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Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling 03-02-2023 - Arhive
Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Crude Oil Prices Trend
-Alpla Launches PET Recycling Center in Romania’s City of Targu Mures
Alpla Group, an Austrian packaging and recycling firm, has opened their first Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) recycling plant in Targu Mures, Romania. This advanced facility can produce up to 18,000 tonnes of rPET from household waste per year – a move intended to promote the circular economy in South-East Europe and create a reliable source of food-grade recycled PET.
Alpla, Ecohelp and United Polymer Trading recently completed construction on a new €7.5m ($8.2m) plant. This was a collaborative effort between the three partners as they worked together to bring the plant to life after nine months of hard work.
Georg Lasser, the director of recycling for Alpha’s business development, procurement, and sales, stated “The growing importance of local recycling processes calls for increased commitment in the region. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
“Together with our partners, we combine strengths, increase the processing quality of the recycled PET material and ensure the long-term supply of the southeast European market.”
Alpla and its partner celebrated the official opening of a new plant that produces high-quality rPET granulate from PET flakes. With one extrusion line already operating, the facility has enough space to add another, which could double its capacity. The occasion marked more than just a production milestone as the plant also created around 20 jobs. On 4 May, Alpla will host a ceremony at the site to commemorate the occasion.
Mihail Moloiu, general manager of PET Recycling Team Targu Mures, stated “The collaboration is a great example of how to improve local recycling and ensure sustainable economic development.
“We are filling a gap in the market for high-quality recycled material in Romania and neighbouring countries.” Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Alpla Group announced a joint venture between Alpla, UPT and Ecohelp this autumn. This venture combines the company’s recycling expertise, distribution networks and materials supply networks to produce food-grade rPET granulate that is then used as the starting material for new preforms and bottles. The production site of the venture was opened last October in Lanseria, South Africa – located in the industrial area north of Johannesburg, the site features 35,000m² of covered production, administration, and storage space.
-Toray Develops High-Speed Thermal Welding Technology for Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics that Contributes to High-Rate Production and Weight Savings of Aircraft
Toray Industries, Inc., announced today that it has developed a technology that thermally welds carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) at high speed. This technology will enable high-rate production and weight savings of CFRP airframes. The company will push ahead with demonstrations with a view to commercializing airframes after 2030 while further expanding CFRP applications. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Global aircraft demand should recover through 2025 after stagnating amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for next-generation aircraft with 120 to 240 seats should be heavy from 2030. Thermosetting CFRP is the primary structural material for aircraft main frames because of its long use and high reliability. The downside is that complicated adhesive bonding and bolt fastening processes of CFRP have become assembly bottlenecks. CFRP production times greatly lag those for aluminum alloy airframes. High-rate production and weight savings that help enhance fuel efficiency to will be important to capture prospectively large demand.
-DSM Engineering Materials launches Lucidiris™, a color and mechanical properties prediction tool powered by (AI)
DSM Engineering Materials announces the launch of Lucidiris™.
Lucidiris™ helps customers reduce time to market when developing colors of high-performance materials for a variety of applications. Besides predicting color and mechanical properties, it can predict the envelope of potential color space within critical mechanical properties and prescribe recipes for targeted color properties.
Lucidiris™ has been developed for several high-performance material grades and will be extended, including recycled-based and repurposed materials. It is a next step in DSM Engineering Materials’ journey to make product development for their customers quicker and easier via advanced digital solutions. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
This state-of-the-art patent protected Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology facilitates the development of material recipes with targeted optical properties while assuring mechanical properties.
With Lucidiris™ customers will be supported by its ability to:
- Predict color and mechanical properties of polymer compounds upon addition of color ingredients.
- Predict envelope of potential color space that can be produced within critical mechanical properties.
- Prescribe color ingredients to add to a polymer compound to meet targeted properties.
“Lucidiris™ changes our design-build-test-learn development cycle for the customer applications of our materials fundamentally,” said Erwin Houben, R&T Manager Digitization DSM Engineering Materials. “This state-of-the-art AI based digital tool reinforces our strengths in colored materials development and enables to take on some tough challenges for reusing circular materials.” Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
“And there is more to come,” said Angelika Schmidt, Global R&T Manager of Performance Polymers, DSM Engineering Materials. “Lucidiris™ is our next step into digitization of product development. What we can do for color development already today, will be possible for product development in the future.
Combining human intelligence with machine learning will enable us to get to the successful recipes with much less iterations and therefore much shorter development times for our customers.” Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
-JV TAIF and Bio-on to create bioplastic production went bankrupt
The Tatarstan Arbitration Court declared bankrupt the joint venture of TAIF Group and the Italian Bio-on – 2Bio JSC, founded in 2018 to create a bioplastic production facility in Tatarstan under the license of an Italian company, Interfax reports.
“Recognize the debtor as bankrupt and open bankruptcy proceedings,” reads the operative part of the court’s decision, issued on January 27. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
2Bio filed an application for self-bankruptcy with the Arbitration Court of Tatarstan in June 2022, indicating the amount of debt of 133.8 million rubles.
In November 2022, an application for the inclusion in the register of creditors of 2Bio of claims for the same amount was filed by Kazanorgsintez PJSC, which acts as a creditor of the joint venture.
In the explanations to the financial statements of 2Bio for 2022, it is stated that in 2021 the joint venture learned about the bankruptcy procedure conducted by the Italian court in respect of Bio-On, but the interim managers of Bio-On assured 2Bio of continuing to operate. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
-PET Recycling Coalition awards its first three grants
Resin company DAK Americas, recycled-content thermoforms producer Direct Pack and MRF operator Recycle Source have become the first three recipients of grants from the PET Recycling Coalition.
The Recycling Partnership’s PET Recycling Coalition launched a year ago to provide funding to boost PET recycling in the U.S. Modeled off the group’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, the PET counterpart is also funded by a mix of plastic producers and brand owners. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
According to a press release from The Recycling Partnership (TRP), the first round of three grants will boost PET packaging capture and processing capacity, and they will unlock access to PET thermoform recycling for the Pittsburgh area.
-Origin Packaging spotlights its robust capabilities and new Eco-Friendly initiatives
Origin Packaging, a leading, family-owned, full-service packaging manufacturer, attributes its success and competitive advantage to its storied 100-year history affording it unparalleled industry knowledge, creative insight, technical expertise, professional networks, and access to world-class resources with a focus on a solutions-oriented, customer-focused approach to packaging. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Origins’ 100-year history in the industry began with the immigration of a successful textile businessman to the United States who made a living selling glass bottles, jars, paper cartons, and later flexible food containers.
Four generations later, Origin now finds itself at the forefront of the packaging industry, manufacturing packaging with a wide variety of materials for a myriad of industries with a distribution of more than 5K SKUs! As times change and life evolves, so does the need for innovative packaging solutions. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
With a focus on preserving our planet, Origin is proud to offer a complete collection of cutting-edge, eco-friendly, and compostable packaging solutions in an endless array of sizes, shapes, and materials, ensuring our planet remains green and healthy for generations to come. https://originpac.com/about/
-Resin Price Report: Week Marked by Sluggish Trading, Force Majeures
Spot resin activity has been uncharacteristically slow for a January; meanwhile, Ineos and Chevron Phillips wrangle with weather-related disruptions.
Resin buyers stayed stuck in the doldrums last week. Spot resin market activity was slower than a typical January, with completed volumes again below average.
There was some rejuvenated demand, at least for polyethylene (PE), following severe weather and tornados in the greater Houston area. That affected some petrochemical complexes and led one producer to declare another force majeure on PE and polypropylene (PP). Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Resin prices were flat to slightly higher at the PlasticsExchange, holding on to gains established earlier in the month, but not advancing further. Fresh resin offers were again thin last week: Very few prime PE and PP railcars have been made available to the domestic spot market this month, although several more groups of lower quality and transitional PE and PP railcars squeezed through, reports the PlasticsExchange in its Market Update. Most producers had already sold out of their spot export availability in early January. Chinese demand then waned ahead of the Lunar New Year, while stronger demand from Latin America picked up some of the slack.
Robust export demand from China is expected to return in early February following the holiday. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Nickel increase for PE contracts could be a stretch
January resin contracts should settle soon. PE producers seem to be relaxing their stance with the softest splitting the increase to $0.05/lb in January and February. Despite a much more balanced supply/demand dynamic after at least four months of significantly reduced resin production, a nickel could still be a big stretch. However, adds the PlasticsExchange, there is a solid chance for implementation of a $0.03/lb increase.
PP contracts will see a large cost-push price increase as it follows polymer-grade propylene (PGP) contracts a dime or so higher.
Producers are also seeking a $0.03/lb margin increase this month, with another $0.06/lb now nominated for February. Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling
Carbon Fiber – PET Recycling


