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With the sun pounding down on Church Avenue in central Brooklyn, Johanna Washington dipped her fingers into an ice-cold cooler and shook her head as a man in a blue T-shirt approached, water bottles in hand.
He and his dripping shopping cart marked the fourth competitor to set up shop at her intersection on Thursday afternoon, and she was not pleased to find herself part of a chorus chanting the same song: “Cold water, cold water.”
A 59-year-old woman with dark blue eyes and bright pink toenails, Ms. Washington has spent most days of this likely-to-be-New-York’s-hottest month behind a cooler strapped to a shopping cart at Flatbush and Church Avenues, hoping to hydrate the masses, one bottle, and one dollar, at a time.
Her pitch, often delivered beneath a wide-brimmed straw hat that rests atop a cascade of gray dreadlocks, is simple. Her water can be bought without having to break stride. (It also comes with a “Thank you, dear” in a lilting Caribbean accent.)
As July’s historic heat wave has done its best to suffocate New York, the dollar-water brigade has popped up in sun-drenched parks and, amid honking intersections, is the latest small-scale entrepreneur to dot the city. They are the hot-weather counterparts to the umbrella vendors who materialize outside subway stations at every drizzle. And though the city considers it against the law to sell water without a license, many sidewalk peddlers are doing record business.
Ms. Washington, who has been selling water for five summers, said she usually picked up three cases of Poland Spring for a total of $16.62 from the local Pioneer supermarket. She arrives on her corner about 2 p.m. and generally stays until 8. If she sells all 72 bottles, as she has several times this month, that is about $55 in her pocket, or about $9 an hour. She does this two to four days a week, depending partly on the weather, between her other odd jobs, like baby-sitting and flower arranging.
Ms. Washington said she found the hot weather as draining as anyone else, but each morning she wakes up hoping for a scorcher. “If somebody has a snowplow, wouldn’t they like to see snow?” she asked. “I don’t like hot weather, but it is my business.”
She has had to make some sacrifices for the work. She has no air-conditioner at home because the overburdened freezers that chill her bottles keep her electricity bill high enough. After an afternoon on the corner, evenings are spent soaking her aching feet in a warm bath.
“I can’t sit when I’m selling,” she said. “I always have to be moving and talking.”
Ms. Washington, who lives a few blocks away, chats up neighbors and makes friends with customers. The other day, she wore a flower pin on her pink tank top that the daughter of one thirsty patron had stuck to her shirt. On less humid days, she has found, people turn to sweets soda, juice, ices. But on the stickiest days, bountiful this summer, she is very popular.
“I’m good at selling,” she said with a shrug and a sly smile. Case in point: “Poland Spring reminds me of water I used to drink from the river in Trinidad as a child. It’s very natural.”
Before water, Ms. Washington sold hair accessories, grilled corn and Caribbean snacks from the sidewalk. Those each involved more work and higher overhead. But this summer of swelter has brought increased competition on the dollar-water circuit.
“I have to beat the iron while it’s hot,” Ms. Washington said. “I have to sell water right now.”


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Retail sales increased last month, driven by online shoppers and Black Friday as electricals and home categories performed well.
November’s retail sales increased 5.9% year-on-year both in terms of amount spent and quantity bought, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Non-food retailers benefited from Black Friday and won 43% of overall sales during the period, with electricals retailers recording strong sales growth of 19.1%.
The discounting bonanza also triggered an upswing in online sales, up 24.9% year-on-year.
Figures edged up 0.5% excluding fuel on a monthly basis after a strong retail performance in October.
KPMG head of retail Paul Martin said: “The month’s figures were not quite as spectacular as October’s 7.4% increase, but certainly nothing at which retailers will be turning their noses up.”
Retail sales volumes were also up 2.1% on a three-month basis and up 5% in value during the same period.
Retail prices also edged up 0.1% last month, marking the first year-on-year price increase since June 2014.
Barclays head of retail and wholesale Ian Gilmartin said: “The first average price increase in over two years is a notable development, but we need to take care when analysing what this means for the industry, as fuel was a major contributor and assessing price moves during a month disrupted by Black Friday requires some caution.
“That said, it does appear that as anticipated, we’re entering a new period in terms of price and retailers will have to carefully consider pricing strategies as we move into 2017.”

domain: news


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FedEx announces price hikes, adding holiday season surcharges
FedEx has announced its general rate increases for 2019, bumping up its ground, express and home delivery services by an average of 4.9% as of Jan. 7, while also adding some holiday season surcharges and increasing others next year. Rival UPS has yet to announce its 2019 rates.
Between Nov. 19 and Dec. 24, FedEx is adding a $3.20 additional handling surcharge on U.S. express and ground services and international ground services. It is also adding a $150 unauthorized package charge during the same period for US and international ground, and a $27.50 oversized charge on US and international ground and US express services.
FedEx Freight, the company’s less-than-truckload (LTL) division, is increasing its rates an average of 5.9% as of Jan. 7. UPS has advised customers to make other plans for LTL shipments as of last week in the event of a potential Teamsters strike.
The company said FedEx SmartPost, its last-mile service handled by the US Postal Service, will be increasing in 2019 as well, although a figure was not given.
These increases are in addition to an increase in FedEx’s additional handling surcharge on packages weighing more than 70 lbs. from $12 to $20 as of Sept. 3, for US and international ground and express services, and increases in its fuel surcharges as of Sept. 10. More FedEx surcharge increases as of Jan. 7, including for same-day service, are detailed here.


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Costco's sales at stores open at least a year rose 2 percent in November, missing Wall Street's expectations for a period that included the critical Black Friday holiday shopping weekend.
Costco’s sales at stores open at least a year rose 2 percent in November, missing Wall Street’s expectations for a period that included the critical Black Friday holiday shopping weekend.
The performance was the weakest since September 2009 when the wholesale club operator posted a 1 percent increase.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet predicted a 3.3 percent rise in the metric. Costco shares closed down $2.02, or 1.6 percent, at $120.95 Thursday.
This figure is a key gauge of a retailer’s health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed. The results cover the four weeks ended Dec. 1, which included Black Friday this year.
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The indicator rose 2 percent in the United States and 1 percent overseas.
Excluding lower gas prices and the stronger dollar, sales at stores open at least a year increased 4 percent in November. The figure climbed 3 percent in the U.S. and rose 6 percent internationally.
Costco Wholesale Corp. said Thursday that total revenue for November climbed 5 percent to $8.78 billion.
For the first quarter ended Nov. 24, the wholesale club operator reported a 3 percent increase in sales at stores open at least a year. The metric also rose 3 percent in the U.S. and edged up 1 percent abroad.
Stripping out lower gas prices and the stronger dollar, sales at stores open at least a year rose 5 percent in the first quarter. The metric increased 4 percent in the U.S. and rose 6 percent overseas.
Total revenue climbed 5 percent to $24.47 billion in the quarter.
Costco currently runs 648 warehouses, including 461 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, 87 in Canada, 33 in Mexico, 25 in the U.K., 18 in Japan, 10 in Taiwan, nine in Korea and five in Australia.


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Sports Direct to close Oxford Street flagship store
Sports Direct is to close its Oxford Street flagship store in London, announcing the news via closing down sale signs in the store's window.
The news comes as more high street shops risk going out of business without further Government support during the Coronavirus pandemic, as warned by Frasers Group's (parent of Sports Direct) CFO earlier this year.
Chris Wootton said the UK high street was already in “turmoil” before lockdown measures and would need further financial assistance to survive.
A member of staff confirmed to TheIndustry.fashion that the store was closing but it is not yet clear what Frasers Group's intentions are for the location.
The group has begun to open new multi-brand stores featuring a number of its brands under one roof, with the latest opening in Portsmouth.
Last month, Sports Direct unveiled its first ever Christmas ad campaign, featuring a cameo from Liverpool FC captain Jordan Henderson, and showcasing the brand’s fresh new positioning and rebrand for 2021 and beyond.
Christmas lights continued to shine bright down Oxford Street in November despite a 4-week closure, with few shoppers continuing to purchase essential items, making use of click and collect services, and visiting the nearby area.
TheIndustry.fashion has contacted Sports Direct for comment.


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Survey Says Montana Manufacturers Optimistic About 2016
A University of Montana Business Survey says that manufacturers in Montana are optimistic about the year ahead.
Montana Manufacturing Extension Center Director Paddy Fleming says that they have good reason to be.
"Montana manufacturers seem to weather the ups and downs much better than their national counterparts do."
Fleming says that in Montana, 81 percent of manufacturers have fewer than 10 employees, and they tend to be very entrepreneurial.
The Bureau of Business and Economic Research at UM says that beverage and food manufacturers in Montana are the most optimistic, since many microbreweries and distilleries have expanded in the past year. There was a slight decline in the number of Montana manufacturing jobs last year, but between 2011 and 2014 the number of manufacturing jobs numbers grew from 3.5 to 7.5 percent each year.
The new survey found that finding and keeping enough skilled workers is among the major concerns for manufacturers in Montana.


