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Article | March 25, 2020
Two days ago, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed. The decision surprised no one given the coronavirus, even if the numbers in cases in Japan have slowed down recently. With all the travel and tourism involved, it would’ve led to another serious outbreak of the virus. As a result, the Olympics will move to 2021. A new date hasn’t been announced yet. Tourism, hotels, and airlines will take a hit from the reasonable decision. As for advertisers, $1.2 billion in ad sales is now in question. $1.25 Billion in Ad Sales According to Deadline, Comcast’s NBCUniversal is now communicating with advertisers on the $1.25 billion in ad sales already sold. It’s a new record for the Olympics. It’s unclear whether Comcast will pay back the advertisers or play their ads next year. In total, $6 billion is usually generated in sponsorship from the Olympics. Now, a large chunk of that sum is at stake. Fun fact: that $6 billion doubles the previous summer games in sponsorship revenue.
Article | March 25, 2020
Nate Burke, CEO of Diginius, a London-based technology company, who specialise in digital marketing and ecommerce solutions, discusses the growth and exciting future prospects for video advertising, particularly for those seeking unique ways to promote products in a saturated online marketplace.
Over recent years, there has been increasing focus on the use of video in just about every marketing context. And as it would seem, all the events and shifts in the market that have occurred ever since have only played into the success of the audio visual format.
Take the coronavirus pandemic as a prime example. Lockdown restrictions and stay at home orders across the globe have catalysed our consumption of video content. For anyone sceptical of this statement, just take the sweeping influx of TikTok users, and consequently, development of Reels, Livestream services IGTV and Stories features across social media platforms.
These video-based formats often provide a more entertaining and engaging way to consume content. And at a time when we have been looking for just about any way to fill gaps while stuck at home, videos have offered moments of escapism and connectivity, despite people never being so physically far apart.
The video content we have consumed has varied from DIY tutorials for making face masks or home renovation projects, through to product reviews and demonstrations for items we would typically like to see in person and in store.
And although restrictions are beginning to ease and these in store experiences can resume, many consumers will have adjusted to the new way of doing things, particularly with regards to online shopping and decision making.
Therefore, no longer is it enough to simply enable the purchasing of your products through an online channel. Rather, brands need to be supporting every step of the customer journey through their digital offerings, including the awareness, research and post-purchase service stages.
And thanks to the continued development of online advertising tools, this is now more viable than ever. For example, the social media features mentioned previously can all be used for advertising purposes too. Whether it’s enticing brand videos posted to your own feed, or promoted via each platform’s advertising network, or even an influencer partnership, whereby a famous face shows your product in action, there are countless ways to get word of your product out there with video.
Similarly, YouTube ads have long been praised for being a cost-effective way to earn greater digital reach through better engagement and creativity. As the second largest search engine in the world in terms of number of searches, it’s easy to understand why video advertising on the platform is so beneficial.
But while it might be one of the largest, YouTube certainly isn’t the only worthwhile search engine to be advertising on. In more recent times, the sophistication of other search engines, including Google and Bing, have created a strong case for businesses to include video consideration in their SEM strategies too. For example, we’re probably all familiar with the increasing favourability and better integration of YouTube videos displaying on results pages. And although this is separate to PPC advertising, it does require considerable effort in terms of SEO in order for videos to rank.
However, more recently, and we suspect moving forward, there is room for the use of video in these traditional PPC search advertising platforms too. In fact, Bing is currently rolling out a video extension feature to its ad accounts, allowing advertisers to include a 6 - 120 second clip in their search ads. On desktop, a thumbnail for the video will be shown to the right of the copy, which when clicked, the video plays in an overlaying window. On mobile, the video simply plays in the frame with ad copy still visible below.
As well as helping to secure greater real estate space on the results page, these videos make ads more engaging and can even enable businesses to provide more information about the brand, product or service beyond what is permitted in the copy.
Therefore, for businesses looking to implement a strong video strategy, Bing can help you maximise the return on investment required to produce such pieces of content. As well as making use of video to improve PPC efforts, the search engine definitely appears to prioritise the format more than other platforms do. Just a quick search for big name brands, such as ASOS and Sainsbury’s, will show you just how easily the search engine integrates branded and user generated video content, when compared to the likes of Google.
Again, with videos that are appropriately optimised, there is great potential to increase the space taken up on the all important first page of results. As well as this, you can provide searchers in the awareness and research stages with greater information and a better brand experience through content in a more engaging format to increase the chances of a conversion.
In terms of PPC advertising, the use of video is at no greater expense to the business. Video clicks are charged at the same rate as call to actions or website click throughs, and like in the traditional form, only the initial click incurs a cost. Therefore, users can click to watch the video, and then press the button to call, enquire or visit your website, and despite having spent more time immersing themselves in your brand, there will be no additional price to pay.
Undeniably, video advertising is becoming increasingly intelligent, providing businesses with much more opportunity to showcase their products in an engaging way, which can help break through the white noise of the saturated online marketplace. But interestingly, I believe this is only the beginning of what is possible with the format, particularly when it comes to PPC in search.
As the retail world recovers from the disruption of the pandemic, and businesses really begin to home in their strategies to accommodate users’ new found preferences in the age of post-lockdown, the creative use of video will become an ever-growing key tactic in advertising.
Article | March 25, 2020
Search engine optimization is one of the most important subdomains in digital marketing where organisations try to get visitors from search engine ranking pages to their website. The most vague approach by businesses is to just post content on their website, create backlinks of it and expect to rank number one on the targeted keywords. However the reality is that search engines consider a lot of factors in ranking a web page such as website’s loading speed, responsiveness for mobile device compliance, good user experience, rich snippets, keyword frequency in content, interest of visitors in content and then comes in the turn for backlinks and domain authority.
Why SEO is Mandatory for Websites?
SEO requires continuous efforts everyday due to 3 major factors. First is search engines rank the latest content on top most position at first and later on adjust the rankings according to other parameters. The second issue is changes in google’s algorithm bi-yearly which has the tendency to suppress the rankings of all web pages of a website. The third is your competitors who are creating better content to outbeat your website.
We need to understand that a business can put in limited efforts on content marketing and backlinking, depending on their budget. The above mentioned factors are continuously vanishing the results derived from their previously made efforts so the high performance websites, customizations and rich snippet integration to ramp up the performance of complete websites. In one of our previous experiences we have seen web pages jump up from 3rd page of google search to 1st page in a day after deploying a faster version of the website.
The initial journey of SEO can be done placidly with content management systems initially but later on comes the saturation point where to procure more traffic either we have to increase workforce or add more integrations. These integrations are very costly on a content management system for a website with huge user traffic that’s why such businesses should build their custom websites and get access over source code. To do so they can outsource the project to a software development company, hire developers from an offshore company or hire their own in house developers.
One more factor that contributes in converting leads to customers is user experience which can only be improved with tracking user behaviour, user feedback and testing new UI improvements done on the basis of suggestions. The same journey is followed with any new functionality built after users demanded it via feedback.
The above mentioned points suggest the conclusion that high performance websites and technical teams can help businesses to derive exponential growth in traffic if the SEO and technical team work hand in hand.
Article | March 25, 2020
With the vast majority of Americans quarantined and events canceled, it would seem a fashion category that would be hit hard is bespoke suits. But according to several founders, suit fittings are still happening, they’ve just moved online. Colin Hunter, co-founder of bespoke suit brand Alton Lane, said his team has spent the past 10 days rapidly building and perfecting the infrastructure needed to get virtual fittings off the ground, to replace in-person fittings. The process has been informal and fast-moving, and fittings are now being conducted with customers over FaceTime, Google Hangouts and text. It’s Hunter hope that the virtual fittings, which kicked off last week, will be enough to see the brand through this rough period.


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Santa Rosa, California Earthquake Wreaks Havoc for Businesses
A 4.4 magnitude rocked Northern on Tuesday, leaving the shelves of local businesses in disarray. The quake hit Santa Rosa, which sits along the Rodgers Creek fault line, around 6:30 p.m. PST and was followed by an aftershock, according to The Weather Channel. The Santa Rose fire department responded to several reports of gas leaks, fire alarms and stuck elevators, per its Twitter, and revealed no injuries were reported in relation to the quake.
The earthquake might have caused minor damages, but several local businesses reported it left broken merchandise and confused customers. "We were all in the middle of transactions — it was crazy," Abby Volz, a Whole Foods employee, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat. "I was with another cashier and all of a sudden the whole store started shaking. She reacted really quickly, she dove under the nearest cash register."
According to one Twitter video, the earthquake caused merchandise to fall off the shelves of a local market.
In video footage obtained by the Press Democrat, employees of Sam's Market can be seen cleaning broken bottles of top-shelf liquor. "As soon as the earthquake happened everything fell down," owner Praneel Ram said in the clip, adding that a portion of his "highly priced" merchandise was damaged in the quake.

