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QOTD: What Crossover Should Get a Throwback Trim?
Yesterday, when discussing internally which one of us might write up the Buick Encore GX, I accidentally referred to it as an Encore GNX. That's because I am old enough to remember the Buick Regal GNX. We all had a quick laugh and then Chris Tonn reminded me that Dodge's new Hornet will have a GLH trim in a nod to the old "Goes Like Hell" Shelbys.
Chris then suggested that we ask you, the B and B, which new crossover should get a trim level that's nodding to the past.
2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Fast Charging CUV Exposed
The 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 ultra-fast charging crossover utility vehicle was revealed yesterday, highlighting its Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP).
Ioniq 5’s 300-mile range, and 10-to-80 percent ultra-fast charging in 18 minutes showcases E-GMP technology.
2022 Subaru Solterra ESUV Proclaimed
In 2022, the Subaru Solterra electric SUV will go on sale. Another Subaru-Toyota joint venture, it’ll roll on the new e-Subaru global platform.
2023 Cadillac Lyriq is Almost Here
Today the 2023 Cadillac Lyriq made its production debut. If this is the highlight of a century of innovation, what’s Cadillac been doing the rest of the time? Cadillac’s luxury electric SUV is starting a new era ahead of schedule. You can place your order in September for a 2022 first-half delivery.
2021 Mercedes-Benz EQB – Electricity Flows
Mercedes-Benz’s 2021 EQB is its third all-electric launch this year, along with the EQA 250 and EQS. The EQB will be produced for the local market in Beijing. The rest of the world will get their EQBs from Kecskemét, Hungary. The EQB will be the first pure EV made in Hungary.
Hyundai Santa Cruz Readies to Kick Some Sand
Gearing up for its debut on April 15th, Hyundai has released renderings of the Santa Cruz, its ground-breaking pickup named for a sleepy Northern California beach city.
2022 Hyundai Kona N Uncovered – Again [Updated]
Hyundai’s New-for 2022 Kona N has been revealed along with the previously-announced Kona, but this time supposedly without masking. A glimpse was provided to tease viewers, and heighten the hype around what they’re calling an addition to their high-performance N division.
2022 Hyundai Tucson Priced to Fit
Pricing for the all-new 2022 Tucson SUV was announced by Hyundai Motor America today, with 15 variations available to suit a wide range of needs and budgets. Starting at $24,950 MSRP for a base SE model with a 2.5-liter 4-cylinder, 8-speed automatic transmission, and front-wheel drive, the range tops out at $37,350 for a Limited HEV, which is a 1.6-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder hybrid with a 6-speed automatic transmission and HTRAC all-wheel drive.
Hyundai Releases Bayon Euro Crossover
Don’t get too excited. Hyundai’s Bayon is at present a European-only crossover SUV that the brand announced today. All-new in the B-segment, Bayon is named after Bayonne, a sought-after vacation destination in the south of France.
The growing popularity of SUVs in Europe was the reason for Hyundai’s introduction, and the forward-motion stance of the Bayon is in keeping with the design characteristics of the segment. Bayon is the seventh new or enhanced model Hyundai has released in the past year.
Infiniti QX80 Goes Glamping in Russia
Infiniti’s wanderlust has taken the QX80 to other faraway locations, but none quite as exotic as Privolzhskoe, Tver Oblast, Russia, to go glamping in Villi Ulei’s geodesic domes.
In what’s termed a comfort zone for climatic conditions in Russia, temperatures range from 9-degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, to a high of 66-degrees in the summer. As you can see, snowfall is abundant in the region, from a low of about 16 inches, to almost 32 inches, and it spans anywhere from four to five months of the year. Home to 1.35 million Russians, 30% of whom are Russian Orthodox, it might seem like a great place to go if it were summer at the Boishoe Zavidovo, when Nashestvie, the largest Russian rock festival, is being held.
2022 Infiniti QX60 Luxo Crossover Announced
Infiniti’s 2022 QX60 has merged a 9-speed automatic transmission with the company’s 295-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 in the latest SUV in the QX stable.
2022 Mitsubishi Outlander's Amazon Live Reveal Is a First
As the 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander ships to U.S. dealers, there will be a live reveal on Amazon, an auto industry first. On February 16 at 3 p.m. Pacific time, you can see the newly-designed 2022 Outlander.
2022 Nissan Pathfinder – Not All Who Wander Are Lost
The SUV segment is a high-stakes game, and after years without a fresh entry, Nissan is looking to reassert themselves with an all-new 2022 Pathfinder.
GM to Build EV Crossovers for Honda, Acura
Two Honda battery-electric crossovers will be built by General Motors in the next four years. A Honda will be built at a GM plant in Mexico, and an Acura alongside the Cadillac Lyriq in Tennessee.
Toyota Trademarks Grand Highlander Nameplate
According to a report by gr86.org, Grand Highlander is the name Toyota has filed a trademark application for in the U.S. and Canada.
Next Ford EcoSport to Become More Fiesta-like: Report
Once the Fiesta drains from North American Ford lots following its May 2019 discontinuation, it’s up to the company’s subcompact EcoSport crossover to draw entry-level buyers into the Blue Oval fold.
Imported from India, the second-generation EcoSport, which first arrived on these shores at the dawn of 2018, kicked off for the 2013 model year overseas, making the EcoSport anything but all-new. Luckily, there’s a replacement in the works.
Infiniti QX Inspiration: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
“I thought the sun rose in your eyes, and the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave … to the dark … and the endless skies, my love,” sang Roberta Flack in the heady and decadent early ’70s. Suffice it to say this writer didn’t feel the earth move in his hand upon gazing at the Infiniti QX Inspiration, not did his heart tremble like a captive bird.
The QX Inspiration, like the Q Inspiration concept of 2018, heralds Infiniti’s electric — or at least electrified — future, and it’s a future without a face.
GM Files Trademark Application; Are You Ready to Get Enspired?
We know, we know — you just wrapped up a lengthy and animated conversation about Buick with your coworkers, and you’re all Buicked out. Well, here’s something extra to chew on.
General Motors has filed a trademark application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for use of the name “Enspire” on motor vehicles. No, this doesn’t concern Chevrolet or Cadillac or GMC, that’s for sure. It does, however, concern Buick, as Enspire is the name given to a concept vehicle revealed last spring in China. But what would a production Enspire look like?
Mazda Doesn't Want to Run Low on Crossovers, Plans Accordingly
Like most automakers, utility vehicles make up the bulk of Mazda’s sales, and the ratio is only swinging further in light trucks’ favor. While the new 3 hatch and sedan may be the freshest products on the automaker’s plate, freshly minted CEO Akira Marumoto knows what butters Mazda’s bread.
To keep the adorably midsized automaker in good standing with customers and accountants, the company is taking great pains to ensure the flow of crossovers never stems. Anywhere Mazda builds cars, Marumoto also wants crossover capacity.
Gap-filler: Cadillac to Debut XT6 in Detroit
It’s no wonder the Cadillac brand is having a rocky time of late — the marque fields only two crossovers, and one of those, the XT4, only reached lots at the end of September. Having pledged to return its headquarters to its ancestral homeland of Detroit, Cadillac also plans to unveil a new vehicle there in January.
The XT6, not to be confused with the marked-for-death CT6 sedan, will bow at NAIAS 2019, the automaker has stated. With this vehicle, Cadillac gains considerable coverage of the light truck field.
An AWD Hybrid Corolla Could Happen, but What Becomes of Toyota's C-HR?
Jack Hollis, Toyota North America’s general manager, was quite forthcoming during a roundtable discussion at the L.A. Auto Show. After unveiling the brand’s upcoming all-wheel drive Toyota Prius and hybrid Corolla sedan, he speculated on what else might be coming down the product pipe.
We already know that Toyota wants to TRD-ify as many models as possible (the Camry and Avalon aren’t an end point, apparently), but AWD and hybrid power serve the purposes of practicality, not style. There’s more reason to desire a vehicle that sips gas or blasts through snowbanks with aplomb.
That’s why an AWD, hybrid Corolla isn’t off the table. Upon hearing this, this writer’s mind drifted to the new-for-2019 Corolla Hatch and a small crossover that, strangely, isn’t offered with AWD. What would a would-be C-HR buyer be giving up if Toyota went ahead and electrified the rear axle of the Corolla Hatch?
As Expected, Volkswagen's EV Platform to Breed a Big 'un
As we’ve seen with nearly all mainstream automakers, going without a three-row crossover is akin to cutting one’s throat. Large broods demand seating for seven or eight, environmental considerations be damned.
Volkswagen wants to keep the family together.
What a Difference a Grille Makes?
Perusing sales data for the month of November, something popped out from the always entertaining Ford Motor Company file. While the company as a whole saw its volume fall 6.9 percent, year over year, last month, Lincoln finished November on a high note — something it hasn’t seen much of this year, Navigator sales notwithstanding.
Compared to the Ford brand’s 7.3 percent YoY drop, the Lincoln brand saw a 3 percent increase. Still down since the start of the year (a trait it shares with the Blue Oval brand), Lincoln’s November sales increase wasn’t just fueled by the hulking Navigator. A new nameplate appeared last month, tacked onto a pre-existing vehicle. Were buyers holding out for a new grille?
The Possibility of a Hotter Honda HR-V Emerges
Suffice it to say no one was talking about Honda’s HR-V subcompact crossover until this news broke. It sells well, quite well, but the little ute — like most subcompact crossovers — may as well be invisible.
What are people suddenly talking about? The emergence of an HR-V Sport on the other side of the Atlantic, boasting a turbocharged 1.5-liter VTEC four-cylinder that’s good for 180 horsepower — just like the one found in the Civic Sport.
Honda Teases a Passport That's a Real Honda
The space between compact and midsize crossovers, automakers have discovered, is ripe for the creation of a wholly new segment. A tweener, essentially, that bridges the gap with two rows of seating but more cargo room, power, and (often) luxury than a compact can muster.
Ford learned this long ago with its Edge, and General Motors recently discovered it with the reborn 2019 Blazer. Nissan’s Murano stakes out the same ground, positioning itself as the slightly upscale alternative to the Rogue and Pathfinder. Then there’s the former Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, now just Santa Fe. Not to miss out on an opportunity for big crossover bucks, Honda’s preparing to enter the fray with a new iteration of the Passport.
Unlike the Passport that came before, there’s no Isuzu hiding beneath these clothes.
Prepare for Palisade: Hyundai Reveals a Not-so-surprising Name for Its Big Boy
It was generally believed that Hyundai didn’t just wake up one morning and run off to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to secure rights to the Palisade model name for no good reason. The trademark filing came up last April, leading observers to rightfully believe that this large, imposing moniker was set aside for use on a large, imposing vehicle — such as the replacement for the current Santa Fe XL, which Hyundai assured us would appear with a standalone name. No more of this “Santa Fe/Santa Fe Sport” crap.
Sure enough, Palisade it is, but the Korean automaker, long known for value-packed automobiles, didn’t throw a dart at a map of the continental U.S. and land on a small town in Colorado. No, no — Hyundai’s all about the coastal life now. Gwyneth Paltrow and Elon Musk are coming over for tennis.
Like the Saviors They Are, Two Compact Crossovers Lifted Their Struggling Brands in October
It might not be the reality we want, but it’s the only reality we have. As car sales continue to dwindle (they’re down to roughly 30 percent of new vehicles sold), light trucks have picked up the torch at most brands, though some aren’t arriving fast enough to satisfy jittery executives in today’s stagnating market.
At two premium Japanese brands, the arrival of two crossovers in the scorching compact segment had exactly the effect their creators hoped for. Acura and Infiniti, faced with declining sales in recent years, had reason to smile in October. The recipe is working.
Volkswagen Wants the World to Buy Like Americans
The world needs to adopt North America’s penchant for high-riding SUVs if Volkswagen has any hope of building a clean, green, safe future for your kids. That’s basically the message coming from the automaker, which wants 50 percent of its global product mix to be made up of crossovers and SUVs by 2025.
High-margin SUVs will bolster the brand’s business, the company says, helping bring in the cash needed to eventually take your internal combustion engine and steering wheel away.
You Might Not Want It, but That Doesn't Mean There Isn't a Case to Be Made for a Hotter Cadillac XT4
Exactly were the Cadillac XT4 lands in terms of sales volume remains to be seen. The brand recorded its first sales of the just-released compact crossover in September, with 212 examples leaving U.S. lots.
Offered with just a single engine (a healthy turbocharged 2.0-liter four) and single transmission (nine-speed automatic), the XT4 is Cadillac’s desperately needed entry in the premium compact CUV market — a hot segment where Cadillac’s tardiness puts it at a disadvantage. But perhaps this XT4 is just a starting point.
A rendering spotted on Cadillac’s XT4 show-and-tell page suggests the brand may hold loftier performance expectations for the little ute.
Atlas Shrugged: Volkswagen's Big Crossover Doesn't Have Much Time for Four-cylinders
The three-row Atlas was the midsize utility vehicle Volkswagen needed, but the model’s entry-level 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder is apparently the engine Volkswagen doesn’t want.
For 2019, the Atlas seems some unusual rejigging occur at the bottom end of the trim ladder. Unless you’re totally stoked with the idea of having the least amount of power going to the fewest number of wheels, you’ll end up paying more.
2019 Chevrolet Blazer Starts at the Most Obvious Price in Its Class
Sporting two rows of seating, front-wheel drive as a starting point, and a historical name sure to anger Bowtie brand diehards, the 2019 Chevrolet Blazer revealed itself in June and almost immediately fell from view (and conversation). Compare the nameplate’s return to that of the yet-unseen Ford Bronco, which generated gigatons of buzz in the months and years preceding its upcoming reveal.
The Blazer name’s resurrection, unlike that of the Bronco, wasn’t designed to signal the return of the same vehicle. Chevy had a hole in its utility lineup — created by the newly downsized Equinox and generously sized Traverse — in need of filling. While the sizing seems correct, many took exception to the vehicle being just another a unibody brossover. The appeal of name recognition tipped the decision makers at GM into dusting off a nameplate easily recognized by anyone who lived and breathed in North America during the past 40 years. Purists be damned.
As for pricing, to best battle its midsize(ish) competitors, GM decided on a very predictable base MSRP for its reborn Blazer.
Fear Not - a Lincoln MKT Might Still Cart You Off to the Afterlife
Seldom talked about by the teeming masses, the slow-selling Lincoln MKT crossover gets a lot of buzz among certain subsets of the population. People transporting corpses, for example, or perhaps prom-goers who’ll soon learn their tolerance for badly mixed alcoholic drinks.
The aging, whale-faced MKT fills a niche role, and Lincoln isn’t ready to ditch its livery clientele just yet, despite rumors of its imminent demise. It seems Ford Motor Company has more respect for the occupants of hearses than drivers of small passenger cars.
2019 Audi E-Tron: And Then There Were Four… Premium Electric Crossovers
Audi found itself preempted in a number of ways last night. Not only did the San Francisco unveiling of the brand’s new electric crossover take place not too far from the home of Tesla’s well-established Model X, it also comes as Jaguar’s I-Pace EV prepares to pop up at U.S. dealers. Meanwhile, rival Mercedes-Benz saw fit to debut its EQC electric crossover just two weeks prior.
The crossover’s side-view cameras — pods on the end of thin arms, replacing a traditional mirror (and not legal in the U.S.) — would have been revolutionary, had Lexus not revealed its Japanese-market ES last week. And, if that wasn’t enough, Elon Musk choose Monday night to reveal the hapless individual slated to become the first SpaceX tourist. The lucky bidder will be fired around the moon.
All of this took away from the unveiling of a conventionally styled utility vehicle tailor made to avoid striking terror into the hearts of non-EV fans.
Shocked? One in Six Vehicles Bought Last Month Was a Compact, Mainstream Crossover
America knows what it wants, and the rest of the world — even those hard-to-reach places — is beginning to follow. Each week brings us news from far-flung locales pointing to increased demand for affordable crossover vehicles, if not the wholesale abandonment of certain car segments by certain automakers. Basically, the global auto industry in 2018 boils down to this: build a crossover, or become (or remain) a struggling niche company.
It’s hardly a new situation, but it’s hammered home with each passing month — as cars continue trickling out of every parking lot you pass and trunks begin appear on “Missing” posters at the post office.
Given that the compact crossover is arguably the most ubiquitous vehicle on the roads today, your author decided to look at just how prevalent their sales really are. Tossing aside premium or luxury offerings (a category we’ve tossed Buick into), this data dive focuses solely on the mainstream. The results? It’s grim stuff if you’re not the family type, so brace yourself.
Ford: Does This Ass Turn You On?
A lengthy Medium post penned by Darren Palmer, director of product development for Ford’s Team Edison, went live yesterday, no doubt at the request of Ford PR types and company brass. (It was shared on Ford’s media page.)
In it, the Ford product veteran goes on about the challenges facing his team of electric vehicle developers, mentioning, “The stakes are high.” Are they ever. With 16 fully electric vehicles on the way by 2022, joined by 24 electrified vehicles, that’s a heavy plate to carry. Despite having nearly 20 years of hybrid vehicle exposure under its belt, large swaths of the buying public remain confused by electrified powertrains (“Will my PHEV leave me stranded with an empty battery?”) and anxious about EV range. It takes time — a lot of time, apparently — to change hearts and minds. The U.S. EV take rate is less than 1 percent of new vehicle sales.
However, what created a splash on Thursday was not the revelation that building and selling EVs to the American public is hard, but the image accompanying the post.
Mercedes-Benz's 2020 EQC Boasts Plenty of Tech, Less-than-revolutionary Range
Mercedes-Benz has started pre-production on the first vehicle of its electric EQ model range, this one based on the GLC platform and called — what else? — the EQC. It’s a tony but not outlandish electric crossover for posh (but maybe not that posh) types who like the three-pointed star appearing on the front of their vehicle but kind of feel guilty about their carbon footprint.
Luckily, owning an electric car means never having to think about upstream emissions or other unpleasantness that took place before the assembled materials made it to your vehicle.
The EQC, according to M-B, falls under the automaker’s “Progressive Luxury” theme, promising lots of high-tech creature comforts and convenience, as well as an emission-free driving experience. However, it’s starting to become a crowded EV market out there, and some buyers might take exception with one particular aspect of this vehicle.
Tipping the Sales Scales: Honda's Light Trucks Continue Filling the Hole Left by Cars
It’s nothing new in the industry, nor is it at all uncommon, but Honda’s distinctly balanced product mix continues to tip ever further towards the trucks and SUV side, despite the assertion of American Honda’s assistant VP of sales, Ray Mikiciuk, that cars will continue as the brand’s mainstay.
With the same number of selling days as August 2017, last month showed the automaker’s volume on the upswing, propelled by the strength of light truck sales. In keeping with the theme of balance, only one mainstream car saw its sales increase, year over year, while only one light truck model saw its sales decrease.
Granite State: It Looks Like GMC's Finally Pulling the Trigger on a Sub-Terrain Crossover
A Jeep Wrangler fighter it ain’t, but that doesn’t mean General Motors’ truck division can’t go smaller and still have buyers lining up at its door.
Spy shots taken in Arizona show not one, but three small camouflaged crossovers undergoing tests, and the horizontal chrome slats filling the grille should tip you off that there’s a future GMC vehicle under those wrappings. A small or subcompact model has long been in consideration for the brand, and one look at Buick would tell GMC brass why it’s a good idea to have an Encore-like model of its own.
However, GMC buyers would not be pleased if their new vehicle looked like a Chevrolet Trax or Encore.
Spied: The 2020 Buick Encore You've Been Waiting For
Buick’s pint-sized Encore is the brand’s biggest volume generator, accounting for 44 percent of all U.S. Buick sales in the first half of 2018. While hard to imagine for those who just stepped out of the time machine from 1975 (just think if the Skylark was the model holding up the brand), it’s nonetheless a reality we have to live with. Crossovers are king, and crossovers are what’s keeping Buick alive.
The division no doubt wants to keep it that way, which is why there’s an all-new Encore coming for the 2020 model year. Here’s our first glimpse.
Mazda CX-5 Diesel: Is This Fuel Economy Enough to Get Buyers In Line?
The diesel version of Mazda’s wildly popular CX-5 crossover was originally supposed to land on these shores in late 2017, but the plan hit a snag. As such, we’re still waiting. But the model’s appearance now seems imminent.
Having cleared the Environmental Protection Agency’s stringent testing regimen, we now know exactly what fuel economy to expect from the CX-5 and its compression ignition 2.2-liter Skyactiv-D inline-four. The question is: is the CX-5 diesel thrifty enough?
So Much Winning: Even With Cars Tanking, Subaru Hits Another Record
We’ve seen this kind of meteoric rise before, so it’s our duty to tell Subaru to “just say no” to drugs. Let’s not have this end in heartbreak for all the fans.
With that important announcement out of the way, it’s time to toss around some numbers — which, at Subaru of America, are quite positive. Despite an industry that sank over 3 percent overall, and with one less selling day than July 2017, last month was the brand’s best July in history, which followed its best June, and May, and… you get the picture. The first half of 2018 was Subaru’s best sales half to date.
Helping the brand achieve a 6.7 percent year-over-year sales increase was the arrival of Subaru’s largest vehicle to date. Go figure, Americans seem to like it.
Get Out of China Free Card: GM Wants the Buick Envision to Get a Pass on Import Tariffs
General Motors wants an exemption from a 25 percent U.S. tariff for the Buick Envision, the Chinese-made sport utility positioned between the Encore and Enclave. On Thursday, the automaker said it filed the request on July 30th with the U.S. Trade Representative to exclude the model from the prospective Section 301 tariff on products shipped from China.
The Envision hasn’t been a strong seller in the United States. While it managed to move 41,040 units in 2017, this year is not on track to meet that number. Obviously, the model has had some troubles. Early reviews were unfavorable, often accusing the Envision of being a faux luxury vehicle with an overly ambitious price tag. However, the manufacturer has since dropped the price and updated the vehicle for the 2019 model year.
Unfortunately, enough damage was dealt in those first two years to make the new model look less appetizing to customers. It now holds the stigma of an overpriced, Chinese-made compact crossover that falls short just about everywhere. It needs time to rebuild its image after the refresh, and it won’t be able to manage that if it is taxed into oblivion.
Foreign Influence? Europe Tilts Even Further Into SUV Mania; Diesel Popularity Plummets
The continent that spawned microscopic postwar bubble cars and made the “city car” segment a thing is moving ever further away from its automotive past. European buyers, perhaps influenced by their American counterparts, are beginning to realize they truly can have it all, adjusting their buying habits accordingly.
Of course, by “all,” we mean all the cargo space.
Mitsubishi Mirage May Become Brand's Next Crossover Vehicle
Having already bastardized the Eclipse name by affixing it to a new crossover vehicle, there’s palpable fear within the automotive media that Mitsubishi might try the same with another iconic property. While FTO and 3000GT don’t have the right ring to them, we can imagine trendy performance SUV wearing an Evolution badge — to our chagrin.
In our fantasies, we imagine Mitsubishi bringing back a new, harder-hitting Lancer compact and a menacing mid-sized Galant. Maybe the Starion could even make an appearance. However, those models probably wouldn’t sell outside the Land of Make Believe even if they were stellar models. Sport utility vehicles and crossovers are where the money’s at right now, and cash is exactly what Mitsubishi is after.
Keeping that in mind, a new rumor claims the brand is working with Nissan to get its Alliance partner’s modular platform inside the Mirage, or whatever replaces it. The end result will be a small crossover with sporting pretensions, which doesn’t sound bad in the least.
Acura's Redesigned RDX Did Exactly What the Brand Wanted It to Do
Acura would love it if we talked about the brand in the same manner that we did, oh, say a decade ago. Maybe the turn of the century. But we don’t, as vehicles like the second-generation NSX simply didn’t capture our imagination like the original. There’s no cheap, fun little car like the Integra anymore, and cars as a whole are vanishing from conversations as quickly as they fade from sales sheets.
Sales of Acura cars in the U.S. fell over 25 percent in June, year over year, and volume over the first half of 2018 was down 6.5 percent. That leaves Acura’s utility vehicles with the job of counteracting the loss — a difficult task for just two models.
For the freshest model in Acura’s stable — the totally revamped 2019 RDX compact crossover — June returned the news Acura execs were hoping for.
Tweaked for 2019, Acura's Largest Wants You to Let a Bit of Your Hair Down
Having first appeared back in 2000 as a 2001 model, the Acura MDX is the Ed Asner of premium midsize import crossovers and a crucial breadwinner in the brand’s utility-light portfolio. While the model’s smaller sibling, the RDX, just underwent massive changes, the MDX soldiers on into 2019 muttering, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Thus, most changes fall into the minor but meaningful category.
One thing the 2019 MDX does seek to fix is its mildly conservative persona, but only for buyers willing to take that leap.
As Sales Begin, the Nissan Kicks Will Be an Interesting Vehicle to Watch
Some of you might have read our first-drive review of the subcompact Nissan Kicks out of simple curiosity, knowing that the vehicle would never find its way into your driveway. And that’s fine.
For myself and others, the Kicks holds more interest simply because of what it is — a lightweight, unpretentious, fuel efficient addition to the crossover space with a very low starting price. Low enough to serve as an effective alternative to thrifty compact or subcompact car buyers. North of the border, that entry price ($17,998, eight bucks more than U.S. MSRP) is four grand less than a base, front-drive, three-cylinder Ford EcoSport. In the States, it’s two grand less.
With the front-drive-only Kicks now available in both countries, its sales performance will be interesting to watch. Actually, it already is.
Volkswagen's Newest Crossover Is Yet Another VW Crossover America Can't Have
Following Volkswagen’s disastrous, reputation-fouling diesel scandal, the brand quickly pivoted to utility vehicles in a bid to recapture lost U.S. sales. So far, so good on that front. The Atlas is a strong contender in the midsize field and the new-generation Tiguan saw a surge of buyers after VW added a third row and piles of length.
Still, the lineup isn’t fully fleshed out. While the old-generation Tiguan (called the Tiguan Limited) remains as a small crossover offering, that model disappears for the 2019 model year. VW hasn’t even named its compact successor, a model initially geared solely for the North American market.
Meanwhile, overseas buyers already have two small VW crossovers to think about — the T-Roc, already on sale, and now the T-Cross.
Honda's Largest and Smallest Crossovers Go Under the Knife for 2019
Despite early reviews featured on this site, ones that surely didn’t please Honda PR, the Honda HR-V subcompact crossover is a hit, has always been a hit, and that’s really all that matters to the automaker. American buyers quite enjoy the HR-V, so Honda felt the little ute deserved a mild makeover for the 2019 model year. It isn’t the only Honda-branded crossover to enter 2019 with a new face, however.
The three-row Pilot, always an upright, strong-selling foil to Toyota’s Highlander, sees its own refresh for 2019.
Room at the Bottom: Volvo Crafts a New Entry-level XC60
Few will disagree that the second-generation Volvo XC60 crossover, which debuted for the 2018 model year, is a handsome vehicle. The midsizer adopts many of the styling decisions bestowed upon its larger XC90 brother, and that’s a good thing. Still, despite its smaller footprint, the XC60 remains a premium vehicle with a premium price.
For 2019, however, the entry-level XC60 sheds both content and price.
Volvo Puts Pedal Down to Bring Next-generation, All-American Volvo XC90 to Market
The Chinese-owned Swedish brand’s first U.S. assembly plant, which is about to launch into production of the next-generation S60 sedan, will gain a second exclusive product in the form of the next-gen XC90.
As the priciest vehicle bearing a Volvo Cars badge, the XC90 remains a huge part of the brand’s — presence and profits — in the United States. And, when sole production of the model comes to the Southeast factory in just three years, workers will be tasked with building a model capable of Level 4 autonomy and all-electric driving. It’ll be a challenge, Volvo’s CEO says, but it’s necessary.
Subaru Crosstrek Prices Rise Just a Tad for 2019 (As Sales Leave Earth's Atmosphere)
In a repeat of last year, Subaru of America plans to inflate the price of its 2019 Crosstrek models by a dollar figure that’s small and manageable. Wouldn’t want those buyers to feel used, and with good reason. As the automaker rolls out MSRPs for next year’s physically unchanged models, it’s enjoying record sales for the lifted all-wheel-drive [s]hatchback[/s] crossover.
By placing its Impreza five-door hatch in the time machine and pressing the “AMC Eagle” button, Subaru turned what many first saw as just an interesting alternative and turned it into a juggernaut. Colourful pie charts await.
2019 Chevrolet Blazer: Forget the Past, This Is Our Future
General Motors has pulled the wraps off its 2019 Chevrolet Blazer, a vehicle that in no way reminds anyone of past vehicles bearing that heritage-steeped nameplate.
Sporting two rows of seating, an edgier profile than either its smaller Equinox sibling or its hulking Traverse big brother, and two engine choices, the Blazer’s main competition seems to be the Ford Edge, rather than its three-row GMC Acadia platform mate.
Volkswagen Tiguan Limited Will Soon Become Volkswagen Tiguan Unavailable
If you’re in the market for a very small (for its class) German crossover that demands premium fuel, you’ll soon be out of luck. Volkswagen says the Tiguan Limited — the old model kept in production alongside the newer, much larger Tiguan — will not return for the 2019 model year.
Instead, buyers who can’t go without a Tiguan badge on their vehicle will have to come to grips with knowing they’ll need to spend just over two grand more to satisfy their urge. Alas, we all knew it couldn’t last long.
Take a Wild Guess What This Means
General Motors enlivened the perpetually grim Twitterscape Wednesday with a tweet depicting what Corey Lewis calls a “pure trust fund” gentleman wearing natty duds. After the initial discussion surrounding the nature of the tweet, your author, Chris Tonn, and Lewis attempted to pin down the particular hue of this fellow’s outerwear.
Celery. Pistachio pudding. 1960s motel bathroom. All applicable.
But wait, that wasn’t the purpose of the tweet! Surely this can’t have something to do with a gaping hole in the Chevrolet brand’s crossover lineup?
Smallest Jeep Appears Ready to Embrace Itty Bitty Engines
The subcompact Jeep Renegade, despite not carrying the heritage and go-anywhere trail cred of the Wrangler, remains a valuable asset for Fiat Chrysler, and with good reason. The Fiat-based model sets the lineup’s price floor, luring first-time buyers into the brand — hopefully for life.
As we saw earlier this month, there’s a mildly refreshed Renegade arriving for the 2019 model year. Unfortunately, the model’s European debut didn’t tell us much about engine availability for U.S. buyers. It now looks like an FCA service portal provided some of the answers to our powertrain questions.
Ahoy! Lincoln's Next MKC Might Debut As the 'Corsair'
Alphanumeric naming strategies don’t seem to work particularly well on American cars. There are exceptions, Chrysler’s 300 and the Ford F-Series come to mind, but usually you get a name and then a string of numbers and letters tacked on to denote badassery or size when applicable. While this is just a personal theory, it really seemed like America’s luxury brands were just trying to copy the Germans when they collectively made the swap and everyone noticed.
While alphanumeric monikers help automakers avoid certain issues in countries where a word may hold a different meaning, they aren’t particularly imaginative. It also distances new models from established names that help to move units on brand recognition alone. That isn’t to suggest those names are inherently better, but going against tradition can definitely work against you.
Lincoln knows that better than most, and has decided to give the MKC a real name for its 2020 redesign.
Is the Mazda CX-5 About to Go Turbocharged?
Where would Mazda be without the hot-selling CX-5? Of the 29,980 vehicles Mazda sold in the U.S. last month, 47.3 percent of them were CX-5s. Suffice it to say the stylish compact crossover is the brand’s most important model, regardless of what MX-5 fans would have you believe.
Parents everywhere applauded when a crisper, better-handling CX-5 appeared for 2017, content in knowing a family vehicle existed that wouldn’t relegate them to a world of bland conformity. Our own Chris Tonn was enraptured by the sight of his Grand Touring tester as it sat in an Ohio parking lot. Still, despite its on-road prowess, the zoom-zoom brand’s most popular offering isn’t exactly a pavement scorcher. That might not be the case for long.
Fiat 500X Exposes Some Chest Hair With 'Adventure Edition'
Calling the Fiat 500X rugged is like calling Star Wars actor Adam Driver sexy. While both have happened, neither of those ideas were conveyed via particularly reputable outlets. Likewise, the general public probably doesn’t agree with those statements — and the few that do are assuredly women.
Unlike the Star Wars franchise, Fiat owes the majority of its modern-day “success” to the fairer sex — a phrase I’m absolutely positive no one uses anymore. Still, both are trying to broaden their appeal by tweaking their product. Let’s stick to discussing automobiles.
While the breakdown fluctuates from year to year, roughly 60 percent of all Fiat drivers are women. But the brand does market to men, sometimes in ways we can’t quite comprehend. It also builds vehicles that seem specifically targeted at gentlemen, like the 500 Abarth and new 500X Adventure Edition.
Two Aging Midsize SUVs Fail Latest Round of Crash Tests
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety never rests, always thinking up new ways to expose flaws in contemporary passenger vehicles. Lately, the IIHS has begun applying the dreaded small overlap front crash test to the passenger side of new models. There’s a seat on that side for a reason, and it’s not inconceivable that a roadside utility pole or obstruction could take out that corner of the vehicle.
The latest IIHS test put popular midsize crossovers through their paces, exposing serious safety concerns in two models.


