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Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Elton Stars in Burberry Christmas Ad
With Halloween season finally over and Christmas just around the corner, Burberry have ignited our festive spirits with the release of their Christmas campaign.
Julie Walters played Billy Elliot’s ballet teacher Mrs Wilkinson in the original film and Sir Elton John wrote the music for Billy Elliot the Musical which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. These images include shots of Romeo Beckham, Naomi Campbell and James Bay.
The young model (whose parents happen to be David and Victoria Beckham, as you might have guessed), who is now serving as a brand ambassador, stars in the exuberant Mario Testino-shot ads, alongside Burberry “family members” Huntington-Whiteley, Naomi Campbell and James Bay.
Directed by Burberry’s Creative Director and CEO, Christopher Bailey, himself, the festive film recreates the opening scene of the iconic British musical to celebrate its 15th anniversary and pays homage with the soundtrack of Cosmic Dancer by T Rex. The all-singing all-dancing campaign is filled with Burberry’s usual Christmas culprits – trench coats, tartan and a huge dash of glamour.
Now the real question is, is Billy Elliot on Netflix? And if the film is anything like it’s Gene Kelly-esque counterpart past year, then we can’t wait to lay eyes on the cheery flick-or get our hands on the jolly new collection, which hits stores today.
This year, a £500,000 donation from Burberry will be split between charities Place2be and the County Durham community foundation. As well as the Beckham clan’s Romeo taking part in his second Christmas ad for the British brand, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s little brother Toby makes his modelling debut alongside his very succesful elder sis.
- TV News Room


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- The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has launched an online hub to ease trade on the African continent
- The AfCFTA Hub is a focal point for national governments, intergovernmental, private, and public organisations
- It links the parties together to make way for SMEs and startups to drive the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat has launched an online hub to ease trade on the African continent.
The AfCFTA Hub is a focal point for national governments, and intergovernmental, private, and public organisations. It links the parties together to make way for SMEs and startups to drive the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The online hub is designed to grow into a single, trusted directory of the services needed to navigate the AfCFTA for small players, thereby making the AfCFTA the most inclusive Free Trade Area in the world.
The AfCFTA Hub also powers the “AfCFTA Number”, trusted identity and social score for all SMEs, startups and other AfCFTA players.
“It is important to ensure the centrality of SMEs, startups and female entrepreneurs as we strive to build the world’s most inclusive, most innovative and most integrated Single Market,” said Wamkele Mene, Secretary General AfCFTA.
Kenya is one of the seven countries that have been selected to start trading under the AfCFTA framework in a pilot phase to test the environmental, legal and trade policy basis for intra-African trade.
The AfCFTA Hub platform and ongoing engagements among the AfCFTA Hub Network, the Kenya Export Promotion Agency and other government of Kenya agencies form one of the bedrocks on which Kenya’s participation in the AfCFTA pilot initiative rests.
Other African countries like Zambia, Namibia, Malawi and Ghana are in advanced implementation stages of both the AfCFTA guided pilot and AfCFTA Hub platform implementation.
A subsidiary module of the platform to address the risks of market liberalisation for supply chains is the ProPer Seals system, designed to stop such vices as dumping, smuggling, counterfeiting, and illicit trading that might flourish if adequate protections are not put in place.
The AfCFTA Hub platform’s major components include the proper supply chain security system, e-logistics, a digital transactions marketplace, regulatory harmonisation and a trade facilitation mechanism to minimise free and open trade blockages, technically referred to as “non-tariff barriers”.
The AfCFTA Hub is not a self-contained system like an e-commerce or e-marketplace application. Rather it is the crux of an interconnection system that enables multiple digital solutions at the private, public, national government and intergovernmental levels to talk to and coordinate with each other to simplify and accelerate the participation of, especially, SMEs and startups in the AfCFTA process.
The launch comes when the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has effectively developed a first-of-a-kind method to measure how easy or hard it is to do business between/among African countries.
As reported by The Exchange Africa, the tool has been christened the AfCFTA Country Business Index (ACBI) and was launched during the 54th session of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers in Dakar, Senegal, in 2018.
The tool focuses on African integration. This means that it measures the ease of doing business for companies or entities located on the continent and those operating among several countries.
The developers say the Index looks at and compares how easy it is for African countries to trade with each other. For example, how easy it is for a Cameroonian to set up business in Kenya and vice versa. This set of checklists has three key components under the AfCFTA Country Business Index (ACBI).
First, it assesses what is referred to as ‘the perceived impact of the African Continental Free Trade Area on the private sector’s ability to trade and invest across African borders once the Area is operational.’
Explaining how the tool works, Stephen Karingi, Director of the Regional Integration and Trade Division of UNECA said, “…the measure focuses on the constraints and challenges faced by private businesses.
“It will help identify bottlenecks and address issues so that the African private sector can conduct business as seamlessly in their country of origin as anywhere else on the continent,” he said.

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By James R. Healey, Sharon Silke Carty and Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY
Colleen McDonald calls Chrysler "the devil" as she laments losing two Chrysler auto dealership franchises in suburban
Livonia Chrysler Jeep and Century
Some closed already. Another 300 or so are waiting, with little hope, for the results of a bankruptcy court hearing Tuesday on their petitions for relief. But practically speaking, all are out of business today. They'll get no more sales incentive or warranty help from the automaker, no factory financing and no more cars and trucks.
"I have a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership with no cars. I can't go forward with this business plan," says Howard Sellz, who has been in the car business 44 years and runs Big Valley Dodge
now just three acres of empty lots in the Los Angeles suburb of Van Nuys. His office is filled with decades of photos showing him with famous customers and friends such as
He started liquidating March 4, got a series of franchise extensions, but that halted when Chrysler filed for Chapter 11 protection April 30.
Car buyers who've come out on the wrong end of a negotiation with a dealer might be quietly saying that some had it coming. But the impact goes well beyond the person who holds the franchise agreement with the automaker.
An auto dealership averages 50 direct employees, according to the
An average auto dealership pays $2.5 million in annual salaries, NADA says, plus millions more for services, such as companies that supply and clean mechanics' uniforms, and taxes and fees.
"State and local governments will lose millions of dollars in auto sales tax revenue that is essential for economic recovery," says NADA Chairman John McEleney, arguing dealer cuts are too fast.
To ease the way out, Chrysler says it will redistribute inventories from dealers closing Tuesday to surviving dealers. Payments from the new seller and Chrysler will cover the vehicle, it says, though Chrysler will charge the old dealer $350 per vehicle to ship them. "They'll be made whole, other than the $350," Steven Landry, Chrysler executive vice president of North American sales and service told trade publication Automotive News.
Nonetheless, terminated dealers are sore. McDonald says she sold a lot of vehicles, did what Chrysler asked and kept her customers satisfied — to no avail.
GM, also now in bankruptcy reorganization, has told 1,100 dealers, including McDonald, it will not renew their franchises. But it's giving them until October 2010, when the contracts expire, to wonder. She decided also to close her Holiday Chevrolet in Farmington Hills, Mich., and not wait for the ax.
The three dealerships are — were — her livelihood. Her family has been in the business 30 years. She doesn't know what to do next, unsure what business to start in a recession. But she's sure of one thing: If Chrysler relented, she'd refuse: "I won't do business with the devil."
Very unhappy dealers
McDonald's frustration and anger are repeated across the U.S.
As sales of new vehicles have collapsed, Chrysler and GM say they can't afford to spread their supplies of cars and trucks to so many dealers. They say, with urging from the federal auto task force guiding both through Chapter 11, that fewer dealers mean healthier dealers. They'll compete against
Under Chapter 11 protection, the companies have wide latitude to essentially tear up contracts without regard to state franchise laws shielding dealers.
Chrysler says it's cutting dealers that sell too few new vehicles or are too close to better-performing Chrysler stores.
But some being closed rattle off top ratings from the automaker year after year and say they cooperated by buying more cars from Chrysler in February in the company's unsuccessful attempt to stay out of bankruptcy court. Automakers book revenue when they sell vehicles to dealers, not when customers buy them.
Sellz, for example, says he did exactly what Chrysler asked, even selling his
The 2,400 Chrysler dealers who'll continue generally see the cuts as painful but necessary — and perhaps not as unjust or inexplicable as the terminated dealers say.
"Of the 789, 44% were dualed (have agreements to sell other automakers' vehicles), so they have other franchises that will continue," says Chuck Eddy, who runs Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep in Youngstown, Ohio. Eddy, who represents Chrysler dealers at NADA, didn't lose his franchise.
"Of the 789 total, 658 sell more used cars than new," Eddy notes. "Anybody will tell you that if (a dealer) is selling more used than new, he's not selling enough new cars, not paying enough attention to new" — even though used typically is more profitable.
"You do it right, you make some money on new, a lot of money on used," he says. Eddy says he averages close to two new cars for every used he sells.
Maybe as disgruntled as terminated dealers were weekend shoppers looking for give-away prices.
Denise Capurso, a real estate agent from La Crescenta, Calif., was a no-sale at Star Chrysler Jeep in Glendale, Calif. — on Chrysler's hit list — after a salesman told her she couldn't buy a vehicle for half-price.
The lease ends on her
Dismayed, she went across the street to the Volkswagen dealer.
Steve and Kristin Shin of Cerritos, Calif., have a baby on the way and were weekend shoppers looking for a drastic deal on a Chrysler minivan. They'd been considering Honda and Toyota minvians, but stopped at Star hoping, unsuccessfully, for a huge discount.
"There was an expectation there is a fire sale. We haven't had a fire," general manager Doug Swaim says.
Star owner Steve Bussjaeger says the influx of "vulture" buyers looking for a steal was "somewhat disheartening and frustrating." Still, using a classic tent sale approach, Bussjaeger figures he'll find buyers at reasonable prices or come up with other dealers to buy his remaining stock of 100 vehicles.
"I'll take a substantial loss on every vehicle, but it's not going to kill me," he says.
He was doing such a good job of putting on a normal face that some customers were unaware the dealer was closing as they browsed the lot.
"It's probably a good time to buy," says Don McIntyre, a retired city manager from Pasadena who came to check out a Jeep Liberty with his wife, Nancy. "We're not looking for an amazing deal. We're looking for a fair deal. We're not desperate."
Like Livonia's McDonald, Bussjaeger feels his good deeds are being punished.
Star has been a Chrysler "five-star dealer" for more than nine years, an elite group whose sales, service, facilities and other factors put them at the top of Chrysler's internal rankings. Star also met its sales goals, he says. "Chrysler just walked in and said, 'We're going to take it away from you,' " Bussjaeger says. "I've done everything they've asked."
Rick Schaub, owner of Montrose Dodge in Germantown, Md., says his dealership had virtually no weekend sales even though it seems widely known that Tuesday is his last day. "The people coming in think they can get a car for $3,000 or something like that," he says.
His dealership has about $200,000 worth of Dodge replacement parts, and he says Chrysler was willing to take back only $4,000 worth. He still has about 30 vehicles to get rid of before he switches to used car sales and repair work.
"I feel fortunate that I'm going now, quite honestly, because I don't give Chrysler long," he says. "They don't have much of a chance of survival, and the guys who are left are being forced to dig their graves deeper by investing in their dealerships."
Jeff Sellz, son of the Big Valley Dodge owner, who was making a lunch run in a shiny black Dodge
Winding down the business is a lengthy process. McDonald says she and her husband are facing issues they never considered: canceling advertisements in the Yellow Pages, terminating uniform contracts, calling the folks who empty their dumpsters to cancel and withdrawing plans for a billboard. She says it could take months to get everything done.
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Sad news – No Action Boat for this coming Season.
Earlier this week I caught up with the guys behind Littlehampton’s popular white-knuckle powerboat rides – Action Boat They confirm that owing to the Sea Defence works they won’t be able to run their popular rides this season.
Apparently the problems with access to and from the boat are just too great now that Action Boat’s berthing pontoon has been removed while the sea defence works are underway. They are hopeful that they’ll be back again in action in 2015. But this is a big blow for Littlehampton as this was one of our newest and most popular waterside attractions.
And it’s not just Action Boats that will be affected by lack of pontoon space.
One of the biggest problems facing Littlehampton Harbour this year will be the lack of visitor berthing space for visiting boats.
Last year we enjoyed a bumper season with visiting yachts many of them arriving as part of ‘Rallies’.
These boats and rallies bring a very welcomed spend to our local businesses – restaurants, shops and bars doing exceptionally well. Each year my own bike shop in Pier Road does well with cycle hire with visiting mariners and we also manage to sell a number of bikes to them.
But with the restricted pontoon space, it’s difficult to see how they’ll all fit in.
And, sadly the future of the Littlehampton Ferry also looks to be in doubt.
Latest update I can get on the Littlehampton Ferry is that the boat is up for sale and the previous operator (Action Boats) has confirmed it won’t be running the ferry as part of their operation.
Again even if a buyer is found it’s difficult to see where a suitable embarking and landing pontoon would be found as the original pontoon has now been removed as has the steps leading to it.
No doubt it’s going to be a difficult season for us as we’ve lost these two very popular attractions.
Please Note – if you’ve previously signed up to receive regular updates via email from the Pier Road Diaries, we need you to re-sign up again as the blog has now moved servers and the original database has been deleted. (an oversight on my part).
So, please do sign up again – you’ll find the sign up toward the top right hand side of this page.
Don’t forget also to follow Pier Road on Twitter – @Pier_Road
As always, thanks for reading and for following us.