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Chicago (IL) – The chip manufacturer will be dedicating more resources to the development of a new memory technology that is believed to be able to replace flash memory down the road.
According to industry sources, Intel will be setting up a joint-venture with Numonyx to co-develop phase change memory (PCM) technologies. Numonyx, recently created from Intel’s former flash memory group and resources from ST Microelectronics, focuses on the development of non volatile memory technologies.
While Intel said that it has been working with ST Microelectronics on PCM since 2003 – a collaboration that resulted in the demonstration of the 128 Mb “Alverstone” PCM chip at the Fall IDF in 2006 – the new R&D effort will combine staff and other resources from Numonyx and Intel.
Sources noted that Intel is playing with the idea that PCM may become the successor of flash the industry has been looking for over the past years, improving not only the write cycles of current flash (an estimated 100 million write cycles compared to only 1 million) as well as increasing the responsiveness and data transfer performance. Possible PCM applications indicated by Intel are future solid state disk (SSD) drives that are fast enough to prevent “multi-core CPU-based systems from choking on I/O limitations.”
PCM devices are a type of so called “non volatile” storage that is able to keep the contents in its memory intact when there is no power supplied. Other than flash memory, which stores electrical charge in a silicon or silicon nitride gate, PCM uses a chalcogenide-based technology, similar to what is used today in rewriteable CDs. Heat provided by a laser converts the chalcogenide alloy between its crystalline (conductive) and amorphous (resistive) phases to store data.
PCM is believed to have some drawbacks that still need to be overcome, such as its extreme sensitivity to temperatures. However, what makes technology interesting is the fact that it already has reached impressive densities, indicating that PCM could become economically viable and emerge as a successor for flash memory. In contrast, Magneto-resistive RAM, short MRAM, has also been discussed as a potential successor of flash, but mass-produced chips are only available in 4 Mbit capacities at this time.

domain: news


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Commuters using Potters Bar Christmas shoppers’ free parking spaces
“WHOEVER introduced the free Christmas parking had obviously been on the sherry early!”
That was the angry message from one of a number of Potters Bar traders, who have slammed Hertsmere Borough Council for introducing the scheme, as it has opened the floodgates for commuter parking.
Chris Turner, of Kitts Travel, told the Potters Bar Edition the festive parking programme had been set up by a “Christmas fool”.
The chief executive of the Darkes Lane firm said: “They just don’t realised the damage they’ve done.
“It just beggars belief that they can be so stupid.
“It’s a stupid, stupid move the council has made and a retrograde step. It’s all political and very clever – saying we’ve got free parking.
“But they haven’t done what we’ve asked them, we always said we wanted free parking, but for a limited time. We want enough free parking time for people to have a chance to do their shopping locally; now no- one can park out there.”
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Chris Piercey, of Elaine’s Stationers, on the same road, added the move was “totally mad” and said black bin bags placed on top of the meters had made for confusion and a free-for-all.
A Hertsmere Borough Council spokeswoman said they’ve been monitoring the situation as they were aware a “small minority” of commuters may abuse the system.
She said out of the 62 bays in Darkes Lane, 10 vehicles had been parked there all day and from the possible 140 Barnet Road and High Street spots, nine cars were there all day.
She added she would therefore “refute” the claims.
“If someone is a repeat offender we have been putting advice on their window to encourage them not to do it again,” she said.
However Dave Butler, of Darkes Lane’s Readers Butchers, disputed the council’s claims.He said: “I haven’t seen any wardens or anyone from the council or any stickers.
“Commuters have been parked outside my shop all day. We’ve had customers coming saying they can’t find anywhere to park.
“The council should have said free parking between noon and 2pm – and then it would’ve worked.
“I say ‘thanks for messing up the Christmas trade!’”


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Quarterly net revenue of $59.8 million, up 22% year over year
Quarterly gross profit of 60.6%
1,581 active clients at March 31, 2018, up 23% year over year
LAS VEGAS-Saturday, May 12th 2018 [ AETOS Wire ]
(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), a global provider of enterprise software products and services, and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle and SAP software products, today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2018.
“Rimini Street executed well in the first quarter of 2018, in revenue, service delivery and global operations,” stated Seth A. Ravin, Rimini Street co-founder and CEO. “We increased our investment in sales and marketing, and invested in the development of several new product and service solutions launched in April and May. We also had positive developments in our ongoing litigation with Oracle, including the U.S. Court of Appeals reversing and vacating certain awards, and ordering Oracle to refund approximately $50 million (which Oracle has done, a portion of which has been paid into escrow). Rimini Street plans to fuel growth and continue improving operating leverage by recruiting and hiring additional senior executive talent, further increasing sales and marketing investments, ramping up sales of new product and service offerings, and expanding global service delivery capabilities.”
“Revenue in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018 came in within our guidance range, and was driven by balanced growth across all geographies. The litigation refund of $21.5 million we received from Oracle in the quarter was used primarily to pay down debt obligations under our credit facility on April 3, 2018,” stated Tom Sabol, Rimini Street CFO. “This decreased our total debt obligations while lowering our go forward debt servicing costs. In addition, we remain committed to further reducing our cost of capital and improving free cash flows to fund investment in growth opportunities.”
Launch of New Product and Service Solutions
On April 24, Rimini Street announced the immediate availability of Rimini Street Mobility and Rimini Street Analytics – its latest offerings in a new family of solutions designed to provide an improved competitive advantage to organizations with mature and valuable enterprise software investments. Rimini Street Advanced Database Security was the first offering in this new family of products, and launched in 2017. Rimini Street’s new solutions enable an organization to quickly and cost-effectively modernize their current enterprise software with the latest desired features and capabilities, future-proof their technical platforms against yet-unknown technology changes, and secure their systems against a constantly evolving threat environment. Rimini Street’s new solutions allow organizations to leverage their existing systems as a solid foundation for an innovative hybrid IT strategy.
Additionally, today, Rimini Street announced the extension of its proven, award-winning support model and global capabilities to SaaS products, beginning with the launch of services for Salesforce Sales Cloud and Service Cloud products. The Company’s goal is to help clients achieve greater success by optimizing their investment across the hybrid enterprise, which now includes support for traditionally-licensed and SaaS enterprise software. Salesforce customers can leverage Rimini Street’s award-winning, ultra-responsive support services to supplement and complement their core Salesforce-provided maintenance program to accelerate delivery of capabilities, optimize total operating costs and maximize ROI. These new services will enable Salesforce customers to benefit from Rimini Street’s proven 24x7x365 operational support with 15-minute guaranteed response for urgent issues, in addition to managed system administration and configuration, customization and integration project services.
Press releases that contain additional information about the new product and service solutions are posted on the Company’s website.
To view the full article, please click: http://aetoswire.com//news/rimini-street-announces-fiscal-first-quarter-2018-financial-results/en


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File photo/Ye Xiaodan (NBD)
At 9 pm, Tan Yalan talked to her phone screen, touting a men's T-shirt she was wearing during a livestream.
"Look at this one. This is 100 percent cotton. It's well-tailored and super comfortable. You'll definitely love the way you look in this durable classic," said Tan, 21.
While talking, Tan vanished into a portable fitting room in the 10-square-meter studio. After a few seconds she reappeared in a new style T-shirt.
Tan is among the sprawling groups of people selling shirts and dresses via livestreaming in Shishi, a garment manufacturing hub in East China's Fujian province.
Livestreaming not only stands out as an effective way to boost sales amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but also opens up more job opportunities for college graduates caught in the grim job market due to the tanked economy worldwide.
By March, China had 560 million livestream users, 163 million more than that in December 2018, according to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center in April.
As a former student majoring in marketing, Tan graduated this year from Chengdu in Southwest China's Sichuan province. She came to the coastal city of Shishi in November to complete her internship as required by the college.
"I took to livestreaming as it was related to my major," Tan says, adding that she came to Shishi because of its complete industrial chain, as well as booming livestreaming sales businesses.
Starting from scratch, she became an anchor assistant at first and then a livestreaming director, before sitting in front of the screen for the first time five months later.
To cushion the impact of the epidemic, the local government of Shishi pinned its hope on e-commerce, and encouraged factories and trading companies to sell their products via livestreaming.
The city held a month-long livestreaming festival starting in late February, reaping in 1.08 billion yuan ($154.9 million) in sales revenue. Thousands of youngsters from all over the country worked around the clock to pursue their dreams as anchors, contributing to online sales during the festival.
In April, Tan opened her own online store to sell men's T-shirts on the video-sharing platform Douyin, also known as TikTok.
Every afternoon, she walks downstairs to warehouses to select products and prepare for the evening show. She usually starts the show before 6 am or after midnight when there are fewer competitors and therefore more viewers.
"If you want to excel in the industry, you have to be both a morning bird and a night owl," Tan says.
As a fast learner, Tan has acquired some tips. "Your presentation should be eye-catching, and the anchor should remain energetic all through the show," she says.
Over the past three months, her sales revenue amounted to 200,000 yuan. With 5,000 followers currently, she earns 20,000 yuan a month, much more than the average for college graduates in the country.
In July, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security officially recognized nine new professions, including online marketing.
With her career on the right track, Tan began to offer training sessions to share her knowledge and skills with people yearning to jump on the livestreaming bandwagon.
"As long as you are persistent, work hard, and are always ready to learn, you will be successful one day," Tan says.


