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NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- What's missing in most marketing plans involving TV commercials? A search component.
Why Marketers Need to Take Search Seriously
After a consumer's curiosity is piqued by watching a broadcast branding ad, they head straight to the Internet to uncover more information. If the advertiser didn't invest in keywords on search engines, they end up where AT&T did after spending millions to introduce m-life (its mobile initiative) in Super Bowl ads four years ago. Consumers flocked online to find out what m-life was. But since the telecom hadn't purchased any search terms related to the ads, consumers remained clueless about the concept. AT&T was nowhere.
TV keyword connections
And many marketers are still nowhere when it comes to continuing
the conversation with the consumer after running a branding
commercial and remaining top of mind through the buying cycle.
"Marketers are basically used to a spray-and-pray kind of world ... and hope it reaches the right audience -- and they are taking the same type of approach online," says Peter Hershberg, managing partner at search agency Reprise Media. "We have clients that have as many as 12 different agencies, and none of them talks to each other."
Search, experts like Mr. Hershberg say, should be the hub of an integrated advertising campaign. The reason is simple-the Internet is where consumers now go to research and decide about what products they should buy. Laptops share the couch as consumers watch TV, according to a SIMM study that showed 66.2% of consumers regularly use TV and the Internet simultaneously.
Once online, 80% of Internet traffic begins at a search engine, according to a Harris Interactive poll. And 41% of Web users find brands through search rather than just by typing a URL into their browser, a DoubleClick study reported. "People are using search engines as browsers," says Bryan Wiener, president at agency 360i, New York.
Connect the dots
"Search is the place where the consumer connects the dots and,
if you are not there, they will not seek you out online and not
engage with you offline," says Cam Balzer, director of search
strategy, Performics, a division of DoubleClick.
Search revenue growth figures are getting noticed in boardrooms. Top engine Google is expected to rake in nearly one-quarter (23.8%) of online ad revenue this year, while No. 2 player Yahoo Search is predicted to grab 11.2%, according to online market researcher eMarketer. In a recent inadvertent filing to analysts, Google mistakenly revealed its internal ad revenue projections of reaching $6 billion in ad revenue this year, shooting up to $9.5 billion in 2007.
But search agencies complain that just a minority of marketing plans include search media. No one has yet estimated how many dollars are lost by not integrating search, but anecdotally the potential hit to marketers is huge. "The risk to marketers is they do a great job creating interest and awareness...then someone sees a search and doesn't see your brand, so they go nowhere," Mr. Balzer said.
Lack of coordination
Another problem is the marketer that runs search ads -- but
forgets to tell the search agency of a traditional media effort.
Buyers have long known that search can be used to track response in
other channels because there is typically an uptick in search when
a catalog drops or a TV campaign runs. "We've been a bit frustrated
to see that search campaigns will run better over a certain period
of time and we don't know why -- it's only later that we find out
that the client ran a radio or TV campaign at that time," Mr.
"One of the key drivers of search is TV," says Stuart Frankel, general manager of Performics.
On that topic, Mr. Hershberg wanted to find out how far Super Bowl advertisers could stretch their investments. Burger King was among the best at integrating search with TV spots, he says. Crispin Porter & Bogusky is the Burger King agency of record and VML handles its search buys and online advertising.
First, there was extensive keyword coverage across Google and Yahoo, he says. "They bought everything from 'Burger King' to 'Whopper' and 'Whopperette,"' which most users searched for in response to ads for the new product, he says. Very important for the Super Bowl, the fast-feeder also bought the phrase "Super Bowl commercial" because many consumers want to replay ads post-game.
Burger King's Super Bowl success
Better still, the landing pages consumers reached when they
clicked on search copy engaged consumers. "There was a lot of fun,
interactive content -- a game, behind-the-scenes video for the ad,
outtakes ... they did a really good job," he says.
The current poster child for integrating TV and search is the well-publicized Pontiac ad, he adds. Digitas, Boston, handles Pontiac's online search advertising. The automaker's TV commercial for its new G6 sedan shows the Google home page with the familiar search box containing the word, "Pontiac" and a voice-over saying, "Don't take our word for it, Google 'Pontiac' to find out!" The danger here, of course, is that another automaker could bid higher on Pontiac's keywords and woo away customers. Indeed, Pontiac only got 68% of the traffic online from the ad, according to search researcher Hitwise. "But the buzz about the ad has more than given Pontiac their money's worth," Mr. Hershberg says. Yahoo is starting to place limits, restricting purchases of trademark names only to their owners.
In addition to leveraging offline campaigns, search results also allow media buyers to quantify consumers' response to those offline efforts. But as a branding tool, search can play a big role. For example, to promote the film "Hustle & Flow," Paramount used Google's Site Targeting tool, which lets advertisers choose the sites for ads and purchase the keyword buys on a CPM basis. The studio targeted sites frequented by hip-hop, crunk and rap enthusiasts, along with urban and specific music sites. "They could target those sites specifically," says Patrick Keane, head of sales strategy at Google.
How many keywords to buy?
How many keywords must a marketer buy? While some brands bid on
thousands, including branded terms, words related to the offline
promotions, generic phrases and local terms, "the key is having a
lot of different words, testing them and making sure what words
work the best for you," says Ellen Siminoff, CEO of search agency
Efficient Frontier. It's not always necessary to buy the top
position in search results, she adds. "No. 2, 3, 4 or 5 may be more
appropriate," she says, because those positions perform well for
Another tactical tip is to buy keywords that take into account the length of the buying cycle. A Performics study, "Search Before Purchase," which looked at 30 retail sites in four verticals, demonstrated that consumers search for up to 12 weeks before making a purchase, even for items such as apparel. Consumers do a lot of general searches, using generic terms early on. "They start by searching broadly, not keyed to brand," Mr. Balzer says. Then, they narrow the search down to particular brands of products and location. "They will use that last search on a brand name to navigate to a specific online store," he says.
The key is to have a presence in the search realm. "You want to be there," says Ms. Siminoff. "Even if someone doesn't click on your ad today, they still want to know all the advertisers that sell what they" want.


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ELD manufacturers say they are ready for end of 3G
February 21, 2022
With the sun setting on the 3G cellphone network, truckers have been told for some time now that the electronic logging device they rely on could become obsolete. As AT&T becomes the first carrier to turn the lights off on their 3G network on Feb. 22, many drivers are left wondering if their ELDs will continue to meet the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s compliance guidelines.
Land Line contacted every manufacturer from the FMCSA’s database of registered ELDs, around 250 companies. Of those, we received about 80 “undeliverable” responses from now-defunct companies. Of the remaining 170, we received 44 responses from manufacturers echoing a similar sentiment: They are well prepared to handle the 3G sunset.
“Out of the tens of thousands of ELDs we have out there in the market, none of them will have their compliance interrupted,” said Jeffrey Farrington, president of Knoxville, Tenn.-based ELD Solutions.
Most companies responding said that they are already operating at 4G or higher. The companies that did respond about having 3G ELDs on the road cited only a small portion of their customers were still running on the soon-to-be-phased out network. Farrington said that it is larger fleets – rather than small fleets and owner-operators – that are affected the most.
“We are also finding that carriers with 50 trucks or more are the ones who are most affected due to them purchasing ELDs (or actually AOBRDs at that time) prior to the mandate,” Farrington said. “A lot of small carriers who bought ELDs in 2017 are probably, for the most part, in good shape since a lot of ELD providers out there are relying solely on a direct local connection to the vehicle as opposed to using cellular data.”
A large portion of ELDs on the road don’t rely on a particular network but instead operate through the driver’s cellphone or tablet. Because of this, the ELD itself will not be affected by the 3G sunset. However, those drivers will need to be sure the phone or tablet they use will not be affected.
AT&T provides a list of devices that support 4G or higher. Most of the devices are phones manufactured in 2014 or later, so if your phone is less than 7 years old you’re likely still in good shape. For those users with older phones, a simple upgrade would be enough to bring them to compliance.
Some ELD manufacturers are learning from the headaches that have come along with converting users from one network to another. Calgary, Alberta-based Fleet Hawks uses E-Sims (electronic sim cards) in their devices. This allows their technology to easily be upgraded to future networks as older networks inevitably go offline.
3G ELDs on the road
Of the 44 responses, just six companies responded that they have devices still operating on the 3G network. The rest are operating on 4G or higher, ensuring compliance for the foreseeable future. Many of the companies we contacted had gone into business after the original December 2017 compliance date set by FMCSA. Because of this, those manufacturers were aware of the impending sunset and were proactive with their equipment.
Most manufacturers with 3G ELDs on the road have done their part to ease the transition for users. Andie Rodriguez, senior communications manager with San Francisco-based Samsara, said her company is taking care of everything they can for the small portion of their customers that will be affected.
“The few hundred customers who are impacted by the impending 3G sunset, we worked closely with them over the past several months to get them upgraded as seamlessly as possible,” Rodriguez said. “This included complimentary hardware upgrades – something we’ve long provided as part of our subscription model – 24/7 customer support, and installation instructions for new devices.”
Tim DeMonte, president of Toronto-based TrackM2M, said his company is well on its way to getting all of their customers up to compliance.
“One important metric I am monitoring indicates that 68% of ELDs provided by TrackM2M are 4G, and the remaining are 3G. Most of the equipment required to drive this metric toward 100% 4G has been delivered to customers and is awaiting installation,” DeMonte said.
Supply chain issues may be a problem
Most manufacturers were optimistic about a hassle-free conversion. However, Ben Hohmann, communications and marketing lead for Seattle-based Zonar Systems, said that while his company has done what they can to get in front of the 3G sunset, supply chain issues could delay the upgrade to compliant equipment.
“The majority of our large fleets are already up to date, and we are actively working with our remaining customers. We have done our best to order necessary components as supplies allow –to get ahead of ongoing supply chain delays and device shortages. We are upgrading customers as fast as possible, and any outstanding 3G devices we have on the market are being significantly decreased every day through these efforts,” Hohmann said. “While we continue to monitor the 3G to 4G situation and remediate any potential service disruptions for our customers by the current deadline, the reality is that COVID and supply chain disruptions combined with a pending sunset will likely lead some customers to lose connectivity until we can upgrade them.”
New York-based Verizon Connect also reported some drivers with 3G ELDs. Their 3G network – scheduled to end on Dec. 31, 2022 – will be the final network to go offline. Because of this, they will have until the end of the year to upgrade their customers to 4G devices. According to Krys Grondorf, director of communications for Verizon, this effort is already underway.
“Our 3G sunset is taking place at the end of this calendar year. With regard to ELDs, I can confirm that we have a very small number of customers who have 3G ELD units and have been encouraged to migrate them over to 4G this year,” Grondorf said.
Not all companies were forthcoming
Not every manufacturer we spoke with was transparent about the upcoming 3G sunset. Michael Ahart, vice president of regulatory affairs for Dallas-based Omnitracs, declined to comment on the number of 3G units his company has on the road and if their current supply would be adequate to convert those soon to be out-of-date models.
“We have that information; however, it is not available to share publicly,” Ahart said. “As our customers are contacting us, we are taking all necessary measures to fulfill orders.”
3G sunset dates
According to the FCC, the schedule for complete 3G shutdowns are as follows:
- AT&T: Feb. 22, 2022
- Sprint (T-Mobile): March 31, 2022
- Sprint LTE (T-Mobile): June 30, 2022
- T-Mobile: July 1, 2022
- Verizon: Dec. 31, 2022
Those who lose ELD service due to 3G sunsets will need to take action but can still keep the tires rolling. In accordance with FMCSA regulations, drivers must “correct, repair, replace or service the malfunctioning ELD within eight days of discovering the condition or a driver’s notification to the motor carrier, whichever occurs first.” Additionally, a paper record of duty status must be kept during that time until the ELD is back in compliance. LL