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More than 1.2 million Chrysler vehicles may have similar ignition switch problems to those that have plagued General Motors, leading to the recall of millions of vehicles and causing dozens of accidents and deaths nationwide.
On June 16, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched two investigations into Chrysler vehicles, both involving reports of problems with the ignition switches and how the cars turn on and off.
One NHTSA investigation (PDF) involves half a million Jeep Commander and Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles, coming in response to at least 32 complaints that the operator’s knee or leg jarred the ignition key, turning the vehicle off. This results in the vehicle stalling, affects the ability to turn and brake and could deactivate the air bags if an accident occurs, the NHTSA warns.
The investigation affects an estimated 525,000 model year 2006-2007 Jeep Commander and 2005-2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles. Since this is a preliminary investigation, no vehicles have yet been recalled, and there is no guarantee that the investigation will result in a recall being issued.
The second investigation (PDF) affects 700,000 model year 2008-2010 Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Journey and Chrysler Town & Country vehicles. At least 23 complaints have been received in connection with those vehicles. When the ignition key is turned to the START position, it is supposed to spring back to the RUN position when released. However, complaints suggest that instead it is springing back past the RUN position and ending up between the RUN and ACC position.
Bumpy roads or anything that jars the key, FOB or key ring can turn the key to the ACC position, potentially disabling the air bags in case of an accident.
Both investigations are in their preliminary stages, as NHTSA investigators look into the scope, frequency and consequence of the problems. At least one auto accident has been linked to the Jeep ignition switch problem, but no injuries or deaths.
NHTSA Taking Quick Action
The NHTSA has faced substantial criticism in recent months following GM’s recall of about 6 million vehicles that suffered similar ignition switch problems. Records show that investigators warned superiors at the NHTSA about problems that affected 2.5 million of those cars for years, but no action was taken.
There are currently three separate major GM ignition switch recalls. The first and most controversial affects 2.5 million small cars, and GM acknowledges that it knew about the problems, which caused heavy key rings or jarring impacts to turn off the car and disable air bags, for more than a decade before announcing a recall.
The first GM ignition switch recall was originally announced in February, affecting Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G5 and other small vehicles. It has been expanded several times since then.
The second recall, announced late last week, affects half a million Chevrolet Camaros with ignition problems that are identical to those cited in the Chrysler investigation. The third appears to be a problem with ignition key weight and affects more than three million GM cars, including luxury Cadillac and Buick models.
GM faces a growing number of ignition switch recall lawsuits over the recall affecting Cobalts and other small cars. The lawsuits consist of both personal injury and wrongful death claims by people who were injured or lost loved ones when air bags failed to deploy during accidents, and economic lawsuits filed by investors and vehicle owners who say that GM’s actions led to a depreciation of the value of the cars and the company’s stocks.
Photo courtesy of alv1nW/Flickr via Creative Commons


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As a part of Volkswagen”s 10-year plan to catch up to Toyota by 2018, Volkswagen hopes to increase sales to 1-million units in the U.S. within the next ten-years. Now Martin Winterkorn, CEO of Volkswagen, is planning on adding more models to the company U.S. lineup and cutting down pricing by getting rid of options American’s don’t care about.
In order to close the sales gap between the largest auto maker Toyota, Volkswagen realizes that it must fix U.S. sales record. For the past three years, US operations have lost close to $1 billion annually. Things were so bad for the German auto maker, that there were talks of executives mulling to pull out of the U.S. market.
Now Volkswagen will re-evaluate its lineup in the U.S. and is aiming to sell about 330,000 last year.
“We have definitely added too many technical items that [American] customers don’t want to pay for,” Mr. Winterkorn said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
Winterkorn believes that cutting down useless options that we don’t need here in the U.S., Volkswagen can sell future versions of the Passat and Jetta for much cheaper than what they go for now. The Jetta, which starts at $17,000 in the U.S. competes with Toyota’s Corolla, which starts at about $15,200. On the other hand, the Passat starts at over $23,000 while the Camry starts at about $20,000.
Globally, Volkswagen plans on adding an extra 12 models to its lineup by 2010. Winterkorn believes that if Volkswagen ventures into segments it currently has no product for; it will be able to reach Toyota’s sales record.
[tags]Cars, Car, Auto, Automobile, Vehicles, Technology, Auto News, News, Automotive, Volkswagen[/tags]


