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Dash Announces Dash Text as First Cryptocurrency SMS Wallet Payment Service
Dash is Poised to Set Up Dash Text With the Intention of Changing the Cryptocurrency Payment Landscape
Dash Text is making its presence known across the cryptocurrency space, plastering its latest exploits on YouTube and various social media platforms, including Twitter.
— Dash Text (@dash_text) July 15, 2018
Translation – Very soon! 😉 we're working to put Dash into everyone's reach. 😱🙌🏻 follow us and share with your buddies! __ #DashText #DineroDigital
One stand-out was the video going into detail about Dash Text by Dash Force, which landed on August 1st, which allowed viewers to get a first glimpse at how its SMS Wallet system worked.
Mark Mason, the Dash International Outreach Coordinator helped to get the three-way conversation underway, which was between Lorenzo, who represented Dash Text, and Karen Hsu, the Chief Revenue Officer of Blockcypher. Throughout the conversation, they went into depth regarding what Dash Text was, how it worked for the average person using it, and what future plans and features it had in store.
Officials from Dash Text have stated that it functions as an SMS-based cryptocurrency wallet to be used exclusively as part of the Dash network. The developers have championed Text as part of a wider drive for widespread application, lauding it for its intuitive design and simple-to-use functionality.
The design of Dash Text has a particular demographic in mind, taking into consideration that a large segment of populations in areas such as Venezuela, the country where Dash Text is being tested first, do not have access to technology such as smartphones. This effectively means that the ability to access systems like contactless or internet/app-based banking are gone, leaving only SMS payments.
The system is being used in Venezuela, in large part, due to the breakdown of the situation economically, there, this has forced people to reject the native currency, the Bolivar which has since entered hyperinflation, and pushed them towards any cryptocurrency they can get hold of.
Lorenzo, speaking on behalf of Dash Text, commented on the factors that give Dash Text a significant advantage over other payments systems:
“Dash Text is super simple and easy to use. The basic commands are easily accessible and the instructions can be understood by anyone. The company has kept eas of use as a priority and has also enabled the feature of auto-creation of the wallet on a user’s account,” he continues.
“The user can press the send or receive button to conduct transactions and in my opinion, the people love it! I will even go as far to say that even my grandmother will find it super simple to use.”
Residents of cities like Caracas will not have to wait for the implementation of Dash Text, Lorenzo pointed out that the system is fully functional and ready for use in Venezuela. Pending its success there, Dash Text has plans to expand its reach across Latin America and beyond.
Ultimately, the aim of Dash Text right now it to provide coverage for the whole country before shifting its attention to provide the same scope of coverage for developing countries within continents such as Africa.
The developers of Dash Text have illustrated the fact that they want its system to be fully integrated with Dash's wider suite of projects, stating that having broad-scale compatibility will link up buyers, sellers, and merchants from across the world, allowing someone in a developing nation to accept payment from someone in the developed world.
The initial response that Dash Text has recieved from areas such as Venezuela and countries in Africa has been widely positive, with it, expressing a genuine interest in the implementation of Dash Text as soon as possible, all of which, the develops seek to do as soon as they can. He also stated that Dash Text uses the Application Programming Interface [API] of Blockcypher, with the goal to make security the biggest focus.
The use of Blockcypher's API, Karen reiterated, gives its users a high level of security when completing transactions via Dash Text, it manages to do this by ensuring that private keys are not retained in the memory of the system once a transaction has been completed. This also provides users with the opportunity to provide their own private key management system, allowing Dash Text to become truly unique to the individual user.
Blockcypher embodies a truly positive perspective towards blockchain technology, believing that it's the missing link which will allow anyone, regardless of their access to technology, to communicate, complete transactions and earn money, with anyone from around the world.
Dash Text and Blockcypher have stated together that promotion is vital and that incentivization of users is key. Along with ongoing cross-company promotion, the companies have announced that a referral program is currently in the process of development, as they believe that this will allow for the hope of widespread application and use to become far more likely.
The officials from both companies have said that the referral program will be launched on the company’s social media platforms.


