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It's no secret that Bitcoin (BTC -2.69%) is a hot commodity these days. The largest and oldest cryptocurrency is making headlines by the boatload, ranging from enthusiastic analyses of the digital currency's bright future to skeptical screeds focusing on its massive electric power requirements and uncertain value.
The widespread interest was sparked by Bitcoin's enormous price gains over the last year and change. Let's say you timed the stock market perfectly, buying into an S&P 500 index fund at the very bottom of the coronavirus crash in 2020. That investment would have doubled by now -- but Bitcoin's returns over the same period made the stock market's generous gains look completely frozen by comparison:
And the Bitcoin chatter has moved far beyond the water cooler and the barbershop. Nowadays, you'll find the leaders of well-known companies taking cryptocurrencies seriously, often discussing Bitcoin and its peers in their earnings calls. Some of the things they say are quite surprising -- and the finest insights don't always come from the usual suspects. Here's a collection of the juiciest Bitcoin comments I've found in the latest earnings season's earnings calls.
Jack Dorsey champions the Bitcoin network in many ways
Let's start with a fairly obvious Bitcoin bull. Twitter (TWTR) and Square (SQ -2.46%) CEO Jack Dorsey is a longtime cryptocurrency enthusiast, so it's not a shocker when he spends plenty of his conference call time on explaining how his companies are using digital currencies.
On Square's third-quarter call at the start of November, Dorsey outlined the digital payment company's recent launch of a Bitcoin mining system and a hardware Bitcoin wallet for consumers. The idea is to boost Bitcoin's exposure to a mainstream audience.
"Our focus is on helping Bitcoin to become the native currency for the internet. And so we have a number of initiatives toward that goal," Dorsey said.
One week earlier, Dorsey waxed poetic about microblogging service Twitter's brand-new tipping options, where Bitcoin-based tips to Twitter's content creators offer unique advantages over traditional cash contributions.
"What makes Bitcoin interesting is that it is globally accessible, doesn't matter where you are in the world. If you have a Bitcoin address to receive and you have Bitcoin to send specifically over the [high-speed Bitcoin transfer feature] lightning network, you can do it," he said on Twitter's third-quarter call. "We can participate, instead of having to go market-by-market and look for services that operate with a bank that's within each one of those [markets], so it gives us much more speed."
In other words, Jack Dorsey sees the Bitcoin network as a valuable digital payment system with real-world value and useful applications. He is doing what he can to promote that view, and also to build more use cases for Bitcoin payments. Twitter and Square give him two very different platforms from which he can pursue this vision of everyday Bitcoin payments.
Al Kelly is building digital partnerships
Whether it's leveraging account data for value-added services or facilitating account-to-account or pay-by-bank money movement, open banking creates opportunities for Visa to offer our clients and partners a one-stop shop for money movement, security, data, and valuable customer experiences. Blockchains also will continue to expand our network of networks. Our settlement capabilities and our continued innovation around crypto APIs and services have been key to winning new partnerships. We have nearly 60 crypto platform partners with the capability to issue Visa credentials, and we're already capturing over $3.5 billion of payment volume in FY '21.
That's $3.5 billion out of $165 billion in processed transactions for fiscal year 2021. Visa can lean much further into the blockchain-based payment space before running out of unexplored growth opportunities. For now, the company is happy to help its credit card issuer partners launch Visa cards tied to Bitcoin and other digital assets. Most of the company's cryptocurrency payments action is going across international borders, meeting an unfilled need for quick and inexpensive international money transfers.
Chuck MacFarlane sees opportunity in Bitcoin mining deals
Here's a different perspective. In the third quarter, Minnesota-based energy company Otter Tail (OTTR -1.78%) landed a large-scale power contract with privately held cryptocurrency mining specialist Applied Blockchain. Otter Tail CEO Chuck MacFarlane celebrated this Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH -2.94%) mining agreement in the third-quarter earnings call on Nov. 2.
"Demand from the customer's facilities could approach 100 megawatts with a high load factor and the ability to [lower their power draw as necessary]," MacFarlane said. "We expect this load to be fully online by the end of the first quarter of 2022."
The digital mining deal was made possible by low tariff rates in Otter Tail's North Dakota market. Applied Blockchain is a "lower-margin customer," even under these favorable circumstances, MacFarlane said, but the slim margins still result in meaningful revenue and operating profits thanks to the cryptocurrency miner's massive power requirements.
MacFarlane would be happy to take on more Bitcoin-mining contracts like this one, if further opportunities materialize. Political pressure just might deliver some more Bitcoin business. Applied Blockchain originally planned to run its mining facilities in China but was forced to move elsewhere when Beijing's regulators cracked down on Bitcoin miners over the summer. Many other China-based miners are surely looking for low-cost power deals on American soil, too.


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If you are about to be thrown out of a shop for not wearing a mask, look down for solutions.
A maskless woman received applause from fellow shoppers in a queue where she was about to pay for her groceries but was told to put on a mask. After a heated argument with the cashiers, security was called.
In full view of other shoppers, the woman, who was wearing a dress, pulled down her underwear and pulled it over her face.
Behind her was another woman who was wearing her mask – also apparently an anti-masker – who applauded the panty stripper for what she did.
The second woman expressed the view that there would be less bacteria on the knickers than on the mask.
We can only hope for the maskless women’s sake that this is right and that the underwear was clean.
This woman would not be the first one to pull such a trick. There have been videos on social media of people being refused to get into taxis without a mask, but choosing their socks instead.
Some use their shirts to get away with it.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasised the importance of wearing cloth masks for every citizen in order to beat the Covid-19 pandemic.
We can only hope that the fact that the video has gone viral does not set off a trend.
No-one wants guys in grocery stores undressing and wrapping jockey skants around their faces.
Video source: @YB_JLN