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Food Safety: The marijuana-infused foods called edibles could be contaminated with this THC and cause “adverse events.” A Health Advisory was issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the Food and Drug Administration. It warns of danger due to increased availability of cannabis products that contain delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol. (THC). The warning agencies claim this is due insufficient labeling for projects containing THC or CBD.
The danger comes from Delta-8 THC intoxication, which may include the following symptoms:
- Uncoordinated movements and decreased psychomotor activity
- Slurred speech
- Increased heart rate progressing to slowed heart rate
- Low blood pressure
- Difficulty breathing
Cannabis plants have several “isomers” — a certain type of molecule — with most often referring to the delta-9 THC Delta-8 THC exists naturally in cannabis plants in only small quantities with 50 percent to 75 percent of the psychoactive punch as delta-9 THC.
Delta-8 and delta-9 THC, as well as other THC isomers, are also synthesized from CBD. This is not naturally psychoactive. According to the official CDC Health Advisory,
Delta-8 CBD products are becoming more common in both marijuana or hemp markets. Some of these marketplaces operate under state, tribal, or tribal laws. Online sales of concentrated delta-8 THC products are permitted by most states and territories. The advisory states that delta-8 THC products can sometimes be marketed as “weed-light” or “diet marijuana”.
The health effects of delta-8 THC are still not fully understood and have not been extensively researched. Delta-8 THC can be psychoactive, and could pose similar impairment risks to delta-9 THC.4 Products that only contain delta-8 THC, but not with the total THC, may underestimate the psychoactive potential these products have for consumers.
In addition, delta-8 THC products are not restricted to dispensaries that are licensed in certain states, territories or tribes where there is a legal market. Delta-8 THC products can be sold by many businesses that sell hemp. Delta-8 THC products can also be confused with CBD or hemp products that aren’t intoxicating. These products can cause THC intoxication to consumers who consume them.
A wide range of products containing delta-8 THC have been introduced to the market, including vapes, smokable cannabis sprayed with delta-8 CBD extract, distillates and tinctures, chocolates, gummies, and infused beverages. The warning states that testing methods for synthetically derived delta-8THC products are still being developed. Therefore, delta-8-THC products may not be systematically tested for contaminants like heavy metals, solvents or pesticides that could have adverse health effects CDC reports syndromic surveillance data of emergency departments participating in the National Syndromic Surveillance Program. The NSSP includes more than 4 ,400 emergency facilities located in 49 US states and Washington D.C.
The NSSP received the first report involving Delta-8 THC in September 2020, with subsequent monthly increases. From Jan. 1 to July 31 this year the National Poison Data System (NPDS) has recorded 660 delta-8 exposures.
Eighteen percent of those exposures required hospitalization, and 39 percent were younger than 18 years of age.
The CDC reported two cases of severe adverse reactions to delta-8 CBD in two children who ingested gummies infused with THC from their parents. The children felt deep sedation, slowed breathing, and increased heart rate. This progressed to decreased blood pressure and a slowed heart beat. The children were admitted to the intensive care unit for further monitoring and oxygen supplementation.”
A spokesman for the pro-marijuana group known as NORML blamed the rise of delta-8 THC on marijuana policy conflicts that have left gaps in access to traditional cannabis products.
NORML’s Paul Armentano said this to Marijuana Moment. It is a news site that covers the cannabis industry. “We share some agencies’ concerns about the unregulated nature these grey-market goods. The artificial market for these products is, of course, a result of the prohibition on marijuana. If whole-plant cannabis were legal, there would be little or no interest for consumers to experiment with unregulated imitations. But, absent widespread regulated access to cannabis, these unregulated producers and distributors are all too happy to fill this void.”
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here. )


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The Big Short’ uses Bank of America, Wachovia as punch lines Scotia Bank is large international bank, and a line of credit is an agreement with this bank that they will loan you money when you ask for it. The loan is based upon equity that you have such as.
On Monday, July 10, 2017, the federal reserve releases its May report on consumer borrowing. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) US consumer credit up $18.4 billion in May, most in 6 months
U.S. consumer spending up 0.6 percent, best in 5 months. – Americans boosted their spending by 0.6 percent in April, the biggest increase in five months and a strong indication that the.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. months through June. The annual rate has dropped by half a percentage point since February and the PCE price index has undershot the U.S. central bank’s 2 percent target.
Baby boomers’ retirement: The country’s biggest and most predictable train wreck? Are working baby boomers headed for a train wreck?. a serious warning for baby boomers from a new survey on expectations about retirement. It is written by Richard Eisenberg, who is a personal finance editor at Money, as well as roughly 25,000 employees in 18 other countries.
The cost of living in the U.S. climbed in July at the slowest pace in five months, indicating price pressures remain limited even as the economy picks up. The consumer price index. of increased.
The category that includes student and auto loans jumped by nearly $14.5 billion, or 6.2 percent -the most in five months. The category that covers credit cards rose more modestly, up by $2 billion or.
Thor Equities in hot water at 545 Madison One male colleague supposedly told her: You’re all fertile lassies.(We don’t) want some bumper crop of equities markets pushing ever higher while (we’re) caught with sowers and reapers who aren’t.
In April, U.S. consumer credit increased at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.2%, the most in five months, according to the Federal Reserve’s latest report.The rate, though, is less than the 5.4%
Consumer Credit Rises by $10.6 Billion, Lowest Amount in 5 Months. U.S. consumer debt rose in February by the least in five months as credit-card balances stalled, indicating Americans’ appetite for borrowing waned further after a fourth- quarter shopping spree. Highlights of Consumer Credit (February) Total credit rose $10.6b (est.
US Consumer Credit Growth Slows To Weakest In 7 Months. After crashing to 5 years lows in March, revolving debt rebounded by 2.263bn in April, but non-revolving debt growth slowed dramatically from adding $13.38bn in March to adding just $6.999bn (to its weakest since Sept 2017).
Americans borrowed money at the fastest pace in five months in April, according to the latest Federal Reserve Consumer Credit Report. Total consumer credit increased by $17.5 billion. That’s an annual growth rate of 5.2%. Americans currently owe nearly $4.07 trillion. The consumer debt figures include credit card debt, student loans and auto.
US consumer spending up 0.6%, best in 5 months.. 0.6 percent in April, the biggest increase in five months, while a gauge of inflation remained at the Federal Reserve’s optimal level for a.
Make the move to a project by request: Check out this fabsome diy: custom Made to Move Project MC2 Star VS The Forces of Evil Inspired Doll!. WOW, that was a mouth full! Enjoy this Handmade Craft in stunning 4K Ultra Hi.


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DURBAN - Amazon is bringing their Career Choice programme to three other countries and South Africa is one of them.
The international e-commerce and cloud computing company will also be implementing the programme in Costa Rica and Slovakia.
Amazon's Career Choice is a programme that allows Amazon employees that have been with the company for more than a year to get funding to further their education in jobs that are in demand.
According to the Amazon website, the company will pre-pay for 95% of the tuition, fees, and textbooks, worth less than $12000 (R143400), for certificates and degrees in jobs that are high in demand.
Some of the occupations that are high in demand include medical lab technologies and aircraft mechanics.
Healthcare, information technology, and commercial truck driving are popular fields of study for those who have been apart of the programme.
Amazon's Career Choice programme is already running in countries like France, Ireland, Spain, and Germany.
The classes for the programmes will take place at the Amazon facilities. More than 10 000 Amazon employees have participated in the programme.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 has since then the company has grown into a multibillionaire dollar enterprise.
Just recently Bezos announced that their subscription service Amazon Prime had more than 100 million subscribers.
According to Statista Amazon is the leading electronic retailer in the United Staes with nearly $178 billion in net sales for 2017.
Amazon's CEO and founder Jeff Bezos has a real-time net worth of $126,5 billion.
- BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE


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Corrie's much loved community may have moved off the old cobbles for good, but the new owners of the former Granada Studios have announced that they’ll be welcoming a fresh community of weekend market traders from April.
On the same day that Old Granada Studios lets visitors back on the Coronation Street set for its famous tours, they’re also bringing the place back to life with street vendors, special community events and live performances.
"Launching the markets on April 5 is Manchester’s own high end street specialist BITE, followed by the Finders Keepers flea market on April 6."
Every Saturday and Sunday, from 11am to 5pm, boutique stalls selling art and design, craft, gourmet food, as well as fashion and vintage collectables will move into the Quay Street site.
Launching the markets on April 5 is Manchester’s own high end street specialist BITE, followed by the Finders Keepers flea market on April 6 - which will take over the space on the first Sunday of every month with stalls of bric-a-brac, antiques and objet d’art.
Old Granada Studios has also confirmed that April 12 will be a crafts market, and that local artists will run the space on April 13 with an art and design market.
Speaking about the decision, the organisers said: “Coinciding with the launch of the Coronation Street Tour, Old Granada Studios is set to become the must-visit destination for families, tourists and city dwellers alike.
“Hosted within an exceptional, quintessentially Mancunian setting, Old Granada Studios has inherited its culture and has embraced its world-renowned attributes and with the recent inclusion of the urban markets, this hugely iconic destination is set to be kept on the map for years to come.”
BITE return to the site on April 19, while April 26-27 is given over to new and vintage fashion stalls.
The Old Granada Studios markets calendar is as follows:
April 5: BITE
April 6: Finders Keepers
April 11: Makers Market
April 12: Art & Design
April 19: BITE
April 26: Love Fashion
April 27: Vintage Village


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Sainsbury's enters brand pricing war
By Matthew Chapman, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Monday, 10 October 2011 08:56AM
Sainsbury's is rolling out a brand price match scheme on Wednesday (12 October) across the UK, as it becomes the latest supermarket to wade into the brand pricing war.
Tesco is already pushing hard on price with its Big Price drop strategy, which has dropped the price of 3,000 products as part of a £500m commitment.
Asda already pledges to give customers the difference if it is not 10% cheaper on customer's comparable grocery shopping, while Waitrose is drawing attention to its Tesco Price Match promise in its marketing campaign.
The 'Sainsbury's Brand Match' scheme will give customers a voucher when they check-out, which will refund the price difference if the branded goods cost less at Asda or Tesco.
Price data supplied by market data firm Brand View instantly checks whether the prices at Tesco and Asda are cheaper and includes up-to-date promotions in rival supermarkets.
Other supermarkets do not provide the relevant data and so are not included in the scheme.
The initiative coincides with Sainsbury's new marketing strategy, which is based around its "live well for less" slogan.
Sainsbury's has already trialled the Brand Match technology in its 12 stores in Northern Ireland and claims the initiative has been well received by customers.
Sainsbury's group commercial director Mike Coupe said: "Unlike some of our competitors we aren't asking customers to do the hard work to check on our prices.
"We know shoppers don't want the hassle of having to enter different pieces of information on their computer at home before having to then print out a coupon just to check they are getting the best deal."
Follow @mattchapmanuk on Twitter
This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk
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- Global Business Director Twist Recruitment £90000.00 - £100000 per annum, City of London
- Oreo eclipses The Sun in celestial stunt
- Katharine Viner becomes first female editor-in-chief of Guardian News & Media
- Why Viacom spent £120m extending Channel 5's Big Brother deal for three more years
- Tesco media review pits Initiative against MediaCom and ZenithOptimedia
- Comparethemarket.com offers two for one cinema tickets with Meerkat Movies
- Google's European leader says viewing habits are 'changing dramatically'