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The Obscene State of Retail Data Protection
By Larry Collins
The biggest card heist ever,” the Boston Globe article read, regarding the 45.7 million credit and debit card numbers lifted from the TJX Cos. computer systems at its Framingham headquarters and from its facility in Watford, England. Rustling the newspaper’s front page, an exasperated T rider, perhaps a customer of T.J. Maxx, was heard to exclaim: “How obscene is this?”
In this latest revelation, which since January has been coming in inexplicable dribs and drabs, TJX for the first time disclosed, according to The Globe, that even those files the company had attempted to protect were protected poorly and may have been compromised.
In January, TJX announced that it had been “victimized,” inducted into the ever-expanding legion of companies whose computerized credit and debit card data have been tapped into by unauthorized users. TJX now has the dubious distinction of being responsible for the biggest card hacking ever.
It didn’t take long for the hackers and their accessories – downstream criminals who purchase “hot card numbers” from the Internet – to put the information to use. Soon after the initial January disclosure of the TJX breach, scores of Massachusetts banks began reporting they had been contacted by Visa and MasterCard and had been notified that they had huge batches of exposed cards. Moreover, fraud was soon detected by Massachusetts banks due to the breach – across this country and as far away as Sweden and Hong Kong. (The fraud was occurring from “card-not-present” transactions, as well as from bogus or counterfeit plastic.)
In late March, law enforcement authorities in Florida announced the arrest of a gang of thieves who had allegedly used stolen TJX credit card numbers on fake credit cards to purchase more than $8 million worth of gift cards, which were then used to buy expensive electronic equipment and other merchandise.
The disclosure that its customer data base had been hacked should have been embarrassing enough for TJX to come forward and adequately discuss the problem and try to put consumers at ease. But it has not, leading to speculation that perhaps it has never known the full extent of the problem or perhaps that the facts are just too embarrassing to discuss. In the meantime, consumers continue to worry.
What is clear is that the giant retailer, which operates in this country and abroad, has been lax in protecting or encrypting data. In addition, as subsequent events amply demonstrated, it really should not have been storing much of this data in the first place.
But what really caught the attention of the media and the public at large is that TJX had known about the breach for nearly a month before it went public with the information; it said it was following the instructions of law enforcement by not announcing the breach earlier. (It only went public that day in mid-January because Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal pegged TJX as the source.) Meanwhile, millions of the company’s customers were left unaware that their critical personal financial information might have been compromised by malicious computer hackers while they were doing their Christmas shopping at TJX stores.
Then, to compound the problem, in subsequent statements, TJX said that after reviewing the company’s systems it had determined that some customer data, including driver license numbers – which in some states are often Social Security numbers – had been compromised by hackers as far back as 2003.
Some Bay State banks reported hundreds of thousands of problem cards due to the TJX breach. Scores of Bay State banks, and many others across the country, were hit by the TJX breach, and each of them has a tale of how they reacted to it, usually with calm and efficiency.
As Sue McKinnon, vice president of Dedham Institution for Savings, put it, “Unfortunately, we’ve had to become very efficient in these matters,” adding that the bank’s third-party processor has been providing lists of compromised cards on a regular basis.
“In early January, we were notified by our processor that they were notified by MasterCard about a problem,” said McKinnon. “The list included over 4,000 of our accounts. But after we did our research, a lot of the cards listed had already expired, so we had to reissue about 2,400 cards, which is still quite a lot. It’s costing us about $6 a card.” (Card reissuing costs can vary from institution to institution, generally from $5 to $25 each.)
At Dedham Institution for Savings there were also some overtime costs. “We had an evening and a weekend shift and we also hired our processor to do some of the work for us,” said McKinnon, “so that we could turn those cards around fairly quickly for our customers.” When the group came back in on Monday morning after working around the clock that first weekend, hundreds of new hot card numbers arrived again from MasterCard.
McKinnon said that while the bank has become efficient with the process of dealing with compromised cards, the real problem is dealing with nervous customers. “Customers are very concerned about their accounts and there’s the inconvenience to the customers – having to wait for new cards ... It takes about 10 days.”
TJX stores include 826 T.J. Maxx locations, 751 Marshall’s, 271 HomeGoods, 162 A.J. Wright units and 36 Bob’s Stores in this country. In addition, the company operates 184 Winners stores and 68 Home Sense stores in Canada, and 212 T.K. Maxx stores in Europe. Understandably, there is widespread regulatory and government interest in its activities.
The TJX data breach is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Trade Commission. State Attorney General Martha Coakley has also announced that her department’s Consumer Protection Division, in concert with the attorneys general in several other states, has also launched a probe into the TJX breach.
Can Law Enforcement Help?
While not commenting specifically on the TJX data breach, Steven Ricciardi, special agent in charge of the Boston office of the U.S. Secret Service (which is charged with the investigation of cyber-crime), explained how high-tech crime has taken up an increasing amount of time and effort by an agency that most people think is restricted to protecting presidents, visiting foreign dignitaries and tracking down counterfeiters.
“When I first came into the Secret Service about 20 years ago, we’d be doing investigations in our district, meaning the Boston area, Massachusetts or New England,” he said. “Now it’s a global situation, sometimes in countries that pay little attention to the issue of cyber-crime. We’ve had considerable success in tracking down criminal Web sites, where they’re selling credit card data and that sort of thing, but the lack of co-operation in some foreign countries is definitely a major problem.”
The Secret Service’s new mandate – to combat electronic crimes – was mandated by the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act.
“As a result of this mandate, the Secret Service has created electronic crime task forces throughout the country,” Ricciardi explained. “We have partnerships with other federal agencies and state and local police departments. The job of the task forces is to go after cyber-criminals who are hacking into computer networks. We have agents and local officers that we’ve trained and who are very good at computer forensics, as well as network intrusion.”
The credit card industry itself – notably Visa and MasterCard – years ago established rules for merchants that are designed to protect the personal information of cardholders. In response to increasing levels of card fraud, all the major card companies formed the Payment Card Industry (PCI) data security standard.
Retail analysts have estimated that only about 30 percent to 40 percent of the so-called Tier 1 retailers – major retail establishments like the big chain stores – are PCI compliant. (Visa reported that as of June 30, only about 30 percent of retailers were PCI-compliant.)
The PCI data security standard is a list of requirements aimed at securing computer networks, protecting cardholder information, and regularly checking and certifying the status of security systems and processes. Among its key provisions are the protection of properly stored data, encryption of all cardholder data, the use of regularly updated anti-virus software, and the tracking and monitoring of all access to cardholder data.
While the PCI data security standards were developed to make it easier for retailers to ensure their security systems were adequate, the retail industry’s response has been lackluster at best. In fact, when compared to the banking industry’s approach to data security, the retail industry’s record has been dismal.
As already noted, TJX is not alone in its dilemma. For the average consumer, these stories inevitably stoke the fears of identity theft, what has grown into a near public panic, spurring some 35 states to adopt legislation requiring prompt notification of cardholders in the event of a data breach, but not much else. (The Massachusetts Bankers Association has been discussing with the media and the public the fact that card theft is not ID theft, but it can lead to it, particularly if consumers are not careful about giving up additional information.)
For the most part, consumers are left with the responsibility of monitoring their cards and securing their credit records from one of the three major credit reporting agencies – TransUnion, Experion and Equifax – to determine if their debit or credit cards have been fraudulently used.
Massachusetts currently has no law that requires prompt identification of the company that caused a breach and the notification of impacted consumers. However, legislation that would impose even more stringent consumer protection provisions is currently pending on Beacon Hill. Sponsored by state Rep. Michael Costello, D-Newburyport, and strongly supported by the MBA, if passed, the proposed measure H. 213 would constitute the nation’s most rigorous law aimed at protecting consumers from fraud committed by cyber-criminals.
Central to the legislation are provisions requiring offending retailers to identify themselves, which Visa and MasterCard currently do not require and, in fact, prohibit banks from doing so. Moreover, retailers would be required to notify customers in a timely fashion if their credit or debit card information may have been compromised by a data breach. Notice may be made via mail, telephone, e-mail or posting on the company Web site, depending on the scope of the data breach and, inevitably, it would involve the card associations, since individual retailers do not have a way to directly communicate with cardholders. In addition, the measure imposes financial liability on any company whose lax computer security invited a data breach.
Such liability would mean that the offending retailer would assume financial responsibility for costs incurred by financial institutions for reissuing cards and to cover any losses from fraud. Banks presently absorb all of these costs.
“Thirty-five states already have laws that give consumers notification protection, so it will be a victory if we pass any identity theft bill,” said Costello. “But our bill would be much stronger. It would encourage more vendors to enhance their security systems, whether they’re retailers, banks or any other entity that collects and uses personal consumer identification. If retailers are held responsible for the damages that occur from a data breach due to their negligence, then they’re going to invest more time and effort in ensuring that the consumer information that they hold is safe and secure. This is our primary purpose.
“The secondary purpose,” Costello added, “is the liability and reimbursement provision because a) it will encourage merchants to set tougher standards for themselves and b) small banks in particular are more vulnerable when these data breaches occur, because it costs them more to close accounts and reissue new cards.”
Costello also pointed out that smaller retailers have similar financial issues when it comes to credit card security. “We recognize that for smaller retailers, our legislation could be a burden, but we’re prepared to sit down with retailers and try to find a compromise that would protect smaller retailers. But we want to ensure that the larger retailers that have the means to employ better security systems also have the will to do it. This legislation will motivate them to do it.”
Daniel J. Forte, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Bankers Association, which represents all 205 banks in Massachusetts – most of them community banks – emphasizes that the MBA position is motivated by a desire to strengthen the overall data security, not only of retailers, but for the system as a whole.
“Look, this was never intended to become a battle of retailers versus the banking industry, because we’re really in this together and need to work together on this. But clearly, the TJX issue demonstrates the need for a more comprehensive approach than what’s been applied in the past to data breach security in general. It means a number of things: There has to be a closer working relationship with both MasterCard and Visa. I think that’s something we’ve made some good strides toward with the New England Debit Card Task Force, which the MBA’s Kevin Kiley and Peter Blanchard have worked hard to develop.
“Clearly, there needs to be some form of tighter regulatory scrutiny of the PCI standards,” Forte added. “When you have 70 percent of retailers not complying with their own rules, that’s a major problem. “As for storing unnecessary data, it’s wrong for the big box retailers to have this type of information: Track 2, driver’s licenses and other inappropriate data, that’s stored for too long a period of time – and it’s not encrypted. Some form of carrot-and-stick approach needs to be applied to ensure that there’s compliance to these rules going forward.”
Why this apparent indifference to regulations that are designed to protect retailers’ customers? Smaller retailers have complained that the regulations are overly stringent, subjecting them to the same standards set for giant companies that have the technological know-how to easily adapt to PCI. (But they haven’t.) There is also the significant cost factor that much of the PCI technology requires. Then there is the reality that most retailers probably thought they would not get caught ignoring the PCI standards – until now.
The Retailers’ Response
Jon B. Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, asserts that the current PCI standards have not been in effect long enough for most retailers to set up the necessary conditions to comply.
“The PCI standards were written by the banks, that’s who owns the credit card companies,” says Hurst, although the MBA says that’s not the case. “And the standards were released only last September; all this is pretty new.” (Again, the MBA points out that the standards were well-known long beforehand; September was the date that compliance was to begin.) Hurst continues, “You have thousands and thousands of companies out there that have yet to be educated on this ... I have 3,000 members, which are primarily tier 4 companies [smaller retailers] and they don’t have a clue about these requirements, and it’s going to be costing them thousands of dollars to comply.”
“At the risk of stating the obvious,” says the MBA’s Director of Communications Bruce Spitzer, “perhaps their association could have done a better job of helping them prepare for it – they had the time. It was the desire that appears to have been lacking.”
A big reason for retailers to ignore the PCI protocols is that if a data breach that results in debit or credit card fraud does occur, retailers generally are not liable for the cost of such fraudulent activity. In the event that the credit card companies determine that a retailer using their cards is not adhering to PCI, the credit card firms and acquirers/processors can impose a fine, depending on the size of the retailer, of up to $500,000, but this too has failed to stimulate more widespread compliance.
As it stands today, it is the responsibility of the banking industry to pick up the tab for fraudulent purchases, as well as the costs related to new card issuance. Nationally, these costs last year amounted to more than $2 billion. Smaller banks, like the bulk of the MBA membership, have found these costs especially onerous, which is why the MBA is in the forefront of an effort to achieve what PCI has failed to achieve: retailer compliance to adequate data security standards.
In addition to the potential new standards represented in Costello’s bill, there may be federal legislation to follow soon. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has indicated he is considering such a measure on the federal level. In a recent statement, Congressman Frank stated that the TJX breach is “further evidence of the need for a provision ... Specifically, this means that retailers or wholesalers must take responsibility for data breaches.”
“There’s no question that data breaches are now very clearly on the radar screen, both on Beacon Hill and in Washington,” Forte observed. “We intend to push hard for an effective and fair paradigm for computer data security. It’s way overdue.”
“The TJX debacle was a wake-up call,” said Costello. “There have been other data breaches – BJ’s, Stop & Shop, for example – but this one seems to have resonated with the public. And isn’t it about time that companies like TJX were held accountable? They hold on to customer information literally for years, information that’s largely unprotected from malicious hackers. If they don’t even bother to adhere to the security guidelines of the major credit cards – the Visas and the MasterCards – why should banks be left holding the bag for the costs that such breaches incur?”
As Forte has continually stated, once retailers have verified customers have sufficient money in their accounts to cover a purchase, credit card rules stipulate that such information should not be retained. TJX has only vaguely discussed the specific customer information it has retained but, given the fraud we’ve been seeing, it is highly likely that it includes account numbers, expiration dates, personal identification numbers and other similar verification data. If the recent gift card caper in Florida is definitely connected with the TJX episode, as law enforcement authorities have suggested, then it would seem to reinforce TJX’s culpability for the data breach.
Meanwhile, federal class-action motions and other lawsuits are being filed against the company. One of those emanates from Alabama. In its lawsuit, AmeriFirst Bank is seeking to recover the costs of replacing compromised credit cards for its customers. (The bank has also named as a defendant the Ohio-based Fifth Third Bank, the acquiring institution that processes debit and credit transactions for TJX.) The Arkansas Carpenters Pension Fund, which owns 4,500 shares of TJX stock, recently filed suit against the company after TJX refused to supply it with documents outlining the company’s computer security system. Other individual customer suits have been filed and are pending. (As far as its legal options are concerned, the MBA and the New England Debit Card Task Force have said all options remain on the table.)
“It’s doubly irresponsible for a retailer to hold onto such sensitive material for such a long time and then not even bother to ensure that the information is sufficiently protected. Just imagine if banks took such an approach to protecting their customers’ financial data,” said Forte.
Thomas E. Connelly, COO of Netwatch Inc., an Easton-based security consulting firm, says his firm conducts regular security audits, including so-called “ethical hacking,” on its bank clients to ensure their security posture will meet the standards of the FDIC and other relevant regulatory authorities.
“We’re very stringent in our approach,” says Connelly. “Our methodology is to impose impartial and very strict protocols on all our clients. Obviously, financial institutions in particular have a strong incentive to invite such audits. Given the profound ramifications of the TJX incident, one can only imagine that any data breach at a financial institution could arguably be far more invasive to not only a bank’s customers, but to the reputation and stability of the bank itself.”
Work of the Task Force
While recent data breaches among retailers have significantly raised the profile of the controversial issue, the MBA has been on high alert for the past two years, after a similar but smaller-scale data breach occurred at BJ’s Wholesale Club. At that time, the MBA established the New England Debit Card Task Force cited above by Forte. The task force membership includes banking trade associations from throughout New England, individual community banks, representatives of the American Bankers Association, America’s Community Bankers, the Independent Community Bankers of America and the California Bankers Association. (Five years ago, California became the first state to adopt a law requiring immediate notification of cardholders in the event of a computer data breach.) Working closely with Visa and MasterCard, the task force meets regularly to devise more effective security protocols to protect consumers and to seek ways to reduce the costs that banks incur from data breaches.
Kevin F. Kiley, MBA chief operating officer and executive vice president, recently gave an overview of the task force’s activities at the third annual conference of the New England Debit Card Conference. The conference covered a broad range of data breach topics, including efforts to secure a comprehensive national approach to the issue. But in an interview, Kiley stressed that while a national security system is critical, the MBA represents Massachusetts banks and that its first priority is to pursue a statewide remedy.
“We represent banks here in Massachusetts, banks that primarily do business in Massachusetts, and that’s why we’re focusing on Rep. Costello’s legislation. However, that being said, we’re also working with Congressman Frank and some of the national trade organizations to try to push the idea at the national level.”
As for the PCI standards, Kiley says, “Look, retailers are required to update their systems to comply with PCI standards. The PCI Standards Council is in charge of making sure that retailers bring their systems up to speed. But the system hasn’t been working.
“In our opinion, the only way that we’re going to get moving in the right direction on this issue is to hold people accountable and placing the liability squarely on the retailers is the way to do it. Rather than trying to get these people to adhere to strict data security rules on a voluntary or administrative basis, let’s utilize state law to shift the responsibility for these data breaches to the people it rightfully belongs to: the retailers who caused the breach. Our interest is advancing the overall security of the system for the benefit of consumers. That’s why we’re in this.”
At one point in Kiley’s presentation during the recent meeting of the New England Debit Card Task Force, he was addressing Visa and MasterCard when, borrowing a line from Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay for the movie “Network,” he exclaimed, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take this anymore!” He received thunderous applause from the more than 200 assembled bankers from all six New England states.
Thanks to the work of the task force and others, Visa and MasterCard are acknowledging that they have much work to do: 1) to get retailers to become compliant with PCI standards and 2) to find a way to reimburse banks adequately when cards must be reissued and fraud takes place through no fault of their own. (It is likely they will be the key players that make this happen if the Costello bill passes or not.) Currently the claims process is so onerous and returns only pennies on the dollar, so most banks know the policy and the process are not worth the paper they are written on.
If more and more upper-tier retailers finally do come around to become PCI compliant, the card companies are concerned there will be an increased risk of compromises migrating to smaller retailers. However, small retailers are less of a risk. They do not retain the extreme amount of data that major retailers have demonstrated they are holding onto for marketing purposes.
Kiley, the MBA’s principal lobbyist on Beacon Hill, isn’t expecting a cakewalk as the Costello bill wends its way through the legislative process.
“Clearly, there’s going to be significant opposition from retailers and other businesses that also maintain important data that could be compromised,” said Kiley. “But the basic thrust of what we’re trying to do is clearly directed at large retail establishments. The bill no doubt will be subject to some further refinement as it is being considered, but hopefully we’ll be able to make some progress on it. It’s going to be an uphill fight, I wouldn’t suggest otherwise. The retailers are a significant lobbying force.”
The Bottom Line
Hurst, the retailer group president, insists that any state law requiring fraud reimbursement by retailers would be a classic case of overkill.
“I find it a redundant cost recovery mechanism,” says Hurst. “It’s already covered by contract, the whole triangle between Visa and MasterCard, the issuing bank, the acquiring bank and their customers. The contract already allows for cost recovery ... Under the banks’ written contract with VISA and MasterCard, if a retailer or restaurant or other commercial establishment is out of compliance with the [credit card company] rules, the banks can come back and collect up to 100 percent of the actual cost of ID theft. It’s right there in the contract.
“They have that recovery process and, in addition, they have skyrocketing interchange fees, and they have the PCI Standards Council out there starting to educate firms how to comply and, by the way, if you don’t comply, they can up your interchange fee or they can fine you. They have multiple layers of cost recovery and penalties and now they want an additional layer in state law? We don’t buy it!”
Needless to say, Bruce Spitzer of the MBA isn’t buying the retailers’ arguments, either.
“First of all, he is incorrect about what is recoverable. Visa and MasterCard acknowledge their claims process does not work for the vast majority of all banks and only returns pennies on the dollar and, in most cases, nothing at all. Moreover, the interchange fees that banks receive were adopted years ago in another age and were never meant to cover the enormous costs we’re seeing from all of these major data breaches.
“The retailers need to protect the data – then they wouldn’t have to worry about who pays for a breach downstream, because there won’t be any more data breaches. Is their primary objective to protect consumers or not?
“Their response to this issue can be accurately described as obfuscation. They claim banks can do more on our end, like invest in smart cards or chip and pin technology to protect customers. This, too, is a bogus argument. Our industry would have done so long ago but the retailers themselves did not want to adopt and pay for the new equipment at the checkout counter. It’s as though they are saying, “Well, we’re going to keep right on drinking and driving, so why don’t you guys build safer cars?’
“They’re also claiming that banks make 3 percent to 4 percent on all card transactions. Well, maybe large acquiring or processing banks make a negotiated percentage of that on some merchant transactions – more like 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent. But the majority of the banks caught up in these retail data breaches are small banks that have no such income and must absorb the costs to reissue cards and cover the cost of fraud for customers.”
Simply put, the retailers are trying to change the subject, the MBA asserts.
“If TJX and all of these other problematic retailers had invested in good encryption,” Spitzer adds, “or if they had not stored data that they shouldn’t be holding on to, or if they were not sending information wirelessly, then this situation would never have happened. If they can’t follow their own rules, we maintain that it’s time for the Legislature to step in and establish adequate consumer protections by law. The current rules are not working because, with banks paying for the mistakes, the retailers have no incentive to invest in good systems. And apparently, they don’t care enough about their own customers to do it without this push. If there was another way for lawmakers to get retailers to be compliant, the lawmakers might try it.
“The bottom line is this: in this high-tech society in which we live and do business, we all have a responsibility to protect sensitive consumer information. That’s what this whole brouhaha is all about, protecting consumers.”
Fully two months after Visa and MasterCard first started to notify banks about the compromised cards from the TJX breach, Spitzer asked for a show of hands from bankers at the meeting of the New England Debit Card Task Force. The question: How many of the more than 200 bankers in the room are still receiving new batches of hot card numbers from the card companies? Eighty percent to 90 percent of the bankers in the room raised their hands.
When is it going to end?

