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This column seldom heaps praise. More often, readers will find allegations of greedy, harmful and deceptive practices.
There will be some of that today, but first comes an attaboy for Nick Kirkou, owner of Crestwood-based Ontime Express courier service.
On Wednesday afternoon, Kirkou's company was hired to deliver three sales contracts to a south St. Louis County woman. Pretty routine stuff, until Kirkou took a closer look.
The contracts would allow an Arizona company to charge $15,000 to the South County woman's credit card. In exchange, the woman would get what the contracts described as a "mini laptop and wireless mouse" and 15,000 telemarketing and e-mail "blasting" leads.
Kirkou didn't think it was a very good deal. Even with a mini laptop, whatever that is. Still, Kirkou figured, it wasn't his place to get involved.
Then he called the woman. She seemed elderly, and an unlikely e-mail marketer.
Kirkou asked the woman, a 90-year-old widow, if she agreed to buy the sales leads. She said no. Kirkou said he called the Arizona outfit, and he couldn't get straight answers.
Fearing his company might get entangled in something fraudulent, Kirkou told the woman he wouldn't deliver the contracts. And then called the police, he said.
"The whole thing looked like a scam to me," he said. "They were trying to hustle her."
Police said they couldn't do anything unless the woman loses money, Kirkou said.
On Thursday, I spoke with the woman, who asked not to be identified because she feared being marked as an easy target.
The contracts include her credit card number, and I asked her if she recently gave it to anyone she didn't know. She couldn't remember, but she might have given it to a telemarketer who recently promised she could make money working from home.
"The amount of money they were talking about was ungodly," said the widow, who said her only income comes from Social Security.
The woman, a retired secretary, said she thought it was easy work — like addressing and stuffing envelopes. She didn't know it involved e-mail, which she's never used. She's only used a computer once, she said.
Fortunately, the woman didn't sign the documents. If she had, she might have had a tough time getting her money back.
That's because all sales are final, the contracts warn. No refunds are given, and any disputes must be resolved in arbitration.
The documents Kirkou was supposed to deliver are ambiguous about who is selling the leads. The contracts refer to two Phoenix-area companies, F Marketing and Fast Website Marketing. The Better Business Bureau gives the latter firm an F grade.
I called a number listed on Fast Website's website, and a recorded message referred callers to Blog for America.
A man identifying himself as Donald Wilson answered the phone there. He said he couldn't comment on why invoices totaling $15,000 were sent, or how the company had access to her credit card number. He said he would have someone from the company call me back.
At least one other firm may be involved.
Once signed, the contracts were to be faxed to an Arizona firm called Economic Freedom. To confirm that the fax was delivered, a phone number for Economic Freedom was provided.
I called that number — a cell phone line, according to a reverse-phone directory — and a woman who answered said someone would call me back.
There is a Phoenix-based Economic Freedom Corp. A customer service number listed on its website also appears on the contracts Kirkou was supposed to deliver. I called that number, and I was told someone would call me back.
Economic Freedom's site is vague about what the company does, other than offer "the most powerful, turnkey system for making money & building a huge cash income."
The site promises fast money for "ordinary people, from anywhere in the world, with ZERO computer skills & absolutely NO previous online money making experience."
Because no one from any of the Arizona companies called me back, it's hard to judge whether they are on the level. Regulators and consumer advocates consistently rank work-from-home schemes as one of the most common scams. Increasingly, fraudsters seem to be targeting the elderly, according to nonprofit Investor Protection Trust.
More than 7.3 million seniors — about 20 percent of all Americans 65 and older — have become victims of a swindle, according to an estimate by the Trust.
The widow believes the reason is simple: "People just aren't honest anymore … They'll do anything for money."
Many will. It's a good thing Kirkou wouldn't.


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The proposed tie-up gives rise to a grocery giant with increased buying power and an opportunity to save on costs as brick-and-mortar retailers invest heavily to enhance their online offerings. While the deal would create a beefed-up competitor to Walmart Inc. and other rivals, it’s sure to face tough antitrust scrutiny as US regulators under President Joe Biden cast a more skeptical eye on big mergers.
“This combination will expand customer reach and improve proximity to deliver fresh and affordable food to approximately 85 million households,” the companies said in the statement. “Consistent with prior transactions, Kroger plans to invest in lowering prices for customers and expects to reinvest approximately half a billion dollars of cost savings from synergies to reduce prices for customers.”
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The combination ranks among the retail industry’s biggest transactions in years, evoking such deals as Amazon.com Inc.’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in 2017 for $13.7 billion and the $9.8 billion acquisition of Albertsons itself in 2006 by CVS Health Corp., Supervalu and an investment group led by Cerberus Capital Management. The New York-based private equity firm still owns almost 30% of Albertsons, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A tie-up would give Kroger entry into the Northeast, filling out its national footprint. The Cincinnati-based parent of Ralphs and Fred Meyer is the No. 2 grocery seller in the US, with a 9.9% market share compared with Walmart’s almost 21%, according to Numerator. Albertsons ranks fourth with 5.7%, and its portfolio includes the Acme, Jewel-Osco, Safeway, Shaw’s and Tom Thumb chains as well as its eponymous stores.
The companies said they would squeeze about $1 billion in “annual run-rate” cost savings within the first four years after the deal closes, net of divestitures, thanks to improved purchasing, technology investment and optimized manufacturing and distribution networks. They will use $500 million of the savings to cut prices.
Excluding one-time costs, Kroger said the combination would boost earnings in the first year after closing and be “double-digit accretive to earnings by year four.” The transaction will generate total shareholder returns “well above” Kroger’s standalone model of 8% to 11%, according to the statement.
The retailer said it would plow $1.3 billion into improving Albertsons stores and invest $1 billion to continue raising employee wages and benefits. On a combined basis, the two companies currently have about 710,000 employees.
Kroger said it has $17.4 billion in fully committed bridge financing from Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. The deal includes the assumption of $4.7 billion in net debt and is expected to close in early 2024, the companies said. Kroger Chief Executive Officer Rodney McMullen will lead the combined company.
Kroger is “highly confident” in winning approval from the Federal Trade Commission, McMullen said on a conference call with analysts and investors. Still, the transaction is likely to face a lengthy antitrust review with an uncertain outcome. Kroger and Albertsons both have strong footprints on the West Coast, as well as in Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois and parts of Texas.
“A combination could offer substantial synergies and cost-savings, revenue and earnings-growth opportunities,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jennifer Bartashus said in a report Thursday. “But significant operations overlap may make gaining approval difficult, forcing potential divestitures.”
Historically, dealmaking in food retail “has not been a panacea for structurally higher margins/profitability or for long-term shareholder value creation,” Simeon Gutman, an analyst at Morgan Stanley, said in a note to clients.

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Toyota Canada celebrates 25 years of Producing icts of Corolla
Toyota Corolla 2014 sportier? More exciting? Less uptight?
Toyota Corolla 2014, new forms Rather angular
Toyota Corolla 2014 it Will be announced on June 6
Toyota Corolla Furia: a new concept (very) welcome
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) HAS opened icts first assembly factory in Huadu Cambridge in 1988.
25 years later, more than 1.3 million Toyota Corolla Were Produced in Canada. The first of These Was a sedan.
Today, and That, at the dawn of the commercialization of the 11th release of the Corolla megapopulaire, the Canadian division of Japanese automaker is Preparing to celebrate 25 years of generation of the Corolla on Canadian soil.
So far, TMMC HAS assembled more than five million vehicles, most is of All is All which are Toyota Corolla:
It was in 2004 the two millionth car assembled;
in 2007 the three millionth we Produced for;
in 2010 It was the turn of the oven millionth car.
Were all Toyota Corolla.
Toyota Canada assembly plants now Has Two in Canada:
Cambridge: Toyota Corolla, Matrix and Lexus RX;
Woodstock: Toyota RAV4.
In 1988, Toyota Canada employed 1,000 workers in icts plant in Cambridge. Currently, the Japanese firm EMPLOYEES more than 7,000 people.
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After now tracking 25 million steps, my weight is about the same. Did closing all those rings actually do anything?
Researchers have been asking the same question for nearly a decade now. What they tell me: Buying a fitness tracker or smartwatch isn’t going to help you lose weight. In fact — yikes — wearing a gadget could even undermine your efforts.
Exercise is very good for you, and if your tracker helps you keep moving, then by all means keep wearing it. But like so many other wellness products, trackers have been marketed more with hype than with evidence.
Research moves slowly in academia, but one of the most notable studies of the health outcomes of fitness trackers was published in 2016 out of Singapore. It found that people who wore a Fitbit kept up their physical activity a bit better than a control group without them — but after a year, it wasn’t enough to produce changes in weight or blood pressure.
The central premise of trackers is that “if you give people information, they’ll do something to change their behavior,” says John Jakicic of the University of Kansas Medical Center, who studies obesity and weight regulation. But that’s not what happens after the initial fascination wears off, he says.
“When we’ve given devices to people, it generally doesn’t change their behavior,” he says. “And if it does, it changes it for a very short period of time — maybe about 2 to 3 months, maybe a little longer — before the thing on your wrist finds its way into a drawer or you simply stop paying attention to it.”
Jakicic helped conduct one of the largest controlled studies of tracker tech, published in 2016 out of the University of Pittsburgh. It found that dieting adults who wore a generic activity monitor for 18 months lost less — yes, less — weight than those who did not. The people who wore the devices also generally moved less.
One theory: Just the act of measuring your body could change the psychological experience of being active. A 2016 study by Jordan Etkin of Duke University found that measurement can undermine the “intrinsic motivation” of activities like going for a walk, and make it feel more like work and decrease continued engagement in the activity. “They can’t give you motivation,” Etkin says.
We still don’t understand how they impact people in different ways. Some people with trackers get energized by competing with friends and family members to move the most. But for others, seeing their watch report that they have had a lazy day can contribute to self-sabotage. A 2017 study of adolescents found that trackers negatively added to peer pressure and were demoralizing.
I saw the Apple Watch’s possibilities — and shortcomings — when I came back from parental leave last year. A few weeks into resuming work, which involves long stretches at a computer, Apple’s Health app popped up a warning: My steps and standing hours had fallen off a cliff. I joked that my Apple Watch thought my job was killing me.
It was a useful heads-up. But what was I supposed to do about it? My Watch had no insight even on what my new goals should be. Eventually, I learned from other parents the joy of the after-work stroll with the kiddo. What does, and doesn’t work for you? Email me.
What the tracker makers say
Apple told me it does not track research about weight loss because that is not the focus of the Apple Watch. (That’s disappointing.) But Apple did point me to a 2018 study by the RAND Corporation of programs that give people rewards for meeting certain goals with their watches. Those people had a 34 percent average increase of tracked activity days per month, and that persisted after the end of the program.
Fitbit, owned by Google, said its devices are useful for a holistic view of your health, including weight management. It pointed me to a 2020 analysis of 37 controlled trials that found using Fitbits during interventions has been associated with both weight loss and increases in step count and moderate-to-vigorous activity.
But in the majority of those trials, the people wearing Fitbits were also given other content and support.
The gadgets alone “don’t provide that additional support needed for long-term, sustained behavior change — things like social support or goal setting, demonstration of behaviors by other people that are like you and action planning,” Matt Buman of Arizona State University says.
How WeightWatchers uses trackers
If anyone had figured out how to make use of activity trackers, I figured it might be WeightWatchers, also known as WW. Today, roughly 40 percent of its members use trackers to automatically enter exercise data for its programs, chief scientific officer Gary Foster says.
Yet the company hasn’t linked their use to better weight-loss outcomes, in part because people don’t use them consistently. What it can say, Foster told me, is that wearing a tracker makes the work of staying on top of your exercise easier.
But a fitness gadget still can’t automate what Foster considers most important data in weight loss: what you eat. Foster says he does get calls about once per quarter from people with a new idea for a gadget to measure eating, such as sensors on teeth, but “it’s not there yet.”
Bottom line, Foster says: “Tracking your activity is going to have little or no effect without this surround-sound support of what to do with that information.”
If the controversy about TikTok’s Chinese ownership leaves you feeling uneasy, you can help protect yourself by giving it less data about yourself. A good place to start: not sharing your contacts.
Tap Settings → Privacy → Sync Contacts and Facebook Friends and make sure both are switched off. If you’ve previously shared them, you can remove them here, too.
More Reading: Is TikTok really giving your data to China?