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Intercontinental Exchange, one of the world’s largest exchanges has teamed up with Starbucks to integrate bitcoin into global commerce. ICE has created a new company “Bakkt” to pursue this new initiative according to an announcement on August 3, 2018.
The Beginning of a new era – Bakkt
Bakkt aims to “create an open and regulated, global ecosystem for digital assets.” The underlying principle of Bakkt is to provide funds in the form of bitcoin. It plans to replace users credit cards with bitcoin soon.
Intercontinental Exchange’s Head of Digital Asset and the CEO of Bakkt, Mrs. Kelly Loeffler, commented that:
“Bakkt is designed to serve as a scalable on-ramp for institutional, merchant, and consumer participation in digital assets by promoting greater efficiency, security, and utility, We are collaborating to build an open platform that helps unlock the transformative potential of digital assets across global markets and commerce.”
While discussing about the decision of Starbucks to join New York Stock Exchange in this new venture, VP of Partnership and Payments for Starbucks, Maria Smith, said Starbucks will play a pivotal role in developing practical, trusted, and regulated applications for consumers to convert their digital assets into U.S. dollars for use at Starbucks.”
As a part of this overall effort, ICE plans to launch the physical futures contract in November 2018. It is different from derivatives as it gives customers bitcoin instead of cash after the expiration of the contract.
Bitcoin Adoption Remains low
Due to regulatory hurdles, most countries are not ready to accept bitcoin. Only a few companies use cryptocurrencies for payment or exchange solutions. The large population still showing resistance to experiment bitcoin as a mode of payment. This is a significant hindrance to the overall growth of the crypto market.
Bakkt will act as a one-stop shop to accelerate the growth of the crypto market at the international level.
Apple Pay of Payment Vs. Bitcoin
One of the main drawbacks of Apple Pay is that it will not give customers any rewards. On the other side, customers have to wait for 30 days to get the refund of the amount if any.
Bitcoin payment method is going to revolutionize the crypto market. Through its Fold App, customers will get the opportunity to pay for their orders at Starbucks and earn a 20 percent discount. Besides, Fold App will refund bitcoin customers if they have relatively higher top amount compared to the amount they spent on the purchase. Fold app also targets more retailers to expand the business.
The bitcoin option as a mode of payment will challenge the existing methods including Apple Pay, and this will favor customers in the long run.


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We've entered a new month which means it is time for a new PlayStation Plus update. For February, PS+ Essential subscribers can expect three new games, including Square Enix's new Splatoon-inspired shooter, Foamstars.
Foamstars was announced during a PlayStation Showcase last year as one of Sony's major upcoming live service games for PS5. While Nintendo's shooter, Splatoon, has players running around with paint guns, Square Enix's Foamstars replaces this with colourful foam and takes on more of an anime aesthetic. The game will be launching day-one into PS+, likely in hopes of attracting millions of players swiftly, just as Rocket League did back in the day.
The second game joining the PS+ Essential library this month is Rollerdrome, a highly-praised indie game from Roll7, combining fast movement and fluid motion with visceral combat. It is a shooter-skater hybrid and is pretty unique in the shooter space.
The final game coming to PS+ this month is Steelrising, a PS5-only title set in an alternate history verion of Paris, in which the French Revolution was suppressed by a robotic army.
Subscribers will get a bonus perk this month too, with a new Fall Guys Icons Pack, offering skins for characters like Ratchet, Clank and Aloy. If you happen to be a PS+ Premium or Deluxe member, you'll also get access to a two-hour free trial for Marvel's Spider-Man 2.
All of these new PS+ games and perks will be available to claim starting on the 6th of February.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: What do you all think of the February PS+ line-up?