domain: news


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The Netherlands’ Hema announced today that it is in talks with Marcel Boekhoorn of investment company Ramphastos Investments, who has the intention to acquire the 92 year-old chain from its current British owner.
Upscale heritage department store Liberty London said it’s entering an exclusive deal with Secoo, Asia’s biggest premium lifestyle platform, with the Chinese company set to carry the brand exclusively in the region.
Denim trade show Kingpins will be kicking off its next edition with a transformers summit on 23 October, followed by the Kingpins Amsterdam show on 24 and 25 October, highlighting the latest denim innovations.
Amazon on Wednesday said it is opening a store in New York City that will sell products ranging from card games to skillets that are highly rated on its website, in the company's latest push into brick-and-mortar retail.
The cat was already out of the bag yesterday but that didn’t detract from the impact of the news on Tuesday that Michael Kors is acquiring Versace for around $2 billion and changing its name to Capri Holdings.
Following an initial trial period, the Facebook-owned image-sharing network rolled out two new ways for users around the world to shop on the platform on Monday, introducing Shopping in Stories and Shopping in Explore.
Amsterdam-based Fashion for Good has announced the names of the 12 startups that will join its Plug and Play Programme, a twelve-week course with mentorship by its corporate partners such as Kering and C&A.
LVMH's Patrice Wagner really doesn’t like to boast, but in his view, there is no more Parisian department store than Le Bon Marché, which kicks off the fall this weekend with a massive exhibition on Los Angeles.
House of Fraser is to get a new owner after calling in administrators Friday. A fast deal to buy a slimmed-down version of the chain had been on the cards with news Friday that retail tycoon Mike Ashley is now in charge.


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Interview: Marco Bizzarri
13 July 2018
Editor Mimma Viglezio interviews President and CEO of Gucci Marco Bizzarri.
Interview: Natalie Massenet
15 June 2018
Editor Mimma Viglezio interviews entrepreneur Dame Natalie Massenet.
Conversation: Image, Publishing and Media
20 August 2017
Coco Capitán, Massimo Giorgetti and Patrick Scallon talk creative solutions in image-making, publishing and media at the Helsinki New Fashion Seminar.


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Brawley’s Beverage hosting monthly “Drink Positive!” events to benefit various charities
With a hot-button political climate currently taking place in the U.S., it’s not uncommon to see discussions/debates take place over a beer or two at your favorite local watering hole.
And there’s one craft beer bar in Charlotte that wants to turn that talk into something productive.
Beginning this Thursday, Brawley’s Beverage will host a monthly series called “Drink Positive!” where portions of beer sales that day will be given to a certain local charity or cause.
“You can make a big impact in peoples’ lives without putting yourself out much, so we’re hoping to make it easier for (some of the charities) by putting this together,” owner Michael Brawley says. “With everything going on, this is the least we could do to help.”
This idea actually grew from an event last month when Brawley decided to use his keg of Bell’s Hopslam, a popular seasonal beer among craft beer lovers, as a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders – a cause Brawley has been donating to for the last several years.
“These doctors are working in the hellholes of the world for no money,” he says. “Like the saying goes, ‘Make your charitable dollars have the most impact.’”
That’s exactly what the patrons at Brawley’s did that day, with every dollar from that keg – and then some – amounting to a $1,330 check to Doctors Without Borders.
“We even had people coming up after the keg was kicked and ordering a pint of something else, but wanting it to go toward the fundraiser,” Brawley says. “So I thought, we should do this more often.”
Enter the “Drink Positive!” series, with the first charity having to do with an issue that’s been all over the news of late – refugees.
“Refugees are having a harder time than ever in the United States,” Brawley says. “So if we have a chance to help them, then why not?”
So Brawley reached out to the Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas, and found some eye-opening information.
“The government helps refugees with assistance for three months and that’s it,” he says. “So you can imagine coming from somewhere such as a rural area in Laos and then end up in a New South city like Charlotte. What I learned is groups like the Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas don’t get nearly the love they ought to for the work they do. They are really making huge impacts in peoples’ lives.”
One way the RSS helps is through a program called Fruitful Friends, where a refugee who has come to Charlotte is paired up with someone local to help them get settled and learn about their new surroundings.
“They show them how to set up a power bill and phone bill, how to go grocery shopping – cultural things that you and I never think of as challenging,” Brawley says.
As part of the event Thursday, Brawley’s is partnering with Free Range Brewing, which is donating a keg where 100 percent of sales from that beer will be donated to the Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas. Also, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., $2 from every pint sold among Brawley’s 24 taps will go toward the RSS. David Childers will be out on the patio with live music.
Representatives from the organization will be at the shop to provide more information about what they do and answer any questions, while there will also be scarves and hats for sale that were knitted by a refugee from Vietnam as part of another program within the RSS, Knit Together.
Brawley plans on continuing this series each month, with a different charity benefitting each time as well as the hope the shop can partner with other local breweries.
“We not only want to raise money, but also raise awareness,” Brawley says. “What I’d love is someone who’s a customer of ours that may just be coming in that day, sees what’s going on and feels motivated to take action.”
The always outspoken Brawley then adds a final statement that shows just how serious he is about these events.
“If we’re raising funds for the right charity, we’d even partner with Budweiser,” he says with a smile.


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Why You Are Not Getting Your Goods via NZ Post
New Zealand Post has apologised for the delivery delays many Kiwis have experienced amid Covid-19, explaining why so many packages have taken so long to reach their new homes.
With courier drivers overloaded, orders that are usually delivered overnight are often taking at least two days, and in many cases sometimes even longer.
NZ Post chief executive David Walsh explained the delays on TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning. He says the amount of parcels being processed after Alert Level 4 lockdown more than doubled, with staff having to process everything all while practising social distancing.
“Post lockdown [Level] 4, we had over three and a half million parcels come in and that’s well over double of what we’d normally do and we do know some of those got held up and we’re absolutely apologetic for the people who have had delays.
“I can assure you we’re throwing everything at it to get on top of it.”
To get ahead of the backlog, Mr Walsh says NZ Post has since upped its courier driver numbers, added more processing and contact centre staff and many of its operating sites are running 24/7.
But he also admits planning could have been better.
“There’s no doubt we could have sequenced things better, but there was still going to be a massive constraint.
“To move in the last week two million items is just extraordinary.”
Pre-Covid, Mr Walsh says the busiest time of year for NZ Post would be Christmas, with the biggest day of deliveries reaching between 350-400,000 parcels, involving months of planning.
After Anzac weekend that number more than doubled, with drivers delivering 500,000 or 600,000 parcels in one day, eight or nine days in a row.
Despite the high volume of parcels being moved around, NZ Post is still offering overnight delivery – with many not being delivered in that time.
When questioned by Breakfast host John Campbell on NZ Post’s moral obligation to offer such a service, when fulfilling it was unlikely, Mr Walsh said they were doing everything they could to get it done.
“We do our absolutely best endeavours to make those deliveries.
“Typically, most are taking two to four days to get delivered…We have put warnings up in many of our sites saying that these services will take longer so I think we’re setting expectations as people are coming in to purchase those services.”
This weekend Mr Walsh says NZ Post is “having a massive push” to get parcels out, with 200 courier drivers out on the road in Auckland’s North Shore alone.
P.S. Easy Freight Ltd helps New Zealand importers & exporters to save money on international freight and reduce mistakes by guiding how to comply with Customs and biosecurity rules.
➔ Contact us now to learn how we can assist you.


