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“People as media” isn’t just a cool concept.
It’s a practice used today to build brand and boost sales for a variety of products — all the way from beer to bad-tasting medicine, and with astounding results.
At the recently concluded 2009 Marketing Week conference organized by the Canadian Marketing Association in Toronto, agency experts talked about hugely successful campaigns built on direct engagement with people, both offline and online.
“At the end of the day it’s about shifting from a buy media to an earn media mindset,” said Matthew Ramella, senior marketing manager, media, sponsorship and digital marketing at Labatt Breweries of Canada based in London, Ont.
That’s why at Labatt’s advertising dollars are being shifted to social media and experiential marketing, Ramella said. “That’s where we have the opportunity to recruit brand ambassadors and use them to create conversations around our products.”
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In Canada, he noted, more than 400,000 fans of Labatt beer brands are on Facebook right now.
Apart from social media, the focus is also on offline and online integration. “It’s been a huge game changer for Labatt, and a key business driver over the past couple of years.”
Many of the firm’s marketing accomplishments, Ramella said, were driven by successfully motivating people to create free media for its brands.
“Across the world, Labatt has the most fans of any beer manufacturer. Once you have that scale, the next step is to engage those resources to create free media.”
The runaway success of the Bud Light Lime launch in Canada, last December, is proof enough this approach really works, he said.
“The launch was 100 per cent driven by social media and PR strategy,” recalled Ramella. “We came out of the gate without any traditional media — only deploying social and PR tactics.”
For instance, through a Facebook launch party the marketing team reached out to key influencers, who had already asked about bringing Bud Light Lime to Canada.
These fans were asked to start their own party groups, recruiting 300 of their friends, and friends of friends.
Through this process, he said, in just four weeks, 22,000 unique party RSVPs were created, with a chance to win a Bud Light Lime Party, to be brought to the winner’s own home town, wherever they lived in Canada.
“This online engagement led to real offline action,” Ramella said.
While Labatt executed just one official launch party, he said many of the groups held their own Bud Light Lime launch parties in their respective cities.
Bad taste creates good buzz
Such a personalized approach is a must for brands sold principally through retail outlets, said James Fraser, partner and managing director of retail at Toronto-based marketing firm, Capital C.
“Let’s be candid – retailers don’t really care about your brand,” said Fraser. “They care about your brand’s impact on the categories they play in. That’s a subtle but significant difference.”
Bottomline: brand managers can’t create “mass experiences” meant to go into every one of the thousands of Canadian stores. “That strategy just won’t work. Retailers are asking: what’s my program? And they don’t want to see it across the road.”
He said a good example of a “small, personalized program” was Buckley’s Bad Taste Tour — which got perfectly healthy people to taste Buckley’s cough mixture at various Canadian locations.
Participants were given a spoon full of Buckley’s cough mixture to swallow and their grimacing faces captured on digital camera.
“People tasted it because they knew we were going to take their picture, put it on the Bad Taste Web site, where it could be viewed by their friends.”
He said while photos of a few hundred people were taken, site visitors numbered in the tens of thousands. “The reason they were going to the site was to see their friends make these horrible faces.”
Fraser said brand managers need to make sure the dollars they put into things like retail samples work much harder. “So let’s say 300 people taste the sample, how do you get them to talk to 3,000 others and so on. That’s the kind of thing retailers are looking for … something that can really generate a buzz.”
He said as markers move into the new world of “shopper marketing” they should understand the new order of operations – which is category, retailer, brand. “The reverse – brand, retailer, category was the old way – and just doesn’t work anymore!”
Jingle Sells, Jingle Sells Band-Aid all the way
The principle of moving from a buy media to an earn media mindset is also exemplified by clever use of the Band-Aid jingle (stuck on me), said Chad Grenier, vice-president retail and event marketing at Irving, Texas-based Mosaic Experiential Marketing.
He said last year healthcare products manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Inc. approached his agency to help them get the jingle out to Canadians.
“Those who’ve sung it know just how catchy the jingle is and how difficult to get out of your head. Now the question was what was the best way to get Canadians singing the jingle, sharing it with friends and family, and get that amplified through social media networks.”
For starters, he said, the campaign team use scores of events, festivals and fairs to publicize the jingle.
“The main attraction was the opportunity people had to grab some great props – an inflatable guitar, or some goofy sunglasses – don them very quickly, and sing the jingle. It created a sensation.”
He said a video would also be recorded of the person singing, which was later emailed to them. “They could share with their friends and family — their own social network.”
These offline events produced a phenomenal online buzz, Grenier said.
“For every one video shared, 20 people came back to the Band-Aid Canada site – stuckonme.ca. As much as 25 per cent of the traffic to this site came through Facebook. And the great thing is we didn’t do any media buy on Facebook – it was all earned.”
He said e-mail open rates exceeded expectations, and testified to high levels of audience engagement.
“We anticipated high open rates on the first e-mail with the video link with their jingle. But months later when we e-mailed them again to say we would award one person the title for the best jingle nearly 70 per cent opened and engaged with the brand again.”
Grenier said the dollars peeled out of traditional media spends for the integrated Band-Aid jingle campaign delivered results far beyond expectations.
“We generated tens of millions of new impressions, millions of event impressions, hundreds of thousands of trial experiences, and a very strong Web campaign.”
He said Johnson & Johnson, in a tough economic year, saw significant grown in sales, including double-digit sales growth on the Perfect Fit brand – a premium category, which was previously sliding.


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What is in this article?:
- Texas Ag Commissioner leads coalition opposed to federal proposals
- Immediate action requested
- Texas Ag commissioner heads coalition
- Opposed Federal proposals
- Damage to livestock industry claimed
Immediate action requested
In a letter addressed to J. Dudley Butler, administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration, Commissioner Staples and 15 other commissioners of state agriculture departments are requesting immediate action in revising the proposed regulations.
“We’ve worked extremely hard to grow our livestock and poultry industries into powerhouses of productivity, and our consumers expect nothing less,” Commissioner Staples said. “I am honored to lead this effort and stand shoulder to shoulder with my fellow commissioners, secretaries and directors of agriculture to support our farmers and ranchers in challenging this Washington, DC attempt to adversely overhaul our livestock and poultry markets.”
If implemented, the proposed rules would be devastating for farmers, ranchers and consumers. A study done by the American Meat Institute, estimates more than 100,000 Americans would lose their jobs, the national GDP would decrease by $14 billion and meat prices for consumers would rise.
"Delivering an affordable supply of high quality beef to kitchen tables around the world is our number one priority," said Texas Cattle Feeders Association CEO Ross Wilson. "This rule would increase the cost of beef to consumers while dramatically increasing costs to the beef production system and we stand with Commissioner Staples in strongly opposing it."
These GIPSA proposals would not only undermine large sectors of states’ economies, but also would be drastically and unfairly counterproductive to a firmly established industry that has made great strides in food safety, quality control and cost-effective efficiencies. Furthermore, USDA has not presented sufficient evidence and economic analysis that the changes will better the industry for both producers and consumers.