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India is likely to cut its import tax on gold before the end of February to 2% from the current level of 10%, a top official told The Wall Street Journal.
India's government had gradually raised the import tax on gold to 10% from 2% since early 2012 to bring down the country's current-account deficit. It tightened restrictions further last year by asking importers to re-export at least 20% of the gold they bring into the country.
The government is now considering reducing the import tax as the current-account deficit declined to $45 billion from $88 billion the year before.
Gold import duty cut will help to increase government’s revenue and suppress the rising incidents of gold smuggling across the country. Such an action would minimize the procurement costs for gems and jewelry exporters and will in turn provide big boost to jewelry exports from the country.
This would also add significant support to global gold prices.
The Finance Ministry will announce its decision in the federal budget to be presented in Parliament on Feb. 28.
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Our editing team, cumulating many years of experience, wishes to bring to the investors as much information as possible to help them in taking decisions independently and objectively when investing in the precious metals sector. We also regularly publish interviews with fund managers and independent specialists and analysts to let our readers and our investing clients further their analyses of the precious metals markets. We also provide translations of several articles for that purpose.


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Hong Kong-based global reinsurance company, Peak Re is targeting to expand its presence in the global cyber market with help of cyber risk analytics specialist CyberCube.
According to the announcement, Peak Re – which has a global portfolio with a heavy presence in its core Asian markets – will licence CyberCube’s Portfolio Manager, a tool that will help the reinsurer quantify client cyber exposure.
Portfolio Manager is a cyber risk accumulation model that enables ew/insurance professionals to develop insights for their senior leadership and teams, allowing them to leverage CyberCube’s robust data lake and cybersecurity expertise.
It also allows stress testing of cyber portfolios so that loss drivers and potential accumulation events can be identified.
Edward Shen, Director, Head of Casualty Product Underwriting of Peak Re, commented: “By using CyberCube’s platform, Peak Re will enhance its presence in the cyber market with greater confidence.
“Data-driven analytics will provide us with a deeper understanding of accumulation risk and help us better serve our customers in the expectation of the continuing growing demand for cyber reinsurance globally.”
Jon Choi, CyberCube Principal Consultant and Actuary, said: “Peak Re’s presence in the market and use of Portfolio Manager will help to create innovative reinsurance solutions for cyber perils in Asia and beyond.
“Our tool will empower Peak Re to understand cyber risk better, particularly with regards to the unique technologies and opportunities within the Asian market as it pertains to the evolving risk of cyber threats.”
Ross Smith, CyberCube Sales Manager, added: “We are delighted Peak Re has chosen CyberCube as its underlying model for making informed decisions. Our partnership with Peak Re will become a catalyst to continue the growth and expansion of cyber capacity across different markets.”


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In celebration of its 25th anniversary, Parisian trade fair Les Places d'Or—an annual event which this year will be held this year from November 5-7—will put the spotlight on craftmanship. A handful of “noble” crafts will be featured in workshops to demonstrate these areas of expertise, but also to showcase the latest innovations in the area of leatherworking (with French manufacturer Gainerie 91), straw marquetry (in the presence of the artist Lison de Caunes), embroidery, paper and textile, and will feature the work of young designers from the Ateliers de Paris. "Our objective is to surprise visitors with live workshops and to create a link between craftsmen and packaging and luxury brands," explains show director Nicolas Zaoui. The 2019 edition will be chaired by Franck Marilly, president EMEA and global fragrance at Shiseido. On the exhibitor side, 18 companies will be showing at Les Places d'Or for the first time, including glassmaker Waltersperger, modeling and prototyping specialist MMB, Paris-based embossing and hot-stamping workshop Créanog and papermaker Gmund. Formes de Luxe is apress partner of the event. Rendez-vous at the Hôtel Meurice!
Les Places d’Or prepares its anniversary edition
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Singapore is booming as a market for Swiss watches, and their homegrown watch brands are also booming.
Fifty years ago, according to His profile is on the World Bank websiteThe country suffered from severe unemployment and poor infrastructure, but decades of inward investment helped develop a high-income economy. Many of its 5.5 million residents buy high-end watches.
Between January and May, Swiss watch exports to Singapore rose to 676.4 million Swiss francs, up 8.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. The results extended its ranking as the sixth largest market in the world, ahead of Germany, France and the United Arab Emirates.
In January, LVMH Watch Week, an annual brand show from the French luxury giant, came to Singapore for its fourth edition. The second edition of Spring Sprang Sprung, the small brand exhibition that debuted last year, is scheduled to be held from October 20 to 22.
All this activity means that “more people are more watch-conscious and collecting watches,” said David Sze, 34, founder of Humism, a local watch brand.
Both big brands and local makers agree that Singaporeans prefer big names. Rolex accounted for 42 percent of all 2021 sales in the city, while Omega had 12 percent and Patek Philippe, 7 percent, according to Fleur Roberts, head of luxury goods research at Euromonitor.
Many single brand boutiques and multi-brand stores such as Sincere Fine Watches and The Hour Glass are concentrated in the high-density shopping areas along Orchard Road and in the Marina Bay Sands resort complex.
Panerai, a brand owned by Richemont and based in Florence, Italy, has stores in both regions. The store in the ION Orchard shopping center is particularly crowded, said Jean-Marc Pontroy, CEO of Panerai. “We have about 40 people who come in every day, sit down and try on the watches,” he said, noting that it is twice as many shoppers per day as other Panerai stores around the world. “For a monocle watch brand, it’s a pretty good number.”
No one can give a firm figure on the number of watch stores in Singapore, but they spread out from the center to areas such as Resorts World Sentosa, an island off the south coast of Singapore that has an outlet of the Swiss Watch Gallery, chain multi-brand stores, and other shopping malls in residential areas.
Some of Singapore’s interest in major brands was generated by local watch clubs, such as the Singapore Watch Club, which had special edition watches designed by companies such as Cartier, Hublot, and Ulysse Nardin. The club has over 50,000 followers on Instagram, and regularly schedules events around town.
The RedBar Group, which describes itself as the world’s largest community of collectors and watch enthusiasts, also has a chapter in Singapore with more than 150 members and more than 1,200 followers on Instagram.
One RedBar member, Evan Chua, 46, founded watch company Vario in 2016. He joined the club to “connect with other watch enthusiasts,” he says from his downtown home office, where he designed six collections, including a limited edition 40mm double-time reversible Swiss quartz watch (priced at $421).
He said, “We have events at the watch brand store, or there are some get-togethers where everyone brings a few of their watches and we sit at a long table and we’ll talk about watches and look at each other’s watches.”
“It’s good for me,” he added, “as I see first-hand what the local market likes,” recalling one session last fall where participants shared a Tissot PRX, a new Cartier tank, a 24-karat gold Grand Seiko, and some watches from Mitch Mason, a small brand based in Singapore.
Local watch makers agree that foreign buyers, primarily from the United States and Europe, are their main targets. Leon Leung, 38, owner of watch and accessory maker Boulder Supply, said foreign buyers make up 80 percent of his clientele.
Many Singaporeans who support homegrown brands are “people who are just starting to, you know, learn about collecting watches,” said Sugiharto Kusumadi, 46, founder of the multi-brand store chain Red Army Watches.
Mr. Kusumadi also co-founded the Spring Sprang Sprung watch show, which featured 13 domestic watch brands among 24 exhibitors and attracted more than 1,300 visitors, he said in a text message. He added that he hopes to double the number of local exhibitors this year.
Some entrepreneurs who have built homegrown watch brands say they have faced steep learning curves.
Benjamin Chi, 37, said he had no business experience in 2012 when he started his first brand, Maison Celadon, selling watches made in China and “learning the ropes while I was making a lot of mistakes and losing a lot of money,” he says.
He now owns four watch brands, including Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie, which has collaborated with watchmakers including Andersen Genève on timepieces such as the 37.7mm platinum World Time counter with the map of Singapore on the dial.
The watch, which retails for CHF58,800, or $65,740, is designed to attract buyers in Singapore who are watch enthusiasts and connoisseurs, according to Pierre Alexandre Eichlemann, president and CEO of Andersen Genève.
There are risks among local watch brands, too. Cody Chua, 31, who founded the Coup De Coeur brand in 2015, chose a barrel-shaped case for the unisex 44mm stainless steel Élan model because “the round shape is so popular,” he says.
Most of the local entrepreneurs sketch their ideas or use computers, and then the plans go to manufacturers in countries like China. Completed hours are often stored and distributed from home offices.
Ray B, 45, who had no watchmaking experience when he founded watchmaker Gane in 2020, said operating from Singapore can make it difficult to source a quality product because “you don’t have a personal network”.
But his engineering background helped, he said: “I had a lot of experience with sourcing and discussions about specifications, engineering drawings, and machine capabilities. It helps in my discussion of what design is viable and what is not,” and when negotiating prices.
There are some efforts underway to improve watchmaking skills in Singapore.
Gijs Terhorst, an instructor at the Patek Philippe Institute, which offers a two-year program in Singapore, said via email that he has trained 11 watchmakers since 2017, five of whom were Singaporeans.
Red Army Watches said it offers 24 lessons a year at its store in the Suntec City shopping center “so people can, you know, try it out,” Mr. Kusumade said, and “get a taste of watchmaking before they take a more serious path. Because it’s not cheap to go to Switzerland, and you end up spending close to $50,000 for the whole course.”
The one-day program, called The Watch Academy, can be reserved on the retailer’s website for $412.52 per person. New collectors often want to tinker with their watches, said Mr. Kusumadi, but they “don’t know how to open the case, how to remove the hands.” The course provides basic instructions on disassembling and reassembling used watches and tools.
Mr Chi said he has been developing a training program for his fine watchmaking brands since 2021, and now has five students between the ages of 18 and 35 who were born or live in Singapore and are now learning enamelwork and other techniques from watchmakers in Switzerland, China and elsewhere.
He is also building a new home studio in La Zagaleta, Spain, near Marbella. Vario’s Chua said his five-year plan includes “more work in crafts.” Mr. B said he wanted to try a diving watch or a chronograph. In a later email, he wrote that he now had preliminary designs for A chronograph with a diameter of 38 mm that he plans to unveil next year.


