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It is the dreaded sound which every nine-to-five worker hates with a passion - yet one from which they cannot escape.
But the days of bells and bleeps in the bedroom may soon be over.
Natalie Duckett, a design student, has come up with a simple invention which is being billed as a wake-up call for the traditional alarm clock.
Her revolutionary timepiece has no face or even hands – and sounds like a lesser spotted woodpecker.
Sleepers set a dial for the time between 6am and 9am they want to rise and, at zero hour, a metal 'beak' taps out a call on the nearest bedside object.
Another follows in the evening to remind the owner that bedtime is approaching if they want to fall in with their natural biological rhythms.
Now Miss Duckett, 22, is hoping to turn her prototype into a mass-produced market leader.
She said: "People hate waking up. It seems to be one thing that unites everyone and the noises of alarm clocks are so annoying and unnatural.
"I suffered jetlag for a whole month after coming back from Australia last year and it hit home just how important sleep is to people.
"There doesn't seem to be any time in society today to tune in to your natural body clock. People need at least eight hours sleep a night to stay healthy.
"That was when the idea came together. A friend mentioned that she used to love waking up and hearing a woodpecker at work in the trees nearby. It's such an evocative sound.
"And the beauty of the beak on my clock is that the tone of the alarm changes with whatever it is next to – it could be something made from glass, metal or wood.
"It also gives an alarm call in the evening to remind the owner that they should be thinking about getting ready for bed if they want to wake up fresh."
The Sleep Council, which gives advice on the value of extra slumber, praised the woodpecker clock.
Spokesman Jessica Alexander said: "Not everyone wants to wake up to buzzing in their ear so it's good on that level.
"But the biological concept is a sound one too because healthy sleep patterns are about building habits around regular hours.
"Lack of sleep doesn't just make you tired and grumpy. Research is finding that, over time, it can lead to some serious health problems which can knock years off your life."
Miss Duckett, from North Berwick, East Lothian, is in her fourth and final year studying product design at Dundee University.
The battery-powered Alarming Clock is set to star at the New Designers festival in London in July and she is also in talks with an online retailer to develop her invention commercially.


text: Is it a sprint to the finish or a long slog home? This question about the sustainability of the still-young New York Fashion Week: Men’s has echoed throughout social media and the style blogs lately, casting doubt on the viability of a cycle that resumes Monday morning with a Perry Ellis show. Beginning almost a month ago, retailers, the press and assorted men’s wear fanatics set out on a long transit through four cities — London, Florence, Milan and Paris — and found themselves amused, confused, astounded and often challenged by designers to reconsider the state of men’s fashion and, for that matter, men. The highlights were abundant in a generally strong season, one that either frankly acknowledged a challenging business landscape or predictably flouted commercial concerns. Read more at The New York Times.

domain: news


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Published in Obesity and Diabetes Week, October 17th, 2005
In this 30th anniversary year for the Harvard Health Letter, the editors decided to revive a tradition - two similar surveys were conducted in 1982 and 1992. Results from the 2,115 faculty members (1,185 male and 930 female) who responded were reported in the October issue. Highlights include:
Diet and exercise: Most (82%) eat breakfast regularly and many get...
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Think alike? Swipe right.
Innovation flourishes when corporations with similar cultures merge.
Like people seeking a mate, companies seeking merger partners use many criteria to pick The One. What’s the potential partner’s culture, for instance? What’s its industry? How deep are its pockets?
But in picking a new merger partner, companies sometimes use criteria that don’t ultimately help the combined firm to achieve success afterwards; in particular, their selection criteria do not increase innovation that leads to new products, according to reserach by Vithala R. Rao, professor of marketing and quantitative methods at Johnson. Moreover, the converse can happen: Companies sometimes don’t consider traits in a potential partner that could actually help post-merger innovation, thus missing opportunities to benefit from joining with that firm. Companies “May be paying attention to the wrong information,” says Rao, who co-authored the research with Yu Yu of AIG Science and Nita Umashankar of the University of California, San Diego (“Anticipated vs. Actual Synergy in Merger Partner Selection and Post-Merger Innovation,” Marketing Science, vol. 35, no 6. [Nov.-Dec. 2016]: 934-952).
Much past research has studied what happens to firms after they merge, but Rao, whose research interests include studying how managers make choices, wanted to learn what influences the selection of a partner and how those criteria affect innovation at the resulting company. The researchers examined 1,979 mergers from 1992 to 2008 among 4,444 companies across the biotechnology, computer, electronics and communications industries around the world. To measure innovation at a combined company, the researchers used a tally of the patents it obtained; the patents a company received, the higher the innovation level.
Rao and his colleagues found that companies that are culturally similar, or that, for instance, have a similar hierarchy of power or place the same value on group consensus, are more likely both to merge and to experience a rising level of innovation afterwards. Those companies join for the “right reasons,” the researchers found “if the culture is close, they can assimilate better,” paving the way for increased innovation later, says Rao in an interview.
If [merging companies’] culture is close, they can assimilate better.” – Professor Vithala R. Rao
On the other hand, the study found that sometimes companies merge for reasons that, it turns out, don’t help innovation. For instance, simply operating int he same sector of an industry makes companies more likely to merge but in itself doesn’t lead to more innovation. In that case, the firms may be overestimating the supposed benefits of working in the same industry, essentially hooking up for the wrong reason. Operating in the same field “may not help (with innovation) much because they’re doing the same things,” says Rao. “It’s not expanding their opportunity; it’s reinforcing rather than expanding.”
In other cases, companies may not consider or even recognize other valuable traits in a potential partner that could lead to innovation later. For instance, the study found that the prospect of having a large pool of combined financial assets didn’t affect the chances of two firms’ merging but later actually helped their level of innovation, probably because they had more financial flexibility. Likewise, the possibility of having greater depth and breadth of technical knowledge didn’t contribute to companies’ decision to join but nonetheless boosted innovation afterwards. Those findings suggest that companies may be prone to overlooking certain criteria, missing opportunities to merge with a partner with whom they could enjoy a rising level of innovation.
Worse, some firms actually decrease their potential for future innovation when they merge, the researchers found. In the study, for instance, prospective partners sometimes failed to consider their combined debt level, even though higher debt load hurt innovation by lowering financial flexibility.
Rao says that company leaders should be aware that corporate unions don’t always produce anticipated effects for benefits and can also have unexpected effects, both positive and negative, for unexpected reasons. “We know some synergies are anticipated, but in reality, some are realized and some are not,” he says. One lesson for any CEO, Rao adds, is to watch out for the potential pitfalls of unanticipated effects and protect against them. “If you acquire, make sure you get the synergies you expect by proactively implementing policies that support the merger. Make sure the potential pitfalls don’t happen.


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Monthly Archives: June, 2012
Checking out this month’s picks for Five Pic Friday, focusing on the great outdoors.
Talking BlackBerry smartphones with Morgan Pressel, a professional golfer on the LPGA tour.
Taking a look at four free apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet that are definitely worth a download.
An interview with the SVP Design at RIM about what goes into creating the unique design of BlackBerry devices.
An update for the Facebook 3.1 for BlackBerry smartphones app is now available to download in BlackBerry App World!
This week’s Top 3 Tuesday takes a look at three great use cases for BBM Groups.
Taking a closer look at the all-new Porsche designed BlackBerry smartphone, the P’9981.
Pacemaker app for BlackBerry PlayBook tablets is now available!
Introducing a new blog series: BlackBerry Comes to You.
Looking at some of the top business apps for BlackBerry smartphones that you can utilize at networking events.


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Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is accelerating the development of the Apple Car project. Under the leadership of the Apple Watch software executive Kevin Lynch, engineers are focused on bringing full self-driving capabilities to the car, so human intervention is not required.
After the departure of Doug Field, the Apple Car project will now be headed by Kevin Lynch, the VP of technology at Apple. Lynch also heads the Apple Watch team at the company and has played a key role in watchOS 8 development.
Apple has given up plans to collaborate with any existing carmaker on the Apple Car. Instead, it has established its own research institute and plans to develop the Apple Car itself. The company has sent a quotation request to global auto component markers while also restarting a development lab that it had previously shuttered.
A new DigiTimes report claims that Apple is again visiting various car makers in Asia to mass produce the Apple Car. Reportedly, after meeting SK Group and LG Electronics last month, Apple employees are meeting Toyota in Japan for supply chain and mass production.
Apple’s largest supplier Foxconn will start building an EV manufacturing facility in the US and Thailand next year. The company intends to start mass production of electric vehicles in 2023.
Some of the Apple Car development team employees recently visited South Korea on a secret business trip. As a part of the trip, the employees met with various local South Korean companies like SK Group, LG Electronics, etc., to discuss various Apple Car business opportunities.
Apple Car project has witnessed multiple leadership change in the past. According to a new report by Insider, Kevin Lynch is joining the Apple Car team. Kevin Lynch is known for his association with Apple Watch.
A new DigiTimes report claims that Apple could work with Taiwanese companies to build batteries for the Apple Car in the US instead of Chinese suppliers. The report claims that Foxconn or Advanced Lithium Electrochemistry (Alees) are currently in the race to work with Apple to set up factories in the US and build Apple Car batteries.
In a major boost for Apple’s electric car ambitions, the company has hired former BMW senior executive and self-driving vehicle startup founder Ulrich Kranz.
Apple is reportedly in the early stages of discussion with China’s CATL and BYD to purchase batteries for its electric vehicle. The talks are still in the preliminary stages, so they can either get shelved, or the terms could change.