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Reusing Your Clothes Saves the World
There is so much talk about what people can do to help out the environment. The experts emphasize the use of renewable energy and reducing one’s carbon footprint. There are even things that can be done in the fashion industry to reduce harming the environment.
Here are some stats interesting stats:
- To make just 1 cotton shirt, it takes about 2,700 liters of water.
- To manufacture jeans, it can require up to 2,000 gallons of water. [i]
- Cotton uses just over 2% of the world’s crop land as well ad about 24% of insecticide use.
- Polyester manufacturing (used for clothing items like workout apparel or footwear) leaves a massive carbon footprint. In 2015, manufacturing released the equivalent annual emissions of 185 coal-fired power plants.[ii]
The problem isn’t just with the manufacturing, but also with growing the products[iii]:
- Production of non-natural fibers can release nitrous oxide, which is nearly 310x more destructive than carbon dioxide.
- It is estimated that more chemical pesticides are used for cotton plants than any other plants.
- Over 15 million tons of textile waste is generated in the United States alone every year, doubling the totals in the past 20 years.[iv]
What these statistics show is that the fashion industry accounts for a great deal of the pollution issue across the globe. This can be devastating. These are toxic chemicals that have a very negative impact on the health of people. A cotton farmer in America may have developed a brain tumor due to exposure to these chemicals. In India, children who were born to cotton farmers have developed birth defects. There is even the impact it has on crops. Another big issue is due to the genetic modification of cotton, leading it to be more resistant to pests in order to increase the yield and reducing the need of harmful pesticides. The problem with this is that this could lead to issues like superweeds, which require more toxic chemicals to treat. These are even more harmful to livestock, the environment, and the health of the farmers.[v]
Thankfully, there are things that can be done to help this. Repairing clothes saves the environment. Rather than throwing out something because a button falls off, fix the button. Patch clothing when possible. If not, there are businesses that can help you with this. If people outgrow clothing or want to find more fashionable options, consider doing a tag sale, selling clothes online, or donating them. Reusing clothing also can be helpful to the environment. On a grander scale, fashion companies can do more to recycle in their businesses to reduce the level of waste.
Clothing production and manufacturing can be very harmful to the environment and to the overall health of the people who work in these industries. Through smart manufacturing processes and eco-friendly consumer actions, there are things that everyone can do to help save the planet. The numbers are scary but working together, the industry can change for the better. Until then, small actions like repairing or recycling your own clothing can be an excellent start.
At Tad More Tailoring we work with our customers, so they are comfortable and happy with their clothing providing the alterations and mending services they need. Our mail-in alterations service saves valuable time and our affordable prices work with any budget. With Tad More Tailoring, you can reduce waste, save time and look great!