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October 4, 2004
“Duggy the DC-3 and Friends” completed a series of meetings with Toy and Animation executives in California.
Mitch Carley and business partner, Rob Challans/AVISET, have spent several weeks in California meeting with the 'A-Listers' in the world of Toys and Animation. "The efforts that have taken place in the last month are outstanding...", Carley stated. "This is the time for Duggy. Duggy now has the horse-power and backing that the brand needs to jump into the main stream.", Challans stated. "The complete Duggy brand will soon be announcing several incredible ventures that will take the aviation entertainment industry to a new level, in fact, all areas of youthful entertainment might be effected.", Carley stated while in San Jose, CA at the headquarters of 21st Century Toys.
The most recent trip included the Director of Marketing for the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Ron Kaplan. Ron joined the two to further discuss the collective branding efforts with many contacts in California. "The collective equity and focus that the National Aviation Hall of Fame brings to the Duggy brand is truly the unique set of elements that will insure the brand's life-span is one that will outlive us all.", Kaplan stated.
Look for exciting developments in the near future as Duggy begins to make a splash in many areas.


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Publishers and brands, get ready for the Snapchat algorithm
Snapchat is developing an algorithm that will act as a gatekeeper between publishers and brands and their audiences, according to sources.
Many publishers and brands are earmarking resources for Snapchat, the platform of the moment for reaching a large, young and active audience. Users currently see all the messages from accounts they follow in chronological order, but with an algorithm, Snapchat would act as curator of content from publishers and, especially, brands, according to sources.
“It’s going to be the same model Facebook has: It’s free for everybody to share content, but an algorithm will penalize some people and boost others. That’s why you don’t want to be beholden to any one of these platforms or you’re suddenly stuck when the game changes,” said a top publishing source close to Snapchat.
It’s unclear when it would implement the changes, but publishing sources said Snapchat has been discussing an algorithm that would affect professional accounts since the beginning of the year. Algorithms are typically used by platforms in order to better sort the content flow for users. They’re also typically accompanied by ways for brands (and publishers) to buy more prominent placement.
Publishers and brands have been eager to tap Snapchat’s audience of more than 100 million daily users, who overwhelmingly skew young. The free way to speak to a Snapchat audience is through a private account, and brands and publishers are trying to grow their organic presence, where each snap they post gets sent to every follower.
For instance, PopSugar said its Snapchat messages, usually videos, average almost a million views a day. The audience is growing on average 75 percent a month, David Grant, president of PopSugar Studios, said.
“Platforms always seek to have a layer of control over the content they show because that gives them power. So Snapchat will figure out a way to do that,” Grant said.
Facebook runs its News Feed based on what it thinks each individual user will find relevant. Google’s search ranking algorithm is still one of the biggest mysteries.
Facebook makes brands pay for using the platform for overt marketing, and it only recently started allowing premium publishers to share branded content paid for by advertisers. Publishers like PopSugar said that more of their advertisers are interested in sponsoring content on Snapchat, too. Any official branded campaigns would be impacted if Snapchat controls distribution more tightly.
Snapchat also has a Discover section for its top publishing partners like BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan and Vox, which get to sell ads alongside their content. That’s an even more exclusive club for publishers, and Snapchat is said to play hardball when it comes to what partners it lets in.
“Most platforms we work with have the desire, and a good rationale, for demanding innovation and rewarding quality. That’s a good decision,” said Choire Sicha, Vox’s director of partner platforms. He added that while he wasn’t aware of an algorithm on Snapchat, they do tend to help quality publishers on other platforms.
Snapchat declined to comment for this story, but there have been changes to the platform that could easily incorporate curation.
After a redesign in March, Snapchat made it so that when a user opens one photo or video they can tap the screen to continue viewing all the content without having to exit out to open a message from another account.
The tweak already has had an impact on publishers, according to stats provided by Delmondo, a Snapchat and influencer ad tech platform. Publishers and brands saw a 40 percent increase in views but a 20 percent drop in completion rates, Delmondo found among publishers it tracks.
Complex is a publisher that is pushing ever deeper into Snapchat, building its organic following and experimenting with content there. The digital, youth-focused publisher reaches tens of thousands of readers with each piece of content shared on Snapchat, according to Julian Patterson, social media director at Complex.
“If and when an algorithm comes, it wouldn’t be a surprise, but in that case, the best content wins,” Patterson said, adding that Complex has been experimenting on Snapchat, looking for what resonates the most.
Publishers are typically in a better position than brands when it comes to how platforms value their contributions. For instance, brands almost always have to pay to appear anywhere on Facebook.
Snapchat is notoriously harsh with brands and maintains that its users are not in the mood to be friends. Snapchat has been talking about letting brands pay for a presence on the app with promoted account ads, one source said.
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The Royal Ascot is a five-day horse racing event which dates back to 1711 when it was established by Queen Anne. It is marked by the stunning hats and formal wear of the royal family, which attends each day in an open carriage procession.
The Queen’s love of horses has been a long-standing interest of the royal family. She has attended the event every year but one since 1945. While expected to arrive in blue, she shone in vibrant green to mark the first day of the occasion.
The Duchess of Cambridge, who has become a favorite among fashionistas, was resplendent in her favorite designer, Alexander McQueen. Clothed in a white lace dress with a high collar, her hair was swept under her matching hat. She was accompanied by her husband, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge.
Fun was experienced by many in the royal family as they smiled and joked while watching the horses thunder past.
It is a festival of opulence as many celebrate the race with various manners of frivolity. Cheers and drinks will abound as attendees enjoy the traditional elegance and customary revelry that mark the jubilant occasion.
This prestigious event will bring the most fashion conscious to the foreground. This year marks the first time women are invited to wear jumpsuits in the Royal Enclosure, though the pants are to be full length. The last time a style adjustment was made was when pantsuits were included in the 1970’s.
The Royal Ascot’s commercial director, Juliet Slot, shares the reasoning behind jumpsuit approval.
“We spoke to people in the fashion industry to take a sense of whether we should be considering it, as a result of that, I took it to the board and got their approval. We are very considered about everything we do. Our customers and our members, particularly in the Royal Enclosure, have high expectations of what formal attire is. The board all felt, based on the evidence that I shared with them, that this was the right decision.”
This describes the strict code which enforces the attire worn by participants of the event. It is a longstanding tradition that does not change lightly.
Despite the many joy-filled moments, the ceremony began with a minute of silence for the recent victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, as well as the victims of the London and Manchester terror attacks.
The chairman of Ascot Racecourse, Johnny Weatherby, shared his heartfelt emotion over the recent events that have shaken the country.
“We have all been deeply saddened by recent tragic events around the country. At the beginning of this important week for racing, we at Ascot Racecourse wish to pay our respects to the victims and offer support to the families who have been so terribly affected.”
A donation of £100,000 will be made from the racecourse to charities and services that will benefit those affected by the tragic events. Donation baskets will also be available at the exits for attendees who wish to contribute.
While the United Kingdom has been marked by devastating casualties of late, this will be a record year with over 300,000 in attendance. Armed guards will mingle with racegoers in an effort to keep visitors safe. It is a testament to the strength of the people and the commitment to maintain tradition.
Despite the tragedies, the Royal Ascot will continue with a parade of design that marks this time-honored occasion.
[Featured Image by John Phillips/Getty Images]


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vivo India urges parents to #SwitchOff and give undivided attention to children
Smartphones have become an integral part of our day-to-day lives, be it business, communication, information, or entertainment. However, with this increasing significance, especially post pandemic, excessive use of smartphones have also impacted human relationships. We might not be fully aware, but smartphones have jeopardized the quality of our relationships with everyone around us and is now adversely impacting the parent-child relationship, too.
In line with this thought, vivo, the innovative global smartphone brand, today launched the third edition of the #SwitchOff campaign with a thought-provoking film that showcases how parents are missing out on being fully present in their children’s lives. The campaign is founded on the observation from vivo-CyberMedia Research (CMR) study ‘Impact of Smartphones on Human Relationships 2021’ that underlines 74% of parents confessing that their excessive usage of smartphones has hurt their relationship with their children. The study focuses on the relationship dynamics of parents and children with respect to the omnipresence of smartphones in families.
Conceptualized by Lowe Lintas, the film has an emotionally captivating storyline that shows how a good father-son relationship was of ‘best friends’ before the smartphone became indispensable. The character of the father in the end realizes the need to disconnect and recapture the relationship he shared with his son.
Speaking about the film, Yogendra Sriramula, Director, Brand Strategy, vivo India, said, “The pandemic has made digital technology and smartphone devices an indispensable need for all of us. What we don’t often realize is that how excessive usage of these devices is impacting the young and naïve minds around us. We might be around our children, but the quality of the time spent with them is something that we don’t pay much attention to. Hence, this year, we thought of focusing on driving awareness and realization of excessive smartphone usage by adults that is impacting their relationship with their kids. And, that is what vivo’s SwitchOff film depicts.”
vivo’s purpose to spread the joy of connections via this film is hinged on sensitizing the users especially the parents, to choose healthy habits for shaping the minds of our future generation. We believe the film delivers an eye-opening and thought-provoking message to all of us.”
Speaking about the film, Amar Singh, Regional Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas, said, “Children are very quick to pick up on the signals we send out. And a child’s mind is a very fertile place. This film conceptualized by Rajat, Vishal, Stuti and Kushal, explores what may be going through a child’s mind as he sees his parents obsessing with their phone. What inferences his little mind might draw. And how it’s imperative for adults to find it within themselves, to stop.”
vivo recently announced the findings of the third edition of the study titled ‘Impact of Smartphones on Human Relationships 2021’, that showcases the impact of smartphones on users and its effect on relationships. The study highlights that while the time that is spent with kids and family, in general, has gone up, the quality of time spent has deteriorated. Click the link here to read the findings of the report in detail.