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Toyota to Collaborate with Redwood Materials to Build a Closed Loop, EV Battery Recycling Ecosystem in the U.S.
【Summary】Toyota Motor North America announced a new collaboration with electric vehicle battery recycling startup Redwood Materials, a company founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel. The two companies plan to build an entire closed loop ecosystem for the recycling batteries from Toyota’s future hybrid and fully-electric vehicles.
Automaker Toyota Motor North America announced a new collaboration with electric vehicle battery recycling startup Redwood Materials, a company founded by Tesla co-founder J.B. Straubel. The two companies plan to build an entire closed loop ecosystem for the recycling batteries from Toyota's future hybrid and fully-electric vehicles.
The collaboration will include the collection, testing and recycling of used vehicle batteries into raw materials to create a sustainable supply chain. Toyota and Redwood Materials also aim to develop second-life opportunities for remanufactured and repurposed hybrid electric vehicle batteries by leveraging battery health screening tools and data from its vehicles.
Toyota and Redwood Materials will aim to incorporate battery recycling through domestic battery materials manufacturing into the automaker's battery production strategy, beginning with North America.
The collaboration with Redwood will support Toyota's commitment to reduce its environmental footprint and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
"We are excited to be working with Redwood Materials to identify solutions for our electrified powertrains at the end-of-life that contributes to our vision of creating a sustainable, circular battery ecosystem," said Christopher Yang, group vice president of Business Development at Toyota. "We are committed to developing sustainable solutions that allow our batteries to provide value beyond the initial lifecycle in an electrified vehicle. This also contributes to our carbon neutrality goals and our mission to build a more sustainable world for all."
Redwood Materials was founded in 2017 by Straubel, who co-founded electric automaker Tesla with Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning before Elon Musk joined the company. Straubel served as Tesla's first Chief Technical Officer (CTO) and fifth employee. Although he left Tesla in 2019, Straubel started Redwood Materials while still working for the electric automaker.
Redwood believes that in order to make electric vehicles sustainable and truly affordable, solutions for the collection, recycling and remanufacturing end-of-life battery packs into new battery materials needs to be established.
Although the auto industry is still in the early stages of electrification, as the number end-of-life battery packs grows, Redwood Materials expects that batteries at the end of their service lift will become valuable assets.
Redwood Materials battery recycling strategy helps reduce the environmental footprint and cost of lithium-ion batteries by offering large-scale sources of domestic anode and cathode materials produced from recycled batteries.
Redwood currently receives more than 6 GWh of end-of-life batteries each year for recycling, which are then refined and remanufactured into anode foil and cathode active materials, which are the positive and negatively charged components of a battery that store electrictricity.
Redwood plans to ramp production of anode and cathode components in the US to 100 GWh annually by 2025, which is enough to supply more than one million electric vehicles a year. By 2030, the startup expects its output to scale to 500 GWh/year, which is enough to produce batteries for around 5 million electric vehicles.
"Toyota helped pave the way for clean transportation with the introduction of the Toyota Prius more than 20 years ago. Their commitment not only to sell millions of electrified vehicles this decade but to ensure their circularity into the future is a critical step for electrification," said JB Straubel, Redwood Materials founder and CEO. "Redwood and Toyota's shared vision to drive down the environmental footprint and cost of transportation will continue to accelerate the adoption and access to electric vehicles."
Redwood Materials founder J.B. Straubel (left) and Toyota's group vice president of Business Development Christopher Yang.
In 2019, Tesla's battery partner Panasonic entered into a partnership with Redwood Materials to reclaim all of the scrap materials generated from producing battery cells at Tesla's gigafactory in Nevada. Currently all of the scrap materials generated by battery production are shipped to Redwood's nearby Nevada facility for recycling.
Redwood says its EV battery recycling technology can recover, on average, more than 95% of the elements like nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper. Once recycled, these materials can be reused to produce anode and cathode active materials for future batteries.
In July 2021, Redwood Materials announced a $700 million investment it's using to build a battery materials factory in the U.S.
Redwood is also working with Ford Motor Co on battery recycling. In Sept 2021, the company announced its partnership with Ford to establish electric vehicle battery recycling operations and a domestic battery supply chain.
Ford and Redwood's collaboration will integrate battery recycling into Ford's domestic EV battery strategy, as the automaker develops more purely electric vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning.
The goal of Redwood's partnership with Ford is to make electric vehicles more sustainable and drive down the cost for batteries by creating a closed-loop recycling ecosystem. But it will also help Ford reduce its reliance on imported EV batteries and the mining of raw materials, which can also help to lower costs.
The high cost of EV batteries is one of the barriers to the widespread adoption of electrified vehicles. Although battery production costs have fallen significantly over the years, it still costs automakers roughly $140 for each kWh of battery power. Tesla's 2022 Model 3 Long Range, for example, comes with a 82 kWh battery pack, which translates to around $11,480.
Toyota's EV plans include new and increased automotive battery production in the U.S. The automaker recently announced an investment of $1.3 billion in a new North American battery factory named "Toyota Battery Manufacturing, North Carolina" (TBMNC). When completed, TBMNC is anticipated to produce battery packs for 1.2 million electrified vehicles per year.
Toyota expects to sell eight million electrified vehicles globally by 2030, which includes an investment of roughly $70 billion to develop new battery-powered models.
In February, Redwood announced plans to launch a comprehensive battery recycling program in California, the state with the highest number of EVs on the road. Ford and Volvo Cars were the first automakers to directly support the program. However, Redwood said it will accept all lithium-ion (Li-ion) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries in the state and welcomes other automakers to join in its recycling efforts in California.
Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.
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MANILA, 08 April 2011 – Yahoo’s hugely successful Purple Hunt contest with prizes worth over P10 million is nearing its final week.
To be a part of the online treasure hunt, logon to http://yahoopurplehunt2.com.ph to register and start the hunt. To win these exciting prizes, search for the Purple Boxes online and around the country.
Nokia X2-01 mobile phones, Nokia MD-9 speakers, Smart Bro Bro prepaid pocket wifi and the grand prize of a Hyundai i10 with a curious purple twist are up for grabs in this on-line contest. The winner of the grand prize - a purplized Hyundai i10 will be announced on April 17 at a finale event.
The location of the event will be revealed in the last clue which the participants can find using Yahoo! Search.
The day-long event is packed with Yahoo!’s characteristic fun personality with booths to explore, Yahoo! goodies to hunt for and cool items to collect. Live music and live act performances demos, talks and games will continue throughout the day to make it a memorable event for everyone.
To learn more about the Purple Hunt 2.0, search Yahoo! Purple Hunt 2.0 or log on to http://yahoopurplehunt2.com.ph. The five week long contest, which started on March 15, is in its second year of running.


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“FOR NIGERIANS,” SAYS John Obayuwana, “the bigger the logo the better.” Mr Obayuwana owns Polo Luxury Group, a chain of shops in Nigeria and Ghana selling things like Swiss watches and Montblanc pens. His rich initial customers have been joined by middle-class consumers with a penchant for European luxury. Nigeria is a difficult market, with shoddy infrastructure and few decent shopping malls. So for the foreseeable future Nigerians will do most of their upmarket shopping at emporia like Harrods in London, where they outspend Americans. But as emerging countries get more prosperous, they are becoming increasingly important to luxury-goods makers.
The 15 fastest-growing emerging markets will provide 90% of the growth in consumption of luxury beauty products and women’s wear over the next ten years, says Nathalie Remy of McKinsey, a consultancy. China will account for nearly half that growth, which leaves plenty of opportunities in other developing countries. Whereas makers of packaged consumer goods must fan out across entire countries to reach their markets, luxury makers can concentrate on the main cities.
South-East Asia is “a half-China”, says Mr Cassegrain of Longchamp. For now, the inventor of the folding Le Pliage nylon tote does only 6% of its business in the region, but that is two-and-a-half times as much as three years ago. Half of Latin America’s luxury sales are in Mexico, in part because that country has slashed duties on imports. Brazilians, who face higher tariffs, tend to shop in Miami.
Oddly, for all its wealth, even America is a developing market of sorts for European luxury-goods makers. It has 30% of the world’s high-net-worth individuals (people with more than $1m in liquid assets) and nearly a quarter of global GDP, but consumes less than a fifth of the world’s personal luxury goods, notes Olivier Abtan of the Boston Consulting Group; and its consumers are younger than those in Europe or Japan. North America is “probably the safest growth driver we can imagine”, says Michele Norsa, chief executive of Salvatore Ferragamo.
For small luxury houses, it may be better to pursue a modest share of a slow-growing mature market than to leap into fast-growing emerging economies, says Ms Emmerson of Walpole British Luxury. Lots of Europeans own luxury goods but buy them infrequently. Mesmerised by the dynamism of developing markets, luxury brands are turning Europeans off by pushing up prices and churning out stylish but ephemeral designs, argues Ms Remy. Europe could be “a land of opportunity” if only luxury-goods makers would seize it.
This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline "The clamour for glamour"
From the December 13th 2014 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contentsExplore the edition