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OnTheSnow is acquiring SkiReport.com, North America’s second largest (behind OnTheSnow) snow reporting website, and the number one mobile snow app. OnTheSnow is operated by Mountain News Corp., which is owned by Vail Resorts. According to the company’s press release, some 860,000 people currently use SkiReport’s iPhone and Android snow reporting apps, which will be merging with OnTheSnow apps this fall. “The combination increases our mobile footprint 10-fold and brings our mobile base to 945,000 users. In this case, size really does matter. One of the features we’re most excited about in SkiReport’s apps is that the apps allow readers to post photos and Twitter-style snow reports from the hill,” OnTheSnow said in the release.
OnTheSnow also just unveiled a complete redesign of the site, revamping its appearance, content and functionality to enhance the user experience for skiers and snowboarders. The update focused on incorporating features like recommendation engines, more engaging photo, video and editorial content, and a focus on a more a personal experience. “This redesign illustrates how we’re continuing to provide OnTheSnow’s users a best-in-class experience, including a new personalization feature that not only delivers the content that brings them to the site, but also encourages users to explore new ways to enjoy their sport,” said Chad Dyer, global managing director of Mountain News Corp.
Moonlight Basin goes all in on Sagebrush Property Management
Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana, has acquired 100 percent ownership of Sagebrush Property Management. Sagebrush Property Management, formerly maintained through a 50 percent partnership between East West Resorts and Moonlight Basin, is the property management operator for the majority of the properties at the resort. “Moonlight Basin’s acquisition of Sagebrush Property Management will allow us to solely manage the guest and owner experience as well as commit additional resources directly towards promoting the resort and its unparalleled lodging options,” said Greg Pack, Moonlight Basin general manager.
Swix Sport USA partners with DMT for co-branded tuning
Swix Sport USA is partnering with DMT Diamond Machining Technology (DMT) to create a line of co-branded custom diamond ski-tuning stones. DMT will produce two custom Swix Sport ski and snowboard sharpeners 70 millimeters and 111 millimeters long in 5 grits. The sharpeners will be unique to Swix and will feature DMT’s iconic polka dot pattern. Swix Sport USA will also become the largest distributor of DMT’s ski and snowboard sharpening stones in the US. “With this step, Swix has strengthened its position as the number one alpine tuning tool supplier in the ski and snowboard industry,” said Steven Poulin, CEO of Swix Sport USA.
Wyoming ski area won’t run lifts this season
White Pine ski area in Pinedale, Wyo., won’t open this season according to the Wyoming Business Report. The Report states that according to the community group Citizens to Save White Pine, Oct. 1 will be the resort’s last day of operations. White Pine opened in 1939 as Surveyor Park Ski Area, one of the first lift-served ski areas in the U.S. The name was changed to White Pine in the 1960s, but the resort closed in 1988. A planning and development lease was granted to Wind River Resort Inc. (WRR) in 1993 and a 40-year lease was then granted to WRR in 1999 to operate both winter and summer recreational activities with access to the Bridger-Teton National Forest and Bridger Wilderness Area.
Snow in Colorado
And finally, there is snow in Colorado, raising expectations for the new season, even though it has been only two months since the previous season came to an end. Time to get the boards tuned up!
Send your WinterSports news to Peter Kray at firstname.lastname@example.org. Subscribers can also post WinterSports news releases directly to the SNEWS website. Email us at email@example.com to learn about posting your own news releases, getting your WinterSports headlines, or with any other questions or comments.