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Quick Note: 6" Nokia Lumia 1520 Leaked Early
September 6, 2013 10:40 AM
comment(s) - last by
Evleaks once again gets the scoop on an unannounced smartphone
Earlier this week
, a screenshot of the long rumored 6" Nokia Lumia 1520 smartphone was leaked. The image showed the expanded Windows Phone 8 UI thanks to the extra screen real estate and increased resolution (1080p display).
Today, evleaks posted press shots of the Lumia 1520 showing it from the front and back. The shots also confirm the revised UI.
Nokia Lumia 1520 [Image Source: @evleaks]
When the Lumia 1520 launches later this month, it is expected to feature a quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and a 20MP rear-facing camera.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
9/6/2013 11:49:17 AM
i believe Windows RT is here to stay and WP is to go.
9/6/2013 1:34:04 PM
WP and RT are likely going to merge. Final product will be WP but with some RT functionality.
WP has seen much more success than RT, and it is a much more needed interface than RT, so why would WP be the one to go?
9/6/2013 1:45:27 PM
wow, RT is major bloat compared to WP isn't it? Full blown windows on a phone sounds like a disaster to me.
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TTEC Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTEC), one of the largest global customer experience (CX) technology and services innovators for end-to-end digital CX solutions, today announced that TTEC Digital is launching Optics for Google Contact Center Artificial Intelligence (CCAI) Platform.
Optics for Google CCAI Platform will be one of the first applications in the Google Marketplace built specifically for the cloud-native contact center platform. It allows enterprises to leverage existing investments, get a unified view of their contact center data, and identify trends resulting in shortened time to value and a frictionless experience.
“We are proud to partner so closely with Google Cloud as we help enterprises reimagine and orchestrate the next generation of contact center interactions,” said Dave Seybold, CEO of TTEC Digital. “Optics for Google CCAI Platform empowers brands to drive key metrics and make better-informed decisions by making it easy to access and share their data.”
This data and analytics solution automates the process of extracting data from Google CCAI Platform and into Google Big Query. With Optics, customers are empowered to focus on what they can do with their data, not how to get it, making it available throughout the organization and integrating it with other assets.
Optics also enables organizations to analyze the data in modern Business Intelligence (BI) tools like Looker. Thanks to TTEC Digital’s decades of CX technology experience, Optics includes pre-built Looker dashboards, reports, models, and contact center KPIs that customers can deploy.
For more information and help setting up a demo, please reach out to TTEC Digital at: https://ttecdigital.com/pages/optics-for-google-ccai-platform
Optics for Google CCAI Platform is the result of TTEC’s strategic CX partnership with Google Cloud to deliver world-class cloud environments and accelerate the next generation of client-agent interactions.


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Tight Space Design: Munchy Mart, University of Northern Colorado
Designing around three columns just one of many challenges (slideshow)
Published in CSP Daily News
GREELEY, Colo. -- Designing in tight spaces is tough to manage. When a copy center left a shoebox-shaped hole at the university center at the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, Hal Brown, director of dining services, was faced with the task of turning the space into an attractive, functioning convenience store. Brown spoke to CSP sister publication Foodservice Director about the challenges of catering to customers' needs in a very limited space.
When the campus university center was looking to make a few upgrades, dining services was trying to decide how to best serve customers' needs, Brown said. One of those needs was that customers desired a c-store, which the campus didn't have elsewhere. When the copy center moved out, Brown was asked what he thought about putting a c-store in the location, and his first concern was the size: It was less than 900 square feet.
"We were able to negotiate some space behind that location that used to be storage area," Brown said. "We got an extra 300 or 400 [square] feet to put in a walk-in cooler and a little bit of dry storage."
Brown then brought in Bakergroup, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based design consultants, to give the space its retail feel.
"I didn't want it to be stark white like a gas station c-store," Brown said. "I wanted it to be much more modern and an upbeat space. If you feel good about the space, it's my opinion that [customers will] buy more."
A lot of the retail feel of the space is created by the lighting and the bright colors. "As we developed through that process, I kept saying I wanted a fun and funky feel," Brown said. "I think the green really highlights a lot of the fresh product that we have in the store. We wanted curves because the room itself was such a shoebox."
Brown also had students involved in naming the store from the beginning, eventually opting for the quirky Munchy Mart name.
The space had three columns, which was only one of its challenges with the design. Brown said there is also a huge security gate that separates the university center in half.
"One of the strategies that [Bakergroup] came up with was taking out the wall next to [the gate] and we put a gelato case there," Brown said. "That way people could see into the store from the other side of the gate, and it also gave us a different type of concept where we could utilize a walk-up type of service."
With retail, Brown said, you usually want open spaces and natural light. This space had neither. In addition to using bright lighting to make the space look more open, the team turned two shelving gondolas sideways to save space. The department also carved out space for coolers for its self-branded grab-and-go items.
"As a narrower room without a lot of windows or space to work with, coming up with a great design that allows us to have a good customer flow in and out of the store was key," Brown said. "But we still needed the ability to stock our shelves. We originally wanted three gondolas, but it was just too tight."
To manage the products in the store, Brown contracted with an outside vendor, but he advises to keep an eye on product as a way to make a small space succeed.
"You need to maximize the space you do have, so you have to decide what your top-selling items are," Brown said. "Vendors want you to carry everything, but you can't in a limited space. So you need to focus on what your customers want and base your design on those wants. Make it a destination."


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UK roads are looking gloomier than ever, with one in five motorists making grey their car colour of choice.
A survey conducted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has cemented grey as the UK’s favourite car colour, taking the top spot for the second year running.
According to the survey, 23% of new car buyers opted for grey in 2019, with every region except Scotland and the Channel Islands choosing to drive away in grey.
The next most popular colour amongst motorists was black, taking second place, with 20% of new car registrations, followed closely by white, which took 18% of the market.
This means three out of five (67%) of new cars purchased in 2019 took to the roads in shades of monochrome, making your daily commute significantly less colourful.
Mike Hawes, Chief Executive of the SMMT, suggests buyers may be opting for alternative ways to personalise their vehicles.
He said: “For most buyers, the colour is the first of many options they’ll select on their new car, and today there are more possibilities to personalise your car than ever before.”
The only new colour to enter the top 10 this year was yellow, replacing cream with 6,566 new car registrations in 2019.
Other colours making up the top 10 included blue, red, silver, orange, green and bronze.
New cars in maroon, cream and pink, took a combined market share of less than 1%, making them the least popular colours on the road.
“Drivers can choose from many hundreds of models equipped with the latest low and zero emission powertrains, advanced safety and connected tech, and exciting comfort and convenience features,” said Hawes.
“There really is something to suit every driving need – and colour taste – on the market in 2020.”
Shopping for a new car? Put safety first with our guide to the top 10 safest cars on the road today.