domain: news


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Burberry's battles with Humphrey Bogart estate
Burberry is currently caught up in a legal wrangle over the use of an iconic image of the late film star .
Bogart's son Stephen - whose mother is actress Lauren Bacall - filed a lawsuit on behalf of Bogart LLC in Los Angeles on April 10, claiming that the British heritage brand illegally used an image of his father wearing a trench coat in the classic film ‘Casablanca’ to promote their products.
The Bogart estate - which is run by Bogart and Bacall's two children - is seeking "unspecified damages" which could run into millions.
Burberry used the image from the 1942 film across their social media platforms - including Twitter and Facebook pages - to create a "historical timeline" of the brand and the evolution of its products, dating back to its first store opening in 1856, reports ‘The New York Post’ .
Burberry later filed a counter-claim in Manhattan on May 1 defending their use of the image as it "was not directly connected to the sale of any merchandise", and claiming that a licensing fee was paid to the Corbis photo agency for the image.
The brand maintains that their use of the image on their Facebook timeline is protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Burberry said Bogart LLC contacted them in April ordering them to cease using the image. Bogart LLC then contacted the company at least two other times and "made a significant monetary demand."
In a further twist, Stephen Bogart has claimed that there is a heavy likelihood that trench coat his father wore in the film was actually made by rival British brand Aquascutum. 'It is well known my father was a loyal Aquascutum customer in his personal life,' the ‘Daily Mail’ have reported Bogart as saying.
The case could well make history because of the combination of social media in advertising, which is a relatively new aspect.
In January this year, the Advertising Standards Agency launched their first ever investigation into a social media advertising complaint.
The investigation was launched after receiving complaints about tweets Rio Ferdinand, Katie Price, cricketer Ian Botham and X Factor finalist Cher Lloyd posted promoting the Snickers chocolate bar.
They all received payment from Mars, the chocolate bar parent company to do so, however the ASA deemed that the messages could not be clearly viewed as adverts.
"This is such an incredibly disappointing and disrespectful action by Burberry," Stephen Bogart, said in a statement released regarding the situation. "What's next, a cigarette company can start an advertising program claiming Bogie smoked its brand, and there's nothing our family can do about it?"
Burberry are yet to comment further.


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It was predictable that the Yahoo! corporate PR department would shift into high-gear to defend Terry Semel in the wake of yesterday's finalized "Plan B" which was submitted to them.
When they were able to finally get back to Riva Richmond of Dow Jones last night at 11:03pm with a response to her question about their reaction to "Plan B," they stated that the company has:
"a clear strategy to create shareholder value," through aggressive pursuit of its ongoing efforts to improve its ability to make money from search advertising, expand its lead in display advertising and secure leads in emerging areas like social media, video and mobile services.
"Under Terry Semel's leadership over the past five years, Yahoo! has achieved tremendous growth, consistent profitability and impressive returns for shareholders, with our stock price rising four fold, " she said. "As the Internet continues to grow and evolve rapidly, Yahoo! is in a strong competitive position to be a leader in this transformation and to capitalize on the huge growth opportunities ahead for the Internet. We intend to do just that."
Yahoo!'s stock price is up 4 times from its $7 all-time low. However, that low was hit under Mr. Semel's leadership. To be completely accurate, Yahoo! should acknowledge that, from Mr. Semel's May 1, 2001, start date, Yahoo!'s stock is up 229% through yesterday's close.
Here's an excerpt from the finalized "Plan B" on why that 229% is not acceptable, given what return Yahoo! shareholders should have received:
Terry Semel and his defenders will argue that Yahoo!’s stock price has gone up 227% since his start date of May 1, 2001 through today. However, if you properly analyze his tenure, there have been three distinct periods:
May 2001 – December 2002: Yahoo! drops 7% in value.
January 2003 – December 2004: Yahoo! grows by 355% in value.
January 2005 – Present: Yahoo! drops 14% in value.
There has only been one period in which Yahoo!’s valuation has increased under Terry Semel’s watch and we would argue that this had to do with a general recovery in the Internet Advertising market, which benefited Yahoo! and its two main rivals – Google and Microsoft – during this time. The rising tide lifted all boats/companies which were dependent on the ad market for the majorities of their revenues. As Yahoo! also had amassed enough cash before Mr. Semel’s arrival, it had the fortitude to go through the Internet Advertising drought which claimed the lives of many pre-Bubble competitors (e.g., Excite, Lycos, etc.). The only credible remaining search players post-Bubble were Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft and advertising dollars could only go to these three players after the general market recovery began to happen. Yahoo! benefited from this rising tide (especially in display ads), for a while.
Yahoo!’s market share has been flat and steadily eroding over the past 4 years, while Google’s has dramatically accelerated. Yahoo! had a 28.9% share in February 2003 (according to Neilsen NetRatings), compared to 29.5% for Google. However, Yahoo!’s share had dropped to 19.5% as of December 2006, and Google’s had increased to 65.4% (according to Bank of America Equity Research). The total ad market has increased from $1.4B in 2002 to $15B annually today (and growing at 50% per annum). Had Yahoo!, under Terry Semel, been able to grow its share to even 30% today, Yahoo! shareholders would have received an additional $1.6B in revenues last year – or 25% higher than their reported $6.4B in revenues, but still well below Google’s $10.6B in revenues last year.
The bottom line is that – in the most relevant and direct comparison to its arch-rival, Google – since Google’s IPO in August 2004 through today, Google’s stock price is up 336% versus Yahoo!’s stock price being up only 16%. Google has grown its shareholder value 21 times more efficiently than Yahoo! over this time period, when the Internet ad market has been booming. We don’t believe that any CEO should keep his/her job when your #1 competitor is 21 times as successful as you over an extended period of time.
Conclusion: Yahoo!’s board needs to immediately remove Mr. Semel – who is 64 – and begin a search process to find a new Chairman and CEO. This Chairman and CEO search should examine all qualified internal and external candidates.


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Just how popular is Grand Theft Auto V? Go ahead, give me a good solid guess, because you still might come up way short. The game hasn’t even been available for an entire day, and it is already toppling the competition by becoming the second most popular game on Steam!
That happened just overnight! The game peaked at 196,000 during its first day of availability, and that was before it rolled out across the entire planet. We can only suspect that it will continue to climb the ranks as more and more buyers jump aboard.
As of writing, the game has fallen to third place behind Counter Strike: Global Offensive and the reigning champion DOTA 2, but the number of gamers playing is on the upswing, totaling out at 216,624, its highest point for day two. Counter Strike only has 218,915 playing now, so Grand Theft Auto V should be able to close that gap by the end of the day.
DOTA 2 sits comfortable at 600,616 right now with a peak of 773,130.
That’s a yokozuna of a champion right there, and I doubt Grand Theft Auto will be able to catch that any time soon. We’ve seen it make mincemeat of console records though, so who knows? Might not be as long as we thought.
We’ll just have to wait and see as Americans come home from school and work to see how those numbers fluctuate. Should be quite interesting.