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Earlier this week, we told you about the extraordinary stats for March car sales. What's notable, though, isn't just the number of vehicles that automakers sold that month, but also the prices at which they've been selling.
According to TrueCar, the average transaction price for a new car in March was $31,087. That's $339 higher than March 2012 and up $129 from February of this year.
TRANSACTION PRICES UP
In terms of transaction prices, the highest of the high was Volkswagen/Audi, with an average of $33,871. General Motors came in a close second, with Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC sales averaging $33,088 per vehicle (though it bears mentioning that that figure is 0.6% below March 2012). Ford/Lincoln came in third at $32,914.
At the cheaper end of the scale, we find Hyundai/Kia, which clocked average prices of $22,646. That's not too surprising, since neither is associated with a luxury or near-luxury brand. Honda/Acura were on the penultimate rung at $27,141.
And although Toyota/Lexus/Scion saw relatively low transaction prices of $28,892, that's actually up 5.5% from March 2012 -- the biggest percentage jump among all major automakers.
INCENTIVES DOWN SLIGHTLY
On the whole, incentives for new cars were down just a bit in March 2013, settling at $2,523, or 1.7% below last year.
The biggest loser by far was Honda, which shaved 31% off its incentives from March 2012. Back then, Honda offered customers incentives totaling $2,220 per vehicle, but this year, that figure tumbled to $1,531.
On the other hand, Hyundai and Kia both upped their incentives, spending an average of $1,369 per vehicle. That's up 10.6% from a year ago.
And for better or worse, Chrysler took top honors in terms of price-to-incentive ratio. The company's $3,264 incentives accounted for 10.9% of its $29,890 average transaction price.
The moral of the story? As long as sales remain strong, prices will likely keep climbing, and incentives should stay fairly flat. Which raises the question: how long will sales stats keep climbing? More on that tomorrow.


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Windows 9 will launch in early 2015 and everyone expects it to come with lots of changes which would in the end convince more users to install it on their devices.
It’s no surprise that Windows 9’s launch, just like the debut of every other Windows version, is expected to boost new PC sales, but as far as market analyst firm IDC is concerned, the upcoming product is going to have a very difficult mission.
Windows 9 indeed might have what it takes to convince more buyers to get new PCs running a modern operating system, but it’s still a matter of how many users actually need the features that are part of these new products.
“PC replacement cycles have expanded as users have alternative computing platforms and places to spend money. The launch of Windows 9 Threshold in 2015 could potentially boost demand, although it will be hard to gauge the actual impact until the advantages to consumers and commercial users in functionality and integration with specific devices is more apparent,” Loren Loverde, Vice President, Worldwide PC Trackers, said.
“For the moment, we continue to see PC demand coming primarily from replacements with overall shipments declining slightly through the end of the forecast.”
Windows 9 is expected to come with lots of new features, including a modern Start menu, options to run Metro apps on the desktop, a PC version of Cortana, multiple desktops, and a completely-revamped Modern interface for tablets.


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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Facebook (FB) were falling nearly 5% on Thursday morning after the company posted better-than-expected results for the 2016 third quarter, but gave a cautious outlook for 2017.
On the conference call, CFO David Wehner said the company expects ad revenue growth rates to "come down meaningfully." Wehner also said 2017 would be an "aggressive" investment year.
"Those three words 'meaningfully, aggressive and substantial' they overshadowed everything, which I think is ridiculous," TheStreet's Jim Cramer said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" this morning.
"You saw the stock drop when they talked about a meaningful decline in the rate of the amount of money that's going to come in from advertising, ad load, and they said they have to spend money substantially and aggressively and that just freaked everybody out," Cramer explained.
But Cramer noted that this didn't amount to a guidance cut. "It amounted to them spending money to be able to make it so the user experience is great across a whole host of things," he said.
Cramer contended that the quarter was "remarkable" and the conference call was "unbelievable."
"I'm not backing away from it one bit and I'm not cutting numbers," he added.
"Those three words were fighting words meaning that you should take your 2018 (earnings estimates) down from $7 (per share) to maybe $6.50, maybe to $6.20. I do not think that was correct," Cramer said, noting that was the "knee-jerk reaction" to the conference call.


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Five million complaints a year just too many
Gas and energy firms are receiving up to 5 million complaints a year, most of which are caused by poor levels of customer service, according to newly published performance data from Ofgem.
Aspect’s Tony Hesketh believes that it’s not the dealing with the complaints that has become an issue – it’s reducing the number of complaints in the first place.
“Whilst we all feel a bit better at first when a company goes over the top to resolve a mistake or error, all we really want is a simple and speedy resolution,” said Hesketh, who is Director of Solutions Consulting at Aspect. “No-one likes to complain, in fact, the customer wants to extend as little effort as possible in order to receive exceptional service.”
He continued: “More often than not, customer complaints stem from bad service, rather than something actually going wrong. Customers expect glitches or problems to occur from time to time – the complaints arise when companies do not deal with those problems effectively and communicate with the customers.
“If a gas or energy company experiences delivery issues, it will dramatically reduce its complaints if it informs customers before they are even aware of the problem, with explanatory and helpful details, thus reducing the effort required of the customer. Social media is in fact coming a long way in delivering such messages quickly and in a widespread manner. But if the company does not inform its customers, they will notice the setback and the contact centre will be flooded with enquiries from irritated customers,” he said.
Hesketh concluded: “In a relatively simple manner, companies can personalise each customer’s experience and avoid complaints by using the data it holds about its customers for pre-emptive contact, or ‘next call resolution’. In this way, customers extend as little effort as possible, because an agent would automatically know that, for example, the customer got their bill the day before the call, and the likelihood is that that’s what they’re calling about. Problems are resolved immediately, and the customer is much less likely to complain.”


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Samsung innovative Quad-bended AMOLED display, which used as industry first Quad-Edge flexible display in Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone, has received an award from the Society For Information Display (SID).This is very important tech industry award that’s as concerned to tech industry.
The Society for Info Display feels that Samsung’s display deserves the honor for quite a few reasons. One of the points mentioned were an advanced grip comfort that it enables due to the circular edges and its routine approach, which reduces the bezels across the monitor.
The initial honor Samsung got from SID is isn’t by this. Two of the company’s AMOLED panels also acquired the Year” title’s Display in 2013 and 2015.
Samsung has employed them in quite a few of its smartphones to date and started manufacturing versatile displays. These include Universe S7 Side, among others to last year’s in addition to the Universe S8 era. More devices using a rounded monitor from other suppliers are anticipated to be released later on. Some rumor claim that Google’s upcoming Pixel is going to be one.
However, its not all company is impressed with rounded features. LG, as an example, said that it didn’t as it would make it harder to keep use it around the G6. Moreover, the tech giant claims a curved monitor isn’t fairly as durable as a standard flat display and will split more easily.