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The world produces about 400 million tonnes of plastic every year and the figure is increasing exponentially. Now a World Health Organisation report confirms microscopic particles, fibres, flakes and specks of plastic are finding their way into the water billions of people drink.
We don't know enough to categorically say whether the microplastics in our environment are making us sick, but this should not be reason for complacency, the report says.
Global plastic production is predicted to double by 2025 and more than triple by 2050.
An unprecendented number of plastic particles are being flushed into our waterways every day - microbeads from toothpaste, fibres from clothes, specks from shoes and cars tyres, even plastic from wastewater treatment plants - and the amount is increasing rapidly.
It's estimated the average person already ingests around 2,000 microplastic particles a week - around five grams, or the weight of a credit card.
Since the middle of last century, microplastics have found their way everywhere - even as far away as Antarctica, the Arctic and the remote peaks of the European Alps. On the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, concentrations are as high as 14,400 particles of plastic per litre. A snow sample gathered near a rural road in Bavaria had 154,000 particles per litre.
The WHO report aims to set out what the hell this is doing to our bodies, and recommend solutions to the emerging problem.
How much is there?
Microplastic concentrations in rivers and lakes range from 4.7 particles per litre (Three Gorges Reservoir in China) to about 1 particle per 20 litres (the Rhine River in Europe).
In bottled drinking water, however, recorded concentrations were far, far higher.
A 2018 study of bottled mineral water found concentrations of about 5000 particles per litre in reusable plastic bottles and up to 6000 in glass.
The report also found that although wastewater treatment removes most particles, millions still make it through the filters and back into the water supply.
A Scottish study found that a wastewater treatment plant removing 98.4 per cent of microplastics still released 65 million of these particles each day into the water supply - equivalent to 100 particles per person per day (with each person using 120 litres of water per day).
The concentration in drinking water can go up after storm events and heavy rainfall, which wash microplastics into reservoirs, temporarily bypassing wastewater treatment.
Rates also tend to be higher downstream of effluent discharge, and in areas near densely populated urban centres, the report found.
Where's it all coming from?
The report names a few sources:
- Road surface run-off from the breakdown of road-marking paints and tyre wear debris
- Fibres released from textiles due to wear-and-tear and washing
- Abrasion from the shoe soles and artificial turf (known collectively as 'city dust')
- Agricultural plastics used for mulching
- Cosmetic microbeads
- Disintegrated parts of consumer products flushed down toilets and sinks
- Nurdles - also known as pre-production pellets - are the raw material of the plastic industry. They're made into bottles, bags, straws, and so on
- Degraded fishing nets and other 'macroplastic debris' in the ocean
- Treatment plants themselves - their components and pipes are made from plastic and can erode or degrade, contributing to the problem
- The bottles and caps of bottled water
How are they getting into our bodies?
Through pretty much everything you can imagine, according to the report.
We ingest microplastics both from the food we eat (fish and shellfish are particularly high in particles, but even sea salt, honey and beer are culprits), and from the way we eat (you're probably eating parts of that plastic fork, cup, or plate).
We also ingest them through - wait for it - breathing.
Microplastics are in the air; an experiment conducted in Paris found up to 60 fibres per square metre indoors, and up to 1.5 fibres per square metre outdoors.
One study estimated we are exposed to up to 68,000 particles of microplastic a year just from the dust that falls on our meals.
What does this mean for our health?
While humans have ingested plastic particles for decades, what they do to our bodies has not been well studied, the report says.
Risks include the toxicity of the particles themselves, (this depends on their size and the type of plastic), of the additives incorporated into the plastics, and of the pollutants they accumulate (or 'sorb') from the environment in which they circulate.
The report states: "There is insufficient information to draw firm conclusions on potential risk associated with exposure to particles at this time. However, the polymers comprising microplastic particles are generally considered to be inert when ingested and the limited evidence on particle kinetics suggests that a large fraction of microplastics pass through the digestive system without uptake.
"Overall, there does not seem to be any reliable information at this time that would suggest any overt health concerns associated with microplastic particles."
It calls for more research: "No reliable information suggests it is a concern."
When it came to chemicals (both additives and sorbed pollutants), the report found that exposure represented a "low concern for human health".
Another risk is 'biofilms' - microorganisms that attach to and colonise the particles, allowing the organisms to travel long distances and better resist chemical treatment.
The report states: "The possibility that pathogens could invade new localities, and natural, non-pathogenic microorganisms could potentially acquire and spread antimicrobial resistance genes are issues of concern that need to be further studied."
What do we do?
Whether or not microplastics are a risk to human health, it's still a good idea to remove them from the environment, the report says.
One solution is to install and optimise wastewater treatment and other processes that remove microplastics from water sources.
Another is to use less plastic. More than 60 countries are already taxing or banning single-use plastics and countries such as the UK and US have developed legislation to eliminate plastic microbeads in personal care product such as scrubs and toothpaste.
In March, Ministers of Environment from 157 countries committed to significantly reduce single-use plastic products by 2030.
Another is to recycle more. Researchers have estimated that only 9 per cent of plastic ever produced has been recycled, and that, without action by 2050, there will be 12 billion tonnes of plastic in landfills and the environment.
In this, Australia has been a pretty bad offender. Only a small proportion of plastic waste produced in the country is recycled. Most is shipped overseas, where it often finds its way into oceans and rivers. Here, it can break down and become microplastics.
Summarising the findings, the WHO Department of Public Health Director Dr Maria Neira said, "we urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics."
"They are everywhere," she continued.
"We also need to stop the rise in plastic pollution worldwide."


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Protect Oregon Recreation Applauds Bipartisan Legislation to Restore Liability Waiver Protection
Bill will restore long-standing, balanced approach that exists in every other western state
SALEM, Ore. – January 19, 2023 – Protect Oregon Recreation today praised the introduction of Senate Bill 754, sponsored by Sen. Aaron Woods (D) and co-sponsored by Sens. Bill Hansell (R) and Tim Knopp (R) and Reps. John Lively (D), David Gomberg (D) and Ken Helm (D). Backed by bipartisan support, the proposed reform is crucial to the accessibility and affordability of recreation and fitness for people across Oregon.
The bill is in response to recent court rulings that have effectively nullified Oregon liability waivers. Oregon businesses are now paying significantly more for liability insurance than other western states. As a result, recreation and fitness providers are forced to either increase consumer costs or eliminate recreation options altogether. This will have a devastating effect on small businesses, rural communities and recreationists throughout the state.
“Access to recreation, especially health clubs and gyms, is essential to the health and well-being of Oregonians across the state,” said Jim Zupancic, president of the board of directors for the Oregon Health & Fitness Alliance. “We applaud the leadership of Senator Woods for introducing legislation that will help preserve access to recreation and fitness for all of our communities.”
Oregon indoor and outdoor recreation providers generate $16.75 billion in economic activity, which makes them an economic force across the state. Collectively, they employ 245,000 Oregonians and contribute more than $1 billion in tax revenue to the state and local communities. Reducing recreation opportunities will disproportionately harm small businesses across Oregon, both urban and rural.
With this legislation, Oregon will return to the same liability standard as every other western state. Like California and Washington, individuals who engage in inherently risky activities will accept responsibility for their activity, while businesses will be held accountable for the safety of their operations. This is common sense and a well-established approach. Now, Oregon businesses shoulder substantially all the risk, and this imbalance threatens the viability of those businesses and recreation options for people across the state.
“Connecting with the outdoors is embedded into our DNA as Oregonians,” said Jordan Elliott, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association.“Without waiver reform, Oregonians risk losing access to their favorite outdoor activities across our state’s mountains, trails, lakes and rivers.”
Protect Oregon Recreation was founded by the Oregon Health & Fitness Alliance, Oregon Outdoor Alliance and Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association. The coalition’s rapidly growing membership includes almost 100 local businesses, non-profits and user groups that provide recreation and fitness opportunities to Oregonians and those who travel here to participate in the recreational activities Oregon has to offer. Like many businesses, recreation and fitness businesses struggle with inflation, natural disasters and the recent pandemic. Oregon’s recreation and fitness industry needs the support of lawmakers and the public to survive, and waiver reform is a meaningful step toward a more certain future.
For more information and to sign a petition in support of the bill, visit www.protectoregonrec.org.


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According to "an insider" at Rockstar Games, there is a sequel in production to Red Dead Redemption 2. What's so special about RDR 2? According to the rumor, it will have a heavy emphasis on cooperative play, which would be a very, very big change.
The insider took to the NeoGAF forums, where they said: "So I spoke to an insider at Rockstar who confirmed that Rockstar is indeed developing a sequel to Red Dead Redemption for PS4/Xbox One. Don't have a lot of concrete details but expect co-op to be integrated and focused on".
We shouldn't be surprised that it is riding onto the Xbox One and PS4, but we should be surprised at the lack of a PC version. Considering the total craziness surrounding the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V, you'd think Rockstar would've learned by now, that the PC audience is huge. Hopefully this changes closer to Red Dead Redemption 2's announcement, and release.
We knew it was coming, but today it's here: Metal Gear Online has been announced. Metal Gear Online is the online side of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and was unveiled today at The Game Awards.
Metal Gear Online is being developed by Kojima Production's new LA-based studio, with an MGS spin on the team deathmatch goodness, kind of. Within the team-based competitive shooter, players can tag enemy locations with their binoculars, teleport, leave toy dogs to distract their enemies, and shoot down fulton parachutes that could steal, or kidnap their friends. There's also an AT-ST style bipedal walking tank, but I'll let you check out the trailer for that one.
Update: Techland has reportedly updated the PC system requirements for Dying Light, which are much more tame than we reported. Instead of 8GB of RAM being required, and 16GB of RAM recommended, it is 4GB required and 8GB recommended. The GPU side of things is much better - with the required GeForce GTX 560 or Radeon HD 6870 versus the GTX 670 and Radeon HD 7870. The recommended GPU stays the same, with a GTX 780 or R9 290 recommended for Dying Light.
Techland has revealed the PC requirements for its upcoming zombie shooter, Dying Light. Dying Light will have PC gamers needing, at a minimum, an Intel Core i5-2500 at 3.3GHz, or an AMD FX-8320 at 3.5GHz. Not only that, but you'll need 8GB of RAM, 40GB of free HDD space, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 or AMD Radeon HD 7870.
If you want to run the game with Dying Light's recommended PC specifications, you'll need a Core i5-4670K at 3.4GHz, FX-8350 at 4GHz. Something that is surprising, is that Techland is recommending you have 16GB of RAM which isn't super crazy these days, but it's still a damn steep requirement for something that doesn't feature the most mind-blowing graphics. You'll still need 40GB of HDD space, with the GPU requirements scaling up to a GeForce GTX 780 or Radeon R9 290.
A 64-bit version of Windows is required as a minimum, with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 all being supported.
After a hectic week of Grand Theft Auto V being pulled from Target shelves, and then Kmart Australia following through with the same action, Australian gamers are now petitioning to have the Bible banned. Yes, that Bible.
The petition has reached Change.org, where it has secured itself over 35,070 votes, with 14,930 more required. The petition states that the Bible "encourages readers to murder women for entertainment" by "commit(ting) sexual violence against women, then abuse or kill them to proceed or get 'god' points".
It continues, adding: "Target, you pride yourself on being a family company, caring for local communities, and have a strong ethical sourcing policy. How can you do this while contributing to hostile and callous attitudes toward victims of violence and, more broadly, to all women?". The petition finishes by asking: "Please put ethics before profits and make a strong statement that you do not condone sexual violence, sexual exploitation or the abuse of women as 'entertainment'".
Remember the Sony Pictures hack that saw employee's computers compromised and in-cinemas movies be released to the public? Well, according to recent news - this hack is even more in depth that originally thought.
Thanks to Gizmodo we were able to learn some more information regarding the whole ordeal, including various issues that Sony may face in the near future. As according to BuzzFeed, the 40 gigabytes of data released by these hackers contained everything from medical records to unreleased movie scripts - being claimed as one of the worst corporate hacks in history.
The European Southern Observatory's Council has announced that it has approved plans to start construction of the world's largest telescope, which will be built-in Chile, and completed by 2024.
Tim de Zeeuw, the Director General of the ESO said in a statement: "The decision taken by Council means that the telescope can now be built. Major industrial construction work for the E-ELT is now funded and can proceed according to plan". The ESO will build the massive telescope on top of a mountain in Chile called Cerro Armazones, in Chile's Atacama Desert.
Back in mid-2012, the telescope was approved, but construction could only start once 90% of the funding required had been secured. This has now obviously happened, with de Zeeuw adding: "the most powerful of all the extremely large telescope projects currently planned". How big will the telescope be? We should see it featuring a 39m aperture optical and infrared telescope, which means we should see scientists capable of seeing the details of Earth-sized exoplanets, and study star populations in nearby galaxies. de Zeeuw added: "the next few years will be very exciting".
Rovio has announced that it is laying off 110 staff from its Tampere, Finland-based studio, and then closing the studio itself down. The developer of Angry Birds previously said it would lay off around 130 employees, but it has been able to lay off a little less, as it is opening up a few new positions.
This lay off of 110 employees represents around 16% of Rovio's global workforce, but the company isn't as powerful as it once was. Angry Birds was next to unstoppable, and while it might still be by branching out into different brands like Star Wars and Transformers, interest for the bird-flinging game is coming down.
Rovio's CEO, Mikael Hed, said in October: "We have been building our team on assumptions of faster growth than have materialized. It is never easy to consider changes like this, but it is better to do them sooner rather than later, when we are in a good place to reignite growth". Angry Birds still enjoys over 200 million active players every month (as of September), but this is down from the 263 million active players it had back in 2012.
It looks like the OnePlus 2 is shaping up behind closed doors, something that should feature a 5.5-inch display, either 1080p or QHD (2560x1440). It should also feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 processor, backed up by Adreno 420 graphics.
The OnePlus One handset featured a Snapdragon 801 processor, so it's a nice upgrade on its predecessor. Continuing with the internals, we should see the company plugging in a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera, 5-megapixel front-facing snapper, 32GB of on-board storage, and a 3300mAh battery. We should see it launch with Android 5.0 Lollipop, as most flagship handsets will next year.
There's just some things you need to use in order to understand, and I think the Oculus Rift is one of them. More so, the STEM system from Sixense is another, and so is the StrikerVR gun. OK, I'm done - just watch the video below.
Yeah, that's some next-gen gaming right there. A physical gun you hold in the real-world which has actual recoil, while the STEM is tracking all of its movements in real-time, while you're receiving everything visual through the VR world of the Oculus Rift. Sign. Me. Up. Also, give me Half-Life 3.
We've just been made aware of Dell's commercial December showcase thanks to Techarp forums, showing us all of the latest corporate and consumer offerings that the large-scale company will release in the near future.
The main products covered in this showcase include Dell's Venue tablets, their PowerEdge FX, updated Dell monitors and new product pricing and availability across the range. Dell have been one of the major players in the corporate structure for many years now, alongside other big names such as HP, IBM and Lenovo.
This showcase took place on the 3rd of December at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, seeing multiple topics covered. Firstly was a report on their revolutionary next-generation converted architecture. Claimed to feature a highly modular design, this method is designed to remove the need for SAN storage. The point to this being much better performance capabilities because storage is now located locally to the server, removing any bottlenecks over your network infrastructure.