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High tech clothing that guarantees against pickpockets. I’m Fred Fishkin with technology BootCamp, a report on gadgets and gear. Scottevest is a company that’s been making clothing and outerwear with pockets engineered to carry your tech gadgets and more…even tablets. Many of those pockets are hidden. And now the company is guaranteeing that if you are making use of those pockets, you won’t be the victim of a pickpocket. Co-founder and CEO Scott Jordan…
“Our customers have been telling us for years that they’ve gone on trips with groups and other people in the group have been pickpocketed. And we’re putting our money where our mouth is and saying that if you do get pickpocketed while wearing several specific Scottevests, namely those with interior pockets, that we will reimburse you up to one thousand dollars.”
A police report will be required for proof. You can find more info at Scottevest.com. You can find us at BootCamp.com. I’m Fred Fishkin.
|Categories:||Gadgets | Mobile Devices|


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Microsoft is reportedly considering the launch of a new Xbox Series S console with considerably more powerful innards, by as early as late 2022. The console is being tipped to feature a new, refreshed AMD APU, which may cumulatively offer up to 50 percent higher performance on it. The tip was given on YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead, which made the claim for the launch of the new console next year.
It isn’t exactly typical for gaming console manufacturers to launch new hardware so frequently, but if this does hold true, then Microsoft appears to be taking the gaming console face-off to Sony with even more intent. The idea behind the 2022 Xbox Series S is apparently to not replace the existing one, but have a new Series S console sell alongside the present one. By doing so, Microsoft will have, for the first time, a three tier offering in its gaming hardware – the basic Series S that was launched in 2020, the new Series S (2022), and the venerable Xbox Series X at the top.
In terms of what might be new, the tip suggests that the console may feature a new generation AMD APU, which may be based on 6nm fabrication node. Alongside efficiency improvements, it is tipped to offer more compute units, which in turn would enable a higher clock speed to run on – which would also make the most of the efficiency gains. All of this is tipped to offer 50 percent better performance from the APU, which in turn would make the rumoured Xbox Series S far from a compromised purchase.
However, this will also apparent account for a higher price. According to the tip, this new Xbox Series S may cost up to $50 higher than its present price. Globally, this would mean that it may sell at $350. While the Series X flagship console may continue to sell at the $500 price tag, the present Series S may get a price cut – and therefore cost lesser than the $300 it charges right now. In India, the erstwhile Series S costs Rs 34,999, while the Series X costs Rs 49,999. The new console variant may shake all of this up as well.


text: The original release of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams was outstanding – and one of the better 2D platformers on the market at the time. Since then, the game has been released on modern-day platforms like the Xbox One with new content. Today, THQ Nordic announced that the Owltimate Edition will not only bring all of the existing content, but also add five new stages and add new cutscenes to the game when it makes its debut on the Nintendo Switch. New songs are being created by Chris Huelsbeck and Machine Supremacy, which should be fantastic as the original game’s soundtrack was top-notch stuff. THQ Nordic will not be handling the publishing duties formally – but will instead be using its HandyGames affiliate label to release it on the Switch. Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams – Owltimate Edition will be released on September 25 for $29.99.


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This is a huge leap over modern VR headsets.
In September this year, Huawei introduced the Huawei VR Glass virtual reality headset, which many called glasses because of its compact size.
Today, the manufacturer announced that the device will finally go on sale in the home market on December 19, that is, on Thursday. Additional details have also been published.
You should start with a parameter that is very important when discussing smart glasses, which is the mass of the device. Huawei VR glasses weigh only 166 grams with a lens system thickness of about 26.6 mm. According to the company, this is a huge leap compared to modern VR headsets in terms of lightness. For this, by the way, Huawei received the World VR Industry Conference Innovation Gold Award 2019. For comparison: the HTC Vive Pro has a frontal thickness of 73.5 mm.
As previously reported, Huawei VR Glass has automatic adjustment for users with myopia, and for the left and right eyes, the system works independently. In this case, the adaptive distance between the pupils is from 55 to 71 mm. The headset is very comfortable for extended use.
The total resolution of the two screens is 3200 x 1600 with a pixel density of 1058 PPI. In addition, users have access to a 90-degree field of view and a variable refresh rate of 70/90 Hz.
The headset supports 3D sound effects and IMAX mode. In terms of content, Huawei promises about 30,000 hours of VR video, over 100 mobile VR games and thousands of VR games for computers.


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Great week in the technological sphere which starts next Monday. After the start of the Microsoft Build 2018, it is another titan who has his big day of the year and for that reason it is worth reviewing what we expect from Google I/O 2018, which is celebrated from May 8 to 10.
As has happened with other similar events, the target audience in practice has expanded, going far beyond the developers. For these it is a key conference, but the announcements interest us many to go beyond development kits and even software, and also when Google speaks, the bread is usually for one thing or another.
Android P Preview 2
After the O comes the P, and after Oreo will come another sweet if those of Mountain View do not break the historic tradition with the nomenclature of its mobile operating system. A name that also in a traditional way has been revealed in this conference and we do not expect to know, but there is a new beta, the Android P Developer Preview 2.
In it, we hope to see “improvements in the notifications and add support to double and triple cameras”, which is probably propitious in the short term now that the Huawei P20 Pro may have opened the ban. And speaking of this and of the fashions, we already saw that those of Google contemplated the adaptation of the notch and probably we will see more on this.
If we cite the ‘notch’ comes to mind the iPhone X, and apparently Google will implement a gesture navigation system similar to the one with this phone are Home button. As it is deduced from the animations of Android P, at least there would be a gesture to go back (slide from the left) and another to multitask (slide up from the right of the bottom edge).
It also seems that there will be improvements at the level of biometrics, with a faster and more secure performance of the fingerprint reader. And augmented reality (AR) would not forget either, incorporating a positioning in closed environments aimed at it.
Therefore, we hope to see what more new features are added to a new operating system (whose name they do not want to tell us) whose first beta version was already well crafted in Engadget Android. Update that will be available via OTA on the platform’s website, making it more convenient for users.
New version of Material Design
When it will be four years since the last major design change at Google, the company is expected to present Material Design 2. An update that was leaked a few months ago in which we will see new color palettes for websites, tabs and favicons that seem to mark a new trend towards darker and colder colors.
In addition to the colors, the corners will be rounded in boxes. What is also expected is that there is a new element to facilitate the tactile touches in the applications, for a commit that referred to something called IsTouchOptimizedMaterial ().
Services that are updated
If last year was Google Photos which received a good dose of updates, this year is aimed at Google News. The service seems to be renewed (both on the web and in the app), incorporating a section for YouTube and integrating the digital magazine Google Play Newsstand and pulling AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) so that the articles load quickly.
Google Assistant and artificial intelligence
Perhaps with a “better late, than never” but firmly. This is how the Mountain View burst with Google Assistant in the field of voice assistants, who last year learned to speak Spanish and who this year appears repeatedly in the contents of the agenda for the event of developers.
The assistant has a key role in the domestic assistance, which we saw materialized in a Google Home that at the moment has been updated in its max and mini versions but we met in the Google I/O 2016. It is expected that the assistant has more integration and new commands.
Assistant is also part of the application that the technological giant intends to make artificial intelligence (AI), the role (in the process of development) of mobile fashion for which Google has already presented the open platform Tensorflow. For this edition it is expected that there will be an expansion of its tools and applications, such as the use of machine learning in medicine.
Talking about Google Home and Assistant is, therefore, talking about the Internet of Things (IoT). And in this field it is expected to have new things with Android Things, the platform to enhance these “smart” products of the home, specifically a full version 1.0 and based on Oreo to enhance smart screens with the assistant.
Spinning with the assistance and artificial intelligence is one of the main applications that we are seeing of the AI in mobiles: the recognition of objects and the actions that each manufacturer decides to apply by pulling algorithms. Google was not left behind in this and presented Google Lens, which LG pulls on its latest flagship, the LG G7 ThinQ.
In fact, in the presentation of the terminal it was confirmed that we would see new capabilities of the tool in the I/O 2018. Hence, what is expected is that there are important developments, including that there is support for more languages (up to 30 of the current 15).
The darkened interface of the new design also came to the preview for Wear OS, the renowned Android Wear of which a new version is expected in this year’s I/O. There is a session oriented to the novelties in this platform, so there are probably new features besides the dark theme.
And what about Fuchsia OS?
The clues about this operating system of Google have been dripping with increasing intensity. Fuchsia OS will be compatible with Android applications and games. However, it seems that this Google I/O will not be the occasion chosen to reveal great news about the new system given its apparent prematurity, leaving probably the focus to Chrome OS in addition to Android.