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Is it Hands off at Kelda?
WATER companies' lives were simpler before they attracted private equity investors, the corporate raiders who seem to have lost their ark for the moment.
Yorkshire Water owner Kelda hoped to pocket £152m by selling its stake in Waste Recycling Group to private equity king Guy Hands. But Hands, like his rival Robin Saunders at Anglian Water, is being rather backward at coming forward. Waste Recycling would cost him £260m, plus £200m debt.
If he coughs up, Kelda could return £1 a share to investors. Meanwhile, they must make do with a 2% dividend rise to 26.05p after the year to March underlying profits rose 8% to £175m. Debt is £1.7bn, the pension deficit £112m. Chief executive Kevin Whiteman has 'no plans to close' the final-salary scheme.
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NEW YORK (AP) _ EBay Inc. said Thursday it received preliminary conditional approval from South Korean regulators for its potential purchase of a stake in Gmarket Inc., operator of an online marketplace in that country.
EBay shares rose 79 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $22.41, while Gmarket’s U.S. shares rose $2.16, or 9.9 percent, to $24.24.
San Jose, Calif.-based eBay had said in August that it was in talks with Interpark Corp. and its chairman, Ki Hyung Lee, owners of a combined 37 percent of Gmarket. Yahoo Inc. also owns a stake in the company.
Jose Mallabo, an eBay spokesman, said that no definitive agreement has been signed between eBay, Interpark and Lee. He said the conditions applied by the Korea Fair Trade Commission “should not prevent the parties from proceeding into more formal negotiations.”
If eBay does buy the stake, it would be its latest venture into the online auction market outside the United States. EBay says that more than half its revenue already comes from abroad.
EBay currently runs another Korean online auction site, Internet Auction. The company’s other international forays include a stake in Argentina-based MercadoLibre Inc. and a re-entrance to the Japanese market with Yahoo Japan Corp., Yahoo’s joint venture with Softbank Corp.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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Most public health bodies dealing with covid have long since moved on from the idea of surface transmission. China’s didn’t—and that helps it control the narrative about the disease’s origins and danger.
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Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.
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Unilever hands global Wall's account to DDB
Unilever has appointed DDB to be the global creative agency for its Wall's ice cream brand, following a pitch led by Adam & Eve/DDB.
Wall's ice cream: 'goodbye serious' by A&E/DDB
A&E/DDB, which already handled the business in Europe, pitched against Lowe & Partners for the business. Lowe handled the brand in South-East Asia and Latin America and its Madrid office Lola led its pitch.
The DDB agencies DM9 in Brazil and Tribal in Singapore assisted A&E/DDB in the pitch.
This summer, A&E/DDB launched a new positioning for the Wall’s ice cream brand in the UK based around "goodbye serious".
Ian Maskell, the vice-president, global brand development Wall’s & desserts at Unilever, said: "The agency have done a great job with Wall’s over the last year and we see the opportunity to streamline efforts behind bigger, more powerful and single-minded communication across the totality of the Wall’s brand."
According to Unilever, Wall’s has a global turnover in excess of €2 billion (£1.6 billion).
This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk
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The on-demand grocery delivery service Dumpling, which advertises itself as an "ethical" alternative to Instacart, had a lot going for it this summer: a rapidly growing base of loyal couriers; a worker-controlled pay model; glowing press coverage at a time when other gig economy companies faced worker-led strikes and protests against exploitative tipping policies and poverty wages.
"We're the personal and ethical alternative to big name grocery delivery services," Dumpling posted on Facebook in May as part of a public relations push to attract new customers and workers during the grocery delivery boom triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Dumpling is already successfully flipping the gig model on its head in the grocery world," a public relations email from Dumpling sent to me in September said. "More than 2,000 grocery shoppers...control their pricing, tips, schedules and clients—and most now earn more than 3X that of their Instacart counterparts."
But Dumpling is now in hot water with many of the gig workers on its platform, which it calls "business owners." These business owners say the company has misled them about how much autonomy and control they'd have on the platform, and has shut down their Facebook group after workers on the platform spoke out against a series of changes the company made to its pay model in the latter half of 2020. When Dumpling closed the Facebook group, it said the group "ha[d]n't lived up to its positive intent."
"If someone didn't like the new changes and spoke out in the Facebook group, their comments would be muted, not approved or they would be kicked out of the group," said Jacqueline Cruz Hardoy, a Dumpling business owner in Chicago. "I had my own comments and questions about the new pay model deleted."
The backlash against Dumpling shows that even gig economy companies that seemingly launched with good intentions run into challenges when they start to scale up and accept funds from venture capitalists, both of which, generally speaking, create pressure to make changes that increase revenue and lower the cost of labor. In July, around the same time Dumpling added new charges for business owners, it announced that it had raised $6.5 million in venture capital.
Unlike Instacart and other gig economy apps, which use opaque black box algorithms to determine pay and control the relationship between workers and clients, the Dumpling model is transparent and simple. Business owners shop at whatever stores they want, set their own rates, and build relationships with customers who can book them specifically. Business owners pay $5 per transaction or a monthly fee to put their profiles in the Dumpling database for customers to find and for pre-loaded credit cards that cover the cost of groceries.
But Dumpling has been introducing changes to the app, many of which coincided with the venture capital investment. As reported by OneZero in July, some of these changes reduced small business owners' autonomy, which had been the app's selling point. The app announced new monthly plans that charged business owners credit card processing fees of up to 3.9 percent per order, and higher fees for monthly subscriptions to its services. The standard "pro" plan that most business owners use now costs $49 a month, which is up from $39 a month. The price increases also came with improvements and protections for delivery workers—they now include fraud protections against customers who don't pay and "price adjustments" for driving extra distance, among several other things.
But the greatest pushback came in November when Dumpling removed a popular feature which allowed business owners to set their own tipping minimums. Under the new model, customers can tip nothing, which puts business owners in danger of negative earnings on an order depending on their settings. Many workers are also worried about “tip-baiting,” a practice common on Instacart, where customers lure workers into accepting an order with a high tip only to lower or remove it later. Tip-baiting is not possible on Dumpling, but many workers have been previously burnt by this practice.
Cruz Hardoy, the Dumpling business owner in Chicago who began delivering groceries during the pandemic when catering jobs dried up, says she initially signed up for the app in October after seeing an ad on Facebook that marketed it as an ethical alternative to Instacart.
"I heard horror stories about the tip-baiting on Instacart during the pandemic, and I knew I didn't want to work for them," she told Motherboard. "I wanted to do my own thing and Dumpling advertised itself that way and had low start-up costs, so that's why I chose them."
But roughly two weeks after she joined the app, Dumpling announced the new changes.
"None of these were mentioned in the steps I took to work with Dumpling. But when I brought this up in the Facebook group, I had my comments deleted," she said. "Lots of people have been leaving the platform since then and conducting their own business on Square."
Another Dumpling business owner in Georgia who asked to remain anonymous because they feared retaliation from the company told Motherboard that she switched from Shipt to Dumpling this fall also because of the promise of greater control over her earnings.
"I thought I’d have more control over my pay because of the tipping minimum option," she said. "I knew I could charge a 15 percent tip and that would cover my costs and allow me to be in solid control of how much I earn, but they took that away."
"The whole premise of their website is that you can take control of what you make. It felt like it was a bait and switch," she continued. "I didn't want to serve people who weren’t going to tip me for what I provide, which is a luxury, concierge service, but that's where I'm at now."
The business owner says she'd like to leave the platform entirely because of the changes, but can't do so without risking losing many of her most loyal customers who recently switched from Shipt to Dumpling to retain her services.
Facing backlash, Dumpling reversed some of these new policies, and allowed veteran business owners to stay on their old plans, and suggested workers raise fees to make up for gratuity.
Joel Shapiro, Dumpling's CEO, told Motherboard that the new tipping policy is "100 percent about breaking down barriers to organic new client acquisition to support Business Owners in growing their customer bases."
"Dumpling was...founded on the voices of former gig workers, so when there was feedback on nuts and bolts of the update, the Dumpling team took that to heart and made key adjustments," he continued.
Shapiro says he believes the changes have been good for business owners. Earnings, he said, have increased from an average of $33 to $40 an order since the company removed the mandatory tipping option and added new processing fees, and that the number of orders per business order across the platform have increased by 15 percent.
"The Dumpling team has invested heavily and worked tirelessly in the face of the pandemic to ensure we successfully support the growing corps of gig workers seeking a better option for themselves," Shapiro said.
But Motherboard reviewed screenshots of invoices from business owners since Dumpling changed pricing that show low earnings, at least on some orders. One invoice from a Wegman's on a $116.70 order shows a worker earning just $3.00 after accounting for the new processing fee but not accounting for tips. Another invoice from Target on a $155.99 order shows a worker earning negative $6.83, after platform and processing fee deductions.
Business owners have the option of charging their customers flat fees or a percentage of the cost of their order to earn money, but a lot of workers keep these charges low in order to retain and attract customers, and have relied on tips as a primary source of income.
Dumpling says that instead of banking on tips, workers should use the percentage pricing model to reach their desired earnings. "For business owners who previously used a required minimum tip to ensure desired earnings, they can now use the Percentage pricing model to accomplish the same thing, where business owners set the percentage and the minimum fees," Shapiro said.
Matthew Telles, a Dumpling courier in Chicago told Motherboard that workers will benefit from these new changes, in particular, moving away from the reliance on tips, which he says turned off customers, to a model where business owners can charge a percentage of the cost of groceries. As has been widely noted, tipping culture is a recipe for sexual harassment, poverty wages, and many forms of discrimination.
"Dumpling did a good thing and did research that found we're charging too much in tips, and not getting repeat customers, but a lot of people have come to the Dumpling platform from Instacart and DoorDash with the old gig worker mentality, which is to make money off tips where there's no guaranteed pay," said Telles. "Instead the new model allows you to charge a percentage of the order. I still make really good money, but I don't need tips; the tips are extra fun."
Regardless of how the company is pitching this new model, and whether it ultimately leads to better pay for workers, many business owners say that their initial experience with it has been negative, and that attempts to talk about it have been silenced.
Dumpling's decision to shut down the Facebook group came after it muted business owners, removed posts, and later booted 13 business owners out of the group after they posted comments criticizing Dumpling for altering its pay model. Workers told Motherboard that they were raising genuine concerns about changes the platform made without consulting workers. Motherboard was not able to obtain screenshots of posts that were censored, but did review screenshots of heated conversations in the Facebook group where some workers came to the defense of Dumpling, and accused workers of criticizing a company that actually cared about its workers.
"I posted about a problem I had with pre-funded credit cards, but they didn't want anything anti-Dumpling in the group and I got muted," another Dumpling business owner based in Pennsylvania told Motherboard. "I wasn't allowed to comment or post for a certain number of days. Eventually I was booted from the group."
At the time, Dumpling sent business owners booted from the group private messages saying they had "broke[n] group rules," by not "being kind and courteous," "trolling," and "verbally attacking other members of the team," according to a screenshot reviewed by Motherboard.
On December 22, the admins of the Dumpling Facebook group temporarily suspended the group. That decision became permanent on January 19. In a post, admins for the group wrote, "After careful consideration we've made the decision to close this Facebook group," according to a screenshot obtained by Motherboard.
"The closure of the Facebook group is part of a full transition to Dumpling’s in-app communication with Business Owners, which reaches the full audience of Business Owners and not just those with Facebook accounts," Shapiro, Dumpling's CEO, told Motherboard when asked about the closure of the Facebook group.
"As a business, Dumpling wants to allocate resources to be able to support and coach business owners, which have proven to be very successful, instead of the increasing effort required in moderating the Facebook group as it grew to ensure it remained a constructive and respectful exchange of ideas," Shapiro continued.
For many gig economy companies with workforces that span the entire country that are not afforded the traditional benefits of employment or a shared workplace, social media groups serve as a critical resource for workers to get information about their pay and working conditions, and the only point of contact between workers. Dumpling's Facebook group was unique in that the company's Shapiro would regularly make himself available for questions and so-called Dumpling "coaches" would offer resources and training to help business owners improve their earnings.
The censorship and ultimate closure of the Dumpling Facebook group bears a resemblance to that of Target's delivery app, Shipt. As Motherboard reported last year, the moderators of so-called Shipt Shopper Lounge, a private Shipt-controlled Facebook group with more than 140,000 members, frequently shuts down comments and commenting sections, and bans workers that criticize pay and other working conditions.
Many workers are leaving Dumpling because of the new changes to start their own businesses using the credit card processor Square and clients they picked up on Dumpling. The problem with doing this is that workers do not have fraud protection and have to front large groceries bills on their credit cards.
While some workers are happy with the changes, others say they make Dumpling look more like Instacart or Shipt, leaving no ethical grocery delivery platform widely available in the United States.
Other workers are holding out hope that Dumpling will reverse its new tipping policy.
"I respect the fact that Dumpling came up with an alternative model to allow people to be business owners, but I feel the immaturity is getting in the way," the Dumpling business owner in Pennsylvania who was banned from the Facebook group before it was dismantled but continues to conduct her business on the app, said.
"If they rolled back these changes, we’d be very, very happy," they continued. "A lot of the people who moved off would be happy to come back."
This article previously stated that customers could remove or lower tips on orders, a practice known as “tip-baiting.” This is not possible on the Dumpling app. Motherboard regrets the error.


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Myers Restaurant Supply named SEFA member company of the year.
Bradshaw and Hummer receive the Maynard Award for excellence.
Deal focuses on the Northeast.
For years now, if you were to ask most any member of the foodservice supply chain about some of their biggest challenges, they would include attracting and retaining top young talent and coming to terms with price pressures brought on by their arch nemesis, the internet.Read more...
Foodservice operators can choose from countless ways to manage labor resources. Here consultant Juan Martinez outlines the 10 key attributes any labor management system should have, regardless of how a restaurant approaches this all-important topic.Read more...
Government numbers show good restaurant sales in April. US Foods is getting antsy over delay in the Sysco merger but no quick decision is anticipated. Seattle operators struggle with minimum wage increase. YUM may divest its Chinese businesses. These stories and a lot more in This Week In Foodservice.Read more...
Members of the foodservice design project team rarely find themselves working from the same...
The Minnesota-based DSR accepted his award during FE&S' 2015 Dealer of the Year and Industry...
Currently in a major growth mode, Jersey Mike's opened 50 stores in 2010, projects opening more than 65 locations this year and will hit the 500-site mark by the end of 2011. This is telling for a sub concept that got its start back in 1956 as a humble seaside sandwich store in Point Pleasant, N.J.
The man behind the expansion is CEO and founder Peter Cancro, who bought the original Jersey Mike's restaurant as a 17-year-old high school student back in 1975. After he began franchising in 1987, growth exploded. There are now Jersey Mike's outlets in 30 states, with more on the way.
"Our goal is to double the number of stores in the next five years," says Hoyt Jones, president. Approximately 5 percent of the stores are company-owned, with the rest franchised. The plan is to eventually increase the corporate site amount to 10 percent.
Jersey Mike's positions itself as an authentic East Coast sub shop with meats and cheeses hand-sliced to order. Each store includes a flat top grill for cooking cheesesteaks, hot pastrami sandwiches and Reubens. Bread is baked on premises daily.
The store décor and ambiance is reminiscent of Point Pleasant on the Jersey Shore. Soft colors and a 1956 postcard mural of the beach are staples at every location. The concept has remained the same for the past 55 years.
Speed of service and customer interaction are key to the concept. Employees are encouraged to connect with everyone coming through the door while assembling sandwiches at the counter.
Although financing has been a challenge the last couple of years, Jersey Mike's has been able to attract franchisees with multi-unit experience and capital. "Many of our franchisees have had previous restaurant and business experience," Jones says. "They are coming in with their own capital and banking relationships or bringing in equity partners. This has helped us maintain our growth [during the down economy]."
Site layouts are real-estate driven, with an average footprint of 1,600 sq. ft. in mainly inline strip malls.