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Soon, the proud new owner of a Chrysler minivan could receive a commercial during his favorite show that only appears on his TV and not his neighbor's.
The spot will pitch accessories from grill guards to luggage racks to window tinting. With a click of his remote, a set of heavy-duty, color-coordinated floor mats gets delivered to his home.
This is the “holy grail” for cable operators and their advertisers, said Charter Media vice president of national sales and development Todd Stewart. It's a complete “combination of on-demand, interactive and consumer commerce,” said Stewart, who sells ads aimed at Charter Communications Inc.'s 5.9 million subscribers nationwide.
Early attempts, from companies such as Wink Communications Corp., at delivering interactive, highly customized ads to consumers failed, partly because of a lack of digital set-tops in U.S. homes, which could handle the customer's orders. Spots also had to be tailored for individual systems, whether those of Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable or direct-broadcast satellite providers.
But technical advances and standardization may soon allow automobile manufacturers, packaged-goods companies like Procter & Gamble and other media buyers to purchase interactive ads that would reach an entire market.
The result: Advertisers finally will be able to send ads for products to just those viewers who would be interested in them.
The interactive-television approach takes age, income and purchasing information from such sources as Claritas Inc., Donnelly Marketing and Equifax, and combines it with data on viewer preferences, such as their predilection to respond to TV polls, that operators collect on their own. That is combined with precise information on where and how viewers live.
“Sitting at home, if you live in a condo or apartment house … watching a Home Depot ad for the spring sale on lawn mowers is pretty irrelevant to you,” said Comcast Spotlight vice president Paul Woidke, whose Adtag/Adcopy tools allow Home Depot to direct ads for curtains or bathroom fixtures — but not for lawnmowers — to subscribers in apartment buildings.
A key focus today is to take this approach across large markets shared by major cable operators. One of the first targets: Los Angeles.
Charter, Cox and Time Warner Cable each have cable systems there. By the end of the year, the companies hope to be able to sell advertisers the ability to run interactive ads throughout what is now the second largest market in the U.S.
Working with Needham, Mass.-based Navic Networks Inc. — which also works with Time Warner and Charter — Cox has sold interactive ads to more than 50 advertisers in Phoenix and Tucson in the last three years, director of new media David Porter said.
And what is in store for L.A. can be envisioned by the kinds of interactivity Cox, Time Warner and Charter are pitching advertisers. These include:
- Telescoping: An icon on the corner of his TV screen prompts a viewer to drill down to a detailed video ad. A viewer can take a virtual test-drive of a car, as Charter has done with an Infiniti car dealer in Los Angeles.
- Call for action: After viewing a pop-up message on the bottom of his screen, a cable subscriber can request a direct mail-piece on insurance plans that might save money, as Time Warner customers can from State Farm Insurance. The subscriber also can press a button on his remote to receive a phone call from the advertiser.
- Voting: Subscribers press the A, B and C buttons on their remotes to respond to multiple-choice questions on screen. In this manner, Time Warner Cable has marketed its own Road Runner high-speed Internet service in Los Angeles, running ads that ask viewers how they connect to the Web.
Satellite services Dish Network and DirecTV Inc. are also raising the bar with their own forms of interactive ads.
EchoStar Communications Corp.'s Dish has cut deals with Mercedes-Benz USA and other advertisers that allow subscribers to test-drive cars.
The challenge for cable is adapting thousands of headend servers nationwide to deliver interactive ads. DirecTV and EchoStar rely essentially on national headends.
New software must also be downloaded to millions of set-top boxes in subscribers' homes, and advertisers need to be given production tools that allow them to create one spot that will work on every system.
“To achieve any meaningful scale, we need to implement the industry standard that will let advertisers and programmers build their enhanced TV or interactive ads once,” Time Warner Cable vice president of interactive television Joan Gillman said.
CableLabs is leading an effort to help standardize interactive TV, developing an Enhanced Binary Interchange Format specification that would allow interactive ads to run on multiple systems.
The spec has been completed, but CableLabs continues to tweak it, lab director Frank Sandoval said.
Gillman said a “large number” of Time Warner Cable divisions can support interactive advertising at present, including Hawaii; Syracuse, Rochester and Binghamton, N.Y.; the Carolinas; and Los Angeles. But each system has to set up and manage each interactive ad itself; it's far from an automatic process.
Pricing is also up in the air. Time Warner doesn't have a set rate card for interactive ads. Sometimes, Time Warner charges a premium for interactive ads. In other instances, they are offered as an incentive to buy more conventional commercial time.
Porter said Cox also doesn't have a published rate card for interactive ads, but that it's not giving the ads away for free. “It's a discreet value that is distinct and incremental to the underlying commercial.”
Over the long term, Cox plans to work with companies such as Catalina Marketing, which handles frequent-shopper programs with retailers, to enable advertisers to target viewers based upon spending habits, Porter said.
That way, if a subscriber bought a new Gillette Fusion razor, he could receive an ad for a pack of refills. A “coupon” might appear on screen. If the coupon is “cashed” by remote control, the new blades would show up in the mail.
That in turn would lead to a new holy grail: Knowing who responds to what offer, so a marketer can determine what the next offer should be and for whom a promotion should be prepared.
“One day we'll be able to pull in that third-party data and make intelligent advertising decisions,” Porter said.


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In a recent company strategy update, CDPR announced that rather than focusing on online multiplayer for just one of their games, they will strive to bring it to multiple titles.
CEO Adam Kiciński explained “Previously, we hinted that our next AAA would be a multiplayer Cyberpunk game, but we have decided to reconsider this plan. Given our new, more systematic, and agile approach, instead of primarily focusing on one big online experience or game, we are focusing on bringing online into all of our franchises one day.”
Expect Online Multiplayer components in future CDPR Games
The idea of a multiplayer component in Cyberpunk 2077 isn’t all that new. In fact, upon the reveal, online multiplayer was an option still on the cards. CEO of CDPR also confirmed that by “online” components, they mean “multiplayer”.
In the recent update video, he also added “We are building an online technology that can be seamlessly integrated into development of our future games. This technology will power online components we choose to introduce in our games, and will ensure we can do so without any great technological debt. With this technology in place, we can start to grow an online community—powered by our own GOG Galaxy platform—which connects gamers both inside and outside of our games.”
Along with the launch of Cyberpunk 2077, there was information that pointed towards a standalone game which would be Cyberpunk 2077 Online, and it was expected to come to players in the near future. However, it seems that is not the case as of now.


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AZ Factory reveals the names of designers participating in Alber Elbaz's memorial - like Giambattista Valli, Giorgio Armani and Jean Paul Gaultier, alongside Matthew Williams of Givenchy and Alessandro Michele of Gucci.
Pitti, the giant Florentine menswear salon, will host this year’s LVMH Prize finalists with a major installation in this summer’s reschedule edition, amid fresh signs of momentum at the giant trade show.
Florence-based trade show Pitti Uomo will be one of the first to relaunch its physical show, from June 30 to July 2, albeit in a reduced format and with safety measures. It expects up to 8,000 buyers and over 300 brands.
The International Woolmark Prize, which is one of fashion’s most prestigious awards, has ramped up its publicity drive with the release of a 2021 video campaign created by Solange Knowles' Saint Heron agency.
Paris Fashion Week has unveiled the schedule for the city’s next runway season, with a healthy 88 events listed on the official program, underlining the continued drawing power of the city as a "show" location.
Rihanna, Stella McCartney and Virgil Abloh have joined the jury of the LVMH Prize, which today revealed the names of the eight finalists of the 2020 edition.The trio increases the jury to a classical number of a dozen.


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It is now being reported that the much-anticipated Nokia X Android-powered handset that's expected to arrive at the upcoming Mobile World Congress Event in Barcelona, will not be the only Android device from the company this year.
Sources from Artesyn Technologies suggest the Finnish smartphone maker may release several other Android models in the future, including high-end devices. It has been also mentioned that the handsets might release sometime in May-June timeframe.
However, it remains to be seen whether those handsets will arrive with a customized Android OS like in Nokia X or not.
Recent reports suggests that Nokia is testing the long-rumoured Nokia X (aka Normandy) in India. Further, the report also reveals that the Finnish giant has been testing a number of other yet-to-be-launched devices in India. The data was spotted on Zauba.
Other unannounced Nokia devices spotted at the Zauba listing include RM-964, RX-115, RM-977, RM-976, RM-978, RM-974, and RM-990. As of now, there are no details about other Nokia devices spotted at the import and export listing.
According to the alleged data from Zauba, Nokia's RM-980 has been shipped to India and is not a commercial product. The data listing of the alleged Nokia RM-980 said, "Inter-company use for testing and evaluation purpose only."
The alleged Nokia X was seen recently listed at a Vietnamese online retailer that revealed most of the specifications, including a 4-inch TFT display with a resolution of 480x854 (FWVGA) pixels; a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor; 5-megapixel rear camera; microSD card support and Android 4.4 KitKat.
The Nokia X handset was previously said to sport a 5-megapixel rear camera, however the CamSpeed benchmark hinted that the handset would arrive with a lower 3-megapixel camera.


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A Lake Purumbete abattoir has been awarded the first Victorian licence to process kangaroo meat for sale for human consumption.
Castle Estate's works, near Camperdown, already processes venison and rabbit, as well as kangaroo from interstate suppliers, alongside cattle, sheep and pigs.
This year's state government Kangaroo Harvesting Program will include meat for human consumption, with a quota of 95,680 kangaroos, an increase of 37,780 from last year.
Castle managing director Steve Castle said it was a natural progression, given so many animals were being harvested for pet food.
"Other parts of the country have also been harvesting kangaroo for human consumption for quite some time," Mr Castle said.
"It is a similar production method to the deer.
"Obviously the kangaroo is a lot smaller than the Sambar venison that we have already been doing, but it is not a difficult change from a processing point of view."
He said he'd made inquiries to see if the government was considering allowing the sale of kangaroo meat for human consumption.
"It was already in process, they were already in the stages of working towards this."
Mr Castle said the numbers he was processing were low, at the moment.
'We are talking in the hundreds, not thousands, but it gives us the opportunity to continue to establish that market," he said.
Castle sold kangaroo meat directly to consumers, through home delivery, and the hospitality trade.
"Kangaroo has been used in hospitality for quite a while now, so there is already somewhat of an established trade.
"There are more and more consumers out there, who are willing to give these sorts of proteins a go."
Kangaroos would be supplied by registered field harvesters, with a strong focus on animal welfare and hygiene.
"Food safety and animal welfare are the two key components of the supply chain," Mr Castle said.
"I am not suggesting it will ever be like beef or lamb, but slowly and surely there is a market there.
"If we can get it to market, at a competitive rate, there will be an appetite there for it.
"When you are a small business, you have to have lots of different avenues and revenue streams; this compliments some of our other offerings."