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MUSO upgrades platform
March 10, 2014
By Colin Mann
Anti-piracy solutions specialist MUSO is introducing a series of upgrades to its platform, bringing improved performance and benefit to over 1,000 leading companies in film and music.
Since 2009, MUSO has provided mass-scale take-down and online optimisation services for both major and independent labels, reducing the effects of content infringement and helping guide audiences back towards legal options. The new platform services, launching at music, film, and interactive conference and festival SXSW in Austin, Texas, represent the biggest upgrade since the company launched, and will increase the coverage and scope for labels using the service up to a hundred fold, while also tapping into and mimicking consumer behaviour on search engines, to optimise popular search results towards legal content, on a massive scale.
The new platform now includes additional functionality for labels – such as the ability to search entire artist catalogues for infringement with just one implementation, with even greater cost-efficiency. MUSO has also rolled out both full and partial automation options for companies using their dashboard, to make their system the fastest and easiest to implement and utilise across the industry.
“We’ve always been one step ahead of the industry, with vastly greater effectiveness against other services, backed by a fast, simple, scalable platform for both the independent and major label sectors,” commented Director Christopher Elkins. “For 2014, we know we’ve taken another big step forward in the industry, both in terms of effectiveness, and now in ease of implementation, with almost 100 per cent automation.”
The new platform is available from March 10, when the company unveils it at a product launch during SXSW, following a six-month beta trial with the music industry.


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Founder Julian Dunkerton plans to make a bid for Superdry
Preparing to present: Julian Dunkerton, with his wife Jade
Superdry shares more than doubled after its founder said he was in talks to buy the fashion brand.
Julian Dunkerton has shown his hand amid speculation that hedge funds may be planning to pounce on the company he founded more than 20 years ago.
Shares began rising yesterday morning after Norwegian investment group First Seagull bought a 5.3 percent stake.
This sparked talk that she was planning to make a bid for a company that had fallen due to a series of profit warnings and a significant drop in its share price.
Superdry then revealed that Dunkerton himself had begun “exploring the possibility of making a bid for the company”.
Shares closed up 118.2 per cent, or 25 pence, to 46.15 pence.
Duckerton, 58, is in discussions with companies that could finance the deal. He owns 20 per cent of the company, having helped set it up as a market stall in Cheltenham in 2003.
But Superdry said the talks are still at an early stage and no decisions have been made yet.
Dunkerton, who is married to fashion designer Jade Holland Cooper, has until March 1 to submit an offer or withdraw from the process.
Companies that could finance a bid include Ted Baker owner Authentic Brands and High Street powerhouse Next, which has bought struggling retailers such as Joules and FatFace in recent years.
It has also been speculated that Sycamore Partners, the private equity firm that once owned luxury brand Kurt Geiger, may throw its hat into the ring.
Although share prices rose yesterday, the stock is still down 98 percent since its peak in 2018 and more than 60 percent in the past 12 months. At its peak, the company was valued at £1.6 billion.
But Superdry has been struggling in recent years and is valued at just £45m.
After leaving the company in 2018, Dunkerton returned as chairman in a confrontation on the board one year later, unhappy with Superdry’s performance.
Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdowne, said the new owners could “inject some life” into the retailer.
(tags for translation) Daily Mail


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Advanced automotive paint protection film manufacturer and distributor XPEL, has received an award for its outstanding success as a Small or Medium Enterprise (SME) exporter in the U.S.
Presented by non-profit business education group NASBITE International and economic development organization Greater Spokane Incorporated, XPEL was given the award Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at the World Trade Day and National Small Business Exporter Summit held at the Spokane Convention Center in Spokane, Wash.
XPEL was among an elite group of 30 exporters from across the U.S. that received awards for demonstrated excellence in export sales during the second annual event for executives, consultants and export managers. On hand to accept the award for the Texas-based manufacturer and distributor of self-adhesive urethane film was XPEL International Account Manager Luke Rood.
“XPEL is truly honored to receive this award that recognizes our excellence in export business practices,” said Rood. “The award is confirmation that we not only provide the industry’s leading automotive protection film but also conduct business in a way that puts us among the leading small-to-medium-sized exporters in the nation.”
In addition to the awards program, the World Trade Day and National Small Business Exporter’s Summit brought together some of the top small business exporters in the United States. The annual event provides an opportunity to exchange and share exporting best practices and lessons learned for small businesses seeking export growth. Participating speakers represented companies in 18 states and Puerto Rico, and included SBA Exporters of the Year and Presidential “E” Award winners. Many of the attending exporters participated in master-class sessions where tools and techniques were shared to help organizations improve their export success. ”We continue to see consistent growth and opportunities internationally,” said Rood. “This is in large part due to our incredible group of international partners who have helped the XPEL brand become the top choice for consumers wanting to protect their beloved cars.”
XPEL is best known for its flagship product, ULTIMATE paint protection film. The clear-coated polyurethane film is sold by a network of authorized dealers and offers premium strength, durability, clarity and longevity to protect hoods, bumpers, mirrors, headlamps and more. With significant elongation, memory and flexibility, the film offers protection against stone chips, scratches and abrasions on vehicles. XPEL ULTIMATE carries a 10-year warranty and is backed by a worldwide network of certified installers.


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Sister states get tourism act together- Orissa and Andhra Pradesh offer special packages to increase inflow of visitors between neighbours
Read more below
- Published 2.12.10
|(From top) Haritha beach resorts at Rushikonda, Vishakapattanam, Haritha hill resorts at Anantagiri and Haritha coconut country resorts at Dindi. Telegraph pictures|
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 1: The tourism departments of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are coming together to attract tourists by promoting each other’s sightseeing packages in various ways.
Since the two states are close neighbours, few tourists from both regions exchange visits when it comes to tour packages, said tourism officials of both the states at a conference recently held at a city-based hotel.
“We get visitors from Bengal and north India. But response from Orissa is low,” said joint manager (marketing) the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) Satya Kumar Puddy.
The state tourism officers also echoed the same. “We have a higher visit from Bengal and Gujarat, but tourists from Andhra Pradesh are few in number,” said marketing manager of the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) Alok Mishra.
“Both the tourism departments have thus come up with a proposal of a symbiotic promotion camp,” said Mishra.
The OTDC and the APTDC are soon to sign an MoU by which information of tour packages, accommodation and booking facilities for Andhra Pradesh tourism will be available at the state tourism office and outlets and vice-versa. “Be it eco-tourism packages, adventure or heritage tour, leisure cruises or beach tourism, information on readymade packages as well as customised plans depending on the number of tourists will be available with the OTDC. We are also planning to appoint local agents to promote tourists from the state to visit the APTDC sites,” said Puddy.
The information on sightseeing tours such as, the golden triangle of Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri, tours for Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark from Vishakapatnam and tours from Bhubaneswar to Vishakapatnam-Simhanchalam-Borra caves, would be available with the agents to be appointed by both the tourism departments in other’s tourism office.
The conference, held on Friday, focussed on the assistance that can be exchanged by both departments in terms of creating a better tourism infrastructure development, hotels and catering and inter-state tour packages. “We are planning to come-up with moderately-priced packages for the convenience of tourists from both states. The process will be finalised as soon as possible so that tourists can avail of the tourism season that continues till mid-March for both states,” said Puddy.