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The sing-off for the Trucker Talent Search will be held at the Red Eye Radio booth in the lobby of the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas.
Three professional drivers will face off in Dallas Aug. 22 to see who walks away as winner of Overdrive-Red Eye Radio’s Trucker Talent Search.
The three singing truckers who will compete live at The Great American Trucking Show for the top prize are Brad James, Jennie Simpson and Keith Sampson.
Three finalists will compete at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas, Aug. 21-23, for the winning spot in the contest, brought to you by Chevron Delo.
The Overdrive-Red Eye Radio’s Trucker Talent Search, sponsored by Chevron Delo, is looking for truckers who love to sing. Submissions will be accepted through May 26.
Jack Fielding last week was presented with the 2013 Ram 2500 he won as 2013 Driver of the Year in the contest produced by the Truckload Carriers Association and Overdrive.
Terry Smith, 2013 Owner-Operator of the Year in the contest produced by Overdrive and TCA, picked up his prize Thursday: A new 2013 Ram 2500 pickup.
I spend a lot of time on airplanes. But sometimes, we get visitors here in our our Tuscaloosa, Ala., headquarters. Such was the case last week when representatives from Chevron Lubricants came calling. The gist of ...
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U.S. audiences have never had as many options to access content as they do these days. In short, consumers in the U.S. seem like they can’t get enough of content and the possibilities for marketers to reach them, while fragmented, is an opportunity that is just too good to pass on.
The medium of podcasting continues to evolve as it engages and entertains growing audiences. Nielsen’s Fanlinks Survey asks households to rate their interest in overall podcasting as well as various genres of podcasts.
On-demand song streaming activity is reaching new milestones, with volume surpassing 400 billion, which is offsetting declines in album and track sales. On-demand audio streaming volume is up 45%, having already exceeded 268 billion so far in 2018, and on-demand video streaming volume is up 35%...
Given the ebbs and flows of music trends, Pop Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR), Country, Classic Hits and Classic Rock have all vied for ‘format of the summer’ in recent years and are likely to do so again this summer.
Record Store Day marked its 11th year on Saturday, April 21, and retailers sold 733,000 LPs during the week (April 20-26), an all-time high for Record Store Day week, according to Nielsen Music sales data. Music fans bought 580,000 vinyl LPs.
Radio reaches nearly everyone in America, and the results of Nielsen's March portable people meter (PPM) ratings show several formats that have mass appeal saw rises in listener share during the first quarter of the year.
AM/FM radio is the blue blazer of the media universe. Who would have believed 100 years after its debut AM/FM radio would continue to top the charts as the medium that reaches more consumers each week than any other.
While music formats and tastes have changed over time, one thing remains constant—the powerful voice of women in popular music.
The 2018 GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 28, 2018, helped spur sales and on-demand streaming gains for the artists and songs performed during the annual awards show.
Justin Timberlake is ready to make his third career performance during a Super Bowl halftime show, and he’ll take the stage just two days after the release of his new album Man of the Woods.


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Over 1000 customers told NatWest that they wanted to know where their money was going, and that they wanted to balance living for today while trying to plan for tomorrow. The ‘spending’ tab on the app will allow customers to set the time period they want to track, rather than just sticking to the calendar month.
Chief Digital Officer Frans Woelders said: “We know that the more engaged customers are with their money, the better their financial health. The new ‘spending’ feature gives customers insights into their spending habits with real-time data, to help them make informed financial decisions. We want to empower customers to make better decisions and have smarter finances, explained engagingly, simply, from the app that they already use.”
The app already shows customers all of their accounts in one place – even from other banks, and gives customers the ability to have a totally secure comprehensive overview of their financial position – including their mortgage, savings, loans and current accounts. This gives them a view of their total financial position, and idea of their overall financial health.
Soon customers will be able to tell the app how much they want to spend each month and it’ll tell them how much they’ll save over the year if they stick to that budget. It’ll even help them stay on track each month.
The app features are built on technology provided by the European PFM provider Tink (1). Tink was chosen as a partner for the project due to its experience of developing user-friendly finance apps for banks, fintechs and startups across Europe.
Daniel Kjellén, co-founder and CEO, Tink, said: “Our personal finance management expertise and data enrichment capabilities have already helped millions of bank customers across Europe to get a better overview and understanding of their finances. We are very proud to now make our technology available for more than 7 million bank customers in the UK through our partnership with NatWest.”
1.Tink is Europe’s leading open banking platform that enables banks, fintechs and startups to develop data-driven financial services. Through one API, Tink allows customers to access aggregated financial data, initiate payments, enrich transactions and build personal finance management tools.
This article is for media use only and is not a financial promotion.
The banking app is available for NatWest Online Banking customers with compatible iOS and Android devices and a UK or specific International mobile number. To be able to use the Spending Tab in the app you must be 16+ and hold a Personal or Premier current account.


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With the 2020 sporting calendar in chaos, it’s no surprise that customers are looking for refunds or discounts on Sky Sports subscriptions.
After promising big things in 2020, the world of sport has been decimated in recent weeks with sporting events being postponed or cancelled left, right and centre as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
To keep sports stars and fans as safe as possible, almost all sporting events across the world are no longer going ahead.
This includes the likes of Premier League and EFL football as well as PGA Tour golf and even motorsports such as Formula 1.
All of these sporting events were due to be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK but now the TV schedule is full of nothing but re-runs.
Understandably, this has left many asking whether Sky Sports customers, whether directly through Sky or via the likes of Virgin Media, will be eligible for a refund or discount as a result of the sporting blackout.
Customers demanding Sky Sports refund
With no sport on offer, it’s hardly surprising to learn that Sky Sports customers are demanding a discount or a refund for the lost sporting action.
On Now TV, a monthly Sky Sports pass costs £33.99 while on Virgin and Sky TV, that figure can be much higher when combined with other TV and internet packages.
As a result, fans are set to lose out on a lot of money due to the impact on the sporting calendar.
Unfortunately, neither Sky or Virgin have confirmed that refunds or discounts will be offered to customers at the time of writing.
A solution from Sky
While they’re not offering a full refund or discount, Sky are offering customers the ability to pause their Sky Sports subscriptions until the live sporting events resume, whenever that may be.
This means that fans will not be charged for Sky Sports while there is no live sporting action to show. Sky customers will have to contact Sky directly over the phone to pause their subscription.
However, it is not clear whether Virgin Media customers will be eligible for a similar type of deal as Virgin Media themselves act as a middle-man between Sky and Virgin customers.
Where this leaves Virgin customers
Unfortunately, this leaves Virgin Media customers somewhat in the lurch as it’s understood that, at the time of writing, they won’t be refunded for any lost sporting action and it’s unclear whether Virgin will allow viewers to pause their subscriptions.
Most Virgin customers who have spoken out on social media or forums appear to be cancelling their sports subscriptions outright and changing to a lower package but this also involves a 30-day notice period before the package is changed over.
Virgin Media customers can visit the provider’s website for more details.


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The day after Microsoft announced it will sell Windows 7 without Internet Explorer in the European Union (EU), many interested parties are tossing in their reactions, and it’s a mixed bag of opinions.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) made the announcement Thursday in a blog post on the company’s On the Issues blog. The unexpected revelation immediately set off a storm of responses from Microsoft’s critics.
Meanwhile, several US-based analysts found the European Commission (EC) to be too prescriptive and tended to side with Microsoft’s point of view — reflected in its decision to ship an altogether browserless version of Windows in the EU. Microsoft would leave the choice of browsers to ship on new PCs up to PC OEMs.
One open question, however, would be how to offer the same option to purchasers of packaged copies of Windows sold at retail
Of course, none of this — neither the sanctions or fines — has been determined yet. The EC has not said when the case against Microsoft will be decided, although it has said it aims to make a decision as soon as practical.
To date, the EC competition directorate has sent Microsoft a “Statement of Objects,” that spells out the EC’s preliminary decision from January that it believes Microsoft is guilty of illegally bundling IE with Windows since 1996, thus blocking other browsers from competing.
It also includes a range of suggested remedies, including forcing PC makers to provide a so-called “ballot screen” when a new PC is first set up, enabling users to choose among a selection of browsers. The browsers themselves would be either resident on the PC or links to their download sites would be provided.
Competitors and critics complain that such a package of sanctions and fines doesn’t go far enough.
“I think it’s too little too late,” Håkon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera, the Norwegian browser maker, told InternetNews.com. Opera kicked off the latest antitrust case with a complaint about Microsoft’s bundling of IE with Windows in December 2007. “If they’d [Microsoft had] done this in 1997, that would have been okay, but I don’t think this is going to restore competition in the marketplace now,” he added.
Lie’s statements echo those (available here in PDF format) of the European Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS), which has received status as an interested third party in the case. Among ECIS’s membership are Microsoft competitors and critics IBM and Sun Microsystems.
Further, both Opera and ECIS argue that the EC’s ultimate ruling should be applied worldwide.
“Reports indicate that Microsoft does not intend to offer this remedy on a worldwide basis, continuing to deprive consumers in other regions of a choice of browsers and further deepening anti-competitive network effects that will impact European users,” ECIS’ statement continued.
“We would like to see a sanction that has a global focus,” Lie said.
Several U.S.-based analysts though see the EC’s proposed remedies as perhaps worse than the original problem.
Matt Rosoff, research vice president for consumer and corporate affairs at Directions on Microsoft, takes a somewhat different view.
“It seems like Microsoft is, number one, trying to avoid further fines and, number two, trying to avoid a major support nightmare if the ‘must carry’ provision is upheld,” Rosoff told InternetNews.com..
One question that remains unanswered though is how will the browsers be chosen? Will the ballot screen only offer five browsers — say IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera? Or should they include every browser available in the EU?
“Let the OEMs hash out the agreements [for which browsers to include] and take it out of the hands of anybody who would have a dog in the hunt,” Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT, told InternetNews.com. For instance, browser makers (Microsoft excluded) could bid for positions on PC vendors’ ballot screens.
Otherwise, Microsoft is put in an untenable position.
“It puts Microsoft into a position of saying essentially, ‘how high do you want me to jump?’ and [the EC] says, ‘we’ll tell you if it’s high enough’,” King added.


