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The picture above illustrates the smog problem in London.
This week in the United Kingdom the government announced a ban on the sale of new fossil fueled vehicles by the year 2040. There are 31 million registered vehicles in the UK right now, and the ban does not take place for another 23 years, but it signals to car manufacturers globally that they have to develop more alternative / electric powertrain technology if they want to keep selling vehicles in the UK.
The government in India has enacted a similar ban by the year 2030. There are over 60 million cars and trucks in India today, with robust growth in car ownership expected over the next 13 years.
As a country India is rapidly expanding their solar infrastructure as well, there are currently more than 300 million people in India who lack access to the power grid. The uptake of solar will improve countless lives, and this power source goes hand in hand with 100 million electric vehicles on Indian roads.
In 2016 over 350,00 new electric vehicles were registered in China, compared to about 150,000 new electric vehicles here in the United States. In 2016 across China 36 gigawatts of solar capacity was installed, compared to 14 gigawatts of new solar here in the United States.
Here is the current mix:
China has the most solar, followed by Japan, Germany and the USA.
The growth of solar installations and electric cars in England, India and China is not only driven by the federal government, but also by air pollution concerns in the major cities of these three countries. This is a good day / bad day in Beijing:
We don’t have as many air quality concerns here in the United States, with 320 million people in this country we are not as densely populated (per square kilometer) as China with 1.3 billion and India with over 1 billion people.
The city of Wuhan has a larger population that New York and Chicago combined!
The rest of the world seems to be ahead of the United States in regards to the uptake of green technology. China has to adopt electric vehicles because of the poor air quality in their cities.
Florida is still pretty slow in terms of adopting solar, but I’m going out there every day and spreading the word. Yesterday I sold 2 residential solar installs right here in Tampa Bay. Green tech has to make economic sense for the consumer, both of my sales yesterday were to conservative police officers!
100 million homes in the USA, only about 1% have solar today. BIG opportunity there.
July . 2017


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Samsung has sued Electronic Times for 300 million KRW (about $284,000 US) regarding its reporting related to the company's new Galaxy S5 phone. According to a report by the Korean language MediaToday (machine translation), Samsung is taking issue with negative reports related to the Galaxy S5 camera. Samsung alleges the news source published incorrect information, while the news site appeared to defend its reports, stating that "the story fits the facts" and was not a...
4/7/14 at 6:26pm
- Kasper's Automated Slave

domain: news


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Nissan deal to create 4,000 jobs
Car giant Nissan today announced a deal with a developer which will see the creation of up to 4,000 jobs.
The manufacturer will build a £4.5m extension to its Wearside plant, while property developers Wilton and Clugston will create a new business park on another part of the Nissan site.
The deal was brokered by Sunderland City Council and the regional development agency One NorthEast.
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling said: 'This is excellent news for Sunderland.
'Nissan has contributed a huge amount to the local and national economy and this announcement can help them make the next step. The new business park can bring more jobs and investment to the area which is growing all the time.
'This investment indicates continuing strength of UK automotive industry, following new investment by both General Motors and Toyota in the past three months. My congratulations to all involved.'
Nissan disposed of the land for the business park to pay for the new logistics centre on another part of site, with the aim of making the operation even more efficient. It has been Europe's most productive car plant for the past eight years.
Trevor Mann, Nissan's senior vice president of manufacturing in Europe, said: 'The new centre will handle inbound parts for the Sunderland plant.
'Increasingly, these are coming from further afield, in bulk volume. By bulk-sourcing parts, we are making significant total cost savings, which helps our plant to improve its competitiveness.
'This, in turn, puts us in a stronger position when bidding for future models.'
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- Filed Under
Paramount to add 500 films to YouTube
NEW YORK -- YouTube and Paramount Pictures have reached a deal to make nearly 500 films available to rent online, even while their parent companies continue to feud over a $1.76 billion lawsuit.
The agreement announced Wednesday makes Paramount the fifth major Hollywood studio to join YouTube's online video store, a growing rental library that typically charges $2 to $4 per viewing. 20th Century Fox is now the only major studio holdout.
The deal brings YouTube's collection to nearly 9,000 titles.
Ford expects nearly 15 million U.S. sales
NEW YORK -- Ford Motor Co. is raising its forecast for U.S. auto sales this year, citing improving consumer confidence, employment, low interest rates and other factors.
Ford's Americas President Mark Fields said Wednesday that the company now expects full-year U.S. sales in the range of 14.5 million to 15 million. That's up from 13.5 million to 14.5 million at the beginning of this year.
• Central Laboratory Services at Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health-Lafayette Central has been awarded accreditation by the College of American Pathologists.
The accreditation is based on the results of a recent on-site inspection. The lab is one of more than 7,000 CAP-accredited laboratories worldwide.
• Old National Insurance and its affiliated company, Employee Plans LLC, has agreed to purchase assets from IntraHealth Solutions Inc.
Based in Fort Wayne, IntraHealth Solutions is an employee benefit third-party administration company. The transaction was effective April 1.
Tippecanoe Mortgage Inc. is sponsoring a Home Buying and Refinancing Workshop from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 10 at YWCA Greater Lafayette, 605 N. Sixth St. in Lafayette.
Speakers will include representatives of a title company, appraiser, insurance, home inspector and mortgage provider. The session is free; for reservations, call (765) 446-2930.
-- Staff and wire reports


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Disney Branded Television said it hired Tehmina Jaffer as executive VP, business affairs.
Jaffer is returning to Disney, where she’d been senior VP of business affairs for Disney Plus. More recently she was president of business affairs and operations at Anonymous Content.
As part of the new Disney Branded Television team under president Ayo Davis, Jaffer will oversee negotiations and contract administration for Disney Television Animation and Disney Branded Television live-action content created for Disney Plus, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior.
She succeeds Adina Savin, who led business affairs for the division for nearly 23 years.
“I’m delighted to welcome Tehmina back home to Disney and to the Disney Branded Television team,” said Davis. “Her strong leadership and vast experience across a variety of content and streaming businesses will be incredibly valuable as we continue to scale our best-in-class kids and family output.”
Before Disney Plus, Jaffer held posts at Netflix and NBCUniversal, as well as ABC Studios.
“Disney Branded Television is the force behind some of the most beloved characters and stories of all time, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to join Ayo and the team as they develop a truly ambitious new slate of content to resonate with audiences across platforms and around the globe,” Jaffer said. ■
Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.
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Amazon Summer Sale now live – offers on smartphones, laptops, appliances and more
- Amazon is currently hosting the Summer Sale on its platform.
- The e-commerce giant has partnered with ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank and RBL Bank to offer discounts on debit and credit cards.
- The e-commerce giant has announced discounts across a wide range of categories.
AdvertisementE-commerce giant Amazon India is back with its Summer Sale, offering discounts across a wide range of products, including smartphones, laptops, home appliances, apparel and more.
The Amazon Summer Sale is now live on the platform. As part of the sale, the company is offering discounts across a wide range of products, including smartphones, laptops, home appliances, apparel and more.
In addition to the discounts, the company is offering an additional discount to users of some cards.
The e-commerce giant has partnered with ICICI Bank, Kotak Bank and RBL bank to offer an additional discount to its debit card and credit card users. Customers will be able to avail an additional 10% discount on debit card, credit card and EMI transactions.
In addition to this, new users will be able to get a 10% cashback of up to ₹250 on their first purchase.
Amazon has also lined up over 60 new products that will be launched during the sale. The e-commerce giant has revealed that the products are spread across several categories such as clothing, shoes, luggage, kitchen appliances, home appliances and more.
The recently launched OnePlus 10R 5G will also be available from Amazon India starting from May 4.
Amazon has revealed some of the top deals as part of “Countdown deals”. Users will be able to get these products at a discounted price ahead of the sale. Do note that card offers will only be applicable once the sale begins.
To access the countdown deals, you can go to Amazon’s website.
Amazon Prime benefits
Amazon has announced some additional benefits for Amazon Prime subscribers. The company has revealed that over 1,000 offers will be available exclusively for Prime members. In addition to this, Prime members will be able to avail additional reward points by using an Amazon Pay ICICI card.
Amazon Summer Sale offers
AdvertisementIf you are looking to purchase a smartphone, it might be a good idea to look for one in the Amazon Summer sale as the e-commerce giant is offering a discount of up to 40% on mobiles and accessories.
In addition to this, customers will also be able to avail exchange offers and no-cost EMI options.
Intel laptops will be available with a discount of up to 40%, so if you are a student or a professional looking for a laptop, now might be a good time to get one.
In addition to this, fashion accessories, apparel, home appliances and more will be available at a discounted price.
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1. Nepal Earthquake Response Challenges Logistics Experts
"Logistically, this particular disaster—because of the geography and the mountainous terrain and poor roads—is probably the most difficult response I have ever had to implement," said Alex Marianelli, senior logistics officer for Asia at the United Nations World Food Program.
We use this hands-on introduction to announce the creation of a FIATA led fund-raising initiative that will parallel last year’s extremely successful EBOLA Fund initiative. The official announcement will be made soon as the bank account for donations is about to be made available to all. A special note will be sent to all Members in due course.
2. UN Agencies Strengthen Cooperation for Trade Facilitation Implementation
Three key UN agencies (UNCTAD, ITC and UNECE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 22 April 2015 to strengthen their support for developing countries as they implement the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA).
The three agencies emphasised their longstanding work in the simplification and harmonization of international trade procedures. Read more on the recently struck MoU here: http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=39503
3. Centre for International Transport Agreements - UNECE Transport Division
The UNECE Transport Division, centre for international transport agreements provides a platform for intergovernmental cooperation to facilitate and develop international transport which covers:
For further reading please visit:
4. Internet of things in logistics
There will be 50 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020 compared to 15 billion today, says an Internet of Things trend report, released by DHL and Cisco. For any organisation with a supply chain or logistics operations, IoT will have game-changing consequences, from creating more 'last mile' delivery options for customers, to more efficient warehousing operation.
According to Cisco's economic analysis, IoT will generate $8 trillion worldwide in value at stake over the next decade. This will come from five primary drivers: innovation and revenue ($2.1 trillion); asset utilisation ($2.1 trillion); supply chain and logistics ($1.9 trillion); employee productivity improvements ($1.2 trillion); and enhanced customer and citizen experience ($700 billion). Read more: http://www.business-standard.com/article/management/internet-of-things-in-logistics-115050300638_1.html
5. Air-safety experts weigh rules for battery cargo on jets
In first week of May, ICAO's dangerous goods panel is set to consider, and possibly suggest new restrictions, on the shipment of lithium batteries. Boeing and Airbus have come out in support of tightening the rules, while the rechargeable battery lobby group, PBRA, has opposed some of the safety measures under consideration.
Many airlines, including Cathay, Air France-KLM, United and Qantas, however, have taken matters into their own hands and imposed their own bans on shipping lithium batteries either in passenger aircraft, or at all. Read more: http://theloadstar.co.uk/air-safety-experts-weigh-rules-for-battery-cargo-on-jets/
6. Appeal to bring freight to Humber ports
Freight shippers will be urged to make more use of the Humber ports to help drive regional growth across the north at the country’s premier logistics event next week. A powerful delegation representing the Humber Port partnership will present the region's case at the industry gathering, aiming to showcase the capabilities of the UK’s busiest ports complex.
The port is an open gateway to the Northern powerhouse, creating a "golden corridor" of trade which stretches across to Liverpool and which is vital to the growth of the region and which serves the growing trend of manufacturing and distribution centres moving further north. Read more:
7. Chinese to invest abroad in free-trade zone trial
China may launch a trial scheme soon that would allow Chinese individuals in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone to invest in overseas markets directly for the first time, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
The programme, known as the Qualified Domestic Individual Investor programme, or QDII2, is among measures jointly proposed by the Shanghai government, the central bank and regulators to promote capital account convertibility and greater international use of the yuan. Read more: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1781240/chinese-invest-abroad-free-trade-zone-trial
8. Dubai introduces virtual freight and logistic corridor
Dubai Customs and the Department of Economic Development in Dubai have unveiled a "Virtual Corridor" to enhance the overall trade sector and facilitate goods movements. This corridor is a virtual freight and logistic passage to connect seaports, airports and free zones in Dubai on a single platform
Cargo will be moved in under four hours without the need for a client to submit a cash bond or bank guarantee, as it is the minimal procedures. Dubai Customs will grant clients virtual financial guarantee for each consignment to be transfer among customs centres in Dubai. Read more here:
9. Trucking - Driving the logistics industry in Georgia
The Georgia Legislature passed one of the most sweeping transportation funding bills ever, the $900 million House Bill 170. With a combination of new taxes and fees, the bill will raise nearly $1 billion a year to fund repairs to our state’s ailing network of roads and bridges.
This news was most certainly welcome to Russell Mc Murry, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation, who noted at the summit that Georgia has the 10th largest transportation system in the nation with nearly 18,000 miles of centreline miles of roadways and more than 3,000 miles of interstate and freight corridors. Read more: http://businessinsavannah.com/bis/2015-04-13/keene-trucking-driving-logistics-industry-georgia
8 May 2015