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Android builders can now allow rounded sq. icons in Google Play
Back in March, Google launched a brand new rounded square icon requirement for the Google Play Store on Android and Chrome OS. App builders can select to allow the brand new icon specification instantly, with the Google Contacts itemizing already that includes the up to date fashion.
The purpose is to “bring consistency and a cleaner look to Google Play” on totally different UI layouts, kind components, and units. It prohibits clear backgrounds, with Google dynamically including rounded corners and drop shadows to icons. This applies to the Play Store on Android telephones and tablets, in addition to Chromebooks.
Within the Google Play Console, the Graphic Assets part of Product Details notes how the necessary change will come into impact on June 24th. Per the beforehand introduced timeline, builders can start importing the up to date icon fashion as we speak.
Let us know when your icon meets the brand new specification. If you’re not fairly prepared, you’ll be able to preserve utilizing the previous specification for now. We’ll mechanically scale down your icon on June 24.
In reality, builders which can be prepared “Can use the new icon specification now.” Google Contacts is one instance of an up to date itemizing on the Play Store. Of course, builders can proceed to leverage their present artwork till the deadline.
By May 1st, previous icons that don’t meet the usual can’t be uploaded and gained’t be accepted. By late June, new icons should be added, or Google will mechanically convert authentic icons to a “legacy mode.” This locations an present icon of any form right into a white rounded sq..
This change doesn’t apply to Google Play for Android Auto, Android TV, and Wear OS, or any APK launcher icons on any platform.
Google has posted guidance and resources for Android builders updating their app icons to the brand new attributes, sizing, shadows, nook radius, and badges.
Dylan contributed to this text


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When Alpharetta’s massive mixed-use destination Avalon opens Thursday, it will mark the latest example of a fast-growing trend in metro Atlanta — retail and dining developments creating “Main Street” shopping experiences.
From Buckhead Atlanta to the Westside Provisions District to Ponce City Market, developers are encouraging metro residents to get out of their cars and browse stores and restaurant options on foot in the outside air — instead of the sealed environment of malls.
Getting outside, though, is not the only attraction. The developments are about density — eschewing shopping centers with big parking lots for projects combining retail, offices, hotels and residential. The developers often hail from northern and West Coast cities like Cincinnati and San Diego, where land is scarce or too expensive to build the sprawling strip shopping centers that have gobbled up thousands of acres in metro Atlanta.
And developers distinguish the projects by opening stores that aren’t found elsewhere in the region, such as Oak Steakhouse at Avalon, Christian Louboutin at Buckhead Atlanta and Steven Alan and Jack Spade at Westside.
“No matter where a shopping center is located, capitalizing on the best characteristics of Main Street will make consumers feel at home,” said John Torres, vice president of innovation at measurement researcher Nielsen. The best ones “make centers easily walkable and accessible; provide places to sit down and spontaneously run into friends and neighbors; host community events; and incorporate local tenants for a hometown feel.”
That doesn’t mean that malls are dead. While many are in decline, some in metro Atlanta, such as Lenox Square and Perimeter Mall, remain strong draws. Mall operators have beefed up their store mix and have an advantage during inclement weather. They also have more options for more price-sensitive consumers than the new “walkable” centers, which heavily cater to a more well-heeled clientele.
But walkable outside shopping is a huge switch for Atlanta, which, since the heyday of enclosed shopping centers in the ’80s and ’90s, has grown wedded to the comfort of air-conditioning. Not only do we spend more time in our cars than most metro areas, we also seek out parking spaces that are as close as possible to our store destination.
The walkable projects upend that by building garages away from the stores and limiting space in front of them.
Part of their growth is a reflection of new economic realities. Financing for malls, for instance, is nonexistent because they’ve fallen out of favor, and the convenience of online shopping has sapped sales from brick-and-mortar stores.
That has forced developers to step up their game and create an “experience,” retailer lingo for razzle-dazzle options like Ritz Carlton-level concierge service and same-day home delivery of purchases.
The numbers tell the story, said Kristen Miles, Nielsen’s director of analytics.
“In 2008, these lifestyle centers made up 9 percent of total shopping centers in the U.S.,” she said. “In 2014, lifestyle centers make up 18 percent of total shopping centers in the U.S. This is in contrast to traditional malls, regional and super region centers, which are in decline. Regional centers made up 18 percent of total U.S. shopping centers in 2008 and now make up only 11 percent.”
The $600 million Avalon development is atypical of suburban shopping. It offers a “town center” feel with broad sidewalks to make it easier to walk from store to store, parking garages set away from stores to encourage pedestrian traffic and pocket parks and performance areas for community events or taking in the sunshine.
Covering 86 acres, Avalon also includes apartments, townhomes and single-family residences costing as much as $1 million or more and a 12-screen Regal Cinemas.
If follows on the heels this fall of the opening of the $1 billion Buckhead Atlanta project, which reinvented the former party district into a walkable outdoor shopping and dining destination featuring top stores, including Hermes and Shake Shack.
As with all shopping destinations, there are risks to the developments, experts said. The right product mix is critical to the success of walkable outdoor retail.
Consumers are less jazzed about the centers if their lineup of stores are just replicas of traditional malls. Atlantic Station, one of the first walkable lifestyle centers, was heavily criticized initially because of the feeling that it was a mall copycat. That changed as the destination snagged early locations of retailer H&M and trendy dining spots, such as Chick-a-Biddy and Yard House.
Some also have had trouble defining what they are: office complex, shopping center, attractions destination or residential community. Trying to be all at once can confuse customers, who might feel alienated in the same way some diners are scared away from hotel restaurants if they are not staying in a room at the facility.
In addition, developers may be overestimating the affordability of such projects. Millennials, especially those Avalon hopes to attract to its residential units because of Alpharetta’s high-tech jobs, might find the project’s apartments too expensive at up to $5,000 a month, given how much student debt the generation carries, said Emil Gullia, senior director at real estate firm Franklin Street.
Those who can afford to live there have many more options, given the abundance of land in the area, he said.
But Bob Wordes, chief operating officer of The Shopping Center Group, said the positive attributes outweigh the risks. He compared the interest in Main Street shopping to that of the new retractable-roof stadium being built for the Atlanta Falcons.
Many fans consider the weather to be part of the overall football experience, he said.
“People don’t want to be in a dome on a beautiful fall day,” he said. “This is the same thing.”
Avalon by the numbers
Location: Alpharetta off Old Milton Parkway
Size: 86 acres with more than 500,000-square-feet of shopping
Cost: $600 million
Regal Cinemas: 12 screens with lounge
Stores/restaurants: More than 60
Single-family homes: 101
Phase II plans: more residences and retail, 14-story office building, hotel and possible convention center


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Coffee drinkers know that sometimes getting a cuppa joe can be pricey, but some aficionados are willing to shell out the big bucks for the good stuff. But how much is TOO much? Now in California, a single cup of coffee at Klatch Coffee's new San Francisco location just sold for $75!
The high dollar brew has such a big price tag because it’s made from Elida Geisha Natural, a single-source organic coffee bean that brought in a record $803-per-pound at auction and costs close to $1,200 a pound after roasting.
As for Klatch, they bought 10-pounds of the beans, which they served up at a recent coffee tasting. If you missed the event and would still like to sip on the world’s most expensive coffee, Klatch is selling the beans online for $75 for 18-grams (which is barley a half ounce).
For more on this story check out today's bonus segment with Len Berman and Michael Riedel...


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2. What’s so bad about Nutella ?
Nutella consists of seven ingredients, which are chosen from only fresh and raw materials and delicately selected according to a sustainable sourcing with a strict attention to their quality. These ingredients are sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, milk, lecithin and vanillin.Palm oil is the greatest concern now. It comes from the fruits of a palm tree, found in tropical areas.
This risky ingredient is the one behind the picture-perfect smoothness of Nutella.Coop, one of the biggest grocery chains in Italy, has cleared away this spread chocolate from its shelves after the frightening news. While chains in North America and the UK haven’t made any changes yet.