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The Apple Watch Edition has been surprisingly controversial. "Not Apple-like" has been a repeated charge, as has "betrayal of the ideals of affordable luxury." Typically, Apple makes a standard iPhone or Mac, and leaves the bedazzling to the aftermarket. Not so with the Apple Watch Edition: From the start, Apple senior vice president of design Jony Ive and newly official collaborator (and long-time watch designer) Marc Newson have set at least part of their Apple Watch sights on the high-end. But why?
The watch market isn't the computer nor phone nor tablet market. The watch isn't something smart that needs to be made mainstream. The watch is something mainstream that needs to be made smart.
Because the market for watches is already broad, and segments like sport watches and high-end watches are already well-established, Apple doesn't have to make one product variation and then slowly add others over time. Apple can address the highest-value areas right from the start. They can skate to where their customers are going to be.
That includes customers who want an Apple Watch — or at least want to try an Apple Watch — who are used to owning and wearing expensive gold watches. The Apple Watch is not a health band: It can't tastefully be worn alongside a Rolex or Omega. And even for those few willing to wear a watch on each wrist, they may not be willing to wear gold on one and aluminum on the other.
For these customers — call them Vertu people if you really must — having an Apple Watch Edition is a must. The cost will no more be a factor for them than the cost of gas is for a Lamborghini. Relatively, it's the same cost for them as an Apple Watch Sport would be for most people.
What's more: Catering to the ultra-high end of the market is something Apple knows how to do — and do well. Take the Mac Pro. The difference between the up-to-$10,000 workstation and the several hundred of a starter Mac mini is pure silicon speed. For Apple Watch Edition, it's materials. It's gold.
Unlike mobile phones, wristwatches aren't new. They aren't the products of a couple decades. They're old. They are the products that go back over a century. Gold watches are an inextricable part of that history and culture. They're how a segment of that market thinks about wearables. And if Apple can serve those people, doing something the company knows how to do, and at margins that exceed even its typical range, it would be almost negligent not to.
Serving that market brings with it another huge benefit as well — marketing. When the Apple Watch graced the cover of Vogue China, it was the Apple Watch Edition that did the gracing. When Apple Watch again showed up in Vogue Paris, it was again the Apple Watch Edition that was front and center. There have been occasions where Apple has shown off the entire collection, like at Paris Fashion Week, but the Apple Watch Edition is undoubtably the company's signature piece.
Apple may not need to sell very many Edition-brand watches. They may not even intend to. Like the aforementioned Mac Pro, the Edition's focus is far more specific. But that it exists not only adds to the addressable market, it adds to the Watch's aura, and it gets Apple even further into conversations about high-end fashion.
We need look no further than the relentless perseverations about Apple Watch Edition pricing. The rest of the industry is literally throwing product against the wall this week and it's all but drowned out by how many thousands of dollars the Apple Watch Edition will cost at launch.
Come Apple's Spring Forward event on March 9, Apple will almost certainly put a price on the Apple Watch Edition. To really see its value to the company, however, you have to look beyond the dollar signs.
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Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.


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Jackson's brand will be in good company; ABG also represents the brands of Marilyn Monroe, Muhammad Ali and Elvis Presley.
“As a visionary solo artist, Michael Jackson redefined the art of entertainment,” says Nick Woodhouse, president and chief marketing officer, ABG. “We have great things in-store for the brand and will take a page out of ABG’s celebrity, media and entertainment playbook to build global strategic partnerships that will extend Michael Jackson’s tremendous legacy.”
At the outset, ABG plans to focusing on endorsement partnerships and developing key categories to deliver products that are unexpected
“We are thrilled to be working with ABG on the continued development of the Michael Jackson brand,” says John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the Estate of Michael Jackson. “With a proven track record in transforming icons into global entities, we are confident that ABG will help us take the Michael Jackson brand to the next level.”
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Former Apple senior designer Mark Kawano said that Apple is a secretive company, with many of its workers keeping mum about projects, but many employee may honestly have no idea what's going on with its latest gadgets.
"(When the iPad was revealed) a fair amount of people knew the secret, but more had no idea," he told Press:Here. "Most of the company is learning just like the general consumers are."
That likely was the case with Apple's latest gadget, the Apple Watch, something Kawano has been watching with interest. "The word they keep using is 'intimate,'" he stated. "I think it has something to do with communication."
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Perhaps it enables people to communicate more, but also gives them something to do while working out, monitoring a child or other activity. "I'm not sure it's going to be one single thing at the beginning to get everyone to turn it on, but it definitely will change behaviors," he said.
Christina Farr of Reuters said she disliked the wearables primarily for their lack of sleek design, specifically because they were "chunky."
Kawano said that the primary need was functionality."If it provides a really great utility and the fashion is good enough to justify that, it will do extremely well," he said.


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Survey: Backpacks ranked No.1 annoyance on trains in Tokyo
TOKYO — Backpack-wearing train users in rush hour have been ranked as the biggest annoyance among commuters, according to the results of a behavior survey released by Japan Private Railway Association in Tokyo.
The association comprises 73 private railway companies.
Carrying or storing luggage on trains in an inconsiderate manner topped the ranking of annoyances, beating drunk behavior. Complaints were focused on backpack-carrying business commuters.
The association conducted the survey online, asking people to choose up to three things that annoy them when using trains. The survey received 2,686 responses.
“Luggage-related annoyances” was ranked fourth in 2017 and third last year. This is the first time it has been ranked first since the association started the survey in fiscal 1999.
When asked for specific details about backpack-related annoyances, 66 percent of respondents mentioned the way commuters carry them on their backs or shoulders, with comments such as, “I was hit with [someone’s bag],” or “It blocked my way.”
According to the Shinjuku branch of the Isetan department store in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo, business bags that can be carried on shoulders have become popular amid a government push for “cool biz” clothing in summer that has led to white-collar commuters wearing more casual clothes. Also, more and more people prefer having both hands free to use their smartphones.
Railway companies are calling for passengers to be more considerate and carry their backpacks in front of them or stow them on the overhead racks in train carriages.
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After several designers, including Tom Ford refusing to dress Melania Trump for the Inauguration Day, many were curious on what the new First Lady would chose to wear. So naturally, during Donald Trumps’s Inauguration Day at the Washington Convention Center on Friday night, all eyes were on Melania Trump.
For her daytime look, impressing everyone, Melania decided to wear a Ralph Lauren blue jacket and cashmere dress, which was very similar to what Jacqueline Kennedy, the former First Lady, wore when John F. Kennedy was sworn into office. Incidentally, Melania had previously admitted that Jacqueline was her role model and looks like she meant it.
While the President opted for a traditional tuxedo for the inaugural ball, Melania wore the dress she co-created with designer Herve Pierre, who worked with the renowned fashion designer Carolina Herrera. However, she sported minimal accessories and left her hair in a loose undo.
Melania looked stunning at the ball in a cream, off-the-shoulder dress with a thing-high slit and a red silk ribbon near her waist.
The 46-year-old’s style was appreciated by many fashion watchers across the world. Pierre, who has earlier dressed Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, said that it was a honour to dress the new First Lady.


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We know that GTA 5 is coming out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on 17th September. However there are some people asking whether the game will come out on the consoles too. There are people who want to know if GTA 5 is coming to the PC, Xbox one, PS4. We have a lot of rumours about GTA 5 and thanks to this many people to think that the game is already here.
Techie News has been talking about reports that say GTA 5 is coming to the PS 4. However the moment we don’t have confirmation of this, but there has been some rumours. Sixth Axis did say that greatness awaits, this was seen in ad for the upcoming PS4.
We have seen as scenes leaked and these have shown us the introduction trailer for GTA 5, we also saw a banner ad that featured the logo of GTA 5. Some say Sony and Rockstar may have been working together some time. “Nevertheless at the moment it seems quite likely that both a PC port and a PS4 version of the game will be announced very, very soon.”
Rockstar hasn’t confirmed whether GTA 5 will be coming to the PC. Game Spot was asked to make a comment, but as yet we haven’t heard anything back.
S&R said that PC and PS4 could get the game around the same time and they also said that we could see it on the PC before the end of 2013. They said “we’re either going to see a very quick port or that they’ve been working on the next generation version for GTA V for quite some time.”
There is no way to predict whether the PC, PS4 and Wii U will get GTA 5, but there are some people who believe that Rockstar may speak up soon.


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according to the U.S. global technology Roundup "Chicago Tribune" reported in February 4th last year, SONY pictures had been hacked, resulting in the film and television studio. Recently, SONY said that to investigate the hacking and related rehabilitation work, SONY has cost nearly $15 million (about 93 million 810 thousand yuan).
since last November was proclaimed "peace keepers" (Guardians of Peace) attacks since SONY has been committed to repair the damage. The United States believes that the attack may come from North korea.
SONY announced its SONY pictures of hacker attacks caused by the loss in the first quarter earnings announcement when. SONY said that the company had to vote before hackers risk, you can make up a considerable portion of the loss. However, the attack did have an impact on the group’s quarterly revenues. Previously, SONY announced its current profit data, but the full data to be open until March.
reduced its total worldwide box office number and its film market share, SONY’s profits for the quarter was only $1 billion 600 million, down 23% compared to the same period last year. And due to the loss of film and television profits and the loss of hacker attacks, the company’s revenue decreased by $20 million.
for the fiscal year ending in March, SONY expects sales of $7 billion 600 million, higher than the previous forecast. However, due to the investigation of the hacking incident and SONY’s online media business is not profitable, the forecast value of turnover has declined.