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Another blow for Hong Kong, as cross-border trucking comes under pressure again
Hong Kong faces another reduction in cross-border trucking with mainland China, while port operator Hutchison ...
Hong Kong’s status as a major container port hub could suffer a severe blow if mainland China further relaxes cabotage rules.
A new report by respected Hang Seng Management College (HSMC) claims the world’s fifth-largest port could lose as much as 2.4m teu in transhipment traffic or 14% of its throughput, should China’s cabotage rules, allowing foreign-flagged vessels to carry domestic cargo between Chinese ports, be fully relaxed.
Currently, only vessels registered in China or flying the Chinese flag are permitted to conduct coastal shipping of cargo between Chinese ports – foreign-owned and -flagged ships are not allowed to load a container in a mainland port and unload it at another one.
Under the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, Hong Kong is not regarded as a Chinese port and is exempt from cabotage. As a result, it has historically benefited from large transhipment volumes, which represented 70% of the port’s 20m teu throughput in 2015.
“Of those containers, a little over half carried intra-Asia shipments, including cabotage cargo of foreign ships which could be handled in mainland ports,” said HSMC.
Cabotage rules could be about to change, however.
In 2013, Shanghai launched its Pilot Free Trade Zone and local authorities quietly began allowing foreign-flagged, but Chinese-owned, ships to conduct coastal shipping between mainland ports. China’s Ministry of Transport later announced it was official policy to relax cabotage in Shanghai.
“The concern is if they continue the relaxation and allow other ports to do it, then the next stage is to allow foreign-owned vessels to call,” explained Lawrence Leung, dean of HSMC’s school of decision sciences.
According to HSMC, major ports like Qingdao, Ningbo and Guangzhou are lobbying hard for their own cabotage exemptions. Mr Leung said further relaxation would be dependent on political factors, which are naturally difficult to ascertain.
“I don’t have a crystal ball, but it’s certainly possible. It depends on a variety of things and whether the decision-makers can see the impact on the economy. But theoretically, a change in the law could happen any time.”
The HSMC report shows there were 765,000 people employed in the logistics sector in 2014. Logistics accounts for 20% of total employment and 25% of Hong Kong’s GDP.
“The short-term economic impact is the immediate loss of throughput, which translates into job losses. But the long-term impact is probably far more troubling,” said Mr Leung.
“Hong Kong is a hub port and to be a hub port you need a certain level of connectivity. Relaxation would likely mean a loss of connectivity and therefore the ability to function as a hub port,” he added.
He said since throughput growth within the Pearl River Delta was slowing,, local ports should be collaborating to better compete with other gateways like Shanghai and Singapore which don’t face the same internal competition for cargo.
The study is another reminder of the fragility of Hong Kong’s container business, which has seen consistent reduction in volumes in recent years. The port handled 14.1m teu for the first nine months of this year, down 8.5% year-on-year, while throughput fell by over 2m in 2015 to 20.1m teu.


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Skyforge PS4 Release Dates Trailer
Skyforge announces its PlayStation 4 release dates: Early Access beginning on March 28 and full release on April 11.
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Scion recently released a video explaining one of the key components to its new FR-S rear-drive sport coupe: the torsen limited-slip differential.
Sure, the car is meant to be attainable for a crowd of younger drivers and yes, there are certainly people in the world don’t know this stuff, but are they the types to spend time online reading about cars? Maybe, and that’s why we’re bringing you Scion’s spoon-fed explanation of how it’s (and every other) rear end of that sort works.
Torsen is a contraction of torque-sensing, which make sense when you realize that the differential (which governs power delivery between the transmisison and wheels) uses torque to know when to cut power. Enough of that, though. Watch the two-minute video, which offers a visual explanation.
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
Discuss this and other FR-S material at FR-SForum.com.


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Christopher Bastin has much to be excited about. Not only has his role as head of design for GANT Rugger propelled the line into becoming our go-to source for easy, suave and just plain cool-looking menswear, but his work has finally paid off. He’s now getting a major (and I can’t exaggerate that word enough) promotion.
It was announced early today that Bastin will become GANT’s new creative director, and will be handeling the direction and inspiration for all collections across the brand.
“As part of the GANT team, I have been lucky to experience many company milestones throughout the years,” he said. “I hope to build upon these successes as we develop the GANT brand and our collections towards ever higher levels of desirability.”
This new appointment will be officially instated on August 1, but what of former Creative Director Bob Andrews? He’s held his position for more than two years, which in retrospect isn’t that long. But nonetheless, he will be stepping down no sooner than July 31.


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General Motors CEO Mary Barra has announced that the automaker plans to end production of the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV at the end of 2023.
Barra in an earnings call on Tuesday, also announced that GM plans to use the capacity at its Orion Township, Michigan, assembly plant to build electric trucks starting in 2024.
The Bolt is one of the cheapest EVs currently on the market, with a starting price of around $24,000 but was always at a disadvantage, built on GM’s older EV platform.
First introduced in 2016, the Chevy Bolt was intended to be the automaker’s first shot at a mass-market purely battery-electric vehicle with 200-plus miles of range and an affordable price tag.
But since the release of the Tesla Model 3 in 2018, Bolt sales have been less than impressive.