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The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based software firm earned $38.4 million, or 37 cents per share, excluding charges from its recently-completed merger with Broderbund, compared to $16.7 million or 25 cents a year ago. Analysts surveyed by First Call expected the company to earn 36 cents per share for the third quarter.
Including the Broderbund charges, The Learning Co. lost $21.2 million, or 24 cents per share in the quarter.
Chief executive Michael Perik said in a statement that the company now claims to be the "largest consumer software company in the country after Microsoft."
"The Learning Co. continues to experience strong growth in its retail software business with year-over-year dollar sell-through up 27 percent on a combined basis," Perik said.
Quarterly revenue jumped to $212.7 million from $141.7 million in the same period a year ago.
Shares fell 0.5 to 26 before the report was released after the bell today. The Learning Co.'s stock has traded as high as 32.8125 and as low as 13.7812 in the past 52 weeks.
In July, the company announced plans to buy Broderbund, another educational software maker, in a deal valued at $420 million. That deal came at the tail end of the company's buying frenzy, which included virtual pet software maker PF.Magic and Northern California-based Mindscape.
The Learning Co. produces consumer software "for the entire family," including education, reference, and family entertainment titles found under Sesame Street, Carmen Sandiego, National Geographic, as well as other brands.


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By: Arjun Goyal
Trade sanctions have become a popular policing tool in international trade, and is many countries’ blocking access to vital goods. Some countries have found creative ways to sidestep these barriers.
Trade protection measures seem to be in vogue in the international trade markets. Between the US-China tariff war and the sanctions on Russia for election interference, trade barriers are on the rise. Measures like tariffs and quotas make it expensive to conduct trade with a particular country, while sanctions prevent this trade altogether. But certain countries have found a loophole to eke goods through.
Economic sanctions essentially prevent a particular country, or group of countries, from conducting trade in a particular good, or group of goods. These could be imposed by another country or by international consensus (typically through the United Nations or the European Union). The rationale behind imposing sanctions is to reprimand a country for engaging in certain activities, and economically incentivize them to disengage from these activities.
How do they work in practice? Let’s assume the United States wants to impose sanctions on a target country. The simplest implementation would be for the US to simply suspend trade with the target country. This would work well if the US is a key trade counterparty for that country (like China for example). Alternatively, organizations like the EU or the United Nations could prevent its member countries from engaging in trade with the target country (either for a particular good(s), or a complete cut-off).
An increasingly used tactic is where sanction enforcers prevent the target country from engaging in any transactions with the enforcer’s domestic businesses. Going back to our example of the US, this method not only prevents any US trade with the target country, but it also cuts off any borrowing from US financial institutions. This prevents the target country from having access to additional US dollars, with which it can conduct trading transactions.
Since the US Dollar is such a pervasive foreign currency, and the basis of almost all international trade, such a measure (if imposed by the US) makes it very difficult for the target country to engage in any trade with the rest of the world. The euro is also becoming a popular currency for trade, and such sanctions from the EU can have the same effect as US sanctions on target countries (though to a lesser extent).
Sanctions have been used as international policing instruments for a while now. However, as international relations among major global powers like the United States, China and Russia have become strained, the number of sanctions imposed in the recent past have increased dramatically. Enigma Labs made a global map that tracked these sanctions since 1994. The comparison between global sanctions in 2000 and 2019, shows the extent of this explosion.
While the intention of these sanctions is to curb increasing narcotics trafficking and terrorism funding, they put a huge economic burden on other countries that rely on these sanctioned countries for vital resources.
Take India for example. Even though it widely endowed with a bounty of natural resources, it has close to no oil, and definitely not enough to support its booming economy. As a result, it relies on Iran for its oil demand through imports. However, when the US imposed export sanctions on Iran in 2013, India felt the bite of the cut off supply and experienced soaring fuel prices and higher inflation projections. The reimposition of these sanctions in April will lift prices up once again.
Countries have struggled to find ways around these sanctions previously. However, desperation for essential resources have forced these nations, like India, to find creative solutions.
As stated before, the main issue that sanctions pose to third-parties is the inability to use the enforcer’s currency. With most key sanctions in the recent past coming from the US, inability to use the US dollar makes it difficult to conduct any international trade. For example, if India wants to buy oil from Russia (which is currently being sanctioned by the US), and it cannot use US dollars, how would it pay the oil companies? Russian Roubles? Indian Rupees? Thai Bahts?
A person with no background in international trade would wonder why the bilateral trade couldn’t just be conducted in the local currency. The issue with using local currency lies in its name: ‘local’ currencies can only be used for domestic transactions. Russia can get a fair payment for oil in Indian Rupee, but they would only be able to spend this money in India. Unlike other local currencies, the US Dollar may be local but it also international and accepted for trade transactions globally. A payment in dollars allows Russia to use the proceeds from the oil sale and buy chocolate from Belgium or wine from France.
Another issue with using local currency is faced by financial institutions that would actually conduct the trade transactions. Since local currencies like the Indian Rupee and Russian Rouble are not as pervasive as the dollar, they have lower liquidity in currency markets. This opens up FX risk (change in value of holdings because of sudden market movements) for financial institutions holding these currencies, which becomes expensive to hedge. Overall, it is more efficient and economical to use the dollar rather than a local currency.
But with sanctions in place, countries have no choice but to use these local currency or stop trade altogether. Perhaps turning back clocks may help provide another solution.
If countries are not allowed to use US Dollars to conduct trade, they have the option of reverting back to the earliest payment system: bartering. In this method, countries would not exchange goods for money, but exchange it for other goods of equal value.
Indonesia and Russia entered into a deal where they would exchange weapons for commodities like palm oil and coffee, effectively getting around US sanctions. India and Venezuela also got around US sanctions by swapping oil for rice and pharmaceuticals. While historically the barter system died out because of the ‘double coincidence of wants’ (where both buyer and seller needed to have demand for each other’s goods), countries have been forced into bartering when their preferred currencies has no longer become an option.
Some countries have combined bartering with the use of local currency. India has tried to enter into a modified version of the barter system with Iran, where it buys Iranian oil in Indian rupees, which cannot be withdrawn by Iran but used to buy an equivalent value of Indian goods. This is effectively conducting trade in Indian rupees, and could be mimicked by any pair of countries, provided they have overlapping wants.
Sanctions can throw a wrench in the works for many third-parties, and so it has become a priority for them to get around them. In addition to the strategies above, some other payment means have also been used.
Certain businesses have tried to route payments through other countries like Turkey and other underground channels. However, even if these methods work for a while, they are not sustainable. The scale of international trade is massive, and reliance on the dollar is high.
European Union representatives have tried to come up with strategies to electronically wire money to Iranian oil producers directly from the central banks, so as to not expose private financial institutions to US penalties. The EU has also set up the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges, or Instex, as a channel through which local currency denominated bartering can occur between the EU and Iran.
Russia has tried to adopt a far more radical strategy: forfeit the dollar as the transaction currency altogether and make the Rouble a global transaction currency. However, given Russia’s reliance on oil and gas as its main export, which is a deeply dollar market, this move is not likely to be successful.
While there is no clear win-win solution in this dilemma, it is evident that countries suffering with sanctioned trading partners need a solution which does not involve waiting for mercy from the penalizer. A new global trade currency could be an answer, but which one will we choose? Euro? Rouble? Yuan? Bitcoin? That decision is difficult to make. Till the day we make that decision, countries will have to continue to be creative skirting sanctions to get what they want.
Image Source: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2019/08/06/535028.htm.
England, A. (2019, February 21). Iranian businesses devise creative ways to evade Trump sanctions. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/c3edcca4-3378-11e9-bd3a-8b2a211d90d5.
Enigma Labs: Sanctions Tracker. Retrieved from https://labs.enigma.com/sanctions-tracker/.
Fouriezos, N. (2019, February 14). To Avoid Trump’s Sanctions, Countries Turn to Stone Age Bartering. Retrieved from https://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/to-avoid-trumps-sanctions-countries-turn-to-stone-age-bartering/91467/.
Foy, H. (2018, October 3). Can Russia stop using the US dollar? Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/a5187880-c553-11e8-8670-c5353379f7c2.
Lederman, J., & Luce, D. D. (2018, September 4). How Europe plans to skirt Trump’s sanctions and keep doing business with Iran. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/how-europe-plans-skirt-trump-s-sanctions-keep-doing-business-n906161.
Welle, D. (2019, January 31). INSTEX: Europe sets up transactions channel with Iran: DW: 31.01.2019. Retrieved from https://www.dw.com/en/instex-europe-sets-up-transactions-channel-with-iran/a-47303580.