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The U.S. Congress should limit the ability of patent holders that don't make products to file infringement complaints at the U.S. International Trade Commission because of a huge increase in cases there, representatives of some companies told lawmake...
Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg was charged with hacking the IBM mainframe of Logica, a Swedish IT firm that provided tax services to the Swedish government, and the IBM mainframe of the Swedish Nordea bank, according to the Swedish pub...
Fabricated Internet posts praising Samsung at the expense of HTC products has landed the South Korean company in hot water with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission.
Cellular networks in Boston were still operating on Monday evening following the explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, contrary to earlier reports that they had been shut down to prevent remote bomb detonations.
Facebook is teaming up with the nation's attorneys general to launch a public awareness campaign aimed at keeping young people safer on the site.
Find My Mac can be used to show the location of a stolen Mac, but the service often does not provide enough evidence to obtain a search warrant and get the stolen device back to its rightful owner, the Dutch police said on Monday.
A group of Chinese iPhone distributors have been arrested for duping Apple with fake components in order to obtain replacement parts worth about 400,000 yuan (US$64,117).
Complainants in the European Union's antitrust case against Google said Monday that the company's proposed remedies could be worse than the current situation.
Cloud hosting provider Rackspace Hosting is striking back against patent holder Rotatable Technologies, a Texas company that has filed patent infringement cases against more than a dozen companies in the past year.
Organizations representing Europe's electronic communications industry on Friday urged the European Commission not to change the directive on the civil enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPRED).
The U.K. Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has launched an investigation into free children's game apps to explore whether these games are misleading, commercially aggressive or otherwise unfair.
The European Commission confirmed on Thursday that it has formally received a package of concessions from Google aimed at ending a two-year antitrust investigation.
A patent that Samsung considers essential to the 3G standard was invalidated by the German Federal Patent Court that ruled in favor of Apple.
A court in Florida said that Apple and Motorola Mobility have no interest in quickly and efficiently resolving a patent infringement lawsuit, but are instead using their litigations around the world as "a business strategy that appears to have no end...
Mobile app developers face a huge challenge in keeping up with the fast-changing landscape of data privacy law. They got some tips Wednesday at a conference devoted to the topic in San Francisco.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.
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The world’s most luxurious crossover will be unveiled on May 10th as Rolls-Royce has confirmed the Cullinan will celebrate its world debut this Thursday at 7:00 am EDT.
But before we see the first ever SUV from Rolls Royce in full, the British company will perform a strip-tease – or so to speak – releasing undisguised details of the posh crossover over the next few days, starting with a glimpse of the taillights today.
The company is staying tight-lipped about specifics but the Cullinan will follow in the footsteps of the Phantom and adopt a familiar front fascia with a prominent grille that is flanked by rectangular headlights. The Cullinan also has strong shoulder lines, suicide rear doors and a dual exhaust system. Rounding out the exterior styling features are Phantom-like taillights and a tailgate-mounted spoiler.
While the model probably won’t be the most elegant looking crossover on the market, it should have an ultra-luxurious interior as previous spy photos have shown there will be premium leather upholstery, wood trim and metallic accents. The Cullinan will also have a digital instrument cluster as well as a unique center console with an iDrive-like controller.
One of the Cullinan’s more unique features is the so-called Viewing Suite. When owners push a button, two leather-wrapped chairs and a cocktail table will automatically be deployed from the lower section of the tailgate.
The Cullinan will ride on an aluminum spaceframe platform called the “Architecture of Luxury.” The platform originally debuted on the Phantom and will eventually underpin all Rolls-Royce models.
Performance specifications remain unconfirmed but the Cullinan is slated to use the same twin-turbo 6.75-liter V12 engine as the Phantom. As a result, we can expect the model to have 563 hp (420 kW / 570 PS) and 663 lb-ft (900 Nm) of torque. The engine will likely be paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission which sends power to a specially-developed all-wheel drive system.
Since the Cullinan will undoubtedly focus on comfortable instead of performance, we can expect a Phantom-like air suspension that makes millions of calculations every second and reacts to steering, acceleration, and camera inputs.
Article updated with the latest teaser from Rolls Royce