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And again a German politician fires at Google
Google and Germany will most probably never be friends. After Merkel, some law suits, the suggestion of Analytics being illegal, Streetview hassle and not getting "Gmail" and different German politicians opposing to Google's bookdeal German Minister of Justice, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger (try pronouncing that when you're British), told German magazine Der Spiegel she feels Google is becoming a monopoly.
"All in all, what's taking shape there to a large extent is a giant monopoly, similar to Microsoft. My initial response is not to ban something or stop something. But I do want to create more transparency and ensure that users know what is going on with their data.
The statement is yet another blow to Google's position in Germany. The search giant however remains the biggest one in Germany with a market share way over 90%.
Tagcloudfacebook indonesia tools funny ses realtime website social media business social linkbuilding a4uexpo browser search engines google wave blogger blog research ppc twitter smx europe news microsoft seo video android china search engine strategies matt cutts google tools app mobile apple bing viral london marketing google maps street view


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Southwark Council is urging residents to give up fizzy drinks for a month as part of a health awareness blitz.
Today marks the start of the first Fizz Free February campaign encouraging locals to give up the fizz entirely for 28 days.
The council says it has launched the campaign to raise awareness of the health implications of drinking fizzy drinks, which often contain high amounts of sugar.
Making up an average of 29 per cent of daily sugar intake, fizzy drinks are the largest single source of sugar for children aged eleven to eighteen.
A survey of Southwark primary and secondary school pupils found that almost one third of them reported having sweets or non-diet fizzy drinks on most days.
Southwark also has some of the highest rates of obesity in the country; 47 per cent of all adults and 43 per cent of children in Year 6 are classified as being overweight or obese.
To take part in the campaign, all you have to do is pledge to give up fizzy drinks for 28 days from today.
Councillor Maisie Anderson, Southwark Council’s cabinet member for public health and social regeneration, said: “I especially want to appeal to parents and carers to encourage their children to go fizz-free as sugar can have very serious, but very preventable, effects on the health of young people.
“A healthy lifestyle is about more than just kicking your taste for fizzy, high-sugar drinks, but it’s a good place to start.”
Professor Damien Walmsley, the British Dental Association’s scientific adviser, said fizzy drinks were by far the biggest factor in causing dental erosion among teenagers.
“Consuming too many fizzy drinks is rotting our teeth, as well as piling on the pounds, but the ‘diet’ version is no less damaging to teeth,” he said.
“These are highly acidic and over time will wear away the surface of the teeth.”
Sarah Hickey, child obesity programme director at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity, said removing sugar drinks from the diet was a “good step in the right direction” to achieving and keeping a healthy weight.
You can take part by signing at www.southwark.gov.uk/gofizzfree and also by tweeting the hashtag #gofizzfree.


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In an era where cancel culture is growing at an alarming pace, Mike Lindell, the founder of MyPillow, is feeling the heat. With various corporations choosing to sever their ties with his company, Lindell is now being forced to auction off hundreds of pieces of equipment as part of a larger strategy to manage his business amidst declining sales.
The auction, planned for Tuesday, will see the disposal of roughly 850 items ranging from office supplies to warehouse and manufacturing equipment. The circumstances prompting this decision? A series of events that have rocked Lindell’s prosperous company, MyPillow, set off by his outspoken activism against the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Many household names such as Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond, have chosen to “cancel” MyPillow. “It was a massive, massive cancellation,” Lindell explained. He estimates that these actions, largely fueled by the ever-expanding cancel culture, resulted in a loss of nearly $100 million in revenue.
Yet, like any determined entrepreneur, Lindell isn’t going down without a fight. Instead, he’s pivoting his business model, concentrating on direct sales and partnerships with those retailers still willing to sell his products. This shift has led to a reduction in space and equipment needs for his Minnesota-based company.
“We kind of needed a building and a half, but now with these moves, we’re making, we can get it down to our one building,” Lindell said. His commitment to his employees remains steadfast, as he’s managed to avoid layoffs, reassigning some workers to other areas of his operations.
The legal battles Lindell faces have undeniably added to his load. He’s currently contesting a ruling that demands him to pay $5 million to a software expert who claimed to have debunked some of Lindell’s assertions about the 2020 election. “Of course it has,” he remarked when asked about the strain these lawsuits have brought on. But Lindell remains undeterred, asserting, “I will be vindicated in every single one.”
Lindell’s story offers a stark example of the real-life impacts of cancel culture and its influence on businesses and their owners. Despite the challenges, it’s clear Lindell is ready to adapt, focusing on the preservation of his employees’ jobs and upholding his commitment to his customers. It’s a testament to the spirit of resilience—a key tenet of conservative values—that can withstand even the most severe storm. It serves as a reminder that, while the winds of societal trends may blow hard, the roots of conviction and adaptability run deep, ready to ensure survival and continued growth.


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Mankind Pharma Limited, a leading healthcare provider, has diversified its offering in the pet care industry with the launch of Mankind's PetStar Dog Food. The brand aims to build and support the pet care ecosystem by offering pet food, medicine, supplements, and grooming products. PetStar food is made with European raw materials and manufactured in the UK, adhering to the quality and safety standards of BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards).
This move comes as India has seen growth in pet ownership over the past decade, particularly during the pandemic. PetStar food will be available in a variety of flavours and is manufactured with Indian climatic conditions in mind. The product is also tested in laboratories to ensure its quality.
According to Mr. Rajeev Juneja, Managing Director of Mankind Pharma, "We decided to expand our offering to the pet care segment after observing the rising number of pet owners in India. Normal human food is not recommended for pets and in most cases, is unable to meet their nutritional requirements. We understand that pets have different body needs and have created Mankind's PetStar with this in mind, making it suitable for all breeds."
Mankind's PetStar food aims to cater to the evolving needs of the pet community, providing nutritious and healthy food options for dogs and cats. The brand hopes to enhance the health of pets with its product offerings, including food, medicine, supplements, and grooming ranges.


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Abhimanyu GhoshalManaging Editor
Abhimanyu is TNW's Managing Editor, and is all about personal devices, Asia's tech ecosystem, as well as the intersection of technology and Abhimanyu is TNW's Managing Editor, and is all about personal devices, Asia's tech ecosystem, as well as the intersection of technology and culture. Hit him up on Twitter, or write in: [email protected].
Hoo boy, Facebook has messed up big-time with its advertisers. According to The Wall Street Journal, the social network has admitted to misreporting video metrics to its clients for the past two years.
Facebook said that its measure of the average time users spent watching videos was artificially inflated because it was only factoring in video views of more than three seconds – resulting in data that overestimated this metric by 60-80 percent.
The trouble with that is that it misguided advertisers who spent money promoting campaigns on the social network. They need that kind of data to decide how much they should pay media outlets to run their ads.
Facebook acknowledged the error in a statement:
We recently discovered an error in the way we calculate one of our video metrics. This error has been fixed, it did not impact billing, and we have notified our partners both through our product dashboards and via sales and publisher outreach. We also renamed the metric to make it clearer what we measure. This metric is one of many our partners use to assess their video campaigns.
The company is introducing a new metric called “Average Watch Time”, which will reflect video views of any duration (and not just those that go longer than three seconds).
But that will do little to fix the damage caused to Facebook’s reputation, after it misguided its clients for two whole years in this way. The revelation raises concerns about tech companies’ ‘walled gardens’, which don’t allow third parties to independently measure and obtain analytical data.
Its clients are obviously not too pleased. Ad group Publicis, which purchased $77 billion worth of ads last year, noted:
In an effort to distance themselves from the incorrect metrics, Facebook is deprecating [the old metrics] and introducing ‘new’ metrics in September. Essentially, they’re coming up with new names for what they were meant to measure in the first place.
This once again illuminates the absolute need to have 3rd party tagging and verification on Facebook’s platform. Two years of reporting inflated performance numbers is unacceptable.
Following WSJ’s report, Facebook shares fell by 1.3 percent ($1.78) to $128.30 in after-hours trading.
Update 11:35 ET: Facebook has issued a formal apology for the screw-up with a follow-up statement by David Fischer, VP of business and marketing partnerships. After re-iterating the mistake, there’s this penitent bit:
But this isn’t just about this error. This is about how seriously we take our partners’ commitment to our platform, and how their investments with us wholly depend on the transparency with which we communicate. We know we can’t have true partnerships with our clients unless we are upfront and honest with them, including when we make mistakes like this one. Our clients’ trust and belief in our metrics is essential to us and we have to earn that trust. That is why we also give marketers choice by offering third-party video verification options with companies like Nielsen and Moat. We want marketers to measure video with us in the way they feel most comfortable.
We sincerely apologize for the issues this has created for our clients. This error should not stand in the way of our ultimate goal, which is to do what’s in the best interest of our partners and their business growth. We can only be successful if we’re providing clients with the tools to drive their business forward, and we’ll continue to deliver on that promise.
The full statement is here:
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Get our latest news and information on business finance, management and growth.
Updated: March 27th, 2020
At Funding Circle, we’re on a mission to build a better financial world. That’s why we’re proud to announce we’ve become a Financial Health Network Member of the Center for Financial Services Innovation.
Since 2004, CFSI has worked to improve the financial health of Americans, especially the underserved, by shaping a robust and innovative financial services marketplace with increased access to higher quality products and practices. They’ve done this through research, advocacy, investment, and partnerships with a network of likeminded providers across the financial services industry.
Across the country, many still fall through the cracks of the financial system and as a result their financial health suffers. They face obstacles related to income volatility, financial planning, budgeting, access to affordable credit, and more — and while this is acute for individuals, small business owners are just as affected. According to CFSI research, half of all small businesses hold a cash buffer of less than one month, and 44 percent struggle with access to credit or capital to expand.
At Funding Circle, we share CFSI’s vision for leveraging innovation to help to alleviate these systemic issues. That’s part of why we’ve created a platform powered by cutting-edge technology to do a very old thing — connect businesses looking to grow with investors who want to lend — in a totally new way. This gives small businesses the same opportunities as big businesses to invest in their own growth, resulting in a better deal for everyone.
We think the traditional financial system is plagued by opaque practices, so we’ve made a commitment to transparency as a cornerstone of our business. This includes making a quick, honest decision in as few as 24 hours when you apply for a business loan. It also includes ensuring business owners understand the real cost of their loans, and only charging a one-time, upfront origination fee if you choose to accept our loan offer.
In fact, we partnered with other industry leaders to author the first-ever gold standard for transparent and responsible business lending in America: the Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights. Outlining six key rights the Responsible Business Lending Coalition believes all small business borrowers deserve, it was designed to foster greater transparency and accountability across the small business lending sector.
We look forward to continuing our efforts in collaboration with CFSI. Learn more about their work at http://cfsinnovation.org.