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After more than two years of negotiations, the United States and the European Union said yesterday that they had reached tentative agreement on privacy laws governing the gathering of personal data about European consumers by American companies.
While both sides characterized the agreement as a breakthrough, crucial details, including how it would apply in practice, remained unresolved.
Europeans are protected from the commercial gathering and selling of personal data without their informed consent while in the United States, business is allowed to police itself.
David Aaron, under secretary of commerce for international trade, said the Europeans had agreed in principle to accept the American model. But the few details disclosed yesterday suggested that in fact, American companies would be leaning closer to the European model since they would need consumer consent to transfer personal data to the United States and would be required to post notice of how the data would be used.
Companies that violated their stated practices would be subject to prosecution by the Federal Trade Commission and the states.Continue reading the main story


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When it comes to supply chain success, mitigating disruptions, business continuity and improving sustainability is key – and one southern state is serving as a model for supply chain resiliency.
Oklahoma companies across multiple industry sectors continue to locate operations to the state due to its robust talent pipeline, low operating cost, business-friendly policies, renewable energy and its central location.
Most recent examples of this include Enel North America’s plans to invest $1 billion to establish a solar cell and panel manufacturing facility outside of Tulsa, OK; and USA Rare Earth’s $100 million investment to establish the first domestic heavy rare earth magnet production facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Here’s what Oklahoma businesses benefit from:
- Renewable Energy: Oklahoma is one of the top U.S. producers of renewable energy derived from solar and wind. It ranks #2 in wind generation, #3 in installed wind capacity and #6 in solar. The end result is that today, nearly 40% of the state’s total electricity is derived from renewable sources and produces 68% more energy than it consumes. This in turn has enabled Oklahoma to offer companies a constant flow of low-cost clean electricity, helping them meet their various ESG goals.
- Talent: Oklahoma’s nationally acclaimed Training for Industry Program (TIP) helps create a quality workforce tailored to industry needs, all at little or no cost to you. Delivered through Oklahoma’s 59 technology center campuses, services include job analysis, training needs assessment, pre-employment training, pre/post-production training, instructional materials and development, and more. Among the top 10 most productive workforces in the U.S., Oklahoma is a constitutional Right to Work state with low unemployment insurance taxes and programs significantly reducing hiring and training start-up costs.
- Accessibility: An international airport in Tulsa, along with 135 public-use airports across the state, offers access to domestic and international destinations. Major highways connect Oklahoma within a day’s drive to all U.S. markets. The state is home to four inland ports and 20 rail operators, providing Class I and II service throughout the state.
- Supplier connection: Companies thinking of nearshoring their operations in Oklahoma are able to take advantage of Connex OK, one of the first-ever online supply chain portals developed by a state. The platform allows manufacturers to find suppliers locally, regionally and nationally; view their supply chain virtually; avoid single-supplier risks, financial threats, companies on government blacklists; and other vulnerabilities.
In the face of constant disruptions, leading companies worldwide are constantly seeking resources of these kinds to help mitigate risk. Oklahoma’s model to promote supply chain resiliency can serve as a framework for other regions, cities or states.
The post Oklahoma Serves as a Model for Supply Chain Success appeared first on Industry Today – Leader in Manufacturing & Industry News.


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New Delhi: oppo a77 4g launched in india: Oppo has launched its new smartphone A77 4G. This phone is launched in the budget segment. Earlier this phone was launched with 4 GB RAM plus 64 GB storage. But, now this phone comes with more storage. The sale of Oppo A77 4G phone has started from today. The new variant of the phone has been launched in Sunset Orange and Sky Blue colors. The phone comes with a Fibreglass-Leather Design. Know the price and features of this phone.
Phone price and variant
The Oppo A77 4G 4GB RAM and 128GB storage phone is priced at Rs 16,999. Some offers are also being given on this phone. Customers can get cashback of up to Rs. 1,500 on ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, Bank of Baroda and Standard Chartered Bank cards. You can buy this phone from Oppo’s official website and Amazon India.
Features of Oppo A77 4G
Oppo A77 4G gets a 6.56-inch HD Plus display. Which comes with 60Hz refresh rate. This phone has Octa core MediaTek Helio G35 processor. The phone runs on ColorOS 12.1 based on Android 12. The storage can be expanded with the help of a microSD card. The phone also features ultra-linear stereo speakers and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for security. The phone is powered by a 5000mAh battery and supports 33W Super-Wook fast charger. This phone gets a dual camera setup at the rear. Which comes with 50 megapixel primary and 2 megapixel depth sensor. An 8-megapixel front camera is provided for the phone.


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Jerry Seinfeld sells $21 million worth of cars at auction
When he was asked, once, how many cars he owned, Jerry replied:
So Jerry sent some of his collection to auction, 18 cars in all, and they sold in aggregate for $21 million. They were mostly Porsches. They were real and they were fabulous.
You can read about it in this NY Times article.


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AJAYI OLUWAPELUMI in Ghana writes about the frustration of the affected Nigerians.
Nigerian traders in Ghana have been under pressure to move out by the local authorities at the instance of their Ghanaian counterparts.
The year 2014 has no doubt being one of turbulence and instability for Nigerian traders in 10 regions of Ghana, as the Ghana Ministry of Trade and Industry threatened to implement the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) Act, 2013 (Act 865) which prohibits foreign traders from trading in its 48 markets across the country.
Nigeria and other ECOWAS member countries are recognised by Ghana constitution as foreign.
In June this year, it was reported that thousands of members of Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), both in the capital city of Accra and Ashanti region of Kumasi, turned up the pressure being mounted on the foreign traders, mostly Nigerians by locking up their shops.
The situation was, however, checked through the intervention of Ghana police, which saw the foreign traders return to their shops without hindrance.
However respite for the traders seemed short-lived as the ministry that has the power to eject the traders, in September, issued a 30-day ultimatum for all foreign traders to quit the local markets or else face eviction and be prosecuted in a court that will be set up to prosecute foreign retail traders.
According to the press release, "Despite numerous interventions by the government to encourage non-Ghanaians engaged in retail trading in the market place to relocate, some non-Ghanaians have refused to comply with the directive. The non-Ghanaians who further contravene the provisions of the Act 865 in the GIPC Law 2013 shall be prosecuted."
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Traders Association in Ghana (NUTAG), Deacon John Ukala, appeared depressed when Nigerian Tribune met him for an interview.
At the famous and historical Makola market, in the heart of Accra, he pointed at trailers loaded with imported used clothes about to be offloaded. "This is the business some of us (Nigerian traders) are in to, while others sell bicycle parts and other products," he said.
Getting into his store, filled with bundles of imported used clothing ready for sale to the retailers, he said, "We actually don't know what to do any longer about GUTA and the Ghanaian government."
He explained that though many of the members of NUTAG had returned to Nigeria when most of them suffered huge loses during the lock down of shops that happened in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013, they still had over hundred members in Accra alone.
He identified reasons for GIPC Act 865, the incessant threat to implement it and the imbroglio between NUTAG and GUTA, as the competition in the market which favoured Nigerians who had more customers as a result of the fact that they did not make their goods as expensive like their Ghanaian counterparts did.
"This development has made GUTA members to capitalise on their citizenship and put pressure on their parliament members to make the law that would have foreign traders booted out in exchange for votes.
"I have been in Ghana for more than two decades," he exclaimed. "All my Iife all I have been doing is trading, like the rest of our members.
"We know that there are Ghanaians like me who have businesses and homes in Nigeria. Hundreds of them trade at Idumota, Alaba and many other parts of Nigeria without hindrance, without being asked to provide resident permit, among others.
"Why should they keep making life miserable for a fellow ECOWAS member country like Nigeria because of trade?" he asked.
Asked if, as the national president of NUTAG, he had met with the GUTA for dialogue he retorted: "They never gave us audience." He reiterated that GUTA was not ready to dialogue with them (NUTAG) as they were determined to flush Nigerians out of the market.
On October 15, hundreds of Nigerian traders, the All Nigeria Community (ANC) president, Mr Moses Owharo, and the Eze Ndi Igbo of Ghana, Mr Chucks Jude Ihenetu, stormed the Nigerian High Commission, after holding a press conference at the ANC secretariat in Accra.
The Nigerian High Commissioner to Ghana, Ambassador Ademola Onafowokan, who appeared unprepared for the crowd he saw, allowed the traders into the embassy, and in the open addressed them. He refused reporters to be present at the meeting.
However, in an earlier communication with the press through a communiqué titled: 'An Appeal to Ghanaian Authorities to Address the Plight of Nigerian Traders,' signed by the executive president of ANC, the body pleaded with the President of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, who doubles as the Chairman of ECOWAS, and Ghanaian parliamentarians to consider the economic ripple effect such decision would have on them.
"We have put our shops under lock to meet here, purposely to make our plights known to the government of Ghana", ANC stressed. "As bread winners of our families, it is delicate for us to even contemplate leaving Ghana in droves, considering the adverse effects the said law will have on our businesses if implemented."
They asserted in the appeal that they did not have options of livelihood other than trading. "Of grave concern is the seriousness of this matter regarding the upkeep of our Ghanaian wives and husbands, given the inter-marriages between Ghanaians and Nigerian traders, particularly the future of our children who are Ghanaians."
Appealing for leniency, Mr Owharo said, "We are not questioning the rationale of this trade prohibition in the Ghana law, nor do we come to challenge the authorities of Ghana's government. Rather, we are appealing for leniency and for the authorities to reconsider their resolve towards implementing the said law. Nigerian traders contribute immensely to the Ghanaian economy in terms of employment creation, taxation, infrastructure and manpower developments in Ghana."
Ambassador Onafowokan, in a press conference with selected Nigerian journalists on October 23, explained that in the wake of the ongoing imbroglio between Ghanaian government and foreign traders of which Nigerian traders constitute a major part, he initiated a meeting with the office of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he proposed that land be given to Nigerian traders where they could build their own market.
In his words, "We have suggested that land be allocated to Nigerian traders, and this was graciously accepted by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, who also promised to liaise with the Minister of Trade and Industry for the possibility of allocating land for the Nigerian market in Accra, Ghana."
The ambassador pointed out that "the bond of friendly nations should not be dampened by irritant issues of trade, economic, culture and diplomacy, which are against the spirit of ECOWAS treaties which are in force and of which the two countries are signatories."
When he was asked if the suggestion of land allocation for Nigerian traders was born out of consultation with the Nigerian traders, he said yes. "The last time they came to the embassy, it was what I suggested to them in our conversation, and they all agreed. We also promised them the support of the Federal Government to build the market."
He, however, assured that the Ghanaian government would stop the incessant harassment of the traders, pending the time when land would be allocated and the market constructed.
"Ghanaian authorities will allow Nigerian traders in Ghana to continue their petty trading, pending the time land will be allocated for Nigerian traders by the government of Ghana."
Efforts by the ambassador seem to be yielding as the newly appointed Minister of Trade, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, did not give go-ahead for the eviction of ECOWAS foreign traders despite the expiration of the 30-day ultimatum, but cautioned the authority to tread softly because such action could force other ECOWAS member countries to implement same laws in their countries which might affect Ghanaians in those countries as well.
Dr Garbrah said that "even as we point out the non-Ghanaians that are infringing our laws and the Ghanaians who may be accommodating them, let us also be mindful of the potential impact from a reciprocity point of view when it comes to international relations.
"There may be Ghanaians also involved in all kinds of petty trading, shop-keeping activities in neigbouring countries. If we take that action, these countries have similar laws, and if they choose to enforce them, then we could have some very interesting situations. And that is not what we are looking for, where we have tit for tat type of activity in the ECOWAS region," he submitted.
The questions on the lips of observers are many: Is the government of Ghana is willing to allocate land to Nigerians traders in the 10 regions across Ghana? If Nigerian traders are eventually moved to their proposed new land, will the Nigerian government replicate such gesture by having Ghanaians evicted to a new land that would be given to them? Will such actions portray the two giants in the West Africa sub-region as economic integration loyalist as they have preached around the world?