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DEFENDING THE DATA
Security used to mean safes and locks. Today, it has much to do with guarding against cyber thieves eager to use a person's identity for illegal purposes. Harvey Ewing, senior director of information technology security for Accor North America has forged a strategy called defense in depth, or DID. “We're trying to be proactive with our consumer data,” he says. “When we request name, address and credit card number, our goal is to keep that data as secure as possible.”
To make the customer feel secure and meet regulatory requirements, Accor North America uses encryption.
“You create a jumble of characters and letters from something that once had significance, like a credit card number or a message. An electronic key has the ability to scramble and descramble the message.”
To accomplish that, Accor turns to RSA, a firm that provides the foundation to allow encryption between all of Accor's systems. “The trick is to share the key between a property and a central reservations system so they can share data,” Ewing says.
Become familiar with federal, state and credit-card industry security requirements. It's expensive to implement technology allowing “your systems to exchange information,” Ewing says, “but it's well worth it.”
More than 20 states have adopted legislation requiring notification of customer data loss, and “the goal for Accor is never to lose any information in the first place,” he says.
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Last week, we announced a new BMW initiative: everyone was invited at the BMW Welt to build a full-scale X1 out of 2,000 LEGO blocks.
Today, we have the end result and it is quite impressive. 800 children, aged between 5 and 13 years old assisted by BMW staff, visited BMW Welt last week and contributed to the X1 Lego project. The task was completed in four days and there were approximately 165,000 LEGO bricks used.
While the project was developed as part of the Joy marketing campaign, BMW also used this opportunity for more charity work: for every LEGO block used, BMW donated money to the Munich children’s foundation “Die Arche”.
[Source: Carscoop ]