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Three new League of Legends skins have been revealed ahead of the 9.1 patch coming out sometime today.
The skins, based around the popular Lunar Revel line, are for Vayne, Sejuani, and Tahm Kench, who are all sporting Asian-themed garb ahead of Chinese New Year.
Vayne and Sejuani join the Firecracker lineup alongside Jinx, who got a Firecracker skin some time ago, while Tahm Kench joins an entirely new skin line known only as “Coin Emperor.”
Vayne is sporting a very similar getup to Firecracker Jinx while Sejuani ditches her usual mount in favor of a large battle pig. Her recall animation is especially cute, as it spawns three smaller pigs that dance around her as she heads back to base.
Vayne is also set to get a Prestige skin similar to Aatrox’s Blood Moon skin coming out in Patch 9.1.
Coin Emperor Tahm Kench, on the other hand, is a welcome sight. This is Tahm Kench’s first new skin in just under three years. His last skin to come out was Urf Kench, which released in March 2016.
The three skins will be sidestepping Patch 9.1 and are likely to be released with Patch 9.2 in a couple of weeks. They should be hitting the Public Beta Environment soon, however, for those who want to try them out ahead of their official release.


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Physical stores have become victims of customer credit and debit card breach. In the last year, there were about 20 retailers compromised by a major security threat, this is according to a study by security firm BitSight. In a survey of 300 retailers by the same firm, it was revealed that 58 percent of the companies had worse security performance than in 2013.
The U.S. Postal Service was attacked by hackers and about 800,000 employee details were breached. Also, customers who made transactions with U.S.P.S. Customer Care from January 1 to August 16 are likely to have their data exposed. CNN reports that data of 2.9 million postal service customers were compromised and information at risk include names, birthdates, Social Security numbers, dates of employment, addresses, etc.


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Coming by way of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, Verizon Communications CEO Lowell McAdam has said that streaming video now accounts for 50 percent of the network traffic. And extending that out a few years, McAdam believes that streaming video will account for nearly two-thirds by the year 2017.
Time will tell how accurate that prediction will be, but for now McAdam seems happy about the company’s investment in LTE. McAdam spoke about how with 3G you have buffering and went on to say that “with 4G you can stream video.” The event also had McAdam talking about their plans for LTE Broadcast technology. This is something that was touched upon back in January during CES.
Part of that talk included how Verizon plans to use LTE Broadcast technology to make live events such as the Super Bowl available for Verizon customers to stream on mobile devices. Interestingly, McAdam acknowledged that majority of customers would still prefer to watch the Super Bowl in their living room on a regular television and made it clear they “don’t want to get in the way of broadcasters.” As to the reasoning why they would want to stream the Super Bowl, McAdam believes Verizon could “add a dimension” and have it become “better.”
We will have to see if they will end up streaming the Super Bowl come 2014, however with plans like that — it starts to become easier to understand why Verizon believes streaming video will account for two-thirds of network traffic by 2017. Assuming they begin streaming large events like that, the two-thirds milestone may end up coming quite a bit sooner than 2017. So how about it, anyone watching lots of streaming video on a tablet or smartphone?
[via Fierce Wireless]


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Streaming Services Take Over Global Television Market
The global television business is in a state of flux. Traditional linear television is facing increasing competition from streaming services, and the way people watch television is changing rapidly.
Here are some key trends in the global television business:
The rise of streaming services: Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video are growing in popularity, and they are taking market share from traditional linear television. In 2022, streaming services accounted for 25% of global television revenue.
The decline of linear television: Linear television is losing viewers, and its ad revenue is declining. In 2022, linear television accounted for 75% of global television revenue, but this share is expected to decline in the coming years.
The growth of mobile viewing: People are increasingly watching television on their mobile devices. In 2022, mobile viewing accounted for 20% of global television viewing time.
The rise of personalized content: People are demanding more personalized content, and television providers are responding by developing new technologies that can deliver personalized content to viewers.
These trends are having a major impact on the television industry. Traditional television providers are facing challenges, but they are also innovating and finding new ways to reach viewers. Streaming services are growing in popularity, but they are also facing challenges, such as the need to produce high-quality content and the need to acquire new subscribers.
The future of the television industry is uncertain, but it is clear that the industry is undergoing a major transformation. Traditional linear television is facing increasing competition from streaming services, and the way people watch television is changing rapidly. The television industry is in a state of flux, but it is also an exciting time for innovation.
#TVIndustryTransformation #StreamingServicesVsLinearTV #MobileViewingTrends #PersonalizedContent #InnovationInTelevision #ChangingTVConsumption #FutureOfTelevision #StreamingRevolution #AdaptingToDigitalAge #TVIndustryChallenges #bizindustry


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Etihad Airways, the UAE’s national carrier, has embarked on a bold venture by unveiling an expansive iteration of its EY-ZERO1 non-fungible token (NFT) collection. This pioneering move is indicative of an aviation sector rapidly adapting to the digital era. Limited to a mere 300 tokens, the new collection offers holders a host of exclusive benefits and smoothly integrates into Etihad’s imminent ‘Horizon Club,’ a groundbreaking Web3 loyalty scheme.
Revitalizing aviation loyalty programs with NFTs
Etihad is breathing new life into the world of air travel with the latest release of its NFT collection. After initially having launched in July 2022 their NFT collection, the company is now expanding it by releasing a limited edition extension of 300 new NFTs, modeled after the Mission-Impossible branded Boeing 787 Dreamliner, offering a unique blend of digital and tangible rewards to their holders.
Holders of these can expect to receive a 12-month Guest Silver Tier Status, inclusive of priority check-in and access to the exclusive lounge at Abu Dhabi International Airport. The privileges don’t stop there, with holders anticipated to enjoy a swift transition from Silver to Gold Tier status, a 25% bonus on Guest Miles, and a bespoke membership card.
On a pivotal moment for the traditional airline loyalty programs, EY-ZERO1 NFT holders will gain entry to the exclusive Etihad: Virtual Club. This initiative strives to foster a sense of camaraderie among NFT holders. The airline’s venture into digital tokens also continues to afford holders unforgettable real-world experiences, such as exclusive access to standout events like the Yas Marina Circuit Formula 1 race.
Holders can earn miles by staking their NFTs
Etihad’s pioneering attempt into Web3 loyalty programs, the Horizon Club, is currently due to start in September. The ingenious “staking-for-miles” system is one of the program’s notable features.
Members may secure their NFTs in exchange for Etihad Guest Miles, which can be redeemed for flights, upgrades, and other exclusive incentives. Etihad is combining the best of both worlds with its campaign, bridging the gap between digital products and real-world usage and giving new channels for people to connect with the brand.
Partnerships that power the future
Etihad’s bold foray into the digital world was made possible through a collaboration with Arcube, a startup specializing in real-world asset tokenization and Etihad’s official Web3 partner. Meanwhile, Crossmint, an infrastructure provider, guarantees that consumers’ transactions go smoothly, regardless of whether they pay with Bitcoin or a credit card.
Etihad’s collaborative strategy demonstrates its dedication to harnessing cutting-edge technologies to deliver unique experiences for passengers while maintaining its position as a leader in the continuously expanding digital market. This dedication is shared by the industry as major airlines investigate the possibilities of NFTs. Other pioneers, like Flybondi, Air Europa, and All Nippon Airways, have begun to use blockchain-based methods.
The debut of Etihad’s new NFT collection, as well as the excitement around the Horizon Club, mark an exciting new chapter in the airline industry’s digital evolution. As technology continues to revolutionize travel experiences, customers can look forward to new methods to earn rewards and improve their vacations.