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In an effort to cheer up her glum father, Lisa Simpson once said, “Did you know the Chinese use the same word for ‘crisis’ as they do for ‘opportunity’?”
“Yes,” Homer declared, stoutly. “Crisitunity!”
There’s little question that at this moment in our history, American retail is in a state of full-fledged crisitunity.
The crisis part (as one would expect) has been the main focus. Just scanning Commercial Observer’s pages in the last week tells that part of the story: Michael Kors announced that it was closing 125 locations. A $200 million loan to Simon Property Group for Independence Center in Missouri has gone into special servicing. A new report from CBRE says that retail rents are down 20 to 30 percent from their 2014 peak.
The opportunity part is trickier to quantify. But in an economy that is seemingly thriving—with an unemployment rate at 4.3 percent, as per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest in 16 years—the moment is ripe for the scrappiest and shrewdest retailers to rethink the way they do business. (Amazon has already started the counterrevolution; they are making a serious foray into brick-and-mortar.)
As Commercial Observer’s Lauren Elkies Schram prowled the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center at last month’s International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual RECon event, she learned that brokers, landlords and retailers all had their own ideas of where the troubled industry would land, and what would thrive. (One answer: Food. Another answer: Experience.)
This is the reason we are launching our monthly Retail Details newsletter. It is our chance to put all our retail news, leases, features and interviews in one place. We want to look at retail not just through the lens of CO’s home base of New York City, but as a larger story including national trend pieces, commentary from the giants of the industry and statistics from the experts.
This is a moment where going deeper into the weeds becomes not just a luxury, but essential for any real estate or retail professional.
—Max Gross, Editor-in-Chief


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Liebherr outlines Bauma China plans
31 October 2018
Equipment manufacturer Liebherr will feature a range of equipment for multiple industries and applications at this year’s Bauma China exhibition, which starts on November 27.
The company’s outdoor stand will include for the R 966 and R 920 crawler excavators, the A 920 mobile excavator, the L 550 wheeled loader and PR 776 crawler tractor as well as the LTM 1300-6.2 mobile crane.
Liebherr will also show various mechanical, hydraulic and electrical drive system components on its indoor stand.
Liebherr said its presence at Asia’s most important trade fair for construction machinery shows its appreciation and awareness of the growing markets in the Asia-Pacific region.


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LedgerX Officially Opens Physically Delivered BTC Options and Custody Ahead of Bakkt’s Launch
US-regulated bitcoin derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, LedgerX has officially launched its physically delivered bitcoin [BTC] options and custody ever since it got the Designated Contract Marketing License (DCM) from the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reports The Block.
The aimed target rests in ensuring that retail investors have been tended to. As per the firm’s statement, the OMNI platform is what supports retail investors – whether this implies swaps (performance-based rather than an asset), options and futures. That said, institutional investors are encouraged to use said services as well anyone else who’s interested.
The news outlet spoke to the firm back in April, who shared that they want to have a competitive advantage in offering a bitcoin futures product of this sort.
The route taken in obtaining said licenses has been assumed to carry some limitations. In particular, established contracts are trusted as being “fully collateralized”, which means traders could potentially be hindered from margin trading.
“Not only are they delivered physically in the sense that our customers can get bitcoin after futures expires, but also they can deposit bitcoin to trade in the first place. Cash-settled is cash-in and cash-out, we’re bitcoin-in and bitcoin-out.”
The CEO also emphasized that traders will no longer need to use the U.S banking system to deposit bitcoins. This is primarily because of the nature of it being
“physically-settled,” which Chou believes is “one of the most unique cases for bitcoin.”
When speaking about the OMNI platform, Chou said:
“[The platform] is really going to be a new product for retail that is going to be unique in that it’s going to be incredibly simple. It is going to make available to the retail public all sorts of ability to trade bitcoin, whether it’s spot, futures or options and we have a lot of things in the pipeline.”


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According to official Financial Ombudsman Service numbers, payment protection insurance still leads in its workload. About 57 per cent of financial product complaints the FOS receives are payment protection insurance.
According to Chief Ombudsman Caroline Wayman, the numbers of PPI claims have reached stable levels the previous year. However, a high volume of cases still exist more than observers’ expectations.
Data from the FOS revealed that Lloyds still tops the list with 87,000 complaints for 2015 alone. This is more than Barclays’ 39,00 complaints.
Critics have condemned Lloyds’ tactic of PPI processing delays to discourage consumers from claiming their PPI refunds.
The FOS had upheld 78 per cent of complaints against Lloyds for the second half of 2015. This is a 4 per cent increase from 2014. RBS only had 47 per cent of FOS-upheld complaints. Barclays PPI complaints had fallen by 11 per cent. HSBC had received the fewest complaints with a 30 per cent reduction between the first and second half of 2015.
Aside from the Big Four banks’ PPI claims figures, other banks have not announced their official complaints figures.
Observers expect the FCA’s deadline to increase the PPI complaints number in the next three years until the 2018’s first quarter. Coupled with an efficient advertising campaign, the FCA expects all mis-sold PPI consumers to come forward and reclaim their insurance refunds before the deadline.


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My latest piece for the Huffington Post about America’s place in the world economy has just been published:
Imogen Lloyd Webber is a…"petite polymath"
- The New York Post
PEOPLE Now’s Royal Record – November 13
I’m to Appear in ABC News’ MEGHAN’S NEW LIFE: THE REAL PRINCESS DIARIES
PEOPLE Now’s Royal Record – November 6
PEOPLE Now’s Royal Record – October 24
PEOPLE Now – Meghan is Pregnant!


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Long fingerlike tendrils poked out from the part of the Red Planet known as the "Martian limb" and astronomers are scratching their heads over the cause.
No self-respecting entrepreneur of the future uses cash, checks, or barter -- especially when buying tickets to outer space.
The Ming clam was thought to be 405 years old. Now Welsh scientists know it was 507 years old. Sadly, their probing it for its age killed it.
Stung by a cyberattack that caused it to issue fake online security certificates for hundreds of companies, the Dutch certificate authority is closing for business.
Is Iran behind a fraudulent Google.com digital certificate? The situation is similar to one that happened in March in which spoofed certificates were traced back to Iran.
The storied medium-format camera maker is in new hands as Ventizz Capital Partners acquires it. The private equity firm plans to invest capital for growth.
Wind, used to power ships since time immemorial, could make a comeback as some entrepreneurs look to reduce carbon emissions and costs in the shipping industry.
We were just innocently chatting along when we identified the fact that our current economic order essentially mandates monopolies to fix our excessive government interference in free-market forces. Weird.
While Facebook opens up, and Opera starts suing, Mice have become genetically fearless.
Passwords generated for one-time use are designed to increase security for PayPal and its account holders.


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Private Chefs of Beverly Hills will follow Big City Chefs, Beverly Hills' premiere private chef placement agency. On-call at all hours of the day, this group of talented chefs cater to the over-the-top and eclectic clientele in Los Angeles' most posh neighborhood. Viewers will get a glimpse into the secret and high-demand world of culinary glamour where anything is possible.
- imDb Rating: ( Votes)
- Total Seasons:
Whole Lotta Loaf
Episode 2x8; Nov 30, 2010
2x8: Whole Lotta Loaf
2x7: Flappers and Knee Slappers
2x6: Who's the Boss?
2x5: Tickled Pink
2x4: Thrilla for Foodzilla
2x3: Seance Sautee
2x2: A Very 'Brady' Birthday
2x1: A Side of Lamas
1x7: Into the Fryer
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YouTube personality and amateur boxer Logan Paul has bought a ranch in the San Jacinto Mountains that was once used by LSD advocate Timothy Leary.
What a trip. In the San Jacinto Mountains, a desert ranch where the LSD advocate Timothy Leary and his Hippie Mafia once congregated has found a new owner: YouTube personality and amateur boxer Logan Paul. Paul, who last week lost a boxing match against Brit… [+7228 chars]
L.A. Olympic Organizing Committee head asks $82.5 million for Beverly Hills mansion
Casey Wasserman, president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, has slashed the price of his Beverly Hills mansion to $82.5 million.
Casey Wasserman, the entertainment executive who headed L.A.s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, is dialing it down in Beverly Hills. His ultra-modern mansion is back on the market for $82.5 million, or $42.5 million shy of his original asking price. The … [+1432 chars]
Stephan Courseau Responds to ‘Servant Restaurants’ Article
Editor's note: On Tuesday, restaurant critic Brian Reinhart wrote an essay about the rise in the number of what he called “servant restaurants,” those high-price places that primarily cater to extremely rich customers, and what that rise means for the city's …
Editor's note: On Tuesday, restaurant critic Brian Reinhart wrote an essay about the rise in the number of what he called “servant restaurants,” those high-price places that primarily cater to extremely rich customers, and what that rise means for the city's … [+4917 chars]