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A security guard was killed after thieves opened fire while trying to rob a shopping mall in Karachi on Sunday.
The robbers tried to loot a shopping mall located on Tariq Road Sunday morning and opened fire when they faced resistance.
They broke into the mall by breaking a bathroom ceiling.
When the guards at the shopping mall attempted to stop the robbers, they opened fire, killing one guard and injuring another. The thieves managed to flee the scene.
The deceased guard has been identified as Noor Zahid.
The police have begun investigating the incident and say they will use CCTV footage from the cameras installed at the mall to identify the thieves.


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Business News›rupee symbol
"Press lotus symbol so hard that tremors are felt in Italy": Amit Shah in Chhattisgarh
Referring to the multi-crore Mahadev betting app scam, Union Home Minister Amit Shah attacked former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Congress, saying that the country witnessed several scams committed by the Congress but none of them had been named after a god adding that keep the anger of Mahadev betting app in mind and press the lotus (BJP symbol) button with such a force that the tremors are felt till Italy.
Gold price: What are the factors that impact the price of gold?
Gold price: Here is a look at the important factors that affect the price of gold.
Faces, places and going vertical on currency notes
Going vertical is the kind of currency note discussion we should be having, instead of the controversy around the proposal to put Hindu gods and goddesses on them.
Rupee nearing 80? Swaminathan Aiyar on why we shouldn’t worry too much
“Forget about the absolute level, the absolute level may ultimately settle at 75 and after all this is over, we may strengthen again because the dollar weakens. But if the price of oil goes to $170 a barrel, maybe we will go all the way to Rs 90 to the dollar. It depends on what the external situation is. There should be no fixed targets.”
Why the rupee is likely to depreciate even more in coming days
“When the rupee depreciates, given the fact that we still import large volume of oil, that will impact oil price and directly as well as indirectly – through transport – we are going to see the impact of that on inflation. It is never good news because inflation will start hitting not just our export competitiveness but also our growth potential. So sharply depreciating rupee is not good news at all,” says Mythili Bhusnurmath.
- Go To Page 1
Payments on WhatsApp now with India's ₹ symbol in chat composerWith the new update, users can now send money with just one tap, all within a chat
Reopening of stores symbolic; soon firms will find it difficult to meet fin obligations: SpykarThe company, which has reopened around 25 franchise owned and operated stores by the weekend following government relaxation of guidelines for the third phase of lockdown, said it has so decided not to reopen any company-owned and franchise-operated stores till May 17.
Mayawati ought to reimburse money spent on statues, BSP symbol: CJIHis remarks came on a petition that had sought court’s intervention to recover the money allegedly misspent from public funds.
Mayawati has to deposit money used for erecting her statues, BSP's symbol elephant: Supreme CourtThe Mayawati govt had built the memorials, statues and parks at a cost of over Rs 2,600 crore in Lucknow, Noida and few other places in Uttar Pradesh.
All 14 types of Rs 10 coin legal tender, says RBI. Check details of all 14 types here"These 14 types of Rs 10 coins have distinctive features to reflect various themes of economic, social and cultural values and are introduced from time to time," RBI said in a statement.
Rupee 1 note released from Shrinathji templeAfter a gap of over 20 years, Re 1 note has been released in the country and it bears the signature of Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.
RBI to issue Rs 10 bank notes with rupee symbol and letter NRBI said it will soon issue Rs 10 denomination bank notes in the 'Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005', incorporating rupee symbol and inset letter 'N.
Politicians make symbolic statements on rupee in the run-up to the polls which will subside after May 16The humble rupee has quietly crawled into political discourse along with confabulations on caste swings and consolidation of votes.
RBI to issue Rs 500 banknotes with rupee symbolThe Reserve Bank will soon issue Rs 500 banknotes with rupee symbol in the Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005.
RBI to issue Rs 10 banknotes with rupee symbol shortlyReserve Bank will shortly issue Rs 10 denomination banknotes incorporating rupee symbol with inset letter 'R' and 'L' in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.
RBI to release Rs 10 bank note bearing rupee symbolThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said it will soon issue Rs 10 denomination banknotes incorporating the newly-devised rupee symbol.
RBI to issue Rs 500, Rs 10 banknotes with rupee symbol soonThe Reserve Bank will issue Rs 500 and Rs 10 denomination bank notes with rupee symbols shortly, it said in a release.
RBI to issue Rs 100 note with rupee symbolThe Reserve Bank will soon issue bank notes of Rs 100 denomination with the rupee symbol in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.
RBI to launch Rs 1,000 notes with rupee symbol, more securityRBI today said it will soon launch Rs 1,000 denomination banknotes with rupee symbol, and improved security features.
RBI to issue Rs 10, Rs 50 notes with rupee symbolThe Reserve Bank of India will soon issue Rs 10 and Rs 50 denomination banknotes incorporating rupee symbol in the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 series.
RBI to issue Rs 20 denomination notes with rupee symbolRBI said it will soon issue bank notes of Rs 20 denomination with the rupee symbol and inset letter R in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005 notes.
RBI to issue Rs 20 and Rs 50 notes with rupee symbolThe design of these notes to be issued now is similar in all respects to the banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi Series 2005 issued earlier, except for rupee symbol, RBI added.
RBI to issue Rs 100 note with rupee symbolRBI had announced last month that it will soon introduce notes of Rs 1,000, Rs 500 and Rs 10 denomination featuring the rupee symbol.
Reserve Bank of India to issue Rs 500 note with Rupee symbolThe Rs 500 notes will be of the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 Series bearing the signature of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D Subbarao.
RBI to issue new Rs 10 notesThe Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue Rs 10 denomination bank notes incorporating the new rupee symbol.
10 and 1,000 rupee notes to sport symbol soonRBI officials said though coins had begun sporting the logo, it is for the first time that it would be used on currency notes.
Reserve Bank of India to issue Rs 100 notes with Rupee symbolRs 100 notes will be of the Mahatma Gandhi-2005 Series bearing the signature of RBI Guv D SubbaraoLoad More
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Entries from India dominate the list, with this market supplying half the total, but there are also multiple papers from China, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The shortlist can be viewed on the Prize website, where WARC subscribers can read the shortlisted papers in full.
A wide variety of categories are present, including FMCG, health, retail, telecoms and travel. And a number of international brands, such as KFC, Quaker Oats and Vodafone, sit alongside local ones like Mudah.my in Malaysia, Tata Tea in India and Seoul Dairy’s Grill Grill Cheese product in South Korea.
Papers from some 14 agencies have made the shortlist, with McCann Worldgroup contributing a third of the total.
The winners for this year’s WARC Prize for Asian Strategy will be announced in early November.
The Prize, now in its eighth year, is being judged by an eminent panel of 23 client- and agency-side experts, chaired by Shekar Khosla, Chief Commercial Officer, Kellogg’s, and including Piotr Jakubowski, CMO, GO-JEK, Shazlina Mohd Suffian, Executive Vice President Head, Corporate Marketing, Group Brand and Sponsorship Management, Maybank, and Sindhuja Rai, Director of Media & Digital, Mondelēz Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa.
Sourced from WARC


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THERE has been an eighteen-fold increase in north-east Atlantic commercial stocks now fished at sustainable levels compared to 12 years ago, new scientific data has revealed.
The EU figures show that 36 stocks are now fished at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) levels – a key indicator of the sustainability of a particular fishery. This is compared to 27 fisheries at MSY in 2014 and just two in 2003.
The Northern regional heat of the 19th UK Young Seafood Chef of the Year took place on Friday 6th March 2015, with student chefs from across Scotland and northern England taking part.
The opening heat of the 2015 competition was held at New Lanarkshire College, Motherwell, Scotland. Each team of two young chefs had to prepare and present three appetising dishes comprising a starter course using salmon and/or haddock fillets, an intermediate course using whole sea bass and/or mackerel and a main course using cod and/or pollack fillets.
A TWITTER campaign urging consumers to be more adventurous in their fish consumption has been backed by rising culinary star John Whaite, winner of the Great British Bake Off.
The campaign dubbed #CatchOfTheDay is being run by the National Federation of Fishermen's Organisation (NFFO) and aims to champion the diversity of the UK fishing fleet and encourage consumers to venture beyond the seafood staples of cod, haddock and salmon.


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Mel Kirk, Managing Director of UK based Tribal Media, posted a tweet complaining about her bank, HSBC.
Nothing out of the norm so far.
F**k it, we'll do it live!
Our biggest ever edition of TNW Conference is fast approaching!
Join 10,000 tech leaders this May in Amsterdam.
However, within 24 hours, she’d received a video from a competing bank, Barclays, effectively singing for her business but also promoting Bespoke Offers, its new personalised UK shopping service.
It was Old Spice that captured everyone’s attention back in 2010 with a similar idea, but credit to Barclays for working harder than other banks for business, and being creative with it at that.
Worth noting that Mel is somewhat of a “social media influencer” and that Barclays were probably aware of that.
Google Glass invitations coming to #ifihadglass winners in a few weeks, no new applications for now


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Wednesday, September 4, 2019They have just released a video showcasing the beautiful Savannah biome and the many animals that live in it! Today, the Planet Zoo team has just released a new gameplay reveal video focusing on the Savannah biome, a brand new Indian Subcontinent theme, and we wanted to share this exciting look into this beautiful landscape and the many animals within.
What is Planet Zoo? Build a world for wildlife in Planet Zoo, the ultimate zoo sim, featuring authentic living animals who think, feel and explore the world you create around them. Experience a globe-trotting campaign or let your imagination run wild in the freedom of Sandbox mode. Create unique habitats and vast landscapes, make big decisions and meaningful choices, and nurture your animals as you construct and manage the world’s wildest zoos.