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An aerial cinematographer has created an R2-D2 drone that not only beeps and whistles, but can capture footage through its camera eye.
Just when we thought we’ve seen it all, we happened to stumble upon this impressive Star Wars project from a Makerspace in a galaxy far, far away. Meet Arturo, the world’s first R2-D2 drone. And with The Force Awakens now in theaters, the timing couldn’t be better.
Equipped with four propellers, Arturo features a moving head, LED jetpack lights on his feet and a speaker that emits R2-D2’s appropriate beeps and whistles. Aside from that, the drone includes a DJI GPS autopilot navigation system and a CCD camera installed in its eye.
The brainchild of aerial cinematographer Don Melara, the quadcopter made its debut only days before the much-anticipated launch of the blockbuster flick at the International Drone Expo in Los Angeles.
The build itself took just over a week to complete and the result is awesome. Not to mention, it’s even more amazing to watch fly through the sky at dusk. See for yourself below!


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General Motors Rings Up Better Sales for Volt in June 2012, Nissan Leaf Sales Plummet
July 5, 2012 9:20 AM
comment(s) - last by
Volt sales continue to grow
General Motors has been pushing the Volt for well over a year as sales continue to rise and fall depending on the month. In March of 2012, GM
of the Volt due to weak demand. Production of the Volt was started back up in April of 2012,
earlier than expected
, thanks to an uptick in demand for the extended range electric vehicle.
General Motors has now announced that in June 2012 it sold 1,760 Volts, which is double what it sold in June 2011. So far in 2012 General Motors the sold 8,817 Volts, which adds up to more than three times the 2,745 Volts that it sold in the same period of 2011. In fact, so far in 2012 GM has sold more Volts than in all of 2011. Total Volts sales in 2011 were roughly 7,600 units.
General Motors continues to outsell its closest Japanese rival, the
by more than 3 to 1. That is no surprise considering the Leaf is a pure electric vehicle whereas the Volt has an
onboard generator that allows for a much longer driving distance
than the Leaf.
Compared to the Volt, sales of the Nissan Leaf plummeted 69% for June to 535 units. Nissan has only been able to sell 3,418 Leaf EV's so far in 2012, a decline of 19% over the same period 2011.
Nissan maintains that will sell 20,000 Leaf EVs in the US this year, but that seems far-fetched. Nissan would need to sell 2763 Leafs each month for the remainder of the year, which is more of the vehicles than Nissan has sold all year.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Ford Fusion FTW!
7/6/2012 11:54:45 AM
Not to let this one walk away unscathed as well, WalksTheWalk also knows absolutely nothing about this topic. They could make this work with a 100% electric drive... you perfectly hapless idiot. In fact, the engine NEVER COMES ON AT ALL while the battery is charged. Repeat after me, "I'm an idiot, I don't know what I'm talking about." They chose to allow the engine to kick in AFTER THE BATTERY IS DISCHARGED, to gain a 5% efficiency in fuel economy.
"We can't expect users to use common sense. That would eliminate the need for all sorts of legislation, committees, oversight and lawyers." -- Christopher Jennings
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Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Thursday launched Tamil Nadu Credit Guarantee Scheme (TNCGS) and Tamil Nadu Trade Receivables Discounting System (TN TReDS) for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
The TNCGS will operate with the Credit Guarantee Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) of the Union government and extend 90% guarantee for eligible loans up to ₹40 lakh. For loans above ₹40 lakh and less than ₹2 crore, eligible loans will get 80% guarantee.
The State government has made an allocation of ₹100 crore for this scheme. The scheme facilitates generation of end-to-end credit score, taking into account financial parameters beyond the credit “behaviour-based scores”, a press release said.
V. Arun Roy, MSME Secretary, told The Hindu that the scheme, which reduces the need for collateral for MSMEs to get loans, will be available initially for MSME customers of TAICO and TIIC.
In a fortnight, at least three nationalised banks will offer loans to MSMEs under this scheme.
The MSMEs face issues related to delayed payments for supplies made to larger companies. In order to address this, an ERP platform has been created and all Tamil Nadu PSUs, statutory boards, corporations and apex cooperatives will be on it. If the State entity does not make payment to the MSMEs, which are on the TReDS platform till the 179th day, on the 180th day, TAICO Bank will pay the dues for the bills uploaded on TN TReDS, the release said.
Further, on Thursday, the MSME Trade and Investment Promotion Bureau, which has been branded as ‘FaMe TN’, exchanged MoUs with Open Network for Digital Commerce, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and World Resource Institute.
Mr. Stalin also inaugurated Tamil Nadu Coir Business Development Corporation, which will be located in Coimbatore. The Corporation, which has been incorporated within five months of its announcement, will focus on establishing new coir clusters, create linkages with international customers, set up research and development centres, and develop industry-academia linkages.


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AT&T Launches Foundry Center For Digital Life Services
AT&T is forging ahead to become the go to connectivity provider for the new generation of smart solutions. The company today opened another AT&T Foundry innovation center, this time in Atlanta. According to AT&T this one is a launching pad for innovations in their Digital Life services, connected car and home entertainment platforms.
The AT&T Foundry in Atlanta will focus on Digital Life, AT&T's recently-launched home security and automation service, as well as Mobility services, the "connected car", emerging devices and AT&T U-verse.
Collaborative partners in the project include Cisco and Georgia Tech University. Cisco is the host sponsor and will play a major role in providing technology and scouting out third-party developers, investors, start-ups, and entrepreneurs. Other partners include Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Ericsson, Intel and Microsoft. AT&T also has collaborative partnership with car manufacturers GM and BMW as part of their connected car platform.
AT&T anticipates taping into the research expertise and entrepreneurial creativity at the university. In addition, local students will be invited to AT&T hackathons, workshops and other events that will help the students hone their technical and business skills.
The AT&T Foundry program has been in existence since 2010, so far over $100 million has been invested. There are currently five AT&T Foundry locations; Palo Alto, Calif., Plano, Texas, and Ra'anana, Israel with Atlanta being the most recent. A second AT&T Foundry location in Plano will open later this year to focused on Machine-to-Machine technology.