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Speak to all of your friends at once
By TIM UTTON, Daily Mail
From today, however, they can get a handset which solves the problem by allowing them to send an instant voice message to any number of people at the same time.
Simply by squeezing a button on the side of the phone, they can turn it into a walkie-talkie.
The function - called Push to Talk - has arrived from the U.S., where it has already taken the market by storm. It is expected to be hugely popular with Britain's 47million mobile users.
To send a message, users select a name or names from the phone's list of addresses.
They then push the button on the side of the handset to record their message and release the button to send it.
Rather than hearing a ring-tone to signify an incoming call or a beep to report a new text message, the recipient hears the sender's voice message itself coming out of their mobile.
They can then reply in the same way.
To avoid embarrassment, the phones can be set to silent mode, holding messages in the memory while the recipient is, for example, in a meeting or in the cinema, for playback later.
If the phone is switched off it stores the voice messages and alerts the user once it is switched on again.
The software works by turning a spoken voice message into data, which is transmitted over the airwaves to an Internet server.
From there, it is routed to the recipient's mobile, where in a matter of seconds the data is turned back into voice.
David Chow, associate editor of the magazine What Mobile said last night: 'This has got huge potential.
'Text messaging is a great way of communicating but it doesn't have quite the personal touch of someone's voice, which you can put tone and emotion into.
'People are more likely to respond to a voice message than a text.'
Jason Chapman, principal mobile phone analyst at market researchers Gartner, said: 'It's sufficiently different and exciting and I think it has a very wide appeal.
'We are optimistic about the consumer use of it. From the point of view of young users in particular, it is another cool way of communicating with your friends.
'The youth market is very much into instant messaging already and I think they will adopt this new option very quickly.'
There is a huge market in instant messaging. Current figures from the Mobile Data Association show 55million text messages are sent in Britain every day.
The company behind today's launch, fastmobile, claims the flat £6.99 monthly fee for its ' fastchat' service will make it much cheaper for text-mad phone users.
It is also cheaper than the new picture messaging services.
James Tagg, European managing director of fastmobile, said: ' Messaging is one of the most obvious uses of a mobile phone. But no one predicted SMS ( Short Message Service - the official name for texting) would grow like it did.
'We see fastchat as a similar kind of service - something that people will discover and rapidly adopt, just like they did SMS.
'And one of the best things about fastchat is that groups of people can chat together - completely unlike SMS, which is just one-to-one.
' Push-to-talk messaging has become huge in the States and is still growing there. But the UK is even more message- mad, so it could easily become even more popular here than it is over there.'
The system currently works on the Nokia 7650 and 3650 handsets and the soon-to-be-launched Sony Ericsson P800. But most new handsets coming out feature the facility.
Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens have already announced they are working on a standard for adding walkie-talkie features to phones.
It has already caught on in the U.S., where it has helped make Nextel the fastest-growing U.S. mobile operator.
Nextel earns about £12 a month more from each customer who also uses its Push to Talk service, prompting its rivals - AT& T Wireless, Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile - to announce plans to introduce Push to Talk this year.
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text:
Panasonic has just released two new LUMIX compact digital cameras that are slim yet pack huge zoom lenses: the LUMIX DMC-ZR1 and the LUMIX DMC-FX65. The Panasonic LUMIX DMC-ZR1 has a 25mm lens with a massive 8x zoom and is a completely new model, whi...
Panasonic has a new weapon in its recycling arsenal for dealing with cathode ray tubes from old televisions: a powerful laser that can quickly weaken the thick glass and enable a three-fold increase in processing speed.
Panasonic has released information on its new Premiere Home Theatre Plasma series. The 65in and 50in Panasonic TH-65VX100W and TH-50VX100W are Full HD plasma TVs with a native 1080p resolution.
Several of Japan's largest electronics companies have halted business trips to Mexico after a deadly outbreak of swine flu in the country.
Panasonic's Viera Cast-enabled HDTVs just got more interesting.
Panasonic Australia has announced three new Blu-ray players, including the world's first portable model, the DMP-B15.
Panasonic Australia today launched two new Blu-ray disc recorders, the DMR-BW750 and DMR-BW850. The Panasonic DMR-BW750 is equipped with a 250GB hard drive (HDD) while the Panasonic DMR-BW850 comes with 500GB of onboard memory. Both models are VIERA...
We're already a quarter of the way into 2009 and the gadgets are coming thick and fast despite the recession that is gripping many countries. This month it was time for new digital cameras with the PMA show in the U.S. and a couple of follow-ups from...
Panasonic has launched its latest range of Lumix cameras in Singapore this week. The new Lumix camera range will be rolled out in stores from March, and will include the new FS series and TZ series cameras, as well as a brand new ruggedised camera ca...
Japanese electronics giant Panasonic on Wednesday forecast its first yearly loss in a long time and said it will slash jobs due to the worsening global economy.
Panasonic Australia will raise prices on its current range of consumer electronics products from February 1.
Besides the new ultracompact camcorders and 70X optical-zoom standard-definition models that were also announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Wednesday, Panasonic unveiled six new high-definition camcorders as part of its 2009 lineup...
LCD TVs aren't the only TVs that can be thin. On Wednesday, Panasonic demonstrated a plasma TV set that is one-third of an inch thin -- or 8.8 millimeters -- at the thinnest part of its profile.
Japan's largest consumer electronics company, Panasonic, plans to launch a tender offer for shares of Sanyo Electric with the hope of acquiring a majority stake in its smaller rival, the company said.
Panasonic will begin negotiating with Sanyo Electric's top-three shareholders as early as November with the aim of acquiring a majority stake in the electronics maker, The Nikkei business daily reported in its Saturday morning edition.
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There are eight employees of Loblaws-owned grocery stores in the Waterloo-Wellington area who have tested positive for COVID-19 over the holidays.
The grocery chain updated its running list on Tuesday, which includes case counts at stores all across Canada.
On Dec. 29, an employee of the Shoppers Drug Mart on Wallace Avenue in Listowel tested positive. They last worked on Dec. 22.
A worker at the Highland Road Real Canadian Superstore in Kitchener tested positive on Dec. 30 and was last in on Boxing Day.
Loblaws lists two positive COVID-19 tests in employees of the area on New Year's Day. One team member last worked at the Ottawa Street Zehr's in Kitchener on Dec. 30, while another last worked on Dec. 28 at the Kortwright Road Zehr's in Guelph.
Another Zehr's employee tested positive on Sunday. They last worked at the Conestoga Boulevard location in Cambridge on Dec. 27.
Two more positive COVID-19 tests in store workers were listed in the area for Jan. 5. A Clair Road Shoppers Drug Mart employee in Guelph last worked on Dec. 28, while another Ottawa Street Zehr's team member last worked on Christmas Eve.


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Honourable Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Mr Nitin Gadkari has confirmed the making of 6 airbags mandatory in Indian cars this year onwards. A draft notification had been issued in January and approved by the MoRTH for mandating 6 airbags in all Indian cars that seat up to 8 passengers. Hence, all new cars that’ll be sold in India with up to 8 passenger seating capacity will be equipped with 6 airbags as standard, with effect from October 1st, 2022.
The fast pace of technological advancement is something you can take note of by having one look at the latest manufactured premium brand cars. And not just in the high-end segment, one can observe the penetration of futuristic features on the fronts of design, comfort and safety even in the mid-size car segments in the Indian market. Now, the Indian Govt. itself takes a step forward for establishing stringent safety measures in the four-wheeler passenger vehicle segment, keeping the welfare of its citizens at the centre of its focus.
According to the draft notification dated 14th January 2022: “Vehicles of category M1, manufactured after 01st October 2022, shall be fitted with two side/side torso airbags, one each for the persons occupying front row outboard seating positions and two side-curtain/tube airbags, one each for the persons occupying outboard seating positions and the requirement for such airbags shall be verified with compliance to AIS-099, as amended from time to time, till the corresponding Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications are notified under the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 (11 of 2016).”
While this move has been thought of to increase the on-road vehicular safety standards by the Indian Govt., automotive manufacturers in the Indian markets do not think it’s as practical as thought to be. There have been speculations in the market of whether making 6 airbags mandatory in all Indian cars proves to be an effective road safety measure or not. However, irrespective of that, the introduction of additional airbags is expected to cost at least a few tens of thousands, making even the entry-level vehicles a bit costlier.
While 6 airbags are being offered as a premium safety feature in mostly only the higher-end trims of car models sold in India, Kia Carens is apparently the only one offering 6 airbags in all its variants. Amongst the most popular 6 airbags cars in India that are affordable under Rs 20 lakhs come the Hyundai Venue, Hyundai Creta, Mahindra XUV700, Kia Sonnet, Kia Seltos and Maruti Baleno, to name a few.
Although the move might not be welcomed with a smile by Indian auto manufacturers, the details of the timeline of the plan are yet to be revealed. Meanwhile, we would love to hear your opinion on this new move, taken up by the MoRTH, Govt. of India, updating the on-road safety norms for its citizens.