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Android 14 is scheduled to be released in Fall 2023. The first developer previews were released in February 2023, and beta updates are available from April 2023.
Google is already working on Android 14, the big version update for 2023. The yearly release cycle means there’s always something new on the horizon for Android users. This is what we know.
As crazy as it sounds, Android 14 is actually the 34th release of Android. Some versions were decimal releases, such as Android 8.1 Oreo, which kept the name but increased the version number. That doesn’t really happen anymore, with the exception of Android 12L, especially after the dessert moniker change.
When is the Android 14 release date?
Android 14 will follow a release schedule similar to Earlier version. Google doesn’t share exact release dates, but we can expect releases in the following months:
- February: Android 14 Developer Preview 1
- March: Android 14 Developer Preview 2
- April: Android 14 Beta 1
- Can: Android 14 Beta 2
- June: Android 14 Beta 3 (Platform stability)
- July: Android 14 Beta 4
Google did not share a month for when the final release will be released. However, we can look at previous versions to get an idea of when to expect it. Big Android version updates almost always happen in August, September, or October.
What’s new in Android 14
As of this writing, Google hasn’t revealed much about the changes facing the consumer in Android 14, but there are a couple of areas of focus, as well as some features in progress to look forward to.
He The iPhone 14 has an emergency satellite communication feature that allows you to literally connect to satellites when you don’t have Wi-Fi or a data connection. Hiroshi Lockheimer of Google has already confirmed that Android will have the same technology in the next version, Android 14.
Split Share menu of system updates
The Android sharing menu is one of the areas of the operating system that generates the most complaints. It’s the menu that appears when you want to share something from one app with another, or with specific people. Currently, the sharing menu update requires full system updates, but Android 14 could break it down into a separately updatable module. This would allow Google to update it more frequently and easily.
Adaptation of applications to different screen sizes
First, Google continues to work on making Android ideal for many different screen sizes. This has become important in the age of foldable devices with changing screen sizes. Google updated its big screen app quality checklist, making it easier for developers to see how their apps are scaling. They have also introduced new designs.
Setting regional preferences
Android 13 introduced per-app language settings, and Android 14 seems to be taking that idea to other formats. A new “Regional Preferences” feature will allow you to set preferences for weather units, calendar format, and numbers. This way, for example, you won’t need to tell a weather app that you prefer Fahrenheit manually.
Better physical keyboard and trackpad support
Speaking of screen sizes, Android 14 may include better support for using physical keyboards with Android tablets. Google is getting ready to add support for customizing modifier keys, including Caps Lock, Ctrl, Alt, Windows, etc. This would make keyboards much more useful with Android devices. There may also be more options for how touchpad gestures and scrolling should work.
Some Android devices come with an annoying amount of bloatware pre-installed. This can be anything from carrier apps to sponsored games. Android 14 may include a section in the Developer Options menu to uninstall”Apps installed in the background”, which is the name of the function. It is not yet clear if this will be for Android 14 or 15.
predictive back gesture
Android’s back gesture isn’t the best, especially since apps don’t always make it clear where you’ll go when you use the gesture. To make this a bit clearer, Android 14 show you a preview of where you’ll go when you use the gesture. As you swipe in from the side of the screen, you’ll see a glimpse of the previous screen.
More restrictive app sideloading
Sideloading is the act of installing an app from outside the Play Store. It’s remarkably easy to do, even on Windows 11 and Amazon Fire tablets, making it less secure than installing from an app store. Android 14 will not allow apps that target SDK version 23 (Android 6) or lower to be sideloaded.
Dual SIM auto switch
Currently, using dual SIM on your phone is a bit of a pain. You have to manually switch SIMs if the main SIM does not have good reception. TO The new option in SIM settings aims to fix that. Users can toggle on “Switch mobile data automatically” and Android will try to automatically switch between SIMs based on cellular coverage. iPhones have had this feature for a few years.
App cloning is something you’ve you needed a third party app or samsung phone in the past. Android 14 may officially bring the feature to Android. A new “Clone Apps” menu is present in the “Applications” section. Not all apps will be available for cloning, as developers and manufacturers can opt out of the feature.
Use your Android phone as a webcam
apple made it possible used iPhones as webcams last year. Now, Google is also looking to add the capability to Android devices. A project in progress will allow you to plug and play an Android device as a “USB Video Class” (UVC) webcam. This means it would easily work as a webcam on most devices instead of being locked into a system like Apple’s method.
Passkey support for apps
Passcodes are shaping up to be the new way to log in to your phone. They replace passwords and PINs with more secure biometric data. Dashlane, a popular password manager, already announced passcode support in Android 14. 1Password also announced passcode support, and we should only see more to come.
iOS-like photo permissions
The iPhone has a privacy option:Introduced in iOS 14, which allows you to give an app access to only select photos instead of all or nothing. Android 14 may get a similar feature. When an app requests access to media, you can choose to only give the files or allow the app to access all files. It’s not clear if this will be in the final version of Android 14, but it would certainly be a welcome change.
Android 14 Dessert Nickname
TO The code change at the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) revealed that the official internal codename for Android 14 is “Upside Down Pie”.
For a long time, Google had a dessert moniker for every major Android release. However, it stopped after Android 9 Pie in 2018. Since then, it’s been simple with Android 10, Android 11, Android 12, and Android 13.
Public nicknames may be over, but internal nicknames have stuck. Android 10’s internal codename was “Quince Tart”, Android 11 was “Red Velvet Cake”, Android 12 was “Snow Cone”, and Android 13 was “Tiramisu”.
Which devices will get Android 14?
The big question with a new Android update is which Android phones will get it. Google has already announced which of its Pixel phones are compatible with Android 14 developer previews.
- Pixel 7 and 7 Pro
- pixel 6a
- Pixel 6 and 6 Pro
- Pixel 5 and 5a
- Pixel 4a (5G)
Generally, only Google Pixel phones can install developer previews. However, more devices will be able to install Android 14 Betas. In the past, we’ve seen OnePlus, Nokia, Oppo, Xiaomi, Samsung, and a few other device manufacturers release beta updates.
A Generic System Image (GSI) will also be released that can be installed on devices that support Project Treble. This is more complicated than signing up for the beta program, but it is an option for enthusiasts and developers.
That’s the story of Android 14, so far. There will be more to discover in the lead up to a final public release in fall 2023.


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Star Citizen has shot through the $350m milestone, setting more records, and breaking fan expectations. And let’s be honest, that breaking isn’t happening in a good way. The game’s official website announced the new milestone being crossed.
Star Citizen has floundered for years since its announcement, and initial Kickstarter, in 2012. The last milestone crossed in terms of funding was $300 million as of June 2020, and for all that, the game is still years away from a full release. The launch of the game was originally anticipated for 2014, but every facet of the game has been hit with some kind of delays. This has led to tons of fan and media backlash against the title.
Users and fans have complained for years about the glacial progress of development. After an initial release planned in 2014, every part of the game has felt some kind of delay. Whether it’s Star Marine, the ground combat module, or the expansive singleplayer of Squadron 42, there has been seemingly little progress.
The last major news came in December on that latter front, when the singleplayer campaign missed yet another planned beta. Fans are now getting more and more vocal about the potential for this game to turn into vaporware. The last major release for the game was the pushing out of the “Assault on Stanton” Dynamic Event, which had also been delayed.
Developer Cloud Imperium Games has a reputation for releasing buggy and unoptimized releases, and users and media are clearly fed up. The game has been lingering on the edge of playability for years. This biggest example of this is how long it has taken CIG to implement any kind of persistence. Persistence is a key part of living worlds, and so far, only player’s purchases and credit earnings persist between servers wipes, among a few minor other elements. How are we expected to believe the game is even remotely close to release when core features aren’t even in testing. CIG is seemingly constantly adding new ships to the game, with the express intent of selling these models to backers, but has little interest in finishing the gameplay.
Star Citizen is currently in alpha version 3.12. CIG tentatively predicts the game will hit alpha 3.16 by the end of 2021.