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In some early and exciting news ahead of iceBike*2020, the Madison Saracen Team are going to be in attendance at the show as they build towards the beginning of another long World Cup season.
Madison and Sportline are pleased to announce the dates for the iceBike* and Sportline Show 2020
It took a huge amount of time and effort to pull together this year’s show and thanks to your attendance it has all been worthwhile. This year we had a huge amount of brands, products, seminars, demos, experts and plenty more at iceBike* and the feeling throughout the show was one of overwhelming positivity.
iceBike* 2019 may be over but this will certainly be one to remember! The show this year was absolutely packed with the latest products and new kit in the cycling world, check out our highlights reel below and we'll see you next year!
As one of the biggest brands in cycling you can be sure to expect plenty from Shimano at this year’s iceBike*. The show kicks off next week at Arena:MK for three days and below is a brief recap on what Shimano is bringing this year.
Yep, that’s right iceBike* really is just one week away! On 19th February we open the doors of Arena:MK for three days of new products, seminars, demos, new brands, food, drink, old faces, new faces, centenary anniversaries, E-Bikes, offers and much more!
On Wednesday evening as part of iceBike* 2019, Madison is hosting round five of the Zwift KISS Super League with Madison Genesis riders racing online against other pro-teams.
We understand that child care responsibilities take priority over half term but if you would still like to come to iceBike* we have something for the youngsters to enjoy. Kids do make the best product testers too!
With just under two weeks to go until iceBike*, Sportline lifts the lid on which new bikes visitors can expect to see at Arena:MK including a big rebrand, an E-Bikes focus and some new models.
The new distribution agreement finally bring this innovative product to the UK and Ireland. Dynaplug will also be exhibiting at iceBike* in just two weeks’ time
What can visitors expect from your ‘Education Never Sleeps’ seminar at iceBike*? What is your number one piece of advice to all bike mechanics? What makes Park Tool special? Read on for all the answers and more!
New products from Finish Line, Wheels Manufacturing, MilKit, Respro and Madison are just a small part of the incredible 250 new products that will be making iceBike* debuts this year.


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In another era, every marketer worth his salt would work relentlessly to crack that great creative insight that could then be amplified across media starting with a burst on television. Then he would drive his agency to integrate the creative thought across above-the-line and below-the-line media in a forceful way. That was more or less the standard approach to media planning half a decade ago, before the grand arrival of digital and social media into the mainstream. Post the Lehman collapse, as the world began to turn upside down and advertising dollars became hard to come by, corporations and their agencies began looking at the digital media in right earnest.
In the following years, almost every major event in the media and advertising world had at least one panel discussion on digital media. As a result, the significance of digital went up several notches in the media plans of different product and service categories. Despite the interest, this area remains troubled as a large majority of marketers in the country are still hesitant in allocating sizeable portion of their media budgets to digital. One reason why digital advertising is still at 10 per cent of the overall ad pie in the country, which stands at Rs 31,877 crore (according to the Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook 2014, which expects the market to grow strongly at 16.8 per cent in 2014 to reach Rs 37,000 crore). By the end of this year, companies would have spent around Rs 14,300 crore in buying airtime on television, and Rs 15,405 crore in print. Radio will see spends in the region of Rs 1,097 crore by some estimates.
This is in sharp contrast to what is happening globally. In 2013, for the first time ever, interactive advertising revenues in the US touched $42.8 billion, exceeding broadcast television advertising revenues of $40.1 billion (according to the IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, prepared by PwC US).
Despite all the talk, the digital - or interactive - medium remains thoroughly under-utilised. Barring few truly remarkable digital spots, as an advertising medium, the internet and the mobile have been in some sort of a time warp, with television and print taking precedence, both at the agency and the client's end. Much of the time, 'digital' has simply been used as a 'reminder medium' - a fate FM radio was relegated to in its early days.
Anshuman Singh, head, digital business & consulting group, Mindtree Europe, says the problem is that digital is often mixed up with below-the-line communication. He says, "It is like mixing the means with the end. The question to ask is if the media used is targeted or not. A lot of digital media is still treated like above-the-line. For example, just because I am visiting Business-standard.com from the UK, doesn't mean that I am interested in enrolling for Barnet College (Barnet and Southgate College is a further education college in North London). This ad is no different from what might appear in the education section of your newspaper. That is because the space is bought in bulk. Even today, most social media campaigns rely on extrapolation of reach. You can leverage custom URLs in TV and print campaigns to calculate the same."
To an extent the problem with digital is not just about focus; it is also a factor of reach. Of the total population of 1.27 billion in India, only 243 million people are internet users. (Source: Internet and Mobile Association of India)
Beyond ATL and BTL
A lot has changed in the last 10 years though. Earlier, as part of a pan-India plan, a media planner would cover 20-30 markets in a year. Usually television was the lead medium and print followed with long copy ads; radio and outdoor were slapped with similar creatives without much innovation. Today, plans are more fluid and may change several times in a given year and are designed according to the profile of the consumer targeted.
Take Germany-based Lufthansa, which has been running operations in India for 55 years now. It is an example of a brand which has relied on short-duration media plans to deliver results. Over the years, the brand has learnt a key lesson in media planning: a solid media plan varies from one set of its target group to the other. For instance, a first class customer can be targeted more effectively with direct mailers and below-the-line initiatives. In fact, the engagement level of its direct mailers is 28 per cent.
Television's dominance in an average media plan is undisputed in this country. Consider e-commerce companies as examples. When they started appearing on media channels like television and print, many eyebrows were raised. Why advertise on a passive medium? Aren't they mass and therefore impersonal, the anti-thesis of the internet as a medium? Yet, after the success of Flipkart's 'adult-like children' campaign in 2011, almost every e-commerce company with a sizeable media budget has hitched its fortune to television.
Says Raghu Bhat, co-founder of Scarecrow Communications, which handles creative duties for online classifieds company Quikr, "If one player's TV commercial hits the bull's eye, other players in the category jump at the first opportunity of achieving something similar."
Bhat has a point, especially in the context of e-commerce companies. Instead of focusing on profitability, which is still a couple of years away for these companies, owners of these businesses are keen on driving maximum user traffic.
Since internet penetration is still low in India, the challenge for shopping portals is to be the first destination for someone who has never shopped online. That explains why this online battle is being fought on television, and to some extent print. The likes of Flipkart, Snapdeal and Jabong are learning fast by observing leading players in FMCG, retail and telecom. They are launching quick follow-ups and myriad edits of a campaign in the same year.
Short-term sales pressure is visible in a lot of these commercials that harp on limited-period sales and deep discounts. This also marks a major shift in TV advertising as players from across categories are moving from brand building on TV to more tactical pieces of communication. Says Amit Tiwari, director & country head, media, Philips India, "Television has become a snacks box for viewers. Dwell time is as low as 30 minutes per day or even lower."
Since its launch in 2011, GSKCH's oral-care brand Sensodyne has stuck to showcasing testimonials from dentists. As part of its research, the company saw that the awareness level regarding teeth sensitivity in India was low - at 17 per cent. Instead of relying only on television, the company decided to focus on below-the-line initiatives to build awareness about dental problems.
Digital and radio are similar, especially in terms of their consumption patterns. Both the mediums can be consumed on-the-go, their appeal is personal and the content can be localised to a large extent. That is exactly what Hindustan Unilever (HUL) achieved with its Kan Khajura Tesan (KKT) campaign. KKT or 'The Earworm Channel' is HUL's very own structured, branded media channel on the mobile platform that offers jokes, music and Bollywood content. This content is interspersed with advertisements for HUL's mass consumer brands. This was done through a missed call campaign.
Now look at what Philips did recently during Jamai Shashti, a festival celebrated in West Bengal and dedicated to sons-in-law. Philips decided to push the shavers from its personal grooming range as a gifting option during this festival. As part of this pilot, two local radio stations were roped in. RJs spoke to the viewers about the festival and recommended Philips shavers as one of the gifting options.
Says Singh of Mindtree, "I think a mix of strategy is what works. A company may create awareness using mass media, but may leave a hook for targeted messaging. Simple missed call campaigns have far wider reach than apps or websites."
So there you have it: no point in thinking TV, print, digital. The best way to deal with the customer who jumps in and out of different mediums is to follow them around like the Vodafone pug. In sum, use all the mediums seamlessly.