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Limelight Networks, a company which offers a variety of back-end support services to Web sites like MSNBC.com and iFilm, has acquired Kiptronic, a firm that offers dynamic ad insertion in Web video. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Just a few weeks ago, Kiptronic began delivering ads within videos for NBC.com’s mobile properties. The San Francisco, Calif.-based firm, which launched a podcasting ad product in 2006, currently works with media companies such as NPR, Fox and Condé Nast.
Limelight, which offers clients services such as content management, monetization tools and video-streaming capacity, plans to leverage Kiptronic’s capabilities in the burgeoning mobile arena, said Jeff Lunsford, Limelight’s chairman and CEO. “Today, the distribution and monetization of content on [mobile] devices is complex and difficult to implement in a scalable fashion….We look forward to working with the talented Kiptronic team to bring to market additional innovative solutions for mobile and connected devices that will benefit our customers and our ecosystem partners.”


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September 17 2008
E-scrap Super Saturday offers individuals and businesses from throughout the Wabash Valley a chance to dispose of computers, monitors, televisions and a host of other electronic items that are no longer serviceable or no longer needed.
The last such event in January resulted in the collection of six semi-trailer loads of items that were taken to RecycleForce in Indianapolis to be safely processed and properly recycled.
Acceptable items include audio systems; calculators; cables and wiring; cameras and camcorders; cell phones; computers (desktop and laptop) and accessories, including keyboards and mice; electric motors; electric tools (corded and cordless); fans; microphones; microwaves; pagers; printers; projectors; radar detectors; remote-controlled toys; satellite TV components and receivers; scanners; small appliances (without Freon); telephones, answering machines and pagers; two-way radios and equipment; video games; and word processors.
Anyone concerned about the contents of their computers can be assured hard drives and storage media will be secured and erased or destroyed using industry-approved methods.
Items containing hazardous waste will not be accepted, except for electronic items listed above. Also, no major appliances will be accepted and nothing containing Freon or radioactive materials (such as smoke detectors) can be taken at E-Scrap Super Saturday.
To ensure environmental safety and promote the broadest possible recycling of items, do not crush or dismantle items brought to E-scrap and do not cut any electrical cords.
No fees will be collected during the e-scrap collection, but a $5 per car trunk load donation will be appreciated to help with transportation costs.
Businesses, industries and non-profit offices wishing to take part in the service are asked to contact the ISU Recycle Center at 812-237-8150 for information and to make plans for individual drop-offs.
E-Scrap Super Saturday is sponsored by Indiana State University, Trees Inc., Sony DADC, Aisin, RecycleForce, Wabash Valley Packaging Corp., Data Management Services, and Goodman & Wolfe.
More information is available on the ISU Recycle Center's Web site
E-scrap day Computer monitors and other electronic equipment were stacked up during an E-Scrap Super Saturday at ISU on Jan. 12. About 8 tons of electronics were brought to the event to be recycled.
Contact: Paul Reed, director of custodial and special services, Facilities Management, Indiana State University, 812-237-8197 or firstname.lastname@example.org
Writer: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications & Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3773 or email@example.com
ISU will host another E-scrap Super Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 20 in university parking Lot 15 at Eighth and Chestnut streets, just south of Statesman Towers (Colleges of Business and Education.) The event offers individuals and businesses from throughout the Wabash Valley a chance to dispose of computers, monitors, televisions and a host of other electronic items that are no longer serviceable or no longer needed.


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You are looking at what the ideal iPhone may become in 2021. A phone with no ports whatsoever, no camera pinholes, no pop-up cameras, and no notches — all gorgeous display. But it’s not made by Apple. It’s made by Oppo.
According to the Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will release an iPhone with no ports in 2021. And while it will probably not have the same aesthetic, it may be something very similar to what Oppo has showed today in China. A device that will only charge wirelessly, output sound using Bluetooth, and transfer data exclusively using Wi-Fi and 5G connectivity. A 100% wireless experience.
For those seeking the perfect, notchless smartphone screen experience – prepare to be amazed. 📲You are taking a very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology. RT! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/FrqB6RiJaYJune 3, 2019
As reported by Chinese site CNBeta, Oppo’s new prototype is the most refined and advanced expression of the candy bar smartphone that currently dominates the market despite the recent internet success of the foldable Motorola Razr. Not only it doesn’t use any ports, but it has no visible selfie cameras.
According to CNBeta, the phone features an under-display camera — a technology that Oppo already demonstrated this summer (you can see it in action in the video above). The company admits that it’s not perfect yet, though. It aims to iron the current kinks over the next few years.
Xiaomi is also in the race to put a phone that is all screen with a similar underdisplay camera. However, the Chinese company hasn’t shown any zero-port concept yet.
Other companies have demonstrated zero-port phones: the $1,300 Meizu Zero, which didn’t have any ports or buttons, and the Apex 2019, made by Vivo. None of those phones went beyond the experimental stage, though.
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Jesus Diaz founded the new Sploid for Gawker Media after seven years working at Gizmodo, where he helmed the lost-in-a-bar iPhone 4 story and wrote old angry man rants, among other things. He's a creative director, screenwriter, and producer at The Magic Sauce, and currently writes for Fast Company and Tom's Guide.


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A Chester restaurateur has beaten a national chain to win a coveted industry award.
Olive Tree Brasserie based on Watergate Row stood up against national Japanese chain YO! Sushi and Southern-based gourmet burger multiple site operator Hache Burgers to walk home with the prize of ‘Best Menu Development’ at the Eat Out Magazine Awards in London.
Owner Dean Wilson, 32 who has who founded Olive Tree Brasserie 10 years ago, said he was delighted with the win.
He said: “Winning amongst my peers and battling it out against people like Yo! Sushi wasn’t easy but it just shows that our hard work and determination to create some of the best Greek food around has paid off.
“Over the past decade we’ve always tried to push the boundaries of conventional Greek cuisine and had great feedback from our customers about it - now it’s great to have that industry recognition too.”
Alongside an executive head chef Dean creates all of the dishes from scratch and travels to mainland Greece and the Greek islands bi-annually to further his knowledge about new produce and current trends in the Med. He recently visited the Athens Street Food Festival, in Gazi and spent time touring the islands learning about new techniques, ideas and innovations from Greek chefs.
Dean added: “When you offer authentic cuisine to your customers it’s really important that it is just that – authentic. It’s been one of the mainstays of our menus and will continue to be throughout our expansion.”
Around 40% of the menu at the Olive Tree Brasserie is made with produce directly from Greece while the other 60% is sourced as locally as possible from the very best butchers and farmers in the North West.
Dean has recently acquired a fourth site which forms part of a wider expansion plan, adding to sites in Preston and Lytham St Anne’s, that he hopes will help grow his Greek restaurant chain throughout the North West and eventually nationwide.
For more information about the awards held in London on November 1, go to eatoutmagazine.co.uk and for more information on Olive Tree Brasserie go to www.olivetreebrasserie.co.uk .