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Litecoin Foundation & TokenPay strike a strategic partnership
TokenPay, The self-proclaimed “Bitcoin on steroids” has entered a partnership with the Litecoin Foundation for a 9.9% stake in the WEG Bank in Germany. In May 2018 TokenPay acquired just under 10% of WEG Bank with the option to purchase up to 90% if approved by the regulatory commission of Germany. In a move to leverage Litecoins marketing and technology service TokenPay has handed the 9.9% over to Litecoin in hopes that it will put TokenPay on the map as a major player in the cryptocurrency market.
TokenPay CEO Derek Capo said in a recent statement “We are building an entire ecosystem that includes merchant services, banking, escrow, gaming, e-sports, employment services, etc., where we have entire control of the vertical integration needed to lower costs, but also control our destiny. Litecoin is a top-five blockchain in the world, and boasts more than one million followers worldwide, which helps increase the chances of TokenPay’s ecosystem to succeed.”
What does this mean for TokenPay & Litecoin?
This partnership will provide TPAY access to LTC’s massive user base and will give the users the opportunity to buy, sell & trade as well as gain access to the company’s debit card service. In turn, Litecoin will benefit by having exclusive access to TokenPay’s long-standing bank connections to hopefully integrate the LTC blockchain network into a wide range of monetary associations.
Charlie Lee, CEO of the Litecoin Foundation responded to the partnership by saying “This partnership is a huge win-win for both Litecoin and TokenPay. I’m looking forward to integrating Litecoin with the WEG Bank AG and all the various services it has to offer, to make it simple for anyone to buy and use Litecoin.”
Each company will play a crucial roll in the partnership by focusing on TPAY crypto and its accompanying blockchain as well as the TokenPay multisignature transaction engine, which should accelerate payment and transaction speeds tremendously for both companies.
There is no word yet on exactly when the technology side will be implemented but TokenPay is geared up to make some major moves that include partnering with multiple other financial establishments.
Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson speaks on the future of Bitcoin and taking profits
Charles Hoskinson has always been a huge advocate for decentralized finance and building a network that could provide solutions to the problems with our current financial and banking systems. In this recent AMA Charles speaks out on his view about the issues that Bitcoin faces as well as reminding everyone that cryptocurrency isn’t all about taking profits.
Despite Charles Hoskinson open criticisms of Bitcoin he does say:
“I would still be working on Bitcoin if Bitcoin could evolve”
PayPal’s crypto trading goes live in the US!
Customers will be able to trade up to $20,000 a week, rather than the originally announced $10,000.
On Thursday, PayPal’s crypto trading and payments went live for all eligible customers in the United States.
Per its updated announcement, PayPal ended its waitlist for customers looking to use cryptocurrency in the U.S. Trading features a limit of $20,000 per week, which is double the originally announced $10,000.
PayPal ultimately plans to make crypto payments available at 26 million merchants globally.
A representative said that PayPal will notify U.S. customers about the general availability of crypto services in the coming days.
Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal, noted that the shift to supporting crypto was driven by what he sees as an “inevitable” drift toward virtual currencies.
“The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable, bringing with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”
Much-anticipated global services are expected to launch at the beginning of 2021, alongside crypto payments on Venmo. PayPal initially announced its plans to integrate crypto three weeks ago. The announcement led to a boost in BTC price.
As part of its crypto services, PayPal received the first conditional Bitlicense from the New York Department of Financial Services, one of the most hawkish sub-national financial regulators in the U.S. Many noted that the terms of PayPal’s crypto services would entail that coins bought on the platform would not be able to leave, likely as part of its compromise with regulators in bringing crypto services to such a wide user base.
PayPal Allows Bitcoin And Crypto Spending
PayPal has entered the cryptocurrency market, announcing that its customers will be able to buy and sell Bitcoin and other virtual currencies using their PayPal accounts.
Those virtual coins could then be used to buy things from the 26 million sellers which accept PayPal, it said.
PayPal plans to roll out buying options in the US over the next few weeks, with the full rollout due early next year.
Bitcoin prices rose alongside the news, breaking the $12,000 (£9,170) mark.
The other cryptocurrencies to be added first will be Ethereum, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash (a spin-off from Bitcoin).
All could be stored “directly within the PayPal digital wallet”, the company said.
Cryptocurrencies have remained a niche payment method, partly down to the rapid change in prices they can experience compared with traditional state-backed currencies. That has made them popular among some types of investors.
PayPal said it was aiming “to increase consumer understanding and adoption of cryptocurrency”.
“As part of this offering, PayPal will provide account holders with educational content to help them understand the cryptocurrency ecosystem,” it said.
But David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and the forthcoming Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money, said PayPal was describing “a crypto day-trading market”.
“I’m at a loss as to who the market is for PayPal as a crypto-exchange,” he said.
He likened it to playing the stock market, but with Bitcoin – whose volatile and less well-regulated nature was like “gambling on penny stocks”.
“Have a flutter, drop $10 on it, you’ll learn things you wouldn’t learn any other way – but you are gambling,” he warned.
He said there were “a lot of big players who manipulate the price”, and ordinary people risked losing their money.
“I don’t expect much of a market for this beyond existing crypto holders… I’m baffled that PayPal would offer this, and it’s not clear what they’re trying to do here,” he said.
“There must be someone at PayPal who is very interested in cryptocurrencies,” he added.
Paying with crypto
Other payment firms, such as Square’s Cash app and Revolut, have already offered cryptocurrencies for sale. But PayPal has one of the largest merchant networks in the world.
When it comes to using the virtual coins, PayPal will convert the cryptocurrency into the relevant national currency, so the company being paid will never receive the virtual coins – just the correct amount of pounds or dollars.
PayPal said the system meant there would be “certainty of value and no incremental fees”.
But using Bitcoin to pay at ordinary merchants is not due to launch until “early 2021”.
Cryptocurrencies’ volatile prices – along with their historical use as a less traceable payment method for illegal purposes – have led to numerous calls for them to be regulated.
PayPal has been granted permission for its operation from the New York State Department of Financial Services, in the form of a conditional “Bitlicence” – the first such licence granted.
To begin with, the service will work with an existing cryptocurrency provider in the US, the Paxos Trust Company.
But it is not PayPal’s first venture into the area.
The firm was once a partner in Facebook’s digital currency Libra, but became the first to pull out of the alliance, just a few months after it was announced.
The scheme was controversial, attracting attention from financial regulators in several countries.
Earlier this year, Facebook was reported to be “rethinking” the idea amid the resistance.
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Tech startup Yext prices its IPO at $8 to $10 a share - seeking a valuation of up to $870 million
The company's updated S-1 filing states that it plans to sell 10.5 million shares of its common stock, raising $84 million at the bottom of the range or $105 million at the top end, minus fees.
The company is setting itself a valuation of between $684 million and as much as $870 million if shares are priced at the top end and the banks working on the listing exercise an option to issue extra shares.Yext's shares will trade on the New York Stock exchange, under the symbol "YEXT".
Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, RBC Capital Markets, Pacific Crest Securities, and Piper Jaffray are the underwriters of Yext's offering.
The company reported revenue of $124 million in the year to January 31, 2017 - an increase of 38% on the prior year. However, its losses widened from $26.5 million to $43.2 million.
Yext was founded in 2006 as an advertising services company and has raised $117.8 million in funding to date.
The company describes itself in its S1 as a "knowledge engine" that lets businesses manage their digital "knowledge" - such as menus, ATM locations, and retail hours - in the cloud and then sync that information to more than 100 directory services.


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Goehring okays herbicides for weed control in flaxBISMARCK, N.D. – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has taken action to ensure North Dakota flax producers have a choice of products for preharvest weed control.
BISMARCK, N.D. – Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has taken action to ensure North Dakota flax producers have a choice of products for preharvest weed control.
“Because growers still have need for preharvest control of Canada thistle and other weeds, I have extended the special local needs (SLN) registration for preharvest use of Touchdown CT on flax to Dec. 31, 2016,” Goehring said. “That registration, issued in 2006, to Syngenta Crop Protection, was slated to expire this year.”
Goehring also issued a new SLN registration to Monsanto Company for its RT 3® herbicide, also for preharvest weed control in flax fields. An earlier SLN registration, issued in 2006, had expired.
“Monsanto has given RT 3 an alternative brand name – RT 3® Powered by Roundup Technology® Herbicide,” he said. “The new SLN registration, which allows use of the alternative brand name, expires Dec. 31, 2016.”
Applicators must follow directions, restrictions, and precautions on the EPA-registered label and the SLN label. They must also have the SLN label in their possession during application.
Goehring said that four glyphosate products are now available for preharvest weed control on flax. They include Touchdown® CT from Syngenta Crop Protection, RT 3 Powered by Roundup Technology Herbicide from Monsanto, Makaze® from Loveland Products and Durango® DMA® from Dow AgroSciences.
Section 24(c) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act gives states the authority to register additional uses for federally registered pesticide products, or new products to meet special local needs. EPA reviews these registrations.
Labeling for all active SLN registrations in North Dakota is available for viewing and downloading on the North Dakota online pesticide registration database, www.kellysolutions.com/nd.
North Dakota produces about 95 percent of the nation’s flax crop.


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Ubisoft Executives Now Fined With €1.27 Million Over Insider Trading
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat among 4 other executives are on the lava floor when the regulatory commission for French stock market or Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) has penalized the employees a for total of €1.2m or maybe more. This is a bad day for Ubisoft and its fans as it would leave a scar regardless if the allegations are true or not.
The report was posted at Kotaku, the AMF asserts that the 5 executives deliberately sold mass quantities of stock in early October of 2013, just days before the reveal that The Crew and Watch Dogs are going to be delayed until the next year. After the schedule slipped, Ubisoft stock dropped 26%.
Yannis Mallat, Ubisoft Montreal CEO was fined €700,000. Francis Baillet, Ubisoft VP of corporate affairs and Christine Burgess, Ubisoft worldwide studios exec director were fined €200,000 each. This is followed by Olivier Paris, Ubisoft Montreal VP of executive operations at €100,000 and Damien Moret, Ubisoft brand development director for €15,000.
Ubisoft has ever denied any wrongdoing, persistent that the ones involved have acted "in good faith" also, they also exclaimed that there is no way for any of the executives to have known about the delays as it is up to Yves Guillemot, the company's CEO. As stated in a dialogue with Eurogamer:
"...we believe that at the time they carried out their transactions these employees could not have been aware of or anticipate the subsequent decision to postpone the game that would be taken by Yves Guillemot on October 11, 2013,"
The company adds that the AMF's decision has represented serious misunderstanding of game development and its production process within their headquarters. They also have explained that each major game would require involvement of multiple teams across the company. Ultimately only the company's CEO can make an exceptional decision i.e. changing the release date of a major game.
Yannis Mallat has confirmed that him and all 4 employees associated in the AMF ruling will make an appeal to the decision.
Why Consoles Will Have Shorter Life Spans Starting With PS4 Pro, Scorpio, And Nintendo Switch
Video game consoles are leveling up more quickly than ever before. What does this mean for gamers and game developers? Find out here.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege Update: Year 2 Content Announced; To Include 4 New Maps, 8 New Operators
Ubisoft just unveiled Rainbow Six Siege Year 2 content which sure will make players of this FPS game stoked!
Kids in School: Here Are Games You Can Play When They’re Away
The school will be starting whether we want it to or not, which means kids will have to get off the PCs and consoles. That means you'll be free to get on the PCs and consoles to play. But what can you play? These games are games you'll be able to play.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot Promises To Improve Work Environment At Company
After recent incidents at Ubisoft, the CEO has dealt with it all and claims that he will be working to make the workplaces at Ubisoft a better place.
Limited Time: Assassin's Creed 2 Will Be Free On PC This Week! Uplay Also Discounts Two Other Games!
For a limited time only, get your FREE Assassin's Creed II Game for PC on Uplay! Grab yours now!
MORE IN ITECHPOST
At-Risk Mental Health for Students: Developing Resilience Among Students amid the Coronavirus Pandemic
At-Risk Mental Health for Students to help students struggling with their mental health, especially now amid the pandemic. It focuses more on developing students' resilience.
Tech Leaders and Health Authorities Join Forces, Launch New Initiative to Help Fight Pandemic and Future Epidemics
Two contact tracing apps have been successfully launched recently in Canada and Ireland. The open-source code underlying these apps has been contributed to a newly launched initiative to help other countries and U.S. states in the fight against the pandemic.
Fairy Tail Game Releases a Season Pass, a Week After It Was Launched
The anime RPG Fairy Tail from Koei Tecmo has just released a season pass that will release additional characters and content into the game, just a week after it was launched.