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In a recent Twitter post, US electric vehicle maker Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk has hinted at the groundbreaking of the automaker’s Gigafactory 3 in China “soon.” The tweet marks a reiteration of Tesla’s
In a move which underscores Tesla’s latest effort to expand its Supercharger network for electric vehicles (EVs), the company has started working on the much-awaited Trans-Canada Supercharger route
During the course of a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times, German premium automaker Porsche’s North America CEO Klaus Zellmer praised US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla for its “truly
Hong Kong-based company RevoZport has announced a new aftermarket racing body kit for the Tesla Model 3 electric car.
US electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors has brought its first official Model 3 electric car to France; with two units of the vehicle being showcased by the automaker at the 2018 Paris Motor show.
According to EV magazine Electrek report, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors has hit a new production record in the 2018 third quarter.
© 2018 EVOUTLOOK.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COPYSCAPE PROTECTED


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As the falling leaves and crisp breezes of fall start making their appearance, so do some of Cincinnati's favorite autumn events. Get out in the cooling weather and enjoy some of this season's greatest things to do.
Saturday, Sep. 19
Once a month, Washington Park holds the City Flea, an urban flea market that encourages the growth and promotion of small businesses and a sense of unity within the Cincinnati community. The Flea has become a home to vendors of all sorts, "from vintage dealers to artisan pizza makers to plant studios." Its variety in product has made it a staple for local shoppers to browse during the weekends and has allowed small-business owners to gain traction and their up-and-coming shops to flourish.
10a.m.-4p.m. Washington Park, 1230 Elm St.
Sunday, Sep. 20
This fall, Krohn Conservatory has pieced together an elegant display in shades of plum, violet and every other shade of purple you can imagine. The monochromatic array of autumn plants has dazzled guests week after week, enveloping them in an otherworldly environment of vivid color.
10a.m.-4p.m. Krohn Conservatory, 1501 Eden Park Dr.
Highlight | Oktoberfest Zinzinnati
As fall is making it's way back in season, so does Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, one of the city's most beloved annual traditions. Its rank as the largest Oktoberfest in the nation has been well-deserved. Over the years, the streets of downtown flood with floats, food stands serving German delicacies, music and dancing and hundreds of festival-goers joining in the cheer.
Considering health and safety concerns this year, Oktoberfest will be looking a little different from usual. Rather than encouraging large gatherings of crowds, the festivities will be taking place in smaller groups within separate restaurants, bars and breweries all over town.
For those that feel more comfortable celebrating from the safety of their home, the festival is offering a list of events to be streamed online and are offering a "Zelebration Pack" for purchase for those that want to bring the party to their home. The modifications for at-home partiers have earned the festival the nickname "In Za House," and the excitement is just as high as it's been every year before.
The chance to get involved in the German culture that takes over the city year after year has enthralled both locals and tourists, including college students who want to break away from campus for some weekend fun. Make sure to get out and participate in this year's lengthy list of festivities this month, spanning from Sept. 18-27.


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Blog: Bangladesh building disaster
Leonie Barrie | 29 April 2013
A single story dominated the news headlines last week, with Bangladesh's worst-ever industrial accident once again throwing the country's garment manufacturing industry into the glare of the global media spotlight.
At least 380 people are thought to have been killed when an eight-floor building on the outskirts of Dhaka collapsed. The five garment units based there were making clothes for British fashion retailer Primark and Canadian brand Joe Fresh, with Mango, C&A, KiK and Wal-Mart also believed to have links to the factories.
The incident once again draws attention to workplace safety in an industry that has already come in for severe criticism and scrutiny from the international community and buyers. It also comes just five months after a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory led to the loss of another 112 lives.
In other stories, it emerged that Adidas has agreed to compensate more than 2,500 Indonesian garment workers. The United States Against Sweatshops (USAS) organisation said the German sporting goods company will give former workers at the closed PT Kizone factory a "substantial sum" in severance pay.
And in the same week the European Union (EU) lifted the last of its trade and economic sanctions against Burma/Myanmar, the vice-chair of the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association told just-style he welcomed a government initiative to encourage foreign clothing and textile clothing investment in the country.
Peru, meanwhile, hopes to double its textile and apparel exports by 2017 and invest over $60m to promote its key designer brands in international markets. As well as growing its exports abroad, the country is also looking to strike free trade deals with Australia, Brazil and Russia in the near term.
And apparel and footwear retailer The Jones Group is to close around 170 retail stores, reduce headcount and optimise its wholesale channel as part of a new strategic plan to generate US$40m a year in savings.
Confirmation that digital supply chains are top of mind for apparel industry executives came last week with the latest plans from global sourcing specialist Li & Fung....
As a barometer of the issues top of mind for apparel sourcing executives, it is hard to beat the annual Prime Source Forum in Hong Kong. ...
Over the past month, Donald Trump and his team failed to offer any clear plan to ensure Americans would "Buy American, Hire American" - while the British government's attempts to clarify the specifics...
The Bangladesh government was forced to respond late last week to pressure over its crackdown on labour activists after a number of global brands and retailers, including H&M and Inditex announced pla...
- Rana Plaza four years on – Timeline of change
- Why collaboration is key to fashion supply chains
- Trump and Brexit get a dose of pragmatism
- Industry groups reaffirm commitment to Bangladesh
- Using worker surveys to drive supply chain change
- Adidas to digitalise Speedfactory concept
- Nike filed patent for "reinforced denim"
- M&S extends sourcing deal with Lindsey brothers
- Gap unveils five-year sustainable fibres pledge
- Adidas and Reebok top transparency index
- Global market review of denim and jeanswear – forecasts to 2022
- When Things Go Wrong - A Practical Guide to Managing Common Problems in Apparel Sourcing
- Southeast Asia strategic sourcing review – a focus on Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar
- Clothing Market in the Top 5 American Countries to 2021 - Market Size, Development, and Forecasts
- Outdoor performance apparel 2016: A broader perspective


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Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas' spectacular wedding in Udaipur was straight out of a fairytale.
A grand palace, a queen waiting for her king, guests dancing around the couple and basically all the joy in the world embedded in one spot. The wedding was what dreams are made of.
Rajasthan has been a hot spot for lavish weddings and the recent grand celebrity wedding has revived the craze for Indians wanting to call in their New Year with a bang, amidst the grandeur of a gorgeous palatial hotel and maybe peacocks dancing for company.
However, this sudden rise of demand has obviously affected the supply and now, the surge in the prices of the average hotel room in a luxurious property is actually off the lid.
In fact, a night at the Lake Palace in Udaipur can cost you around 11 lakhs!
As per the latest report in TOI, there is more than a 40% jump in prices for spending 31st December at a luxury property.
However, these tariffs do have takers as well because the people who are spending their money want a luxurious experience and money is not a major criterion.
But, in case you were planning to flock to the gorgeous state then maybe your budget needs a revision. Anyway, guys, it matters not where you call in the New Year, it matters with whom you call in the New Year. Right?


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But our princess is in another castle!
On Wednesday July 14th, 2010, after an entire year of development behind the scenes, Overwatch was released to 25 members of our community, and what better way to celebrate its one year anniversary than with a release met with tons of positive feedback!
The response has truly been great. Our players have been posting first impression threads, gameplay videos and plenty of ideas and suggestions to help us improve our game. Community member Ranma even wrote a nice, detailed post of his first impressions playing as both the Resistance and the Overwatch. All in all, Overwatch was very well-received and we extremely psyched about it!
Enjoy our initial style test, composed to help us define the overall "feel" of the music in Overwatch
Thanks to our talented developers and hardworking playtesters, only a few very minor bugs managed to slip through the cracks and make their way into v1.0.0. They have already been addressed and the fixes will be released alongside next Wednesday's update.
Aside from Overwatch's first patch, next Wednesday will also be marked by a second, much larger wave of invites. Most (if not all) active community members will get access to the game and even be able to invite some of their friends. If feedback remains as positive as it has been and no major issues creep up, we are even considering having our open release much sooner than originally planned!
In sadder news, we decided to forgo using Desura at such an early stage, packaging Overwatch in an installer instead. We want to keep Overwatch's distribution method as simple and accessible as possible, and as much as we love Desura and believe it to be an amazing platform, it is still limited to only a few beta participants. We will definitely keep working alongside the Desura development team and, as soon as Desura is released to the public, we will make sure Overwatch is available to its users.
On a final note, we have a few surprises planned for you next week, including a random contest and a live appearance on Podcast17's 93rd episode! William and Patrick from P17 were some of the first few to play Overwatch and we are looking forward to discussing their first impressions live on the air.
Hold on to yours hats!