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Originally published on EV Obsession.
A Richard Padilla caught a Tesla Model X P90D on video recently as the driver very slowly backed up before flying forward like a spaceship. You’ve got to see it:
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Shalendra joins the list of IT leaders competing for an award on 15 November.
Shalendra Singh, head of IT at Hungry Lion, recently spoke at a CIO South Africa Summit in Cape Town in a panel discussion on AI and its impact in the retail sector alongside former retail CIO Chris Shortt.
According to Shalendra, the biggest obstacle with AI is managing people’s perceptions about it and fears around it taking their jobs. “Ideally, AI should add value, and to a certain extent be a partnership between the technology and the people,” he says, “adding value to the business as a whole, while maintaining the human aspect, and people embracing it rather than fearing it.”
He highlighted that it’s not about AI necessarily taking people’s jobs, but forging a [or rather there should be] a symbiotic relationship between your staff and various AI and machine learning models.
Always eager to learn and upskill himself, Shalendra is currently pursuing his dream of becoming a full stack software developer. “The intensive coding course that I have recently completed, including other online courses, have given me the ideal footing to enter this industry. My previous career in IT has given me unique insight into business systems, business needs and processes that will aid me in my future role. I am committed, skilled and hard-working.”
Prior to joining Hungry Lion, Shalendra was head of IT operations at Shoprite. He is also an independent non-executive director at Digicloud Africa.
Shalendra completed his qualification as an electronics engineer: computer systems from the Durban Institute of Technology. He has also participated in project management and leadership programmes with institutions such as Unisa and the Gordon Institute of Business Science.


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TOURISM in Paris is booming, bucking a generally gloomy trend for the industry this year.
In many regions figures for the first half of 2012 are poor – put down to the economic crisis and poor weather; however the Paris tourist office estimates its year will end with record visitor figures, up 1.5% on last year.
This is partly thanks to more visitors from the traditional markets, attracted by favourable euro exchange rates, such as Britons (503,000 in the first half of the year; up 8%), Americans (670,000; up 15%), Japanese (251,300; up 6%) and Swiss (154,000; 24%).
Visitors from some of the emerging markets were also up strongly: China (76,000, up 15%) and Asia in general (607,000, up 12%), Latin America (283,000, up 7%) or the Middle East (140,800, up 20%). Actual numbers of Chinese visitors may be much higher than those cited due to the fact many stay outside Paris and travel in, the tourist office says.
European visitors were up 1%, at 2.2 million, though ones from crisis-hit Spain were down 22% (193,000). There were 3.6 million French visitors, down 3.2%, out of a total 7.76 million visitors.
Hotel occupation remained stable compared to last year’s record figures, at 79%, while prices were up 6.9% on average, at €164 per night.
The capital’s strengths include its famous monuments and museums – cited by 89% as a reason for visiting. It is also the world’s top destination for duty-free shopping (available from many stores on larger purchases for non-EU citizens).
The capital is investing in more hotel rooms to retain its popularity – 4,000 in the next five years, partly thanks to the conversion of offices. The tourist office also points to a raft of exciting events and openings to come, like a new zoo and reopenings of five museums in the next few years.


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New study compares iPhone 7 prices
By Masyitha Baziad October 12, 2016
- Indonesia and Thailand are the most expensive
- Loyal Apple customers boost sales in Indonesia
THE announcement of Apple’s new iPhone 7 last month sparked excitement for the fans waiting for the product to be sold in their respective countries.
“I looked up the links to be able to watch the Apple Keynote last month, I always follow the news around the new iPhone 7, saving my money for the past six months, hopefully I will be able to purchase it in Singapore next month,” a 26 year old business analyst, Idham Khalil told Digital News Asia.
In Singapore, the price for the iPhone 7 with 128 gigabytes of memory is S$1,218 (Rp11.5million) and iPhone 7 Plus with same memory capacity is S$1,418 (Rp13.4 million).
His friend, an administration officer Putri Nurmalasari, takes a bit more sceptical approach, saying that Apple products sell dreams to many, but in the end only a few can afford.
“I will not fly anywhere to get an iPhone. If it comes to Indonesia, and if one credit card company gives zero percent instalment or any good promotion program, then there is hope for me. Otherwise, I will just stay with my mid-range Android phones,” she said. “Or settle for the previous iPhone model, such as the iPhone 5S. It is now on promo, maybe I should try to trade-in my old phones with that,” she continued.
Both Idham and Putri earn less than Rp8 million (US$615) per month as their salary and have no other incomes. Idham has been saving on average Rp2 million (US$153) per month for the past six months to fulfil his iPhone 7 aspirations.
“Every one needs aspirations right? Mine is the iPhone. And for me, buying from Singapore is cheaper and faster than waiting for the product to reach the local stores,” Idham added.
According to a recent study, the iPhone 7 128GB will reach Indonesia with a hefty price tag of US$1,268 (Rp16.5 million), or 43 percent more expensive compared to the product price in Singapore.
This is due mainly to the high import costs as well as the taxes imposed by local government.
The iPhone 7 price in Indonesia is equivalent to the price of buying a new Honda motorcycle or three months apartment rent in Central Jakarta or 32 sacks of 50 kilograms of rice, which is enough to sustain an Indonesian for 16 years.
With the average salary of US$1.8 per hour, a middle class Indonesian on average needs to work for 87 days or nearly three months to afford the iPhone 7 - assuming all the salary will go to buying the iPhone 7.
For comparison, it takes seven work days for Singaporeans, 24 work days for Malaysians and 69 work days for a Thai.
As the iPrice study emphasised, the iPhone is a status symbol in Indonesia. The iPrice study also reported that Singapore and Hong Kong are the two Asian countries which get to sell the newest Apple products including the new iPhone 7 before any other country in the region.
The study highlighted that people in countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, tend to set aside time to go to either Singapore or Hong Kong to buy those products at a much cheaper price.
Even unauthorised retailers are taking advantage of the situation, selling the iPhones back in their home markets at higher prices which can go up by 14 percent in Vietnam and 49 percent in Thailand.
As of today, even Apple’s previous iPhones, the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus and iPhone SE are not available yet in Indonesian authorised stores.
As International Data Corporation (IDC) Indonesia’s senior market analyst for client devices, Reza Haryo (pic) told DNA, iPhone demand in the country is largely driven by loyal Apple customers.
“The loyal customers are still behind most of the demand and also some buyers who just shifted from high-end Android devices. In terms of shipment volume, Apple’s numbers are considered small compared to big vendors such as Samsung, Oppo, Asus, and Lenovo,” he told DNA.
Recent Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker report from IDC Indonesia suggested that Samsung maintains its leadership in the market with 26 percent of market share, followed by Oppo with 19 percent, Asus with 9 percent and local brand Advan has 8 percent.
Reza mentioned that Apple’s market share in Indonesia is tiny at around two percent in the second quarter of the year. There were a total of 29.3 million smartphones shipped in Indonesia last year.
“In more mature market such as China, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, Apple has a very strong brand that can command the industry. That is why the company is expanding its channel to fuel its growth in the coming years. In Indonesia, entry level fourth generation (4G) devices will remain the sweet spot for all the vendors,” he explained.
However, as more Indonesian consumers settle into the connected lifestyle, there is hope for the iPhone 7 to compete in the high-end smartphone market.
“Many Indonesian customers are chasing good camera quality. It is the third consideration after price and brand, Therefore with a good brand and good camera, the iPhone 7 might have bigger chance to compete in the market compared to its previous models,” he added.
New iPhone 7 set to fleece Apple fans
iPrice raises US$1.2 mil, targets series A next
A tale of two smartphone manufacturers
For more technology news and the latest updates, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Like us on Facebook.


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Indonesia is looking into lifting restrictions on foreign investment in residential property market to boost the construction sector
Nike unlikely to extend signature shoe deal with Kyrie Irving: ESPN
Nike is unlikely to extend its signature shoe deal with Brooklyn Nets ace point guard Kyrie Irving beyond the 2022/23 season, despite the popularity and profitability of his signature shoes, according to ESPN.
Due to the uncertainty surrounding his NBA future, a similar agreement appears to be unlikely.
Irving will release a new edition of his shoe in the autumn, but it is expected to be the final year of his Nike signature series, which he has owned since 2014.
Tensions have also been visible between Irving and Nike. Irving moved to social media to criticize the design of the Nike Kyrie Eight edition of his shoes, calling it "crap" and claiming that he had nothing to do with the design or marketing and that Nike plans to release it without his approval. Irving then issued a statement that clarified his remarks.
However, due to Irving's popularity, Nike is anticipated to extend its contract, though on different terms. According to ESPN, the two have recently begun talking, and Nike may provide Irving some product association in the future, such as vintage sneakers from earlier collaborations.
The 30-year-old has made news for his refusal to be vaccinated against Covid-19, which has resulted in him being unable to work owing to New York City regulations. Irving was later allowed to play part-time for away games by the Nets, and a change in city policy allowed him to play home games for the remainder of the 2021/22 season.
Irving has a player option worth US$37 million with the Nets for the 2022/23 season, however, the team has been hesitant to negotiate a long-term deal thus far.
Forbes estimated Irving's earnings from his contract with the US sportswear business to be around US$11 million per year in 2019.
Will AI kill our creativity? It could – if we don’t start to value and protect the traits that make us human