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Chinese netizens came up with a workable calculation showing how to find the thriftiest ride in China
Tag: private-car hailing
Authorities in Guangzhou to crack down on private car services from Uber and 5 other Chinese companies
Uber and five other Chinese car-hailing services have banned 100,000 private cars on their platforms in a month under pressure from local authorities in Guangzhou.
Private car-hailing company Yidao Yongche partners with China’s Youtube, Youku Tudou for a web drama featuring a real-life Yidao Yongche driver.
Analysys International’s latest report on China’s private car-hailing market indicates Didi Kuaidi is way ahead of the competition despite consolidation between competitors and increased investment.
In an open letter to authorities on Monday Didi Kuaidi argued increased oversight will affect competitiveness and produce negative outcomes for both drivers and passengers.


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Hannan Meats lands UK 'supreme champion' accolade in Great Taste Awards
MOIRA-based The Meat Merchant, owned by Peter Hannan, has been named as the Supreme Champion in the final of the UK Great Taste Awards - the second time he has collected the top prize.
More than 10,000 different products were entered into the 2016 Great Taste Awards and judged by more than 500 palates.
This was whittled down to 2,520 products being awarded one-star, 878 awarded a two-star and 141 claiming a three-star award before the Top 50 Foods were announced last month ahead of the declaration of the Great Taste Supreme Champion 2016, sponsored by Harrods, at The Royal Garden Hotel in London.
In all, Hannan Meats achieved 36 product awards in the 2016 Great Taste Awards, a record number for a single food manufacturer in the UK or Ireland.
Food NI chief executive Michele Shirlow praised the Moira meat processor’s commitment to quality, outstanding taste and innovation, and the support from its chief executive Peter Hannan for the local food and drink industry.
"This was an outstanding achievement by Hannan Meats against fierce competition from companies from across the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe," she said.
“Hannan Meats is a remarkably successful company which has now become the first ever in the history of this prestigious and influential competition to win the Supreme Award twice.
"It is an outstanding role model for other smaller food and drink companies of just what can be achieved from a commitment to excellence across a business. In addition to two Supreme Champion awards, Hannan Meats has now won more gold stars for its products than any other company in the UK and Ireland.
“The latest achievement follows its success in 2012 and is particularly timely coming as it does during our first ever Year of Food and Drink, an initiative supported enthusiastically by Peter Hannan."
She added: “The award will help to raise awareness of the quality of our food and drink to another level especially in Great Britain, our most important external market.”
Economy Minister Simon Hamilton joined in the congratulations for the Meat Merchant and its owner Peter Hannan.
He said: “Hannan Meats is our most successful company in the history of the Great Taste Awards and typifies the world-class food and drink produced in Northern Ireland.
“This accolade tops a remarkable year for Peter Hannan and is recognition of the company’s outstanding commitment to innovation.
“It’s a unique year for Northern Ireland food and drink. The 212 local products rewarded with the UK Guild of Fine Food’s valuable independent validation of taste and quality present an important and fitting showcase of the pure, natural quality of our produce.”
In July, 13 local products from eight companies were awarded the highest accolade of three gold stars in the prestigious annual event organised by the influential UK Guild of Fine Food. Eighty four local companies also secured almost 303 gold stars."


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HP to eliminate 2,000 more jobs
Original post made on Sep 11, 2012
[Web Link HP may cut up to 35,000 jobs, reports say]
Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 9:53 AM
on Sep 11, 2012 at 2:35 pm
I thought Meg Whitman was the woman who created thousands of new jobs.
on Sep 11, 2012 at 4:13 pm
What happened to all of the other good comments on this thread???????????? Did Meg put her giant, expensively-clad foot down 7the comments were removed?
on Sep 11, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Such a shame Meg is not in Sacramento whittling down the number on the government payroll! Perhaps that would make the state budget balance.


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A new report claims that the combined greenhouse gas emissions produced by the largest dairy companies in the world equal the emissions produced by the entire UK.
According to analysis by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) in the US, the impact of the top 13 firms on the climate crisis is increasing, with emissions jumping by 11% in the two years following the 2015 Paris climate accord.
In 2017, the CO2-equivalent emissions from big dairy companies totalled 338m - a 36m tonne increase from 2015. The annual emissions in the UK - the sixth largest economy in the world - total around 350m tonnes.
The report also says that the burgeoning of giant dairy companies has driven the price of milk below the cost of production for the last ten years, which has required taxpayer subsidies to prop up farmers, and has subsequently caused problems for those living in rural areas.
“Unlike growing public scrutiny on fossil fuel companies, little public pressure exists to hold global meat and dairy corporations accountable for their emissions,” said report author Shefali Sharma, European director at IATP. “Few of these companies are even reporting their emissions.”
“As governments ratchet up their climate goals, the rise of large-scale dairy and public incentives that further increase corporate dairy power, production and emissions must be stopped,” said Sharma. “Rural livelihoods and our planet’s future depend on it.”
Four out of five dairy farms have closed in the EU between 1981 and 2013, with 93% of family farms having closed in the US since the 1970s.
“You have to get bigger or get out,” said Sharma. “The key argument is this industry drives overproduction and low prices, which creates demand, and it has marketing power, which creates demand.
“Demand doesn’t just happen by accident. There is growing support for supply management, a crucial policy that could address dairy’s twin crises. It prevents overproduction, balances supply and demand and stabilises prices.”
Over 90% of the emissions in the industry are produced by the cows themselves. Research has also shown that plant-based milks produce far fewer emissions than dairy milk.
Representatives for the dairy industry claim that the report was not a true reflection of the reality of the industry. Executive director of the Global Dairy Platform, Donald Moore, and president of the International Dairy Federation, Judith Bryans, made a joint statement saying that ‘the dairy sector is committed to producing nutritious foods in environmentally sound and responsible ways’.
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Cars That Communicate: The Highway of the Future
You’re driving down the city streets, heading towards an intersection at 30 miles per hour. With a green light, you plan to cruise right through. A car to your left, however, is about to run his red light and slam right into the driver’s side of your vehicle. The car is obscured from your view, so you can’t predict the impending accident. But your car can. A red warning light flashes on your dashboard and your car emits a loud alarm. You slam on the brakes, avoiding the accident just in time, thanks to your car’s new V2X technology.
Right now, this futuristic scene is only playing out in computer simulations, but in just a few years, it could be a commonplace part of your daily commute. V2X, also known as connected vehicle technology, is currently being developed by automakers like Ford Motor Company and Toyota. V2X allows cars to exchange information about speed, location and travel direction via a wireless network. This car-to-car communication system can then warn drivers if another car is about to cross their path—alerting the driver to brake in order to avoid an accident.
V2X could reduce or eliminate up to 80 percent of all accidents involving unimpaired drivers.
Automakers, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), tout vehicle-to-vehicle communication as the next generation of vehicle safety technology. According to the NHTSA, V2X could reduce or eliminate up to 80 percent of all accidents involving unimpaired drivers. V2X may even develop from a warning system into a reaction system—with cars not only warning drivers of potential dangers on the road, but also automatically breaking to prevent them.
According to Gregory D. Winfree, acting administrator of the Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, V2X represents a major shift in how automakers, NHTSA and the public think about vehicle safety.
“The past 50 years have been about surviving vehicle crashes; the next 50 will be about preventing them,” Winfree told Consumer Reports.
But this future technology in cars also raises some concerns. Privacy groups worry about the technology’s “Big Brother” surveillance implications, as well as cyber security threats. What if, for example, a terrorist group hacked into the system, disabling V2X’s safety features and instead triggering accidents? In addition to potential cyber security threats, V2X developers have yet to address oversight concerns and the potential for privacy abuse.
However, the new car technology’s ability to save lives may outweigh these potential security and privacy concerns. According to NHTSA, more than 10 million motor vehicle crashes occur each year in the United States. In 2010, there were 32,885 fatalities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for individuals aged five to 34.
Vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems have the potential to help us arrive at our destination safely and more efficiently than ever before.
Would you purchase a car with V2X?


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The acute shortage of semiconductors after covid-19 outbreak has caused a record increase in wire frauds in 2021 stated Desperate Buyers, a company that tracks counterfeit and fraud in the chip industry.
According to a Reuters report, the ERAI Inc. (Electronic Resellers Association International) said that last year 101 wire fraud cases reported to the US based firm. In 2020 the number was 70 and 17 five years ago.
Firms looking for chips they could not find through authorised distributors were trying to buy them from more dubious brokers and made payments for products which they never received, said ERAI president Mark Snider.
Snider further said that maximum wired fraud was by chip brokers in China.
The report informs that the current data revealed that the total of counterfeit chip case reported to ERAI in 2021 was 504 and in 2020 it was 463. That is a major drop from 963 in 2019.
China’s pandemic-related shutdowns may make it difficult for counterfeiters to function and also mentioned that counterfeits are getting more sophisticated and capable of escaping detection.
The data was made open at the Symposium on the Counterfeit Parts and Materials organised by the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering, a research facility at the University of Maryland and industry group SMTA.
It is more probable that the actual numbers were strikingly higher as companies fearful of brand damage would choose not to report acquiring counterfeit chip.
The global semiconductor shortage has affected several industries for almost two years now. Due to this, companies have been either forced to pay more for products or are being having to wait since long. This wait is leading to evident desperation as shown by the report.
The shortage has largely affected smartphones, personal computers, medical devices, gaming consoles and automobiles among others.