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MySpace.com said Tuesday that it is expanding its offerings for Latinos, adding eight communities focused on such bilingual-centric pop culture subjects such as bands, celebrities and soccer.
MySpace Latino, which was launched in beta last year in response to more than 9.7 million Hispanic members who are part of its English-language online community, was largely a simple English-to-Spanish translation of News Corp.'s popular social networking site which is run by Fox Interactive Media Inc.
But starting Tuesday, the Beverly Hills-based site said it is unveiling content generated specifically for the Latino market which is one of the fastest growing online audiences in the country.
MySpace already offers separate Web sites targeted at Latinos abroad including MySpace Mexico and MySpace Latin America as well as MySpace Brazil.
MySpace also said that sites targeting other groups, including African-Americans, are in the works, but expanding the Latino site has taken priority due to growth potential.
MySpace said it has added "tens of thousands" of Latino users each month with little marketing or promotion.
This announcement comes a week after MySpace said it had partnered with the world's largest record labels to sell music and concert tickets via the site, called MySpace Music, in an effort to compete directly with Apple Inc.'s popular iTunes.
For reprint and licensing requests for this article, CLICK HERE.


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Here's what Goldman Sachs expects from every big company announcing earnings this week
Earnings season is in full swing.
The focus this week will be on the big banks' results. Google and health care giant Johnson & Johnson will also report quarterly earnings.
Via Goldman Sachs, here are the consensus expectations for all the major earnings releases this week.
- OnePlus blames voltage fluctuation after a user reports Nord 2 charger explosion
- Dropbox's billionaire founder Drew Houston says the 40-hour office week is a thing of the past and the pandemic has changed work forever
- Facebook pumping $50 million into its metaverse project is another sign that Zuckerberg doesn’t want to miss the crypto bus
- Buy biodegradable sanitary pads for women in India
- Best baby booster seat in India
- Amazon-backed Capital Float plans to go big in the buy now, pay later segment; raises $50 million
- Where Indians work — seven charts that show you the employment map of the world’s sixth largest economy
- Alibaba, Binance, Sparkpool and other companies are scrambling to avoid any heat from China over crypto concerns


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Felix Yeh started his e-commerce business NG Inc. in 2008, right in the middle of the global financial crisis. Although most people would consider the timing inopportune, Yeh insists that it contributed to his business’s current success.
“For us, it was good because we didn’t have a relative gauge of ‘wow, it was so much harder than it was before,’” he explains. “We started from the bottom of one of the most difficult times to start a business, but I think it kind of worked out in our favor, from a mental standpoint.”
Those initial challenges forced Yeh and his team to think outside the box, eventually becoming one of Amazon’s top 200 third-party (3P) marketplace sellers. NG Inc., which sells a large variety of products ranging from pet supplies, to outdoor gear, worked to develop its relationships with its vendors and Amazon so that they provide a higher level of support and communications channels that many smaller brands would not have. Now, NG Inc. is projected to reach $30 million in revenue by the end of the year and has expanded their business to include some brick-and-mortar relationships and their own branded products.
When they were first starting out in 2008, Yeh and his cofounders knew they had to set themselves apart, especially in such an economically inhospitable time. They decided to leverage their connections to companies they had individually worked with in the past and target ones with products “that weren’t really online yet” to help them build up their e-commerce presence.
Once they became more established, NG Inc. expanded their business by discovering niche sales channels for their merchants’ products. Thanks to the customer data they had accumulated over the years, Yeh and his team developed predictive algorithms to determine what products customers are buying, when, and for what purposes those customers were using those products. From that data, they found that customers are not always purchasing products for their intended use, and they realized that this could open up new sales channels for them and their vendors.
NG Inc. expanded their business by discovering niche sales channels for their merchants’ products.
“A lot of what we’re able to get is customer data—getting a lot of customer reviews, accumulating data from customer phone calls that come in or customer reviews on product, to be able to hear why they’re happy with a product, why they’re unhappy,” says Yeh. “After talking to the customer, a lot of them are more niche industry-type experts who are able to use these products for something completely different.”
He uses lye as an example. Lye is typically used in the manufacturing process or in commercial drain cleaners; after talking with their customers, Yeh and his team realized that a lot of them were purchasing lye to hand-make soaps, which opened up a new marketing and sales opportunity for NG Inc.
“A bunch of people were talking to us, hey, we actually use this to make soap (and) sell it on Etsy,” shares Yeh. “This works really well for that—it would be great if you sold soap molds for this, or put more specific instructions on handling to make soap for it.”
Their ability to launch and sell products in unconventional ways helped NG Inc. expand beyond smaller, lesser-known companies and merchants to include internationally recognized names.
“Some of the brands that we sell now are like Starbucks and Godiva, where we sent it to a lot of companies as gifts around the holidays—but it’s also something that’s a nice perk to have in the office,” says Yeh. “It’s like, hey, I think this product will do really well B2B, and we have a lot of vendor relationships. Being able to sell products where you wouldn’t really think of and being able to scale that way has been really successful for us, being able to have a vision for the products themselves.”
“When I met Felix, his business was a little newer,” says Kevin Lu, vice president and relationship manager at East West Bank. “It’s really unique to find a business that is local in the Bay Area and is finding a new niche.”
As NG Inc. continues to grow their business, they need access to capital that would allow them to fulfill their current order volumes while also giving them the leeway to scale up further. The company received an increased line of credit from East West Bank to help ease cash flow and to purchase more inventory to prepare for the busy holiday seasons, which doubled NG Inc.’s projected revenue, shares Lu.
“Logistics have become more challenging, and during the holidays when it’s peak season for retail, everyone’s logistics are impacted,” explains Yeh. “So, being able to have more product on hand and getting it in earlier to our warehouse and our fulfillment centers is definitely one of the biggest growth opportunities for us.”
NG Inc. also received a commercial credit card, which has boosted the company’s relationships with their smaller merchants by speeding up the purchasing process.
“Having a seamless solution to purchase product is a big thing for us,” says Yeh. He explains that, during the 2008 recession, a lot of smaller companies were left in the lurch when their clients went under and were unable to pay for products they had already received. “To be able to have that safety net, where if they aren’t comfortable with us sending them a check—that’s completely fine, we can put it on our credit card. Being able to have a very large credit limit on that card allows us to put some of those massive inventory purchases on it,” he adds.
Lu adds that the commercial credit card is also a good tool to help ease a company’s cash flow, especially when combined with a line of credit. “Their current model, with how the warehouse works with Amazon, it gives them a delay potentially about six months. But with the commercial card and line of credit, this helps them float the time frame from buying inventory to final sale,” he says.
NG Inc. wouldn’t be on its current growth trajectory if it weren’t for its focus on developing relationships through education. Yeh started his business by helping smaller companies navigate the online space and that remains the heart of his company’s business model.
“That’s been at the crux of everything we do from the get-go, being able to educate the companies and brands that we partner with about how the online space works and how it’s constantly evolving, how the marketing is changing, a lot of the challenges that companies will face when they try to sell online or sell in marketplace,” Yeh says. “Amazon Marketplace, Walmart Marketplace, are becoming a larger percentage of the e-commerce space as a whole. There is just a ton of challenges that come with that, and we’ve experienced a lot of those challenges.”
Although marketplaces like Amazon have become better at monitoring counterfeit goods and review manipulation, Yeh says that these issues are still a problem that many businesses have. Larger brands and companies may be able to communicate directly with Amazon, but smaller merchants might not have the means or access to do so. Luckily, Yeh and his team at NG Inc. have spent years developing those communication channels so that they can support their partners.
“That’s where we’re able to gain that advantage because we’ve dealt with way more instances of this happening over the years,” he says. “Having someone you can call or email is always a much more comforting channel than shooting an online form.”
We’ll keep you in the know about the latest US-Asia business news and trends.
Lo mantendremos informado sobre las últimas noticias y tendencias comerciales entre Estados Unidos y China.


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On Thursday, October 22, Jim Nail, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research delivered a webinar on the rise of digital video, highlighting key statistics on how different generations consume digital video and outlining how marketers can construct digital campaigns to cater to them. The session was hosted by Michael Horn, Chief Analytics Officer for Resonate.
Key takeaways from the session included:
Video now offers a smorgasbord. Mr. Nail stressed that consumer viewing habits have “atomized,” with consumers now viewing video across a variety of channels and devices. “Less than half of consumers view linear TV monthly,” Nail said. According to Nail, Millennials lead the adoption of online viewing, with 62% of US online Gen-Y’ers watching four or more hours of video weekly versus 47 percent of Gen-Xers. The good news, according to Nail, is that “there are more opportunities to reach targeted audiences with relevant ads.” The challenge: that “no single platform will deliver a mass audience.”
Serve up the right video diet for your audience. Nail illustrated how the type of content consumed now largely drives on which device viewers consume the content. Marketers must “serve a balanced video diet,” Nail said. A balanced diet means spreading your digital ad dollars across broadcast channels, OTT apps, video aggregators, and other channels, according to consumption needs driven largely by generational habits.
Video becomes an even more powerful marketing tool. In the old advertising model, Nail says, broadcast television dominated; today, the broader category of video dominates. Nail’s key messages to marketers (all bullets courtesy of Nail):
- There are more opportunities to deliver sight/sound/motion brand messages.
- Video can address more marketing objectives than just mass reach.
- Marketers should shift money from print and radio.
- Marketers should learn programmatic and targeted buying.
Here’s one more takeaway, courtesy of Resonate: the key to delivering more impact through video is crafting digital messages that connect with consumers based on deep understanding of their values and motivations.
You can download the webinar presentation slides here.