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WASHINGTON—U.S. orders for long-lasting manufactured goods fell sharply in March as businesses cut investment, suggesting that economic growth has cooled since the start of the year.
Durable-goods orders decreased 5.7% from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted $216.28 billion, the Commerce Department said Wednesday.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected a 2.9% drop in March orders.
Durable goods are usually big-ticket items designed to last at least three years. Businesses and consumers typically make such purchases when they are confident about the economy.
Much of the weakness came from a drop in civilian aircraft and defense goods, volatile components of the monthly report, while demand for machinery and metals also softened. Orders for computers and electronics climbed.
One measure of business investment, meanwhile, inched ahead. Orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft rose 0.2% last month.
Wednesday's report echoes other recent data suggesting solid but slowing growth through the first quarter of the year as consumers and businesses became increasingly cautious. Business investment in capital goods rose 6.7% in January but contracted 4.8% in February.
Still, business spending is expected to add to economic growth in the first three months of the year. The government is set to release first-quarter figures on the gross domestic product on Friday. Economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires are forecasting a 3.2% rate of expansion. That pace isn't expected to continue as the U.S. faces another spring slowdown.
"There's clearly rising near-term caution in capital spending plans by businesses as fiscal tightening hits and global growth slows," said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley. The bank expects a slowdown to 1.0% growth in the second quarter.
The March numbers partly reflect a 48.2% drop in orders for civilian aircraft. Boeing Co. BA -0.85% Boeing Co. U.S.: NYSE $132.56 -1.14 -0.85% Dec. 11, 2013 4:00 pm Volume (Delayed 15m) : 3.29M AFTER HOURS $132.60 +0.04 +0.03% Dec. 11, 2013 7:49 pm Volume (Delayed 15m): 68,218 P/E Ratio 23.28 Market Cap $100.47 Billion Dividend Yield 1.46% Rev. per Employee $488,188 12/11/13 Union Presents Boeing With New... 12/11/13 Air Canada to Buy Boeing Singl... 12/11/13 Asiana Airlines Pilot Ignored ... More quote details and news » reported 39 orders for new airplanes in March, versus 179 in February.
New orders for motor vehicles and parts advanced 0.2% in March.
Excluding transportation, durable-goods orders fell 1.4%.
Defense spending tumbled 33.2%, possibly reflecting cuts known as the sequester. Excluding defense, durable-goods orders were down 4.7%.
A recent spate of weak economic data may keep the Federal Reserve purchasing assets in an effort to spur the recovery.
"The deterioration in the incoming economic data for March will, at least temporarily, prevent the Fed from slowing the pace of its monthly asset purchases," Capital Economics said in a report Wednesday.


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New Age Beverages recorded a 397% increase in net revenue and a net loss of $11.7 million in the second quarter of 2019, according to financial results released by the company on Thursday.
“Overall, I would say we performed to expectations in the quarter,” New Age CEO Brent Willis told investors during a conference call today, according to a transcript.
Net revenue was $66.3 million, against $13.4 million during the same period one year prior. Sales during the second quarter were up 14% over the first quarter of this year. New Age did not disclose sales data for individual brands; however, the company said its New Age group grew 7% organically, with shelf-stable kombucha line Búcha continuing to be its best performer for the quarter and year-to-date.
Gross profit was $41.7 million for the quarter, a 2,268% increase over $1.8 million in the prior year. Total operating expenses were down $2.5 million from the first quarter to $44.6 million.
Looking ahead, New Age is projecting revenues in the $70 million range for the third quarter and in the high $200 million range for the entire year. New Age CFO Gregory Gould noted that there “could be some upside to this guidance,” such as the company’s performance in China, positive impact from its acquisition of Brands Within Reach, and a change in U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance on CBD as an approved ingredient in food and beverage products.
As part of the deal with BWR, the group’s founder, Olivier Sonnois, has been named president of North America for New Age.
With its acquisition of Morinda in December 2017, New Age set itself up to be a player in the CBD product market. Sales for Morinda were up 2% over the last year in Japan, the brand’s largest market, but growth in China was hindered by government restrictions that were recently lifted. In all other markets, Morinda sales were up 40% organically in the quarter over the same period last year.
But despite releasing infused topicals in the U.S. this spring, Willis noted that the company’s rollout of CBD-infused drinks, originally scheduled to occur shortly after the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill in December, has yet to happen.
Willis also elaborated on distribution challenges related to New Age’s launch at Walmart and 7-Eleven, despite landing in the planograms of both retailers. Both chains, he said, have had different issues with execution and driving traffic and awareness for its products, but the company remains confident in its long-term prospects.
“We’re doing some things now directly with Walmart in terms of rollbacks and promotional incentives inside the store to build awareness and availability of the Marley brand,” Willis said.