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The House majority leader admitted to Fox News Wednesday that inflation is a huge problem, a turnaround from January statements.
Democratic Rep. Steny Hoyer, Md., in January called the Biden economy good, claiming Democrat’s spending bill could fix inflation.
“Inflation is a huge problem,” Hoyer told Fox News Wednesday. “It’s a huge problem for Americans. Supply shortages—particularly in grocery stores—a huge problem for Americans.”
We need to deal with that,” the leading House Democrat said.
White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein recently noted U.S. inflation is “unacceptably high,” while pointing to improvement in areas like gas prices, which Bernstein claimed were “moving in the right direction.”
Hoyer insisted during his Fox appearance that the Biden administration was working to tame soaring inflation. He pointed to measures like the recently passed Lower Food and Fuel Costs Act, which The Congressional Budget Office estimates will add $700 million to the public debt over the next five years.
Washington-based think tank R Street institute disagreed with the house majority leader’s description of the bill as a solution to inflation. The think tank opined that the bill could actually make things worse, increasing the higher prices and inflation it was designed to fight.
Inflation rose 9.1 percent for the 12 months ending in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was the highest rate of rising consumer costs recorded during the last 40 years.
Last year, President Joe Biden claimed inflation worries were overblown, expecting any price increases to be temporary.
“Some folks have raised worries that this could be a sign of persistent inflation,” Biden said in remarks made July 19, 2021. “But that’s not our view. Our experts believe and the data shows that most of the price increases we’ve seen are — were expected and expected to be temporary.”
Inflation, instead, gathered a head of steam as a seeming end to the pandemic saw people travel and spend more, making an already tight supply chain snap. Then, in February, Russia invaded Ukraine.
Biden immediately slapped punitive economic sanctions on Russia and its leaders, freezing monetary assets in Western countries and seizing property like yachts, planes and mansions. Soon after, the West began sanctioning energy and most every export from Russia.
Gas and oil prices jumped through the roof on the diminishing supply just as the world’s economy was beginning to rev up after COVID. Then, fears about sanctions on shipping led many to shun exports of Russian grain and fertilizer, making food prices rise rapidly since Russia and Ukraine are major world suppliers of food and fertilizer.
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Search through Graphic Competitions
- Graphic Design / July 10, 2015 (deadline)
Poster for tomorrow announces its 7th annual call for entries for social communication poster designs. The project has been running its yearly contest since 2009 and every year poster for tomorrow chooses a basic..
- Graphic Design / February 20, 2015 (deadline)
AZURE Magazine welcomes architects, designers, students, clients and manufacturers to submit to AZ Awards 2015, the fifth annual international competition honouring architecture firms and design studios for outstanding..
- Graphic Design / March 18, 2015 (deadline)
The Copenhagen Harbour Festival is Copenhagen’s annual summer harbour festival that fills the city’s waterways with life and activity. The festival has over the past 14 years developed into the nation’s largest..
- Graphic Design / January 31, 2015 (deadline)
Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival (to be held on May 27-31, 2015 in Mumbai, India) invites designers across the world to design the official festival poster and overall look for its 6th edition with..
- Graphic Design / March 1, 2015 (deadline)
The international communication and social graphic art contest Posterheroes has just launched its fifth edition. After facing the brief related to food intended as cultural and social topic, this year Posterheroes..
- Graphic Design / February 25, 2015 (deadline)
Jumpthegap is an international design contest promoted by Roca with the collaboration of BCD Barcelona Design Centre that is looking for new, innovative and sustainable concepts for the bathroom space. Jumpthegap..


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Analysis of U.S. ISBN data via Bowker reveals that the number of self-published titles jumped to over 390,000. This is up 59 percent over previous year, and over 400 percent above 2007 numbers.
Ebooks comprised 40 percent of the ISBNs that were self-published in 2012, compared to sales of just 11 percent back in 2007.
More than 80 percent of self-published titles were brought to market with support from just eight companies, which include Smashwords and Amazon’s CreateSpace.
What direction are ebook sales heading?
Publisher’s Weekly posted an article about the possibility of buying ebooks directly from grocery, drug, and other storefronts in the coming months. This is all due to a deal between Txtr, the German ebook company with backing from 3M and ReaderLink. The plan is to sell the inexpensive Txtr Beagle ebook readers at stores such as Wal-Mart and Walgreens.
According to the Txtr Beagle website http://us.txtr.com/beagle/
the beagle downloads ebooks via Bluetooth from a smartphone and will have enough power via two AA batteries for up to one year, based on reading 12-15 books.
You can read up to five ebooks at any one time on the beagle. This doesn’t mean that you are limited to only reading those five books; you can store an unlimited number of ebooks on your txtr cloud library.
The Beagle weighs just 4.5 ounces; has a small 5-inch Electronic Ink screen; and has 800 x 600 pixel resolution. The Beagle was originally announced as costing only $13 in the US, but now It seems that the $13 price is only being offered in Europe as a phone subsidy package. The Beagle as of right now will be available in the US for $69.99.


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NBN backflip embraces Fibre to the Home: Vertical Hold ep 297
Hey, remember when the NBN was going to be a mostly-fibre project, but that we were never returning to that model? Turns out this week had different ideas about that.
NBN Co adds new speeds but not for all, Optus offers premium 4G, Cybertruck crashes on launch — Vertical Hold Episode 256
How will NBN Co’s proposed speed changes affect you? Should Optus be offering “priority” access to its 4G network? And can we talk about the Tesla Cybertruck without collapsing into a fit of giggles? All this and more in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!
Google launches Pixel 4, Telstra throws shade at NBN, Broadband World Forum feels need for speed – Vertical Hold: Episode 250
We got to the big episode 250 of Vertical Hold, and to celebrate, we’re busting out… a time machine?
NBN leaves suburbs behind, 8KTV looms large: Vertical Hold – Episode 243
LG’s 8K TV is now available — but can it justify its asking price? And why is NBN Co leaving selected suburbs in the dark when it comes to their connection date?
Apple blocks third-party iPhone batteries, Huawei’s HarmonyOS takes on Android: Vertical Hold Episode 241
Apple gets nasty with 3rd party battery repair shops and Huawei unveils its Android competitor in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!
Did Netflix kill the NBN, What regulations should we put on Artificial Intelligence – Vertical Hold Episode 236
Is Netflix to blame for the NBN’s speed woes? With AI running so many features of our lives, what should we look for when it comes to regulation? All this and more in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!
NBN ponders Netflix tax, should teens be banned from social media? – Vertical Hold Episode 235
The “Netflix Tax” for the NBN emerges, and we ponder the tricky question of teenage use of social media in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!
Facebook unveils Libra cryptocurrency, NBN scams hit home: Vertical Hold Episode 233
Anyone want some Facebook Bucks? You could use them to pay your NBN scammer! All this and more in the latest episode of Vertical Hold: Behind The Tech News
Huawei’s Android ambitions crushed, Telstra leaps into 5G: Vertical Hold Episode 229
Huawei hits a US-sized speedbump as Telstra gears up super-fast 5G in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!
Has Vodafone cracked roaming, does the NBN really have a clean bill of health, foldable phones emerge: Vertical Hold – Episode 203
Samsung starts a fresh wave of hype around foldable phones, Vodafone gets aggressive on roaming deals and the ACCC says the NBN is doing just fine… maybe… in the latest episode of Vertical Hold!


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There are many new crypto-currencies being launched every month, with over a thousand already in existence. This can lead to risks for investors and wild swings in price. Also, crypto-currency users who want to jump from one digital currency to another have to go to an online exchange where they can sell their digital currency and buy another one. The process can be complicated and requires exchange fees.
Bloq’s Metronome (MTN) aims to address these issues by make switching between digital currencies fast and easy.
As Metronome can jump between different blockchains, Metronome users can also move their holdings, and will no longer be at risk of infighting among crypto-currency developers. It will also protect them from threats from forks and splits.
Metronome will first be issued on Ethereum, and will gradually expand to the other main crypto-currencies.
Over several days in December 2017, eight of the ten million initial Metronome tokens will be auctioned off, while the remaining two million Metronome tokens will be retained by Bloq to support the new currency. Bloq will not receive any Ethereum proceeds from the auctions.
According to Bloq, the new currency cannot be subverted by hackers.


text: The U.S. Postal Service has announced new prices for services starting January 27, 2019. These were approved by the Governors of the Postal Service and represent a 2.5% price hike on Mailing Services. They still need to be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). I wonder if this means that Amazon Prime memberships will see a price increase? The Postal Service has some of the lowest letter mail postage rates in the industrialized world and also continues to offer a great value in shipping. Unlike some other shippers, the Postal Service does not add surcharges for fuel, residential delivery, or regular Saturday or holiday season delivery.