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Blockstack Today: 5 Apps Already Being Built on the Decentralized Web
A look at the applications using Blockstack's platform give insight into what kind of future the startup is looking to cultivate.
The developers behind decentralized marketplace OpenBazaar have released a mobile counterpart.
OB1, the development company behind decentralized online marketplace OpenBazaar, has raised $5 million in a Series A funding round.
Although a variety of e-commerce platforms are booming during COVID-19 lockdowns, bitcoin payments remain exceedingly niche.
OB1, the development team behind OpenBazaar, has announced its plans to launch a new token.
The startup behind OpenBazaar has released version 2.0 of its popular bitcoin market, with new features and more user-friendly interface.


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The next big thing is probably the internet, and it’s going to be an internet that’s faster than anything we’ve seen before.
In fact, Google Fiber is about to become the internet.
At least that’s what Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, told Ars on Thursday.
It’s been a long time since Google Fiber came to the US, and for the first time in its history, Google is rolling out gigabit service to residential customers in a large number of markets.
So far, it’s rolled out in just five states: Texas, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Washington, DC.
But as the company gets closer to deploying gigabit, it seems to be expanding its deployment to new markets.
The company says it’s “now deploying in Texas, where we’re the fastest,” and it is planning to deploy in California later this year.
There’s a reason Google Fiber isn’t launching in every major US market, and Pichaei says it has a long way to go.
“We’re still very far from deploying our service in every state,” he said.
Google is working on making sure that its service is a lot faster in areas where it has an edge over the competition, and the US could see a dramatic improvement in its speeds in the next year or two.
The most important question is, what is the right kind of internet?
And Google has a lot of answers.
Google Fiber’s future depends on two things: how much competition there is in the internet market, the speed of its network, and whether it can afford to pay for that bandwidth.
The more competition, the faster its network will be.
And the faster it can get to gigabit speeds, the more important it will be for the internet to succeed.
So in the near future, Google will be looking to make sure its internet service is at the top of the list.
Google has already started investing in the network.
It is investing in an infrastructure upgrade, and Google is looking to build an internet infrastructure in the US to compete with the likes of Comcast, which is investing billions in the country.
In 2017, Comcast made an initial investment of $1.2 billion into Google Fiber in what it called a “competitive investment” in order to help build the internet infrastructure for its own Fiber service.
The new investment will be made in a bid to expand Google Fiber and create more competition for Google Fiber.
Google wants to be the internet’s dominant ISP, but the internet is not the ISP Google wants.
Google’s biggest problem is that its competitors are also building networks that are far more powerful than it is.
Comcast’s Xfinity internet service, which Google is currently building in Seattle, is 10 times faster than Google’s gigabits-per-second internet service.
Comcast has invested billions of dollars in building a huge network that can rival Google’s, but that’s not a solution for Google.
Comcast is trying to build its own network, but it’s also building infrastructure to compete against Google’s.
Google will also have to make some decisions about where its internet infrastructure will be deployed.
Google won’t want to move its network to the cities where it is slower.
But it might want to build it in rural areas where there are more people, where the internet speed is already faster.
And Google’s own network is not nearly as powerful as its competitors, so Google will need to find a way to get its internet into those places faster.
“There’s a lot going on,” Pichay said.
The internet service companies have two competing strategies for how to build their networks.
Google makes a lot more money from ads than from ads alone.
The other players build infrastructure and pay to run it.
Both companies are doing what they can to create a better internet, but they have to be careful not to let the internet be their monopoly.
Google and the internet service providers want to be in a position to charge the same amount for every internet user that they charge for a gigabit connection.
Theoretically, if the internet were to become faster, that should be good for Google, because Google could charge the price of the internet more than it would pay for the bandwidth.
Google also wants to use its network as a marketing tool.
But Google wants customers to pay extra for the privilege of using its service.
“The question is whether it’s really that much of a good idea to do that, or whether it’ll be seen as an unfair advantage,” Pochai said.
“What’s interesting is that in order for Google to make any sort of impact on the internet and its impact on commerce and the economy, it needs to be able to pay a price for it.”
For example, Picha said, Google could make its service so much faster that it wouldn’t be able pay the same price for the same bandwidth.
“I’m pretty sure there are some people that are really concerned about that,” Puchai said, adding that he would


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The KFC restaurant in Burton reopened today after being closed for two days as the chain suffered major issues at outlets across the country which saw it run out of chicken.
The store, in Middleway Retail Park, in Burton had been closed since Monday, February 19, after a change in supplier saw many of the 900 KFCs run out of chicken.
The Burton restaurant was busy this afternoon as diners flocked to get their fried chicken fix.
'Teething problems' were blamed with new delivery company, DHL, which also saw the Uttoxeter branch of KFC closed in Meadows Way. This branch has also now re-opened.
During the issues a dedicated website was even set-up by KFC detailing exactly which of its restaurants remained open as 750 out of 900 outlets were forced to close.
A worker at the KFC in Burton confirmed it had been open since 12pm on Wednesday, February 21.
A statement on the company's main website said it would not "compromise on quality" which meant there had not been deliveries to some of its restaurants which then had to close.
It said: “We know that this might have inconvenienced some of you over the last few days, and disappointed you when you wanted your fried chicken fix - we’re really sorry about that.”
Workers union GMB had criticised the fast-food giants decision to switch suppliers from Bidvest Logistics to DHL.
A spokesman claimed that the "the chickens are coming home to roost", and that the shortage at restaurants was down to a "bird-brained decision to award the delivery contract to DHL".
A spokesman from DHL told our sister title, The Mirror that the delay or incomplete deliveries have been caused by "operational issues".
He said we are "working with our partners to rectify the situation" and have said sorry to customers.


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Evan Dobbs has joined Montpellier Domestic Appliances as area sales manager for Southern England, the company has announced.
Evan will be working with kitchen independents and the kitchen studio sector for Montpellier.
Evan commented: “I am very pleased to be working with a new and rapidly growing British owned manufacturer. The team at Montpellier have been providing fantastic reliable and affordable products since inception five years ago. It is a great pleasure to join a great team and to educate new clients to our friendly and approachable business, whilst providing amazing products at a fantastic price.”


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NGB Continues to Inspire Home Gardeners
National Garden Bureau (NGB) is reaching home gardeners in record numbers. So far in 2021, NGB, the gardening industry’s only non-profit ambassador, has interacted with nearly 10 million home gardeners, providing information and inspiration.
The organization increased interactions and activities this year with several new programs that engage and inspire gardeners to grow more. Since mid-October of 2020, NGB has had more than 6.8 million impressions, a quarter of a million new website visitors, reached more than 100,000 through social media and has increased e-newsletter circulation 98%.
“In order to keep all of the new gardeners interested, we need to provide easy-to-find information and ideas,” says Diane Blazek, executive director. “Our focus has always been to educate home gardeners, giving our members additional ways to communicate their product messaging and share their expertise. This year we took that to a whole new level.”
New and enhanced 2021 outreach includes:
Year Of Program
Each year, National Garden Bureau selects one type of annual, perennial, bulb, edible and shrub to feature as the “Year of” crop. NGB promotes those choices throughout the year in articles, press releases, interviews, social media and speaking engagements, providing more and more exposure to the industry and home gardeners. Because the program has been so well received, a new category of Houseplants will be added for 2022.
Ask the Expert Webinars
NGB hosted a dozen Ask the Expert webinars covering high-interest topics for home gardeners. More than 20 member experts shared their growing knowledge and provided inspiration directly to home gardeners in a live experience for the more than 2,500 consumers participating.
2021 marked the first year for a partnership between NGB and KidsGardening.org. The two groups are working together to combine their audiences in an effort to grow and sustain the booming interest in gardening across all age groups. The collaboration has doubled the number of consumers, families and educators both non-profits will reach.
Green Thumb Award
2021 ushers in the return of the popular industry Green Thumb Award. Originally developed and managed by the former Direct Gardening Association, the Green Thumb Award recognizes outstanding new garden products that are unique, innovative, solve a gardening problem or create a new gardening opportunity. Winners are voted upon by industry professionals and will be announced in December.
NGB purchased the GreatGardenVideos.com domain giving members the ability to easily promote their videos to home gardeners. The SEO driven website brings gardeners to one location where they can search by member company or brand. With just one click, visitors are directed to each member’s YouTube channel.
Grant Programs and Contests
NGB also manages the Therapeutic Garden Grant Program, a philanthropic outreach to promote the healing ability of gardens across North America. Each year, the grant awards $5,000, split between three therapeutic garden programs. The top three finalists are chosen by a panel of Therapeutic Garden Experts, with winner levels determined by online voting. 2021 also saw the return of a video contest for the Year of the Sunflower. Consumers and industry members were invited to submit a video that showcases the beauty and appeal of sunflowers. Winners were recently announced and can be viewed on the NGB website.
“We are very proud of everything we’ve accomplished this year,” Blazek said. “We are excited to build on these new and existing programs, bringing the benefits of gardening to even more home gardeners in 2022.”