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|By Maureen O'Gara||
|February 18, 2013 07:00 AM EST||
Big Data analytics doesn't go far enough according to Anant Jhingran, who was the brains behind IBM's cunningly clever Watson computer as CTO of IBM's lab in Silicon Valley.
"The information an enterprise typically collects - point of sales, procurement, even web site data - is not enough anymore," he says. "In the new world of apps and APIs, the real value of data - the interaction with customers - has moved one or two tiers away from the enterprise and the more you know about the data in your app ecosystem, your ‘broad' data, the better you'll understand your business."
This thinking has been distilled in Apigee Insights, the latest product from the increasingly promising Apigee, where Jhingran is now product chief.
Apigee Insights is supposed to leverage Big Data in a new way so a computer can draw sophisticated conclusions from weak unstructured data and produce business insights beyond what is currently possible.
Apigee, which has already got a signature API platform, thinks Big Data analytics has to focus more on "broad data" defined as all the information that can be culled from noisy APIs, apps, social networks and the mobile ecosystem. It says Insights can do it in context using other data sources.
It basically connects the structured, unstructured and semi-structured dots and forms a readable picture.
Users are supposed to be able to get full visibility into customer, developer and partner behavior by integrating and analyzing all points of customer interaction - from both inside and outside the enterprise.
"In the app economy, where business is often conducted through mobile and social channels, organizations no longer own - much less control - all the data they need to make accurate business decisions," said Apigee CEO Chet Kapoor. "Every enterprise needs to rethink their data platform for this new world. Those that can capture, add context and analyze new broad data sources outside of the enterprise will succeed."
That's what Insights together with Apigee's flagship API platform are supposed to do. It calls APIs "the nervous system of the app economy," "dictating how we get information, shop and communicate with people - and even our cars."
As a for instance, Apigee says that "when a company exposes its services through an open API, important customer interactions can happen in third-party apps across millions of mobile devices. Traditional data solutions are not designed for this dynamic new world, where the data can change continuously in volume, shape and size - creating new requirements for accurate analytics."
Insights is a highly distributed platform that stitches together data from a customer's API programs with data from internal systems and online data sources. It delivers in-depth analysis and performance with a multi-channel data aggregator, distributed processing engine, intelligent data storage, analytic accelerators and expert services. It can deal with the changing number, volume, size and sources of app economy data, and it's supposed to give customers a near real-time feedback loop to test, experiment and rollout changes immediately. Enterprises can gain insights through the entire app value chain or focus specifically on the context of the app user, app developer or information analytics.
The widgetry is supposed to be designed specifically for the big, continuously changing and less structured broad data in the app economy. It can work as both a standalone analytics solution or a complement to existing legacy data warehousing or ETL systems.
There's an e-book explaining Insights and how's it's most operational to people who can mix strong signals from internal data with the weak, ephemeral signals from the contextual data at http://pages.apigee.com/apigee-insights-ebook.html.
It's available for an introductory price of $5,000 a month. It comes with "Analytic Accelerators" that include pre-defined data models and sample user interfaces to help customers quickly gain insights into their developer adoption, customer behavior and data usage.
The company, founded in 2004, used the opportunity created by the Insights launch to do some bragging about how it's been growing at 200% year-over-year and about how 30% of its new customers last year were Fortune 500s or Global 500s including Walgreens, Bechtel and eBay. Shucks, 20% of the Fortune 100 and six of the top 12 US retailers use Apigee.
Every day we read jaw-dropping stats on the explosion of data. We allocate significant resources to harness and better understand it. We build businesses around it. But we’ve only just begun. For big payoffs in Big Data, CIOs are turning to cognitive computing. Cognitive computing’s ability to securely extract insights, understand natural language, and get smarter each time it’s used is the next, logical step for Big Data.
May. 24, 2015 08:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,188
The Internet of Things will greatly expand the opportunities for data collection and new business models driven off of that data. In her session at @ThingsExpo, Esmeralda Swartz, CMO of MetraTech, discussed how for this to be effective you not only need to have infrastructure and operational models capable of utilizing this new phenomenon, but increasingly service providers will need to convince a skeptical public to participate. Get ready to show them the money!
May. 24, 2015 07:00 PM EDT Reads: 5,996
SYS-CON Events announced today that MetraTech, now part of Ericsson, has been named “Silver Sponsor” of SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9–11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York, NY. Ericsson is the driving force behind the Networked Society- a world leader in communications infrastructure, software and services. Some 40% of the world’s mobile traffic runs through networks Ericsson has supplied, serving more than 2.5 billion subscribers.
May. 24, 2015 05:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,657
The 17th International Cloud Expo has announced that its Call for Papers is open. 17th International Cloud Expo, to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, brings together Cloud Computing, APM, APIs, Microservices, Security, Big Data, Internet of Things, DevOps and WebRTC to one location. With cloud computing driving a higher percentage of enterprise IT budgets every year, it becomes increasingly important to plant your flag in this fast-expanding business opportunity. Submit your speaking proposal today!
May. 24, 2015 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 4,471
17th Cloud Expo, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. Cloud computing is now being embraced by a majority of enterprises of all sizes. Yesterday's debate about public vs. private has transformed into the reality of hybrid cloud: a recent survey shows that 74% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy. Meanwhile, 94% of enterprises are using some form of XaaS – software, platform, and infrastructure as a service.
May. 24, 2015 05:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,562
The Internet of Things is not new. Historically, smart businesses have used its basic concept of leveraging data to drive better decision making and have capitalized on those insights to realize additional revenue opportunities. So, what has changed to make the Internet of Things one of the hottest topics in tech? In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Gray, Director, Embedded and Internet of Things, discussed the underlying factors that are driving the economics of intelligent systems. Discover how hardware commoditization, the ubiquitous nature of connectivity, and the emergence of Big Data a...
May. 24, 2015 04:00 PM EDT Reads: 6,607
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo in Silicon Valley. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be! Internet of @ThingsExpo, taking place Nov 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, is co-located with 17th Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry players in the world. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the most profound change in personal an...
May. 24, 2015 03:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,832
All major researchers estimate there will be tens of billions devices - computers, smartphones, tablets, and sensors - connected to the Internet by 2020. This number will continue to grow at a rapid pace for the next several decades. With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo, June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be
May. 24, 2015 12:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,299
SYS-CON Events announced today that DragonGlass, an enterprise search platform, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 16th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. After eleven years of designing and building custom applications, OpenCrowd has launched DragonGlass, a cloud-based platform that enables the development of search-based applications. These are a new breed of applications that utilize a search index as their backbone for data retrieval. They can easily adapt to new data sets and provide access to both structured and unstruc...
May. 24, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,026
Container frameworks, such as Docker, provide a variety of benefits, including density of deployment across infrastructure, convenience for application developers to push updates with low operational hand-holding, and a fairly well-defined deployment workflow that can be orchestrated. Container frameworks also enable a DevOps approach to application development by cleanly separating concerns between operations and development teams. But running multi-container, multi-server apps with containers is very hard. You have to learn five new and different technologies and best practices (libswarm, sy...
May. 24, 2015 12:00 PM EDT Reads: 2,205
As the Internet of Things unfolds, mobile and wearable devices are blurring the line between physical and digital, integrating ever more closely with our interests, our routines, our daily lives. Contextual computing and smart, sensor-equipped spaces bring the potential to walk through a world that recognizes us and responds accordingly. We become continuous transmitters and receivers of data. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Andrew Bolwell, Director of Innovation for HP's Printing and Personal Systems Group, discussed how key attributes of mobile technology – touch input, sensors, social, and ...
May. 24, 2015 11:30 AM EDT Reads: 4,058
WebRTC defines no default signaling protocol, causing fragmentation between WebRTC silos. SIP and XMPP provide possibilities, but come with considerable complexity and are not designed for use in a web environment. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Matthew Hodgson, technical co-founder of the Matrix.org, discussed how Matrix is a new non-profit Open Source Project that defines both a new HTTP-based standard for VoIP & IM signaling and provides reference implementations.
May. 24, 2015 10:30 AM EDT Reads: 5,331
SYS-CON Events announced today that the "First Containers & Microservices Conference" will take place June 9-11, 2015, at the Javits Center in New York City. The “Second Containers & Microservices Conference” will take place November 3-5, 2015, at Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. Containers and microservices have become topics of intense interest throughout the cloud developer and enterprise IT communities.
May. 24, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,301
Buzzword alert: Microservices and IoT at a DevOps conference? What could possibly go wrong? In this Power Panel at DevOps Summit, moderated by Jason Bloomberg, the leading expert on architecting agility for the enterprise and president of Intellyx, panelists will peel away the buzz and discuss the important architectural principles behind implementing IoT solutions for the enterprise. As remote IoT devices and sensors become increasingly intelligent, they become part of our distributed cloud environment, and we must architect and code accordingly. At the very least, you'll have no problem fil...
May. 24, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,022
Almost everyone sees the potential of Internet of Things but how can businesses truly unlock that potential. The key will be in the ability to discover business insight in the midst of an ocean of Big Data generated from billions of embedded devices via Systems of Discover. Businesses will also need to ensure that they can sustain that insight by leveraging the cloud for global reach, scale and elasticity.
May. 24, 2015 09:30 AM EDT Reads: 6,865
The 4th International Internet of @ThingsExpo, co-located with the 17th International Cloud Expo - to be held November 3-5, 2015, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA - announces that its Call for Papers is open. The Internet of Things (IoT) is the biggest idea since the creation of the Worldwide Web more than 20 years ago.
May. 24, 2015 09:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,839
"People are a lot more knowledgeable about APIs now. There are two types of people who work with APIs - IT people who want to use APIs for something internal and the product managers who want to do something outside APIs for people to connect to them," explained Roberto Medrano, Executive Vice President at SOA Software, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at Cloud Expo, held Nov 4–6, 2014, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
May. 24, 2015 08:30 AM EDT Reads: 4,365
In their session at @ThingsExpo, Shyam Varan Nath, Principal Architect at GE, and Ibrahim Gokcen, who leads GE's advanced IoT analytics, focused on the Internet of Things / Industrial Internet and how to make it operational for business end-users. Learn about the challenges posed by machine and sensor data and how to marry it with enterprise data. They also discussed the tips and tricks to provide the Industrial Internet as an end-user consumable service using Big Data Analytics and Industrial Cloud.
May. 24, 2015 06:30 AM EDT Reads: 5,612
The explosion of connected devices / sensors is creating an ever-expanding set of new and valuable data. In parallel the emerging capability of Big Data technologies to store, access, analyze, and react to this data is producing changes in business models under the umbrella of the Internet of Things (IoT). In particular within the Insurance industry, IoT appears positioned to enable deep changes by altering relationships between insurers, distributors, and the insured. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Michael Sick, a Senior Manager and Big Data Architect within Ernst and Young's Financial Servi...
May. 24, 2015 05:00 AM EDT Reads: 4,989
Sensor-enabled things are becoming more commonplace, precursors to a larger and more complex framework that most consider the ultimate promise of the IoT: things connecting, interacting, sharing, storing, and over time perhaps learning and predicting based on habits, behaviors, location, preferences, purchases and more. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Tom Wesselman, Director of Communications Ecosystem Architecture at Plantronics, will examine the still nascent IoT as it is coalescing, including what it is today, what it might ultimately be, the role of wearable tech, and technology gaps stil...
May. 24, 2015 05:00 AM EDT Reads: 4,515


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Nowadays, in the automobile industry, electric civilian cars and hybrid sports cars have gradually become a trend. A few days ago, Zhichepai learned from foreign media that McLaren’s Artura, a new hybrid super sports car, will make its global debut on February 16.
For this car, McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt commented: “From all the details of the platform architecture and high-performance hybrid powertrain, to the body, interior and avant-garde driving interface, the new Artura will achieve Comprehensive innovation from the inside out.
At the same time, the new car also draws on McLaren’s decades of experience in leading ultra-lightweight racing and road sports car technology, and introduces our professional electrification research and development experience into the super sports car field.
It is understood that the new Artura is McLaren’s first model based on a new electrified platform architecture and designed and produced by the McLaren Composites Technology Center (MCTC) in the UK.
From the previous spy photos, the new Artura styling borrowed a lot of design elements from McLaren 720S and McLaren GT.
In terms of power, the new Artura will be McLaren’s first model with a twin-turbocharged V6 gasoline engine. The engine will be combined with an electric motor to become a new lightweight and high-performance hybrid powertrain with a total output of more than 600 horsepower.
The new Artura also supports a pure electric driving mode. From the latest news, the new car has a pure electric cruising range of 20 miles (32 kilometers).