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statesman news service
NEW DELHI, 16 JUNE: Low-cost carrier AirAsia today announced that Mr Ratan Tata (in photo) will be their chief advisor on the board of its Indian venture. It also promised “Nano” airfares once it begins operating flights in the country.
Announcing Mr Tata&’s name as the chief advisor, Malaysia-based AirAsia chief Mr Tony Fernandes also said that the name of the chairman for AirAsia India board would also soon be disclosed.
“Persuading Mr Tata to be advisor has not been easy. Critical, we have someone of his massive experience to help me chart AirAsia India with Mittu (Chandilya) and myself,” Mr Fernandes announced on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Asked whether to expect "Nano" price or cheapest air tickets from AirAsia India, Mr Fernandes replied in affirmative: “Yes. It&’s all about low fares. And everyday.”
Mr Ratan Tata, who retired as head of Tata Group in December last year, is believed to be the main force behind the launch of the airline.
He also surprised the automobile market with the launch of the world&’s cheapest car Nano. It was launched by the group at an initial price tag of Rs 1 lakh.
Mr Fernandes said that the chairman&’s name would be announced shortly. “AirAsia India (is) shaping up brilliantly,” he said, while adding that the company has got a “super CEO”, a good board and a great advisor who was “a legend in every sense”.
AirAsia has named Mr Mittu Chandilya as the CEO of its Indian venture, where other stakeholders include Tata Group and Telestra Tradeplace.
Mr Fernandes, along with Tata Sons and Mr Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace, has formed the 49:30:21 joint venture to launch the airline, which will be headquartered in Chennai.
The announcement comes within a few days of civil aviation minister Mr Ajit Singh saying that all the issues regarding AirAsia’s India operations have been resolved.
“All matters on AirAsia India have been resolved. The proposal has been sent to the Union home ministry for security clearance,” he had said in London.
As for the organisational structure, there will be an independent director on the board who would also be the non-executive chairman.
Tata Sons has nominated Mr R Venkatraman, former executive assistant to Mr Ratan Tata and Mr Bharat Vasani, the chief legal counsel of the Tata Group, on the board.
AirAsia will be represented by Mr Tony Fernandes and Mr Kamarudin Bin Meranun.


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- Largest investment program in China’s automotive industry
- More than two thirds of €9.8 billion to be invested by 2015 in low-consumption models and sustainable production
- Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn: “Climate protection is a driver for economic growth”
- Group sets environmental standards with new plants
- Employee numbers to grow by 25,000 to more than 100,000 in 2018
30 years after entering the Chinese market, the Volkswagen Group is starting a new phase of sustainable growth. In the course of expanding production capacities, the two Chinese joint ventures of the Volkswagen Group will be investing more than €9.8 billion by 2015; investments in highly efficient products and resource-conserving production will account for more than two thirds of this figure. Before the Shanghai Motor Show, the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, stated: “We will be launching the largest investment program in China’s automotive history.”
Winterkorn: “At Volkswagen, we are convinced that climate protection and efficient technologies are drivers for economic growth. And I am confident that the world’s best automaker must take the lead in terms of green mobility, too.” China will play a key role in achieving the ambitious goals of the Volkswagen Group. The Group is building seven new plants in China. Five of these plants are already due to start production this year: the Urumqi, Foshan and Ningbo vehicle assembly plants as well as component facilities at Changchun and Foshan. By 2018, the workforce is to increase from 75,000 to 100,000 people. Annual production capacity is set to grow from the present figure of 2.6 million to more than 4 million units per year in 2018, with a view to relieving the burden on existing plants in a growing market.
The member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft with responsibility for China, Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, gave more precise details of the electro-mobility strategy tailored to the needs of the Chinese market. He said that it was planned to offer vehicles with an electrified powertrain from 2014/2015. Some of these vehicles would be produced locally by the joint ventures Shanghai-Volkswagen and FAW-Volkswagen.
Heizmann underscored that 26 models of the group had already been recognized as especially energy-saving and environmentally compatible by the state. Volkswagen had already reduced the fuel consumption of its fleet in China, currently including more than 70 models, by 20 percent between 2005 and 2010. A further reduction of 11 percent was planned by 2015. Volkswagen complies with the fleet consumption legislation which has been in force in China since 2012 and will take further measures to achieve ambitious reductions in fleet consumption over the next few years. Among other things, this will include further optimization of the efficiency of internal combustion engines as well as the introduction of alternative powertrain technology. The intensive development of local research and development competence will also play a role in this context.
The seven new plants will set new standards for sustainable automobile production. The new paint shops which are planned alone will use 70% less energy and 90% less water as a result of the introduction of highly innovative dry paint mist separation processes. The first paint shop of this type in Asia and the second in the world was commissioned in Chengdu in 2011. Six others are now already in operation or in the pipeline. The Foshan facility was the first car factory in China to receive a Triple-Star Green Building Award, the highest state award available for environmentally compatible factory design. Foshan features the first membrane bioreactor in the Chinese automobile industry; 100 percent of treated wastewater is reused as industrial water. 88 percent of the waste and packaging material from the production process is recycled.
“For three decades, Volkswagen has been a reliable partner for the Chinese automobile industry. We will continue to assume responsibility for people and the environment in the future,” said Heizmann. He added that this included the function of Volkswagen in setting an example as a top employer and a pioneer of the dual training system as well as a comprehensive commitment to vocational and advanced training. Heizmann said that the Group would be continuing its long-term education programs “Green Future Environmental Education Initiative” and “Volkswagen Road Safety TV Education”.


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The Monster Hunter series is coming to your smartphone. Capcom has announced a partnership with TiMi Studio Group for a new Monster Hunter title developed specifically for mobile. There aren’t many details on the actual game — including when it might be available — but the companies say that “the in-development game will reproduce the hunting actions that define the Monster Hunter series, and offers players a new game experience unique for mobile devices and phones.”
If the TiMi name sounds familiar, it’s because the studio is behind some of the biggest mobile games around, including the massive Chinese hit Honor of Kings. The Tencent-owned studio has also developed several notable mobile adaptations of major franchises, like Pokémon Unite and Call of Duty: Mobile and is currently working with Xbox on some kind of mystery project.
Monster Hunter, meanwhile, is a certified global hit thanks to Monster Hunter: World, which has gone on to become Capcom’s bestselling title to date, with more than 18 million copies sold since it debuted in 2018. Since then, Capcom has also released Monster Hunter Rise on both the Nintendo Switch and PC — and a live-action movie came out starring Milla Jovovich. Even Electronic Arts is trying to get in on the action with the upcoming Monster Hunter-style game Wild Hearts, which launches next year.


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Indian Oil Corp, a state-owned fuel retailer, will get cash payment for the fiscal first quarter subsidy on September 17, its director (finance) P.K. Goyal said on Monday.
Fuel retailers, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp sell diesel, kerosene and cooking gas at subsidised rates to protect the poor and tame inflation.
The retailers will get 80 billion rupees as partial compensation for the revenue losses suffered on sale of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas at lower state-set prices. Indian Oil's share will be 42 billion rupees, Goyal said.
($1 = 64.0100 rupees)