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Our greatest ever prize giveaway in partnership with Trade Nation
To celebrate a new commercial partnership launch, Somerset CCC and Trade Nation have teamed up to bring fans the chance of winning an incredible lockdown package. This is the Club’s biggest ever prize giveaway!
- A year supply of Thatchers Cider or Tribute Ale!
- A behind-the-scenes tour of the Cooper Associates County Ground and a chance to meet the Somerset 1st XI squad!
- A special C100 Millichamp and Hall cricket bat with standout orange and black decals. Same specification used by Club Captain Tom Abell and an RRP of £735!
How to enter:
You simply need to do the following:
- Guess the names of the 2 mystery cricketers in the images below! Submit your answer via our Facebook or Twitter pages
- Follow Trade Nation on either Facebook or Twitter
- Click here and register for a special Zoom chat on Wednesday at 1pm, where these two cricketers will announce the winner of this amazing prize!
During the Zoom event on Wednesday 17th June at 1pm, a question and answer session will also take place between our mystery guests!
More information can be found about Trade Nation by clicking here
T&C’s apply. Behind the scenes tour will take place once deemed safe by the UK Government. This competition is only eligible for participants over the age of 18. Winner announced on Wednesday 17th June live on Zoom.Back to News


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Reliance Jio may have big news for you this July 5
Reliance IndustriesLimited (RIL) is all set to hold its Annual General Meeting on July 5. It is expected that RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani could announce the availability of the JioFiber Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband service during the meeting. Recently, a person familiar with the developments told Economic Times that the commercial launch of Jio’s home broadband services may indeed happen on July 5. The FTTH service from Jio has been under the testing phase since 2016 and it is claimed as the next big launch for the company.
Attractive broadband data plans
After unleashing the brutal price war in the mobile services space with its disruptive pricing following its entry in September 2016, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio looks set to shake up the home broadband market. Reliance Jio is gearing up to offer an attractive combo of fast broadband connectivity at initial data speeds of 100 Mbps with huge amount of free data. Along with broadband speeds, Reliance Jio is reportedly set to offer users access to unlimited videos and voice calls through the VoIP (voice over internet protocol) route for around Rs 1,000-1,500 a month.
It is likely that Jio — which is already running a pilot in many cities of its broadband service — will offer bouquet for free initially to attract customers, similar to its strategy in the mobile phone space.
Meanwhile Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel is revving up its countrywide wired broadband game to protect turf ahead of Jio’s commercial rollout of its ultra-fast home broadband services. “Airtel will do whatever it takes to stay competitive on services and tariffs and grow our home customer base,” a senior Bharti Airtel executive told ET recently.
Airtel has already felt the effects of Jio’s launch after being forced to cut rates for some of its plans and increase free data limits. This has led to its home services revenue shrinking nearly 11% on-year to Rs 604.2 crore in the quarter ended March, triggered by 12.6% on-year ARPU dilution, according to ET.


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On July 16, 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) issued its judgment in the “Schrems II” case, cautiously upholding Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) and invalidating the popular EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. The judgment is the second major triumph affecting transatlantic commerce for Austrian privacy activist, Max Schrems.
Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), an organization may only transfer individuals’ personal data to non-EU countries for processing if the European Commission determines the third country “ensures an adequate level of protection”. Previously, the European Commission had recognized three methods for lawful transfer of EU personal data to the U.S.: (1) a voluntary arrangement by which U.S. organizations self-certify compliance with certain privacy principles (Privacy Shield); (2) standard contractual clauses between the data controller and data processor, based on approved model clauses (SCCs); and (3) similar commitments adopted in binding non-contractual rules applicable solely within the corporate group (Binding Corporate Rules).
Schrems’ first major victory affecting EU-U.S. data transfers, “Schrems I”, was in 2015 when the CJEU invalidated the EU-U.S. Safe Harbor, Privacy Shield’s predecessor, based on concerns about U.S. surveillance practices. In his second complaint, Schrems argued that SCCs should be invalidated for similar concerns regarding U.S. law.
Fortunately for the thousands of businesses that rely on SCCs for data transfer outside the EU, the high court rejected Schrems’ argument with regards to SCCs, with a caveat. Although SCCs remain a valid framework for data transfers, the CJEU announced the data controller or processor must perform a case-by-case analysis to ensure the third country’s laws sufficiently ensure an adequate level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU by the GDPR. If the third country’s laws fall short, the data controller or processor must provide additional safeguards to ensure adequacy or immediately cease the transfer.
The CJEU also took the opportunity to assess the sufficiency of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, a collaborative tool created in 2016 by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the European Commission, in light of the GDPR. The Privacy Shield has been relied upon by over 5,000 companies since its adoption in 2016, including more than 1,000 companies who signed up in the last year, to transfer data across the Atlantic. In its decision, the CJEU found that, similar to the EU-U.S. Safe Harbor, the Privacy Shield failed to (1) prevent U.S. government surveillance programs and other third parties from accessing transferred data, and (2) provide EU citizens with an adequate means to challenge the transfers.
Although EU regulators provided a grace period before enforcing the Schrems I decision, clear guidance has not been given regarding any grace period applicable after Schrems II. Since the ruling, both U.S. and EU officials have said they are in talks to determine what’s next, and Vera Jourova, the European Commission’s Vice President for Values and Transparency, emphasized last Thursday that they “will not be starting from scratch,” but instead using the “further valuable guidance” of the Schrems II decision to create an updated tool and modernize SCCs. For now, businesses’ contractual and U.S. regulatory obligations to adhere to the Privacy Shield have not diminished, and businesses can continue to rely on SCCs in order to transfer personal data. Hopefully, EU and U.S. officials will respond to the ruling as quickly as they addressed the invalidation of the EU-U.S. Safe Harbor and provide a thoughtful mechanism for transferring personal data from the EU that will withstand future legal challenges.
 Wilbur Ross, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Statement on Schrems II Ruling and the Importance of EU-U.S. Data Flows, https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2020/07/us-secretary-commerce-wilbur-ross-statement-schrems-ii-ruling-and (last visited Jul. 19, 2020); Vera Jourova, Press Conference: Data Protection at International Level, https://twitter.com/EU_Commission/status/1283706783941505025 (Jul. 16, 2020).
About Data Points: Privacy & Data Security Blog
The technology and regulatory landscape is rapidly changing, thus impacting the manner in which companies across all industries operate, specifically in the ways they collect, use and secure confidential data. We provide transparent and cutting-edge insight on critical issues and dynamics. Our team informs business decision-makers about the information they must protect, and what to do if/when security is breached.