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Royal Mail appear to have noticed that 3D printing is quite a big deal at the moment, and have jumped on the bandwagon with a new scheme that will allow customers to order 3D printed items directly from the company's Central London delivery offices on New Cavendish Street. Initially a pilot scheme targeting small businesses, Royal Mail's 3D printing service has been made possible due to a partnership with iMakr, the London-based 3D printing specialists. Products will be printed off at the office and can then either be collected or posted to customers.
Royal Mail 3D Printing Time-lapse
The first iMakr store launched in April 2013 in Clerkenwell, Central London and in 2014 it opened a second shop in New York. The company also runs MyMiniFactory, an online catalogue of existing 3D models which can also be printed using Royal Mail's service.
Royal Mail's 3D printing service has been made possible due to a partnership with iMakr
The scheme kicked off yesterday (8 December) and currently allows customers to choose from a range of 3D printed products such as a postage stamp fridge magnet postbox pencil pot and a (quite elaborate and surprisingly expensive) wine cooler. Most excitingly though, it also allows users to submit their own designs, which could prove a major selling point for small businesses and consumers who covet a 3D printer, but cannot afford one. In fact, though 3D printing is a market sector very much on the increase, it's been suggested that by 2018 only 2.3 million printers will have been sold, with most of those models used by large industrial firms for prototyping purposes.
By 2018 only 2.3 million printers will have been sold
Of course, personally designed items will be significantly more expensive to produce, and creating the design would involve collaborating with a professional 3D printing designer to create a compatible STL file. Basically, you won't just be able to take a picture of your proposed item, or make a crude doodle and expect them to do all the work for you.
“3D printing is an emerging technology that has many applications” Mike Newnham
Mike Newnham, chief customer office at Royal Mail, believes that “3D printing is an emerging technology that has many applications and offers an innovative way to create unique or personalised objects.” He adds, however, that “It can be prohibitively expensive for consumers or small businesses to invest in a 3D printer,” which is why the Royal Mail scheme is such a solid idea. The pilot scheme will be gauging public interest in 3D printing, so if the idea takes off, expect to see 3D printers popping up in post offices across the country in the near future!
Last month, Royal Mail began working with Amazon's “Click & Collect” points service
iMakr is not the only major digital partnership Royal Mail has formed in recent months. Last month they began working with Amazon's “Click & Collect” points service, which offers Amazon's customers the option of collecting their parcels from one of Royal Mail's 10,500 Local Collect points across the UK. With Christmas on the horizon, and parcels having a tendency to be delivered when you're either out of the house or on the toiler 99% of the time, the idea is quite a godsend, and is just one of the many strategies (along with the 3D printing initiative) the company is experimenting with to bring the Royal Mail into the 21st Century.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer and struggling musician from Kidderminster in the UK. His mate owns a 3D printer and has thus far been unable to print off anything more complicated than a pair of swimming goggles. Still, watching it in action is surprisingly absorbing.


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Elon Musk: Tesla to launch FSD subscription in Q2, could be a clue for full scale FSD Beta release
For a while, Tesla teased the rollout of the company’s subscription service for full autopilot autonomous driving functionality. However, now in a Twitter response to Full March Catalog Elon Musk has given a definitive timeline for the launch of the service.
Q2 for sure
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2021
According to Musk, Tesla will definitely launch the service in the second quarter of this year. However, Musk doesn’t think the subscription service will be a good deal in the long run. At least he doesn’t believe it in relation to the outright purchase of FSD.
Note that buying FSD will always be a better deal in the long run than the subscription
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 1, 2021
During Tesla’s first quarter 2020 earnings call, Musk said that “buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are convinced that this is an investment that will pay off for the consumer ”.
Tesla CFO Zackery Kirkhorn also seems to agree. In the same profit call, Kirkhorn said that “financially, converting the initial purchase of the FSD option into an in-vehicle loan or lease will be the cheapest plan to own on a monthly”.
Still, it’s nice to have a definitive launch date for the service. Especially considering how Tesla has already delayed the launch of the service. Elon Musk had in the past “we will be offering the full self-drive service as a subscription service, but it will probably be towards the end of this year” in reference to the end of 2020.
So far, Tesla or Musk haven’t shared any clues about how the FSD subscription service works. However, there are a few obvious options. One is a monthly payment, as the company already does with its premium connectivity plan. Or two Tesla could also offer a service where customers subscribe for a predetermined mile on autopilot.
Aside from not knowing how the subscription service will work and how much it will cost, it is also not clear if customers will be able to lock in the price of the subscription. As Tesla improves FSD software and releases more features, it would make sense for the company to raise its prices.
The launch of the subscription service could also be a sign when Tesla plans to roll out the new full autonomous driving capability. Currently, Tesla’s early access program customers have access to a fundamentally better version of autopilot software.
In addition to the FSD features which can be purchased for $ 8,000 by anyone, the software that has been deployed for members of the Early Access Program has the ability to manage intersections, traffic lights, traffic circles. points and can also perform unprotected left turns.
Related news: Pictures show work on Tesla’s Berlin Gigafactory battery plant may have started
And given, as Musk said, the quantum leap in FSD that is the new software, it would make sense for Tesla to roll out the new FSD software to the general public with the release of the FSD subscription.
So what do you think? Are you excited about the FSD subscription service? Will any of you have the option? Do you also think Tesla will make the beta of FSD available to the general public with the subscription service? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
For more information see: Elon Musk Says Tesla to Upgrade to 2 Shifts for Refreshed S&X Model Line Due to High Demand Also look Tesla’s new price list shows cheaper repairs than Mercedes, BMW and Audi
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. It covers everything about Tesla, from cars and Elon Musk, to the energy sector and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for Tesla Daily News.


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SASSO IS A GOLD MINE FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH AND EMPLOYMENT
Silverlands Tanzania Limited has been honored to be one of the sponsors of the KUKU CHOMA CARNIVAL event held in Dar es Salaam that was prepared by the Tanzania Meat Board in collaboration with Guru Planet. The reason for this event was to create awareness of the importance of eating meat, especially chicken, and eggs, as they are excellent sources of protein.
As mentioned in the Daily News newspaper of 16/05/2022
Considering the importance of health and nutrition for families, SASSO is the best choice of chicken. SASSO growth does not depend on growth boosters and has more meat with a unique and delicious taste. Our customers were very happy with the cooked chicken sold at the event. Potential poultry farmers were impressed with the SASSO and admitted to the bird being an excellent choice.
We have so many testimonies from different farmers, the youth, and women who have begun their own businesses with SASSO rearing proving the potential success that can be achieved. The lives of many have been changed by growing SASSO.


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South Korean internet company Naver has completed its acquisition of Wattpad in a $754 million deal. Wattpad, best known for the user-generated content on its reading app, will boost staff at its Toronto and Halifax headquarters by 50 per cent this year, introducing about 100 new roles.
Though the company has identified data, engineering, marketing, and content as areas where the company will expand, Kiel Hume, Wattpad’s director of PR and communications, told Maritime business publication Huddle that “there’s going to be roles open for all different types of positions.” In addition to adapting its original content for film and television, the company’s Wattpad Books selects stories from its platform to be professionally edited and published in print.
Wattpad’s new sign-ups and overall audience increased by 30 to 50 per cent in 2020. Combined with Naver’s Webtoon, a digital comics platform, the company has 166 million monthly users.


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Saturday, August 17 2013
Beyond reimagining the universe or how forces in it might work, Jobs sorted out how minds work, how to sell to consumers, how to manipulate and bully and instill belief.
Wednesday, October 26 2011
Thursday, October 6 2011
Friday, September 2 2011
How does Radical enter the digital economy in a groundbreaking way that both redefines the entertainment industry and yet remains true to core values of support for creativity and precision of user-driven environments?
Wednesday, August 24 2011
Is Disney's decision to let go of its subsidiary Marvel's entire West Coast marketing team a sound one? The question is certainly nowhere near as interesting as what this decision signals about the entertainment industry as a whole.
Thursday, June 16 2011
As technology becomes more intimately woven into our lives, the implications of a single point of control over our digital experiences, such as Apple has over the iPhone, are threatening creative freedom.
Thursday, April 28 2011
Monday, April 25 2011
Apple has finished building their super-secret cloud based music monster.