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An ongoing computer chip shortage may be the beginning of challenges for automotive suppliers, consulting firm Deloitte said in a report.
The industry’s shift toward electric vehicles means supply chains for other materials and goods may tighten, according to the report.
Among the items vital for EV production are commodities such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
“The semiconductor crisis could be a harbinger of things to come,” Raj Iyer, managing director of Deloitte Consulting, said in the report.
“A resulting material constraint would have a knock-on effect on an entire emerging segment that would keep prices high and further limit EV market penetration,” Iyer added. “To position their businesses for success, automotive suppliers need to make decisions now about whether to expend or defend their current positions, or pivot to something new.”
The consultant said, “By taking stock of where their raw materials are sourced and maintaining sufficient distribution strategies automotive suppliers can help avoid severe commodity restraints that could damage already strained automotive relationships.”
The report examines trends affecting suppliers. In addition to the move to EVs, Deloitte’s analysis included these points:
--To avoid or alleviate future computer chip shortages, “auto manufacturers are looking to renegotiate for longer contracts and direct partnerships with chip suppliers.”
--Auto suppliers “could consider retiring obsolete technologies. This involves updating aging information technology systems and investing in greater data transparency to benefit the complex relationship between multiple tiers of parts suppliers and their vehicle manufacturer customers.”
--The auto industry faces a “war for talent” for software developers and data engineers to support increasing EV output.
Deloitte said suppliers may need to consider “strategic consolidation, acquisitions and alliances” to “better protect margins and diversify risk across growing, stagnant and declining supplier sectors.”
“As a result of the pandemic, automotive suppliers have learned how to operate leaner and should continue to remain flexible to shifting economical, geopolitical and logistical issues,” Jason Coffman, U.S. automotive consulting leader and principal of Deloitte Consulting, said in the report.
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THIRD EDITION OF PROVIDER CONSOLIDATED SERVICE CENTER (‘CSC’) OPERATORS SURVEY DIGS DEEPER INTO SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE METRICS
Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting, LLC and PerformanSC Supply Chain Ltd – announce the publication of the third edition of their ground breaking research of healthcare providers that use a Consolidated Service Center (‘CSC’) Model for their Supply Chain and other support services.
Building on previous studies in 2012 and 2014 the independent supply chain consultants have now developed a unique perspective on the impact of CSC operations, on health care systems’ supply chains. The work is based on operator input to three surveys, over a four-year period, from senior level practitioners in health systems that have implemented consolidated service centers for their supply chain.
TECSYS, a leading supply chain software company sponsored the latest edition of the survey.
“Over the three surveys we have worked with provider supply chain executives to identify a clearer picture of the supply chain transformation that is taking place in the industry. During that time the number of identified health systems with a CSC has risen from thirty to over sixty, demonstrating both feasibility and sustainability of the model” said Jamie Kowalski, CEO of Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting, LLC.
“In 2012 we examined the transformation to a CSC from building the business case through implementation. We followed that up in 2014 with a detailed look at some of the value drivers within the supply chain and this year, in consultation with practitioners within the industry, we took a closer look at the supply chain structure that has been put in place and examined the metrics that are being used to drive performance.”
The objective of the Survey remains; to gather, study, and share with the industry, real world facts about the model. This may help those currently operating it and those considering pursuing it, to make informed decisions.
“In this year’s report we build a more complete picture of the procurement and logistics infrastructure that health systems have put in place, and examine the role of both distributors and procurement organizations in a sustaining supply chain ecosystem. The notion of a ‘one size fits all’ supply chain is dispelled, as it is clear that systems have configured their supply chains for their own distinct situation .” said Lorcan Sheehan, CEO, PerformanSC Supply Chain.
“As healthcare supply chains become more mature, the need for objective metrics to track performance improvement is clear. The report highlights the metrics in place and the work that needs to be done to provide credible benchmarks for providers in the future. We look forward to working with healthcare providers to make progress in this area in the future.”
The results of the report have already been shared with the health systems that took part in the survey. Those interested in learning more about the survey can contact Jamie Kowalski or Lorcan Sheehan.
About Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting LLC
Jamie C. Kowalski Consulting, LLC was founded by healthcare industry supply chain veteran, Jamie C. Kowalski, FACHE, in order to provide analysis and experienced based advice to healthcare provider hospitals and IDNs including many of those that are ranked in the Top 10 in in the US.
He has helped healthcare providers evaluate if there is a strategic fit for and/or feasibility of the CSC model in both the US and Canada.
Contact: Jamie Kowalski firstname.lastname@example.org
About PerformanSC Supply Chain
PerformanSC Supply Chain brings independent practitioner led supply chain expertise to organizations looking to achieve step-function improvements in their supply chain performance. PerformanSC Supply Chain works with organizations across a variety of industry sectors with a particular focus on Healthcare, High Tech, Consumer Goods and Retail organizations.
Contact: Lorcan Sheehan email@example.com


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Sticking with the traditional red and white but with a new ‘pulse' design, Arsenal unveils their new home kit for next season.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Hector Bellerin, and Mesut Ozil showcased the new Puma strip, which will go on sale on Friday 1 June at 9 am.Arsenal have released their new home strip
Revealing the rest of the kit, Arsenal's official website said: “The shorts are white with a red band along the top and the socks are also white with the black Puma cat on the front and have a red fold over top.Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the new Arsenal home kit
“The kit was created using a seamless evoKNIT that provides a lightweight ‘second skin' feel, designed to move in harmony with the player's movements.”Petr Cech in the new Arsenal home kit for the 2018/19 season
Arsenal also released a new home goalkeepers kit too, with a black jersey and maroon arms – a marked departure from the green shirt in the 2017/18 season – with yellow used for the sponsor and kit manufacturer logo.
The shorts and socks are also black, with the latter having a band of maroon around the top of the sock.
This article was most recently revised and updated 2 years ago


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Google will sell the Pixel and Pixel XL in its own online store, but they’ll also be available through Verizon Wireless. Google previously said that Verizon will handle the software updates for the Pixel and Pixel XL, which led to hesitation Verizon’s Pixels would receive system updates later ... Read More »
Last week, a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 caught fire while on board a Southwest flight and forced the crew and passengers to evacuate. Since then, other units around the globe have caught fire, including one in Minnesota where the owner was forced to go to the hospital.
Over the weekend, following scattered reports that replacement ... Read More »
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall may have replaced defective devices with models that Samsung claims are safe, but some are worrying that there is still a risk of the devices exploding (at least a bigger risk than usual, as all lithium ion devices ... Read More »
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However, recent reports surfaced about a replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire while on a Southwest airplane earlier this week, and so fears that the issue may not been resolved have cropped ... Read More »
Google has announced that the Pixel and Pixel XL will be coming exclusively to Verizon (outside of unlocked models of course). Google’s Nexus devices have never had a good relationship with carriers, and it seems that it isn’t much different for the Pixel lineup.
The company has confirmed ... Read More »
There’s a new tablet available from Verizon. Today marks the launch of the ASUS ZenPad Z10, a new tablet that packs in a 9.7-inch 2K display and aluminum unibody design. The device runs on Verizon’s LTE-Advanced network and should offer a fair amount of power for users.
9.7-inch 2048 x 1536 display 1.8GHz hexa-core Snapdragon 650 ... Read More »
Last month it was believed that Verizon would be launching HD Voice support for prepaid customers, but that turned out not to be the case. Here we are near the end of September, though, and the feature is now official.
Verizon Wireless has officially announced that prepaid customers can take full advantage of HD ... Read More »
It’s been a difficult journey for Samsung. The Galaxy Note 7 was unofficially recalled due to batteries exploding, then an official recall was announced because the issue was found to be more ... Read More »
Now U.S. carriers have begun to respond to Samsung’s recall and how it affects their subscribers. Many of the carriers are offering quick and easy returns for Galaxy Note 7 customers.
Verizon Wireless has officially announced that it is rolling out LTE Advanced to 461 cities across the United States.
With LTE Advanced, customer peak download speeds will see a sharp increase. Specifically, peak download speeds can be up to 50 percent faster thanks to carrier aggregation. To make it work, Verizon is combining its 700MHz, AWS ... Read More »


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Indian auto boom gets bubbly
The chronic disease of the biggest auto markets in the world–overcapacity–could spread to India sooner than most people think. As everyone from Hyundai to Honda spends billions to rapidly ramp up their production here, sooner or later they will be making more cars than they can sell, say some experts.
"I see overcapacity even in the BRICs countries," said an executive of an auto consultancy. "The number of players (in India) has increased dramatically." The BRICs countries are Brazil, Russia, India and China.
That might seem hard to believe with car and commercial vehicle sales climbing to a record high of around 2.5 million in the year ended March 31, and in a country where just 12 people in 1,000 own a car or utility vehicle.
But it's an opinion that even some car manufacturers hold—around one-third of the 200 auto executives who responded to a research survey out earlier this year predicted India would be struggling with overcapacity in the auto sector within the next five years.
It's still a minority view—and hardly the 20% to 35% overcapacity companies are already dealing with in the U.S., Japan and Europe–but it's something Indian auto executives (as well as investors and car buyers) should think about as they tune-up their plans in India. "Now there are 50 players in India and they are still building capacity."
But auto executives and analysts said that if the prices and products are right, India will have no trouble boosting passenger car and commercial vehicle sales. The research survey showed that 40% of respondents expect sales to climb to more than four million by 2014.
The real problem for auto companies in the not-too-distant future could be the lack of roads and parking spaces and possible rising fuel prices said, Paul Blokland, director of auto research company Segment Y Automotive Intelligence based in Goa.
"If you look five years from now then it may be impossible for people to use their cars or park their cars," he said. "That will be more of an issue than capacity."