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China Unicom will launch the iPhone 4 in China, officially bringing Apple's newest phone to the world's third-largest mobile provider, on Saturday, September 25 at 8 a.m. according to an Apple press release
today. At the same time, Apple will open two new stores, one in the Joy City shopping center in Beijing and one in the luxury Hong Kong Plaza in Shanghai.
China Unicom, the country's second-largest mobile phone operator, took nearly 50,000 pre-orders
for the iPhone 4 last Friday, at prices ranging from 5,880 yuan (around $874 US) for the 16GB model to 6,999 yuan ($1,040) for the 32GB iPhone 4 including a deposit towards a two year contract (no word yet whether the phones will be available pre-jailbroken
or not). Cell service contracts are not popular in China, with most users paying month to month. The need to sign a contract, along with a perception of poor call quality, is leading many users to buy unlocked iPhones on the gray market and use them on the larger China Mobile network. Apple currently sells 3GS phones unlocked in its China Apple Stores, and may do so with the iPhone 4 as well, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal
's China Realtime Report
The new stores in Beijing and Shanghai will join the two retail outlets Apple has already opened in those cities. The company plans to have 25 stores in China by the end of next year. The iPhone 4 release, coming just a week after Apple officially launched the iPad in China, is another sign of Apple's slow but steady growth in the Chinese market. Some customers lined up for several days to get an iPad, and even at the exorbitant (for most Chinese workers) price of the iPhone, it's grown to be the fifth most popular smartphone in the country, with a 7.1% share of the market as of the second quarter of this year.
China has some 420 million web users and is the world's largest mobile phone market, with more than 800 million subscribers as of the end of June, according to official government figures.


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Techmeme Search finds "items", i.e. blog posts, news stories and tweets, that have appeared as headlines on Techmeme.
Items listed only in the "More" areas are excluded from results.
By default, only the title and first few sentences are searched. Unchecking "Search title & summary only" extends the search to the full body text.
Quoted phrases, wildcards, and standard search operators like + (plus), - (minus), AND, OR, NOT, and parenthesis are all supported.
Narrowing searches based on url, author, date, and other attributes is also possible. For instance, the query [ Streisand sourcename:Techdirt ] restricts searches for "Streisand" to items from the blog "Techdirt".
Examples of other operators follow:
Can C.E.O. Satya Nadella Save Microsoft?
— The Empire Reboots — Over the last decade, as the biggest force in tech history hurtled toward irrelevance (albeit lucratively), a few blamed Microsoft' s woes on founder Bill Gates, while most pointed to his successor as C.E.O., Steve Ballmer.
Clippers sale to Steve Ballmer finalized, NBA says
— The sale of the Los Angeles Clippers to ex-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was completed Tuesday with an email from a California courtroom, one of Ballmer's attorneys told USA TODAY Sports. — The NBA Board of Governors had previously approved …
Gates Seen Taking Bigger Products Role at Microsoft
— Even as Bill Gates weighs giving up his title of chairman of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), he's poised to remain involved at the company he co-founded in an area of its deepest need: crafting must-have products.
You are the query: Yahoo's bold quest to reinvent search
— When Yahoo launched its home page redesign in February — its first such overhaul in the Marissa Mayer era — the company's chief executive sent out a jovial tweet: — A new experience launching on Yahoo today with a newsfeed …


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Irrigation Control that Listens to the Weatherman
As the California 2011-2017 drought worsened and water users faced water shortages and rising costs, H2OPro co-founder Tom O’Dell identified a dire need for a more intelligent way to monitor irrigation and change watering habits.
Since residential water meters only record overall household usage, O’Dell and his team designed an internet of things (IoT) device that combined a sprinkler timer with a flow meter to control and monitor overall outdoor water supply in multiple sprinkler zones.
The H20Pro device uses a commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) Texas instruments SoC (system on chip) containing a power-efficient Arm Cortex-M4 processor and integrated Wi-Fi module. Data is sent to a smartphone app to monitor and record water usage remotely, and watering schedules can be created, adjusted, and tracked in the app. Since H20Pro also connects to the internet, it monitors local weather and can adjust schedules depending on recent or anticipated rainfall.
Flow sensors that attach to the sprinkler valves monitor water flow and allow the system to auto-learn typical water flow patterns so potential leaks are identified over time. A major leak will trigger an automatic valve shut off.
As further weather-base functionality is planned, the team is working on more advanced algorithms to scale water use and expand from home lawns to commercial agriculture.