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The UK fintech boom: why now is the time to scale-up your fintech business
Earlier this year, reports revealed that record levels of fintech investment had been seen in the UK since February 2018, reaching an all-time high of £2.6bn. The fintech sector itself is still relatively young, but as this industry matures, the trends and patterns in investment are inevitably set to change as companies look to scale up their businesses.
by Jonathan Dawson, Senior Manager, haysmacintyre
Supply and demand
Typically, investment in a particular industry is driven by the attitudes of those investing. When institutional, venture capitalist, high net worth and private equity investors see value in a sector, we then tend to see a trend towards increased investment in these industries, at all levels.
However, these increased levels of investment in the UK fintech sector over the past 12 months are likely to have been driven by the investees rather than the investors. The appetite from investors to secure equity in high growth and high potential technology businesses has been present for years. What we’re seeing now is more businesses with a viable product and a ‘go to market strategy’.
This is piquing the interest of mature investors, who have perhaps taken small stakes in these growth companies at an early stage, but are now willing to invest more significantly as we see companies like Monzo raising £85m in their Series E fundraise. As the 13th member of the UK’s ‘Unicorn Club’, they join the likes of Revolut, Transferwise and Funding Circle, in a list dominated by fintech companies.
As the fintech sector matures, we’re seeing businesses reach a level in their lifecycle where their value is more apparent. Within the sector, we have seen a track record of businesses publicly listing and others selling to financial institutions at multiples of more than 20 times their revenue. Significantly, we’ve seen companies turn ideas into reality, which as a result is attracting more conservative investors to the party.
Everyone wants a slice of the fintech pie
Crowdfunding has become a common method of fundraising over the last five years, and there is little doubt that this will continue to be the case in the future, continuing to allow individuals to invest in unlisted companies. Continued developments in investment interest are to be expected in 2019, with some crowdfunded companies providing a profitable exit opportunity to original investors by going through an initial public offering or other exit events.
Most fintech companies have been referred to as ‘start-ups’ with the focus being on the product, scaling application and network, as opposed to profits. There are now more sufficiently developed companies with investors and management teams focused on profits, which will likely lead to further successful exit events in 2019.
The value is in the network
In late 2018 when Monzo raised on a valuation of five hundred times revenue, it was clear that the business wasn’t being valued on its revenue, or indeed on the £33m loss it suffered in the prior year. There are many different techniques used when valuing a company, and in the last few years we’ve seen some of the more traditional methods being replaced by modern techniques, such as the ‘network effect’. Fintech companies are rarely only valued on revenues, profits or assets alone: investors are far more interested in the size of the network that the ‘solution’ is available to.
The ‘network effect’ is likely to become more important in the coming years as we see rapid developments in cryptoassets, augmented reality and artificial intelligence. Investors are aware of the power of these technologies, even if they are yet to understand the applications.
Over the last five years, the UK fintech industry has broken countless records. The sector is now valued at over £20 billion in annual revenues, and in the first six months of 2018 raised investment of £13 billion, accounting for over half of Europe’s total investment in the sector.
Many of these companies that raised money in 2018 didn’t exist five years ago, which is driving a premium on companies in the sector: investors know that the start-ups of today could be the record-breaking statistic of the future.
With Brexit looming it’s difficult to predict investment trends in 2019, although a quiet start to the year is to be expected as we ride through the initial uncertainty. Whilst Theresa May battles it out in Westminster, fintech companies in the financial centre of London are far from slowing down, with innovations in technology and the growth of feasible products continuing to be developed in the sector.
Fintech as an ecosystem
There doesn’t seem to be a universal definition of ‘fintech’, although it’s widely accepted as any products, services or solutions within the financial services sector, that aim to be more efficient, user-friendly, automated or transparent through the use of technology. What was perhaps once seen as a sub-sector of tech, fintech is now being widely accepted as a sector in its own right, encompassing many other sub-sectors.
We’ve seen dramatic growth in the use of ‘regtech’ which is often considered a sub-set of fintech. First defined by the FCA in 2015, this sub-set saw huge developments in 2018, with rapid improvements being made in the processes surrounding KYC, anti-money laundering, compliance and risk mitigation. Financial institutions are adopting these products and services in the hope that they can stay one step ahead of the regulators. Regtech is still considered to be in its infancy but recent studies suggest regtech will make up more than 30% of all regulatory spend by 2020. In a world where the annual compliance spend by financial institutions is estimated to be £200bn, regtech could play a huge part in the growth of fintech in 2019.
Regtech is only a small part of the fintech ecosystem. Robo-advisors, mobile banking, smart lending and blockchain are other sub-sectors that are anticipated to make significant progress in 2019. All of these areas are rapidly improving their technologies and are starting to introduce applications and solutions to the market.
Despite the UK’s future uncertainties, the fintech sector is booming. Whilst it is still a relatively new industry, continued technological developments will maintain peaked interest from investors, be this from crowdfunding or mature investment. Fintech start-ups that are looking to progress to the next stage should consider their ‘go to market strategy’, as well as the feasibility and potential network of their product, in order to appeal to more mature investment.


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Fiji’s clothing industry has a special agreement with Australia and New Zealand called Spartaca and has duty free access. But Spartaca hasn’t moved with the times. Koushik Kumar, President, TCF explains, “If changes to Spartaca had been made we would have been 50 per cent larger than we are now. Earlier we would produce volumes for Australian brands. But China, Indonesia, Bangladesh came up with cheaper options and we lost a lot of business. We now rely on multiple buyers. We specialize in niche markets and quick turnarounds because small run customers are ready to pay us a slight premium. That works well for both parties. We have 50 factories who are members of the TCF Council of Fiji. We make fashion, work wear, school uniforms, and high fashion women’s wear.”
Talking about the problems in Spartaca, “Kumar says, “We want free trade. We want duty free access of Fijian products to Australia and New Zealand. At the moment, we have a 50 per cent local content rule. In Fiji, there’s no raw material. We are basically selling labor. So we are restricted in meeting the 50 per cent rule. Ideally, we want this rule to go or at least reduced.”
With a slowdown in demand from America the industry has significantly reduced in terms of export as well as employment. About 70 per cent of our exports go to Australia and 20 per cent goes to New Zealand and the rest goes to Pacific islands, America and Europe. Fiji is restricted in terms of skills. There is a dearth of skill development training facility. “We are working on starting training courses. That will help us upscale our labor. At the moment there are very little branded products made in Fiji.
The Fiji clothing industry employs around 5,000 people. “In 2,000 some 18,000 people were employed. Those days most of our exports were to the US due to the absence of quotas. Once the quota situation changed, a lot of Asian manufacturers closed down and took their production to where they could get better access to America. Out of Fiji’s total exports, clothing occupies 9 per cent,” says Kumar.
China is the biggest raw material suppliers apart from India and Indonesia. Kumar elaborates, “We buy fabrics from India but the lead times are longer. Additionally India is more expensive compared to China. Delivery times are shorter and shipping links are better but we have some reliable suppliers in India and the quality is good. Communication is easier in India. With India, we can work directly with the mill. In China we have to go through an agent. Now shipping links between India and Fiji are getting better and lead times are reducing.”
Fiji is receiving a lot of support from India and China. But India and China are export economies. They are interested in selling not importing. “I don’t think Fiji has anything to offer India and China. Australia and New Zealand will continue to be our biggest markets. We are targeting a 10 per cent growth a year,” said Kumar.


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As of this week, Cafe Bazaar’s digital marketplace has now surpassed 40 million users. The story of how we achieved this important milestone is one about creating an advanced and efficient digital marketplace that establishes a bridge between an increasingly tech-savvy society and a community of gifted and forward-thinking developers who are changing how products, services and entertainment are developed and delivered in Iran.
When Cafe Bazaar was founded in 2011, the absence of services offered by Google Play and Apple’s App Store inside the country left consumers and developers with limited options and a desire for an innovative local approach. As Cafe Bazaar CEO Amin Amirsharifi explained, “when we started Cafe Bazaar, there were some applications and games available for free. But creating this digital marketplace, and the positive reception it received from users and developers, allowed for this industry to emerge and develop in a more serious way.”
How we got to 40,000,000
Product manager Ali Vahdani stated that “today, Iranians increasingly look towards information technology for their everyday needs. We’re proud to have created the means for them to access games, services and products that better their lives.” Only 6 years ago Cafe Bazaar had only 6 million users and was partnering with about 3 thousand developers. Today, the number of our users has surpassed 40 million and we are working with over 21,000 developers. Some of the most important keys to our success:
- Understanding the market: Market knowledge, a deep relationship with the consumer, proven communications strategies and a capacity to provide support allowed us to efficiently tailor our services for a Persian-speaking audience.
- Partnering with developers: Partnering with and supporting the increasingly sophisticated community of developers in Iran was also central to how we provided better products and services in our marketplace that are innovative and reliable.
- Foreign developers: Cafe Bazaar has been working closely with application and game developers from around the world. Cafe Bazaar’s commanding position in the market means a partnership with Cafe Bazaar puts a foreign application or product within the finger’s reach of tens of millions of users.
- E-Commerce: Building a secure and reliable mechanism for financial transactions was also very important to our success as it facilitated e-commerce for consumers and attracted revenue for developers. The increase in revenue contributed to a continued professionalization and commercialization of the developer community.
As we look to the future, Cafe Bazaar will be looking to improve its marketplace and deepen its partnerships with the developer community. During the next year, we will also be updating you on new initiatives involving video content, artificial intelligence and web infrastructure that will both improve our marketplace and provide new opportunities to developers and informational technology entrepreneurs.