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It has been released by the Thailand Telecom certification site that Realme may soon launch a Realme 9 4G moniker with the model number RMX3521. The same is also seen on other websites such as FCC, NBTC, EEC, EMT, BIS, Camera FV-5. The company has recently launched Realme 9 Pro and Realme 9 Pro+ smartphones in India, and it seems that the company will soon come up with another alike devices in the country.
Moreover, the smartphone is hovering around different certification websites all over the world. The specifications such as storage, design, camera, display have been leaked. We are already aware of the Realme 9 5G from the FCC certification. Therefore, Realme 4G is also in the pipeline along with the 5G model.
Specs of Realme 9 4G (Expected)
We can assume from the FCC certification that the device will have good connectivity options. As in, the smartphone will have dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, and dual SIM slots. Sadly, no such image of the smartphone has been revealed yet. But, it is expected to have specs as that of Realme 9 Pro.
In addition, the listing of Camera FV-5 has made clear that the new device will have a 48-megapixel camera setup on the back with a 1/4-inch sensor size, EIS, 73.7mm focal length, an f/1.78 aperture, and will be supported by ISO in the 100-6400 range. The selfie camera will be 16-megapixel with 27.2mm focal length, an f/2.5 aperture, 1/3-inch sensor size, 100-1600 range ISO. As compared to the last Realme 8 model, the Realme 9 4G smartphone will not have any such advanced options as compared to the previous one.
So, this was all we know till now. But, we’ll soon update you regarding other features of the phone. As it is expected to surface anytime at end of this month.
A hardworking, dedicated and fun-loving person who always loves to explore new things, meet new people and try to make every journey worth remembering. Cheers!


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There has been a lot of consolidation in the social gaming space lately. EA Sports acquired Playfish last year for $400 million and earlier this week, Farmville developers Zynga acquired a smaller gaming firm, Serious Business for an undisclosed amount.
The transaction in all these cases is mutually win-win. While social gaming as a concept has grown by leaps and bounds in the past one year with more growth possible in the near future, this is also a high capital business requiring lots of resources. No wonder then that the investors are willing to sell out at the first opportunity for an exit.
Happy Aquarium is the fourth in the list of the most popular games on Facebook. By acquiring CrowdStar, there is a possible synergy that Microsoft may find between the web based social games and console based gaming on Xbox. If it works out fine, Microsoft can soon be the biggest force to reckon with in the gaming arena.[via Bloomberg]


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Samsung Galaxy Fold, one of the most questionable tech advancements of 2019, has not yet received its formal release date. In any case, in front of the debut, the Samsung foldable phone has supposedly been spotted in testing publicly. This was maybe the primary open appearance of the Galaxy Fold that was revealed at MWC 2019 back in February however hasn’t yet appeared in the market due to its display fiasco.
A man riding the metro was spotted using a Samsung Galaxy Fold unit, reports SamMobile. The phone, according to the image shared online, appears in its folded state.
Prior, Samsung had given the Galaxy Fold to its employees and worldwide reviewers. Be that as it may, the South Korean company is this time taking the public testing path with a plan to fix the foldable smartphone in front of the formal launch.
In a most recent media interview, Samsung’s IT and Mobile Communications Division President and CEO DJ Koh uncovered that in excess of 2,000 Galaxy Fold units are being mass tested “in all aspects” to fix the issue.
“I do concede I missed something on the foldable phone, however we are currently in the process of recovery,” said Koh in the interview.
Samsung was initially set to launched the Galaxy Fold in the US back in April. Nonetheless, the issues announced by early analysts pushed the company to postpone the original launch schedule. The handset was caught with screen breaking down that Samsung is fixing through an overhaul, as indicated by a report by Bloomberg prior this month.
It is believed that Samsung would make reference to the progress around the Galaxy Fold at its Unpacked 2019 occasion in New York on August 7 where it is uncovering the Galaxy Note 10. In any case, the redesigned phone isn’t probably going to be exhibited at the setting.
That being stated, the most recent public spotting of the Galaxy Fold proposes that its launch is closer. Be that as it may, obviously, it is hard to assume that the handset included in the image is one of the units that Samsung has re-upholstered.
Samsung Galaxy Fold
- Display (Primary)7.30-inch (1536×2152)
- Processor octa-core
- Front Camera 10MP
- Rear Camera 16MP + 12MP + 12MP
- RAM 12GB
- Storage 512GB
- Battery Capacity 4,380mAh
- OSAndroid Pie
Samsung Galaxy Fold Full Specifications
|Release date||February 2019|
|Battery capacity (mAh)||4,380|
|Fast charging||Quick Charge 2.0|
|Colours||Astro Blue, Space Silver, Cosmos Black and Martian Green|
|Screen size (inches)||7.30|
|Screen size (inches)||4.60|
|Rear camera||16-megapixel (f/F2.2) + 12-megapixel (f/F1.5/F2.4) + 12-megapixel (f/F2.4)|
|Front camera||10-megapixel (f/F2.2)|
|Operating system||Android Pie|


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JP Morgan and Deutschebank predict rise in Chinese growth
Economic growth in China is accelerating, according to JP Morgan and Deutschebank, which has raised its forecast for growth this year to 10.6 per cent from 10 per cent.
Source: Lateline Business | Duration: 48sec
ALI MOORE: Well, when it comes to commodities, like oil, demand from China is a driving force and, far from slowing down, China's economic growth is accelerating, with both JP Morgan and Deutschebank raising their forecasts today for this year's growth to 10.6 per cent.
China's economy has expanded more than 10 fold since free market reforms began in 1978, creating an estimated 300,000 US dollar millionaires, the world's biggest market for mobile phones and the second largest car market. But this has come at a price. China is now the biggest exporter of pollution.