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India’s Trade Deficit Widens To $15.71 Bn, Exports Slip Marginally
The nation’s exports declined marginally by 0.Eight per cent to USD 26.89 billion in December 2020, because of contraction in sectors like petroleum, leather-based and marine merchandise, in accordance with preliminary knowledge launched by the commerce ministry on Saturday.
The commerce deficit in December widened to USD 15.71 billion, as imports grew by 7.6 per cent to USD 42.6 billion, the information confirmed.
Exports in December 2019 was USD 27.11 billion, whereas imports stood at USD 39.5 billion. In November 2020, the exports have been down by 8.74 per cent.
In April-December 2020-21, the nation’s merchandise exports contracted by 15.Eight per cent to USD 200.55 billion, as in comparison with USD 238.27 billion in the identical interval of 2019-20.
Imports in the course of the 9 months of the present fiscal declined by 29.08 per cent to USD 258.29 billion, as in opposition to USD 364.18 billion in April-December 2019-20.
“India is thus a net importer in December 2020, with a trade deficit of USD 15.71 billion, as compared to a trade deficit of USD 12.49 billion, widened by 25.78 per cent,” the ministry mentioned in a press release.
In December 2020, oil imports declined by 10.37 per cent to USD 9.61 billion. During April-December this fiscal, the imports dipped by 44.46 per cent to USD 53.71 billion.
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By Jonathan Easton
Disney+ is on track to surpass the subscriber numbers of Hulu by 2024 in the US, claims an analyst report.
According to Insider Intelligence, Disney+ will have 72.4 million subscribers in 2020, amounting to 32.1 per cent of US OTT viewers. By contrast, Netflix is predicted to reach 168.9 million subs in the US, while Amazon will reach 130.1 million, and Hulu, Disney’s less IP-focused SVOD, will be in third place with 94.5 million subs.
Apple TV+, which launched in the country just before Disney+, is predicted to hit 18.8 million subs, albeit with a content library that is far smaller.
With already impressive growth for Disney+, the streamer is predicted to surpass its sister streamer Hulu by 2024. By that point, Disney+ will have 123.4 million domestic subs, while Hulu will be at 115.6 million.
eMarketer forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence, Eric Haggstrom said: “Since its launch, Disney+ has been able to grow quickly by using a low price point and leveraging a vast library of content. Bundled offerings with Hulu and ESPN+, as well as distribution deals with Verizon, have enabled it to grow new subscriptions quickly and reduce subscriber churn.
“Disney+ has seen rapid audience growth and has partially benefitted from lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. However, while COVID-19 has helped drive adoption of the service, movie and TV production shutdowns could act as roadblocks. It will be difficult for Disney+ to continue growing viewership in 2021 with a light batch of new releases.”
At the end of Q3, Disney had over 100 million streaming subscribers globally, with a little over 60 million being for Disney+. In spite of this growth, the pandemic hit box office and theme park segments led to losses of US$5 billion.


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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Apache Canyon Ranch bed and breakfast inn in Laguna will hold a sale and auction of Native American art mostly by famed Laguna Pueblo photographer Lee Marmon on Friday, April 4 and Saturday, April 5, according to innkeeper Ava Marie Bowers.
The sale and auction also will include Navajo rugs, pottery and sculpture by Native American artists. A wine tasting by Guadalupe Vineyards of San Fidel, N.M., and viewing of the art will be from 3-8 p.m. Friday. The sale will be held from noon-6 p.m. Saturday with the art auction from 4-5 p.m.
The inn is located at 4 Canyon Drive in Laguna.


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NEXT plc (LON:NXT) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by HSBC Holdings plc
NEXT plc (LON:NXT)‘s stock had its “reduce” rating reiterated by research analysts at HSBC Holdings plc in a research note issued to investors on Friday. They currently have a GBX 3,360 ($43.88) price objective on the stock. HSBC Holdings plc’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 12.20% from the stock’s current price.
Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. UBS AG reduced their price target on shares of NEXT plc from GBX 5,275 ($68.88) to GBX 4,900 ($63.99) and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 24th. Investec raised shares of NEXT plc to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from GBX 3,900 ($50.93) to GBX 4,750 ($62.03) in a report on Wednesday, May 10th. Numis Securities Ltd reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 4,500 ($58.76) price target on shares of NEXT plc in a report on Friday, March 24th. Deutsche Bank AG reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of NEXT plc in a report on Thursday, April 27th. Finally, Peel Hunt reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a GBX 4,200 ($54.84) price target on shares of NEXT plc in a report on Thursday, March 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of GBX 4,481 ($58.51).
NEXT plc (NXT) traded up 1.16% on Friday, reaching GBX 3827.00. 702,812 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. NEXT plc has a 12-month low of GBX 3,565.00 and a 12-month high of GBX 5,705.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average of GBX 3,985.96 and a 200-day moving average of GBX 4,073.12. The company’s market cap is GBX 5.46 billion.
About NEXT plc
NEXT plc is a United Kingdom-based retailer offering clothing, footwear, accessories and home products. The Company’s segments include NEXT Retail, a chain of over 500 stores in the United Kingdom and Eire; NEXT Directory, an online and catalogue shopping business with over four million active customers and international Websites serving approximately 70 countries; NEXT International Retail, with approximately 200 mainly franchised stores; NEXT Sourcing, which designs and sources NEXT branded products; Lipsy, which designs and sells Lipsy branded younger women’s fashion products, and Property Management, which holds properties and property leases which are sub-let to other segments and external parties.
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On June 15th, at the 6th Standardized Development Promotion Conference of the Electronic Cigarette Industry and the 1st Export Service Development Conference held in Shenzhen, RELX International was awarded the Outstanding Export Enterprise Award.
This conference was hosted by the Electronic Cigarette Professional Committee of the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce. The “2022 Electronic Cigarette Industry Export Blue Book” released at the conference showed that the global electronic cigarette market size in 2022 will exceed 108 billion US dollars. At present, there are more than 1,500 electronic cigarette manufacturing and brand enterprises, and more than 70% of the enterprises mainly export their products overseas.
As one of the representative companies in the electronic cigarette industry going overseas, RELX’s overseas exploration initially started in 2019. Half a year after entering the Southeast Asian market, RELX has occupied the first place in the local e-cigarette market, and has quickly accumulated millions of consumers in more than 40 countries around the world. In 2021, the new company “RELX International” responsible for RELX’s overseas business was officially established, and the globalization development accelerated again.
“Brands going overseas is an important historical stage in the transformation from Made in China to Created in China and Chinese products to world brands.” said Du Bing, CEO of RELX International, “By joining hands with global talents and partners, we will provide localized high-quality products, respect local habits and Complying with local laws and regulations and actively taking social responsibilities, RELX hopes to become a brand trusted by global users and grow into a new business card made by China’s wisdom.”
By the end of 2021, RELX International has reached cooperation with many top international distributors and well-known local retail chains, such as Carrefour, 7-11, Alfamart, etc., and has established offices and stations in 21 countries and regions; in Southeast Asia, New Zealand At the same time, the share of RELX brand in developed countries such as the United Kingdom and Spain has also continued to increase.
(RELX International Store)
RELX International’s goal is to build a trustworthy international Chinese brand, and localized operation is the “password” for its rapid development. At present, RELX International has formed a diverse team with employees from 22 countries and regions around the world, and more than 40% of the employees are local employees.
On the basis of localized operations, RELX International strives to ensure product quality and provides users in different regions with products that meet local regulatory requirements and cultural characteristics. It is understood that RELX product standards are more stringent and comprehensive based on the relevant standards of EU countries and the HPHCs requirements of PMTA in the United States, and meet the requirements of various overseas markets. At the same time, RELX International produces more than 30 different versions of packaging for global products to meet local regulatory requirements.
In addition to setting up localized teams and providing high-quality products, RELX International always regards itself as a part of the region and actively fulfills its social responsibilities. At the beginning of going overseas, RELX International has implemented the “Guardian Plan”, and in the process of cooperating with global retailers, adhered to the principle of “opposing the sale of e-cigarettes to minors and the use of e-cigarettes in front of minors”.