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The Commonwealth Bank has unveiled a revamped website and new social support forum based on the Lithium platform.
The new design is intended to reduce clutter and make the site more intuitive and personalised, according to the bank. The bank has also added a magazine section with content relevant to customers’ financial goals.
A new support forum launching in July will use crowdsourcing to resolve queries more quickly, the bank said. Customers can have questions answered by the community and CommBank experts, it said. Customers can access support through desktops, tablets and smartphones.
“CommBank.com.au is one of Australia’s most visited websites and it’s therefore essential that it connects with consumers more directly to give them greater control and access to information that enables them to make informed financial decisions that are relevant to the life stage they are at,” said CommBank general manager of online banking, Drew Unsworth.
“What’s more this experience needs to be tailored to their needs, serving content that’s applicable to them and not a ‘one size fits all approach.’”
Follow Adam Bender on Twitter: @WatchAdam


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*$63 billion in self-marketing, up from $22 billion in 2006. It's going direct to the consumer. Many companies are now doing this -- Best Buy is an early-adopter example.
*$63 billion in self-marketing, up from $22 billion in 2006. It's going direct to the consumer. Many companies are now doing this -- Best Buy is an early-adopter example.
Revision as of 10:56, 6 October 2011
- 1 Fall conference: New England Newspaper & Press Association
- 1.1 ANNOUNCEMENT
- 1.2 SPEAKER: Amy Mitchell, Project for Excellence in Journalism
- 1.2.1 Surveying local sources of news
- 1.2.2 Use of the web
- 1.2.3 One other project embarked on
- 1.2.4 Q&A
- 1.3 SPEAKER: Ken Doctor, industry analyst
Fall conference: New England Newspaper & Press Association
Bill Densmore's notes from the fall meeting of the New England Newspaper & Press Association, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Natick, Mass.
Oreste D'Arconte, president of the Attleboro Sun Chronicle, and NENPA board chair, introduces. The theme of the conference: The economy. What can newspaper leaders do to cope, adjust and thrive? An assessment of where we stand comes from Amy Mitchell, the deputy director of the Pew Center Project for Excellence in Journalism.
SPEAKER: Amy Mitchell, Project for Excellence in Journalism
A brief overview of where news are in relation to other sectors in the media.
"The industry is in a worse position than most other sectors."
She shows a chart showing ad revenues in 2010 vs. 2009 -- Local TV up, oneline up, CAble TV up, network TV up, audio and magazines up, but the newspaper down 6.3 percent.
"Most newspapers are still making a profit -- the average is about 5 percent."
"What we are hearing this year is a really heightened sense of confusion, regret, grimness, a sense of loss, and confusion about where to head next -- what should our special and original content be? And some frustration as editors try to keep up with the latest twitter, latest application and still try to do more with less resources."
"We just have to start charging for content, period, there is no more waiting, no more watching."
The years of managing the decline is not over.
The determination that newspapers must come up with the answer doesn't mean they will succeed. She will talk about how PEJ is working to try and help be a facilitator.
The main challenge is the shift in power that is not full appreciated. The biggest issue ahead is not lack of audience or revenue, but that the digital realm in the "news industry is no longer in control of its own future."
Lots of reliance on advertising ad networks and content aggregators and search engines. And device makers control access to the public. Each device requires a new software program. "This is costly, often too costly and confusing for local news organizations." In can be too much multitasking. "So how can a news organization not be there." The industry is now struggling to keep up.
The most important challenge: The technology companies control the consumer data. "Not just the data about what they do on your website, but what else they do ... and they can sell that content to advertisers."
IN a user-controlled world, that audience data will be the key to the future, she says.
Another important challenge -- being able to see who your audience is and how to manage it.
Surveying local sources of news
Mitchell now turns to talking about the results of the latest Pew survey on where people get their news. Word of mouth (55%) is the second most mentioned source after television (74%), especially among 18-29-year-olds. After word of mouth comes radio (51%), local newspaper and/or website (50%), Internet (47%), and print newsletters (9%).
"So the social networking has really brought back one of the most traditional forms of communication we have had," she said.
Surveyors next asked where people go for news by topic. People go to TV for weather and breaking news. TV tied for the lead with newspapers on politics. Newspapers ranked first in 11 of the top 16 topics. "They are mostly the civic-oriented topics, but they are ones that fewer people follow on a regular basis."
The topics, in ranked order of their listed importance to respondents, were: Crime, local politics, community events, arts events, local taxes, schools, housing, government activities, local jobs, zoning and development and social services.
Use of the web
"Those that have the web and are comfortable with the web have already made the switch for most topics," said Mitchell. "So what opportunity does this suggest for newspapers?"
Two fold: Work on the misperception that it wouldn't matter if the newspaper went way. The other -- "The future will be on the web. Newspapers already have a much greater presence on the web than a lot of other outfits." Newspapers could be weather and traffic sources on the web. "That is an area that newspapers can now compete in digitally that they couldn't in their print product."
One other project embarked on
There is no easy way to share this information with others. If there were, how much more efficiently would the process of information work. They have developed a project to accelerate the process of searching for a new method to sustain news. To acquire and share what is working.
"This will be an envolving database of revenue-side experiments," said Mitchell. Everything will be anonymized. "This will be really hard data about how much revenue you have gotten from different kinds of experiments." Mark Jurkowitz is the lead researcher on the project.
So far, she says 10 companies with many papers are involved, including Scripps, the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group and Cox newspapers. They are now finalizing the first survey of data experiments. It will ask about paywalls, digital subscriptions and advertising revenue experiments.
The survey about to go into the field asks very specific questions and it should yield answers about what works and doesn't work in various size markets and types of markets and publications. "The initial site interviews have already given us a lot of insight and very specific material to work with."
A few concepts learned so far: Daily deal a bubble
"Companies are centralizing economic decision making in a way that they had not done for years and reducing local autonomy," she says, because the stakes are so high.
Daily deal -- already a bubble
"We also heard clearly that the daily deal business already looks like a bubble," she said. "They are not getting repeat customers . . . they are getting customers that want the deal . . . fewer predict a long and fruitful future, and a lot of executives are saying the trick is what is going to come next."
Changing corporate culture still hard
Also they are hearing clearly is that after more than a decade of transitioning to a digital way of communicating, a major obstacle continues to be changing the corporate culture. PEJ has talked for years about this culture being a part of the problem.
the journey remains long
"We are far closer to the beginning of this journey than to the end of it," she says they have learned. How far are we from a viable business model? Still a great deal of uncertainty remains. Nobody thinks there is a eureka moment around the corner.
Alan Mutter asks if PEJ has empiricle evidence about success of a paywall. Mitchell answers that it doesn't go above about 2 percent of the total audience people subscribing.
As for using paywalls: "I am very aware of that (lack of clear success) and I am not recommending that (papers use paywalls per se)." She says there are some successes -- at the Arizona paper. She says there are lots of ways to go about it. PEJ is not recommending anything pro or con -- including a paywall per se. But they are looking at certain kinds of charging to see if there is a definitive sense of what's working and what isn't.
"There is not going to be one main revenue source . . . there is going to need to be a lot of different revenue sources, a lot of which don't have to do with news," says Mitchell.
Question: What is prognosis for print product?=
A questioner asks how long does the print product stay viable and does it change in any radical way?
Mitchell says 90% of ad revenue still coming from online. Newspapers haven't been able to afford to give up their print product. A lot of advertisers still like the print ad. "That's starting to change on the local change, on the local side, some of the growth are local retailers that are now comfortable with the Internet -- with the coupons that can be scanned."
But she says a lot of newspapers are starting to change their print frequency cycle to two or three days a week rather than daily.
Q: What corporate culture changes are working?
Mitchell: Part of why it is hard is the culture of newspapers was not about doing change, but about doing things consistently, the same way. So newspaper managements didn't seize creative, disruptive ideas and run with them. "The creative juices about how to do this differently didn't exist within newsrooms," she said.
Q: Will a PR campaign for newspapers' news value work?
Will an effective communication effort about how much newspaper people get from newspapers really work?
"It can't hurt to try," responds Mitchell. "People don't have a favorite news source anymore . . . they are used to going to multiple sources." The public is more educated and smarter about news than we give them credit for.
Q: What about value of focus groups a la Steve Jobs?
With the death of Steve Jobs: He didn't believe in focus groups. And I'd like your take on the value of focus groups?
Mitchell: "I think I'm more in Jobs camps than others." PEJ tends to want to look broadly in a deep way. "It's hard to get to a real deep level of understanding with 10 people in a room."
They are now surveying 900 tablet users that are regular weekly news users and they will have that survey data out later in October. They are trying to see what they value. "You can't do that with a focus group."
She says focus groups do have value in some contexts.
Q: What about national survey results?
Question: What national-regional variations are there in survey results.
Mitchell: Differences are not as much regionally as they are suburban vs. rural, and those that had lived in a community longer. "Those that had lived in a community longer were really integrated, and followed most of those topics closely." Also rural people followed more closely, too.
SPEAKER: Ken Doctor, industry analyst
Doctor talks about who the Biblical-type sears are for the industry.
-- Not Murdoch -- The Daily is at about one-third the circulation it needs.
-- New focus on core readers -- Focus on the tablet -- A quick summary of where revenue might be
"There will not be a single business model that will save the industry or will bring it back to what it used to be. Those of us who used to work in the industry have to get used to that." Building will be brick-by-brick.
Murdoch is the Cecil B. DeMille of publishing. Nots of innovation in the Wall Street Journal.
He talks about Tim Armstrong of AOL-Patch -- talks about re-igniting a content revolution. Arianna Huffington -- now the editor of AOL, the largest hiring agent in the U.S. for journalists in the last 18 months -- a major competitor to newspaper companies.
Google -- size and rate of growth is huge.
Magazines are going through the same things that newspapers are going through.
Schibsted: A new company among the top 10 in news revenues -- based in Oslo, Norway, has spread across Europe, Spain, France and Switzerland, experimenting with a number of new products.
Al Jazeera is the fasted growing Washington, D.C. bureau.
Microsoft is becomming quickly a legacy company.
Fourteen U.S. newspapers companies have gone through bankrupcy and Tribune Co. is still there.
Arthur Suzlberger leads the way toward the digital future.
World newspaper five years ago: $134 billion in revenue. This year: $93 billion in revenues. "My own project is probably in three years this figure will be $75 billion." But that is still a huge number and a huge industry.
There has been no U.S. ad revenue growth for five years. Next year, digital advertising will pass newspapers next year, and eventually TV, too.
Google: 2010 $29.3 billion in revenues, $8.5 billion in profits; Gannett Co. Inc., $5.4 billion in revenues, $588 million in profits.
Facebook will do $2 billion in ad revenues in 2011 -- two thirds of the total of all newspapers.
"There is $31 billion in digital advertising in the U.S. this year. Newspapers will have about $5 billion in digital advertising. You can see where the money is going." It's going to Google, Facebook, AOL and others.
A discussion about brands
Doctor talks about transitions in the retail world. Even Best Buy is getting in trouble because people are buying direct from brands online. He shows the cover of Wired's UK edition.
Two legs of revenue
- Advertising and circulation are two revenue streams
- Print, online and mobile are three products
But Doctor doesn't think "mobile" will be used as a word anymore in three years. It is just about being connected, anywhere. "Too many publishers have been making a mistake in the early mobile world of repurposing online, which is repurposing the print product."
He says 4G mobile connectivity is coming quickly -- Verizon is already offering it in the big cities. "These speeds are happening very quickly and it means video is ascendant."
So some questions:
- Who knows our brands?
- Who already pays us?
- Who are our core readers
- Who watches video?
Doctor talks about Steve Yelvington's (Morris Digital) concept of core vs. other types of customers. Doctor things of the user relationship as a funnel. He thinks counting "unique visitors" is like counting air? What does it mean? Low advertising utility. Most of these people will never become subscribers. Which will become core customers? He estimates a third to a half of the visitors to a website contribute most of the pageviews.
New York times has 30 million unique users, and one mission print readers. So their print readers are about 3 percent of their total unique users (including web). "You really want to those core readers and figure that out. They are the basis of the new business."
You need to make peace with the fly-by traffic coming from search engines and social medial because they are good for traffic and lead generation. "But most of that has almost zero economic value for websites. The key is engaging with the core customers -- keeping the existing ones and generating new ones.
Focus on core readers and 'all access'; new revenues
Doctor calls "users" a pretty odious term. "It is not a very nice description of a customer that you have." The Times, The Globe, Concord Monitor, Columbia are saying you are a customer, we are going to take care of your needs. "A very simple concept -- and they are customers."
He talks about papers that have added online subscription services.
"What did this meant in Columbia, Mo. -- it meant three new newsroom FTEs. It meant instead of cutting people, they added people."
Memphis is going live soon too.
He encourages people to think about offering a Sunday print paper with digital delivery.
"All access is the name of the game. You pay me one price and I'll get your stuff whereever you want to be."
He estimates 125 U.S. daily newspaper titles now have paywalls. All of these papers are partnered with Journalism Online, now called Press+. "What they are finding -- 1% to 3% -- same numbers. Or 1% to 3% of unique visitors are buying digital subscriptions. The models are capturing incremental print subscriber revenue.
The psychology says no, you can't get it for print anymore. As a result, print churn is down. Page traffics are largely holding, small new revenue. Tweaking for 2012.
"They want to test it over the next six months and then put in pay systems everywhere," he says.
Sampling is key, but not too much.
Missing piece, will pick up later
LOST A PIECE OF HIS PRESENTATION HERE WILL GO BACK AND INSERT LATER
He says what is needed is an iTunes for news.
He talks about tablet news aggregators, lead by Google and Yahoo upcoming products, are the new challenge to newspapers.
Talking about Schibsted, Oslo
Doctor says Schibsted is one of the 10 largest media companies in Europe now.
They partnered with a company in the weight-loss business. An online program that provides some editorial intervention. Five percent to six percent of their revenue is coming from services.
He talks about Texas Tribune ancillary services.
- He talks about city guides now being big -- mentions TapIN, a service offered by the Bay Area News Group (MediaNews Group Inc.) from the San Jose Mercury News. "It is a prototype for every newspaper in the country to look at this."
- Marketwatch is charging for a new tablet product.
- Journal-Register in New Haven is creating three times more video than the local broadcaster. "If the tablet is going to be a great place to show video, get ahead of the broadcasters that are slow."
Key to future: Self marketing by retailers
- $63 billion in self-marketing, up from $22 billion in 2006. It's going direct to the consumer. Many companies are now doing this -- Best Buy is an early-adopter example.
"Consumers are finding: How many deals do you want in your in-box in the morning?"
- Self-serve marketing, telesales, feet on the street are the three ways to sell but they are being reformed around marketing services. So media are becoming resellers. Newspapers are selling more and more of other peoples' stuff.
Estimate 3-5 years
A lot of chain businesses say 1/3 of their advertising spend will be in direct-outreach to consumers in a few years. Newspapers have to figure out how to capture that.
(See: "Paper to Persona" which argues that news organizations have to learning how to help their customers manage their persona -- if you can present customers to chain businesses you are entitled to a chunk of the transaction?)