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While any change to the News Feed on Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) will bring millions of complaints from its users for roughly a week, Facebook announced at an event today that it is planning to add transparency to the algorithm used to determine what shows up where and when in users’ News Feeds.
The invitation to the event read, “talking about News Feed, and taking a deeper look at the ranking algorithms that determine which stories appear at the top of your feed. We’ll be discussing a specific update to organic ranking that’s coming up.”
A decade ago, no one talked about tail risk hedge funds, which were a minuscule niche of the market. However, today many large investors, including pension funds and other institutions, have mandates that require the inclusion of tail risk protection. In a recent interview with ValueWalk, Kris Sidial of tail risk fund Ambrus Group, a Read More
Facebook users ignoring News Feed settings
The News Feed ranking algorithm, unofficially known as “EdgeRank,” uses how close you are to someone, how popular a post is with others, how recently it was published, and many other signals to decide which posts and actions to display most prominently. Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is hoping that with a greater understanding of the algorithm both users and brands will spend more in “promoted posts” and advertisements respectively.
While there exist a number of options for users to adjust their News Feed, they have largely gone unused by most, given the time commitment and various locations that users must navigate through in order to affect these changes including hovering, drop-down menus, and friend options. Users have seemingly found it easier to simply scroll through their feeds quickly, rather than taking the time necessary to change how the feed is presented to them.
Facebook rolling out ads in spite of anticipated ire from members
This News Feed event comes on the heels of an announcement made last week where Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said it would begin incorporating 15-second video ads into the News Feed, a change which will certainly bring the ire out of a large portion of Facebook users.
“Given its similarity to TV, we believe the 15 second ad spots are a meaningful addition to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) as a platform and expect the experience with the ads will be optimised around giving the user control over sound,” said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster in a research note.
“In other words, we expect the video ads will not be standard 15 second pre-rolls like YouTube ads; rather users will see the ads start streaming immediately as they scroll through their News Feed, somewhat similar to Vine, and will have the control to turn on sound if the video is interesting.”


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iPhone 15 Pro is here, and as the rumors predicted, it comes in four different color options – which may not seem the most exciting to some people. Because of the new titanium finish, the colors aren’t exactly noticeably different from each other. But now that we know what the new iPhones look like, we want to know which color of the iPhone 15 Pro our readers liked best.
Go to Source
Author: Filipe Espósito


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Amanda Holden's 'vulgar' Britain's Got Talent dress provokes OfCom complaints
Amanda Holden has faced fresh criticism – and OfCom complaints – for her ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ wardrobe.
The 48-year-old presenter, together with co-presenter Alesha Dixon, infamously garnered more than 200 complaints from OfCom for her outfits during 2017’s season – most notably her so-called “stripper” look for the semi-final.
Her latest on-screen outfit, a gown created by Lebanese fashion designer Nicolas Jebran and worn during last night’s show, has provoked a fresh round of complaints.
The dress featured a spiderweb design on the chest, as well as sheer panelling that exposed parts of the judge’s chest, torso and bottom.
OfCom has received nine complaints overnight regarding the outfit, the official broadcasting regulatory authority has confirmed to Yahoo UK.
The complaints centre around the “revealing” nature of Holden’s gown on last night’s show, a representative confirmed.
READ MORE: Amanda Holden praised for age-defying figure
More complaints have been made on Twitter, with viewers voicing their disapproval over the so-called “vulgar” dress, and the fact that it was worn on a show aimed at all ages.
‘Britain’s Got Talent’ aired last night at 19:30 – an hour and a half before the 21:00 watershed in the UK.
Amanda Holden! Vulgar! No respect for little children watching BGT. That dress.
— beatrice ann evans (@beatriceann) May 28, 2019
Yet another risky dress. For heaven sake.
— Hayley (@HayleyDarby72) May 30, 2019
What is it with Amanda Holden and flaunting as much of her chest that’s allowed befor the watershed? She’s beautiful but her dress sense leaves a lot to be desired!!
— Laura 🔴⚪⚔ (@Elljayfish) May 29, 2019
I'd ban that dress from TV before the watershed! 😆
— Colin Landeg (@clandeg) May 29, 2019
Amanda, you know and we know you are a beautiful lady BUT please dress more respectful on a family show 🤦🏻♀
— Tracie kett (@KettTracie) May 29, 2019
Amanda it's a family show as lovely as your dress is it was not appropriate. I was slightly embarrassed
— emma wilson (@emmawilson617) May 29, 2019
ur dress sense's not right for a family tv show
— Maven (@ukremainorleave) May 29, 2019
Some of Holden’s fans have jumped to her defence, calling the gown “stunning” and saying Holden looks “amazing”.
Holden’s celebrity friends – everyone from Ruth Langsford to Lisa Snowdon – also praised her look in comments on Instagram.
READ MORE: Amanda Holden defends kissing daughter on the lips
Your dress looks beautiful it's the wow factor could I possibly borrow it sometime thanks ha x
— Suzy Bubbles (@SuzyBubblesx) May 29, 2019
You look incredible in that dress 💕
— Crystal (@Crystal69361274) May 29, 2019
@AmandaHolden wow! You looked AMAZING that night. Love that dress so much 😍
— Ashley James (@ashleyljames) May 30, 2019
Click below for every outfit Amanda Holden’s worn on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ so far this series:
This isn’t the first revealing dress she has worn on this year’s series.
For the semi-final round 2 on Tuesday, she wore a slashed torso gown with a thigh high split.
However, she has not yet addressed today’s backlash on social media.


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HOUSTON, Nov. 10, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MRC Global Inc. (NYSE: MRC), the leading global distributor of pipe, valves, fittings and infrastructure products and services to diversified energy, industrial and gas utilities end-markets, today announced that Kelly Youngblood, Executive Vice President, and Chief Financial Officer, is scheduled to present at the Stephens Annual Investment Conference on Tuesday, November 15, 2022, at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time/8:00 a.m. Central Time.
A live audio broadcast of the presentation will be available in the Investor Relations section of the company’s website at www.mrcglobal.com and will be archived there for approximately 90 days.
About MRC Global Inc.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, MRC Global (NYSE: MRC) is the leading global distributor of pipe, valves, fittings (PVF) and other infrastructure products and services to diversified end-markets including the gas utilities, downstream, industrial and energy transition, upstream production, and midstream pipeline sectors. With over 100 years of experience, MRC Global has provided customers with innovative supply chain solutions, technical product expertise and a robust digital platform from a worldwide network of 206 locations including valve and engineering centers. The company’s unmatched quality assurance program offers over 250,000 SKUs from over 10,000 suppliers, simplifying the supply chain for approximately 10,000 customers. Find out more at www.mrcglobal.com.
Source: MRC Global