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Blue Label Media wins Twitter industry-wide advertising agency qualification, assistant Chinese companies win global
At the beginning of 2019, Blue Cursor (Digital) Media (hereinafter referred to as "Blue Label Media") has further acquired Twitter's industry-wide advertising agency qualification, marking a further upgrade of the partnership between the two sides. It is reported that in April last year, Blue Label Media and the global social networking site Twitter (Twitter) formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement, was designated as one of the few official advertising agencies in Twitter China. I believe that this two industry leaders in the cooperation upgrade, will be want to go out to sea marketing of Chinese enterprises to bring benefits.
Blue Label Media Joins Twitter to Help Chinese Companies Win Globally
Twitter is one of the world's social networkmedia service providers, with an average monthly live user base of 316 million, of which mobile users account for 80%. In recent years, Twitter has become the world's top three Internet advertising platforms, along with Facebook and Google, with its high-quality users and traffic.
Twitter is not only an important platform for people around the world to share their ideas, interests and insights, but also one of the key channels for overseas promotion. Twitter has the advantages of cost-effective advertising, timely and effective advertising, friendly user experience, and accurate advertising performance. As a social media platform that produces hundreds of millions of dollars of content traffic a day, Twitter can provide companies with insights, bring traffic to stores, help get leads, and help brands achieve their business goals.
Twitter is known to be very strict about the selection of official agents in China. Blue Standard Media has become Twitter's partner in China with its rich experience in the field of out-of-sea marketing, long-term trust from customers, core technology and products, and professional one-stop integrated marketing services.
Pan Fei, chief executive officer of Blue Standard Media, said that in the next two to three years, the marketing business will also be in the stage of rapid growth, Blue Label Media is very optimistic about this business, will continue to increase in the field of marketing in the sea data, products, talent and other inputs. Blue Standard Media's out-of-sea marketing business from scratch, from small to strong, only three years, and the next three years, Blue Label Media will continue to enhance the technology, creativity and services, such as the ability of strong overseas media for China's sea brand, ushered in more rapid development of the sea marketing business.
With Twitter, Blue Label Media helps voice-over boost son
TECNO Mobile, a global high-end smartphone brand, is known for its TECNO CAMON line with high-end camera technology. Voice mobile phone hopes to successfully launch its high-end self-timer mobile phone - TECNO CAMON series, to build brand awareness and enhance customer awareness of the brand.
When Manchester City Football Club won the 2017-2018 Premier League (EPL) title, Blue Beacon immediately seized the opportunity to launch a Twitter campaign called "It Takes Bea" for the voice-over of Manchester City Football Club's official partner. The voice mobile phone combines this event with Manchester City Football Club's "Proud of War" club motto, with its high-quality craftsmanship in smartphones, and through brand collaboration with well-known football clubs, to resonate with the brand of the target audience on Twitter and enhance the brand image. The final positive sentiment about the brand increased by 39%, with 70.8K tweets and 220% of new fans.
In recent years, there is a growing demand for domestic enterprises, but also more attention to the overseas mobile Internet platform advertising, I believe blue standard media will join hands with Twitter, for China's more domestic demand for brand merchants to win in the world to provide quality services and professional channels.
About blue-label edding numbers:
BlueFocus Digital, a digital marketing agency, in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen,Xi'anEach has an enterprise legal entity. As one of Blue Cursor's flagship lines of business, Blue Label Digital is committed to providing customers with intelligent integrated digital marketing solutions. In recent years, Blue Label Digital, based on data and technology, has integrated a variety of capabilities, including public relations, digital marketing and intelligent marketing, and gradually formed a value chain service system, from industry and consumer insights to creative, content and multi-channel marketing.
Blue-label digital adhering to the "service, creativity, content" and "products, technology, data" intelligent marketing concept, and gradually build customer relationship management, intelligent self-media management, big data and other innovative layout; to help customers realize the greater commercial value of the brand.
About Blue Label:
Blue Cursor was founded in 1996 and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange GEM on February 26, 2010 (stock code: 300058). Since the company landed on the GEM, adhere to the implementation of "endogenous growth" and "extension-type development" and the development strategy, for many years to maintain high-speed growth. Marketing intelligence and business globalization is the company's future development strategy, the company's vision is to become a global leader in intelligent marketing.
The company continues to serve about 2,000 domestic and foreign customers, including the Fortune 500 enterprises more than 100. Customers cover leading brands in the information technology, automotive, consumer goods, real estate, Internet, finance, cultural and entertainment industries. Headquartered in Beijing, the Group has a network of businesses in key markets around the world.
Go to Discovery - "Take a look" And browse "Friends are watching"
Post edified to take a look


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India’s homegrown Unified Payments Interface, or UPI has now gone international. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has partnered with seven countries around the world, allowing Indians to seamlessly send and receive money in foreign currencies using UPI. It also allows tourists to make merchant payments while visiting other countries, directly from their Indian bank account. Let’s have a look at the list of countries that currently support international UPI payments.
Countries That Accept International UPI Payments
NPCI and RBI have been trying to expand UPI globally for the last three years. The Government of India has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with multiple countries across the world to explore money transfer partnerships with UPI. Currently, UPI is available in seven countries, which include:
Bhutan was among the first nations to accept India’s UPI payment services. UPI’s integration with Bhutan started on July 13, 2021. Since then, Indians visiting Bhutan can make merchant payments by scanning QR codes using PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, or BHIM. Citizens of India and Bhutan can also exchange money by sharing their virtual payment address (VPA), also known as UPI ID.
UPI has been available in Singapore since February 21, 2023. Merchant payments are supported for Indian tourists. The governments of both nations have agreed to link India’s UPI with Singapore’s PayNow. This will allow people to transfer money across borders by simply using a VPA.
France is among the newest members to adopt UPI for international transfers with India. UPI was launched in France on February 02, 2024, in a grand ceremony at the Eiffel Tower. Merchants in France can now accept UPI payments using QR codes, and P2P transactions are also supported between Indian and French citizens using VPA.
UPI was launched in Mauritius on February 12, 2024. It’s a popular destination for Indian tourists. Merchants like hotels, restaurants, and travel agencies can start accepting UPI payments using QR codes. Interestingly, citizens from Mauritius visiting India can also scan UPI QR codes to make payments using their Instant Payments Service (IPS), making it a two-way partnership between the nations.
Sri Lanka also joined hands with India to accept UPI payments on February 12, 2024, the same day as Mauritius. Indian citizens can now pay merchants in Sri Lanka using UPI. However, there’s no clarity on P2P transfers yet.
United Arab Emirates
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan inaugurated UPI in Abu Dhabi on February 13, 2024. UPI can now be used for merchant payments in the UAE, along with P2P transactions. India’s Rupay Cards will also be accepted in the UAE, under this new partnership.
India and Nepal have signed an MoU to link UPI with NPI (National Payments Interface). The partnership will be similar to India’s UPI linkage with Singapore’s PayNow, enabling both merchant payments and P2P transfers between the two nations. However, the functionality is still under development and is expected to launch commercially within the first half of 2024.
UPI International can be easily enabled in GPay, PhonePe, Paytm, and BHIM App. You can refer to our guide for the detailed steps to activate international UPI transactions in these respective apps.
UPI To Soon Expand In Other Countries
Along with these seven countries, India is in talks with multiple European nations to expand UPI services. The Government of India has already signed an MoU with the Liquid Group in September 2021, which will soon enable QR-based UPI payments in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Cambodia, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Benefits of UPI for International Payments
- The biggest advantage of UPI is its real-time nature, where money is transferred instantly. Traditional international transfers like SWIFT and WIRE can take up to 3-5 business to get completed.
- UPI is also free of cost and does not incur any additional transaction fees for international transfers. Users are only required to pay currency conversion charges, which are lower than fees taken for traditional money transfers.
- UPI is also easy to use, where users are only required to share their virtual payment address (VPA) for sending and receiving money, rather than sharing private information such as bank account numbers.
- India’s UPI serves as a strong competition to traditional methods of international money transfers as it disrupts the oligopoly of existing players.
- UPI is strictly regulated by the NPCI and the government body of the partner nation, making it a completely secure means for money transfers.


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Astrodyne TDI Signs Global Distribution Agreement with Mouser Electronics.
Mouser to distribute AstrodyneTDI EMI filter products to its customers worldwide
Nashua, NH. – March 2017 - Astrodyne TDI, a global developer and manufacturer of specialized power solutions, has signed a global distribution agreement with Mouser Electronics, an authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor, to deliver Astrodyne TDI EMI filter products to its customers around the world.
Astrodyne TDI’s EMI filter solutions are ideal for use in any consumer, industrial, medical or military application, such as exercise/fitness equipment, consumer appliances, test and measurement equipment, telecommunication systems, elevators, renewable energy inverters and many military/aerospace designs.
"Mouser’s ability to bring new products to market and reach design engineers around the world is unmatched," said Bill Gray, Vice President of Global Sales at Astrodyne TDI. "We are extremely excited to partner with Mouser and expand our reach for our EMI filter products."
With its broad product line and unsurpassed customer service, Mouser strives to empower innovation among design engineers and buyers by delivering advanced technologies. The company stocks the world’s widest selection of the latest semiconductors and electronic components for the newest design projects, all available on its comprehensive and easy-to-use website.
Astrodyne TDI CEO Jeff Beck commented, “This partnership with Mouser represents a significant step in Astrodyne TDI’s journey towards market leadership. Mouser’s vast reach and excellent customer service will efficiently bring ATDI’s products and expertise to a broad community of engineers searching for best in class EMI solutions. We are delighted to announce this new relationship and look forward to expanding it over the coming years.”
See the full line of AstrodyneTDI products available at Mouser Electronics at http://www.mouser.com/Astrodyne-TDI
Astrodyne TDI designs and manufactures innovative power solutions for demanding applications worldwide. The company’s products include power supplies and EMI filters for industrial, semiconductor manufacturing, medical, consumer appliance, military, and aerospace markets. With over 50 years of power supply design experience, Astrodyne TDI is headquartered in Hackettstown, NJ and has engineering and manufacturing centers in the USA and China. For more information, visit www.AstrodyneTDI.com.
About Mouser Electronics
Mouser Electronics, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on rapid new product introductions from its manufacturing partners for electronic design engineers and buyers. The global distributor’s website, Mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 5 million products from over 700 manufacturers. Mouser offers 22 support locations around the world to provide best-in-class customer service and ships globally to over 600,000 customers in 170 countries from its 750,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit www.mouser.com.