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Discover your innovative mindset strengths
Supply House Times columnist and founder of UnleashWD Dirk Beveridge has produced a series of new and free online tools designed to define your propensity for leading the needed change, transformation and innovation within your company.
Beveridge has created a 3-step plan to unleash your innovative mindset. By registering for his free webinar this Thursday, July 27, you will gain immediate access to take his Innovative Mindset online assessment.
Upon completion, you will be provided a 20-page action guide with insights and specific actions customized to your current and ideal innovative mindsets.
Register now at www.myinnovativemindset.com.


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China president Xi offer possible concessions, calms US market
Stocks were rising sharply on Wall Street early Tuesday after Chinese President Xi Jinping offered possible concessions in a trade dispute with the United States.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 517 points as investors hope the world's largest economies will resolve their differences without a trade war that hampers global commerce. Xi promised to reduce China's tariffs on imported cars and to improve intellectual property protection.
Speaking at a business conference, Xi made no direct mention of the trade dispute with the US, but promised Tuesday to cut China's auto tariffs and improve intellectual property protection in possible concessions aimed at defusing a worsening dispute with Washington over trade and technology that investors worry could set back the global economic recovery.
He promised progress on areas that are US priorities, including opening China's banking industry and boosting imports, but didn't address key irritants for Washington such as a requirement for foreign companies to work through joint ventures that require them to give technology to potential local competitors.
Private sector analysts saw Xi's speech as an overture to help end the biggest trade dispute since World War II. It has fuelled fears of a global economic chill if other nations respond with their own import barriers.
The Chinese leader promised to encourage "normal technological exchange" and to "protect the lawful ownership rights of foreign enterprises."
"President Xi's speech could create a very good platform to launch US-China dialogue at the WTO to find a deal on intellectual property rights," said economist Rajiv Biswas of IHS Markit in a report. "This would be a victory for the world trading system and an important step away from the abyss of rising global protectionism."
The dispute is likely to end "with a concession from China," said Larry Hu of Macquarie Group in a report.
Also Tuesday, China filed a WTO challenge against Trump's earlier tariff hike on steel and aluminium in a separate dispute.
Beijing, which has issued a US$3 billion list of US goods, including pork and apples for possible retaliation, requested 60 days of consultations as a first step. If that fails, the Chinese government can ask for a ruling from a WTO panel of experts.
Xi repeated pledges to open China's finance industries to foreign investors, first announced last November, but gave no additional details.
The biggest beneficiaries of a cut in China's 25 per cent tariff on most auto imports will be the small number of automakers such as electric car brand Tesla that have no factory in China. Other automakers such as General Motors and Volkswagen that assemble vehicles in China with local partners could offer additional models.
More broadly, Xi repeated official promises to expand imports and to narrow China's trade surplus, another irritant for Washington. China reported a global trade surplus of US$423 billion last year about two-thirds of that with the United States.
"China does not seek a trade surplus," said Xi to an audience of Chinese and foreign businesspeople. "We have a genuine desire to increase imports and achieve a greater balance of international payments."
The president promised to make faster progress towards joining the WTO's Government Procurement Agreement, which extends the WTO's free-trading principles to purchases by governments. That can make a significant difference in developing countries, where the government often accounts for most sales of computer software, medical equipment and other high-value goods.


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Smart Watch Or Fitness band? Its a question that we’ve been asked many times. So when the self-proclaimed biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday came along, it was interesting to observe that fitness bands were heavily amongst the deep end of the discounts. This comes at a time when one report has indicated that Fitness bands will be gone by 2020, replaced by smart watches. On Black Friday 2015, did the retailers just give their biggest indication yet that they think the fitness band market is beginning to die? Today we’re diving into the debate, and looking at the pros and cons of buying a smart watch vs a fitness band.
The Black friday pandemonium has finally hit the UK over the past two years, and technology products have been chief amongst the discounts. Once the preserve of cheaper-end TVs and the likes, wearables – most commonly including the fitness bands and activity tracker end of the market – found themselves wrapped-up in the bargain madness this year. Whilst clearly that in-itself is no damming indictment, as TVs, laptops and other such tech is hardly there to its detriment – it is maybe an indication that the technology isn’t quite living up to its billing.
Clearly the three year old wearables space remains nascent. In blunt honesty, there remains scant little difference between many fitness bands and old-school pedometers – we covered this here – the former acting as a dressed up and somewhat glorified version of the latter. Despite this, perhaps pushed on by the shinier facade, the space continues to boom, at least for the time being. However it is set to slow, and as we explored whilst exploring Fitbit’s plans for 2016, including their firmware upgrade, the fitness band market has been forecast to be virtually dead by 2020. The killer of this particular ‘fad’ – can we call it anything else if it is set to die in just four short years time? – is their bigger brother, the smartwatch.
Fitness bands may therefore come to be seen as a product of their time, a first step in the market moving towards more all-encompassing devices. The bigger question remains – are consumers happy to dedicate their wrist space to a device which fundamentally only helps them track their fitness, when that wrist space is being competed for by the likes of luxury swiss watches and other tech products?
Smart Watch Or Fitness band
When looking at whether you should buy a Smart Watch Or Fitness band, we have to principally consider the reasons for purchase. Whilst a lot of the wider media, including a lot of more general tech websites, are bucketing the two devices into the same camp, they do actually serve different purposes and have different use cases. The analysis of the use cases and the feature sets is therefore a key part of your decision making process. Below we will identify the key upsides in each device type.
Why You Should Buy a Fitness Band
Its easy therefore to presume that there is little to no upside in owning a fitness band, if they are soon to be a fad consigned to the history books, but they do still have a few significant upsides.
Activity trackers are cheaper, much cheaper, meaning that you can get a good range of tracking functionality out of a £30/$40 investment. If you want a single view of your activity, ranging increasingly across in-gym exercise and the ‘bonus’ activity of walking a flight or two of stairs rather than taking the lift, then these are still a winner.
For the less active end of the population spectrum, they remain a solid investment in improving your health without breaking the bank. Certainly when you look at the whole Smart Watch Or Fitness band debate, you need to factor as much as 10x higher investment in the latter. Clearly that’s significant.
Fitness bands are also made for purpose – they are specifically about tracking your health and fitness. Often case therefore, the health and fitness aspects of smart watches (fitness apps, sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring etc) are actually no better then those features on fitness bands. So if the main outcome that you;re seeking is a single viewpoint of your sleep and activity, then the better ROI clearly comes form the ten times cheaper bands.
Fitness bands are also increasingly including a wrist based heart rate monitor. This means that the band has suddenly gotten much more significantly useful for proper fitness tracking, revolutionising its effectiveness in the gym. We looked at the science of heart rate monitoring here, and concluded that chest strap-less wrist monitors have some way to go to be as accurate, but they are improving. More interestingly, this feature has eroded a lot of the need to own heart rate monitor devices, as you get most of their upside in the gym plus day round tracking outside of it. So the downside of less accurate HRM reading is offset against the upside of day round measurement. Pro rata it backs out, and it will only get better.
The pros of the smart watch
Before we get ahead of ourselves, there is still a big case for smart watches when considering the whole Smart Watch Or Fitness band argument.
The emergence of the Apple Watch has led some commentators to speculate that the wearables space could become as common as smartphones. James Titcomb, writing for the Daily Telegraph was fairly disparaging of wearables in general in this piece here, but he does historically share the view that wearables will become ubiquitous.
The first major upside of a smart watch over a band is the fact that it plays nicely with your smartphone – a device which we can all agree has definitely become ubiquitous. So this ability to hook up with your phone and pull in messages, emails and other such forms of communication helps highlight the major upside of the smart watch – it is much more than just fitness related.
Slicker and more all-encompassing, richer in functionality and design – it is an actual watch, with upsides like telling the time which is not overly common bands. Much like your smartphone, the watch also has app support. So the smart watch is infinitely customisable, especially for runners.
When reviewing the Apple Watch, we concluded that its not there yet for runners – but we do believe it will get there, possibly beginning with the second generation which will be out in 2016. However, manufacturers like Polar and Garmin are heading full speed at this space, and we can expect devices which are optimised for the gym but which bring additional day-round benefits too.
Smart watches are heavier on the features and therefore also on battery life. They’re also more showy – as whilst market pioneers are building fitness band technology into other wearables which standout less than gaudy bands – including tattoos – a smart watch will always stand out.
Fashion verses tech – do you want fitness tech on your wrist vs a luxury swiss watch?
This is fundamental to the debate. You have a school like Misfit/Fossil, who’re rushing to take advantage of the chic ‘cool factor’ and trying to build uber fashionable bands. Then you have the rafts of other companies who are increasingly trying to hide their fitness tech.
Think about Sensoria, who recently essentially launched a fitness band [in terms of functionality], hidden in your socks. This is not dissimilar to Chaotic Monkey’s wearable smart-tatt tech, which we mentioned above. This is all part of making wearable tech more discrete and less overt – which could well be a key future trend. This plays against the smartwatch when debating whether to buy a Smart Watch Or Fitness band.
So there likely is no right of wrong answer. It is very dependant on your own use cases, and what you want to get from the tech.


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Deals for Embraer, Bombardier
[NEW YORK] Embraer SA won a regional-jet order valued at US$2.4 billion from a US commuter carrier while Bombardier Inc sought firm purchases for its embattled CSeries after getting commitments to buy the planes.
Trans States Holdings Inc agreed to buy 50 of the E175-E2 model, Embraer
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