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In a first reveal from the bankruptcy court, the private jet charter operator’s Chief Restructuring Officer said JetSuite “was never able to operate profitably.”
Here’s why JetSuite didn’t qualify for the CARES Act
Documents confirm $50 million in unused SuiteKey jet card flight credits
A sworn declaration by JetSuite’s chief restructuring officer, Edward T. Gavin of Gavin/Solmonese, gives a unique view into the Part 135 charter operator leading up to grounding its fleet and subsequent Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing earlier this week.
The document, filed prior to a video hearing yesterday, confirmed $50 million in unused SuiteKey jet card balances, the amount estimated by Private Jet Card Comparisons in our earlier report.
The by-the-day fractional share and jet card seller is expanding its target markets for customers
After rebranding last year from Executive AirShare to Airshare, as we previously reported, the company had plans to expand east from its Kansas City base. This week it happened.
Airshare said it is adding Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Louisville as markets it will sell fractional shares and jet cards.
While a majority of its 12,000 annual flights operate in and out Dallas, Houston, Denver, Kansas City, and the Great Lakes region, popular destinations for customers include Mexico and the Caribbean, Aspen, and Napa Valley.
Football’s Most Valuable Player will continue to front for
his hometown private jet company
In just his second year, Patrick Mahomes dominated the National Football League and took home its Most Valuable Player trophy while leading the Kansas City Chiefs into Super Bowl contention. Today, locally based Airshare, which sells jet cards and fractional ownership on its Phenom 300 and 100 fleet, said the rising star has re-signed as its spokesperson.


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Beyond the Footsie: Friday close
SHARES in UK smaller companies ended the day lower, underperforming the broader market, as a profit warning from Zotefoams, and capital raising elsewhere pressured the index lower. The FTSE SmallCap index closed down 0.06 of a point at 2,482.6, compared to a 24-point gain to 4,397.0 on the FTSE 100.
Zotefoams fell 12p to 80p after the group warned that it expects full-year profit to be half of that achieved a year earlier due to lower-than-expected sales in the UK and Europe, and the additional costs incurred in taking corrective action in North America.
And Universe Group lost 4p at 31 1/2p on news it plans to raise £3.4m by way of a 3-for-8 rights issue at 21.5p per share. The bureaux de change operator will use the cash to develop its business and repay bank debt.
Among the risers, SP Holdings closed 6 1/2p higher at 17 1/2p after the group said its new business strategy is bearing fruit and anticipates it will return to profit in the first-half of the full year.
The firm said all its operating businesses were trading in line with management expectations.
Elsewhere, a confident trading statement also boosted Oystertec, 3/4p higher at 17 3/4p. The medical device maker said it is confident that annual underlying profits will be materially ahead of market expectations.
Hornby was marked up by 12 1/2p to 1102 1/2p after the toymaker posted a better-than-expected 33% rise in interim pretax profit and predicted strong Christmas trading.
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Maritime security vital to counter threat of piracy
Industry Reports by Synergy Media Specialists
Piracy remains a continuing threat to seafarers around the world. In the waters off the Somali coast, between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean and in the Strait of Malacca between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, piracy is on the increase.
It is estimated that US$15 billion is lost each year due to piracy and the risks to seafarers remain high.
Last year, there were more than 430 pirate attacks and 45 merchant vessels hijacked worldwide with close to 50 per cent (237 attacks and 28 hijackings) occurring in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia.
With Somali pirates potentially earning almost 150 times their country's national average wage, reports suggest that piracy is an emerging industry in the region in its own right.
As ship owners recognise the need to employ security personal and defence products aboard their vessels, companies are turning towards Aspida Maritime Security, a leading maritime security firm.
"Coming from a maritime nation we have a deep understanding of the shipping industry and its complexities," says Panos Moraitis, CEO of Aspida Maritime Security. "We offer a range of cost-effective maritime security services and products designed for all types of vessels, cargo and distances."
In the majority of cases, pirates abort an attack when a visible security presence is identified.
Aspida's security teams comprise highly experienced Greek and British operatives who have dealt with various incidents aboard Aspida guarded vessels.
While Greek shipping companies account for 50 per cent of Aspida's client base, half of the company's customers are international.
"We have developed a reputation for providing a quality service and we are now considering entering the Chinese market having seen success with our clients in countries such as South Korea," Moraitis says. "We are looking for local contacts and partners in China to facilitate communication between us and Chinese shipowners.
"With China's high trade volumes, security is essential to ensure that crews, vessels and cargo reach their destinations safely. Aspida remains one of the few security companies in the world built from the ground up to serve the maritime industry. We intend to continue to successfully protect our international clients, their crew and their maritime investments."


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Following the cancellation of Fable Legends last year and the subsequent closure of Lionhead Studios, many wondered if a new Fable game could ever see the light of day. As it turned out, several ex-Lionhead employees regrouped to create Flaming Fowl Studios, with the intent to to keep working on another Fable game that was in Lionhead Studios’ pipeline for 18 months before the studio’s closure.
This game is Fable Fortune, a digital card game which is being developed with the help of Mediatonic Games. Yesterday, Flaming Fowl Studios announced that a closed beta will be available next week for through Steam:
Fable Fortune Closed Beta will be launching next week! Early Access and Game Preview versions coming in Q2 2017. https://t.co/tjN4gWGbTZ
— Flaming Fowl Studios (@FlamingFowl) February 28, 2017
Not much is known about the collectible card game yet, expect that it will feature a classic PvP mode, a co-op mode as well as an alignment mechanic that was one of the highlights from the Fable series. The game studio also published the following trailer a couple of months ago:
If you’re interested in getting early access to the game, you can request a closed beta key on the official website and the first wave of invites will be sent out next week. “It is very much still in active development so there may be bugs or balance tweaks along the way. You can help us refine the experience by sharing any discoveries with us on the Steam forums,” explained the developers.
While Fable Fortune will be a free-to-play, the game will also launch on Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview in Q2 2017 for those of you who willing to buy the Founder’s Pack. “Purchase of this Founder’s pack will grant players access to the game along with a super generous supply of card packs and an exclusive Trophy card! This pack will also be available for purchase by existing Closed Beta players,” added the team. The developers will share more details about the game in the coming weeks, let us know in the comments if you’re interested in trying the closed beta.


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New Mahindra Dealership Encash Automotive inaugurated at Hyderpora
Srinagar: Encash Automotive Pvt. Ltd., on Saturday inaugurated its new Mahindra Dealership at Hyderpora Bypass, Srinagar, J&K.
The inaugural ceremony was enlightened by Tabasum Nazir, Divisional Head – J&K Bank Ltd., & Maham Rouf, CEO- Encash Automotive Pvt. Ltd. in the presence of Shabir Ahmad, Zonal Head- J&K Bank Ltd., Riaz Ahmad Wani, Marketing Head, J&K Bank Ltd and Umar Shamas, SME Head State Bank of India.
Various officials from financial institutions like HDFC Bank, Cholamandalam Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra Finance, and members of the media fraternity, business houses and a large gathering of auto enthusiasts joined the inaugural event.
Dealer Principal, Encash Automotive, Sajad Rouf attended the inaugural ceremony virtually and thanked the participation of all attendees in the inaugural ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Group GM Encash Automotive Pvt. Ltd., Muzamil M Hafiz, said, “This is a moment of great pride for us, considering the large number of people associated with Mahindra Brand. I am pleased that Encash Automotive will provide a 3S facility to Mahindra Customers. We have onboarded very highly trained staff, well-equipped workshops, prompt spare parts availability and mobile service vans have all been readied to ensure that our customers get a trouble-free and delightful experience. Being committed to the vehicle space in the region, the idea is to walk the talk and truly make our customers prosper in their respective lives. From Urban to rural geographies, we are committed to delivering vehicles with our readily available stock.”
“It is a great feeling that Encash Automotive will now be delivering Mahindra vehicles across locations with timely servicing considering all the customer requirements. We will provide customers with instant Finance assistance, Insurance and benefits of X-Mart (Smart Buy- Smart Exchange) where customers can exchange their pre-used vehicles. Bookings are already open for all variants/models of Mahindra vehicles at our dealership,” Hafiz said.
During the launch, Aijaz Ahmad Matoo, General Manager (Service) said, “Our primary motive is to save time consumption during services, so we have enabled Encash Automotive with all new upgraded equipment (with the latest technology) which will benefit customers with quick services. Encash Automotive will keep its operations open 24×7 to avail services of Mahindra With You Hamesha like roadside assistance & mobile service vehicles,”
“For any queries, please feel free to reach us at +91-9103382631 or visit: Encash Automotive Srinagar, at Hyderpora Bypass Srinagar. Email: [email protected],” he said.


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Norway's merchandise trade surplus decreased significantly from last year in July as shipments grew at markedly slower rate than imports, data released by Statistics Norway showed Wednesday.
The trade surplus dropped by 15.2 percent to NOK30.3 billion in July from NOK35.72 billion in the same month a year earlier.
Export of goods, excluding ships and oil platforms, edged up 0.7 percent year-on-year to NOK71.7 billion during the month. Mainland exports fell 4.9 percent to the lowest value since August 2010, driven mainly by a sharp fall in dispatches of refined petroleum products
The value of imports climbed 16.6 percent annually to NOK41.4 billion, with the largest increase coming from the group ores and metal scrap. The greatest decline in imports was for chemical products in the product groups organic and inorganic chemical products.
In the January-July period exports advanced 9.3 percent from the same period a year earlier, while imports increased 1.7 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: email@example.com


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Indie mod sensation DayZ–which is based off of realistic hardcore PC FPS Arma II–is getting its own release, according to the game’s creator. Dean “Rocket” Hall revealed on DayZ‘s official Tumblr that the new DayZ will be a standalone product developed by himself and Arma developer Bohemia Interactive. The new version of DayZ will follow a “Minecraft development model” (meaning numerous alpha/beta iterations before an official release) but won’t interfere with the mod, which will continue to exist and even receive updates.
-Nick’s take: DayZ is a unique take on the zombie FPS genre that has found a pretty substantial audience (over 1 million players, in fact). Hopefully, the new standalone game will clean up some of the bugs and issues that the mod has been plagued with.


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Hollywood has clearly learned nothing from music’s successful decade-long transition from physical sales to digital sales as evidenced by this head-scratching LA Times article.
For starters: “The days of baby steps on the Internet are over,” said David Bishop, president of Sony Pictures’ home entertainment unit. “It’s now critical that we experiment as much as possible and determine how to build a vibrant market for collecting digital movies.”
Those baby steps ended in 2003 dude. Even by 2007 — yup, four years ago — the writing was splattered across the wall. Hollywood has had a full decade to lay the foundation for this transition and yet, they’re just thinking about this now? My god. The executives are as stupid as the crappy movies they continually pump out.