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"We have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity," says Microsoft's Don Mattick, "it's called Xbox 360."
Asked yesterday at game show E3 what gamers should do if they want an Xbox One but don't have reliable Internet access, Xbox frontman Don Mattrick said, "Fortunately we have a product for people who aren't able to get some form of connectivity: it's called Xbox 360."
"So stick with 360, that's your message if you don't like it?" says Game Trailers interviewer Geoff Keighley incredulously, perhaps sniffing the massive story he's unwittingly landed himself in.
"Well if you have zero access to the Internet," Mattrick blunders on, "that is an offline device." Cringe mode engaged!
Here's a clip of the soundbite in question, uploaded to YouTube by Insomniac Gamers, who've helpfully added a sad trombone too. The full 8-minute interview is available here.
"Don't worry I'll keep my 360, but I'll buy a PS4," says the current top-rated comment under the video.
Everyone loves seeing someone arrogant take a tumble, but there comes a point when you just start to feel sorry for them. Microsoft has crashed through that point, covering itself in broken glass, watermelons and chicken feathers on the way.
It's not that an online requirement will necessarily be a problem to many people -- it's that the reasoning behind it is transparently false. It's not about improving your experience, it's about controlling and restricting it. And if you don't like it? Buy our 8-year-old console! Again!
Compare Mattrick's tin-eared gaffe with Sony's Adam Boyes, its head of publisher and developer relations, who took to Twitter after the PlayStation 4 launch yesterday morning to thank a fan who started the #PS4NoDRM campaign on the social network. Boyes implied that the campaign helped shape Sony's no-Internet-required approach.
"Thank you @ForYourPeteDodd for helping echo gamers' messages through all levels of PlayStation," Boyes tweeted, adding "it really moved the needle -- I know it's hard to believe, but it did".
Sony was widely praised yesterday for its gamers-before-publishers strategy, with the PS4 eschewing the Xbox One's restrictions on sharing and trading games. It didn't hurt that it's £80 cheaper than Microsoft's machine either.
The comments are down there, Facebook's over here -- you know what to do.


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The Department of Petroleum Resources on Thursday sealed 24 petrol stations in Akure, the state capital and Ondo town for selling the Premium Motor Spirit, also know as petrol, above N145 per litre.
Since the fuel scarcity began, many filling stations in Ondo town are allegedly selling the product above N145 per litre.
Many of the sealed filling stations were members of the Independent Marketers Association of Nigeria, while some major marketers were still selling the product at the official pump price amidst long queue of vehicles.
In an operation that lasted for three hours, many filling stations were sealed, while DPR officials forced some stations to sell the product to the public at the normal price.
The DPR team, led by the Deputy Chief Officer, Mr. Stanley Okwekwe, said the exercise was carried out to ensure that the marketers sold the product at the official pump price.
The DPR boss also declared that the operation will be conducted on a regular basis in order to alleviate the suffering of the people of the state.
Source: ( Punch Newspaper )


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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Shares of television station broadcasters advanced Monday after local media research firm BIA/Kelsey said it expects online/interactive advertising revenues to climb to $42.5 billion by 2015, almost double the 2010 figure of $21.7 billion. "This growth coincides with anticipated improvement in the U.S. economy and a continued rise in overall local advertising," BIA/Kelsey explained in a release. Media General Inc. MEG, -3.23% shares soared 11%; CBS CBS, +31.58% stock, one of the leading gainers on the S&P 500, picked up almost 5%; Sinclair Broadcast Group SBGI, -3.91% rose 6%; Lin TV Corp. TVL, +3.52% rose 4%; and E.W. Scripps Co. SSP, -6.63% rose 5.4%.
Broadcasters gain on local online ad forecast


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Bitcoin continues to be the subject of much debate and controversy, but for many African companies the choice is simple. For them, the cryptocurrency is not at all related to anonymous black market business – it’s about enabling them to flourish. Sanne Wass speaks with Elizabeth Rossiello of BitPesa to find out more.
“It’s like shampoo: you try it, it works, you use it.”
It is with a smile that Elizabeth Rossiello compares bitcoin to shampoo when asked if it is hard to convince African businesses to use the highly-disputed virtual currency.
But the issues she has set out to solve are of a more serious nature. “This is not a light problem. These are companies that are really struggling and when you’re struggling, you look for other solutions,” she says.
Rossiello is the founder and CEO of BitPesa, a pan-African exchange platform that uses bitcoin to help businesses make or receive international payments.
She started the company in Kenya in 2013, after having worked in investment banking in Europe and then moving to Nairobi in 2009 to work in microfinance. There, she discovered the everyday hurdles faced by Kenyan businesses: despite a real need, they lack ways to move money across borders. Paying a supplier abroad or receiving a payment from a regional customer is not only expensive – according to Rossiello the average cost is 12% in Africa – it is also highly manual and inconvenient, and can take weeks.
That was how the idea of BitPesa was born. Fast forward four years to 2017, the company helps thousands of clients make international payments through the de-centralised bitcoin network. Outside of Kenya, it now also operates in Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and works with licenced brokers with access to local accounts all over the world.
As BitPesa expanded, so did the problems it found it could solve using the digital currency. “In Nigeria, not only were we fighting plain old delays, inefficiencies and high cost, we also started to fight currency controls. A big problem there is that any time you want another currency, whether its Chinese renminbi or Swiss franc, the only way to get it is to first buy dollars. Dollars are restricted, and a lot of companies don’t even want dollars,” Rossiello says. Nigeria today is BitPesa’s biggest market.
Where a payment would often take up to two weeks through a local bank, BitPesa can do it in a few minutes, and no longer than an hour. It is not only convenient and quick, it increases the liquidity of businesses, which avoid having to settle transactions in dollars.
“Bitcoin is a really incredible business tool,” she says. “And it’s especially great for trade finance, any kind of cross-border activity.”
So how does it work? Rossiello gives an example of a Nigerian company that needs to pay its supplier in China. Via the BitPesa app or website, the Nigerian customer makes a transfer to BitPesa – in the local currency and through its local bank. BitPesa then buys bitcoin and sells it on to a Chinese broker, a licenced partner, who makes sure the money goes into the recipient’s local bank account in China.
Amounts of up to US$10,000 are transferred automatically, while larger sums have to be approved by BitPesa.
“In one hour or less, my Nigerian customer has made a payment in naira, he has all the documentation and his partners in China has been paid,” Rossiello says. “Often people take out guarantees of letters of credit for this period when their payment is being made. So it actually reduces the need for trade financing, because they can do instant payments. Suddenly you remove the two weeks of nonsense.”
Real world impact
Since the cryptocurrency was first released in 2009, bitcoin has been a contentious entity. Critics point to the fact that its popularity hinges on its anonymity and thus the ability to use it for illicit activity.
This is an argument that Rossiello often hears, with people claiming that they only use bitcoin to “cheat the system”.
“Everybody is critical of it, and get crazy about it,” she says.
But she emphasises that BitPesa has all the relevant regulatory licenses in the countries in which it operates, including from the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, and it undertakes all the required know your customer and compliance obligations. The company even has a seat on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s committee for virtual currency.
Another common concern is the price volatility of the bitcoin. According to Rossiello, that does not matter for the users of BitPesa, who are guaranteed the price shown when the payment is made. She says the risk is removed by the fact that the company settles instantly.
Once the bitcoin is sent, it is immediately changed into local currency and delivered locally. BitPesa doesn’t hold bitcoin, it merely uses it as a medium. “I’m just buying and selling African currencies – and bitcoin – all day long,” Rossiello explains.
In fact, the end-users are often traditional companies in that they only hold local currencies, and do not necessarily know anything about bitcoin or that it is used for their transactions. For them, the experience is much like sending money through any other mobile service.
But the impact on the ground is huge. It enables companies to do things that people elsewhere in the world may take for granted, such as paying their employees on time.
Today, the average transaction size on the BitPesa platform is US$25,000, and most use it in more than one trade corridor. The company’s largest customers transfer US$100,000 a day, sometimes even more.
Most of them start out small, Rossiello explains.
“Nearly all our customers grow with us. They all start small and grow. A lot of them enter new markets with us. They may have thought, ‘I could never enter this adjacent market,’ but now that it’s so easy to make payments, or collect payments, or hedge the risk, because you can do instant payments, they start to enter these new markets.”
She references a fast-growing company that launched in Kenya after having received a major investment from a venture capitalist in America. “They quickly went to Uganda and Tanzania using our model as a business tool and they got to test out the market and see which one would work for them, just because we were there. They asked, ‘Where are you? We will go where you are’.”
Partnering with banks?
Going forward, BitPesa will continue to open up its platform in new payment corridors to better serve the growing number of people doing business in Africa. This year, it is looking to enter Ghana, Morocco and Egypt.
What’s more, the platform is not only suitable for payments, but can help bridge the funding gap for SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa, a function the company is already exploring.
Earlier this year, BitPesa partnered with BitBond, a Berlin-based firm that connects fixed-income investors with small business owners who need loans.
The integration between the two platforms enables borrowers in Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania to receive loans from anywhere in the world in their local currency, paid out directly to a mobile money or bank account, within minutes.
Rossiello hopes to add other features to the platform in the future, such as partnering with an invoice company. She says she would love to see the platform integrated with banks too, but that might have to come at a later stage.
“A lot of these banks are such slow-moving ships,” she ends.
The post Bitcoin – an opportunity for African traders? appeared first on Global Trade Review (GTR).


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SEO Experts Company India is excited to share its recent recognition among the Best local and GMB optimization companies in India by Outlook. This acknowledgment marks a significant milestone for the company, affirming its dedication to delivering exceptional SEO services.
Outlook, a leading news magazine, is famous for its comprehensive coverage of business, current affairs, politics, latest happenings, and trends. “This prestigious recognition from Outlook brings immeasurable pride, confirming SEO Experts Company India’s commitment to providing outstanding digital solutions for its clients,” commented Navneet Singh, CEO of the company.
SEO Experts Company India is a ruling SEO and marketing agency that helps businesses of all sizes secure higher rankings in search engine result pages. The company runs an insightful examination to understand the client’s needs and utilizes a comprehensive set of SEO tools and experience to deliver powerful results.
Speaking more about the accomplishment, Navneet Singh, CEO of SEO Experts Company India, said, “We are thrilled to be listed among the best local and GMB optimization companies in India. It’s an honor as well as motivation for the entire team of SEO Experts Company India, who work tirelessly to provide impactful solutions and help clients achieve their SEO goals.”
About SEO Experts Company India
Founded in 2019, SEO Experts Company India has been growing consistently and setting new benchmarks by providing tailored SEO solutions to its clients. Headquartered in Mohali, Punjab, the company stands true to its tagline: “We rank your brand through data and experience.” SEO Experts Company India combines efforts and expertise to help businesses rank in search engines and boost revenue.
Backed by a team of 40+ dedicated professionals, the agency offers customized strategies to help meet your business goals while sticking to white-hat SEO practices. Besides local SEO and GMB optimization, here’s a list of other services that the company offers:
- International SEO
- Technical SEO
- On-page SEO
- Off-page SEO
- Keyword research
- Content development
- Link building, etc.
You can reach out to their team to learn more about their acclaimed SEO services.


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EquipmentShare issues bond offering
By Lewis Tyler02 May 2023
US-based rental and technology company EquipmentShare hopes to raise US$750 million (€684 million) through a company bond issue.
The company said the proceeds of the private offering will be used to repay and refinance some of its existing debt and for general corporate purposes.
It is the first time the company has entered the bond market.
The announcement comes just weeks after the company announced it had completed a $290 million (€264 million) funding round in a bid to grow its coverage and continue to invest in its digital solutions.
It also held a funding round in 2021 to support the launch of its T3 management system.
Delivered directly to your inbox, International Rental Newsletter features the pick of the breaking news stories, product launches, show reports and more from KHL's world-class editorial team.


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–Cross posted from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce blog—
Jordan Zietz is the CEO of GameReef, a video game console rental company. GameReef, rents video consoles and games so clients can test systems before buying them. GameReef also donates game consoles to children’s hospitals.
Jordan is entering the eighth grade at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton, Fla., was named a finalist in the 2015 Saunders Scholars Competition, and pitched his business to a panel of judges at the 2015 America’s Small Business Summit on June 8 in Washington, D.C. Jordan was awarded third place in the final competition.
Zietz started his business out of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA!) chapter sponsored by the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce. His company won the YEA! Southeast regional competition in May.
Zietz is president of the National Junior Beta Club, and recently placed 15th overall in the nation for the Mathfax Algebra 1 Test. He has also been nominated for the People to People Leadership Summit, and recently competed for his school in the regional Math Counts competition.


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LONDON — Designer resale site Vestiaire Collective has undertaken a study highlighting counterfeit purchases in the online marketplace that lays bare the numbers of women who have been duped into purchasing fake items thinking they were buying genuine ones.
According to the report, 61 percent of female online-marketplace shoppers have been misled into purchasing counterfeit designer goods, or knew at least one person who had accidentally bought a fake designer item through the Internet. Furthermore, 66 percent of women admitted they did not possess the knowledge to tell the difference between a counterfeit product and a genuine item.
The report shows that in 2013 more than 39 million people shopped online in Britain. The study reveals that about 35 percent of female online shoppers who purchased items from resale Web sites said they were unaware they had purchased at least one counterfeit designer item, while 18 percent of respondents were not sure of the validity of some of the items they bought. Some 21 percent assumed they did not make any counterfeit purchases.
“We noticed the rise in the popularity of online marketplaces five years ago, and at the same time we spotted a gap in the market for a trusted site, where customers could be sure that the items they purchased are genuine,” said Fanny Moizant, Vestiaire Collective’s cofounder. “So we launched Vestiairecollective.com in 2009, putting authenticity and quality control at the center of the business.
“The material can tell you a lot about the quality of an item; if it’s leather it should feel and smell like leather. If the item you’re inspecting is a bag, make sure you take a good look at the stitching: Uneven or slanted stitching is a sign of a poorly made item and therefore a counterfeit. Check the logo, which is often a slip-up area for many copies; every brand includes unique details to ensure they can identify a genuine piece. Finally, look for a serial number and color variations in the material.”
Vestiairecollective.com was founded in Paris and has more than 2.4 million members in 40 countries and offices located in Paris, London, New York and Germany. Vestiaire Collective is a part of the Fight Against Online Counterfeiting Charter, an initiative by the French government that focuses on protecting shoppers against counterfeit practices.


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Jaguar’s planned move to an battery-electric automaker has claimed its first victim: the British premium brand’s next flagship XJ limousine which was due to be launched this year.
Already in final pre-production testing, the Jaguar XJ has become a stillborn victim of Jaguar Land Rover’s new “Reimagine” strategy, even though the limousine was engineered and designed as a pure battery electric (EV) car.
With Jaguar shifting away from its traditions to become an EV-only brand by 2025, the XJ “will not form part of the lineup”, JLR CEO Thierry Bolloré admitted yesterday.
Jaguar was reluctant to comment on the future of the XJ EV limousine, though, and initially danced through loopholes to avoid mentioning it.
It began saying that it was "not discontinuing current products and does not plan to stop production of any present models early”, which neatly sidestepped the XJ, which was not yet in production.
Bolloré then confirmed that the Castle Bromwich factory in England, which was penned in as the XJ’s production plant, would be “repurposed” after its current production cars were phased out before 2025.
It only admitted the fate of the XJ, which was first seen testing on public roads two years ago, on further questioning.
"Following a thorough technology review against the exponential change in the automotive industry, we concluded that the planned XJ replacement does not fit with our vision for a reimaged Jaguar brand,” a Jaguar spokesperson said.
"We have made the tough decision that it will not form part of the line-up, as the brand looks to realize its unique potential."
It’s almost certain the XJ name will be used instead on one of the new EV models coming off Jaguar’s new modular EV architecture.
JLR has a poor track record on emissions, setting aside US$118 million to cover fines for missing the 130.6 gram/km CO2 binding target set by the European Union.
It was forced into a mid-year stop-sale on the Ranger Rover Evoque P300e and the Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e plug-in hybrids (PHEV) – the two volume SUVs it was relying upon to lower its CO2 average – because of misleading emissions claims.
It cut increased their claimed emission figures from 32 grams/km for the Evoque and 36 grams for the Discovery Sport to 44 grams and 48 grams respectively, while slashing their pure EV range from 66km to just 43km.
It also recalled 44,000 cars in August last year due to excessive emissions.
The last car from the regime of the multi award-winning Jaguar design boss Ian Callum, the XJ would have become Jaguar’s second EV behind 2019’s I-Pace crossover.
The I-Pace, which won the World Car of the Year award in 2019, will remain Jaguar’s lone EV until the first arrival off its new stand-alone electric platform, in 2024.
Timing, as much as anything else, seems to have caused the premature downfall of the big limousine, with its usual decade-long production cycle meaning it would run relatively old EV technology alongside Jaguar’s new generation of EV products.
The I-Pace lifecycle, by comparison, would see it replaced somewhere around 2026 or 2027, allowing Jaguar the production and development flexibility to fill in an EV product range before its replacement arrives.


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New Delhi: A viral video from China has exposed the dark side to the country’s obsession with ‘mystery box’. The craze sees people order a gift box without knowing what’s in it.
In the latest controversial video, a delivery truck can be seen carrying puppies and kittens in small boxes that are taped up. The animals appear scared and shrieking in the video.
An animal rights group called Love Home took a video of this on 3 May in the Chinese city of Chengdu. During a raid, 156 boxes of puppies and kittens were found. Some of the small animals were dead.
It's all the rage in China.
Consumers get a surprise when they order a "mystery box." No item is spared, even live pets are packaged and sent. Many arrive dead or barely alive.
And It's causing outrage among animal lovers in China.
(Produced by @gus_watson /WARNING: GRAPHIC) pic.twitter.com/FLx3bwXQB1
— Kristie Lu Stout✌? (@klustout) May 21, 2021
Images from this video have spread like wildfire across various social media platforms in China, sparking outrage against the widespread use of ‘mystery boxes’, which have steadily become China’s favourite shopping craze. The phrase ‘pet blind box’ has had millions of views on Chinese microblogging website, Weibo.
Also read: Did China hide birth control measures enforced in Xinjiang? Australia study thinks so
The mystery box phenomenon
In China, consumers are lapping up ‘mystery boxes’ — a small box made without knowing the present inside the box. Typically, the gift inside the box is a collectible figurine. However, lately some users have been receiving small pets in their mystery boxes.
Ding Ying, an associate professor of marketing at Renmin University of China in Beijing, explained this phenomenon to People’s Daily, the state-run newspaper. “Compared to products with fixed returns, those with uncertainty can bring consumers greater pleasure and the emotions can last longer,” Ding said.
“The biggest difference between mystery boxes and lucky bags is that the mystery box is in a series… consumers have an inherent need for closure, thus they tend to own the whole series once they get one,” he added.
In its initial public offering in December 2020, a mystery box maker, Pop Mart raised $676 million. The same month, People’s Daily said the mystery box industry could reach 30 billion yuan ($4.59 billion) by 2024.
Cruelty on animals
What started as a fun shopping exercise has turned into a nightmare for animals. Even though transfer and delivery of live animals by mail is illegal in China, the authorities don’t take appropriate actions.
“None of the supervising administrative departments has taken concrete measures to ensure the regulations on transporting living creatures are strictly followed,” a state-run newspaper said.
Xinhua, another state-run newspaper said, “Treating pets as toys, the ‘pet blind box’ is a desecration of life.”
Love Home’s founder Chen Yunlian revealed in a social media post, “Vendors usually stop providing food and water a day before the departure to limit animal’s excretions.”
ZTO, the courier company that was involved in delivering these animals said that the delivery person has been suspended and his annual performance bonus has also been deducted.
Also read: China’s Mars landing will be a greater feat with the release of more data