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Maryland Introduces Bill to Conditionally Prohibit California’s Car Ban
DON’T DELAY! Please contact lawmakers to request their support for this bill:
Overview: Lawmakers in Maryland, including State Automotive Enthusiast Leadership Caucus Chair Del. Kevin Hornberger, has introduced SAN-supported legislation (H.B. 487) which would prevent the state from adopting California’s 2035 ban on the sale of new gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks unless certain conditions are met. If approved, H.B. 487 would require the state to study the economic impact of such a ban on consumers and small businesses, as well as the electrical grid, and require authorization from the legislature to move forward. The House Environment and Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear the bill on February 24th.


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Samurai Messenger Service prepares to deliver a packaged mattress from the bed delivery company Casper in New York.
Yana Paskova | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Gone are the days of flopping onto mattress after mattress in a stuffy showroom floor.
Online mattress companies that ship to your front door say that finding the perfect bed might just take a few clicks. But experts warn that it’s important to look beneath the sheets. They say many mattresses being sold are actually very similar — despite how they’re marketed.
“The products that you’re buying — there are many similarities and only some minor differences,” said Seth Basham, an analyst at Wedbush Securities who covers the mattress industry. He said that the core of the mattresses at different companies often use the same foam. “The different layers — what goes on top of what, can differ. But the big difference is how they’re being sold and marketed.”
There are now around 175 bed-in-a-box companies in business, estimated Michael Magnuson, founder of mattress review site GoodBed.com. Their sales account for 12% of the $16.5 billion mattress industry, though only the top 10 companies make a significant dent, according to Basham. Among the major players are brands like Purple, Casper, Nectar, Leesa, and Tuft & Needle.
Mattress giants like Tempur Sealy and Serta Simmons should be nervous, said Peter Keith, an analyst at Piper Jaffray. Sales units on average at those companies have been down 5% over the past two years.
A survey by the International Sleep Products Association reported that 45% of mattresses purchased in last year were online, up from 35% for purchases in 2017.
Purple is the only public bed-in-a-box company, after it merged with a public investment shell company in 2018 at a valuation of $1.1 billion. Its stock has dropped 40% since the merger, and the company is currently valued at $355 million. Like many other bed-in-a-box companies, according to Basham, Purple has not yet seen a profit. In 2018, the company made $285 million in sales, and reported a net loss of $19.6 million.
Profit is hard to come by because the ease of forming an online mattress company makes the market competitive, according to Basham. “Barriers to entry are low, but barriers to profitability are high,” he said. “It doesn’t take that much to design a mattress, a marketing campaign, put up a website, and have one of these big companies like Carpenter do the fulfillment for you,” he said, referring to one of the key mattress manufacturing companies.
A rolled up Purple mattress on a doorstep.
Source: Purple Innovations
The majority of bed-in-a-boxes outsource their manufacturing, according to Magnuson from GoodBed.com. “None of these guys, with a few rare exceptions, make their own mattresses,” he said. “They’re literally calling around to producers saying, ‘we need a finished product and here’s what we think it should look like.’ Sometimes, they don’t even know what they want it to look like.”
The companies that make their own mattresses include Brentwood Home, Brooklyn Bedding and Purple, Magnuson said. Many of the bigger bed-in-a-boxes do the research and development of the mattresses themselves, which differentiate how they feel. And companies like Tuft & Needle, Casper and Leesa have layers of foam with proprietary formulas, which means they’re not the same as others.
Most of the outsourcing is to just four major manufacturers, according to Dan Schecter, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Carpenter. He said his company makes mattresses for 40% of the mattress industry at 60 factories throughout the country. That includes including roughly 14 bed-in-a-box brands, along with all the traditional players like Tempur Sealy.
“The customer comes to us … they say they want a mattress that does these things against the body, and they would like to have these features and advantages as part of their marketing story. We then create the mattresses that dovetail with what their vision is,” he said.
Layla CEO Akrum Sheikh said companies that manufacture their own products are “at a disadvantage as they may find themselves being limited to the use of their own technologies and capabilities.”
“In order for Layla customers to truly benefit from the product, we believe in a business model that combines utilizing licensed technology and abilities from multiple manufactures combined with our own proprietary inventions bundled up into one superior product,” Sheikh said. “This model allows us to innovate and create without restrictions.”
Schecter said the mattresses produced by Carpenter do not have the same foam formulations, and that the company only agrees to design and manufacture mattresses that are backed by science.
Purple emphasizes the science behind its mattresses, especially its “Smart Comfort Grid” layer, which it says helps to relieve pressure on your body during sleep. Eight Sleep is another company that’s technology-oriented, and touts its mattresses’ dual temperature control and sleep tracking app.
Innovations like these are helping brands to differentiate themselves, according to Keith.
“For a while there were a lot of similarities, but you’re starting to see the bigger companies diversifying their offerings,” he said. For example, some brands are now selling luxury and cheaper versions, or hybrid models that include both foam and springs.
But all the different offerings might just overwhelm consumers, said David Srere, co-CEO of ad agency Siegel+Gale.
“It’s the amount of information. There’s just too much,” he said. “If you go online, not only do all of them look alike, but they’re all talking about their different products. If I tell you that my mattress is special because it’s infused with copper gel, does it mean anything to you?”
Layla, Sleep Science and Propel by Brooklyn Bedding all sell copper-infused mattresses. DreamCloud, Leesa, and Walmart-owned Allswell are just some of the brands offering hybrid mattresses.
Brentwood Home and Sleep Science were not immediately available for comment.
And the sameness between companies applies to their marketing and brand identities, too, according to Armin Vit, co-founder of graphic design firm UnderConsideration. He sees resemblances in the companies’ colors, fonts and advertising messages. “You can see a similar approach,” he said. “In my mind, Casper was the first, so I think they sort of set the tone. They did well, and others followed.”
Casper, which was founded in 2014, was among the first bed-in-a-box company to gain widespread recognition. Their logo, which is navy blue with a sans-serif font, has similarities with Leesa’s, launched in 2015, Nectar’s, which was founded in 2016, and Purple’s, also formed in 2016.
Vit said that the likeness of the logos and marketing might be intentional. “The goal is for something to look familiar,” he said, because there’s a chance consumers will mix up someone’s mattress recommendation with another company’s.
“It’s not ideal, it’s not the most creative or authentic thing to do, but it’s kind of like getting sales and getting customers with confusion in the marketplace.”
Each companies’ messaging isn’t much better. For example, Casper says its memory foam mattresses is for “those who want a ‘just right’ feel whether you sleep on your back, side or stomach,” while the Nectar’s mattress firmness is also “just right” and provides “optimal comfort and support — whether you sleep on your front, back, or side.”
Vit said, “There’s a certain comfort in doing what the successful company’s doing. Someone takes the lead and everyone else says, ‘Hey, that seems good, let’s go there.’ It’s not exciting, but it’s sort of smart.”
Roku could fall another 30% before finding a bottom, chart suggests
The streaming wars may have claimed a new victim.
Roku shares plummeted nearly 30% last week, its worst weekly performance stretching to its 2017 IPO.
The streaming platform stock was pummeled Friday after Pivotal Research slapped a sell rating and $60 price target on it, fearing a rush of competition in the space. It was crushed days earlier after CNBC owner Comcast announced it would offer a free streaming box to its internet customers.
It could get even worse, according to Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Jaffray.
Roku has “violated the uptrend support line off those April lows of this year. You’ve got some support that comes in at $113. But purely based upon the charts, your best support comes in all the way back down at the 200-day moving average. So you can see the stock trade back down to $81, maybe even $75,” Johnson said Friday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”
A move down to $75 marks 30% downside from current levels. It has not traded at that price since May.
“The risk/reward isn’t favorable. Even though the stock is up, it has sold off quite a bit in here recently. I still think you got about 30% downside and maybe a relief rally of 7% upside, so I’d be selling into this move,” said Johnson.
Quint Tatro, founder of Joule Financial, does not see Pivotal’s note on Roku as the stock’s death knell.
“Obviously, the stock got way overheated, trading 25 times sales, but [Pivotal’s] rationale regarding losing market share I don’t agree with. You have to understand, this is a cord-cutting product so their whole rationale is that the cable companies are going to offer their own device for free in order to compete. I’m a Roku user. I own six of them in our home and office. I have not had cable for years so I would not switch to a cable device,” Tatro said on the show.
Tatro says a pullback in Roku’s share price to 14 to 15 times sales, around $100, would make him a buyer. Roku would need to fall 7% from Friday’s close to get to that level.
Disclosure: Comcast is the owner of NBCUniversal, parent company of CNBC and CNBC.com.
The market rotation this month may have been driven by a technicality
A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange in New York.
Wang Ying | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images
What exactly happened during the “once in a decade” stock market rotation earlier this month that rocked investors? It might’ve just been a one-off technical move and not based on fundamentals.
A huge rotation out of momentum into value names took place suddenly last week. Many read the phenomenon as a warning sign as stocks with superior growth have led the market’s bull run in recent years and said a rebound in interest rates was the catalyst. However, the reversal in momentum, which seemed to abate this week, could be explained by a sudden stop in tax loss harvesting, some on Wall Street said.
The idea is that investors often sell losing stocks to lower their tax bill from the capital increases, a technical move that’s quintessential of a momentum trade — chasing winners and dumping losers. The amount of such activity might have decreased significantly last week due to speculations the Trump administration would pass a bill to reduce capital-gain taxes, therefore reducing the incentive to sell their losers.
“It’s quite possible some of the dominant robo advisors could have assumed that the U.S. administration would indeed follow through with its proposal on Sept. 9, and decided to change their optimization to take this into account,” Barclay’s head of equity derivatives strategy Maneesh Deshpande said in a note on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump earlier this month floated a proposal to tie capital gains taxes to the inflation rate, which could lower the taxes investors pay on profits from selling assets. He eventually ruled out such a plan on Sept. 11. But the discussion around the proposal last week coincided with the change in stock leadership that shocked many investors.
Tax loss harvesters might have stopped selling losers and adding winners on the prospect that capital-gains taxes would go down, which could make tax loss selling less beneficial. Such a change could have caused the downturn in momentum due to less selling of falling stocks and less buying of rising names.
The amount of active tax loss harvesting has ballooned over the years as robo-advisers, which automatically allocate assets in a tax efficient way, gained popularity on Main Street. Robo-advisers now manage about $1 trillion assets, up from $240 billion in 2007, according to Barclays.
“Of course, it is also entirely possible that some other investors would have put on the trade in anticipation of such a proposal,” Deshpande said.
The iShares S&P 500 Value ETF hit its highest level since January 2018 on Sept. 11 as the rotation hit its pinnacle.
Value, cyclical companies with low prices relative to earnings and book values tend to be sensitive to economic growth. However, embracing the group without a material change in the economy doesn’t make a lot of sense, analysts warned.
“Absent an improvement in underlying economics, we believe that the recent shift in leadership is unlikely to persist,” Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at Credit Suisse said in a note Monday.
‘Game of Thrones’ ends run with best drama award, 59 total Emmy Awards
D. B. Weiss (C, speaking), David Benioff (3rd L) and cast and crew of ‘Game of Thrones’ accept the Outstanding Drama Series award onstage during the 71st Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater on September 22, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Winter | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Despite mixed fan and critic reactions to the final season of “Game of Thrones,” the eight-season epic took home the top prize in the drama category at the Emmy Awards on Sunday.
Closing out the 71st annual television awards ceremony, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss thanked creator George R. R. Martin for entrusting his book series to the young producers more than a decade ago and praised the cast and crew for their work on the program.
Since 2011, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has garnered 160 Emmy nominations and taken home 59 prizes for everything from acting and editing to special effects and sound mixing.
On Sunday, the program earned two Emmys, one for outstanding supporting actor, which went to Peter Dinklage for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, and one for outstanding drama.
Earlier in the month, “Game of Thrones” won 10 additional awards during the Creative Arts Emmy ceremony.
“Game of Thrones” final award tally falls short of the 67 Emmys that “Saturday Night Live” has accrued over its 44 seasons. “SNL” earned two statues on Sunday, one for outstanding variety sketch series and one for outstanding directing.
The final season was widely criticized by fans who felt the pacing and its treatment of previous character developments were not up to par. Still, the show continued to have record-breaking viewership.
Each episode, save for one, topped viewer counts from the season seven finale, which was the series high prior to season eight’s release.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
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LAST UPDATED : Apr 07, 2018, 02:00 PM IST
- High court to private schools: Recommend only competitively-priced books
The Uttarakhand high court on Friday while hearing a petition that challenged the state government’s decision to use only NCERT books in schools told private schools to prescribe books that are “competitively priced” with NCERT books. A day earlier, the court had rapped private publishers for selling books that were highly priced, remarking that they should be selling coal instead of books if they wanted to earn profits. The HC also said that schools would have to upload a list of books and their prices on their website and will have to inform about the same to the state government as well as the CBSE.


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Massive amounts of data are being created driven by
billions of sensors all around us such as cameras, smart
phones, cars as well as the large amounts of data across
enterprises, education systems and organizations. In
the age of big data, artificial intelligence (AI), machine
learning and deep learning deliver unprecedented
insights in the massive amounts of data.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos spoke about the potential of
artificial intelligence and machine learning at the 2017
Internet Association‘s annual gala in Washington, D.C.,
“It is a renaissance, it is a golden age,” Bezos said.
“We are solving problems with machine learning and
artificial intelligence that were in the realm of science
fiction for the last several decades. Natural language
understanding, machine vision problems, it really is
an amazing renaissance.” Machine learning and AI is a
horizontal enabling layer. It will empower and improve
every business, every government organization, every
Digital technology is so intrinsic to our personal lives that we barely think
about the fitness trackers and smartphones that are as much a part of
us as the clothing we wear. For organizations, the shift to digital is more
disruptive and the stakes far higher. Digital transformation has been high
on the executive agenda for a few years and, for many, harnessing data
has become a significant force for value and revenue creation.
Agility has emerged as an organizational superpower as businesses
grapple with change and uncertainty in their own customer bases and in
the global political and economic landscape. IT has been thrust into the
spotlight as the unwitting hero of the story – tasked with delivering on
the digital vision, implementing all manner of applications and building
firm infrastructure foundations to support the latest digital initiatives.
In an increasingly on-demand world, it is this final point that often gets
overlooked in the rush for the next shiny new technologies. E
Massive amounts of data are being created driven by billions of sensors all around us such as cameras, smart phones, cars as well as the large amounts of data across enterprises, education systems and organizations. In the age of big data, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and deep learning deliver unprecedented insights in the massive amounts of data
If there are any lingering doubts that mobile de-vices-such as smartphones and tablets-have profoundly transformed today's business, one study finds that using smart devices for produc-tivity is "now the standard.
Whether you were at the forefront of the mobility era or are just now catching up—or, most likely, somewhere in between—you’ve already experienced first-hand the business impact of ubiquitous smartphones and tablets. From employees to customers, mobile devices spawned an explosion in new applications, data, support needs, security concerns, and other issues. They’ve reset expectations for organizational speed and flexibility. They’ve dramatically increased the surface area for potential security attacks. All this, and the mobile era is still just in its infancy.
Die Möglichkeit, auf Smartphones und Tablets schlanke Apps auszuführen, hat zu einem Quantensprung des Potenzials von Mobile Devices am Arbeitsplatz geführt. Apps bieten Unternehmen deutliche Vorteile hinsichtlich der Maximierung der Konnektivität, Verfügbarkeit, Flexibilität und Produktivität von Mitarbeitern.
We can quote innumerable stats to impress, but there is no need—it is apparent that the world is getting more connected. Today’s connectivity will seem primitive in a few years as the connectivity extends beyond smartphones, tablets and computers to concepts such as devices implanted in the human body.
The existence of smartphones and tablets able to run lightweight apps has created a quantum leap in the potential of mobile devices in the workplace. Apps present enterprises with clear benefits in terms of maximizing employee connectivity, availability, flexibility and productivity.
In recent years, the concept of “Anywhere, Anytime Computing” has become the common denominator in driving personal electronic device sales, as users are adopting to new categories of devices such as smartphones, tablets, and smartTVs. These devices enable consumers and employees to access information and services from almost any device at any time. Gartner studies show that the estimated mobile phone market is to reach 1.8 billion devices in 2013.
The financial services industry has been significantly impacted by the increasing use of technology from smartphones to wearables. This transformation in methods of transacting has enabled more personalized engagement, allowing customers to use multiple channels simultaneously to engage in seamless, multi-dimensional banking. This has also increased both the potential and complexity of creating a positive customer experience.
"From APIs to employee-owned smartphones, there are more access points to corporate data than ever before. Have businesses updated their security strategies to reflect this explosion of new targets for potential breaches? In June 2017, Google commissioned Forrester Consulting to examine how security experts think about endpoint security and learn how the cloud is helping businesses address new vulnerabilities.
Download the Forrester report and find out more."
Akamai Download Delivery speeds your content to online audiences and lowers distribution costs while giving consumers the download experience they expect – whether they’re on their desktops, smartphones or other connected devices.
When asked how important technology is to driving innovation in their organizations, 100 percent of CEOs indicated it was important, with 80 percent pointing out that it’s very important, according to HP sponsored research. Even CIOs agree with their CEOs.
According to the same research, when asked whether or not technology will be the innovation engine or administrative engine for a business or government, approximately two out of three CEOs said it would be the “innovation engine.” This represents a significant shift in the role that technology is playing in enterprises.
Today, organizations demand new applications and more functionality delivered more quickly, and at a lower cost than ever before. Many organizations either want a mobile application or are already using one. In fact, according to analysts, by 2016 350 million employees will use smartphones at work and businesses will increase spending on mobile projects over 100 percent in the same time.
Published By: Intermec
Published Date: Jun 20, 2013
Millions of new smart phones continue to ship every month, and many of them find their way into businesses to help workers do their jobs in innovative new ways. However, many of these same phones will be replaced within a year because they are not durable enough to work reliably in new enterprise work environments. In this white paper, learn why emerging enterprise applications require ruggedness and reliability.
The network has never been as critical to the healthcare sector as it is today. Electronic health records, Wi-Fi-connected medical devices, and clinician smart phones are among a plethora of healthcare technologies that depend on a stable network.
The consistent development of this infrastructure is key for the healthcare sector to continue its successes in creating new possibilities for management, patient and family experience, and patient outcomes.
Extreme Networks posed key questions to Nolan Greene, a senior research analyst with IDC’s Network Infrastructure group, who highlights the critical issues healthcare IT professionals must consider when building a network that maintains industry needs.
Download this report to learn about:
• Why having a modern healthcare infrastructure is so important
• The major challenges IoT brings to healthcare networks
• How IEC 80001 is impacting compliance
• Trends that confront a network IT professional in healthcare
• Risks Healthcare IT must eli
Published By: Brother
Published Date: Mar 08, 2018
The last decade has seen many exciting advances
in connectivity accelerated by the near universal
availability of smartphones and tablets – leading to a
highly interconnected world.
The security of networks - and the businesses and
individuals that rely on them - has become top of mind
for the IT Security professionals who are responsible for
ensuring the safety of the data and the networks where
this information is utilized.
As high-visibility security breaches occur - affecting
ecommerce, banking, retail and other industries - the
critical importance of the security of the infrastructure
these businesses rely on continues to grow.
Security in the workplace is a daily fact of life. From
using ID cards to control physical access, to entering
passwords to join the network, to using software to
monitor and prevent unauthorized access, all are
routinely used to protect critical assets and information.
However, there is one key area where many
organizations still have potential vulnerabili
Your directors may not have approved it, your IT department may not be ready for it, but your employees are already using their smartphones and tablets for work tasks. Don’t fight the change, embrace it: a mobile workforce can pay huge dividends for productivity and employee satisfaction. Download this e-Book to learn:
• How giving your employees the choice to work from home can save $11,000 per year
• What tool you can give your employees to boost creative innovation by 250%
• Why organizations embracing mobility claim 320 hours more work per employee
There’s no denying that today’s workforce is “mobile.” Inspired by the ease and simplicity of their own personal devices, today’s workforce relies on a variety of tools to accomplish their business tasks — desktops, smart phones, tablets, laptops or other connected devices — each with varying operating systems.
The specific tasks they need to accomplish? That depends on the person. But it’s safe to say remotely logging in and out of legacy, desktop, mobile, software as-a-service (SaaS) and cloud applications is a given.
And the devices on which they work? They could be owned by the enterprise or the end user, with varying levels of company oversight, security and management. The result? An overabundance of “flexibility” that leads to fundamental IT challenges of security and manageability.
The digital economy is dramatically changing how your customers buy products and services, and how they interact with your business. As customers increasingly use multiple devices (including
Smartphones) to make their purchases, they expect fast, consistent and highly secure experiences – and you need to deliver. At the same time, you should remain vigilant about fraud. Effective fraud management is critical, not only for reducing risk, but also for accepting more good customer orders, improving customer engagement, controlling costs and achieving competitive advantage.
Mobile devices are everywhere. 95% of UK millennials now use smartphones1; and it’s estimated that across the globe, nearly a billion more people now use mobile phones today than did five years ago.2 Mobile commerce will continue to grow as smartphones continue to be adopted. For example, forecasts for Europe’s EU 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) show mCommerce will account for 43.8% of eCommerce sales by 2020, compared to 32.9% in 2016.3 As fraud teams determine which orders to accept or reject, fraud managers are key to providing a seamless mobile checkout experience. But they also need to protect their business from fraud – and from the damage it can cause to bottom line, customer experience and brand.


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India outperforms leading economies including the US, the UK, China, Japan, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, France, and Canada, with the highest growth in parcel volumes in 2022 as per research released by Pitney Bowes
New Delhi: India’s parcel volumes increased to 18% in 2022 from 8% in 2021 to make it the country with the highest growth in parcel volumes, surpassing all other countries measured by Global shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes Inc. in its Parcel Shipping Index 2022, according to a release by the company.
Pitney Bowes Inc. released the new Parcel Shipping Index, featuring 2022 data from 13 major countries around the world. According to the Index, India surpassed all other countries measured in the Index, including the US, UK, China, Germany, Japan, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, France, and Canada, the released added.
In 2022, India shipped, received, and returned 3.2 billion parcels, surpassing the expectations of pre-pandemic forecasts. This figure represents a substantial increase from the 8% growth witnessed in 2021, illustrating the accelerated momentum of e-commerce activities.
With an average of 8.8 million parcels shipped each day, amounting to 102 parcels per second, India demonstrates its position as a thriving market for both domestic and international parcel shipping.
The per capita parcel volume in India experienced a substantial surge, from a single-digit 7% increase in 2021 to an impressive 16% growth in 2022. This surge translated to an average of 10 parcels shipped per household in 2022, reflecting the growing reliance on e-commerce for the daily needs of Indian families.
“After a sharp decline in parcel volume at -21% in 2020 and marginal growth of 8% in 2021, it’s fitting to see India’s recovery with the highest surge in global parcel volume at 18%, indicating a future brimming with opportunities for India’s e-commerce ecosystem,” Pankaj Sachdeva, managing director, India Innovation, Pitney Bowes said.
The Index further revealed that the global parcel volumes increased by 1% in 2022, impacted largely due to the lockdowns in China. China parcels grew at the slowest rate in Index history, hitting 111 billion parcels in 2022, marking only a 2% growth due to lockdowns and COVID outbreaks.
The Index estimates parcel volume in India will most likely reach 5 billion by 2028, with a 6.5% CAGR from 2023-2028. Overall, carriers saw an increase in revenue in 2022 from 2021. SafeEx generated the highest revenue of $874 million with YOY (year-on-year) growth of 12%, followed by BlueDart at $855 million and Delhivery at $634 million, DTDC at $512 million, followed by Amazon Logistics at $498 million.
The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index measures parcel volume and spends for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business and consumer-consigned shipments with weights up to 31.5kg across Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Population data points were sourced from Macrotrends.net. The Index represents the parcel shipping activity of 3.7 billion people.
Pitney Bowes is a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services to more than 90 % of the Fortune 500.


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A two-day international denim conference will be held at IIM-Ahmedabad on October 29 and 30, the Ahmedabad unit of Textile Association of India (TAI) announced on Monday.
To be jointly organised by TAI and fibre2fashion, the “International Conference on Denims — the new face of Indian Textiles and Apparel Industry” will host the heads of denim giants like Levi Strauss & Co, Cotton Inc (both US), Jeanologia (Spain), and Arvind Ltd and Mafatlal Denims (both India).
Delegates from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also expected (most of the manufacturing units are concentrated in Asia), but Chinese delegates have not confirmed their participation, organisers said though China is considered to be the biggest denim producer.
P R Roy of TAI said the domestic demand for denim had bailed out the industry during the global meltdown, but the ongoing “currency war” is affecting profit margins as the dollar is losing value to the rupee.
“There is an annual demand of about 240 to 260 million pairs of jeans in India now, which would amount to roughly 300 million metres of denim (roughly half of India’s annual production). The market is now domestic,” said Roy.
He added that the unorganised denim retail is stronger and bigger than the organised retail market. But that may change as the Diwali season has boosted sales in the organized sector.
The domestic demand may see a sudden rise if denim houses decide to vigorously market in the rural areas, he added.
He said India still has to catch up with China, which had produced three billion metres of denim in 2007. But the fact that China has converted two million hectares previously used for cotton cultivation — a major component of denim — to grow food crops, and has started relying on imports from the US and India, has tilted the race in India’s favour.


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Food brand Yeo Valley Organic has rolled out connected packaging across all products as part of the new ‘Put Nature First’ brand platform. Working with connected consumer agency SharpEnd, Yeo Valley Organic says it can now engage directly with consumers through its most scalable media asset.
Consumers will be able to use their smartphones to scan the ’Moo-R’ QR codes, which can be found on over 100 million products, linking to its ‘Yeokens’ reward program and bringing to life ongoing nature-led initiatives. Customers will have access to specific product information, brand content, and future promotions. According to the company, the dynamic digital experiences adjust based on the product, customer location, and the time of day.
Adrian Carne, managing director of Yeo Valley, said, “We’re pleased to bring our customers the next phase of experiences and rewards through this easy to use technology. Using QR codes across our product family creates fast and seamless access to fantastic rewards and stages our content about putting nature first.”
“We want to inspire others about the benefits of organic and how it’s one crucial factor in addressing the climate crisis. Our content will encourage everyone to put nature first in their own small way, whether that’s buying British organic dairy more often, reducing food waste or encouraging wildlife into their garden. It’s the little things that everyone can do to make a difference and that is what we’ll be highlighting in our connected packaging.”
Cameron Worth, founder of SharpEnd, added, “We are proud to bring Yeo Valley Organic closer than ever to their consumers.”
The campaign uses SharpEnd’s corresponding data and experience platform – io.tt – to issue, manage, and measure over 100 million identities and ensure each digital experience can be enhanced as the campaign evolves. Through io.tt analytics, Yeo Valley Organic can build consumer profiles and track engagement across the product portfolio.
This article first appeared on the AIPIA website and is republished with permission.


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According to the latest news, a new report has revealed that Apple and Kia are nearing a deal that would have the former make a 3.6 billion US Dollar investment into the latter. With this deal, the company will manufacture electric vehicles in the near future.
DongA reported that Apple is apparently planning on working with the Hyundai subsidiary, Kia, for its production site in Georgia, US. As per the report, the iPhone maker is expecting that its large investment production of electric vehicles will begin by 2024. The report reveals that Apple has targeted manufacturing as many as 100000 cars per year in the short run and with a long term target of reaching 400,000 units per year.
According to reports from people who are close to the matter, Apple is leaning towards Hyundai as its primary partner to enter the car manufacturing market. The main reason behind this is due to the automobile giant’s electric vehicle platform, E-GMP, and its production facilities in the US. Overall, Kia will be responsible for handling the production and manufacturing process.
On the other hand, Apple will be in control of the self-driving or autonomous systems that includes the software, hardware, user experience, battery technologies, semiconductors, along with other aspects.
Apple and Hyundai have been in talks about the production of electric vehicles for some time now. As of now, it is not clear that whether the deal is set in stone as the reports claim or the automobile maker’s execs are still assessing the deal.


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Panda. Umbrella. Train. Exclamation point. You name it; there is an emoji for it. And brands are incorporating more and more of them into their messaging. According to eMarketer, of those surveyed, 39 percent thought that brands that used emojis were fun, with 13 percent finding brands more relatable. From social media to outdoor boards, commercials and press releases (remember the Chevy emoji press release?), emoji’s have infiltrated brand messaging. But for PR, it’s not only about building relationships; it is about becoming more social too. Who knows? Maybe a Pokémon emoji press release is on the horizon. Take a look.
Emojis make brands fun and relatable. More brands are using emojis in their messaging than a year ago, and most mobile phone users have a positive perception of brands that do so, June 2016 research found.
It’s not about the release anymore. PR is now social PR. Ten years ago, PR was a two letter occupation. Now, PR is so much more. See how.
Pokémon Go: How brands can catch ‘em all. A month later and Pokémon Go has already changed the way marketers and advertisers are thinking about young consumers.
Meanwhile back at the RANCH
Are you up-to-date on the latest Facebook algorithm changes? The social network has changed their algorithm, yet again, to give users more of what they want. Speaking of, consumers still want deals and discounts. See here.
What marketers need to know about Facebook’s latest changes. Here are two key tips to working your Page harder under the new Facebook algorithm.
Discounts and deals: 3 things to know about the recessionary mindset. You can take the consumer out of the Great Recession, but you can’t take the Great Recession out of the consumer. Here are three things to know about the recessionary mindset.
THE Topic of conversation
Instagram. Learn how your business can use Instagram to build brand awareness and increase engagement. Download our free whitepaper “Why your business should be marketing on Instagram.”
SHARING is CARING
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These metro areas rated highest on hiring, licensing, regulation, zoning and more.
Based on home prices, median income and mortgage rates, these 10 cities have the most affordable home prices in the nation, according to the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo.
Japanese capital edges out last year's No. 1 Luanda, Angola, in report on cost of living for foreign business people relocated to cities around the globe.
The U.S. has significantly reduced its air pollution, but there's still a lot of work to be done. These 10 cities had the highest levels of year-round particle pollution, according to the American Lung Association's 2012 rankings.
Economic activity declined in these states in 2011.
These classic cars went for seven figure sums at the world's premier classic car event.
How can movie theaters compete when many prefer to watch streaming video from their own comfy couches? Some hope a new interactive technology will lure audiences with ...
While these events are best known for seven-figure classics, just about everything crosses the block at Pebble Beach.
It's not easy to wrap great looks around a small, inexpensive car. But the designers behind these five models totally nailed it.
London is now cheaper than New York and Hong Kong, according to Savills' latest ranking of residential and office rental costs.
Here are five drop-tops that let you see the sky at a down-to-earth price.
These cars are the most beloved among American drivers based on JD Power's annual survey of new vehicle buyers.
Many graduates from the Indian Institute of Technology have gone on to start and lead global tech companies. Here are a few of the most notable alums.
Carroll Shelby's own very first Shelby Cobra will be sold in August. It's almost certain to be the most valuable American car ever sold.


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Ryanair, Europe’s No. 1 airline, today (11 Oct) launched 1 new Vilnius route to Athens as part of its summer 2018 schedule, with one weekly services, which will go on sale on the Ryanair.com website today.
Lithuanian customers and visitors can look forward to even lower fares and enjoy the latest “Always Getting Better” customer improvements, including:
- Reduced checked-in bag fees – one €25 fee, one 20kg size
- 20 Air Europa long haul routes from Madrid on sale on Ryanair.com
- Connecting flights at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Bergamo with more airports to follow
- A new partnership with Erasmus Network offering students discounts & a dedicated booking platform
- Alexa voice recognition to search flights, hotels and flight status on the Ryanair.com website
Ryanair’s Chris Lundshøj said:
“Ryanair is pleased to return to Vilnius with a new route to/from Athens. This new one weekly service will go on sale on the Ryanair.com website today.
To celebrate, we are releasing seats on sale from Vilnius from just €24.99 for travel from 16th of May to 14th of June 2018, subject to availability, which are available for booking until midnight Friday 13th October 2017. Since these amazing low fares will be snapped up quickly, customers should log onto www.ryanair.com and avoid missing out.”


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Businesses with over Rs 20 cr turnover to mandatorily generate e-invoice from Apr 1, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has said. Under Goods and Services Tax (GST) regulation, e-invoicing for business-to-business (B2B) exchanges was made compulsory for organizations with a turnover of over Rs 500 crore from October 1, 2020, which was then reached out to those with a turnover of over Rs 100 crore from January 1, 2021.
From April 1 last year, organizations with a turnover of more than Rs 50 crore were producing B2B e-invoices. This is presently being reached out to organizations with a turnover of over Rs 20 crore.
With this, more providers would be expected to raise e-statements with impact from April 1, 2022. On the off chance that the receipt isn’t substantial, input tax reduction on the equivalent can’t be profited by the beneficiary alongside applicable punishments.


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Earlier today during TennoCon, the people at Digital Extremes made a key announcement regarding the future of Warframe. The let fans, players, and media know that the game was officially coming to the Nintendo Switch. The game has been out for over five years and is already a popular title for PC as well as PS4 and Xbox One. Now the company is bringing it to Nintendo's console, making it available on all current-gen systems. Here's a bit from the press release today.
With more than 38 million registered players worldwide, the cooperative, free-to-play hit Warframe is a third-person online action game set in an evolving sci-fi world soon to be available on Nintendo Switch. Warframe gives players the chance to master the Warframe armor as the enigmatic Tenno, a race of ancient warriors wielding blade and gun, who are awakened from centuries of cryo-sleep by the mysterious guide, Lotus, to restore order throughout the Solar System. Warframe features more than 35 unique Warframes, hundreds of weapons and thousands of customization options, the ability to upgrade weapons armor and items using a flexible mod system, and the ability to join clans, nurture pets, and explore massive new open worlds.
No word was mentioned about any of the finer details like a release date or game size, so those of you hoping to hear about crossplay will have to wait until they make an official comment on the matter. The company has been teasing crossplay for years but has yet to come to fruition. Basically, there's a lot of unanswered questions as this was just meant to pop the fans and get them excited to see it on a Switch. Hopefully, more comes out next week.


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It’s very common for new entrepreneurs to feel apprehension over whether their fledgling businesses will take flight.
But the fear of failure can haunt business builders years into a seemingly successful venture. Pie Face founder Wayne Homshek is proof that the nerves don’t depart after the first year in business.
Currently preparing his business for a $100 million stock market float, it wasn’t so long ago that Homshek was seriously worried about the quirky retailer.
Get daily business news.
The latest stories, funding information, and expert advice. Free to sign up.
Today, he speaks to StartupSmart to pass on his tips on how start-ups can emerge from the self-doubt.


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If you can't wait until tomorrow to see the new iPhone 6, you don't need to. Videos of the 4.7-inch iPhone are appearing on Chinese websites. These are fully functional phones, though apparently without a SIM card. The video below shows the phone running iOS 8 applications, and gives demos of some of the apps. So much is now known about the device that its introduction Tuesday will be almost anticlimactic.
The key word in Apple's invitation to Tuesday's announcement was "more" and it appears Apple is making good on that, if the New York Times is to be believed. Instead of just one iPhone with more screen real estate (4.7 inches) we may indeed get two, with a 5.5-inch model expected as well. I've written that Apple could go with iPhone Air and iPhone Pro, but we will have to see what they announce.
According to 9To5Mac, market analyst Ming-Chi
Kuo has recently offered up a bunch of details about the
iWatch, though it's hard to tell where inside information ends and speculation begins. He says that although we won't see an
iWatch until 2015, Apple will be announcing it on Tuesday in order to encourage developers to create apps for it. And he believes it will come with
8 GB of storage and 512 MB RAM, as well as two different rectangular display sizes: 1.3 and 1.5 inches. He also suggests there will be a gold colored
iWatch to match the gold colored iPhone
5s and iPhone 6. Of course he expects it to have a range of health and fitness sensors. I'm certainly hoping Apple announces it Tuesday.
Apple may be announcing their biggest iPhone yet, next week, but Samsung is determined to steal their thunder today by introducing the Galaxy Note Edge. Apple may announce a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch model on Tuesday, but Samsung hopes to trump them both with a 5.6-inch Quad HD+ Super AMOLED display and a resolution of 2560x1440. What really sets the new Samsung apart is the screen overlaps the edge of the phone, thanks to flexible OLED technology, so you can see a small bit from the sides!
The resale value of earlier-generation iPhones remains high, with a wide variety of companies competing to give you the best price. A great article on MarketWatch gives a brief overview of the prices being offered. If you're willing to sell your phone in return for a gift card, Amazon may have the best deal, offering $394 for a 16GB iPhone 5s and $255 for an iPhone 5. If you want cash, Gazelle will give you up to $300 for your iPhone 5s, while both Gazelle and NextWorth offer $185 for your iPhone 5. Apple will give you a $255 gift card for an iPhone 5. WalMart also offers a pretty good deal: $275 for an iPhone 5s and $166 for an iPhone 5.
Apple's invitation for their September 9 event is brief but ends with the word "more." Obviously more can refer to the larger screen of the next iPhone, presumably 4.7-inch. But a 5.5-inch model has also been seen in the wild, and while it may not be as far along as the 4.7-inch model, iPhone lovers are hoping it will be announced next week along with its smaller brother.
We're all (patiently?) waiting for the next iPhone to be announced, and the rumor mills go back and forth on whether an iWatch will be announced at the same time. Such a watch might not look like a traditional watch, or like other smart watches from Samsung, Motorola and others. Instead, according to sources like the Motley Fool investment site, the finished product might look more like the Nike Fuelband. Instead of a full-featured touchscreen display that looks like a miniature iPhone, we might get something more minimalistic, with a small display, and interaction may be done through voice more than touch.
Of course, everyone is wondering what else Apple will introduce on Sept. 9 in addition to the iPhone 6. And according to the latest rumor, we won't see an iWatch. DigitTimes, which gets their information from Apple's suppliers and which isn't always accurate, is reporting that the iWatch is still in the experimental verification testing phase, meaning that Apple is still tinkering with the design. Once the design is settled, then comes the production verification testing phase, in which Apple does some production runs to see if the device can be mass produced with relatively few devices rejected for defects. So even though some suppliers are allegedly already making components for the iWatch, DigiTimes says it's unlikely Apple will announce it on Sept. 9 and that we probably won't see it until 2015. But that doesn't necessarily imply we won't see a wearable from Apple or from someone else. After all, HealthKit should be compatible with a variety of third-party devices, so maybe we'll be introduced to one or more.
Rumors, reports, and videos are a-poppin' as we head toward the September 9 announcement, with Bloomberg reporting that the iPhone 6 will have an NFC chip and a new mobile payment system. Plus, a new video shows an assembled 4.7-inch iPhone, and another video shows the rear shell of the forthcoming 5.5-inch iPhone.
Apple's invitation is out, the date has been saved, and everyone is checking their upgrade eligibility. So what exactly is Apple announcing? Apple likes to use clues in their invitation. Last year, the invitation stated "This should brighten everyone's day" and included colorful circles, representative of the iPhone 5c, and a hollow circle that signaled the Touch ID fingerprint sensor.
I love Apple's invite to their special media event on September 9. It is both elegant and evocative, conveying a sense of grandness and excitement. One of the first things that struck me about the image used in the invite was that it was an enlargement of Apple's logo, and how apropos consider the anticipated nature of the upcoming event.
Apple sent out invitations today to an event to be held September 9, as was rumored. Not only is everyone expecting Apple to announce the iPhone 6, but also, according to the well-connected website Re/code, they will be introducing a wearable device. The invitation simply gives the date and, as usual, is very cryptic, saying only "Wish we could say more." If Apple follows their typical schedule, the new iPhone 6 will go on sale September 19. The event will be held at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts in Cupertino, which is three times larger and closer to Apple's headquarters than the usual venue at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. Not only that, but according to iMore, Apple is constructing a large, three-storey building next the Flint Center in advance of the event. And everyone is tight-lipped about what purpose it will serve.
All of this is exciting — that the date is finally official, and that Apple seems to be planning something big.
Game Centered features roundups and in-depth reviews of the best in iOS games and related gaming news. This week we have some awesome news on the mobile gaming front. First, popular game streaming site, Twitch TV, was bought out by Amazon. Hot on the heels of that development is news that we are going to be treated to a first of its kind, Twitch supported iOS game from mobile game developer Gameloft. Finally, if you've embraced the mobile gaming platform and are wondering when it's really going to take off as a competitive level eSport platform, take heart! Reputable research firm, Juniper, just released a report projecting absolutely amazing growth for the mobile gaming industry, and predicts that mobile games, more than ever, are the games of the future.
Citing unnamed sources, Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Apple is already preparing to manufacture a 12.9-inch iPad that's slated to come out in early 2015. Production will begin in the first quarter. The report says that Apple has been working with their suppliers for at least a year on a range of larger touch-screen devices. This new iPad would give the line three different sizes: 7.9 inches, 9.7 inches, and 12.9 inches.
There have been many conflicting rumors about whether the iPhone 6 will have a sapphire screen or not, but if you want a smartphone with a sapphire screen, you don't have to wait for Apple. I attended the Huawei press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and their CEO made no secret that they were trying to distinguish themselves among the Android vendors. Huawai is trying to go big in the smartphone market, and now, they have joined the sapphire craze.
"Patience, my son." That's the best advice for Apple watchers. Earlier this weekend I noticed a posting on another site raising a panic about iPhone delays due to display issues. It didn't seem worthy of coverage. Today, that same site carried a post saying not to worry and that even those delays are "baked in" and won't effect availability.
That charging cube we've all come to know and love might be getting some "love handles." A photo out of China shows a wider charging brick with indentations on the side to make it easier to grip. This could all be speculation, but it would make sense. Apple already has a different charging adapter for the iPad, because it uses more power, and the expectation is that the upcoming larger iPhone will use a battery that is almost 50 percent bigger than the iPhone 5s. It's understandable that it might need a more powerful charger than the current model.
As a developer for iOS, Mac OS, Android, Amazon Fire, Windows Phone, and even Samsung Bada, I have enough platforms to support. Apple makes it relatively easy and even though the next iPhone is likely to have a new screen resolution, it should be straightforward to accommodate. Android, however, is another story. This chart from Open Signal, via Gizmodo shows just how fragmented the Android market is.
While we've seen a lot of images online of parts purported to be for the 4.7-inch iPhone, there haven't been any glimpses of the 5.5-inch phone—until now. Posted on the website Evasion Jailbreak, the images show the back shell of the forthcoming 5.5-inch phone compared to a similar part from the 4.7-inch phone.
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Allied Domecq takeover bids03 Jun 2005
Constellation eyes up $14bn Allied bid
Constellation Brands, the world's biggest seller of wines, has lined up Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to finance a potential $14bn (â‚¬11.3bn) bid for Allied Domecq, according to people familiar with the matter.
Constellation, which is being advised by NM Rothschild and Merrill Lynch, has less than four weeks left to make a formal bid for Allied after the Takeover Panel-imposed June 29 deadline.
Allied agreed to be acquired by Pernod Ricard in April. Constellation has teamed up with Brown-Forman, maker of Jack Daniels whisky, and US private equity groups Blackstone Partners and Lions Capital to look at launching a counter-bid to Pernod Ricard and Fortune Brands.


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Apple has announced a multi-billion dollar deal with chipmaker Broadcom, aiming to incorporate more US-made components into its products.
As part of the long-term agreement, the two American companies will collaborate on the development of 5G device components that will be both designed and manufactured within the United States.
This partnership aligns with Apple’s 2021 commitment to invest $430 billion (£346 billion) in the US economy.
The move comes amid escalating trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, particularly within the technology industry. The US has implemented various measures against China’s chip manufacturing sector while also investing significant funds to strengthen its domestic semiconductor industry.
In recent times, US tech giants have faced growing scrutiny from lawmakers across party lines due to their heavy reliance on Chinese manufacturers and components.
To mitigate risks and diversify its supply chains, Apple has gradually expanded manufacturing operations beyond China, leveraging countries like India and Vietnam.
Last year, Apple announced its plans to procure semiconductors from a Taiwanese chipmaking giant, TSMC, which is constructing a factory in Arizona, USA.
Moreover, in 2022, Apple unveiled its strategy to manufacture the iPhone 14 in India, a crucial step toward broadening its manufacturing base outside of China. This expansion augmented the company’s existing Indian manufacturing operations, which had been active in the state of Tamil Nadu since 2017.
Recently, Apple introduced its first retail stores in India, located in Mumbai and Delhi, bolstering its presence in the country.
Under the new deal, which expands upon Apple’s existing partnership with Broadcom, components for Apple devices will be designed and produced in Colorado and other parts of the United States.
Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, expressed enthusiasm about the commitments made, emphasizing the utilization of American manufacturing’s ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit.
Tensions between the US and China have continued to escalate, with China recently labeling products from major US memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology as a national security risk, marking a significant move against an American chip maker by Beijing’s cyberspace regulator.


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Tag: Autonomous Driving
By 2025, Volkswagen aims to put a Level 4 autonomous vehicle on the roads with the VW ID Buzz AD for its subsidiary Moia.
In California, robotics startup Nuro has received the state's first commercial permit for autonomous deliveries with their robotic vehicle.
Autonomous driving is a central future topic in the automotive industry. Mercedes-Benz now wants to offer Level 3 automated driving for 2021.
To take advantage of the benefits of digitization, Tesla is planning its own insurance company that will incorporate the data and driver profiles of users.
If Elon Musk has its way, Tesla will still reach level 5 of autonomous driving this year, overtaking all other car manufacturers.


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Bihar to export organic mushrooms, vegetables
Patna: Bihar will export organic mushrooms and vegetables grown by hundreds of farmers in Nalanda district to Japan, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Hungary among other countries, official said. "After Chief Minister Nitish Kumar assured farmers of Nalanda who grow organic mushrooms and vegetables, the state government has decided to export them to several countries," an official in the chief minister's office here said.
During his visit to to organic farms in Nalanda Thursday, Kumar said that preparations are afoot to export mushrooms and vegetables to encourage farmers and provide them more opportunities for profit. According to Nalanda district officials, the government has set up a mushroom seed production unit and a spawn production unit in Nalanda, 100 km from Patna. Nalanda is the home district of the chief minister.
"Organic mushrooms and vegetables grown in Nalanda meet international standards," an official said. Pawan Mahto, an organic vegetable grower in Nalanda, said that the government's move is good news for farmers like him. "It will inspire farmers in other districts to adopt organic farming", he said.
Madhu Patel, a mushroom grower, said farmers engaged in organic mushrooms would benefit by the government's help to market their products abroad. "It will encourage people, particularly women, to grow mushrooms," she said.