatGPT sometime this year. Google has established itself as a pioneer in AI as its prime business is web search.
Apprentice Bard is one of the test products that use Google’s conversation technology LaMDA also known as Language Model for Dialogue Application. A response given by ChatGPT will be worked on by the LaMDA team. It comes before other projects. In Apprentice Bard the employees can enter a query in a dialog box and get a text answer, they then give feedback based on the response.
The answers can include the latest events. Although It is a similar-looking product to ChatGPT, this particular feature is not included in ChatGPT yet. A previous version of a smart chatbot was “Meena”. This was replaced by Apprentice Bard. the responses by Apprentice Bard have been seen becoming more advanced recently. According to a source, Google is also testing an alternate search page that could use a question-and-answer format. However, it remains unclear which experiments Google plans to incorporate in future product launches. According to a Google spokesperson, Google has been focusing on not just developing AI but also deploying it to improve people’s lives. ChatGPT would be hired by Google as a level 3 engineer. Testing a beta LaMDA chat against chatGPT has begun by Google’s team.


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MidOcean reduces bid for LA Fitness
MIDOCEAN Partners, the private equity firm backing a management buyout of LA Fitness, the health and fitness club operator, has cut its bid in the wake of a fall-off in trading.
The company revealed yesterday that it was in advanced discussions with MidOcean over a recommended bid pitched at 220p a share, down from an estimated 250p when the parties entered talks in December.
LA said that while trading in the key month of January had been only “slightly below internal targets”, the period since had seen a further downturn after a sharp decline in consumer confidence. Peter Jacobs, LA’s non-executive chairman, cited the recent woes of Argos and JJB Sports as evidence of the consumer slowdown.
The 220p-a-share bid values LA Fitness at about


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SINGAPORE is vulnerable to uncertainties in the global environment and its buffer against present headwinds are companies and workers' capabilities, which will enable it to ride the eventual upturn, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat on Tuesday.
GRAB contributed US$5.8 billion to South-east Asia's economy in the 12 months leading up to March 2019, through driver, delivery, merchant and agent incomes and sales generated through its platform and Grab unit Kudo.
THE owners stand to receive sales proceeds ranging from S$1.9 million to S$2.3 million for each unit from the en bloc sale.
SOME 94 per cent of respondents here said that the city-state is facing a talent shortage, and 64 per cent of employers said they have difficulties hiring fintech talent, according to its Fintech Employment 2019 report.
THE survey evaluates the overall journey towards a better life among Singaporeans, taking into account three components: realisation, empowerment, and achievement.
The STI today


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Bond fans heading for the LA Auto Show are in for a treat as a replica of the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger that includes all the gadgets will be on display. According to Crave Online, the replica is actually a reverse engineered DB6 created by Los Angeles-based dealer Galpin Aston Martin. The Crave Online article includes a couple of photos of the car.
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