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The demand for nickel is expected to be higher and supply is seen falling short. Market participants expect battery sector would be the second larger area for nickel demand behind stainless steel by next year, says Hareesh V of Geojit Financial Services.
Geojit Financial Services
Unlike other base metals, nickel prices dropped moderately amid the US-China trade standoff, which has upset the global economic growth and demand for base metals. The commodity, used for making alloys, has dropped about twelve percent since the mid of June, while other base metals like copper and zinc had lost more than eighteen percent during the period.
The trade spat between world’s top two economies — the US and China — deeply influenced the base metal prices. However, nickel was insulated from a major price fall on buoyant outlook due to increased demand from electric vehicle and stainless steel industry.
China is the major consumer of nickel. At present China’s appetite for nickel is mostly met by nickel pig iron production from Indonesian and Philippine mines, which dominate the industry. Indonesia is the world’s top nickel producer followed by Philippines, dumping most of its output to the top consumer China.
Falling inventories in LME and SHFE pointed towards the increased demand for the commodity. Inventories in the LME warehouse had dropped more than 32 percent since the start of the year factored by investors and as battery makers built their stocks. LME inventories has dropped to 233,600 tonne from 366,000 tonne from the start of this year. Similar trend was witnessed in Shanghai inventories as well.
Currently, nickel largely used for stainless steel production which accounts almost 80 percent of the global demand. However, the ongoing trends shows electronic vehicle segment would fundamentally alter the demand structure of the metal later.
The demand for nickel is expected to be higher and supply is seen falling short. Market participants expects battery sector would be the second larger area for nickel demand behind stainless steel by next year. Currently, the battery sector consists almost 5 percent of the global nickel demand. In the first two quarter of 2018 nickel demand from the battery sector has increased about 38 percent against the same period last year.
Demand from the sector is growing in a frantic pace. Most automakers are preferring nickel, manganese and cobalt batteries. The industry is working hard to reduce the costly cobalt loading, which is favouring the greater use of nickel. Growing anxiety on availability of key battery components like Lithium and Cobalt is raising the demand of its substitute metals like nickel and graphite as well. A research report says global demand for nickel in electric vehicles will hit nearly 1 million mt by 2030.
However, availability of battery grade nickel raw material would perhaps create supply deficit later. Nickel produced from Class 1 producers are largely used by battery industry as it is suitable for conversion into nickel sulphate. For miners to switch to battery grade material, huge investments are required to upgrade refining and processing facilities.On the price front, prices may stay above $10,000 a tonne in the LME, but major recovery moves are unlikely at present. Easing trade tensions between China and the US would boost the demand. In the active MCX futures, prices are likely to be congested inside Rs 820-970 a kg regions, breaking any of the sides would suggest fresh direction to the commodity.
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Charisela Technologies aims to upset lab test kit market
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- Staff Silicon Valley Business Journal
THE BUSINESS: Charisela Technologies Inc. makes test kits for life science researchers to test the concentration of certain molecular samples. Charisela says its kits are more accurate than those now being used and have fewer components, require less steps, don’t need to be repeated and are less expensive. The test can be done in an hour, compared to several hours with existing kits. Current products focus on diabetes research. The tests are now aimed at research but could have clinical uses in the future.
HOW IT MAKES MONEY: Charisela sells kits to researchers who do tens of thousands of tests per month.
BUSINESS/TECHNOLOGY IT COULD DISRUPT: Existing tests now in use, which have been around for 40 years.
MANAGEMENT TEAM: Founder Bob Danielzadeh did custom formulations for Becton Dickinson & Co. and has been involved in assay development for 20 years. He has worked in both R&D and manufacturing at a number of companies, including Syva Corp., LJL Biosystems Inc., Molecular Devices Corp. and Guava Technologies Inc. CEO Richard Preston has been the CEO of several tech companies, taking two from concept to profitability — Data Systems Design Inc. and Addstor Inc. — and was CEO of two companies — CommonGround Software and iPlanet — that were acquired by public companies. He was also a founder and director of Silicon Valley Bank.
DIRECTORS, ADVISERS: Director Phil Otto has been CEO of several companies, including California Microwave Inc. Scientific advisers include Dr. Dan Stiles, formerly on staff of University of California, San Francisco, and department head of clinical pathology; Dr. Philip Norris, an adjunct professor at UCSF and associate director of Blood Systems Research Institute and associate director of the Center for AIDS Research; Bill Hyun, director, Laboratory for Cell Analysis Core Facility, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
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DETROIT – It's not just a coupe with the top taken off.
Making its official world premiere at the 2004 North American International Auto Show, the DB9 Volante was designed, engineered and built from the start as a convertible. It is the sixth new car in less than two and a half years from one of the industry's fastest-growing car companies. It's also Aston Martin's 13th convertible and the first of which to use the manufacturer's unique vertical/horizontal (VM) platform, which will form the basis of all Aston Martin models to come.
"The DB9 Volante has all of the traditional styling cues you'd expect for am convertible Aston Martin," says Dr. Úlrich Bez, CEO of Aston Martin. "It's very elegant and perfectly proportioned from every angle, while subtle embellishments help create a powerful-looking sports car."
The DB9 Volante features a fully retractable roof that retracts at the push of a button within 17 seconds and is tucked within the body, allowing the car to retain its smooth and elegant profile. Behind a hard tonneau cover, the closed roof couldn't interfere in the slightest with the DB9 Volante's impressive 197 liters of cargo capacity or its two rear seats.
As in any convertible, safety is at the front of mind. Sensors in the DB9 Volante detect the risk of rollover in the event of an accident, and two roll-hoops are deployed from the rear seat headrests. Front-seat passengers are protected by windscreen A-pillars, which can withstand twice the total body weight of the car.
Source - Jennifer Shatwell | Ford Communications Network
Like the DB9 coupe, which was unveiled last year at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the Volante is powered by Aston Martin's low-emissions, 6.0-liter V-12 alloy engine mated to a six-speed automatic or manual transmission. (posted on conceptcarz.com) While performance figures have yet to be published, the DB9 Volante is expected to hit 0-62 mph in less than five seconds and a top speed of more than 180 mph.


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People appear to be buying and consuming less sugar from soft drinks since the UK introduced a tax on sugary drinks, suggests research published by The BMJ.
The researchers found that overall sales of soft drinks have not changed. This, together with previous findings of no long-term impact of the tax on soft drinks share price and domestic turnover, suggests that the drinks industry has not been hit financially as a result of the tax which was designed to improve public health.
High consumption of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with increased risk of tooth decay, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. As such, the World Health Organization recommends taxes on these drinks to try to reduce consumption.
The UK soft drinks industry levy (SDIL) is a two-tiered tax levied on soft drinks manufacturers from April 2018 to encourage them to reduce the sugar content in their products.
Under the SDIL, drinks with more than 8 g sugar/100 mL (high tier) are taxed at £0.24/L and drinks with more than 5 g but less than 8 g sugar/100 mL (low tier) are taxed at £0.18/L. Drinks with less than 5 g of sugar/100 mL (no levy) are not taxed.
Although previous studies have explored the effect of consumer-facing SSB taxes, none have explored the effect of the implementation of the SDIL on purchases, taking existing trends in purchases into account.
To address this gap, a team of researchers led by University of Cambridge’s MRC Epidemiology Unit decided to examine changes in household purchases of drinks and confectionery before and after implementation of the SDIL.
They studied changes in the volume of, and amount of sugar in, household purchases of drinks in each levy tier, exempt drinks categories (including alcoholic drinks), and confectionery from two years before the announcement of the SDIL to one year after its implementation (March 2014 to March 2019).
Their findings are based on around 31 million purchases by an average of 22,183 households that recorded all food and drink brought into the home (including those ordered online and delivered) on a weekly basis during this period.
Overall, they show that compared with pre-announcement trends, the total volume of all taxed and untaxed soft drinks purchased did not change one year after implementation.
When all taxed and untaxed soft drinks were combined, the volume of drinks purchased did not change, but sugar purchased in these drinks decreased by around 30 g per household per week, or almost 10% – equivalent to three fewer teaspoons, or one 250 mL serving of a drink with 5 g sugar per 100 mL per person per week.
Purchases of confectionery and alcoholic drinks did not change.
The authors acknowledge some study limitations. For example, data only included purchases brought into homes, which could limit the generalisability of the findings. However, they used a large, nationally representative dataset, included a control category, and explored changes in two potential substitute categories – alcohol and confectionery.
As such, they say tiered SSB taxes such as the SDIL: “might represent a benefit for public health (by reducing sugar purchased from soft drinks without substitution to confectionery and alcohol) without any commensurate harm to the soft drinks industry (by not affecting total volume of soft drinks purchased).”
These findings show that the UK’s sugar tax is working exactly as intended – and offer lessons for other countries exploring strategic regulatory options to promote healthier diets, say researchers at the George Institute for Global Health, in a linked editorial.
They discuss ways in which SSB taxes have been used to improve health and say there is opportunity to strengthen regulation further. For example, to include thresholds for taxation that lower progressively over time to encourage ongoing sugar reduction, and to tax a wider range of sugary drinks.
Finally, they point out that as the world moves towards policies that promote healthier and more sustainable diets: “The challenge is to design regulations that improve nutritional quality and reduce the environmental impact of the foods we eat.”
“There is potential here to deliver not only health benefits but also benefits for the planet and all those whose lives depend on it now, and for future generations,” they conclude.
Research: Changes in soft drinks purchased by British households associated with the UK soft drinks industry levy: controlled interrupted time series analysis. The BMJ; www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n254
Editorial: UK’s sugar tax hits the sweet spot. The BMJ; www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n463


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Google is testing a new security feature in Gmail that consists of assigning official logos to trusted senders. This is a way to combat phishing scams that, in most cases, find an easy way in fake email campaigns, with malicious links. These messages are, as a general rule, broadcast under false identities, which are similar to the branding of well-known brands, as a way of deceiving victims.
This system, in practice, is a verification badge. It works based on the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) standard and will be tested with several companies over the next few weeks.
According to Google, BIMI authentication can make recipients of messages more confident about the material they just received and will help them distinguish between true and false senders.
In addition to this standard, the company will also start working with a technology called DMARC, which promises to prevent perpetrators of computer attacks from forging the names of senders in emails – a common technique used to mask phishing messages.
Verification badges will be awarded when the brand and Google itself validate the legitimacy of a given address, so the process can take a few days. The company hopes, however, to make this system accessible to several other companies in the coming months.


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Home > Latest News > Environmental Health > Food >
EU Wants Higher Fines on Food Fraud
The European Commission is proposing that fines for food fraud cases should be punished with tougher financial penalties in response to the horse meat scandal. An increase in unannounced inspections by member states has also been called for as a package of measures aimed at improving Europe’s food chain. Health Commissioner Tonio Borg said “Crime must not pay, but if penalties are low it does pay. Restoring the trust and confidence of our citizens and trading partners is key given that the agri-food industry is the second largest economic sector in the EU.” Penalties for the type of labeling fraud seen in the horse meat affair vary amongst member states. In the UK a conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to two years while in France the maximum penalty is a fine of 187,000 euros.
Changes have also been called for in the scale of EU food chain legislation reducing the number of statutes from 70 down to five. Currently the EC can only ask member states to conduct tests and controls on potential areas of food fraud in future this could become mandatory. The proposals now need to be approved by the European Parliament and the European Council. Measures are then likely to come into force in 2016.