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The European parliamentary election is the second largest democratic exercise in the world.Europe Newsread more
Buybacks have gotten a bad rap from both Republicans and Democrats. But stocks would be trading at a massive discount without them.Marketsread more
Fiat Chrysler and France's Renault could soon partner up to take on the sweeping changes to the global auto industry, according to a report in the Financial Times. The...Autosread more
Microsoft shares have gained 133% since November 2015, outperforming a tech "basket of unicorns" over that stretch.Technologyread more
The president's state visit comes amid tensions with carmaker Toyota over potential auto tariffs. Trump has repeatedly threatened Japanese and European carmakers with tariffs.Traderead more
When commercial real estate investor Manny Khoshbin spent $2.2 million on the fastest production car in the world, he had no idea it would very quickly also become the...Autosread more
The IRS is about to release a new draft of Form W-4, which will more closely reflect the changes stemming from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. For workers, that means they'll need...Personal Financeread more
The Mega Millions jackpot has spilled over $400 million. It would be the ninth largest winning since the game began in 2002.Personal Financeread more
Trump was speaking at a meeting of Japanese business leaders in Tokyo during his state visit to Japan on Saturday.Marketsread more
The biggest U.S. gasoline price surge in years is running out of steam just in time for the start of the summer driving season.Energyread more
The federal minimum wage has remained $7.25 per hour since 2009. But several states, and even some companies, have since taken matters into their own hands to pay employees a...Workread more
Some Silicon Valley power players are putting their money behind blockchain start-up Lightning Labs.
Lightning Labs, which specializes in a technology that can potentially make bitcoin cheaper and faster to use for transactions, announced it has raised seed financing of $2.5 million. The investors include Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square and Twitter; David Sacks, former COO of PayPal; Bill Lee, angel investor in Tesla and SpaceX; Jacqueline Reses, head of Square Capital; and Charlie Lee, creator of litecoin.
Lightning Labs CEO Elizabeth Stark says Lightning functions as a software layer that sits on top of the bitcoin network.
"If bitcoin is like a decentralized savings account, Lightning is a decentralized checking account where users can send money instantly," Stark told CNBC.
This week was the first Lightning beta release on the bitcoin network. "Lightning will be rolled out first to advanced users and developers … and then broader users," Stark said.
Bitcoin bull Dan Ciotoli of Bespoke Investment Group said earlier this year his bitcoin target of $20,000 to $30,000 was contingent on a number factors, including the integration of the Lightning network. Ciotoli told CNBC in January that bitcoin's high transaction cost is one of its main flaws.
Slow processing times is one reason the bitcoin community issued a software fork that resulted in the creation of bitcoin cash, seen by many as bitcoin's cousin.
A number of bitcoin holders told CNBC that the bitcoin network is not only slow but expensive.
"One thing we've learned is that it can be hard to predict bitcoin fees in advance, and there may be large swings, so having a solution like Lightning with very low fees on the network is key," said Stark. "You still pay on-chain bitcoin fees when getting on or off of Lightning, but that may happen infrequently, like once a month or year."
"Further, Lightning can allow users to take advantage of low bitcoin fees when they are cheap, while often avoiding fees when they're high, thus actually helping to stabilize on-chain bitcoin fees in the future," Stark said.


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iRobot premiers Scooba 230 & Roomba 700 series
—iRobot is introducing the Scooba 230, a robot cleaner that maintains the same 3.5-inch height of its predecessor and is still programmable like the other models. The popular Roomba isn’t forgotten either as the company has unveiled the new 700 series with various cleaning and detection improvements.
Expect to pay $300 for the Scooba 230, along with $450, $500 and $550 for the Roomba 760, 770 and 780 respectively.
Posted on 1/3/11