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According to the latest investigations by TrendForce, despite the slight slowdown in wearables shipment (including smartwatches and smart wristbands), the increasing demand for improved health monitoring functions has galvanized a strong momentum in the market for wearables-related components. For instance, to raise the accuracy of health monitoring functions, wearables manufacturers are projected to utilize more green LEDs and infrared LEDs while also increasing the size of photodiodes, in turn doubling the demand for PPG.
Apple has sparked considerable discussions in the market after rumors surfaced that the company’s new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, to be released in 2021, may be equipped with Mini LED backlight technology. According to the newest investigations by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, the manufacturing cost of Mini LED backlight displays is currently higher than that of traditional LCD and OLED displays. However, as manufacturers continue to make improvements in process technology and yield rate, the cost of Mini LED backlight displays is expected to undergo 15-20% YoY decreases and to potentially be lower than the cost of OLED displays by 2022, making Mini LED a cost-competitive option in the market. Not only will Apple integrate Mini LED backlight technology into its product lineups other than the iPad Pro, but other leading brands will also adopt Mini LED for their own products.
According to the latest investigations by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, owing to the continued shrinking of pixel pitches, LED shipment for video wall is expected to undergo further growth in 2020. Although the current yearly revenue forecast has been revised from the pre-pandemic figure of US$2.261 billion down to US$1.946 billion, it still represents a 3.7% YoY growth.
According to the latest report by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, titled 2020 Mini LED Next-Generation Display Technology and Supply Chain Analysis, as Apple pushes forward the development of Mini LED backlight technology, the company is expected to incorporate Mini LED backlight technology to improve the performance its existing products such as the iPad and Pro Display. The application of Mini LED backlight technology is expected to reach 18% penetration rate in the overall market for IT products in 2025.
According to the latest report by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, 2020 Deep UV LED Application Market and Branding Strategies, the rapid acceleration of COVID-19 has generated a corresponding boom in the disease-prevention business. Case in point, the demand for UV-C LED (wavelength≦280 nm), a type of LED with disinfection/sterilization properties, has skyrocketed since the Lunar New Year, in turn causing massive shortages across the entire supply chain. Given the extreme shortage of UV-C LED chips, LED package suppliers looking to place orders for these chips need to exercise caution when setting chip specifications; these suppliers may also need to bear the risk of possible chip shortages. The current shortage in the UV-C LED market has led to an adjustment to UV-C LED chip quotes, in turn resulting in purchasers being unable to procure chips even with at high bid prices.


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Disney Star is continuing to sign up advertisers for the ongoing Tata IPL 2023, encouraged by the initial viewership of the T20 league on its television platform amid “unavoidable” competition from JioCinema which has the digital streaming rights, according to a senior company official.
The company, which has the linear broadcast rights for Tata IPL, has so far roped in 13 sponsors, including Dream11, Asian Paints, Thums Up, Airtel, Cadbury, Mountain Dew, Parle Biscuits, Kamla Pasand, Rupay, Britannia, Tata Neu, Jindal Panther TMT Rebars and LIC.
According to Disney Star Head – Sports Sanjog Gupta, the broadcaster clocked a total of 8.7 billion minutes of consumption in TV for the opening match, which as per BARC India data is 47 per cent more than last year and the highest ever, other than IPL editions played in Covid years. “The interest in IPL continues to be high in multiple categories. IPL is unavoidable,” he told PTI in an interaction.
Even brands with seasonal categories have also come on board, Gupta said, adding this time around the sponsors have come from different sectors ranging from – fantasy gaming, beverages makers, telecom, FMCG, fintech, insurance, auto and ancillaries, online delivery, consumer durables, paints and construction and travel.
“It’s a strong list of sponsors, a combination of new sponsors, who have come on board for the first time and some who have returned because their association with IPL had delivered significant value,” he said adding “most of the advertisers want eyeballs and attention”.
According to him, the television platform delivers “undistracted and uninterrupted attention”, while on the smaller screens, the viewers are “distracted” due to multitasking.
“At the end of the day, advertisers want attention, because if they want their messaging to land with consumers, then they want the consumers to be fully immersed and not be distracted and not to have the viewing experience being interrupted by multiple different elements that may pop up,” Gupta said.
When asked about the revenue growth this season, he said advertisers are still coming and it would be difficult for him to comment at this early stage of the IPL season.
“Only 6 of the 74 matches have been played. We are still signing up advertisers. So it’s a bit too early, we typically talk about these things at the end of the tournament,” he said.
On the competition for eyeballs with Reliance-owned JioCinema, which has the digital streaming rights for IPL, he said it is “unavoidable”.
However, Gupta added, ”We do not see it as a zero-sum game. Rather, we see this as an opportunity to serve fans differently. We have always taken immense pride in putting the fan first.,” he said.
IPL on Star Sports delivered 14 crore viewers on opening day with peak concurrency of 5.6 crore. Reliance-owned Jio Cinema, had claimed a peak concurrency of 1.6 crore and 6 crore viewers overall for the first match of IPL this season.
Star Sport’s intent was to bring a sense of togetherness and community around IPL and enjoyed it together, he said.
“The thrust of what we are trying to do is to serve fans and our belief is that if you put fans first and if you stay obsessed with fans and serving them, then there is no reason for you to not be able to create a compelling product that fans want to watch,” Gupta said.
It has signed up cricket stars, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, for its campaign to promote fans watching the tournament on television broadcast.
“What we want to do is we want to elevate the experience of fans on Star Sports, which applies to TV. So the experience that the fans must have on television with Star Sports should be enhanced,” he said.
Hence for the first time, Gupta said new features have been introduced for fans watching Star Sports on Tata Play and Airtel to watch instant highlights.
“We also heard a lot of fans, core fans who wanted deeper statistics. And we introduce statistics on demand on the button with Tata play and Airtel, again,” he said.
Though the Disney Star has TV rights only for the IPL, Gupta said it is “screen agnostic now” as it engages with fans across all screen formats.
“So while Star Sports as a platform is a linear platform as a brand, it is actually omnipresent. So Star Sports has a fairly significant presence on social media as well. And we use those channels or platforms to engage with off-platform audiences when Star Sports doesn’t have the live match on,” he said.
Last year, cricket body BCCI sold the broadcast rights for the 2023-27 cycle of the IPL for a whopping Rs 48,390 crore. Disney Star bagged the television rights for the Indian subcontinent for Rs 23,575 crore and Reliance-backed Viacom18 got digital rights for Rs 20,500 crore.
When asked how the company planned to recoup money paid for rights, Gupta said it’s a five-year investment and too early to evaluate an investment on that.
“It’s not something that we can recoup in one year. It’s a significant investment that will bear fruit… we will see returns over the next five years,” he said adding that “when we decided to make the investment, there was a plan in which we had how to recoup the investment and that we stay committed.”
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With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill that made hemp production federally legal, many states, including Georgia, quickly moved to legalize the crop on a state level. Earlier this year Gov. Brian Kemp signed the Georgia Hemp Farming Act, opening the door for hemp to be farmed in the state.
Many voiced concerns at the bill, confused as to the relation of hemp and marijuana, which come from the same species. Indeed the legalization of hemp led to the proliferation of CBD oil, a hemp-derived product that is used for pain relief and to curb anxiety. But can hemp and its extracts actually get you high?
The answer is no, says Raynor Churchwell, Agricultural Programs Specialists at the Georgia Farm Bureau. Hemp and its products do not contain more than .3% THC, and provide no psychological effects no matter how much is used. Strict testing of crops maintain low THC levels, keeping hemp in line with federal and state guidelines.
Learn more about Georgia’s newest cash crop, its possible uses and why it can’t be abused as Churchwell sits down with our friends at Georgia CEO below:


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The “Black Woman’s Guide to Crypto & Blockchain” is taking a seat on @TheStartupBus
Only one month into launching the “Black Woman’s Guide to Crypto and Blockchain”, we are thrilled to be selected to hit the road with the amazing Startup Bus! The StartupBus is an annual competition designed to empower the tech community.
This Friday, we’ll board a bus with 20+ women in New York, and we’ll have 72 hours to conceive, build, and launch a blockchain startup. All the while, making our way to New Orleans, (and our Conductor, Colleen has promised surprises along the way, like many entrepreneurship journeys) where will we compete with 9 other buses and pitch the startup we built for a chance to win amazing resources to take that startup to the next level. The @StartupBus team has 9 years worth of experience combining the energy of a hackathon and the magic of a road trip, and this year, giving us 20+ women passionate about blockchain technology– the ultimate adventure on wheels.
“This year, the New York bus will be the first-ever StartupBus exclusively for women⁺ and gender non-conforming folks. Better yet, we’re making HERSTORY by pushing our riders to leverage the power of blockchain technology.”
The “Black Woman’s Guide to Crypto and Blockchain” exists to empower Black women interested in shaping the future of blockchain technology and crypto-assets — this opportunity is exactly what we advocate for, so we are honored to be selected.
So, why a woman-focused Blockchain bus?
“There are some incredibly talented and successful women in the Blockchain community already doing amazing things. However, at most industry events you still see a more male dominated environment. In fact, a recent survey revealed that women make up just 1.76% of the blockchain community. Blockchain is one of the most disruptive technologies we have ever experienced, so we want to encourage more women to get involved and lead the way in shaping its future.” -Daria Arefieva, CEO of CryptoFriends
We are so excited to meet fellow crypto and blockchain enthusiasts and build a solution that has the potential to positively impact women and girls around the world.
We are able to attend thanks to the Diversity Scholarship offered by the @TheStartupBus and the Black Women Blockchain Council is actively fundraising to help cover the remaining travel expenses for Black women joining the inaugural bus, we’d live your support (hotel, food and return flight). You can be a catalyst of diversity & inclusion for tech by donating here.
See you all on the road!


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Indian logistics firm Delhivery has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to raise up to ₹7,400 crore ($997.33 million), joining a long list of startups that have tapped the capital market this year.
The IPO will consist of a fresh issue of shares worth ₹5,000 crore and an offer for sale of shares worth ₹2,460 crore, according to a copy of its draft herring prospectus dated November 1.
Kotak Mahindra Capital, Morgan Stanley India, BOFA Securities and Citigroup are the bookrunning lead managers for the IPO.
Delhivery competes with DHL’s unit Blue Dart Express Ltd and DTDC India in the $150 billion domestic logistics sector, which contributes about 14% to the country’s gross domestic product, according to the government’s Logistics Skill Council.
According to RedSeer Report, Delhivery was the largest and fastest growing fully-integrated logistics services player in India by revenue as of Fiscal 2021.
The company provides supply chain solutions to e-commerce marketplaces, direct-to-consumer e-tailers and enterprises and SMEs across several verticals such as FMCG, Consumer durables, Consumer electronics, Lifestyle, Retail, Automotive and Manufacturing, in the three months ended June 30, 2021.
Delhivery operated 20 fully and semi-automated sortation centres and 86 gateways across India (excluding Spoton) as of June 30, 2021. It had a Rated Automated Sort Capacity of 3.17 million shipments per day as of June 30, 2021, which it further enhanced to more than 3.98 million shipments per day as of September 30, 2021. The company has automated material handling systems at its gateways in Tauru (Haryana), Bhiwandi (Maharashtra) and Bengaluru (Karnataka).
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Earlier this week, Investment fund GSV Capital bought 225,000 shares in Facebook at an average price of $29.28 each, giving the social network a valuation of about $70 billion. If we take this new number into account, we can extrapolate that Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg's net worth has passed $18 billion, according to Forbes.
As a result, Zuckerberg is now the third richest man in the technology sector (again, this is assuming that Facebook is really worth $70 billion). Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is still first, followed by Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison. Zuckerberg passed Apple's Steve Jobs last fall. If we take into account Google's recently falling shares, he has now passed Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Last but not least, he is also richer than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
Zuckerberg had an estimated worth of $4 billion in 2010. Earlier this year, his wealth increased to $13.5 billion, when Facebook announced that it had raised $1.5 billion at a valuation of approximately $50 billion. Now he's at $18 billion.
The $70 billion valuation is approximately a 40 percent premium to the $50 billion previously used to measure the fortunes of the six Facebook billionaires. The other Facebook billionaires (Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin, Sean Parker, Peter Thiel, and Yuri Milner) have thus also become richer.
Again, this is all based on the $70 billion valuation. If we look at secondary markets, Zuckerberg's and his colleague's fortunes could be even higher. Two months ago, a private-market transaction of 100,000 shares of Facebook Class B Common Stock priced at $32.00 apiece gave the website a valuation of $80 billion.
Facebook is going public next year, possibly as soon as Q1 2012. Last month, we heard that Facebook's business was growing faster than previously forecasted and the company's profits were increasing quickly enough to make a valuation of $100 billion justifiable.


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Intel is working on a rival to Nvidia’s DLSS 3. Intel and researchers from the University of California published a paper detailing the tech, currently dubbed ExtraSS, at Siggraph Asia 2023 (spotted by Wccftech). It accomplishes the same goal as DLSS 3 by generating new frames to improve performance. Unlike DLSS 3, however, ExtraSS uses frame extrapolation, not frame interpolation.
That latter method is how DLSS 3 (and AMD’s FSR 3) works. It takes two sequential frames and compares them to generate a frame in-between. This naturally means you’re playing on a slight delay, as the tech needs both the current and next frame to do its dirty work. Intel is proposing a technique that uses extrapolation, where it uses data only from previous frames to predict the next frame. That gets rid of the latency issue currently present in DLSS 3.
Extrapolation isn’t free of problems, which is probably why we haven’t seen it applied in games yet. The researchers point out the disocclusion issue with extrapolation. If your character is blocking a certain part of a scene, and they move, suddenly that part of the scene is viewable. Because extrapolation is essentially predicting future frames, it doesn’t have details on what your character was blocking. This creates disocclusion artifacts, which looks like a shimmering ghost following around moving objects. But the researchers say they’re able to solve this problem.
Or, in the researchers own words: “Our method proposes a new warping method with a lightweight flow model to extrapolate frames with better qualities [compared] to the previous frame generation methods and less latency compared to interpolation-based methods.”
In addition to frame extrapolation, the framework the researchers show includes supersampling, similar to the base versions of Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR. The researchers say the implementation shows comparable quality, which it highlighted in a brief demo video.
The researchers say they’re able to achieve high-quality results by utilizing the geometry buffer (or G-buffer) for warping. As the paper states, “Our method still shows comparable results due to the good initialization provided by G-buffer guided warping and shading refinement modules. Even using the target resolution as inputs, [temporal anti-aliasing upscaling, or TAAU] generates lagging glossy reflections, while our [ExtraSS] has correct shadings.”
Right now, this is just a research paper, not a product. We’ll still need to see if Intel can apply the technique to its XeSS utility, but it seems like that’s where we’re headed. The paper cites four engineers from Intel, including Anton Kaplanyan, the original creator of Nvidia’s DLSS.
We currently expect Intel to reveal details about its next-gen Battlemage GPUs in the second half of 2024. It’s possible that we’ll see more details on this frame extrapolation technique around that time, but it’s too soon to say right now.


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COVID-19 revealed some deep-rooted shortcomings in our approach to manufacturing and to supply chain design in the U.S. Well beyond the immediate and urgent need for PPE, we saw dramatic swings in both supply and demand for almost everything bought and sold here.
In an unprecedented move, the CEOs of 14 Manufacturing USA Institutes have joined forces to create a decisive set of strategies, policies and recommendations designed to strengthen America’s manufacturing base and improve our ability to respond to future disruptions. We outlined the creation of several specific initiatives that will enable us to learn from the recent past and ensure we’re aggressively working toward a much more resilient supply chain and manufacturing base.
We were privileged to work with U.S. Sens. Chris Coons and Marco Rubio and Reps. Haley Stevens and Troy Balderson, who have leveraged these insights and recommendations to create a bill titled, “The Resilient Manufacturing Task Force Act.” They introduced this legislation in July to reinforce the U.S. supply chain against future disruptions, recommending the formation of the following:
1. National Manufacturing Guard
The Manufacturing Guard would be available as a national response effort, modeled after the National Guard’s mission to mobilize rapidly in times of national emergency. It would coalesce the manufacturing expertise within companies based in the U.S. by each designating one or more expert leaders to join.
When an actual crisis occurs, the Manufacturing Guard would be called upon to activate a strategic supply-chain pivot, fast-tracking what now can take many weeks or even longer.
2. National Supply Chain Data Exchange
This set of supply chain resiliency and visibility tools, built on a real-time, digital backbone optimized to provide an end-to-end connection between manufacturers and their suppliers, would be accessible by all manufacturers. This will prepare them for supply chain disruptions and enable resilience, reshoring and product and production agility.
3. Technology Corps: A gateway to America’s 21st Century workforce
The Technology Corps would accelerate training and career opportunities for Americans between the ages of 18 and 24, serving as a pathway for this population of over 33 million to higher education, military service, national service or entry into the workforce.
The one-year program would nurture a diverse, American workforce that is ready for manufacturing in an increasingly digital economy. For those who do not go on to college or military service, we urge a two-year national service option at any of the 15 institutes that form the Manufacturing USA network.
According to the Institute for Supply Management, nearly 75 percent of U.S. businesses experienced supply chain disruption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. It also highlighted the perils and vulnerabilities associated with a “just-in-time” global supply chain designed with near-ideal assumptions regarding socioeconomic and political stability.
Ironically, our historic tendency to avoid any semblance of a national manufacturing strategy is also complicit in the extraordinary fragility and lack of resilience that has come to light.
The next disruption will further exacerbate our vulnerabilities. There’s a clear need for a thoughtful and deliberate strategy to reinforce U.S. supply chain against future threats.
With the actions outlined in the proposed Act, we’ll be ready.
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During the Q&A session of Carmack's keynote, the Linux support for Rage was brought up. Carmack, sadly, admitted the Linux support isn't a huge priority nor even the Mac support. Right now they're working on getting Rage out the door for the PC and consoles. Carmack concedes that the Linux client is basically at the bottom of the totem pole.id Software has ported their games to Linux in the past, id Software remains an open-source friendly company, and previously Carmack has said id Tech 5 would likely come to Linux, albeit not on the launch day.
There's still hope that id Tech 5 / Rage is coming to Linux, but it sounds like Linux gamers may be waiting a while before seeing this next-generation game appear natively on their favorite Linux distribution.