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Panasonic announced the new Panasonic Lumix DC-S5 (Amazon/ B&H/ Adorama) on September 2, 2020. has just posted a full review of this new camera at DCW and pointed out it is the best camera under $2,000. Read More »
Panasonic has just officially announced the new Panasonic Lumix DC-S5. Featuring a full-frame 24.2MP CMOS sensor, Panasonic S5 is distinguished by its UHD 4K60 10-bit internal recording, Dual Native ISO, and wide 14+-stop dynamic range. Beyond video, it caters to a versatile range of stills applications with 7 fps continuous shooting, ISO 100-51200 native range, and even a 96MP High-Res Shot mode. Regardless if working with photo or video, the S5 maintains a quick and accurate 225-area DFD autofocus system with refined subject tracking, as well as 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization to minimize the appearance of camera shake. This new camera costs $1,997.99, first available for pre-order at B&H/ Adorama.


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There’s a new phone for hikers and outdoor enthusiasts that helps keep people safe. The Garmin In Reach phone is a mobile device designed to save lives.
Shawn Ballard, co-owner and general manager of Ballard Ambulance, says the Garmin-In-Reach phone enables off-grid contact with family, friends and first responders. “Mountain rescue groups encourage people to carry these phones, especially if you’re in areas that don’t have phone coverage.” said Ballard. “It not only gives your location but if you get in trouble it gives you the option to contact the emergency services, it has a panic button on it if you get hurt.”
The Garmin In-Reach phone features two-way messaging, interactive SOS alerts and location sharing for first responders.
Ballard says the phone can locate lost or injured hikers in rural areas. “What this allows people to do is not only press the panic button, but also communicate and say ‘Hey, I just got stuck in the weather, I’m going to be three days late. ‘ or ‘I’m seriously injured and I need help.'”
The Garmin-In Reach phone provides added protection for outdoor enthusiasts and peace of mind for friends and family.


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American Apparel Reveals New ‘Advanced’ Model: Equal Opportunity or Marketing Ploy?
Fergie 2012/07/09 18:00:00
American Apparel, known for its provocative hipster ad campaigns, recently released a new advertisement featuring an "advanced" model... spreading her legs. They've garnered a lot of positive feedback from the media for being equal opportunity, but is this just another controversial marketing ploy?
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By Andrea Montolivo
Chicago, USA, Jun 17 (EFE).- The US Open has made its return to The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., one of the oldest golf clubs in the world, where luxury is on full display thanks to lucrative sponsorship deals with watch brands, carmakers, whisky companies and tech.
Some of these companies have their own stands for the elite spectators heading to watch the Open and their multi-million dollar deals help drive a prize fund of over $12 million.
The US Open, part of the traditional PGA Tour, tees off amid fresh controversy stirred by the launch of the LIV Golf series, the high-paying professional series backed by Saudi Arabia.
Spanish golfer Jon Rahm, defending US Open champion, made his sentiments on the LIV series clear on Tuesday.
“I play for the love of the game, and I want to play against the best in the world. I’ve always been interested in history and legacy, and right now the PGA Tour has that,” he told reporters.
Known for its demanding course, The Country Club registered a huge demand for tickets.
The most exclusive stands on offer sold out days ago while general admission tickets vary between $400 to $10,000.
It makes for a miniature economic boom in the region near Boston, which is also hosting the NBA Finals between the Celtics and the Golden State Warriors and where hotel prices have rocketed to more than $200 per night.
A LONG LIST OF SPONSORS
Rolex, a sponsor of the US Open since 1980, Lexus, American Express, Deloitte, Cisco and Dewar’s whisky are just some of the big brand sponsorships at the tournament.
Some have paid for prime advertising along the 18 holes while Lexus and American Express have their own areas with customer experiences such as car simulators.
To mark the occasion, Dewar’s released a limited edition bottle of 19-year-old, American oak cask aged whisky and is the official cocktail sponsor of the event.
STEEPED IN TRADITION
Faced with the existential threat posed by LIV Golf, which has already attracted names such as Sergio García and Dustin Johnson, the PGA is relying on its more than 120 years of history.
Rahm’s defense of the tournament on Tuesday went further: “To be honest, part of the format (of LIV Golf) is not really appealing to me. Shotgun, three days to me is not a golf tournament.
It’s that simple, I want to play against the best in the world in a format that has been going on for hundreds of years.”
The Country Club, which opened in 1882, has hosted four US Opens, in 1913, 1963, 1988 and 2022, as well as a Ryder Cup in 1999.
The winner of the first US Open in 1895, Briton Horace Rawlins, took home a check for $150 and a medal worth $50.
The full prize pot that year for the 11 participants — 10 professionals and one amateur — was $335.


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The Dockers Super Bowl 2010 commercial is titled "Men Without Pants." It is Dockers' first television commercial to appear during the Super Bowl broadcast since 2002.
The Dockers Super Bowl "Men Without Pants" ad makes a statement about modern masculinity, or lack thereof says Dockers.
The anti-anthem commercial dramatizes the ridiculous behavior of a group of men not wearing pants. These proud but childish men march through a field with purpose while singing "I Wear No Pants" and are interrupted with a notice to mankind: "Calling all Men - it’s time to Wear the Pants." You can watch a very short preview of the Dockers Super Bowl commercial on the Dockers site.
The Dockers Super Bowl commercial could be entertaining, but I am not sure if it will make it as one of the funniest Super Bowl ads of 2010.
Just like last year, I4U News is featuring the Super Bowl for Geeks Guide. Of course the Super Bowl 2010 for Geeks Guide is all about the Super Bowl Commercials and not the game. The Super Bowl XLIV takes place on Sunday, February 7th in Florida in the Sun Life Stadium. Do not miss our constantly updated list of all Super Bowl 2010 Commercials.
Don't Miss: Today's Best Deals on Amazon.com


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It’s exactly a month since Huawei launched its new P20 series of smartphones that consists of the P20 Lite, P20, and the impressive P20 Pro with its trio of rear cameras and a superb finish. Huawei may be experiencing all sorts of strife with its now-canceled plans to expand into the US, but across the pond, the P20 Pro has managed to become the most successful device ever sold in Western Europe by the Chinese handset maker.
Having only been on sale for four weeks, the P20 Pro has outsold last year’s P10 Plus by a whopping margin, 316% to be exact. Besides generating 100 million RMB in revenue in the first ten seconds of being available to purchase on Huawei’s online store, Vmall, the P20 series has also garnered a whole lot of attention from blogs and smartphone fans alike.
“The HUAWEI P20 Series has also been one of the hottest search queries in Western Europe; particularly in Spain, Italy, and Germany, where HUAWEI’s newest flagships were for a time the most searched smartphone on the search engine”
We posted our review a couple of days ago, where the P20 Pro’s triple rear cameras and mesmerizing Twilight finish impressed us mightily:
“Huawei’s latest flagship offers something for both professional and amateur photographers alike in a smartphone with both an exquisite design and high-end specifications”
If you live outside the US, have you bought a P20 Pro? If so, what are your thoughts on Huawei’s latest flagship that currently occupies the top spot on DxOMark?


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Dublin, Ireland and Waltham, Mass, 31 March2014 – Alpha Payments Cloud, (APC) are proud to announce the introduction of MaxMind’s minFraud product to the APC Product Hub. MaxMind is an industry-leading provider of IP intelligence and online fraud detection tools, offering fraud risk-scoring based on many factors, including IP, email, and device reputations derived from MaxMind’s network of over 7,000 online businesses.
Through partnering with Alpha Payments Cloud, minFraud will be available to merchants and acquirers via the APC Product Hub to clients across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Jennifer Sessler, Business Development Manager at MaxMind commented: “The issue of online fraud remains one of the biggest threats to merchants and acquirers as they look to expand their business. By identifying fraudulent orders, MaxMind has helped thousands of companies cut down on fraud-related financial losses. Working with Alpha Payments Cloud allows us to further extend the reach of our minFraud product internationally to all APC clients, adding to the 50 million online transactions we screen monthly.”
Rónán Gallagher, Head of Product at Alpha Payments Cloud added, “With global online trade expected to hit $1.4 trillion by 2015, it is increasingly important for merchants and acquirers to be supported with the most technologically cohesive and up-to-date products. One of the benefits of our unique Product Hub solution is that it can equip domestic acquirers with access to the tools and services they need to support their merchants as they move internationally, by connecting them with best-in-class solutions relevant to each market. With the integration of MaxMind’s minFraud service into our cloud-based solution, our clients have direct access to a leading fraud prevention suite, which can effectively underpin their expansion into new markets safely, while reducing the risk of fraud.”
About Alpha Payments Cloud
Alpha Payments Cloud, through the APC Product Hub, has created a unique payments ecosystem that connects acquirers, merchants, and product providers onto one single platform. By creating a payment product exchange in the Product Hub and eliminating the need for all members in the value chain to ever undertake another integration again, Alpha Payments Cloud offers instant and seamless access to every aspect of the payments world.
APC has received nominations in the Smart Asia Awards 2014 in the categories of “Best Fraud Initiative” and “e-Commerce Leader of the Year.”
Founded in 2002, MaxMind is an industry-leading provider of IP intelligence and online fraud detection tools. Thousands of companies of all sizes rely on MaxMind’s GeoIP data for the purposes of delivering relevant content and ads, performing analytics, enforcing digital rights, efficiently routing Internet traffic, and more. MaxMind’s minFraud service leverages GeoIP data along with IP, email, and device reputations to help its network of 7,000 online businesses prevent fraudulent online transactions and account registrations.