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Long dogged by exaggerated predictions of their demise, personal lines brokers are beating the odds and staging something of a comeback. If anything, writes Tom Flack, they have got smarter and richer.
Personal lines brokers will soon be extinct – or so the myth goes.
Given the increasingly commoditised market, steadily eroding the need for traditional broker advice, and the combination of a long period of falling rates and rising levels of consumer churn, the morbid predictions are not so surprising.
Yet the latest numbers emphatically prove that the personal lines broker is alive and kicking. For the year ended 30 June, the combined revenues of the top 50 brokers rose by 17%, up 1% on 2007.
Leading the pack are household names such as BGL (43% growth in 2007), Swinton (37%), and Kwik-Fit (19%), but the figures suggest that smaller players have also found ways to expand.
Ironically, much of the brokers’ growth has come from the source long tipped to be their annihilation – aggregators. Instead, there has been a seismic shift in brokers’ business models, turning the distribution power of aggregators to their own advantage. For the larger players this means low margins, high volumes, and profits from the sale of ancillary and additional products, namely upselling and cross-selling.
“Five years ago, a broker’s business model was to take an insurer’s rate, add 20%, and take the proposition to market,” says Ian Clark, insurance partner at Deloitte.
This strategy gave companies such as Direct Line an expense advantage, allowing them to undercut and grow their policy count while cross-selling legal expenses cover to over 90% of their client base. At £5 per policy – and with more than two million policies – the implications for the bottom line were considerable.
Brokers took note. Now, instead of uplifting the rate, they will pass it on at nil, increase or even discount it. This allows them to build up a big customer base while creating vast potential for selling other products, such as breakdown cover.
Clark adds: “Big brokers control claims. They get kick-backs from credit hire companies for replacement vehicles, and from law firms and medical reporting organisations for personal injury claims.
“It is very aggressive on-selling and kick-back based on competitive pricing. This creates reasonable value, and potentially high margins.”
Bert Main, business development director at Kwik-Fit, which has 1.1 million policies on its books, credits ancillary products for growing the business. “Upselling is a common feature. We’ve all had to take lower margin in private car and household simply to compete, but this has allowed us to employ tactical pricing.”
Though upselling has lucrative implications, some commentators – including Paul Smith, managing director of Heath Lambert’s £100m GWP personal lines arm, HLIS – urge caution.
Smith says: “The vast majority of the larger players pursue the add-on strategy, underpinned by up-selling and cross-selling. But we think this is dangerous. It’s a short-term strategy. Add-ons are expensive – more expensive than including it in the original policy. What if people stop buying them? There’s also the issue of Treating Customers Fairly, and the reliance on getting your name to the top of the [aggregator] screen.”
“Upselling is a common feature. WeÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ve all had to take less margin in private car and household simply to compete but this has allowed tactical pricing
Bert Main, Kwik-Fit
Despite this, over a tenth of HLIS’s 13% increase in revenues in 2007 was derived from aggregators, a total figure that could rise to 25% by 2010. Market-wide, this figure stands at over 60%.
“Five years ago, this figure was 15% to 20%,” says Matthew Donaldson, group director at BGL. “We’re now seeing a 5% increase per year.”
With ample room for further upselling, this trend looks likely to continue. Cross-selling, meanwhile, remains at relatively low, though rising, levels.
“The power here is cross-selling motor to home,” says a spokesman for the AA, commenting on higher volumes of contents insurance being purchased on the back of last year’s floods. Kwik-Fit, meanwhile, is targeting growth of a third in its household account to 80,000 policies by the end of the year.
While motor accounts for the largest chunk of growth in personal lines revenues, household portfolios are growing at a faster rate. Patrick Smith, chief executive of Swinton, says that while motor and home have grown in parallel since 2003, over the past year, half of the company’s growth came from motor, and about 30% from home.
Swinton is certainly the odd broker out, in that the hub of its retail strategy is its network of more than 480 branches. While there are benefits of having an infrastructure with such broad and personal access to clients, most observers argue that the value of the high street broker will inevitably reduce as transactions move to the web.
BGL sold its retail branch network to Swinton two years ago, but Smith insists that given the margin pressures aggregators have created, branches and call centre models still offer best profitability – especially on a scale that no one else can touch.
“We have a core of clients who may not buy their insurance on the internet,” he says. “That number has not diminished.” Half of Swinton’s new motor business and up to 80% of household is generated off-line.
By contrast, Kwik-Fit and BGL source between 85% and 90% of their total business from the web.
The top 50 brokers’ revenues are growing fast, but market share is growing slowly, and profitability, as Smith suggests, is falling: “Net premiums are growing but there has been a reduction in retail margins, including our own. As for discounts, we don’t recoup them.”
The solution is to increase the top line. “In the past five years profits have grown. It’s a role reversal in recent years. We have the challenge of pursuing volume. There is very little profit coming out of aggregators and anyone who relies on that strategy could run into trouble.”
Deloitte’s Clark adds: “Aggregators mean that brand is of less importance. But to pull volume, you have to be competitive.”
BGL’s Donaldson agrees that his operation has a volume-led strategy. “Our profits are not a reflection of the net value we have created. Not that we make a loss, but it’s less about margin.”
“Net premiums are growing but there has been a reduction in retail margins including our own. As for discounts, we donâ€™t recoup them
Paul Smith, Heath Lambert
Kwik-Fit’s Main says that the company’s strategy, underpinned by private equity capital, means that both profit and volume are key drivers.
“Our strategy is to make year-one profit. That might hold us back in volume terms,” he says. Still, like BGL, Kwik-Fit has delivered 20% growth from new customers in the past year.
The problem is that few brokers can actually be volume players. Instead, the opportunity is to specialise, filling in the holes in their rival’s armoury – a process that Heath Lambert’s Smith describes as the reversal of the 80/20 rule.
“Some brokers are happy to go for that 20%,” says?Smith. “There are opportunities for smaller brokers on aggregators to pursue the niche, to form strategic alliances with volume players to create that extra channel.”
These brokers can position themselves to suck up consumers who elude most insurers and brokers’ risk profiles following a killer question, such as high flood risk. ‘
‘ Commentators add that there is ample room for growth in segmented lines, such as motorbike and caravan.
Be it by web, by phone or by foot, the increase in rates over the past year has boosted commission revenues for brokers, with motor climbing 6%, buildings 4.3%, and contents 3.3%, according to the AA.
“We have a linear relationship with our insurers,” says Donaldson. “As rates increase, so do our revenues.” Like many of the larger personal lines players, BGL acquires business from its insurer partners on a net-rated basis, with variable commissions added on, allowing it to benefit from any upswing in the rating environment.
And while the brokers grow, the direct insurers have scaled back.
“NU has gone backwards,” says Main, adding that bancassurers have also struggled. “They have talked a good game. But they will have to change their strategy.”
Donaldson adds: “Many of the banks are tied into solus deals with insurers that don’t have that competitive footprint. Those with a panel do well.
“The direct insurers are looking to maintain profitability, which means shrinking in size. With their limited footprint, they are unable to grow.”
Still, some direct insurers – most notably Swiftcover – are growing fast. Direct Line, despite losing volume in its motor book, achieved substantial growth of its household portfolio in 2007.
“We offer insurers distribution capability. They, in turn, choose their underwriting footprint where they can compete
and do well. Itâ€™s win-win.
Matthew Donaldson, BGL
Heath Lambert’s Smith suggests that because fewer mortgages are being bought at the moment, banks and building societies’ opportunities for cross-selling are more limited. In 2006, bancassurers controlled around 28% of the household market and direct insurers 17%, according to the ABI.
In the motor market, direct players had around 45% market share in 2006, up from 38% in 2003. With that figure now starting to fall, opportunities for partnerships have been created as insurers look to strip out costs across their businesses. Deloitte’s Clark says that insurers are happy to sit behind brokers because they, too, save on marketing spend.
“Insurers will always want to underwrite,” says Smith. “They accept between 60% and 70% of their leads. We can take the other 30%. That creates opportunities for schemes that we can manage operationally on their behalf.”
The move towards the partnership approach been demonstrated recently when Junction, the affinity arm of BGL, inked a ‘lead-off’ deal with More Th>n, the direct arm of RSA. Leads that fall outside More Th>n’s risk profile are passed on to Junction, and its panel of insurers.
BGL credits Junction – which has more than one million policyholders under the umbrella of brands including the Post Office and Marks & Spencer – with driving the company’s growth over the past year.
“We offer insurers distribution capability,” says BGL’s Donaldson. “They choose their underwriting footprint where they can compete and do well. It’s win-win.”
He adds that consumers respond well to stronger brands, which is contributing to the move away from price.
“It’s not as one-dimensional as cross-selling and upselling,” he continues. “We estimate that 40% of consumers are choosing their policy based on factors other than price,” says Donaldson.
He appears to be right, with the Post Office and M&S ranked second and fourth in terms of absolute growth last year in the motor market. Budget came eighth, according to research by Consumer Intelligence. In terms of relative growth, the Post Office and M&S ranked second and third, and the two brands also featured in the top 10 household insurance lists.
So why aren’t all the big brokers piling into the affinity market?
“Some brokers will perform well,” says Kwik-Fit’s Main. “But you need a huge amount of capital. Margins are so tight at the moment there is no value in us getting involved. And there is no long-term guarantee in those types of deal.”
Indeed, when it comes to personal lines, there appear to be few guarantees of any kind. But, as Junction managing director Peter Thompson puts it, big brokers will have a big part to play in the future.
“The direct writer model that was once so ground-breaking is now dead.
“The winners today are those that can provide quotes for a wide range of customers and do so competitively.”
On aggregate - a win for brokers
A year ago aggregators, already controlling over half the personal lines market, were treated as a threat to brokers. The reality, however, is they have created opportunities at both ends of the broking spectrum.
First, they have lowered barriers to entry into the market. This is key for smaller players with limited marketing budgets, while also allowing volume players to grow and cross-sell. The fundamental importance of this was highlighted earlier this year when one site banned brokers from cross-selling products, triggering outrage.
Aggregators provide brokers with a wealth of information on both consumers and competitors. This means schemes with underwriters can be tailored to compete more effectively with direct insurer rivals.
Consumers benefit by getting an idea of a good price and then going to a broker to buy the policy, at which point revenue-boosting ancillary products can be bought.
Though other personal lines, including travel and pet, are yet to take off online, brokers and analysts agree that it is merely a matter of time.
Despite the focus on price, there are also signs that consumers are moving away from price-driven purchases and towards the purchase of more complex products online.
The flipside of the coin is that aggregators are driving high rates of churn, with over half of Ã¢â‚¬Ëœaggregator consumersÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ having switched insurance provider in the past year. Heath LambertÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s Smith says: Ã¢â‚¬Å“I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t think anyone has stabilised their business model. We were all too optimistic about benchmarks for retention.
Ã¢â‚¬Å“If you make it easier for customers to change their policy, you will lose customers. You live by the sword Ã¢â‚¬â€œ and die by the sword.Ã¢â‚¬Â
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Filing taxes by mail is going by way of the electric typewriter with correctable ribbon.
Electronic filing is the new norm, and with the IRS giving procrastinators the option to file a Form 4868 online to request a six-month extension, only one U.S. Postal Service location in the Inland region will be open well into the night of April 15 to accommodate last-minute filers.
That location is the San Bernardino Processing and Distribution Center, 1900 W. Redlands Blvd., Redlands.
Don Smeraldi, postal service spokesman, said all mail deposited at the drive-through collection boxes there before 10 p.m. will get an April 15 postmark.
Retail services will be available at the distribution center through 10 p.m., as well. The retail center typically closes at 7:30 p.m.
Only one other post office in the Inland region will be open a bit longer than usual â" the San Bernardino Post Office, 390 W. Fifth St., San Bernardino, Smeraldi said. That facility will stay open until 8 p.m., three hours longer than the usual closing time.
Other post offices â" and their collection boxes -- will adhere to their normal hours of operation.
The slimmed-down offerings pose a dramatic contrast to the era when taxpayers dashed to mail box drops and post offices in their pjâs to get postmark tax returns before 12:01 a.m. April 16.
âTechnology has brought us to this point,ââ Raphael Tulino, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service said. âConsumers arenât putting their returns in the mail anymore, theyâre hitting enter.â
Of the 148.3 million tax returns processed last year, 81 percent or 119.5 million were e-files, Tulino said. As of April 6, the IRS website says 86 million of the 96.5 million returns sent by taxpayers for processing were e-files, or 89.5 percent.
Given that pace, the level of e-files in 2013 could exceed 81 percent.
âPaper returns just arenât being done much anymore,ââ Tulino said, explaining that many consumers have gravitated to the e-filing method, largely for its convenience and quick turn-around time on refunds. âPaper returns typically take four to six weeks to process,ââ he said. âE-file returns with direct deposit, might get refunds -- if due â" back to taxpayers within five days.â
Smeraldi agreed, saying tax return mailings have dwindled to a point extra personnel wonât be needed to handle the crunch of last-minute filers.
The levels of first-class mail, which include tax return mailings, have gone down 30 percent since 2006, he said. The decline correlates to e-filing gains: In 2006, only 57 percent of the 139 million IRS returns processed were filed electronically.
With only a few locations to visit late into the night on April 15, postal service officials still expect a busy day. Be prepared for lines, and a last-minute crunch.


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- You are here:
- altima recall
For a two-week period this year, Nissan apparently incorrectly assembled the air bag control unit in both the 2012 Altima and the 2012 NV work van. That's the news from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which today announced a small recall of the two vehicles – the ...
NIssan has issued a recall for over 650,000 MY 2002 and 2005-06 Altimas and Sentras sold with the company's 2.5L four-cylinder engine, which may suddenly stop running. Automotive News reports that the problem lies with the crankshaft position sensor, which can overheat and stop sending signals to ...