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Government increases duty drawback on gold, reduces for silver
The central government has increased the duty drawback on gold by 15.6% and decreased the duty drawback on silver by 5% receiving praise from the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.
The new gold duty drawback rate is now priced at Rs 431.1 per gram, up from Rs 372.9 per gram. This will enable exporters to gain higher returns on duty and taxes paid for the raw materials, against the exported products, the GJEPC announced on its website.
The government had last adjusted the duty drawback rate on gold in January 2020 and felt the need to adjust it due to the steady increase in gold prices added to by the global coronavirus pandemic.
“The revision in duty drawback rates is a great move by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance,” said GJEPC chairman Colin Shah, the GJEPC reported.
“Duty-free precious metal must be available to exporters so that they can compete in international markets. In view of unprecedented increase in the price of gold in the last couple of months, manufacturers who were exporting jewellery from domestically procured duty-paid gold were finding it unfeasible to execute export orders. The revision in drawback rates will provide much-needed relief to gold jewellery exporters.”
The duty drawback rate on silver has been reduced by 5% and now stands at Rs 4,105.6 per kilogram, down from Rs 4,332.2 per kilogram. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance’s notification on the duty drawback rates came into effect on July 15, 2020.
Copyright © 2022 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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A new Gap Kids ad from the U.K. has been deemed “sexist” by social media users for labelling girls as social butterflies and boys as scholars. Watch the video above to hear the public’s reactions to the clothing company’s latest campaign.
The backlash against Gap Kids comes just months after the company stirred controversy with its GapKids X ED campaign to promote its newest line of athletic kids' wear. Twitter users felt the ad was “racist” after a promotional image showed the only black girl in the ad being used as an armrest.
Also on HuffPost


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With this partnership, employers and their members using RxPreferred for their pharmacy benefit will have access to all medications available through Cost Plus Drugs.
RxPreferred Benefits is the latest company to partner with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs.Employers and their members using RxPreferred for their pharmacy benefit will now have access to all medications available through Cost Plus Drugs within their benefits package, with future plans to expand this offering along with local independent pharmacies.
“There is an education component for employers and employees needed to help people and their families access the appropriate medications at the best possible costs and live healthy lives,” Jeff Malone, chief executive officer of RxPreferred, said in a press release. “In an otherwise opaque industry, we're committed to bringing transparency to the prescription drug space, making this partnership with Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company vital to our continued efforts in improving healthcare.”
RxPreferred, which bills itself as a transparent pharmacy benefit administrator, launched in 2011 to provide custom pharmacy solutions and now works with employers nationwide to administer their pharmacy benefits plan. The partnership with Cost Plus Drugs gives patients and employers the opportunity to make informed decisions about their healthcare needs, company executives said.
Cost Plus Drugs launched in January 2022 and now carries more 1,000 prescription products. Over the last year, organization has teamed up with several companies including PBMs and insurance companies. The first of these partnerships was created in September 2022, when it granted members of Rightway’s PBM direct access to all medications available through Cost Plus Drugs through a mobile app.
This was followed by a collaboration with Vivio Health, a specialty drug management company, which formed a partnership with Cost Plus Drugs in October 2022 to access specialty drugs from the online pharmacy. The arrangement came about after Mark Cuban appeared on The Daily Show and mentioned how he was able to find a significantly lower cost generic of droxidopa for a friend. The drug is used to treat lightheadedness and dizziness caused by primary autonomic failure including Parkinson’s and multiple system atrophy.
Another partnership, announced in December 2022, brought the Cost Plus Drugs option to self-insured employers. EmsanaRx launched EmsanaRx Plus, a first-of-its-kind drug discount program designed as a standalone product offering access to Cost Plus Drugs to supplement a self-insured employer’s PBM product. The program, which will be available beginning March 1, 2023, will provide access to generics offered through the online pharmacy without employees having to go outside of their health plan benefits. EmsanaRx Plus advocates will assist both employers and employees interested in transferring their medications to the new option, and coordinate with providers on behalf of patients.
Cost Plus Drugs has also began working directly with health plans for the first time when in October 2022 it worked a partnership with Capital Blue Cross in Harrisburg, Pa. Beginning in 2023, Capital Blue Cross members will be able to use their insurance cards at Cost Plus Drugs.


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UK retail security flap exposes 2,000 credit cards
An estimated 2,000 credit card details have been exposed by a security breach at a UK retailer. Affected users learned of the breach via an alert from MasterCard. They were informed that their card provider or bank was suspending potentially compromised accounts and issuing new accounts and cards to holders.
At The Register.
[ Read more ]


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Chinese Semiconductors Buildup Drive Nova’s Sales
3 May, 2018
"They are struggling to stabilize their newly built production lines and are making huge investments in process control and measurements"
Nova (NVMI), from Rehovot, Israel, announced a record quarterly revenue of $62.6 million, up 15% year-over-year, during the first quarter of 2018. Nova provides metrology solutions for advanced process control used in semiconductor manufacturing. AS such, its sales mix reveals major trends in the industry. The company forecasts sales of $57-$63 million in Q2 2018.
It is a good news for Nova, but interesting news for the industry: Expansion in the Memory sector generated 50% of overall product revenue, and growing position in China yielded 40% of overall product revenue. Eitan Oppenhaim, President and CEO of Nova, explained: “The growth was driven by the expansion of our Memory business and our continued growth in China. This strong start supports our outlook for another growth year.”
The CEO of Nova, Dror David, told Techtime that the Chinese government is financing now the many new semiconductors fabs in the country. “They are in the pilot phase, the the process involves heavy research, developments and many tests. They are struggling to stabilize their newly built production lines and are making huge investments in process control and measurements. This is something we strongly feel.”
The company also believes that the memory market will show steady growth in the coming years, specially high volume NAND and DRAM devices, following the growing need for bigger and bigger capacity in the Data centers and Edge devices. “This trend will influence our sales for the rest of 2018.”
Posted in: News


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Posted Tue Sep 15, 2015 at 03:30 PM PDT by Steven Cohen
The premium entertainment network will now allow movie downloads for offline viewing.
EPIX has announed plans to launch a download option for mobile devices. The feature will make EPIX the first network to provide offline viewing directly from its mobile apps.
"The EPIX goal has always been to provide our subscribers with next level enhancements, elevating how they can access content across devices," said Mark Greenberg, EPIX President and CEO. "By creating a network first, true TV Everywhere experience, consumers can now download a movie from our library and watch it anywhere, anytime, even without a Wi-Fi connection - while waiting at the airport, traveling by train, commuting to work, or even on a camping trip. Consumers now have guaranteed content mobility."
With the new download feature, subscribers will be able to download titles directly from the EPIX mobile app on Kindle Fire, Apple and Android mobile devices and tablets including iPads, iPhones, and Samsung and Nexus products. Once downloaded, viewers will be able to watch the content on the go even without an internet connection. Titles available for download will include popular on demand movies like 'The Hunger Games,' as well as documentaries, concerts, and comedy events.
The EPIX download feature for mobile devices will launch this month for all subscribers.
Source: EPIX via Business Wire
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.


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Q. I’ve been a DIRECTV subscriber for years, but I hate AT&T, which now owns them. Is there any chance that AT&T will sell DIRECTV, maybe to Dish? — Bob, Indianapolis.
Bob, your lament is quite common among DIRECTV subscribers, many of whom send me e-mails voicing frustration with their satellite TV service since AT&T bought it for $67 billion in 2015.
The complaints often say DIRECTV’s customer service has declined appreciably since the AT&T takeover. There’s also a general feeling that AT&T is less interested in introducing new and innovative services, something DIRECTV has been known for over the years.
AT&T’s purchase of DIRECTV, the nation’s number one satellite TV operator, has not gone well for the telco, either. Since the sale was made official, DIRECTV has lost roughly two million customers. The spread of cord-cutting is certainly a cause, but subscriber dissatisfaction over DIRECTV’s annual price hikes, and AT&T’s uncertain stewardship of the satcaster, are factors as well.
So, to your question, will AT&T sell DIRECTV? Has the company grown tired of trying to keep an expensive TV service profitable when so many Americans are seeking lower-cost alternatives such as Netflix or Hulu?
I think the answer is yes, and it wouldn’t surprise me if AT&T sold DIRECTV to Dish in the coming months.
Dish is the nation’s second largest satellite TV service with slightly less than 10 million subscribers. (DIRECTV still has more than 18 million.) While Dish is also losing customers to cord-cutting, and the expansion of streaming options, the acquisition of DIRECTV would give it a total of 27 million satellite TV subscribers. That would make Dish the nation’s largest pay TV company. (And the number would reach 30 million when you add in Sling TV, Dish’s live streaming service, which has 2.47 million subscribers.)
With roughly 30 million subscribers, and no competition in the satellite TV category, Dish could stay profitable for years by generating more advertising, and pressuring programmers to offer lower carriage fees. (Think of it. Few programmers would want their channels suddenly removed from a pay TV service that reaches more than 30 million homes.)
You might say the federal government would frown upon approving a merger that would give so much power to one video company, particularly considering that the FCC rejected a merger between Dish and DIRECTV in 2002 on grounds it would be anti-competitive.
But with the rise of streaming, the pay TV business (cable, satellite, telcos) no longer dominates the video category as it did 17 years ago. Consumers today have a multitude of video options, and the number is growing almost daily. Dish and DIRECTV could even argue that the merger/sale is necessary now to keep the satellite TV business afloat in the coming years.
For AT&T, the sale would give the company a chance to re-set its strategy, and focus entirely on the streaming business. AT&T now owns the live streamer, DIRECTV Now, but it plans to soon rename it AT&T TV Now. (Yes, the name change could have something to do with the sale of DIRECTV, the satellite service, and the DIRECTV brand name.) The company also owns HBO and it plans to offer multiple streaming services under that brand name.
I have no inside knowledge that talks between AT&T and Dish are ongoing, but Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen has publicly lusted after DIRECTV for years. There’s no doubt in my mind that he would be most interested in making a deal. And there’s no doubt in my mind that AT&T’s top executives would like an escape hatch for DIRECTV.
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at email@example.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann