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One can easily understand how PSA Peugeot Citroen and General Motors can save money on shared purchasing of components. However, the question of when and how their new-model strategies can combine is still less clear. The partnership will aid GM to cut the number of its worldwide automobile platforms to 14 in 2018 from 30 in 2010.
This is a target that the company has set in 2011. However, it will be several years before the two automakers can line up their model offerings. Moreover, it is vague as to how the alliance will affect the worldwide small-car development center of GM in South Korea.
Aside from diesel technology, small-car expertise is a key aspect of know-how that PSA brings into the partnership. In addition, the partners both offer hybrid technology. Last month, they disclosed that they will introduce jointly developed "low-emission vehicles" in 2016. However, none of them has described the automobiles or the segment they will joining.
GM CEO Dan Akerson has disclosed in an interview last week with Fortune magazine that they are looking at sharing common platforms. He related that GM is better in certain segments than PSA. He also said that PSA is better in smaller cars and maybe diesels than GM.
The Opel Corsa and Chevrolet Spark, among other small GM models created at GM Korea, could share a platform with the new generation of the Citroen C3 and Peugeot 208. However, both partners are ready to launch new models in those segments, says Autonews. A refurbished Peugeot 208 will be launched for sale next month.
Also, the redesigned Corsa will arrive in showrooms in 2014 on a platform developed by GM Korea. GM is not likely to replace the Corsa until 2019 or 2020. Meanwhile, PSA is not expected to change the 208 until 2018 or 2019.
The question then arises as to where the next global B-segment GM cars or minicars will come from. Senior analyst Max Warburton at Bernstein Research in London commented that the automakers are going to have to choose between doing something with the platform of PSA or basing it on the Korean platform, which may be cheaper compared to anything developed in Europe.


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MediaTek Helio P22 processor with AI enhancements launched in India
Expanding its “Helio P” family of power-efficient chips for mid-range devices, mobile phone chipmaker MediaTek launched Helio P22 processor in India.
MediaTek Helio P22 is the first to bring the 12nm manufacturing process to the mid-range mobile segment.
“With support for high-quality dual camera photography, AI enhancements and incredible power efficiency, Helio P22 sets a new bar for accessibility to premium features,” TL Lee, General Manager, Wireless Communication Business Unit, MediaTek, said in a statement.
With P22 chipset, the chip maker would offer the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerated experiences, brilliant photography and reliable, high-speed connectivity to more affordable devices, thus, expanding the “new premium” market.
“We expect continued device maker wins and consumer growth in this segment with MediaTek’s new Helio P22 chipset,” Lee added.
The Helio P22 chip also brings hardware-driven dual-camera support for 13+8 megapixel setups at a fast 30 frames per second (FPS) rate. The chipset comprises of eight Arm Cortex A53 cores that can be clocked up to 2.0 GHz.
With a low-power, highly capable hardware depth engine for real-time Bokeh preview, the chipset is equipped to minimise grain, noise, aliasing and chromatic aberration.

domain: news


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News about Omega Jewelry
BOSTON — Alan Bean’s 18K gold Omega Speedmaster Professional 1969 Apollo 11 commemorative watch sold for $302,500 at RR Auction on April 20.
BOSTON – Astronaut Wally Schirra’s Omega Speedmaster Professional watch sold for $1,906,954 at RR Auction on October 20.
BOSTON – RR Auction‘s Fall Space and Aviation sale closes on Thursday, October 20. This high-flying auction features more than 800 items, ranging from the dawn of aviation to the commercial spaceflight of today. Lots include astronaut and cosmonaut autographs, hard-to-find vintage space models, early NASA hardware and literature, and more. View the fully illustrated catalog […]
BIRMINGHAM, U.K. – A limited-edition Omega Speedmaster that was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of AC Milan will be offered at Fellows Auctioneers. The watch will appear as lot 44 in the auction house’s Luxury Watch Sale scheduled for Monday, September 19, estimated at £1,800-£2,600. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.


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Pivoting Softwares Pvt Ltd, which operates client lifecycle software-as-a-service firm Clientjoy, has raised $800,000 (about Rs 6 crore) in a pre-Series A round.
According to its website, GVFL says it is an independent, autonomous board-managed venture finance company that has raised eight funds. These investment vehicles have supported over 91 companies.
Clientjoy, earlier known as Gridle, was set up last year by Yash Shah, Anupama Panchal, and Shashwat Bhatt. The company says its client lifecycle management software offers features to manage leads, proposals, clients, invoicing, and revenues.
It will use the capital it has raised to scale its growth, as well as expand sales, engineering, and marketing teams. It will also focus on expanding its product offering.
“Agencies and freelancers have to devote significant time and resources just to manage clients, since client management happens across multiple tools and platforms,” Shah said.
GVFL president Mihir Joshi said the venture firm was confident of its investment because of Clientjoy’s SaaS-based workflow management tools as well as its ability in onboarding clients from India and abroad.
Clientjoy says it is currently serving over 1,900 agencies in sectors including information technology services, digital marketing, and design agencies. Its clients are located in regions including the United States, Europe, Australia, and Southeast Asia.
Deals in SaaS
Clientjoy is the latest firm in this space to have raised capital. Covid-19 has accelerated investor bets in this segment.
Last month, cloud-based business applications developer Tekion Corp. raised $150 million (around Rs 1,104 crore) in a Series C funding round that was led by Advent International. The round catapulted the California- and Bengaluru-based firm into the unicorn club of startups.
Also in October, supply chain automation platform Supplynote raised $600,000 (around Rs 4.4 crore) in a bridge funding round from a clutch of investors including the US-based SOSV and Australia’s Artesian Ventures.
In September, sales acceleration platform SquadStack raised $5 million in a Series A round led by Chiratae Ventures, with participation from Blume Ventures.


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Tamara Mellon suing former employer Jimmy Choo amid claims company set out to sabotage her new venture
Tamara Mellon is suing her former employer Jimmy Choo amid claims the company set out to sabotage her new venture.
The shoe designer, who was awarded an OBE for her services to fashion, co-founded the multi-million-pound luxury brand in the 1990s.
But after writing a reveal-all biography In My Shoes, in which she branded Jimmy Choo’s new private equity owners as ‘vultures’, she claims her ex-employer set out ‘to punish her’.
Court action: Shoe designer Tamara Mellon was awarded an OBE for her services to fashion
She told of how the company, which she left in 2011, had thrown a ‘wrench’ in her plans by allegedly trying to ‘boycott’ factories from producing creations by her brand Tamara Mellon.
The designer is now trying to claim millions in damages after her business declared bankruptcy. Mellon was left feeling spurned in 2011 when Swiss luxury goods group Labelux bought Jimmy Choo from private equity firm TowerBrook Capital for £500m, and she claims she was excluded from negotiations.
Jimmy Choo has said the case is ‘without merit’ adding that the allegations will be ‘vigorously contested’.
According to legal documents seen by MailOnline that were filed at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Mellon, 49, alleges that Jimmy Choo threatened to withdraw its business from the factories that were producing both products.
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Lance Armstrong has stepped down as chairman of the LiveStrong cancer charity that he helped to set up. The move comes as a result of the recent report produced by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) that concludes Armstrong and his US Postal team of organised doping. Simultaneously, sports clothing brand Nike and his long-term bike supplier Trek have both terminated their lucrative contracts with the American.
Associated Press (AP) reported that Armstrong has removed himself from the non-salaried chairman position of LiveStrong, but will remain on the charity's 15-member board. Jeff Garvey will move up from vice chairman to chairman.
"This organisation, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart," Armstrong says in a statement reproduced by AP.
"Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship."
Having earlier said that it would stand by Armstrong, Nike issued a statement on Wednesday declaring that it had ended its association with Armstrong but will continue to support the LiveStrong charity.
"Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner," said the statement.
"Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer."
Later in the day Trek distanced itself from the disgraced Texan with a statement echoing that of Nike. "Trek is disappointed by the findings and conclusions in the USADA
report regarding Lance Armstrong. Given the determinations of the
report, Trek today is terminating our long-term relationship with Lance
Armstrong. Trek will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation and
its efforts to combat cancer."
Brewer Anheuser-Busch also released a statement saying it would not renew its contract with Armstrong, while RadioShack, sponsor of the WorldTour team of the same name, has confirmed it does not have an individual deal with Armstrong, although it does support the LiveStrong charity.
Armstrong helped to set up the LiveStrong charity in 1997 after suffering from testicular cancer. The organisation's aim is to increase awareness of cancer and support sufferers, and is well-known for its distinctive yellow wristbands. The organisation's 15th anniversary gala dinner is taking place this Friday in Armstrong's hometown of Austin, Texas, during which he will make a presentation.
Armstrong was banned for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by USADA after its investigation concluded that he doped during his professional racing career, and was part of organised doping at US Postal.
In a full report issued by USADA last week, the testimony of 11 former team-mates of Armstrong revealed that they had doped at the team and that Armstrong had taken banned substances.
The USADA report - all 1,000 pages of it - are currently with the sport's governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), who are currently reviewing the evidence.
USADA's Armstrong doping report in brief
USADA doping report repercussions continue
Leipheimer sacked by Omega Pharma-QuickStep
Leipheimer, Zabriskie, Vande Velde and Danielson all admit to doping
USADA publishes details of Amrstrong doping case
UCI responds to USADA Armstrong doping evidence
Former Armstrong team-mate Barry: Doping had become an epidemic problem
Hincapie admits to doping during career
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NetSuite has avoided what could have been an ugly, image-damaging court battle, having reached an agreement to dismiss a lawsuit brought by its customer SkinMedix over an allegedly unusable software system.
NetSuite is rounding out its e-commerce portfolio with the acquisition of Venda in a move that also pushes the cloud vendor deeper into European markets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
NetSuite has been hit with another customer lawsuit, this time from textile products manufacturer Kentwool, which alleges the cloud ERP vendor pulled the wool over its eyes in order to take its money.
Bowing to pressure from customers and competitors, SAP will provide a series of recently released, next-generation user interface technologies at no extra charge.
NetSuite is facing a lawsuit from a skin care product retailer that alleges an overzealous salesman led them to buy a software system that utterly failed to meet its needs.
NetSuite is overhauling its cloud ERP software's user interface, hoping to keep pace at a time when consumer-like experiences are increasingly becoming the norm in enterprise applications.
Dell and NetSuite are broadening their relationship, with Dell becoming a global reseller and IT systems integrator for NetSuite's cloud ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.
While the bulk of enterprise software is still deployed on-premises, SaaS (software as a service) continues to undergo rapid growth. Gartner has said the total market will top $22 billion through 2015, up from more than $14 billion in 2012.
It's been another busy year in the enterprise software industry, marked by high-profile acquisitions and IPOs, the rise of in-memory computing, a red-hot HCM (human capital management) market, and even the apparent settling of a long-running Silicon ...
Microsoft is hoping to differentiate its Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management) software from the likes of Salesforce.com with a new set of 18 industry templates that fit the application to verticals including sports management, health care ...
Oracle has joined the ranks of ERP (enterprise resource planning) software vendors hoping to capitalize on uncertainty among customers of SAP's Business ByDesign software, offering to waive one year of subscription fees to those who migrate to Oracle...
Oracle and NetSuite are to jointly offer cloud services to mid-size business customers.
Oracle Database, WebLogic Server, and Java now certified for Windows Azure and Hyper-V
Oracle hasn't even officially released its 12c database yet, but CEO Larry Ellison has already revealed plans for the version that will follow, 12.1c, which apparently will be Oracle's most direct response yet to SAP's HANA in-memory platform.
Microsoft is upping the stakes in the growing market for cloud-based ERP, with its Dynamics GP 2013 and NAV 2013 products now available for deployment on its Azure service.
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Northfield / IL. (kfg) Kraft Foods Group Inc. announced that its board of directors has named John Cahill, Chairman of the Board of Directors, to the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kraft Foods. Cahill will succeed Tony Vernon, who has informed the board of his intention to retire as CEO on December 27, 2014, the last day of the company´s fiscal year. Vernon will stay on as a senior advisor through March 31, 2015 and as a director until the company´s next annual meeting in 2015.
On behalf of the board of directors, Mackey J. McDonald, Lead Independent Director of Kraft Foods Group, said, «Tony has been a passionate leader, and was instrumental in leading the creation of Kraft Foods Group two years ago as a result of the spin-off from Mondelez International Inc. He has championed culture, brand-building and innovation during his tenure, which has led to multiple successful new products and brand rejuvenations, and raised the bar on recruitment and talent development. I want to extend my gratitude to Tony for his leadership and many contributions to Kraft on behalf of the board».
«With the company on solid footing after the spin-off, the time is right for new leadership to fulfill our potential as the industry leader. The board and Tony agree that we need to accelerate the pace of change».
Vernon, who will be 59 when he retires as a director, has served as CEO since the company´s spin-off from Mondelez International in October 2012. Prior to that, Vernon was the company´s Executive Vice President and President, Kraft Foods North America.
Cahill was previously Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pepsi Bottling Group and under his leadership, he and his team turned Pepsi Bottling into the leading bottler in the PepsiCo network, gaining market share in key regions, driving double-digit growth in international territories and improving sales execution and financial performance.


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Open Road Studios used the Instagram video service to promote the Steve Jobs biopic Jobs on social networks.
The result: an ultra-short trailer lasting 15 seconds.
The video service on Instagram, own by Facebook, was launched on June 20 as a response to Vine, Twitter's video app.
The movie is due on August 16 in the US and will look back on the life of Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and computer genius.
Watch the Instagram trailer for Jobs: instagram.com/p/br4iT0oUeD


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Efosa Ighodaro is the CEO/Founder of Hashgreed, the first African NFT marketplace. He had known about cryptocurrency since 2011 but was only interested in Forex. It took one of his friends who spurred him to buy his first crypto- XRP (Ripple) in 2016.
In an exclusive interview with Technext, Efosa, one of Africa’s foremost crypto/NFT proponents, narrates his experience and challenges.
Ighodaro saw NFT as a way to prove ownership and tokenise real-world assets. The reason he launched a platform for African content creators to monetise their craft even when NFT was not yet as mainstream as it is right now.
On January 4, 2021, we started the development of Hashgreed. It was supposed to be just for blockchain-based document certification..something everyone can use. But midway we added the NFT auction marketplace and smart contracts. On January 31st, 2021, Hashgreed was born. It is Africa’s first.
Hashgreed provides a blockchain-powered file certification tool, a multipurpose NFT/ web3 marketplace, access to real estate and tech startups ownership and low-interest DeFI-powered loans.
“So I saw Hashgreed and Kross blockchain as the solution to poverty and intimidation of Nigerian youths. Just imagine if Nigerians owned the Lekki toll gate via NFTs..they wouldn’t turn off the lights when the soldiers came to shoot their own citizens singing the national anthem. That’s why we are super aggressive this year with our $1 m Real Estate NFT based on a Lekki Phase 1 Residential Estate under construction.”
The Africa continent has some problems, ranging from young creators/merchants being underpaid, not included in prime investing opportunities, grappling with Intellectual Property theft, needing financing, safe and secure marketplace and a supportive community.
“And this is just the beginning. It’s about time we combine forces together via NFT to help ourselves or our hunger, poverty and love for too much fun will continue to be used against us”.
Hashgreed is fast becoming the future of content distribution on the continent. It prides itself in making NFT easy and accessible for Africans.
On Hashgreed’s unique selling point and how they have been able to extend the frontiers of NFT adoption, Ighodaro says:
“We have created our naira-backed token on the Waves blockchain (Hashgreed started on Waves) and soon on the Kross blockchain, it’s called Hashgreed Naira or HASH credits or HASH for short. This way we partner with local artists, and companies to release naira based NFTs. So our Nigerian users don’t have to buy bitcoin or Ethereum to own our NFTs, they just spend the same Naira they have.
“We are also educating hundreds and soon thousands through partnerships with churches and NGOs on Web3 and blockchain.” He says.
Efosa Ighodaro’s giant strides and his trailblazer company have not come without hurdles.
“The first challenge is in the crypto community. The early players and educators who through their work have gathered lots of followers are unable to partner with Nigerian blockchain companies. They prefer working for Binance and other foreigners.
“We must beat our own path in the bush and create a new generation of Africans that invest in their own startups, own several diversified pieces of real estate, farms, factories through NFT and blockchain tech and learn to work in unity. We cannot continue to sell our market and ourselves for crumbs. So their time is short, we are taking over this year.”
Efosa has also encountered a challenge in the area of investment.
“Most of the time the so-called Nigerian VCs just piggy back on American or European investors. Or they want to see so much revenue first. That is just a symptom of the root cause of the first challenge- Lack of unity and ownership mentality.”
NFT in Africa
Africans are now dancing harder in the NFT party. A survey by Finder ranks Nigeria as the 6th largest adopter of NFTs and South Africa as 12th. The survey also hints that NFT adoption will more than double in these countries due to the high interest among respondents. However, Efosa Ighodaro believes there is still room for improvement.
“Well, it’s actually picking up, but unless we strengthen our licensing and IP laws or believe in those laws we won’t see any real traction in those big purchase NFTs. Why will I buy a meme for N1m when a content creator can use it in their skit the next day and expect no repercussions?”
“NFTs are mostly licensed, and the law of the land has to be enforced for it to work. That’s why on Hashgreed, we steer our art NFT benefits towards physical land ownerships and commerce discounts. We can’t rely on just perception and ownership of the art alone.. for now”
The ‘digital arts Evangelist’ believes that NFT is definitely the future. “No doubt about it. The power of NFT is the blockchain and blockchain is the most disruptive tech in the last 100 years at least.”
Going forward, Efosa Ighodaro and Hashgreed look forward to providing more service to Nigerians and humanity in 2022.
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NEW ORLEANS -- Meals solutions programs can act as the magnets that bring customers into the store.
That's what Gary Michael, chairman and chief executive officer of Albertson's, Boise, Idaho, told attendees at the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association's Dairy-Deli-Bake '99 seminar and expo here June 6 to 8.
Neighborhood marketing and variety, convenience and good product information are the keys to success, he said.
"No matter how big or small a chain is, the biggest challenge is the customer," he said. And making sure that today's time-poor customer can pick up a meal or the components of one quickly, can keep them coming back into the store, he added.
"Customer count is the macro issue; how to get people to shop the store more frequently," Michael said.
"I believe that the home-meal-replacement department and the pharmacy have to get their own customers. Those two departments can't live off the rest of the store," he said. Michael was quick to add, however, that those two departments can breed customer loyalty.
He also stressed that fresh meals should be a total-store concept. Indeed, he said, the meat department and the bakery are crucial to the category.
"They're the departments that are transforming the concept," he said, referring to cross merchandising and the rising popularity of ready-to-cook meats. He added, though, that customers must be provided with more information.
"You see people standing looking at the meat, but not buying it. It's not because it's bad; it's because they don't know what to do with it. They want recipes and to be told how to cook it."
Michael also advocated neighborhood marketing. In regard to prepared or ready-to-eat foods, he said, "We can roll out the core concepts -- the pizza, chicken, and deli cheeses and meats -- from coast to coast, but it's the local suppliers that will make the difference," he said.
He scoffed at some people's belief that the big chains -- Albertson's is the second largest in the United States after a year of acquisitions -- can't do neighborhood marketing.
"Some of us are doing it better than the independents," he said.
But it takes constant research and innovation, he added.
Then he explained how Albertson's, whose units sprawl across the country, had at one time decided to take advantage of the strategically positioned commissaries that supply airlines' customers with in-flight food.
It sounded like a good idea, because the commissaries had unused capacity, but it didn't happen, he said.
"We would have had to buy trucks at about $100,000 each to transport the food. Also, those commissaries were still producing airline food and I don't know how much airline food you can sell."
Finding local suppliers and working with them on a product mix that fits customers' tastes and differentiates the store is the way to go, the Albertson's executive told his audience.
He said that in the face of consolidations, it's particularly important to find ways to efficiently tailor a store's product mix to the neighborhood.


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Kingfisher Airline Brand Up for Sale
NEW DELHI: The erstwhile 'king of good times', Vijay Mallya, may now lose his Kingfisher brand. Lenders have started the process of selling brands associated with the grounded Kingfisher Airlines (KFA). And the ones up for grab include 'Kingfisher', 'fly the good times' and 'flying models'.
The sale will not directly impact Mallya's flagship beer brand by the same name. That's because the airline and the beer brands are registered under different categories. However, Dutch giant Heineken, which is the largest shareholder in United Breweries, makers of Kingfisher beer, has reportedly expressed concern about the sale of the surrogate 'Kingfisher' (airline) brand.
The sale of Kingfisher brands was initiated by SBICAP Trustee Co Ltd (STCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of SBI Capital Markets Ltd.
Kingfisher Airlines, which has not flown since October 2012 and whose licence has been suspended, owes Rs 8,000 crore to banks. With no sign of the airline repaying this huge amount, banks had earlier started the process of selling pledged properties and now is eyeing Kingfisher brand that some years ago was valued at Rs 3,000 crore.
Bankers hope to recover only about Rs 1,000 crore by selling some pledged properties, helicopters and other assets. Hence, they are now looking at selling the brand to at least recover a fraction of the controversial loans that they kept giving to KFA despite its failing health.
"PSU banks need to answer why they kept pumping money into KFA when the writing on the wall was clear. They have played with public money and wasted it. Their lending to KFA's sinking ship must be probed," said an ex-employee of KFA.
The KFA spokesman refused to comment on the latest trouble facing the group as 'Kingfisher' is its flagship beer brand. When Mallya launched an airline with the same name in 2005, other carriers at that time had alleged that the move was nothing but surrogate advertising for the beer brand.
SBICAP said on its website, "STCL invites expression of interest from parties who wish to indicate their interest to acquire the trademarks pertaining to KFA on 'as is where is' and 'as is what is' basis. Interested parties may submit the EoIs with indicative price/s." It added that the consortium of lender banks will be free to "initiate any available processes to realize highest market price for the trademarks".
While the airline has been facing a series of winding up petitions, this is the first serious threat. KFA is contesting 27 winding up petitions, including one filed by the consortium of bankers. The airline had accumulated losses of Rs 16,023.5 crore on March 31, 2013, and its net worth on that date was minus Rs 12,919.8 crore.


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Zacks Investment Research Downgrades PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) to Hold
According to Zacks, “Pepsi has been doing well on the back of significant innovation, revenue management strategies, improved productivity and better market execution. Moreover, Pepsi has been seeing higher volumes and profits in the North American segments due to an improving economy, better industry pricing dynamics and a consistency in positive innovation. We believe that Pepsi’s new product lineup, aggressive marketing efforts, productivity improvement and cost-saving initiatives should drive profits. Pepsi rolled out several products recently which management believes will drive sales and profits in the remainder of 2016. It has recently agreed to acquire a sparkling probiotic U.S. drinks company KeVita amid slowing soda sales. Growing health awareness has been hurting the CSD category and increasing currency headwind may dampen growth, going forward.”
A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PEP. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an outperform rating and issued a $118.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Wednesday, August 10th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and issued a $121.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Friday, September 30th. reissued an outperform rating on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Monday, August 22nd. Bank of America Corp. reissued a buy rating and issued a $120.00 price objective on shares of PepsiCo in a report on Thursday, September 22nd. Finally, Vetr raised shares of PepsiCo from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $112.11 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $113.71.
Shares of PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) opened at 101.7875 on Thursday. PepsiCo has a 12-month low of $93.25 and a 12-month high of $110.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $105.09 and a 200 day moving average of $105.80. The company has a market cap of $145.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.3316 and a beta of 0.54.
PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, September 29th. The company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.08. PepsiCo had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 56.16%. The firm earned $16 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.35 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that PepsiCo will post $4.81 earnings per share for the current year.
TRADEMARK VIOLATION WARNING: “Zacks Investment Research Downgrades PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) to Hold” was first posted by Financial Market News and is owned by of Financial Market News. If you are accessing this article on another site, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of U.S. & international trademark & copyright legislation. The correct version of this article can be accessed at http://www.financial-market-news.com/zacks-investment-research-downgrades-pepsico-inc-pep-to-hold/1210082/.
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 2nd will be paid a $0.7525 dividend. This represents a $3.01 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 30th. PepsiCo’s payout ratio is 66.01%.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PEP. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 0.7% in the third quarter. Cutler Investment Counsel LLC now owns 66,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,280,000 after buying an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC raised its position in PepsiCo by 25.0% in the third quarter. SevenBridge Financial Group LLC now owns 28,571 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,026,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. raised its position in PepsiCo by 10.4% in the third quarter. First Heartland Consultants Inc. now owns 3,887 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 367 shares during the last quarter. Accident Compensation Corp raised its position in PepsiCo by 3.0% in the third quarter. Accident Compensation Corp now owns 69,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,570,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new position in PepsiCo during the third quarter valued at approximately $101,000. 69.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
PepsiCo Company Profile
PepsiCo, Inc is a food and beverage company. The Company, through its operations, bottlers, contract manufacturers and other third parties, is engaged in making, marketing, distributing and selling a range of beverages, foods and snacks, serving in over 200 countries and territories. The Company operates through six segments, namely, Frito-Lay North America (FLNA); Quaker Foods North America (QFNA); North America Beverages (NAB); Latin America, which includes its beverage, food and snack businesses in Latin America; Europe Sub-Saharan Africa (ESSA), which includes its beverage, food and snack businesses in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia, Middle East and North Africa (AMENA), which includes its beverage, food and snack businesses in Asia, Middle East and North Africa.
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New digital memory storage device can store a trillion bits of data for a billion yearsJune 5th, 2009 - 4:54 pm ICT by ANI
Washington, June 5 (ANI): Scientists in America have created a new memory storage medium that can pack thousands of times more data into one square inch of space than conventional chips, and preserve this data for more than a billion years.
The breakthrough stems from the joint efforts of researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley.
“We’ve developed a new mechanism for digital memory storage that consists of a crystalline iron nanoparticle shuttle enclosed within the hollow of a multiwalled carbon nanotube,” said Alex Zettl, the physicist who led this research.
“Through this combination of nanomaterials and interactions, we’ve created a memory device that features both ultra-high density and ultra-long lifetimes, and that can be written to and read from using the conventional voltages already available in digital electronics,” the researcher added.
This advancement attains significance considering that the ever-growing demand for digital storage of videos, images, music and text calls for storage media that pack increasingly more data onto chips that keep shrinking in size.
“Furthermore, as the system is naturally hermetically sealed, it provides its own protection against environmental contamination,” Zettl said.
Her reckons that the low voltage electrical write/read capabilities of the memory element in this electromechanical device facilitates large-scale integration, and should make for easy incorporation into today’s silicon processing systems.
He believes that the technology could be on the market within the next two years, and its impact should be significant.
“Although truly archival storage is a global property of an entire memory system, the first requirement is that the underlying mechanism of information storage for individual bits must exhibit a persistence time much longer than the envisioned lifetime of the resulting device. A single bit lifetime in excess of a billion years demonstrates that our system has the potential to store information reliably for any practical desired archival time scale,” he said.
“We believe our nanoscale electromechanical memory system presents a new solution to the challenge of ultra-high density archival data storage,” he added.
A research article on this advancement has been published on-line by Nano Letters. (ANI)
- Now, a memory device that may store data for 1 billion yrs - May 25, 2009
- Thinnest nanowire will make computing super fast - Sep 20, 2011
- Superfast MRAM with low power consumption on the anvil - Mar 09, 2011
- New memory chip hundred times faster: Study - May 20, 2012
- Fast, low-energy memory for MP3s, smartphones may soon be a reality - Mar 29, 2011
- Now, a smart way to control molecules for new breed of electronics - Feb 21, 2011
- New finding could lead to better memory chips - Mar 16, 2011
- Green energy to slash power use of computers - Jun 01, 2011
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Tags: archival storage, berkeley lab, berkeley national laboratory, carbon nanotube, conventional chips, digital memory, digital storage, electromechanical device, global property, high density, information storage, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, memory device, memory element, memory storage, memory system, scale integration, uc berkeley, videos images, zettl


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Mercedes E55 AMG Pulling Trailer Embarrasses Nissan 350Z Owner In Drag Race
This is a major oldie, but a major goldie which I personally hadn’t seen before. It was only on my daily trawl through Reddit did this come up in one of the comments, and after watching it twice, laughing at the cocky Nissan 350Z owner and looking at AMG finance packages, I’m now sharing it with you.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the 350Z is one hell of a car. With a 3.5-litre V6 under the bonnet and over 300bhp available under the right foot, it’s not a car to laugh at. But compared to a Mercedes E55 AMG, it’s a toy. 60mph comes in at a rapid 4.6 seconds thanks to 469bhp and 516lb ft of torque, and it’s this torque that enables it to pull the loaded trailer behind it and still take the 350Z to church.
What’s funny about this video isn’t the fact that an AMG can drive faster than a 350Z, that’s obvious. But the fact that the cocky driver behind the wheel of the Japanese sports car has to drive off with his tail between his legs makes it an even more pleasing video than it would already be. And hey, even if you’re not a fan of the two cars, the sounds are heavenly.
Know of a similar video that will make us laugh? Post it in the comments!


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Abuses in Online Payday Lending Are Widespread, Report Finds
Two online payday loan operations in the Kansas City area have been shut down after the CFPB and FTC charged them with bilking more than $36 million from consumers.September 17
The state is asking Google, Comcast and other companies to stop running ads for companies that can't lend legally to its residents. Bankers are also being urged to be on the alert for illegal loans to their customers.April 23
Online payday lenders often portray themselves as financial-industry pioneers, but like a lot of corners of the Internet, this one has some dirty secrets.
If a consumer signs up online for a loan, there is a good chance that the lender will automatically roll over the principal, trapping even prudent, well-intentioned borrowers in a cycle of debt.
Borrowers' personal information may get sold again and again, and if they fall behind on payments, they may face illegal threats of arrest.
And it is not just lenders who use the cover of the Internet to engage in questionable conduct. A sizable percentage of online borrowers seem to have no intention of ever repaying their loans.
The Pew Charitable Trusts has conducted the most thorough assessment to date of the online payday loan business, and its findings, released Thursday, are scathing. The report, which relied on a nationwide survey of borrowers, focus groups and data obtained from numerous sources, concludes that fraud and abuse are widespread in the Internet market.
"It's clear that basically the kind of self-policing of online lenders has not worked," said Alex Horowitz, research manager at Pew.
Pew, which has released three previous reports about payday lending, is a sharp critic of both online and storefront lenders. But the most recent report focuses on ways in which online lenders are different from brick-and-mortar stores.
Among Pew's findings: nine out of 10 Better Business Bureau complaints about payday lenders involve online operators, even though online loans only make up about one-third of the total market; 30% of online borrowers report being threatened by a lender or debt collector; and online payday loans typically have annual percentage rates of 650%.
The report illustrates just how different the business models are for online and storefront lending. For storefront companies, the biggest costs typically involve rent, employee salaries and other overhead. Online lenders have few of those costs, but their loss rates are sky-high the report estimates that chargeoffs represent 44% of revenue in the online industry, compared with 17% in the storefront world.
"With a store, it's a real person who came in, provided references usually, left a post-dated check, and lives and works nearby," Horowitz said. "Online, none of that's the case, and there's no relationship either. So there's a lot more risk for fraud."
Other reasons that online payday loans are so expensive include the high cost of acquiring borrowers. The lenders rely heavily on lead generators, which typically have to pay search engine companies from around $5 to $13 every time a consumer clicks on one of their ads, according to the report.
In one state, Vermont, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have agreed to disable advertising for any lender that is identified as violating the state's strict interest rate cap. Pew officials said they do not have a position on whether search engine companies should bear any responsibility.
The largest lead generator, MoneyMutual, which runs TV ads featuring former talk-show host Montel Williams, spent roughly $211 million on advertising over a 12-month span, the report found.
As a result of all the advertising, customer leads are expensive to buy. Pew found that a lead used to cost as much as $125, though prices have since fallen.
The lead generators collect sensitive information from prospective borrowers, including Social Security numbers and bank account numbers, and then sell it to multiple lenders. The first buyer, which pays the highest price, gets a brief exclusivity period, but soon the consumer may get bombarded with multiple offers.
In order to make their money back, online lenders need their borrowers to roll over their loans multiple times. Pew found that one in three online borrowers has taken out a loan that was set up so that they would pay only a fee on their next payday, and the entire loan principal would be automatically rolled over. "To pay more, most of these borrowers had to make a request by phone," the report states.
Pew also says that 32% of online borrowers report experiencing an unauthorized withdrawal, and 39% report that their personal or financial information was sold without their knowledge.
The online payday lending industry can be divided into two groups: those companies that have licenses in every state where their borrowers reside, and those that do not. That second group of companies includes firms associated with Indian tribes and offshore lenders, many of which have faced lawsuits by states that accuse them of illegal lending.
Pew says that the problems detailed in its report seem to be confined mostly to the second group of lenders. "Aggressive and illegal actions are concentrated among the approximately 70% of lenders that are not licensed by all the state where they lend and among fraudulent debt collectors," the report states.
"Licensed lenders do have some state supervision," Horowitz added, "and that makes a difference."
Pew notes that many of the problems it found are violations of a set of best practices developed by the Online Lenders Alliance, a trade group that represents lenders and lead generators.
Lisa McGreevy, the trade group's president, said that the group's member companies strive to implement its best practices, but she would not say whether members have all fully implemented them.
"Self-policing actually does work," McGreevy said, pointing out that a number of Kansas City area-based online lenders that were recently charged with violations of the law are not members of the Online Lenders Alliance. "We have a demonstrated record of changing behavior through our best practices."
At the same time, McGreevy said that her organization's member companies are expecting to be covered by forthcoming payday lending regulations from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. "We're prepared for it," she said. "We not opposed to regulation at all. In fact, you know, we welcome it."
"These are the lenders of the future. So our people are compliant, they want to play by the rules," she added. "When we find out that there are abuses, or issues that come up in the industry, we have a very robust complaint system."
Pew is calling on the CFPB to enact regulations that would apply to both storefront and online payday lenders, and would ensure that the borrower has the ability to repay the loan as structured. It did not put forth any policy recommendations specifically for online lenders.
Pew also said it is pleased with recent rule changes by Nacha, the bank-owned group that governs the automated clearing house network, which will make it harder for fraudulent merchants to access consumers' bank accounts.
Nacha president Jan Estep said that the rate of instances where a transaction is returned because a merchant made an unauthorized debit from the consumer's bank account is only 3 in 10,000, but added: "I think these rules are intended to make sure that we can rapidly identify outliers."
Estep said the rule changes will be phased in during 2015 and 2016.


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Saskatchewan consumers are saving money at the pumps, but putting that money in their jeans, rather than pumping it back into the economy, according to the publisher of Sask Trends Monitor. Doug Elliott was commenting on the 3.5 per cent year-over-year decline in retail sales in February, which was driven largely by a 19 per cent drop in service station sales, reflecting sharply lower gasoline prices.
Saskatchewan’s inflation rate was 1.4 per cent in March, up from 1.2 per cent in February, reflecting a trend toward lower inflation due falling gasoline prices, offset by rising shelter costs, according to data released by Statistics Canada Friday. Doug Elliott of SaskTrends Monitor said shelter costs rose 3.0 per cent in March, despite falling resale home prices. “There doesn’t seem to be any slackening off in rents,’’ Elliott said.
Saskatchewan retail sales fell by 3.1 per cent in January - the largest year-over-year drop of any province - while retail sales were up by 1.2 per cent across Canada during the same period, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
Higher commodity prices propelled the Toronto stock market to a solid gain Friday as both the energy and metals sectors finished in positive territory.
Saskatchewan retail sales fell by 3.1 per cent in January — the largest year-over-year drop of any province — while retail sales were up by 1.2 per cent across Canada during the same period, Statistics Canada reported Friday. Retail sales also declined by 1.6 per cent between December and January — on par with the nationwide decline of 1.7 per cent, the federal agency said.
After jumping 9.2 cents per litre in one week, Regina now boasts the dubious distinction of having the highest gasoline prices of any major city in the Prairies, according to the weekly pump price survey released Tuesday by MJ Ervin Associates of Calgary.
Fifty-three per cent of Saskatchewan people are wrong.
Inflation in Saskatchewan increased 1.4 per cent in January over the same period in 2014, second-highest year-over-year increase among the provinces, next to Ontario at 1.6 per cent, and above the national average increase of 1.0 per cent, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. But the cost of the basket of goods that makes up consumer price index (CPI) in Saskatchewan actually declined slightly (0.1 per cent) in January compared with December, the federal agency said.
If you see gas selling for 93.9 cents a litre or less, better fill up now.
Inflation in Saskatchewan increased 1.4 per cent in January over the same period in 2014 - the second-highest year-over-year increase among the provinces, next to Ontario at 1.6 per cent, and above the national average increase of 1.0 per cent, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.
It's something that has bemused and befuddled drivers of diesel-fuelled vehicles for months.
Gas prices spiked nearly five cents a litre overnight, as the average price at Regina gas stations was just over 94 cents per litre Wednesday compared with 86.3 cents on Tuesday, according to Gas-Buddy.com.
Gasoline prices spike overnight. D1
Canadian small businesses have a lot to be jittery about just a month into the new year. A slowing Canadian economy, collapsing oil prices and weak global demand have all conspired to dent the confidence and outlook for Canada's small businesses.
Decades of boomand-bust commodity prices, worker shortages and being at the mercy of the weather have virtually removed the word optimism from the vocabulary of many Canadian farmers.


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Wal-Mart Not The Only One Offering Gas Discounts
TODAYSHOW.COM - The summer travel season is in full swing and you might be looking for ways to save on gas prices that are still well north of $3.50 a gallon in most parts of the country. You probably are already aware that Wal-Mart is discounting fuel prices by 10 cents a gallon through the end of the September, but other retailers have jumped in as well, trying to lure shoppers by giving them a bit of relief at the pump.
Andrea Woroch, a consumer-savings expert, points out a few opportunities:
Drug store chain CVS is offering a free $10 gas gift card to members of its ExtraCare Rewards program who buy $30 worth of selected products by Aug. 28.
Kellogg's is offering a $10 gas card in exchange for 10 cereal box UPC codes in a deal that lasts through Dec. 31. The limit is five per household, so if you eat a lot of cereal, you can get $50 in gas cards.
Kroger is partnering with Shell to offer a discount of 10 cents a gallon to anyone who has 100 points on its rewards card. The discount rises to $1 a gallon for 1,000 points. This one gets a bit complicated, but basically you can get 100 points by buying $100 in groceries.
Want more tips to save money on gas? Our friends at Bankrate offer these ideas:
- Choose an unbranded gas station. "Gas stations that are not affiliated with a specific oil company or gasoline brand often have cheap gas prices per gallon because they purchase excess gas from multiple oil companies."
- Use your smart phone.There are lots of apps and website to help you find cheap gas through crowdsourcing, including Automotive.com, FuelMeUp.com and GasBuddy.com.
- Pay cash. Some gas stations offer a substantial discount for leaving the plastic in your wallet.
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WESTCHESTER, IL — Ingredion Incorporated, a global provider of ingredient solutions to diversified industries, has announced the signing of a strategic distribution agreement with Batory Foods. Effective May 24, the arrangement consolidates Ingredion’s distributor voice in Southern California to help food and beverage manufacturers get the ingredients they need to produce and bring their products to market, faster. Batory Foods will become the authorized licensed distributor of the company’s ingredient solutions in Southern California.
“Distribution through Batory Foods allows us to focus our go-to-market efforts in a region known to be dynamic, innovative and faster to respond to shifts in consumer demand,” said Gary Leeson, Ingredion’s sales director, distributors. “With solutions ranging from clean label native and functional starches to multi-functional flours and fibers to plant-based proteins and non-GMO modified food starches, Ingredion has the breadth of ingredients to help manufacturers create market-ready products with just-right taste, texture and performance,” Leeson adds.
“Batory Foods will support Southern California customers with easy access to ingredient solutions and systems. We are proud to serve our customers with on-trend ingredient solutions that can help them thrive in an ever-changing marketplace,” said Dan Riesenberg, Batory Food’s sales director. “Given our strong and extensive national distribution coverage, customers outside of Southern California will continue to be able to obtain Ingredion solutions through Batory Foods, as before,” Riesenberg adds.
Ingredion, headquartered in the suburbs of Chicago, is a global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries. With annual net sales of nearly $6 billion, the company turns grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing and industrial markets.
Founded in 1979, Batory Foods offers a full portfolio of food ingredients to food and beverage manufacturers throughout the United States. Batory operates a national system of warehouses and distribution centers centered on logistics principles for quick and efficient delivery of products.


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A Chinese court has ruled in favour of Italian confectioner Ferrero and imposed a fine on a domestic manufacturer that sold imitation Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
The Beijing Supreme Court fined Montresor (Zhangjiagang) Food CNY500,000 (US$71,413) and ordered the company to introduce new packaging for its chocolate products.
“We are happy that after four years in the Chinese courts we have been able to protect our product image,” a spokesperson for the Italian chocolatier told just-food.
However, the company added that it would “wait and see” whether this judgement would be successfully enforced.
According to local reports, Montresor claimed to have designed its packaging independently in 1990. The company reportedly said it had not seen a Ferrero Rocher before 1993.


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Fall is coming: Pumpkin spice is already back at Starbucks
Fall-in love all over again 🎃
Sample the best spirits across BC with the all-new ‘Distillery Passport’
With a free flight at each stop! 🥂
Vancouver Island caesar drink named top 10 in Canada
And it's in the running for top spot!
Here’s a list of cheap happy hours in and around Victoria to hit up...
Happy hour is the best hour 🍷
31 seasonal Vancouver Island beers to cool down with this summer
Pour us a pint! 🍺
3 Vancouver Island cideries to try this BC Cider Week
We’ve got all the in-cider information 🍎
Sample local wine, ciders and spirits with this Vancouver Island ‘passport’
Snag your discount code below ⬇
Starbucks has released a new summer frappucino flavour and it’s as good as it...
Trust us, we tried it. 😍
Victoria Ale Trail supports local breweries and rewards local beer lovers
Cheers to beers and supporting local! 🍻
Starbucks is offering buy-one-get-one FREE drinks this week
One for you and a friend!
BC to start charging PST on pop and sugary drinks as of April 1st
The tax will also be added to vape products ordered online.
CRAFT Beer Market acquires popular downtown Victoria brewpub
Cheers to new beers in the New Year! 🍻
Island-based cidery launches Bonnie Henry-inspired beverage
"Temperance Bonnie" is the latest creation from Sea Cider.
This 70’s style cocktail bar will take over the old Copper Owl location in...
"It will be a table service lounge bar unlike anything currently on offer here in town."
This Victoria pub has Halloween candy-flavoured shafts on special
Who says treats are just for kids?! 🎃
Restaurants in B.C. can offer liquor products for delivery until October 31
This permit was initially set to expire on July 15.
Starbucks offering buy-one-get-one FREE drinks across Canada this afternoon
Happy Hour deals are back! 🥤
Restaurants, bars in B.C. can soon buy liquor at wholesale prices to help ease...
From July 2020 til March 2021
The Drake Eatery is opening their very own beer garden in Victoria’s Market Square
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DavidsTea will give away free tea across Canada for one day next week
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Papa John’s partners with a football league — in Europe
Already an official sponsor of the National Football League, Papa John's International Inc. has become the official pizza sponsor of another football league — The Football League in the United Kingdom.
The Football League is an association of soccer clubs from England and Wales.
It's the first sponsorship agreement for Papa John’s (NASDAQ: PZZA) in the United Kingdom, where it has more than 200 restaurants.
The Football League's season kicks off next month, and the deal allows Papa John's the exclusive rights to The Football League's marks and digital assets, including online banners, dedicated e-mails to league and club fans, and exclusive Facebook and Twitter promotions, according to a news release.
The company already has a strong relationship with the NFL. According to the results of an annual NFL sponsor awareness survey, Papa John's was the brand most identified by NFL fans as an NFL sponsor.
The company also just renewed its sponsorship with the NFL, the release said.
The Football League has 72 member clubs and is the largest single body of professional soccer clubs in Europe.
In recent months, Papa John's executives have discussed the company's increasing attention on the United Kingdom and other international markets. In the company's first quarter this year, same-store sales increased 8.2 percent for international units.
And this year, the company expects its international growth to outpace its development in North America for the first time in the company’s history.
Andrew Robinson covers these beats: Restaurants, retail, government, human resources, technology, automotive (dealers, services), media/marketing/printing, young professionals, West End, East End and Oldham County.
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Worker-owned retailer John Lewis is considering suspending this year’s staff bonus after the high street suffered its worst Christmas since the financial crisis.
It would be the first time since the 1953 that the bonus has been dropped. Last year, the bonus for partners was cut to 5%, down from 6% the previous year.
The news comes amid reports of a tough festive season for the retail sector, with Marks & Spencer and Debenhams both reporting sales falls.
In its Christmas trading statement for the seven weeks to 5 January, John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, saw its gross sales rise by 1.4% but chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield warned that profits would still be hit due to heavy discounting by rivals and weak consumer demand.
He said: “We continue to expect full year total partnership profits to be substantially lower this year, driven by slower sales growth over the year and margin pressure in John Lewis & Partners along with higher costs, mainly as a result of our continued investment in our IT capability.
“The actions taken in recent years to prepare for the current pressures in retail mean that the Partnership has the financial strength and flexibility to pay a modest bonus this year, without impacting our ambitious investment programme. However, the Board will need to consider carefully in March, following the usual process, whether payment of a bonus is prudent in the light of business and economic prospects at that time.”
He added that the Partnership was making good progress on its updated business strategy, outlined last summer, which focuses on differentiation not scale to offer “increasingly unique and exclusive products and services”.
“We expect to deliver significant positive free cash flow this year, continuing to prioritise a very strong liquidity position and a reduction in our debt ratio over the medium to-long-term,” said Sir Charlie.


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Media buying agency ZenithOptimedia is predicting big increases in online video consumption and the beginning of a decline in linear TV viewers.
Ad spending on opline video is also growing, the agency says. In the U.S., ad spending on online video will hit $8.5 billion in 2015.
Zenith expects the amount of time people spending with online video to increase 23.35 in 2015 and 19.8% in 2016.
The growth follows the fast adoption ad penetration of smart phones and tablets worldwide, according to the agency’s new Online Video Forecasts report.
Video consumption on mobile devices is expected to grown 43.9% in 2015 and 34.8% in 2016. Mobile devices will become the primary platforms for video consumptions by 2106 and hit 58.1% of consumption by 2017.
Meanwhile, ZenithOptimedia predicts that the number of people watching traditional television will peak this year. The first decline in the number of people watching linear TV will take place in 2016 with a 1.9% drop.
The drop in the number of people watching linear TV follows a decline in the amount of time people spend watching linear TV, which has been falling for several years, the agency says.
Ad spending on online video will account for an eighth of total spending on the Internet, ZenithOptimedia says. Online video ad spending will grow 28.9% to $16.1 billion worldwide in 2015 and 22.5% in 2016. It will grow another 19.7% in 2017 to $23.7 billion.
Mark Waugh, Global Managing Director, of ZenithOptimedia’s branded content unit Newcast, said, “Consumers all around the world arerapidly embracing online video, because it offers them a near limitless array of engrossing content. Some of the keenest users are the young, affluent viewers who are hardest to reach on television. Brands are finding online video a particularly effective way to reach these valuable audiences, not just with advertising, but also with branded content; content that can inform or entertain consumers in a deeper and richer way than is possible with short, interruptive ads.”
The television industry's top news stories, analysis and blogs of the day.
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The game has been met with mixed reviews on the iOS App Store so far, with some users praising the game, and other users reporting crashes in the first battle while using an iPhone XR.Square Enix recently revealed that the Final Fantasy 7 remake would be a timed PS4 exclusive until 2021. Further, it has also announced that the Final Fantasy 7 remake Part 2 is already in development.
Andrew Smith is a freelance contributor with IGN. Follow him on Twitter @_andrewtsmith.
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- Aug 13, 2016
Jess Ansell from Eating East recently sampled contemporary Filipino cuisine and she wrote a wonderful review about her LUZON experience.
Some of the dishes that stood out for her are the Humba Pork Belly, Inasal Wings and Filipino Scotch Eggs. She added, “…LUZON have created the perfect way to try so many flavours and ingredients from the Philippines, served in a modern and engaging form…”
Read the rest of her story here.


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One year after YouTube turned on revenue sharing for its shortform video feature, a growing chunk of creators are getting paid for it. More than 1 in 4 creators in YouTube’s Partner Program are now earning money with YouTube Shorts, the company announced on Thursday. Given there are over 3 million creators in YouTube’s ad sharing program, that amounts to roughly 750,000 Shorts creators in total.
The company doesn’t break out how much it has paid Shorts creators specifically. It has paid $70 billion to creators in total over the last three years, with the bulk of that going to longform content.
By all measures, Shorts are getting more popular. The number of Shorts uploaded on YouTube has grown by 50 percent year over year, and the feature now averages over 70 billion daily views from over 2 billion creators per month, YouTube’s spokesperson for Shorts, Kimberly Taylor, tells The Verge. The feature first launched in 2020 and has become more integrated with the platform in the years since.
Even with that growth, Shorts still lacks the influence and passionate user base of TikTok, the platform it’s imitating. The rival platform is popular enough that its users flooded congressional phone lines earlier this month when prompted to by the app. At the moment, TikTok’s future in the United States remains uncertain, as a bill to ban the platform or force a sale lingers in the Senate.
While there hasn’t been a mass exodus from TikTok, monetizing Shorts does seem to have incentivized more native YouTubers to experiment with the feature. Many of YouTube’s most subscribed-to longform creators, including MrBeast, Like Nastya, Markiplier, and others are now posting to Shorts.
Todd Sherman, the product lead of YouTube Shorts, believes Shorts’ connection to the wider YouTube ecosystem gives it an edge on competitors. Unlike with TikTok, users on YouTube can hop from watching a creator’s Shorts to watching their full-length videos or subscribing to their channel — typically more lucrative opportunities for creators.
“When I think about how Shorts is a part of YouTube, of course it’s its own thing. It’s in a feed, but as you swipe through that feed, there’s often an ability to go deeper and connect more deeply with a creator or go find that full song or watch the music video,” said Sherman.
“Shorts are basically an ad that gives me a few bucks instead of me paying anything at all.”
YouTube’s eligibility requirements for monetization are lower than that of TikTok, which in theory gives more creators opportunities to earn money. But some creators still struggle to earn revenue from Shorts alone, perhaps due to what some report is a far lower payout than longform YouTube content. Instead, many see Shorts as a way to bring new subscribers to their main channel. “Shorts are basically an ad that gives me a few bucks instead of me paying anything at all,” wrote one Reddit user on r/PartneredYouTube.
YouTube retains 55 percent of revenue from ads for Shorts, while creators receive the other 45 percent. That’s the reverse of what YouTube offers its longform creators, which the company says is necessary due to music licensing fees for Shorts. The revenue split for Shorts isn’t likely to change soon. “I think as of right now, we’re very happy with the program,” Thomas Kim, YouTube’s Partner Program product director, told The Verge.
Tellingly, most YouTube Shorts creators earn money through other parts of YouTube. Nearly 80 percent of creators who became eligible for YouTube’s Partner Program through Shorts are earning revenue through other parts of the platform, including longform videos and fan funding, says Taylor. While this is a win for YouTube, it also suggests that the revenue opportunity for shortform video — and only shortform video — may still be limited.


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Most videogame stocks are fully priced based on the increased sales triggered by millions of gamers in coronavirus lockdown.
(ticker: CDM.UK), which specializes in car-racing games, could still be undervalued. A recent deal to snap up a five-year franchise-making FIA World Rally Championship has yet to be priced in. Codemasters already owns F1, the successful Formula One racing championship game, giving it the top global motosports intellectual property, and it has a strong pipeline of future games.
Codemasters in November bought Slightly Mad Studios for $30 million, adding the Fast & Furious franchise to its stable. The company has the option to make games on the back of films.
Later in 2020,
(MSFT) is due to bring out its new console, the Xbox X,
(SNE), the PlayStation 5, and Codemasters has racing games ready to launch. The videogame industry is a cyclical business with its strongest sales tied to new console launches.
Shares in Codemasters have steadily increased following a tumble after their stock market debut at 265 pence ($3.25) in June 2018. By October of that year, the stock plummeted to 140 pence but has since climbed to 341 pence.
Sean Thapar, an analyst at broker Berenberg, thinks it has further to go, rising 17.3% to 400 pence. He has a Buy rating, and wrote in a June note that the multi-year licence deal with the FIA World Rally Championship demonstrates “why we view it as a solid but underappreciated videogames company. There is a clear pathway to significant returns over the next year.”
Ken Rumph, an analyst at Jefferies also marked the stock a Buy with a 440 pence price target.
Codemasters employs 770 people across three locations in the U.K., and one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and has a market value of £516 million ($637 million). It fetches 21.5 times this year’s expected earnings and is valued at a 20% premium to its peers.
In June, it posted a pretax profit of £12.2 million for the year ended March 31, 2020, up from £2.9 million the year before, on sales of £76 million.
Computer games firms have been migrating to a model that enables customers to download interactive games. Customers can then enhance these games online by buying car upgrades and new tires that are a valuable revenue stream.
Frank Sagnier, CEO of Codemasters, tells Barron’s that just 63% of the company’s games are digital, compared with 85% for rivals, which means it has room to innovate. “This is an exciting time for the gaming sector,” he says. “It is bigger than the movies and music industry, and analysts say that computer games sales are set to double within 10 years.
“I am confident in our growth prospect, supported by a strong pipeline of game releases and investment in the sector.”
But Rumph of Jefferies thinks new, returning or more engaged players should drive a 5% increase in post-Covid 2021 sales across the industry. New console games “are the key physical holdout,” he says, adding that major game launches and new consoles will be a better gauge of how much digitalization has advanced, he says.
Winning the World Rally Championship license proves Codemasters is fast becoming the go-to developer for racing content, and the game could provide at least an additional 14% to 2024 Ebitda estimates, Thapar says.


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In his first post-IPO public appearance, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed a packed house at the TechCrunch Disrupt SF conference where he was interviewed by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. The interview touched on the post-IPO stock drop, but first Zuckerberg talked about the advantages of the mobile platform – referencing one of the most critical concerns being lobbied at the social network today. “A lot more people have phones than computers,” Zuckerberg said. “And mobile users are more likely to be daily active users,” he added.
He said that mobile users are more than twice as likely to use Facebook more than 6 or 7 times per week. Following the launch of the new iOS app, the number of stories consumed doubled, he added. Mobile users spend more time on Facebook, and per time they spend more money than those on desktop. And mobile ads, although they have to be integrated more deeply into the mobile experience, do better than the right-side ads on Facebook. The problem, of course, is getting there, he admitted. Zuckerberg also addressed the challenges of mobile development, admitting that Facebook’s 2-year long bet on HTML5 was one of its biggest mistakes.
As for the mythical Facebook Phone? Zuckerberg again shot down the rumors, saying that it wouldn’t make sense. Instead, he described Facebook’s strategy on mobile as having three focus areas: mobile web, iOS and Android. Mobile web is “huge for us,” he said, but more limited. The iOS app was another key piece to the strategy, and 8 out 10 of the top iOS apps are integrated with Facebook, said Zuckerberg. The forthcoming iOS 6 integration will also offer Facebook more opportunities on that platform. On Android, you can integrate more deeply with the OS, thanks to the way it’s been designed, which also benefits Facebook.
“I basically live on my mobile device,” said Zuckerberg, implying that he took mobile seriously. “Want to know something sort of funny?” he told Arrington, “You know the Founder’s Letter in the S-1, well, I wrote that on my phone.”
Check out our full coverage of Mark Zuckerberg’s chat at Disrupt SF below.


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NORCO, Calif. - NinnWorx_SR has released Back Roads, the latest anal-themed DVD from Supercore couple Otto Bauer and Audrey Hollander.
Due in stores Aug. 22, Back Roads stars director Bauer and wife Audrey opposite AVN award-winning performer Mika Tan, Naudia Nyce, Katarina Kat, and Heather Gables. Male talent includes Alec Knight, Harley, Dave Hardman and Buster Good.
Advance publicity for Back Roads promises "come-soaked back-door exploits," double-penetration, and "gag and jerk blowjobs."
For North American retail distribution of all
Supercore Productions titles releasing through NW_SR, contact Tom Deniro at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Pepsi executive's death recalls past cola wars
The recent death of Roger Enrico, the former chief executive of PepsiCo., raised the issue of past competition between colas in the national media.
Both the Wall Street Journal and Chicago Tribune noted that it was while Enrico, who died earlier this month at the age of 71, was at the helm in the 1980s when Pepsi Cola enlisted stars like Michael Jackson and Cindy Crawford in ad campaigns to challenge industry leader Coca Cola.
While the cola wars have always made good copy in the past, these days the soft drink giants find themselves in another battle -- this time over public opinion.
It's a different day for a carbonated beverage industry reeling from years of declining sales as public health concerns over soda consumption have mounted.
Those concerns -- and the need for revenue -- motivated Philadelphia recently to become the first U.S. city to consider a soda tax. When enacted, Philadelphia consumers will pay a $2.16 excise tax on a 12-pack of soda. That's compared to the nine-cent city excise tax on beer, noted Forbes magazine.
Marketing efforts once harnessed to boost brands are now being used "to rehabilitate soda's cheap image and fetch higher prices as Americans keep cutting back on sugary fizz," wrote Candice Choi, the AP's food industry writer.
Pepsi just launched an "1893" cola brand to compete with the growing crop of craft sodas now on the market while glass-bottled Mexican Coke continues to expand distribution and sales.
Meanwhile, both cola giants are selling product in smaller quantities in addition to the traditional 12-ounce cans and two-liter bottles.
"At the end of the day, we just have to stay culturally relevant," Seth Kaufman, Pepsi's chief marketing officer, told the AP.


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Liberty’s intellectual property covers drive trains for electrical vehicles including trucks, buses, 4X4s and sport utility vehicles.
Green Automotive converts, imports and distributes electric vehicles and converted piston engines worldwide. It is currently assessing all-electric and alternate fuel vehicles including buses for possible introduction into the United States.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Green Automotive President Fred Luke said, “This acquisition will accelerate our growth as the Liberty management team has state-of-the-art EV technology that would have take us another year or longer to develop… In particular, access to their expertise in conversion programs will help to accelerate our plans to have pure electric buses, shuttles and limos on the road in the very near future.”
Green Automotive is publicly traded on the pink sheets.
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Importance of Pharmacy Delivery Service
Inside: People want delivery today. Whether it’s for their monthly vitamins or their lunch. Discover what the rapid rise of delivery services in retail means for your independent community pharmacy and how to start your own pharmacy delivery service.
With a call or click, people today can get nearly anything they need delivered to them.
A growing market
The demand for delivery has grown faster than you can open an app on your smartphone. Experts predict food delivery service alone to be worth $76 billion by 2022. In just the last five years, restaurant deliveries rose 10 percent. Restaurants in metropolitan areas have had to turn customers away because demand is so high.
What started primarily as a food industry service has spread to almost every other sector of retail. Every day more retail businesses add delivery to their repertoire in response to growing expectations
“Delivery is a huge, growing market. And it is changing our culture,” said Daniel Levine, a trends expert, keynote speaker, and founding director of the Avant-Guide Institute, a leading authority on social trends driving the global marketplace. “It’s the future for retail businesses and consumers alike.”
Following the trend
Retailers that don’t offer delivery are becoming increasingly rare. In an age where consumers summon everything they want from the comfort of their homes, can independent pharmacies afford to miss the bandwagon?
The big players think it’s worth it. CVS added delivery at all its locations across the U.S. And, Walgreens, Walmart, and Costco all offer some form of prescription delivery. Amazon’s $1 billion purchase of PillPack shows how much value the retail giant forecasts for the prescription delivery business.
“The ‘Uberization’ of pharmacy has created a marketplace expectation for easy access and delivery,” said Suzette DiMascio, CHE, CMCE, CPC, President and CEO of the CSI Specialty Group, a leadership, strategy, and talent consulting firm in the specialty pharmacy industry. “In metropolitan areas, delivery, once the great differentiator, has become the expected norm.”
A new source of revenue
Some sources estimate that a delivery service boosts pharmacies’ revenue 6 to 8 percent on average within the first four months. If the restaurant industry is any indication, those percentages reflect the low-end of growth pharmacies could experience with delivery. In an industry where margins continue to plummet, the bump in revenue could be a big deal for business.
Studies also show that home delivery increases patients’ adherence, especially for those with chronic conditions. If your patients with chronic conditions boost their adherence, they’ll boost your revenue, too. Why? Refilled medications earn more revenue than those left on the shelf.
Gaining new patients
Prescription delivery can also deliver new patients through your doors. In a survey by Drug Store News, 70 percent of patients said location mattered most when it came to their pharmacy. For independent pharmacies that can’t afford to build more brick-and- mortar locations, that’s an issue.
But delivery broadens your footprint. It enables you to reach patients who otherwise wouldn’t come to your location. “When a retail business like an independent pharmacy offers delivery, they expand their ‘storefront’ to an entire neighborhood,” Devine said. “The business is no longer constrained by location, so they become accessible to everyone, and anytime.”
The Drug Store News survey also revealed that 94 percent of patients care about convenience above all else. And, delivery offers the supreme convenience.
Making it work
Starting a delivery service doesn’t come without risk. If not done well, it could do more harm than good.
“For retailers, delivery poses an entire set of challenges that most sellers are not equipped to handle,” Devine said. “This includes a minefield of customer service issues, like late delivery and missing items, to name just two. The biggest challenge with delivery is if you get it wrong, it becomes a huge mark against you, one that can ricochet around the web’s many social media and review sites.”
As with any new service, administrative responsibilities increase. Make weighing the burden of these requirements against the benefits of offering a delivery service your starting point.
And, the time and attention required to successfully incorporate in-house delivery, both from a logistics and workflow standpoint, might not serve your pharmacy business best. “Having a process that is labor intensive doesn’t allow you to focus on growing your business. You get in the rut of managing your business,” Potts said.
If you want to outsource delivery, you have options. Companies like Speedlink Courier Services supply drivers guaranteed to make same-day deliveries.


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"In three cases out of 10, for products with or without nicotine, the content of formaldehyde was as much as the levels found in some conventional cigarettes." This is a statement from a French study that claims that e-cigs produce carcinogens similar to traditional cigarettes. Not only as a vaper but as a SMART and THOROUGH individual, I think this is BS, and I'll tell you why.
Three out of the ten e-cigarettes tested had traces of these chemicals. My question for the French: "What e-cigarettes did you test?" I found it curious that not once, in all the reports of this study, were there any individual e-cigarette manufacturers named. Strange. But it doesn't end there. What did they find in the other seven e-cigarettes that were tested? Why weren't those scrutinized for what they had in them? Again, strange. With other reports, *cough* Drexel University *cough*, saying that e-cigarettes "pose no health concern for users and bystanders", why is everyone jumping on the French bandwagon now?
Here's why. The Health Minister of France, Marisol Touraine, is making a push to ban e-cigarettes in all public places. He was even quoted saying, "The e-cigarette is not an ordinary product
, we need to apply the same measures as there are for tobacco. That means making sure it cannot be smoked in public places." This ban will effectively remove e-cigarettes from the streets of France and give the boot to several e-cig shop owners over there as well. Of course, our French vapers made their voices heard immediately. But what's the easiest way to make the public believe you, French government? Release a study from the French National Consumer Institute and tell the world of the dangers of e-cigs. Of course in the panic, the Health Minister's claims seem viable and he now has a case to push his ban forward. It's sad and unfortunate that such a great product is being lambasted by the French government.
What's in our e-liquids
? Propylene glycol, vegetable glycerin, nicotine, and food flavorings. I've been vaping V4L juice for two years and my doctor says my heart and my lungs are doing much better than in recent years. Am I a doctor? No. But I do know that e-cigs helped saved my life and I urge people: don't believe everything you read (especially from the French).


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According to French Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg, PSA Peugeot Citroen has to discuss its plan to lay off 8, 000 employees and close a plant in the country.
“We don’t accept the plan as it is, ” Montebourg said. “We believe that there have to be restructuring steps, but that the measures that are currently proposed don’t appear to us to be of the sort to bring back Peugeot.”
Yesterday he announced ‘tripartite’ talks with Labor Minister Michel Sapin, Peugeot’s management and the labor unions on October 25th, after taking with worker representatives present at the Paris auto show. Laurence Parisot, the head of Medef, a French business organization, criticized in an interview given before Montebourg’s announcement, that the government’s “excessively interventionist” approach and its intervention in talks that should take place only between the automaker and its worker, will only worsen the situation.
Recently Peugeot announced it will slow production of its Peugeot 208 subcompact and cut a production shift by the end of this year due to severely decreased European sales. Spokeswoman Marie-Paule Baisy said that the automaker will reduce the hourly production rate at the Poissy plant from 52 to 35 beginning October 10th and another cutback will be made in December.


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While the entire tech world is focused on the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 slated to debut on February 27 at Barcelona, Apple has come up with an announcement. The company has confirmed that the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) will happen on June 5, 2017 in San Jose. It is a four-day event slated to happen between June 5 and June 9.
Usually, Apple's WWDC happens in the middle of the year. While we know that it will be an early-June affair every year, the confirmation from Apple gives us a clear date. Basically, at the WWDC, Apple will meet the developers in order to discuss its upcoming products.
This year, the event is likely to be mainly focused on the firmware and software aspects, tipping that we can expect the next version of iOS to be a key aspect. The alleged iOS 11 will be rolled out sometime in September along with the latest iPhones. Still, we can see a preview or beta version of the same rolling out soon after the WWDC. We can also expect to see the launch of the iOS 11, next iteration of OS X10.13, tvOS and watch OS.
Notably, the registrations for the WWDC 2017 will start from March 27 at 10 AM PDT. Also, a lottery will take place as the WWDC tickets usually disappear in just a few minutes. The cost of one ticket is $1,599 (approx. Rs. 1,07,000) similar to that of the previous years.