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Sowing grain in Russia in 2022
In 2022, agricultural crops in Russia will be sown on 81.2 million hectares, which is 1.3 million hectares more than this year. In 2021, the sown area amounted to 79.9 million hectares, which is 0.3% more than in 2019. In particular, the sowing of spring grains, sugar beets, buckwheat, soybeans and potatoes will expand next year, the ministry expects. Specific parameters of area growth for each crop are not specified.
A representative of the analytical company ProZerno said that next year there will definitely be more soybean crops. “In 2021, an increase in area by 6.6% was recorded. It is quite realistic that growth next year will be similar, perhaps even higher.
As for buckwheat, the analyst recalled that almost 1 million hectares were sown with this agricultural crop this year, which is quite a lot and 12% more compared to 2020. Speaking about spring grains, the analyst noted that now there is a progressive increase in the area under corn, this year it amounted to 3.5%. “In 2022, I see no economic grounds for expanding crops, because we have introduced an export duty on this crop. This year, 2.97 million hectares were sown with it, an increase to 3 million hectares is possible. It is unlikely that agricultural producers are interested in this agriculture,” the expert argues.
There has also been an increase in the interest of crop growers in the entire range of legumes, because they are not subject to duty. Now 2 million hectares have been sown with these crops. Perhaps there will be an increase of about 5% (100 thousand hectares). It will be very good.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of December 7, 126.7 million tons of grain were harvested in Russia, of which 79 million tons of wheat, 18.9 million tons of barley, 15.9 million tons of corn, and 1.2 million tons of rice. sugar beet amounted to 40.7 million tons, sunflower - 15.8 million tons, rapeseed - 3 million tons, soybeans - 4.9 million tons. The harvest of potatoes and vegetables in the commodity sector amounted to 6.7 million tons and 5.1 million tons Winter crops for the harvest of 2022 are sown on 18.4 million hectares.


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The overall tablet market in India has grown at a rapid pace over the past one year and the total recorded shipments soared to 2.66 million in 2012, a mammoth 901 per cent year-on-year growth from 2011, according to a report released by research firm IDC. However, low-cost, 7 inch tablets comprised 78 per cent of the total shipments in Q4 2012.
Although Samsung led the pack with 15.76 per cent of shipments, it was not a huge lead and Micromax came a close second with 13.33 per cent. Interestingly, Micromax entered the market only recently, in the second quarter of 2012, and still managed to grab a leadership position due to the growing popularity of its low-cost devices. Apple had 9.92 per cent market share while HCL and Karbonn had 7.05 per cent and 6.17 per cent, respectively.
Increasing Chinese imports and local vendors' offerings together comprise about 70 per cent of the total tablet market in India, according to the report. "Most of these local vendors operate on a 'fly by night' model, wherein they flood the market with low-cost tablets and vanish within 2-3 quarters," the report stated.
As per quarter-wise break-up, Q1 2012 saw 0.1 million shipments, which rose to 0.34 million in Q2, and Q3 saw a huge jump to around 1 million. In the last quarter, the number reached 1.19 million shipments. According to the report, the market is expected to see 6 million shipments in 2013.
Another study, released by CyberMedia Research, recorded shipments of 3.1 million units in 2012. It also cited Samsung as the market leader with 25.1 per cent of the total shipments.
(Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal)


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Consumer sentiment stabilized somewhat after a sharp loss of confidence during the spring of May, according to the Bank of Ireland’s monthly Economic Pulse, but increased costs are beginning to undermine business competitiveness.
He said families were feeling somewhat more confident about the economy and their own finances than in recent months because of new government spending to address lower unemployment and higher cost of living.
But companies still don’t feel overly optimistic, with nearly 60 pc saying they are finding it difficult to get a clear understanding of how business conditions are likely to develop in the coming months.
“After a hat-trick of declines, Consumer Pulse staged a rally this month,” said Bank of Ireland chief economist Loretta O’Sullivan.
“Houses are now getting €200 electricity credits and many are also benefiting from the reduction in public transport fares. However, increased costs remain a challenge for businesses, with indications that these are beginning to affect competitiveness as evident in recent survey data. ,
The Bank of Ireland said households remain primarily cautious, but a higher-than-normal proportion are planning to spend larger on holidays this summer, indicating strong buying sentiment.
However, while the consumer share of the economic pulse was slightly higher month-on-month, the reading is still well down compared to last year, due to novel concerns about inflation, supply chain problems and the uncertainty launched by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. reflects the risks.
Persistent inflation is causing headaches for businesses across sectors, with non-labour input costs reporting an increase of 87 per cent in the past three months. About two-thirds were expecting the selling price to increase, also indicating that cost pressure would eventually be passed on to consumers. However, the number of plans to raise prices fell, possibly reflecting the onset of competition concerns.
Higher consumer prices are also starting to affect housing sentiment, with fewer respondents expecting a bigger increase in home prices.
“With the European Central Bank gearing up to raise interest rates in response, affordability is likely to be on the radar for existing and potential homeowners here in the coming years,” the bank said.


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Thames Water News Update: Worst For Dealing With Customer Complaints
Thames Water News Update: Following a recent publication it has become clear that Thames Water have the worst record for responding the customer complaints.
“Thames Water has the worst record of any supplier in the country for handling customer complaints, an official report revealed today.
Only 83.4 per cent of customers were happy with the way Thames handled their first letter or email, making it the only supplier not to hit the 90 per cent target.
There were 32,232 written complaints by Thames Water customers in the year to April 2013, down by 6.5 per cent. This was the highest absolute number for any water company — but measured by complaints per 10,000 connections Thames was only the fourth worst after Southern, Anglian and South East.
Overall there were 150,942 written complaints from customers in England and Wales, down 7.4 per cent, although levels are still higher than they were in 2005. Tony Smith, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, which compiled the figures, said: ‘The poorest performers remain too far behind the rest of the industry.’
‘CCWater continues to meet regularly with water companies to put pressure on them to prioritise customer service in order to see their complaint levels drop much further.’
‘We also continue to tell the regulator Ofwat that there needs to be stronger penalties for water companies who are failing to satisfy the expectations of their customers.’
Natalie Beckerman, customer service director for Thames Water, said: ‘We are not yet where we want to be, but we have made major improvements towards getting our customer service and complaint handling in a much better place.’”
One of the worst things for a customer to feel is that their enquiry is not being treated with respect but then when it comes to complaints and a company chooses to, at the worst, ignore the complaint, the customer is likely to lose their patience. Companies must reply to complaints letters, customers are fickle and if they feel their business is not valued with a company they will move elsewhere in the blink of an eye.
For Thames Water to be announced as one of the worst companies for responding to customer complaints that come in letter form is a major problem for them. They are one of the biggest distributors of water in the country let alone the south west and this news will have a big impact upon their reputation.
This article was originally published on www.standard.co.uk and for more information regarding Thames Water and the services they offer, all the relevant contact information can be found at http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/thames-water-customer-services/.
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The concept of crowdfunding is not new; fundraisers have been using it for years to get the money they need to support their causes. In recent years, however, the online arena has provided a venue for expansion, allowing fund-seekers to reach a vast audience of potential “investors”. The model has been used for all manner of exploits, with charitable organizations gaining funds for disaster relief, political campaigns reaching out for donations, and artists of every breed obtaining the patronage they need to continue creating paintings, web comics, and dubstep (just for example). But it now seems that the concept has gained some traction in the video game community, with small-time developers seeking help in raising the funds they need to get their game concepts to market.
Crowdfunding super-site Kickstart recently made headlines when they brought in over a million dollars during one of their campaigns. They teamed up with Double Fine Productions, based in San Francisco, to help them raise money for their game Double Fine Adventure. While the company was seeking $400,000 in funding to complete the game, they hit their benchmark within hours of the campaign launch, breaking the $1 million dollar mark within 24 hours and winding up with an astonishing $3.3 million by the close of their investment foray. Thanks to nearly 90,000 “investors” this game will now get made, and with more than eight times the amount of funding required.
This trend is set to become the new wave in game development, providing a democratic system that allows potential gamers to vote for the concepts that they would like to see come to market. Whether the interested parties are teenage kids, college students, or heads of successful game developers themselves, they can use their dollars to vote for the products they are actually interested in playing, virtually guaranteeing a market for finished games. And in most cases, all they get in return for their investment is a copy of the completed game (or perhaps a lunch with the developer). But it looks like at least one company is ready to take this concept to the next level.
Gambitious seeks to encourage public funding by granting equity. The incentive to invest will come not from the joy of seeing a desirable product completed and brought to market, but from sharing in the eventual profits, making the process more like an actual investment than a donation (or a virtual presale of the game). Likely this will attract a whole different crowd of potential investors, but it shouldn’t change the way these indie games are made. For most companies, investors bring the money but require some amount of control over how it is used. This is not the case with crowdfunding, where the developer retains full control of the process and product throughout. For this reason, industry analysts speculate that Gambitious may be a tough sell, especially since the people who contribute to donation-style sites like Kickstart, PeerBackers, and Indiegogo are more interested in supporting specific game concepts rather than earning money from a business investment.
It remains to be seen whether this form of funding will truly become the standard for indie game developers, many of whom dream only of selling off their products to a big-name developer for a huge profit (like Zynga’s recent $180 million acquisition of “Draw Something” creator OMGPOP). All it would take is one big hit with a game like Halo, Need for Speed, or Prison Tycoon (along with subsequent hits all the way up to Prison Tycoon 4) to make this model a huge success. But until then, developers can dream of major funding for their original IP, consumers can vote with their dollars, and at least a few decent games will continue to come from the independent marketplace.