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MGM delivers body blow to piracy
The US Supreme Court yesterday decided that "peer-to-peer" file-swapping services could be held responsible for theft by downloading songs and films.
In a test case brought by MGM, the court ruled that services provided by Grokster and Morpheus encouraged infringement of copyright laws.
Lawyers and record companies have applauded the decision, but industry analysts say that even if Grokster is hurt and Morpheus put to sleep, the pirates will sail on, fearless of legal action.
But Australian-owned KaZaA, used by more than 200 million file swappers, sees the decision as vindicating its defence in a similar lawsuit awaiting decision in the Australian Federal Court in Sydney.
KaZaA, owned by Sharman Networks, headquartered in Sydney and Vanuatu, is the most used peer-to-peer application in the world. Its executive vice-president, Alan Morris, said yesterday that the decision offered a clear opportunity for the court to vindicate his company. He said KaZaA had never sought to induce users of its product to violate copyright law.
Mr Morris said KaZaA warned against illegal use of its software in the user agreement required before the software can be downloaded and in large poster panels on-screen.
The US decision has no status in Australia but, given the global nature of the internet and the music industry, could be noted by a local court.
Stephen Peach, chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association, said that while it might have no effect on Australian law, he saw it as common sense.
"We are not trying to stop technology but, rather, trying to stop the use of it to promote theft of copyrighted material," he said.
The decision follows a Supreme Court judgement by which Hollywood lost a bid to stop Sony selling video cassette recorders. The decision then was that recorders were for "time-shifting" (delayed watching) and did not breach copyright laws.
In yesterday's case the court found that the software makers encouraged users to copy files illegally. "We hold that one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties," said Justice David Souter.
Neither Grokster nor Morpheus had "made an effort to filter copyrighted material from users' downloads or otherwise impede the sharing of copyrighted files", he said.
The ruling sets aside a lower court decision that found Grokster did not take part in piracy because it had no central database or server and took no direct part in the file-swapping.
US lawyers and music industry executives say they now have legal means to close internet file-sharing networks.
But Hilary Rosen, who once pursued pirates for the US Recording Industry Association of America, is unsure the ruling is good for the music industry. She said that "knowing we were right legally isn't the same thing as being right in the real world". When the industry crushed Napster, it brought no more market control, she said.
- with Mark Coulton, New York


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KENYA – Beemsterboer Coldstore Services (BCS), a family-owned Dutch-based company, has officially opened its cold store in Nairobi to reduce Post-Harvest Losses (PHL) and steer sustainability in Kenya’s fresh produce sector.
The cold store, which has been operational for 18 months, has a capacity for 4,000 pallets and the potential to reduce fresh fruit and vegetable food waste by up to 30%.
The facility primarily holds fruit imported from across the globe and serves as a hub for Kenyan avocados exported in containers to the Netherlands and other European countries.
According to Jean Pierre Dekker, one of the co-owners, the company’s plan to build a cold storage facility in Nairobi began in early 2017.
“It was a promising prospect, but then the pandemic struck, making construction very difficult,” he explained. “But now, after a longer-than-expected process, we’re proud of the completed cold store, and having both my parents at the opening is the icing on the cake.”
Besides these new premises in Nairobi, BCS has been storing perishable goods at two sites in the Netherlands since 1955.
“I’ve lived and worked in Kenya for more than 20 years,” said Dekker, who used to operate a rose nursery in Kenya, among other ventures, and possesses extensive knowledge of the local market.
In his view, although many people are not very familiar with the concept of cold storage, East Africa presents ample potential.
“Many large companies are seeking professional storage,” Decker observed. “We’ll soon see if we can implement this concept in other parts of East Africa.”
This news comes weeks after the logistics firm, Cold Solutions, launched its flagship cold storage facility in Tatu City, Kenya, thereby initiating its USD 70 million (Sh10.5 billion) investment plan that was set in motion three years ago.
According to the recently published news report, the 15,000 square meters grade ‘A’ cold storage complex on six acres at Tatu City is one of the largest in the country.
It will cater to multiple products such as fresh fruit and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, vaccines, meat, poultry, and frozen foods.
The warehouse is classified as a grade ‘A’ facility because of its high quality, size, hook height and dock levelers, large lay-down area around the warehouses and its specialty as a cold storage.
The Chief Executive Officer of Cold Solutions Kenya, Grant Ochieng’, revealed that the cold storage facility will help reduce post-harvest losses in agriculture and strengthen supply chains in the hospitality, retail, and pharmaceutical sectors.
“We believe this facility will not only meet, but exceed your expectations, giving you a competitive advantage in your industry.” “Your success is our success, and we are honored to be your trusted logistics partner,” said Mr. Ochieng.
Cold Solutions Kenya is a portfolio company of ARCH Cold Chain Solutions East Africa Fund, a private equity fund advised by ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Limited.
For all the latest fresh produce industry news updates from Africa, the Middle East, and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.


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On Saturday, July 25, Westpoint shopping centre hosted its grand opening.
Across the past three years, the complex as been expanded at the cost of $10 million.
On the day, Western Advocate photographer Phil Blatch was at the complex, snapping up the faces in the crowd on the day.
ALSO MAKING NEWS:
For more information on the centre, visit the Westpoint website at westpointcentre.com.au.


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Philip Booth appears on BBC Radio 5 Live
Mr Booth argued that the government wants to make the UK the most competitive place for companies to do business from a tax point of view, but as soon as other countries attempt to do the same thing they get villified. Much of the news coverage of this story has highlighted the number of Google or Amazon employees or the turnover, however, companies do not pay corporation tax based on these figures. Corporation tax only applies to profit.
Listen to the full programme here. Segment begins at 25.56.


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Lawmakers in Westchester County, a suburb of New York City, have passed a law that forces businesses using wireless technology to secure their networks, so hackers can't steal customers' personal information, such as credit card numbers.
The law also requires businesses offering Internet access to post signs encouraging users to install firewalls. It's considered one of the first laws in the nation to take such a strict stand securing wireless networks, according to an article posted on CNN.com.
Hard core hackers can break into just about any network, but wireless networks are especially vulnerable to attacks, because signals and traffic can be intercepted as they travel over the air. And if the data that's being transmitted isn't encrypted it's relatively easy for criminals to hack into an unprotected wireless network and steal records.
The CNN story said that the new law, which will go into effect in October 2006, requires businesses to install a firewall or change the default SSID, the name that identifies a wireless network, if the personal information stored has not already been encrypted. Businesses that don't comply risk fines of as much as $500.
Protecting customer data has become an important issue for businesses over the last couple of years. Not only have criminals targeted e-commerce sites, but they've also been scamming traditional bricks and mortar retailers by stealing credit card information from their card readers. The cell phone industry has also had its brush with data breaches. Earlier this year, several mobile phone operators sued companies that own Web sites selling customer information.


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Image: REUTERS/George Frey
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Germany has announced a plan to subsidize electric cars, with manufacturers footing part of the bill. The total €1.2 billion subsidy pool will be offered on a first come first served basis for vehicles priced less than €60,000.
From May, German car buyers will receive a subsidy of €4,000 when buying an electric car. The incentive will stay in place until no later than 2020.
The electric car market in Germany remains small, with just 23,481 electric vehicles sold last year. The government hopes this subsidy will boost sales to get half a million new electric cars on the road in the next four years.
Which countries are doing the most to encourage electric cars?
As this chart shows, several of the world’s largest auto markets are incentivizing people to switch to electric vehicles. Germany is now one of them.
Here is a snapshot of the situation in four countries around the world:
The emerging middle class in China represents a significant market for electric vehicles. Sales are on the up, boosted by a generous incentive programme. Infrastructure investment also aims to boost electric car ownership. Beijing plans to install more than 400,000 charging points by 2020.
A Chinese firm has also just announced an electric car that can be voice-controlled, giving it autonomous capabilities. The LeSEE reportedly drove itself out of a shipping container and on to a stage, under the control of the manufacturer’s CEO, Jia Yueting.
The situation in the US is complicated by differences between states. However, national incentives do exist. A tax credit system is in place, with the level varying based on the type of battery and vehicle weight. According to the US Department of Energy, the credit is anywhere between US$2,500 and $7,500.
The announcement of Tesla’s new Model 3 also highlights the continued role of American companies in the electric vehicle market.
Subsidies and investment in infrastructure saw more electric vehicles sold in the Netherlands last year than in any other European country.
Electric vehicles are exempt from road tax, and further tax breaks are available on the purchase of new vehicles. The development of the necessary infrastructure is also driving sales. The E-laad Foundation (or E-load, if translated into English) is aiming to boost the number of electric charging points across the Netherlands.
Norway is often credited with leading the world in the charge towards electric vehicles. Although not a major auto market, the sales of all electric vehicles are reportedly growing faster than anywhere else. Very generous incentives, such as exemptions from value-added tax and free travel on toll roads, have been so successful that last year the Norwegian government was forced to review them.
This chart from the first quarter of 2015 shows the growth in the electric vehicle market in Norway.
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Local home sales soar in Nov., reports say
Sales of Massachusetts single-family homes and condos rose by more than 50 percent in November when compared to the same month a year ago, and prices also showed some improvement, said the Warren Group, a Boston firm that tracks local real estate activity.
A year-ago, the country was in the midst of a financial crisis that hurt home sales. As a result, November 2009 benefitted from some easy comparisons to November 2008, said the Warren Group, which added that a home buyer tax credit also helped last month's sales.
"Single-family home sales soared 59.1 percent to 4,136 from 2,599 in November 2008, posting the highest number of sales for the month of November since 2005," the Warren Group said. "November's sales gain was also the biggest jump in year-over-year sales so far in 2009."
As for prices, the Warren Group said, "The median price for single-family homes sold in November slipped 1.3 percent to $274,000 from $277,500." That was a more moderate drop than the declines that the Warren Group was reporting for many of the months earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts condo sales rose 54 percent to 1,840 from 1,195 in November 2008, the Warren Group said. It was the biggest gain in monthly condo sales year-over-year so far in 2009. And for the first time in 16 months, the median selling price for condos rose. The median price for condos sold in November was up 1.7 percent to $244,000 from $240,000 during the same month last year.
The Warren Group's monthly report also included a quote from firm chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr.
"The gain in home sales during the month of November isn't completely unexpected," Timothy Warren said. "There was a lot of financial turmoil last fall that led to a plunge in home sales in November 2008 and subsequent months, so we expected homes sales to climb a bit. However, the jump was even sharper that we thought it would be. We suspect that many buyers felt pressure to take advantage of the home-buyer tax credit before it was due to expire."
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors also issued its monthly report on the local housing market today. The association uses a different method to track real estate activity. Still, its results were roughly similar to those of the Warren Group's.
One slight difference: The association reported that the median sales price for a single-family home rose slightly last month. "The median selling price for single-family homes in November was $285,000, an increase of 0.7 percent compared to $283,000 in November 2008," the association said.
Commenting on sales volume, the association reported that "single-family home sales were up a record 63.1 percent compared to November 2008, as buyers expected the first-time home-buyer tax credit to expire at the end of the month (instead it was extended to April 2010)."


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Recently, The Walt Disney Company announced a major restructure at the highest levels — instead of focusing on theatrical releases, like the corporation has done since the days of Walt and Roy Disney, they will now shift their focus to streaming.
The Disney+ streaming platform has been a bright spot amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Thanks in large part to the fact that people are turning to at-home entertainment more than ever before, the service is outperforming even the most generous subscriber projections.
However, Disney’s shift to streaming is, no matter how you slice it, a gamble of sorts. Here’s how it could backfire in the long run.
The cost of the service may be unsustainable.
…Walt Disney’s accounting team is arguably undercharging for its Disney+ product.
The company reports it collected, on average, $4.52 per month per subscriber for Disney+ during its fourth fiscal quarter (which ended in October). That’s less than the cost of $6.99 per month cited at the Disney+ website and even less than the $5.83 per month charge when dividing the service’s full-year subscription price of $69.99 by 12 months.
They also noted:
Priced at under $5 per month apiece, Disney’s streaming services collectively drove sales of $16.9 billion in its recently completed year. But it still took an operating loss of $2.8 billion.
In order to increase profit — or even turn a profit, which isn’t anticipated until 2024 at this juncture — Disney may find itself feeling compelled to raise the price of the subscription service.
This could turn-off some subscribers, ultimately resulting in lower subscription rates and fewer people enjoying the Disney+ service overall.
Disney is, admittedly, poised to keep subscribers. Between the current popularity of The Mandalorian and upcoming shows like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier — and a host of other Marvel and Star Wars series supposedly coming down the pipeline — fans are excited about the future of Disney’s streaming content.
Cable and film could be cannibalized.
Motley Fool also pointed out these intriguing numbers about the potential for income cannibalization:
…cable television is still the company’s [Disney’s] biggest and most profitable business. For the full year ending in September of last year, media networks accounted for $24.8 billion of the company’s $69.6 billion worth of revenue and $7.5 billion of its operating income of $14.9 billion. Studio entertainment added $11.2 billion to the top line and generated $2.7 billion in operating income. This past year’s cable business produced full-year revenue of $28.4 billion and operating profits of $9.0 billion.
As previously noted, Disney’s streaming business drove sales of $16.9 billion in its recently completed year. Not bad. But with an operating loss of $2.8 billion, it’s difficult to see it replacing the level of earnings produced by the very same cable TV and film business it’s ultimately aiming to displace.
In a recent study by the Leichtman Research Group, it was determined that popular pay-TV services — such as AT&T U-Verse, Dish Network, DirecTV, and others — lost over 1.5 million subscribers in Q2 2020. This was, in large part, due to the increasing prevalence of streaming entertainment.
By focusing too much on streaming, Disney could actually lose money over what they could have made on traditional theatrical releases and cable networks, such as FX — which they acquired with 20th Century Studios — and ABC.
People still want to go to the movies.
Movie theaters offer an allure that sitting at home watching a film simply can’t compete with, no matter how much streaming services try.
If Disney begins releasing more and more movies straight to Disney+ — which has already happened with The One and Only Ivan, Mulan, and Pixar’s Soul — some of the magic of sitting in a darkened theater watching a film play on the silver screen will undoubtedly be lost.
This would be unfortunate for the company Walt Disney built and movie buffs alike.
What are your thoughts? Could Disney’s streaming focus ultimately backfire on the company?


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Tourism spending, arrivals spike on Lanai
Maui County leads hotel performance
Visitor spending and arrivals to Lanai last month spiked by the largest year-over-year percentages among all Hawaiian Islands, a recent Hawaii Tourism Authority report showed.
Lanai’s total visitor spending skyrocketed by 62.6 percent last month to $12.6 million, up from $7.7 million in August 2018. The smallest of Maui County’s visited islands also saw a 17.3 percent increase in year-to-date spending of $85.7 million, up from $73 million during the same timeframe last year.
In addition, Lanai arrivals bumped 34.4 percent to 8,129 in August, up from 6,051 last year. Year to date, the island saw an 18.4 increase to 60,923 over 2018 arrivals.
For Maui island, total visitor spending, daily spending and visitor arrivals increased last month. Spending was up 14 percent to $404.8 million; daily spending increased 4.1 percent to $203; visitor arrivals rose 11.3 percent to 273,786.
Daily spending for Maui is 2.4 percent lower to date, but total spending rose slightly, 0.6 percent to $3.51 billion.
More tourists were coming to Maui from the U.S. West and U.S. East, but fewer were coming from Japan.
Molokai visitor arrivals saw a 23.6 percent increase to 4,890 in August, up from 3,955 during the same month last year. Spending was down 13.7 percent to $1.8 million, though. Per person per day spending was down 5.9 percent to 109.7.
People visited more and spent more statewide in August compared with the same month last year, according to the HTA data, in part due to 2018’s travel concerns of Hurricane Lane and the Kilaeua eruption. Visitors to the Hawaiian Islands spent a total of $1.5 billion in August, an increase of 6.3 percent compared to the same month last year.
However, year-to-date information through August shows that total visitor spending is still down 0.5 percent to $12.08 billion compared with 2018. Also, average daily spending is down 3.1 percent to $194 per person due to lower spending by visitors from most markets, the report said.
Meanwhile, total visitor arrivals to Hawaii increased 5.2 percent to 7,117,572 compared to January through August last year, boosted by growth in air service and cruise ships.
Also last month, Hawaii hotels statewide showed growth in revenue per available room (RevPAR), average daily rate (ADR) and occupancy compared to the same time last year, with Maui hotels again taking the lead, a report published by HTA said. The group noted that last year’s hotel performance also was impacted by weather events.
Hawaii’s August RevPAR increased 10.7 percent to $244, with ADR up 3.4 percent to $290 and occupancy rising 5.5 percentage points to 84.3 percent over August of 2018, according to the Hawaii Hotel Performance Report.
Among Hawaii’s four island counties, Maui County hotels led the state in RevPAR, up 12.7 percent to $306, with ADR increasing 3.5 percent to $389 and occupancy rising 6.5 percentage points to 78.6 percent in August. The county was boosted by a strong performance of properties in Wailea, which showed a RevPAR increase of 9.3 percent to $542, an ADR increase of 4.4 percent to $608 and an occupancy increase of 4 percentage points to 89.2 percent.
For information and full reports, visit www.hawaiitourismauthority.org.
* Kehaulani Cerizo can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Ripple and XRP have been making headlines a lot lately.
Ripple revealed that it’s rebranding its products, and this can be seen on the official website.
More than that, Ripple's CEO Brad Garlinghouse has recently spoken about the crypto mass adoption of XRP, Bitcoin and other digital assets and said that these will not see mass adoption soon.
The effects of the lack of regulation
According to Ripple, there’s a lack of regulation on the digital assets that could trigger an exodus of tech talent away from the US, according to the latest reported revealed by the online publication the Daily Hodl.
Now, in a brand new piece on blockchain innovation, Ripple’s head of Global institutional markets, Breanne Madigan said that the first clear use case for the crypto XRP and digital assets is in the payments industry.
She began by saying, “At Ripple, we see payments as the first obvious use case for digital assets. A key innovation in leveraging a blockchain for payments is that you can move value efficiently—and many subsequent use cases for blockchain technology, including trade finance, smart contracts, and lending.”
Madigan continued and said that “This is why we are focused on this baseline use case first. With digital assets, for the first time, there’s a way to settle transactions across currencies instantaneously—this helps optimize risk management frameworks, and reduces significant friction pain points including time, trapped capital, and excessive fees.”
XRP is used as a bridge between fiat money
Madigan also made sure to highlight the fact that she is optimistic and she believes that as more and more use cases beyond payments develop, more capital will be entering the space.
Madigan also highlighted that Ripple’s main target for XRP is using it as a bridge between fiat money.
We recommend that you check out Madigan's complete post.
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Home Source, Shiner Relocate Show Space at High Point Market
October 9, 2012,
ATLANTA-Home Source International and its furniture unit, Shiner International, will move its exhibit space at High Point Market to the Loloi Rugs showroom, room D-320 at the International Home Furnishings Center (IHFC), for the upcoming market.
At the April High Point Market, Home Source and Shiner exhibited in the Made in America Pavilion at the Suites at Market Square, room 1-447. Home Source and Shiner then partnered with Loloi for the summer Las Vegas Market, exhibiting in 1,000 square feet of Loloi's World Market Center showroom in room 480 of building B.
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Tech starts to fuel downtown St. Louis real estate
As St. Louis’ tech startups grow, downtown real estate brokers have turned into some of their biggest cheerleaders.
After all, they might soon be clients.
Jay Holland, an office broker with Cassidy Turley, said as entrepreneurs outgrow their space in incubators or co-working spaces such as the Downtown T-REx — home to more than 80 startups — they’re looking for more collaborative spaces within the St. Louis Central Business District, where they are close to amenities such as restaurants, fellow entrepreneurs and other startup resources like accountants.
Office space within the CBD leases for just more than $16 per square foot, but because startups aren’t typically looking for space in traditional office towers, they’re paying less.
Anton Xavier and his team at FoodEssentials, a startup building analytic tools detailing food label data, moved out of its space at T-REx and into a 3,200-square-foot open office space on the fifth floor of the Curlee Building on Washington Avenue. In late 2013, Xavier, the company’s co-founder and CEO signed a two-year lease for the space, which typically leases for $14 per square foot.
“The most important thing for us was the open space,” Xavier said. “And we wanted to be as central as possible and close to other startups in St. Louis.”
In January, Pixel Press, the startup that turns drawings into video games, signed a two-year lease to move into a 4,000 square-foot space on the eighth floor of the old Laclede Gas and Light Co. Building, 1017 Olive St., where startups TrakBill and Second Street also have offices.
Across the street, on the third floor of the Cosmopolitan Building, 1112 Olive St., Lumate, a startup using big data to improve the mobile ad experience, is working out of a new 2,400-square-foot office space after it moved out of T-REx in early February.
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Kathmandu: The National Tea and Coffee Development Board has set a minimum price for fresh and prepared coffee produced in Nepal.
The board claims that the new minimum price has been fixed by fixing 22.5 percent profit on the cost of production by the farmers. According to the new price, fresh fruits (fresh cherries) produced by farmers will be priced at Rs 90 per kg for ‘A grade’ and Rs 80 per kg for ‘B grade’.
Similarly, the price of ‘A grade’ parchment processed coffee has been fixed at Rs 450 per kg while the price of ‘B grade’ parchment coffee has been fixed at Rs 397 per kg.
The board has fixed the price of B-grade coffee at Rs 148 and B-grade coffee at Rs 95 per kg. The price of ‘A grade’ cherries has gone up by Rs 5 per kg from last year and the price of processed ‘A grade’ coffee has gone up by Rs 25 per kg from last year, according to the board.
Nepal have been producing a lot of Arabica coffee. Cultivated at an altitude of 800 meters to 1600 meters above sea level, Arabica coffee is considered to be one of the top four types of coffee found in the world.
According to government statistics, coffee cultivation has expanded to 43 districts across the country. The board has stated that there is a demand for about 14,000 metric tons of indigenous coffee inside and outside the country.
Last year, Nepal imported 266 metric tonnes of coffee worth Rs 118.8 million and exported 46.89 metric tonnes worth Rs 57.7 million.


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Good news-bad news
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to Christmas shopping this year, according to Nebraska’s economic pundit Ernie Goss, Ph.D., of Creighton University.
First the good news: Consumers will have more cushion in their budget and more cash to spend, thanks to two federal stimulus programs.
They’ll be traveling more, thanks to fewer pandemic-related restrictions this year.
They’ll be doing more local shopping and won’t have to worry as much about presents arriving in time.
Goss expects that shoppers will do more in-store purchasing this year rather than online, which is a welcome switch for mom and pop retailers.
But there’s bad news as well.
Supply chain bottlenecks will see fewer items on the shelves and half of the 10% growth retailers expect to see will come from shortages in products due to supply chain bottlenecks. These disruptions are related to transportation delays and truck driver shortages.
Service will suffer because of worker shortages and checkout lines will be longer. The hiring shortage cause headaches for retailers who may find it necessary to cut back on customer service - something that hasn’t been seen in decades.
That local shopping? Part of it will be prompted by higher gas prices, and there are likely to be fewer choices of stores and products.
If you want to find bargains, you probably should have started shopping last week. There will be fewer deals overall, and consumers who shop earlier will be more likely to encounter deals than last-minut shoppers.
Plan a little extra time for that trip to Grandma’s house, because you’ll probably by driving instead of flying, thanks to fears about delays and cancellations, and you’ll pay extra at the gas pump for the honor.
Overall, however, the economy will be strong this holiday buying season, and if we’re on the buying side of the equation rather than the selling, it’s up to us to make this a Merry Christmas.


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Weeks after Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg teased at SXSW that Instagram will support NFTs, the platform is moving to deliver on the promise. On Monday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri revealed that new tests will kick off this week bringing NFT support.
The pilot begins with a tiny footprint, with a small group of U.S.-based participants able to share their blockchain-based digital collectibles in Feed, Stories and messaging for free. It’s a small step, but an important one in a metaverse-related initiative poised to spread across Instagram, Facebook and Meta’s other apps. Getting that just right matters, which is why the company is proceeding carefully.
In a video shared on Monday, Mosseri noted that the platform’s intent is to “start off small and learn from the community.” He also dove into some of the complexities surrounding the effort.
“I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies are all about distributing trust and distributing power,” he explained. “But Instagram is fundamentally a centralized platform, so there’s a tension there. So one of the reasons why we’re starting small is we want to make sure that we can learn from the community. We want to make sure that we work out how to embrace those tenets of distributed trust and distributed power, despite the fact that we are, yes, a centralized platform.”
NFTs on Instagram 🎉
This week we’re beginning to test digital collectibles with a handful of US creators and collectors who will be able to share NFTs on Instagram. There will be no fees associated with posting or sharing a digital collectible on IG.
See you next week! ✌🏼 pic.twitter.com/VuJbMVSBDr
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) May 9, 2022
The idea, he continued, is to make such metaverse or Web3 tech accessible to more people.
Part of that apparently means broadening the scope to Meta’s other apps as well. In a separate Instagram share, Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive officer, said similar functionality will arrive on Facebook, too. Meanwhile on Instagram, plans are in the works to infuse augmented reality with NFTs, thanks to its Spark AR toolset, “so you can place digital art into physical spaces” and share that on Instagram Stories.
The Instagram test will begin with the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains, followed by Flow and Solana at a later date, with compatibility for Rainbow, Trust Wallet and MetaMask wallets.
Given Instagram’s prominence as a key social platform for the fashion and beauty sectors, which have been captivated by the promise and commerce of unique digital collectibles, its support for NFTs may seem a bit late. Twitter beat it to the punch in January, as the first major social media company to support NFTs in Twitter Blue profiles. The distinction, of course, is that only paying members can take advantage of it, whereas Meta and Instagram seem more interested in opening up NFTs to a much broader audience.
The differences point to the innumerable ways platforms can approach the tech — and merely acting as a trophy case for virtual art or fashion isn’t the ultimate goal.
Consider that Mosseri’s announcement began by talking about the creator economy. “Right now, there a number of different ways for creators to make money, but a lot of them are unpredictable and changing rapidly,” he said. “Now, we think one really interesting opportunity for a subset of creators is NFTs — the idea of owning a unique digital item.”
The obvious implication is that creators will be able to make money from NFTs on Instagram at some point, which will involve actual minting or creation capabilities, as Zuckerberg suggested in March at SXSW.
“Long term, I would hope that the clothing that your avatar is wearing in the metaverse can be basically minted as an NFT, and you can take it between your different places… Over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time, be able to mint things within that environment,” he said then.
From there, the commerce aspect may be similar to — or perhaps tied into — Instagram and Facebook Shops. Altogether, it looks like the beginning of a push that will lead to an NFT marketplace that’s not geared for early adopters, but for mainstream consumers.
Meta has plenty of motivation to make this work. Its massive bet on the metaverse looks even bigger now, as it still struggles to climb out of a historic hole that sheared a record $230 billion loss in market value after the fourth quarter.
But it will face stiff competition from rivals like YouTube. In a January letter to the community, CEO Susan Wojcicki said, “We’re always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs, while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube.”


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Mobile, social, solution, cloud, big data, SaaS, optimize and engage. It was impossible to have a conversation at the National Retail Federation convention in New York without hearing these words a lot.
The 2012 holiday shopping season featured stores opening earlier on Thanksgiving, extended hours shopping marathons, and, according to the National Retail Federation, an additional 585,000 to 625,000 seasonal retail workers.
In today’s connected world, complex technologies are creating richer consumer experiences, but are also creating greater expectations. With the explosion of connected and mobile devices in recent years, consumers now have better control of their interactions with the companies whom they choose to do business with than ever before.
Many retailers have been slow to embrace technology in their broader operations, technology that has already changed the retail landscape forever – namely by empowering shoppers who are now more tech savvy than the retailers who are trying to catch up.


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Retail investors were net sellers of stocks in October, according to T.D. Ameritrade’s monthly survey of its more than six million clients and their trading activity.
Last month there was a barrage of third quarter earnings reports and the survey provides a snapshot of the names investors were buying and selling. "There was more of a focus on profit-taking than in the two months prior," says Nicole Sherrod, managing director of trading at T.D. Ameritrade.
One of the stocks investors sold was McDonald's, seemingly in an effort to collect on a recent rally in its share price. The fast food chain is hard at work on a turnaround bid (it recently rolled out all-day breakfast nationwide) and finally had some good news to share with investors in its latest quarterly earnings report. One such nugget: U.S. same-store sales rose for the first time in two years.
Investors also sold Microsoft, General Electric and Coca-Cola in October. "I think a lot of what's happening here is that investors are getting concerned about markets getting up there after what we saw in August," says Sherrod. "August is still in the rear-view mirror and these stocks have had great intra-year performance."
Microsoft, for instance, saw its stock pushed above $50 last month after it beat Wall Street estimates during the third quarter. Results were helped by strong performance in its cloud and enterprise segments.
GoPro was another stock that investors pared back on. The wearable camera-maker has had a terrible year on the public market, and its stock is currently down a whopping 60%. Helping drive shares lower were disappointing earnings at the end of last month that missed both top and bottom line estimates. CEO Nick Woodman explained that one reason for the poor results was the botched launch of its square Hero4 Session camera.
On the flip side, among the stocks that investors went out and bought was Disney, which was a net buy for the third straight month. Its stock has rallied 16% since August, when cord-cutting concerns relating to cash cow ESPN led a broader media stock meltdown.
"Investors love this company," says Sherrod, noting the immense excitement surrounding Star Wars and the good performance of its parks and resorts. "Any time you see Disney decline, clients will scoop it up at a better valuation."
Other stocks that investors bought were retail giants Wal-Mart and Amazon. Wal-Mart got walloped last month, after a dim outlook prompted the stock to suffer its worst loss in 15 years. Still, it's a retailing juggernaut that isn't going anywhere anytime soon, despite its need to change with the times and heavy spending to that end. "Investors are looking for a turnaround story there," says Sherrod.
For its part, Amazon surprised investors with its second consecutive quarterly profit in a row last month. Helping to drive top line growth is continued strength in its cloud-hosting division, Amazon Web Services.
Overall, the stock market had a banner month in October (its best in four years), with the S&P climbing 9%, the Nasdaq gaining 11% and the Dow adding 7%.
Volatility continued to decline as the market rose, with the company’s Investor Movement Index (which measures volatility relative to the overall market) dropping to 4.79 in October from 4.76 in September and 5.24 in the rocky month of August.
I am part of Forbes' wealth team, where I write about some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. I previously covered markets, investing and financial technology at Forbes. My reporting has taken me to the Seminole Tribe in Florida to sit down with the father of...MORE


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Want some fries with that burger and shake? You might not be able to get any of that next week if you live in Detroit, New York, Chicago, St. Louis or the three other cities where fast-food workers will be striking.
On Monday, workers from major chains including KFC, Wendy’s, Burger King and McDonald’s in seven cities will be staging a strike in a protest for better wages. The workers are hoping the protests -- which will occur in Detroit, New York, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Flint, Mich., and Kansas City, Mo. -- will prompt employers of popular fast-food chains to raise pay to a "living wage" of $15 an hour.
KMBZ in Kansas City reported that the protests, part of an ongoing movement dubbed "Fast Food Forward," will begin on Monday and are expected to continue through Thursday. The protesters in the seven cities are calling for the hourly-rate hike as well as the right to form a union without retaliation and an end to unfair labor practices.
The New York Daily News reported that strikes in Brooklyn will begin as early as Friday, involving workers from Papa John’s and Domino’s as well as other chains. The action will mark the third such strike in a year, following similar protests in April (in Detroit, New York, Milwaukee, Chicago and St. Louis) and last November.
According to the Washington Post, the strikes in these seven cities extend beyond the fast food business, with employees at other low-wage stores including Dollar Tree, Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret slated to join the protests.
The protesters have been backed by support from communities as well as labor groups such as the Service Employees International Union. "SEIU members, like all service-sector workers, are worse off when large fast-food and retail companies are able to hold down wages and push down benefit standards for working people," SEIU president Mary Kay Henry told the Washington Post.
In April, 400 fast food workers in New York City from 70 chains, including McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC and Domino’s, rallied for an increase in pay and the right to unionize without losing their jobs, NYDN reported. Similarly, a few hundred workers protested the same month in Detroit, calling for a $15-an-hour living wage.
The movement to increase pay comes as low-wage jobs, which are considered positions that pay from $7 to $13 an hour, are growing in the postrecession job recovery. The National Employment Law Project reported last summer that mid-wage jobs, or those that pay $14 to $21 per hour, dropped 60% during the recession. However, low-wage jobs increased by 58% last summer during the job-growth recovery to combat the losses in middle-income jobs.


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Jassby launches money app for families, secures additional funding
Jassby Inc., a mobile payment system designed for kids and teens, has launched its free mobile app, and has raised capital for future growth in a funding round led by Blumberg Capital, Correlation VC, and Moneta VC, according to a press release.
The mobile platform, now available at the Apple App Store, allows parents to manage their kids' money without the need for cash, credit or debit cards, or checks.
Parents can digitally give money to their kids for any reason — as a weekly allowance, or birthday gift, or for completing chores and tasks, getting good grades, excelling in sports and more.
Kids can shop stores through the app from stores, with parents retaining control over the online stores their kids buy from.
Jassby, which complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, protects users' identity and personal information via biometric authentication, two-step verification and encryption technology, the release said.


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The fashion crowd doesn't exactly have a reputation for being super inclusive.
For instance, Fashion Week is mainly an industry-only affair, with the occasional celebrity peppered in the runways' front rows. Typically, the shows present spring collections the September preceding, and the fall collections in February. It's great for the fashion biz, but for those of us in it for the street style, there's no way we're going to start thinking about spring floral prints as soon as we get to sweater season.
But Rebecca Minkoff is making a bold move that's about to flip the script on NYFW. In February 2016, while most designers will be presenting their Fall/Winter 2016 collections, Rebecca is going to walk her current spring collection down the runway, in order to make more immediate sales off the buzz and Instagram hype during NYFW, according to Racked. Additionally, when brands show their collections six months in advance, it gives fast fashion retailers plenty of time to create knockoffs. Sounds smart AF to us.
It seems that Rebecca wants the average consumer to become more of a part of Fashion Week - besides, isn't our hard-earned moolah what's driving the industry, anyway? - and that's something we can totally get behind. Fashion for the people!


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Nazarbayev calls for full-fledged economic coop among EAEU, EU and SCO
NUR-SULTAN. KAZINFORM First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev calls for an effective cooperation within the Eurasian Economic Union, Kazinform reports.
Today, at the meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in the Kazakh capital, Nursultan Nazarbayev outlined several ideas. The first one is to expand strategic contours of the EAEU and enhance the integration process. "We need to establish a full-fledged economic cooperation among the EAEU, EU and the SCO. The idea of our Eurasian space is to make it open for global interaction," said Yelbasy.
In his words, China's One Belt, One Road initiative should be viewed as a continuation of the EAEU's potential in terms of logistics infrastructure.
"With the consideration of geographical location of our countries, we need to facilitate the implementation of joint large projects," he noted.
The Leader of the Nation added that Kazakhstan had already implemented a number of large-scale international projects. "As much as 30bn U.S. dollars has been invested in the country's logistics infrastructure in the past 10 years, which enabled Kazakhstan to open 5 railroad and 6 international auto routes," said Nursultan Nazarbayev.


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Dan Harris of China Law Blog brings us an interesting take on the new pay deal Wal-Mart struck on Friday with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) in Quanzhou, Shenyang, and Shenzhen. As reported by Forbes, the U.S. retailer operates more than 100 of its namesake stores throughout China and employs 48,589 people. Its new agreement with its employees in Shenyang calls for an 8% pay increase in both 2008 and 2009. Harris remarks that a pay increase of the same amount next year sounds strange, since there’s no telling what inflation will be a year from now: “Is this an admission by Wal-Mart that it wasn’t paying enough?” he asks. The deal further marks Wal-Mart as “something of a poster child” for the Chinese government’s drive to get all foreign-owned enterprises to recognize the ACFTU, Forbes writes, since it comes two years after Wal-Mart allowed the union to organize at its local outlets. “What happened to Wal-Mart is no surprise,” Harris adds. He continues:
It is just another step in China’s efforts to move away from being a destination for foreign companies seeking super low paid workers. Just as with so much else in China, we are seeing foreign companies getting out in front in terms of going along with what China wants to do with its economy. Domestic companies are and will continue to follow in terms of having to deal with unionized and higher paid employees… anybody who still thinks China will do anything for foreign investment is living in the past. Times have changed and China is getting more and more selective in terms of the foreign (and even domestic) companies it wants.
Photo by umm.