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As the hype surrounding P2E games and platforms started to dwindle in early this year, Web3 participants started to emphasize the requirement for games to be more “fun” and less finance-oriented. In a recent episode of NFT Steez, Alyssa Expósito and Ray Salmond spoke with Aron Beireschmitt, the CEO of Laguna Games and founder of Crypto Unicorns, about the sustainability of play-to-earn focused blockchain games.
For Beireschmitt, the evolution from a play-to-earn to a play-and-earn model suggests that there is still experimentation and maturation to be seen for these games. Beireschmitt mentions,
“Nothing has changed about making games. Nonetheless, with blockchain technology, digital asset natives and gamers are now able to play, own and potentially monetize from these play-and-earning models. The larger question at hand is, is it sustainable?”
As per Beireschmitt, there is an absence of “incentive alignment for free-to-play,” whereby developers maximize on extracting value from the minority of players who spend in free-to-play games.
Nevertheless, Beireschmitt highlighted that for the dynamic to be sustainable, “skill-based gaming loops” and “token sinks” must be applied as this returns the player back to the economy and ecosystem. As Beireschmitt mentioned, most P2E games are still working out their transition from “growth phase” to “maturation phase,” but he is of the opinion that there is a bright future in the days ahead!
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Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) recently announced its plans to open 1,000 Teavana locations worldwide, starting with its New York location later this year. Starbucks, the world's leading coffee house chain based on worldwide revenue, acquired Teavana last year for $620 million, and plans to penetrate the $90 billion global tea market through Teavana. Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, after water. Starbucks is hoping to capitalize on this mass global market through Teavana. One of its first ventures is its Oprah Winfrey Chai Tea which was released last month. However I believe that Starbucks' expansion into the tea industry with Teavana is a bad idea because it is not aligned with the US market and tea culture.
Americans' strong preference for Ready-To-Drink teas
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz stated that the global tea market is valued at $90 billion. While this may be true, the market that Starbucks and Teavana hopes to establish and penetrate in the US does not reflect many of the current buying preferences of most Americans. As of 2013, the tea market in the US is confined mostly to ready-to-drink (RTD) teas and supermarket-bought teas, particularly iced tea:
The top five RTD teas are Arizona, Lipton, Lipton Brisk, Lipton Pureleaf, and Snapple. In total, the RTD tea market saw an estimated $5.1 billion in sales, while the specialty tea market, which includes Starbucks and Teavana, only made a fraction of the sales at an estimated $1.73 billion in 2013. This is a tiny fraction of the $90 billion market that Schultz wants Starbucks and Teavana to thrive in.
What about bagged/loose leaf tea, which Teavana specializes in?
When looking at the sales of bagged/loose leaf tea brands, the Starbucks Tazo tea brand doesn't have much market share either. Again, the top bagged/loose leaf tea brand in 2013 was Lipton with $266.88 million in sales and 22.1% market share, while the Starbucks Tazo tea brand came in at 7th place overall, with $37.92 million in sales and 3.1% market share. Starbucks is facing a massive uphill battle to take over market share from the overwhelmingly dominant Lipton tea brand in the US.
Americans' tea consumption
The current tea drinking habits of Americans don't indicate that they will go for Starbucks/Teavana teas. Americans have a strong preference for iced tea and drink it at least twice a week in general.
While this may be Starbucks and Teavana's target market, only 36% of Americans actually purchase iced tea at a coffee shop or tea cafe. In fact, most of their purchases are actually from supermarkets and Walmart.
Teavana's target market
Schultz said that he anticipates that millennials, who have had exposure to the various tea cultures of other countries that they've traveled in, will be its market and the ones to drive most of its sales. But in reality, only 24% of those who drink coffee and/or tea several times a day are ages 24-35. By comparison, 53% of daily coffee and/or tea consumers are ages 55 and above. Rather than targeting the millennial generation, Starbucks and Teavana should cater towards this older age group. But would they be willing to pay more for the Teavana experience?
Unless Starbucks and Teavana are able to successfully create a massive cultural shift in American tea consumption -- similar to what Olivia Pope did for Crate and Barrel -- I cannot envision Starbucks and Teavana being very successful at taking over the specialty tea market.
I love drinking tea. I am a millennial who has drunk tea from exotic cultures abroad, and I am in fact the target market that Schultz describes for Teavana's future plans. But I am still very skeptical that hot tea will transform American tea-drinking practices the same way that Starbucks was able to do for coffee. I don't think it'll be easy for Starbucks to convince most Americans to pay a high premium for specialty teas when they're already getting what they want for little money. It'll definitely take a massive and expensive marketing campaign to get Americans to change their tea-drinking ways and until they convince me otherwise, I am just going to continue buying my bagged tea from the supermarket and brew it in my kitchen. If I wanted specialty tea, I'd rather go to an old fashioned tea salon rather than a chain tea shop like Teavana.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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DAVAO CITY — Japanese Chamber of Commerce-Mindanao Vice-President Takeyoshi Sumikawa said many potential Mindanao investors from Japan are concerned about the prevailing martial law over the entire island and the absence of direct flights, particularly to and from Davao.
“Many Japanese companies are interested in Davao but we need more efforts to appeal the good points of Davao to Japanese people,” he said at a forum on Monday.
Martial law in Mindanao was first declared May 23, 2017 as the battle for Marawi City broke out, and remains in effect until the end of the year.
Mr. Sumikawa said it is more the big Japanese companies that are concerned about the security situation, while small and medium enterprises more ready to take on the risk of setting up shop here.
He cited a flower company based in Japan, which will be joining the Davao Investment Conference (Davao ICON) on June 20-21, which is now looking for a site in Mindanao to develop into a farm.
“Some flowers are very expensive so it is feasible to use air cargo to transport the flowers,” Mr. Sumikawa said.
“There are many possibilities. Connectivity is also the concern of Japanese businessmen in setting up a company in Mindanao,” he said.
Mr. Sumikawa, who came to Mindanao for the first time 13 years ago, said he is working closely with Arturo M. Milan, president of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc., for the establishment of direct flights between Davao and Japan.
He said the large companies that want to venture into Mindanao include construction firms, agriculture, and manufacturers of plastic and electronic parts. — Maya M. Padillo


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Don’t miss Commerceweek, February 28–29 in NYC, to explore the technology and trends fueling commerce. Get strategic insights from leaders at The New York Times Advertising, Turo, TikTok and more. Register.
The online ad fraud issue is far worse than you think. It involves organized crime, Russian millionaires, ex-bank robbers and one-sixth of the computers in the U.S. Oh, and forget those estimates of a few million at stake. Rather $6 billion is being stolen from advertisers—$6 billion.
Those are just some of the explosive charges being leveled by White Ops, a Web security firm born of experts from the bank fraud and Internet securities industry—i.e., the best of the best hacker fighters in the country.


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It creeps into your feed as you try to avoid more bad news: a richly-colored turtleneck, not a knock-off of a famous designer, but close enough to the haute couture sweater you saw on a model in a magazine that was so expensive that you’d have to forgo housing for that month to put a down payment on it.
But wait, this is reasonably priced – $39. How can something you’ve only dreamt of be so affordable and so convenient since it appeared in one of your daily swipedowns? It’s such a bargain you just click “Shop Now” and buy it. It was too good to pass up.
But pass it up you must. Buying that sweater only contributes to the exploitation of garment workers working in other countries. These workers, predominantly women, account for 13 percent of 3.4 billion of the global workforce but are some of the worst paid in the world, often laboring long hours in exploitative, unsafe, and poor working conditions.
The global fashion industry mints 1.2 trillion dollars a year yet many of these workers labor more than 60 hours a week to earn less than two dollars a day, struggling to provide food to their families; Forget about them affording medical care or pension programs. These workers clearly are not being compensated fairly for their creative efforts and hard labor. An industry that celebrates beauty of women on their fashion ramps, hides the ugly reality of ignoring the women’s rights, social justice, and basic needs of humanity of their workers in third-world countries.
If the fashion industry assures its workers that if they don’t die of hunger, they die of something else.
The hazardous working conditions these 430 millions workers face furthers adds to the social cost borne by the fashion industry. The workers are forced to work in poorly ventilated and under-developed facilities that result in cancer caused due to cotton dust, synthetic air particulates, textiles dyes, and solvents, respiratory diseases, adverse reproductive and fetal outcomes, damage to endocrine functioning, and musculoskeletal health hazards.
Twenty-seven million workers worldwide are currently suffering from work-related illness and diseases. In 2013, the fashion industry witnessed the historic garment-factory disaster — the Rana Plaza factory collapse, where more than 1100 workers were killed — but still waits to learn its lesson to provide safe working conditions to its workers.
Besides, the hypocrisy of this industry deserves condemnation. The same fashion industry that empowers women with confidence and self-expressions also cultivates a culture that encourages harassment and abuse of women. Considered as a weaker sex by their supervisors, these female workers come to work every day worrying about the physical, verbal, or sexual ordeal they would endure in order to make their ends meet.
Refusing to support these companies isn’t a decision I came to easily. Sometimes the money that these workers earn — approximately $2 per day — is all they can make; it’s often their only income even if it’s exploitation wages in adverse conditions. But we need to decide how many human rights violations we will tolerate for a cute sweater. 100? 2000? 100,000?
I just can’t make some justifications, morally. As people who care for our world, we’ve stood and taken action for climate change, Black Lives, and voting rights. It simply doesn’t make sense to say that 430 million working peoples’ lives don’t matter. That’s not who we are.
As consumers we hold power and can help change the dark side of this glamorous world of fashion. We should raise our voice through actions for the workers who cannot speak for themselves. We need an active boycott of corporate fashion brands that don’t treat and pay their workers fairly. Don’t be afraid to tell your favorite brands the social injustice they have cultivated over decades, whose price the workers continue to pay. It will generate a spark and make brands think about their workers.