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The microalgae in the game is based on a real species which has been widely studied because its accumulation of long-chain hydrocarbon and lipids, which are similar to crude oil. At the time Metal Gear 2 was being developed, programs looking into Botryococcus braunii‘s effectiveness as a fuel source were taking place, including one from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fuels Development.
In 2012, the companies Propel Fuel and Solazyme, Inc. even sold algae-based fuel to the public, making the world seen in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake seem that much more real and attainable. The first retail sales took place as a 30-day pilot program in the San Francisco area in California. Numerous startups have followed, ushering in awareness by governments that have started regulating the use of such fuels. There’s now even the Best Microalgae Awards, given for innovation in the field.
In 2017, Zion Market Research estimated the algae biofuel market to be worth $4.7 billion, and said the industry was expected to generate 9.88 billion by the end of 2024. Zion noted that the high manufacturing cost of algae-based biofuels might hinder the market, but that future research and development could reduce that cost.


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B&Q expansion `a smoke screen'
Tuesday 07 February 1995
Details emerged over the weekend that Kingfisher had been paying the tax advice bills for Sir Geoff and Nigel Whittaker, corporate affairs director, every year since they joined the company in 1982 and 1983. It has also failed to include the £4,000 a year payments among the directors' remuneration which is published in the annual report. The company has said this was "a mistake".
B&Q Warehouse is Kingfisher's mammoth store concept aimed at trade customers and serious DIY buffs.
Kingfisher first announced plans to expand its B&Q chain last September as part of its interim figures statement.
Yesterday's announcement included little more than the number of 8,000 new jobs the expansion will create.
B&Q is opening 50 of its B&Q Warehouse outlets over the next five years . Six will open this year creating 2,00 new jobs.. Twenty B&Q outlets will be revamped during the year, with an average of 30 extra jobs created in each.
Three new B&Q outlets are also being opened during 1995. B&Q plans to focus more attention on customer service, with free advice from in-store specialist advisers and designers.
Commenting on the expansion programme, Jim Hodkinson, B&Q's chairman and chief executive, said: "We've already proved how our new and revamped stores with their new levels of customer service standards have had a direct effect on sales."
The announcement is part of a wave of activity in the British DIY market. Last month Sainsbury completed its takeover of the Texas Homecare stores which it will convert into branches of Sainsbury Homebase.
Do It All, the joint venture between WH Smith and Boots, is also refurbishing stores to improve their image and lay-out.
However, B&Q remains the market leader with nearly 14 per cent, but the chain is clearly under pressure to respond to the increased competition.
Outlook, page 26
- 1 Michelle Rodriguez: Fast & Furious actor apologises after telling 'minorities' to stop taking on 'white' roles
- 2 Raif Badawi, the Saudi Arabian blogger sentenced to 1,000 lashes, may now face the death penalty
- 3 PornHub turns masturbation into energy in bid to save the planet
- 4 Robert Mugabe eats a zoo for 'obscene' 91st birthday party
- 5 The remarkable archaeological underwater discovery that could open up a new chapter in the study of European and British prehistory
New theory could prove how life began and disprove God
This is what it's like to be dead, according to a guy who died for a bit
'Jihadi John': CAGE representative storms off Sky News accusing Kay Burley of Islamophobia
Ukip would cut billions from Scottish budget to fund English tax cuts
Russia's roadmap for annexing eastern Ukraine 'leaked from Vladimir Putin's office'
Ukraine crisis: Top Chinese diplomat backs Putin and says West should 'abandon zero-sum mentality'
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Jim Cramer has poured chilly water on the newest Bitcoin rally, urging traders to ditch it for gold
Regardless of the large surge in Bitcoin this month, CNBC’s Jim Cramer warned towards coming into the crypto area on Monday.
Referencing Carley Garner, senior commodity market strategist and dealer at DeCarley Buying and selling, Cramer cautioned traders to steer clear of cryptocurrencies and as an alternative go for gold as a hedge towards inflation or financial chaos.
Garner had regarded on the day by day chart of Bitcoin futures and the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 going again to March 2021, citing that they’re buying and selling nearly in lockstep. This means that Bitcoin is relatively a threat asset, not a retailer of worth.
Therefore, Cramer sees the lustrous steel as a significantly better different in comparison with the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
The TV host additionally highlighted counterparty dangers related to the flagship cryptocurrency in gentle of the FTX drama.
As reported by U.As we speak, Bernstein recorded a sharp rise as the results of “reversion to the imply”, an investing phenomenon that’s noticed when property with costs which have deviated too removed from their typical values are inclined to return again to their common value over time. By this logic, Bitcoin is priced larger proper now as a result of the cryptocurrency’s worth had declined considerably since its all-time highs in late December and January final 12 months, creating an anomaly.
“All Picture and Textual content copyrights belong to their respective writer on the
Source it is a syndicated feed of knowledge for academic functions.”
Beneath Half 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for trustworthy use for capabilities akin to criticism, comment, data reporting, instructing, scholarship, and evaluation. Trustworthy use is a use permitted by copyright statute which will in some other case be infringing.”


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March 28, 2017 2:14:35 pm
Beef dealers in West Bengal wish to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to apprise her of the “harrowing situation” in the state due to the crackdown on slaughterhouses in Uttar Pradesh, a representative said on Tuesday.
“It is only in Bengal and Kerala that cow slaughter is allowed. Cows used to be brought from other states… Now the supply has completely stopped,” Mohammed Ali, President of Calcutta Beef Dealers Association, told IANS.
Ali said this had “severely crippled” the livelihood of those employed directly and indirectly in the sector.
“From loading to packaging, lakhs of people are employed (in Bengal). People are scared to work in this sector now and livelihoods, cutting across religious lines, have been hit,” he added.
Ali said goods trains with 72 bogies ferried around six to eight animals in each compartment from Uttar Pradesh to Bengal.
“The supply of beef to UP has also stopped and one of the concerns is the obstruction in transportation. Trucks are being stopped and checked. We have faith in the CM that she will consider our plight,” Ali added.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.


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Netflix has a podcast on its streaming service called Stranger Things, and that show’s episodes are being broadcast on its own podcast platform.
Stranger Things fans can now stream episodes of the show on their favorite podcasting service, and the company is also launching a new show called Outbound answering services that will stream those episodes.
The company announced the Outbound service on Monday, saying that it would debut with two new episodes per week: “The Longest Night” and “The Complete List.”
Both episodes will be available on a weekly basis.
Netflix has said it will continue to offer its streaming library of episodes of its popular series like Stranger Things and Stranger Things: The Complete List.
That service will be open to new subscribers for the foreseeable future, with episodes coming out every other week, according to Netflix.
The company said that it is still trying to decide whether or not it will offer an episode-by-episode streaming service.
Netflix already offers a podcast platform for the shows it produces and its original series, including House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black, Daredevil and The Leftovers.
Netflix also has an original series called The OA, which was produced by Amazon Studios.


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As long-time H&R readers know, some commenters have been suspicious of high corn fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Some studies have linked HFCS in carbonated beverages to diabetes.
Now a scientific review of HCFS in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition argues that the sweetner has been wrongly maligned. Americans are getting fatter because they eat more food, not because of HFCS. As the press release from the Corn Refiners Association* explains:
-- High fructose corn syrup contains the same sugars compositionally as
other fructose/glucose-based sweeteners like sucrose (or table sugar), honey
or fruit juice concentrates.
-- Fructose-glucose sweeteners are metabolized through the same pathways
regardless of their dietary source.
-- There are no known substantial metabolic or nutritional differences
between high fructose corn syrup and sucrose. Both have a composition of
approximately equal parts fructose and glucose.
-- High fructose corn syrup and sucrose offer equivalent sweetness and
both contain 4 calories per gram.
-- From 1970-2005, caloric intake in the United States increased by 24%.
This was not due to a disproportionate increase in added sugars (including
high fructose corn syrup), but rather an overall increase in calories from all
food sources including fats and all other nutrient groups.
-- Per capita consumption of high fructose corn syrup has declined in the
United States in recent years, but obesity rates continue to rise.
-- High fructose corn syrup accounts for about one-half of sweetener use
in the United States but only 8% worldwide, yet obesity rates are climbing in
countries that use little or no high fructose corn syrup. Sugar remains the
predominant global sweetener.
Whole press release here.
*I will not impugn studies (and press releases) solely on the basis of who has paid for them. 😉


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While the Triple Force Friday livestream event didn’t mention the Vintage collection or showed a single Vintage Colleciton toy, Dark Side Toys posted a picture of the brand new upcoming AT-ST Raider from the Mandalorian series on their Facebook page!
Price is still unknown. Availability should be Force Friday, according to Dark Side Toys. The AT-ST comes with one figure.
Update: according to IGN, this set is a Best Buy exclusive!
Here are some additional photos!
First, the figure:
He can sit in the cockpit:
-Click HERE to return to the home page-


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The Internet of Things Needs a Business Model. Here It Is
The Internet of Things (IoT) has been near the top of the technology-hype lists for years. In 2018, Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies ranked IoT platforms as cresting the “peak of inflated expectations” stage and ready to tumble into the dreaded “trough of disillusionment,” like a barrel careening over Niagara Falls.
It’s not that IoT has flopped; far from it. Everything in our homes seems to be connected. IoT devices enable networks that make possible smart speakers, smart TVs, smart thermostats, and even smart refrigerators that can help automate our lives. The consumer market, however, is only the beginning of what is possible through the IoT.
“What you see in the consumer domain is interesting, but it’s not where the economic action is,” says Rajiv Lal, the Stanley Roth Sr. Professor of Retailing at Harvard Business School. “Most of the IoT applications that matter are in the business-to-business space.”
Indeed, the kinds of innovation possible in the B2B world seem limitless. By placing sensors on machinery and connecting them to the internet, companies can capture real-time data on their assets and processes, exploit efficiencies, proactively identify problems, and develop new workflows.
“WE CAN PUT SENSORS ON SOMETHING AND GET GREAT DATA OUT OF IT, BUT THEN THE QUESTION BECOMES WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH THAT DATA—AND HOW ARE WE GOING TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF IT?”
So why, then, do most IoT ventures fail? Despite the industry’s potential value of $11 trillion, according to McKinsey, more than 75 percent of businesses don’t make it off the ground, Lal says. That’s because most companies don’t know how to harness the potential of IoT effectively.
“We can put sensors on something and get great data out of it, but then the question becomes what are we going to do with that data—and how are we going to make money off of it?”
In the course The Business of Smart Connected Products, Lal explores the value proposition of IoT-based businesses, and how to sell devices in fields as diverse as health care, farming, and manufacturing. To be successful, he says, companies need to be clear about what they offer customers, and be prepared to pursue innovative business models to monetize it.
Oftentimes, it’s not immediately obvious how connected devices can help make a customer more efficient. “A company may have a defect rate of 4 percent, and you can say, ‘I’ll bring it down to 3 percent,’ but without any proof, the customer will say, ‘why don’t you try it out on someone else first,’” Lal says.
For that reason, instead of just selling connected products to business customers, companies must learn to help customers run pilot projects and get the most out of the data they produce. IoT pilots can take a while to prove the value proposition, so they will need to be inexpensive for business customers to find them compelling. Solution providers will also need to provide customer support to help them realize the value from the data.
Just as Xerox changed its business model from selling copiers to renting copiers and charging by the number of copies made, IoT-based companies may need to innovate on how they charge for their products, selling assets, or software-as-a-service, or shared savings contracts based on improved efficiency.
Offering such a subscription-based service may require more hands-on participation on behalf of the company to ensure customer success. “You have to deliver customer success all the time,” Lal says. “If the customer does not realize the promised outcome for whatever reason, the customer will switch off the service.”
One company that has been successful with IoT in health care is Philips, whose imaging division has created connected ultrasound and CT scan machines. Instead of just selling the machines to hospitals, the company has worked with hospitals to capture data in an imaging room and figure out the right number of machines and eliminate inefficiencies.
Pilot programs by the company showed a huge amount of time lost, for example, while recalibrating CT machines between head and abdominal scans, each of which require very different settings. Philips used that insight to develop scheduling software it sold as part of its service package, to help hospitals schedule similar procedures better, cutting down on lost time.
Another successful example is GE, which has developed sensors for wind farms. Attached to turbine blades, the sensors can help to automatically adjust the blade angle to take advantage of changes in wind direction. Knowing the economic loss from downtime for each turbine on a wind farm allowed GE to determine a better maintenance schedule for turbines, figuring out which should be fixed first, and utilizing maintenance employees’ time more efficiently.
Furthermore, those sensors can be combined with weather forecasting to help energy companies figure out the optimal amount of electricity they should sell into the grid. “Very little human intervention is needed,” Lal says.
Other companies have been successful with similar models in farming, which offers ample opportunities for sensing to weed out inefficiencies. “You can put sensors not only on the tractor, but also to see how it is connected to the hauler, how it is connected to the bin,” Lal says.
When farmers plant, they can use connected data sets across sensors to determine whether seeds have been planted correctly, and adjust the amount of fertilizer they use accordingly. “It’s so accurate, you can make these decisions on a plant-by-plant basis,” Lal says.
In transportation, meanwhile, companies are selling everything from jet engines to tires through an asset-as-a-service model, including sensors to determine the proper time for maintenance or replacement.
As more companies start to figure out the right model for using IoT-based products, Lal predicts a coming explosion in the industry. “It’s a slow process because you have to acquire one customer at a time,” he says, “but once you establish a sense of confidence it starts to take off.”
As customers get more used to the idea of connected sensors in their products—and see the benefits they bring—eventually they may start preferring them. From there, it’s only a matter of time before they begin seeking them out, if only to keep up with their competition.
“After 50 customers have signed on,” Lal says, “the 51st customer will ask, how can I make this work for me too?”
As for IoT’s place on Gartner’s hype cycle, the firm says look for the technology to emerge from the disillusionment phase and enter its “plateau of productivity” in five to 10 years.
Michael Blanding is a writer based in the Boston area.


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from healthfreedoms: Kristin Canty started out like any mom, who educated herself on the best diet and healing path of her children. She knew she would have to do something about the alarming amount of small farm raids and restricted rights to the foods of her family’s choice: thus, Farmageddon was born.
Because, it’s not just about food freedom; all of our freedoms are at stake. Farmageddon highlights the urgency of food freedom, encouraging farmers and consumers alike to take action to preserve individuals’ rights to access food of their choice and farmers’ rights to produce these foods safely and free from unreasonably burdensome regulations – and raids.
Nutrition educators and activists belonging to the Weston Price Foundation are a significant influence in the Great American Diet Debate. Volunteer leaders have established over 300 chapters in the U.S. These chapter leaders do some heavy lifting, providing a free list of healthy food sources, grassroots organizing, holding conferences, and manning booths at health expos.
Volunteer leaders like Kristin Canty of Massachusetts are promoting some pretty contrarian ideas; animal fat and cholesterol are good for you, raw milk is healthier than processed milk, whole milk is better than skim, whole grains (unless soaked or sprouted) are unhealthy to consume, and modern soy-laden foods are hazardous to your health.
Perhaps the most controversial, Foundation members eschew processed foods in favor of home cooking, canning and preserving. And, they prefer food from traditional, mixed use farms rather than industrial scale factory farms. These activists equate ‘going green’ with your food choices with superior health and vitality–a compelling message for an increasingly sick and weak nation.


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By Isaac Fletcher, contributing writer, Food Online
The seafood industry has long been vulnerable to illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, but through the development of a technology architecture, the industry is gaining access to the tools it needs to improve traceability, as well as sustainability.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) Global Food Traceability Center (GFTC) announced that it has received a $1.3 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in order to help fund its ongoing efforts to improve food traceability. The grant will support the engineering of a common technology architecture for seafood traceability and the associated communications, education, and training efforts.
“Enabling companies in the seafood value chain to share information and trace products from the source is a key component to eliminating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, and to improving seafood sustainability,” says Meredith Lopuch, program officer at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Additionally, William Fisher, Executive Director GFTC and IFT VP of Science and Policy Initiatives, states, “This grant will spark new GFTC research to create a new technology architecture — a blueprint — so that individual organizations can seamlessly share data from multiple sources throughout the international food system.” Fisher continues, saying, “There is, at present, no mechanism in place to develop what our food industry stakeholders tell us is an important missing piece for effective food traceability. The grant will also help us to communicate the value of this blueprint to all stakeholders.”
The blueprint is aimed at accelerating an international strategy that is necessary in order to implement reliable, interoperable global seafood traceability.
In 2014, the GFTC completed related grant work involving research and technology development encompassing nine value chains and 48 companies in the seafood industry around the globe. The result of this project was the recommendation to engineer a common technology architecture that can act as a foundation for an interoperable, harmonized seafood traceability system.
This new 2015 grant from the Moore Foundation will continue to expand these seafood traceability efforts by focusing on three key objectives:
- Designing a common technology architecture that can be leveraged to develop a comprehensive traceability strategy among global seafood stakeholders.
- Increasing awareness and understanding about the importance and value of a common technology architecture and interoperable traceability throughout the seafood industry.
- Supporting and enhancing the traceability financial calculation tool that was developed in 2014.
Fisher contends, “This support will help maintain the momentum we started last year and focus resources on designing a blueprint that can be used for traceability in the seafood industry and also be applied to produce meat, dairy, bakery, and processed food industries.”


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Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cryptocurrency, Investing Myths Debunked
What started as an underground asset class for the computer savvy has turned into a household name. Interest in cryptocurrencies has exploded, and with it, some myths and misconceptions about the space.
If you have ventured beyond Yahoo News or the Wall Street Journal to learn how to invest in cryptocurrency, information within the universe can appear off-the-wall and disingenuous—making it look like a poor investment choice. But, with gains in the 1000% percentile, it’s hard to ignore completely. So here are some of the top cryptocurrency myths debunked.
Cryptocurrencies are a Scam – FALSE
Financial fraud dates back to the creation of money. Here is a fun fact, in 193 A.D., the Praetorian Guard auctioned off the Roman Empire (which they didn’t own), to Julianus for 250 gold pieces for each member of the army (equivalent to approximately more than $1 billion today). Julianus was never recognized as emperor and the new sitting emperor executed the guards.
First of all, crypto (when invested using a credible platform) is generally not a scam—despite the many naysayers across various social media channels. While cryptocurrency investing doesn’t have the heavy regulations of other investment types, it is believed that federal regulations for crypto are in the works. Like any other investment, it is always recommended for investors to do their due diligence and research to protect themselves from bad players and other dishonest entities.
Obtaining meaningful research from the cryptocurrency universe can be challenging at first, but it is not impossible. It’s recommended to keep things simple by starting with credible sources, such as relevant online publications from notable names within the segment, including Bitcoin Magazine, Crypto Briefing, and Blockchain Magazine. Another way to prevent a bad or fraudulent situation is to invest through a trusted platform, such as BitcoinIRA, which offers over 60 types of cryptos via both a web experience and convenient mobile app.
Too Much Anonymity – Mostly FALSE
Over the years, cryptocurrencies have been touted as a way for people to launder money because of their anonymity. However, this is false for most cryptocurrencies, including $BTC and $ETH. Simply put, cryptocurrencies are built on a linked public ledger. For example, the information in block B contains some information from block A, and information from block B is inserted into block C as it is formed—creating the digital blockchain.
If any information in any block is disturbed, the chain is no longer in agreement with the information present, and the chain becomes invalid. Of course, there is much more to this, but the linked ledger makes it impossible to alter the sequence of transaction information to hide one’s activities. The means that authorities can more easily track and identify fraud through blockchain.
Meanwhile, IT programmers are working on stealth addresses and new ledger protocols to achieve better anonymity for many reasons. Some credible reasons include trade secrets and personal information protection. So, it is possible to achieve some level of anonymity with cryptocurrencies, but most available coins do not operate this way.
Cryptocurrency Investing and Trading is Easy – FALSE
Cryptocurrency investing is like any other market; people buy when they think prices will increase. When any asset class is in a bull market, buying low and selling high is no longer an art. The problem with bull markets is that they come to an end.
For example, the stock and housing markets have been in a long-term uptrend since the Great Financial crisis bottom in 2009. Since then, people have generally taken the BTD (buy the dip) approach and been successful. But when the winds change, this strategy will no longer work for any market.
Since the US Federal Reserve announced in late 2021 that they would bepulling back financial accommodations interest-rate sensitive products have moved in sympathy to the news—with the technology sector being hit the hardest.
While the Fed has very little to do with cryptocurrencies, the idea is the same. For instance$ETH prices are showing an optimistic pattern now that large corporations are interested in selling NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and their metaverse applications.
So, cryptocurrency prices are also susceptible to political news and moves in international equity markets. Suppose you are the type to invest in new ICOs. In that case, it’s recommended to gain a better understanding of the protocol used, what significant news events could potentially affect pricing, the underlying project, how well it is being marketed, and which problems it may solve for probable future success.
Overall, like many asset classes, cryptocurrency investing has its strengths and weaknesses, which is why it’s wise to do your due diligence and research before making any investment decisions. That way, regardless of what is being said on various public forums, your viable investment opportunities may not be swayed by opinions of sources that may lack credibility or expertise. Additionally, it’s generally a good idea to understand the mechanics behind how your money is being put to work. So, take the time to learn how to invest in cryptocurrencies and invest through trusted platforms, like Bitcoin IRA.
Recommended articles: 12 of the Most Important Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin Terms


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On a Thursday night in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood, a line formed within the confines of a velvet rope outside of the Soho Grand Hotel. The guests, coddled in fur coats and standing upon spiky heeled boots, were early, waiting for 7 p.m. to head into a hidden room tucked away on the hotel’s second floor behind a thick curtain. When parted, the curtain revealed an intimate setting anchored by a DJ booth, illuminated with a neon sign reading “Kitsuné.”
The December 8 party was the last in the Kistuné Afterwork event series held in New York, hosted by Maison Kitsuné, the Parisian fashion and music label. To read the rest of this story, please visit Glossy.
‘The worst of both worlds’: Confessions of an agency HR exec on the push and pull of returning to the office
In the latest edition of our Confessions series, in which we exchange anonymity for candor, we hear from an agency HR exec on the current Catch-22 situation many employers find themselves in.
Snapchat’s limitations are finally catching up — and marketers are noticing
If Snapchat really wants to push past the competition to be a leader in the ad space, it still faces an uphill battle to get its ads business back on track.
How a startup supplement brand is ramping up its TikTok strategy
As data privacy regulations muddy Facebook and Instagram targeting capabilities, a supplement startup is turning its attention to building community on TikTok.
SponsoredHow marketers are responding to shoppers’ wants this holiday season
Matthew Tilley, executive director, marketing, Vericast With the holidays right around the corner, the economy may force some consumers to adjust their plans and stretch their dollars even further. While some shoppers may rein in their spending, others will still go all out despite a cloudy economic outlook. Given the current economic climate, consumers are […]
‘Taps into nostalgia’: Why Elysian Brewing is leveraging NBCUniversal’s Chucky to tout new beer
In celebration of all things Halloween, this beer is a limited release that celebrates the holiday and the horror genre just in time for season two of Chucky to premiere on Oct. 2.
Ex-Deloitte and Merkle execs form a new consultancy targeting middle-market companies
UpperRight has set its sights solidly on middle-market clients, and is guided by co-founders who both have decades of consulting and agency chops between them.


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Taralite, a Jakarta, Indonesia-based P2P lending platform, raised US$6.3M in funding.
SBI Group made the investment.
The company intends to use the funds to build its R&D team to continue to develop new financial products.
Launched in 2015 and led by CEO Abraham Viktor, Taralite focuses on providing quick working capital to small online businesses With interest rate from 0.99% each month. The company has already partnered with such marketplaces & booking platform as Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Lazada, MatahariMall, and Airy Rooms and has served over 1,000 borrowers to date.


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Super Mario Maker Gets New Trailer and Coming in September; Best Buy Previews Available This Week
As one of the more creative titles heading to the Wii U, Nintendo’s long-awaited Super Mario Maker is not too far off for those eager to get their hands onto making their own Mario-inspired levels.
During today’s Digital Event, Nintendo revealed a new trailer for gameplay and footage from the upcoming level creator Super Mario Maker, along with the confirmation that the Wii U exclusive title will release in September. For those near a Best Buy retail chain, select Best Buy stores will be hosting exclusive demos of Super Mario Maker on 6/17 and 6/20, with the participating locations available to view on its website.
Super Mario Maker will release for Wii U on September 11th, 2015 – in the meantime, you can check out the brand new trailer below:


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November 15, 2018
Data analytics company Algomus/Algo.ai has created an international division based in London.
The company has named Aodan Coburn, formerly EVP International at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, as president, Algo.ai International. Miguel Geli, previously division CIO for Sony Pictures and European MD of Sony Retail Services Europe, has been appointed COO, Algo.ai International.
Algo.ai comprises a team of software engineers, mathematicians, business analysts, machine learning experts and data scientists with extensive industry knowledge of manufacturing, distribution and retail supply chains to support the use of data to drive savings.
“This significant development reflects our desire to service our current customers on a broader territory basis and supports our ambition to expand both our geographical and industry reach,” CEO Amjad Hussain said in a statement.
“International expansion has been a strategic goal for some time, and with these two key appointments we are now well-positioned to repeat the tremendous growth opportunities we have seen domestically,” said John Daly, president of Algo.ai, in a statement.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to play a part in the Algomus story as this innovative company continues on its journey of global growth,” Coburn said in a statement.
“Algo.ai is a company with significant global potential which I am thrilled now to be part of,” Geli added in a statement.
Algomus is headquartered in Detroit, with additional offices in Los Angeles and now London.
Algo.ai created Algo, the world’s first supply chain analyst bot. Algo connects artificial intelligence, augmented reality and automation to retailers, distributors and manufacturers. The tool helps with activities including demand and inventory planning, sales forecasting, new product lifecycle management, and assortment optimization.


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BEIJING -- China's Great Wall Motor will acquire an automobile factory in India from General Motors, the automaker announced Friday, making a full-fledged entry into the country as it seeks growth drivers outside its shrinking home market.
The plant in the western state of Maharashtra produces vehicles for export by GM, which ended Indian sales in 2017. The value of the transaction was not disclosed in Friday's announcement, but media reports put the purchase price at up to $300 million. The deal is to close in the latter half of this year.
GM will offer separation packages and transition support to affected employees, and the American automaker is expected to exit India after selling the plant.
Great Wall, whose sales edged up 1% last year to 1.06 million vehicles, is accelerating expansion overseas amid stagnation in China. Overall new-auto sales in the world's largest market slumped 8% last year to 25.77 million, data released this week shows, and the outlook this year is little brighter.
The privately owned Chinese automaker is believed to be considering production of sport utility vehicles -- one of its specialties -- and electrics in India. The company launched a joint electric-auto venture with BMW last year.
"The Indian market has great potential, rapid economic growth and a good investment environment," said Liu Xiangshang, the automaker's vice president for global strategy. "Entering the Indian market is an important step for Great Wall Motor's global strategy."
New-auto sales in India sank 13% in 2019 to 3.81 million.


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Plus, to open up the new high school, the school board will need more than $600,000 from the Supervisors, who say they may be able to give them the money, but th.
verything else," Robertson says. "There are a few series from different breeders on Flyknit Racer Crimson Red the market, but as a class of plant, I think calibrachoa is at last poised to dominate. "Gardeners will find calibrachoa available in a rainbow of colours from deep purple, red and blue to striking yellow, orange and pink to soft lavender, apricot and creamy white. Thursday morning, the Fluvanna County School Board voted not to open the new high school. This is part of an effort to trim $2 million from the budget. The deficit was born from the Board of Supervisors' decision on May 2 to approve a tax rate of 60 cents per $100 of assessed value on a budget of $66 million en lieu of the advertised 68 cent tax rate and more than $68 million budget.
The budget compromise plan ultimately depends on how much money the school board gets from county supervisors, but as of now, the school board is looking to reinstate the athletics and pre K programs, as well as possibly get rid of the early retirement program. Wednesday night, parents packed the meeting at the middle school, trying to save programs. Many said they knew something had to be cut, and it wasn't going to be pretty. May 9, 2012It will be less of a compromise and more of swallowing the pill, as Nike Air Max Flyknit 2015 Grey
5 to $1. 9 million deficit, Nike Flyknit Racer Multicolor 2013
Fluvanna County Board of Supervisors approved a budget that leaves the school board with a $1.
members will work to meet their $33. 7 million budget. Superintendent Gena Keller says cuts are inevitable and 25 positions will be eliminated. "There is limited funding, somebody is going to get cut, somebody is going to have to get hurt, somebody is going to have to lose their job some programs are going to have to get cut right now it is a horrible situation to be in," said Libby Edwards Allbough, Parent.
the Fluvanna County School Board meets Wednesday night to discuss the school system's budget. One week after the Nike Flyknit Women Multicolor
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This production represents true value for our member-owners.
Melbourne, FL (PRWEB) March 09, 2017
Space Coast Credit Union, Florida’s third-largest credit union, recently announced record-breaking production figures for 2016, delivering over $1 billion in auto lending for the first time in its 65-year history.
The credit union projects these lending totals equate to approximately $25 million saved for its members.
“This production represents true value for our member-owners,” President and CEO Doug Samuels said. “A billion dollars in auto lending was not a goal that we set out to achieve in 2016. However, we continued to experience demand for vehicle loans, and our employees stepped up and met the needs of our members, while also ensuring the memberships’ interests were protected.”
Offering competitive auto loan rates as low as 1.89% APR* and financing thousands of vehicles each month, consumers trust SCCU as lending experts who also watch out for them in all aspects of their financial lives. This, coupled with the ease and convenience of applying and getting pre-approved for an auto loan in minutes online, over the phone or at the dealership, has led the credit union to becoming the top auto lender in Brevard County while continually increasing its market share in the 13 other counties it serves.
In addition to helping members purchase new vehicles in 2016, SCCU also refinanced over $177 million in auto loans, in many cases lowering members’ interest rates by significant amounts. Similar to the credit union’s pre-approval process, SCCU makes it easy and convenient to refinance an auto loan from other lenders, making it possible to pay less per month while keeping the same vehicle.
SCCU collects and publishes uncensored reviews for all of its products on SCCU.com, including Pre-Approved Auto Loans (currently 4.73 stars out of 5) and Auto Loan Refinancing (4.83 stars out of 5). Only members who have used a product or service are surveyed for their feedback, ensuring those who visit the website receive authentic information to help make the most informed buying decisions available.
Space Coast Credit Union was chartered in 1951 and is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida. The credit union serves more than 365,000 members with assets of over $3.9 billion through a network of 58 branches and over 100 ATMs located throughout Florida and through its website SCCU.com. Space Coast Credit Union is open for membership to anyone who lives or works in the fourteen Florida counties it serves.
*RATE/TERM: APR is Annual Percentage Rate. Rate current at time of printing and subject to change. Rate is affected by your credit quality, model year, term selected, loan amount, loan to value (LTV), and payment method. Yours may be different. Qualified borrowers only. Our usual credit criteria apply. You may be asked to furnish a down payment.


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BH Properties will buy a 200,000-square-foot shopping center and parking lot in Fisherman’s Wharf following its $65 million purchase of Holy Name University in Oakland.
The Los Angeles-based real estate investor is managing the purchase of Anchorage Plaza at 500 Beach Street, According to the San Francisco Business Times, Citing unknown sources.
The seller is Anchorage Holdings, an affiliate of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, based in the United Arab Emirates. Prices were not disclosed.
Built in the 1970s, the nearly 200,000-square-foot retail center and parking lot has been plagued by vacancies, according to The Business Times.
Home to the popular In-N-Out Burger, it once opened the city’s only Krispy Kreme donut at the 353 Jefferson Street complex, which closes in 2021.
Despite high vacancy rates, Fisherman’s Wharf was described as “crowded” compared with other shopping and tourist areas in San Francisco.
JLL brokerage Rhonda Diaz said a client described the pier during a recent tour as “an oasis in San Francisco.” It has “more regional visitors than it did before the pandemic,” she said.
“Many restaurants on the piers are above pre-pandemic levels, especially projects like Pier 39,” Diaz said. “There’s a sense of security. They have a sense of security.”
BH President Jim Brooks tell american real estate capital Last year, the company hoped to buy loans from distressed assets across the country and eventually take ownership.
BH made headlines last week when it acquired the nearly 57-acre Oakland Hills campus of Holy Name University, a Catholic university that closed this spring after 155 years.this $65 million acquisition According to the San Jose Mercury News, just before the foreclosure auction.
To complete the acquisition of the 66-year-old campus, BH Properties raised $45 million in financing from Los Angeles-based Hankey Capital.
Brokers David Klein and Jeff Moeller of Lee & Associates San Francisco are looking for one or more educators to lease buildings on their campus, Mercury News reported.


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The First of its Kind - FRN Joins their international counterparts at Furnirec 2015 – The first International Recycling Congress.
Lesley Wilcox speaks on FRN Take Back Schemes.
Once again, France lights the way to dramatically cut down on waste. Introduced in 2013, the ‘Eco-Tax’ is added to new furniture enforcing producer responsibility. This tax is used to finance and improve the recycling of used furniture.
Two compliance scheme organisations have been awarded the licence to provide a recycling and reuse service across France with Valdelia collecting 16,000 tonnes of all business to business office furniture during 2014 and Eco Mobilier collecting 100,000 tonnes of domestic furniture within the same period. Reusable furniture is collected by Social Enterprise partners which includes charities such as Emmaus France.
The conference, Furnirec, was organised and run by Valdelia, and whilst this was the first event on this subject in France, it was disappointing to note the lack of attendance of compliance schemes and active re-use and recycling operators, with only large manufacturers and Government (both EU Commission and French Environment Ministry) officials making up the numbers.
Lesley Wilcox, FRN Operations Manager, attended Furnirec in order to represent the UK re-use sector and learn more.
“Environmental benefits and job creation appear to drive the French Government which is why the framework legislates the involvement of the Social Enterprise Actors, whereas the UK charity and social enterprise furniture reuse sector is also driven by social profit for disadvantaged members of each community. It would be great to see additional social issues benefit from this scheme.”
She went on to add
“The importance of the circular economy agenda and re-use was brought to light by Michal Len (Director of RReuse in Brussels) during his presentation on the work of 14 member states in which he highlighted that re-use targets are heavily favoured by the European Re-use organisation networks and members, with evidence of increased re-use though legislation.”
Lesley was invited on stage to present the success of the FRN take back schemes in operation with major UK retailers and how the FRN are spearheading real circular economy activity with furniture manufacturers in the UK. She was able to illustrate just how important re-use is to these producer led schemes and how to maximise re-use throughout the wider community whilst supporting those disadvantaged people in society.
Representation of the FRN at this first furniture recycling event (which is likely to grow in numbers and stature) was important to provide visibility of the innovative work UK re-use operators are carrying out with retailers ahead of the other European states in terms of providing an effective answer to and involvement in the circular economy.
This press release was sent out on Friday 12 June 2015.
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Going organic IS healthier.
Buying produce grown free of pesticides makes logical sense. But research has not clearly shown the nutritional benefits….until now.
A large scale study published in the British Journal Of Nutrition found that organic crops contain 17% more disease fighting antioxidants than their conventional counterparts.
Maybe it IS worth the extra money to buy organic.


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Apple's second tablet launch of the day is a the iPad mini 2.
The tablet has a retina display - the term used by Apple for liquid crystal displays with high enough pixel density that the human eye is unable to notice pixelation at a typical viewing distance.
It will be available in silver and white as well as space-grey and black. The new tablet will be priced at $399 for 16GB with Wi-Fi, while the original iPad mini will be available for $299, the company says.
More top news
Another unsettled day with cloud, rain and blustery winds.
Charaf Elmoudden, 26, has been found guilty at Harrow Crown Court of burgling pop star Rita Ora's home.
Buried here are the men of the 10th West Yorks, the unit that suffered the heaviest losses on the first day of the Somme.


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This week at Computex 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan, ARM Holdings announced their latest series of processor designs spanning mobility, datacenter and AI. While ARM Holdings doesn’t make chips themselves, they do design processor cores and other IP for most chip companies to utilize with their own designs. Just last month, ARM introduces their first ISP (image signal processor) for self-driving cars, which I wrote about here. ARM Holdings has been busy as ever with their latest processor and infrastructure designs, enabling them to be deployed from the datacenter to the smartwatch. Because ARM Holdings technology has shipped in over 100 billion chips in virtually all markets, the company is uniquely positioned to be at the edge of nearly everything that will happen in IoT and by extension, AI. Don’t be confused on the preferred Ai location, as on-device AI is as important as that in the cloud. By doing more AI and ML tasks on-device, ARM Holdings and their chip partners can decrease the privacy and security risks posed by moving such workloads rapidly and in huge volumes over to the cloud. On-device AI also helps with latency. So let me jump into what the company announced.
New Cortex -A75 CPU replaces A72 and A73
With the new ARM Holdings Cortex-A75 CPU core, the company is aiming to enable high-performance AI applications in smartphones and the datacenter as these processors can scale to the performance needs of these workloads. The new Cortex-A75 chips are ARM Holdings’ fastest chips for single-threaded applications and are designed to replace their A72 and A73 chips. The reason ARM gives as to how the A75 is replacing both chips is because the A75 is now capable of meeting the needs of the datacenter infrastructure chip vendors that would normally use an A72 and addressing the needs of the mobile-only A73. The A75 is fast enough that it will likely see lots of pickup among ARM Holdings SoC vendors who build chips for Chromebooks and Windows on ARM. ARM is claiming a performance uplift of over 50% compared to the A73 which has a lower per clock performance level as well as an overall lower top-end clock speed and is saying the A75 will clock up to 3.0 GHz, which is compared to the 2.4 GHz on the A73 which is currently in use in many smartphones. The A75 represents a tremendous amount of scale and if it works will be the only CPU I’m aware of that has successfully scaled that far.
New, smaller A55 CPU core
In addition to the Cortex-A75 CPU core, ARM Holdings also announced a new smaller, more efficient core, commonly known as the “LITTLE” cores as a part of ARM Holdings’ big.LITTLE multi-core processor design architecture. This new smaller core, the Cortex-A55, is what ARM Holdings calls its most efficient core ever and is designed to be used in conjunction with “big” cores like the A-75 to optimally balance performance and power consumption depending on the application.
big.LITTLE has matured a lot over the past 5 years and through those improvements, this approach has become a winner
In the past, many of ARM Holdings’ lower cost chip licensees used multiple Cortex-A53 clusters to create chips with 8-core CPUs. Likewise, they could theoretically do the same with eight A55 cores, however that may no longer make as much sense thanks to ARM Holdings’s new DynamIQ technology. That is because one of the benefits of DynamIQ is the ability to create single big.Little clusters of CPU cores that deviate from the traditional model of pairs or clusters of 2 and 4 cores, enabling new 3, 5 and 7-core clusters that utilize one A75 core paired with A55 cores to improve single-thread performance.
ARM Holdings announced DynamIQ earlier this year in March, but didn’t give many details about how it would work exactly or what processors would use it and why. That’s because new processors like the Cortex-A75 and A55 use ARM Holdings’s new DynamIQ technology to accelerate the performance of artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality and computer vision. DynamIQ technology enables ARM Holdings’s newest processors, when paired together to not only work together as a single cluster but also to accelerate artificial intelligence workloads. This is by creating DynamIQ clusters of up to 8 cores that utilize the new A75 and A55 cores along with a DSU (DynamIQ Shared Unit) which helps to optimized bandwidth and latency. The DSU reminds me a lot of what Apple talked about with their A10 Fusion “cache controller”. The traditional 4+4 core configurations are still possible with the new A75 and A55, but now they exist within a single DynamIQ cluster which gives them efficiency and latency advantages.
New Mali G72 GPU core
In addition to these new CPU cores and DynamIQ technology, ARM Holdings is also announcing their new Mali G72 GPU core technology. These new G72 cores are a step change over last year’s G71 currently in devices today, with optimizations for on-device machine learning. The G72, according to ARM, will deliver an efficiency improvement of 25% when compared to a G71 on the same process node. The same goes for their claim of 17% better machine learning efficiency, which is important for doing on-device machine learning. However, the improvements are not limited to machine learning only, ARM Holdings has also optimized the G72 for mobile VR with new features like Mobile Multiview, foveated rendering and MSAA (multi sampling anti-aliasing). These features will not only help to reduce the power consumed by running VR applications in a phone processor but also improve performance which will help to elevate the quality of mobile VR experiences.
For mobile VR to be successful it needs to attain a level of performance and efficiency that makes it palatable to both developers and consumers and the new G72 is yet another step in the right direction.
All of ARM Holdings’s biggest announcements at Computex 2017 are an indication of how seriously the company and its customers are taking machine learning and artificial intelligence. For that matter, it’s how seriously their customers and ARM take privacy, security and performance. Not just that, but that they intend to do a lot of the inference that machine learning and AI require to be done can be done increasingly on-device, helping to alleviate security and privacy issues. We can also see more workloads start to take advantage of the device’s local capabilities like Sensory to improve performance and ultimately user experience, which ultimately makes artificial intelligence more useful. Devices with these processors likely won’t be available in devices until next year, but we could see a handful of chip announcements this year. I would also expect that many of the chips that utilize these new cores will likely be using the leading-edge 10nm process nodes as well. This was a solid announcement for ARM Holdings, in step with industry as well as the needs of end users, and one step toward its goal of the next 100B devices in the next five years.


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Due to a reporting error, the story "AMD's first eight-core desktop processors detailed," posted to the wire on Wednesday, misstated the number of cores in Intel's Core i7-2600 microprocessor. The chip has four processing cores.
The ninth paragraph in the story has been updated and now reads:
Intel also offers the Core i7-2600 quad-core processor, which is based on the Sandy Bridge microarchitecture and priced at $294. The chip has been demonstrated running gaming systems.


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A popular brand of corn meal used frequently during the holidays to make stuffing and muffins has been pulled from shelves at major West Coast supermarkets, including Orange County, because insects were found in some boxes, the company said Friday.
Thousands of boxes of Albers grits and yellow and white corn meal have been voluntarily recalled from chains that carry its brand, including Stater Bros.and Safeway-owned grocers, company spokeswoman Roz O’Hearn said. Safeway is the parent company of Vons.
Albers, owned by food giant Nestle, is a well-recognized brand, with its orange and blue corn meal packaging found in many pantries during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Orange County grocers are part of a voluntary recall in eight states, O’Hearn said.
The manufacturer has yet to restock shelves since initiating the recall on Sept. 28. Going into the busy holiday season, “we’re hoping to be back on shelves shortly,” O’Hearn said.
“After all the spinach E. coli scare, now there’s no corn meal,” said shopper Jim Mangrum, 62, of Cypress.
Mangrum hunted around for his favorite brand, which he uses to fry fish, at a Stater Bros. and two Ralphs before learning from a Ralphs manager last week that Southern California markets were stripped of the product.
Stater Bros. Chief Executive Jack Brown said he was not told why the product was recalled at his chain, which has 30 stores in Orange County. He was told that new Albers shipments would arrive by Monday.
O’Hearn declined to confirm that timeline. Because the voluntary recall was swift, she said, it was unlikely that many shoppers bought a box.
Product manufacturer Archer Daniels Midland Co.initiated an investigation after a consumer from Hawaii found insects in a box. Subsequently, the company discovered other customers had logged similar complaints from the same batch of products, prompting the voluntary recall, O’Hearn said.
She did not know how many consumers complained of bugs in boxes.
“Nestlé apologizes in advance for the inconvenience experienced by both our retail customers and our valued consumers,” the company said in a statement released Friday.
The corn meal is used to prepare sweet corn bread, corn muffins, fried fish and chicken.
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.org or 714-796-6756


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Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy knocked out mobile, phone and cable service in many parts of the eastern U.S. on Monday, with about one in four cell sites affected in the hardest-hit band of the country between Virginia and Massachusetts, according to an...
Google has announced a new 10-inch Nexus tablet and 4.7-inch Nexus smartphone with the latest Android 4.2 operating system, code-named Jelly Bean.
T-Mobile USA will receive spectrum licenses in 128 U.S. markets and a seven-year roaming agreement that will expand its reach by 50 million potential subscribers, in addition to US$3 billion cash, after AT&T dropped its deal to merge with T-Mobil...
AT&T has scrapped its plans to purchase rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA in the face of opposition from two U.S. agencies.
T-Mobile will be the first U.S. operator to offer a Nokia phone running Windows Mobile when it starts selling the Lumia 710 early next year.
As another year draws to a close, we look back on the IT-related comments that stuck with us.
AT&T has asked a judge to put on hold the U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit to block its merger with T-Mobile USA while the two companies decide whether to move forward with the deal.
The U.S. Department of Justice will file a motion to stay or dismiss its lawsuit to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA because the agency believes there's no deal pending, a lawyer for the DOJ said Friday.
AT&T's decision to withdraw its application to obtain T-Mobile USA's mobile spectrum license at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission raises a question about whether the company's proposed acquisition is still active, the U.S. Department of Just...
SpectrumCo, a joint venture among Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, has agreed to sell mobile spectrum licenses covering 259 million U.S. residents to Verizon Wireless for US$3.6 billion, the companies announced Friday.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has invited questions about its impartiality with a staff report laying out concerns about AT&T's proposed acquisition of rival mobile carrier T-Mobile USA, AT&T said Thursday.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has allowed AT&T to withdraw its application to buy the mobile licenses owned by T-Mobile USA, as AT&T had requested, but the agency has also released a staff report that disputes many of the benefit...
Mobile telecom trade group CTIA and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) will roll out a rating system for mobile applications similar to ratings on other electronic games, the groups announced Tuesday.
AT&T will continue to seek antitrust clearance for its merger with rival T-Mobile USA, it said Thursday. However, to reflect the break-up fee it will have to pay T-Mobile's owner Deutsche Telekom if the deal does not get regulatory approval, AT&a...
Staff at the U.S. Federal Communications Commission have decided that AT&T's proposed acquisition of mobile carrier T-Mobile is contrary to the public interest. So what's next?
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Poor harvests have pushed up the price of malting barley again, putting brewers - already battling VAT and duty rises - under yet more pressure.
The price of malting barley is up 16% year-on-year [Mintec] as UK availability tightened by 5% on last year’s levels due to a poor UK and Scandinavian crop. The price of malting barley has risen by 136% in the past two years.
Molson Coors, whose Carling lager is made from 100% British barley, warned availability could be strained further as many growers took a lower-risk strategy and chose to grow feed wheat and feed barley rather than exposing themselves to the high price volatility that malting barley dictated. However, the company’s Growers Group ensured its own supply.
Scottish microbrewer Brewdog, which sources all its malt from the UK, said it was paying a higher price partly offset by economies of scale as it grows.
While many brewers buy barley in advance, it is yet another pressure for a category already struggling with soaring barley and other commodity cost rises, tax hikes and weakened sterling. In October, AB InBev announced that added costs had forced it to pass on a 7.8% price increase across its UK portfolio from 2 January.
Although malting barley prices were back to highs of 2007, a British Beer & Pub Association spokesman said: “Raw materials are anywhere between 3% and 10% of the price of beer - significant, but not when compared with other costs like beer tax.”