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Take two pieces of polyurethane, put a lubricating gel between them, seal it all up and what have you got?
Maybe a powerful weapon in the fight against breast cancer. Maybe a gimmick. Maybe a tool for a job that doesn't need to be done.
The device -- sold in several breast self-exam kits -- is said to reduce friction between skin on the fingers and skin on the breasts, increasing sensitivity and making it possible to detect even very small lumps.
Among the most visible promoters of the device is singer Olivia Newton-John, part owner of Liv International, an Upland-based company that distributes the device in a self-exam kit called Liv Aid.
Newton-John found a malignant lump during a self-exam in 1992 and thinks that may have saved her life.
"I'm 58 and lucky to get there," she says. "I want other women to have that opportunity."
But even as promoters of the kits work to make breast self-exams easier and more sensitive -- and more common among women -- many cancer researchers and doctors say there's no evidence that careful monthly self-exams actually save lives. Further, they say, such exams increase unnecessary testing and biopsies, as well as anxiety.
"For years, people thought they could only be beneficial, at worst not helpful, but at least not harmful," says Dr. Barnett Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. "But as often happens, intuition served us poorly. If everything in medicine were intuitive, we wouldn't need science."
The polyurethane-and-gel sandwich for use in performing breast self-exams was patented in 1987 as the Touch Enhancing Pad. Often described as "a magnifying glass for your fingers," the simple product won its deviser, Don Perry of Decatur, Ill., an award from the Intellectual Property Owners Foundation as Outstanding American Inventor of 1989.
But it didn't win FDA approval for over-the-counter sale until 1997 and has yet to catch on with women, even though it's been sold under various brands and in various guises -- as a pad, a glove and even a T-shirt.
"We keep running into walls," says Ulli Haslacher, president of Liv International, noting that the kit can be hard to find in stores, people don't always know what it is and not everyone can afford it at a cost of about $25.
The company is working to develop corporate partnerships that would make the product less expensive and even free to some.
"Olivia's not giving up," Haslacher says. "She's still trying to figure this out."
Some research has suggested that the device may be useful in detecting breast lumps. One study, reported at the Midwestern Psychological Assn. meeting in 1987, found that women could detect hard plastic lumps in foam squares 40% of the time when using just their fingers and 70% to 90% of the time when using the device. They detected softer lumps 30% of the time when using just their fingers and 40% to 50% of the time when using the device.
Other unpublished studies have suggested that women trained in using the product could detect malignant lumps as often as trained nurses and that women who used the device were more likely to do self-exams.
But some physicians say the gel device doesn't do anything that a little soap and water can't do just as well.
"Just do your exam in the shower, with a little bit of soap on your fingers. That makes it a little more slippery," says Dr. Mindy Wiser-Estin, a gynecologist in Little Silver, N.J.
Self-exams in question
But there's a much larger question about the need for self-exam kits.
When the gel pad was approved by the FDA, few health experts doubted that self-exams helped save lives. So if kits made for easier, more sensitive self-exams, it followed that kits might save more lives.
But many of those experts now question the need for self-exams at all -- largely because of one landmark study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute in October 2002.
The study followed about 266,000 women born between 1925 and 1958 and who were current or retired employees of textile factories in Shanghai. From October 1989 to October 1991, the women were randomly assigned to two groups.
In the instruction group, the women were taught the proper way to do a breast self-exam. This initial training was followed up in several ways: by two reinforcement sessions one and three years later; by practice sessions under medical supervision at least every six months for five years; and by regular reminders to give themselves exams every month.
In the control group, women received no information about breast self-exams. Women in both groups were followed through December 2000.
The results did not confirm commonly accepted beliefs. The risk of dying from cancer was virtually identical in both groups.
Breast self-exams did not seem to save lives.
But there was a significant difference between the two groups: Nearly twice as many benign tumors were diagnosed in the instruction group as in the control group.


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Peroni Nastro Assurro, one of Italy’s leading brands and the world’s number-one premium Italian beer, along with The Fashion Group and FUNKSHION, is sponsoring its 2nd Annual Emerging Designer Series contest in South Florida. This is an unequaled opportunity to participate in a cutting edge, high-profile runway show which is attended by press, buyers, celebrities and fashion industry professionals, all at NO COST to the designer.
Open to fashion, swimwear, and accessory designers who are 21 and older, US citizens and based in South Florida, the stylish competition helps identify and support up-and-coming local talent.
To apply, designers submit one design that best illustrates their view of Italian style; the competition begins on March 21 and submission deadline is by May 1, 2013. A panel of industry experts from Fashion Group International will select 10 finalists who will have the opportunity to showcase three looks in a group fashion show during the upcoming Swim Week in July 2013. One of those lucky designers will be announced as the winner of Peroni’s 2nd Annual Emerging Designer Series and will be awarded a trip to New York Fashion Week as well as a complete runway production showcasing their full line at Swim Week 2014 in Miami.
Last year’s winner Nathalie Kriado will be presenting her eponymous collection, Kriado as the finale of Italian Style Night during the upcoming Swim Week at FUNKSHION in July 2013.
Designers can apply online and learn more at FUNKSHION, www.funkshion.com.


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The North’s subterranean cookie economy
‘Choco Pie collectors have popped up [across North Korea].’
Today in North Korea they say South Korean chocolate-covered cookies with marshmallow filling are essentially keeping the Kaesong Industrial Complex going.
The innocuous treats, called Choco Pies, have become popular trading items among shrewd North Korean merchants.
Here’s the story.
At the Kaesong complex, built in 2003 as a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation, 116 South Korean firms employ about 42,000 North Koreans. And each of the workers receives about two or three Choco Pies as a snack each day. Since they were first provided in May 2007, monthly consumption has quintupled to 2.5 million.
But those working at Kaesong say it’s difficult to find evidence of the pies. That’s why the complex is sometimes referred to as the “Black Hole of Choco Pies.” An official there said, “At first, the workers were taking them home to feed their children or younger siblings.”
But today, people are taking Choco Pies to the underground market.
“Choco Pie collectors have popped up [across North Korea],” said an official at the Unification Ministry in Seoul. “In Sinuiju, a northern city near the Chinese border, there is even a retail market.”
Kaesong workers have their possessions checked before they leave work, but that hasn’t prevented the massively popular pies from exchanging hands in other places.
Kaesong Retailing Corp. is the exclusive distributor of Choco Pies in the North. In the South, Orion Confectionery is the creator of the snack, but the North chose less expensive versions made by Orion’s rivals, Lotte Confectionery and Crown Confectionery - which started making the pies years after Orion.
The pies cost 125 won (10 cents) per pack, or less than half the retail price in the South. Lee Jeong-goo, president of Kaesong Retailing, said the snack occupies a prominent place in the hearts of Kaesong employees.
“Given North Korean workers’ preferences, price and logistical convenience,” Lee said, “no single product could replace Choco Pies.”
Instant coffee mix sticks have also become a new favorite in the North. North Korean officials at a Kaesong office handling inter-Korean cooperation enjoy their cups of instant coffee as energy boosters. Drivers and workers also get their caffeine fix from coffee mix powder. A source at Kaesong said he replaced the mixes with instant coffee powder but soon had to bring back the mixes at the behest of his colleagues. Gone are the days when coffee, once viewed a dubious part of capitalism, was taboo in the North.
While workers are munching on their pies and washing them down with coffee, customs workers at Kaesong are busy sorting out pornography. One South Korean worker was recently caught carrying a USB flash memory stick with some lascivious video clips. Another was fined by North Korea for watching a film of such nature on his office computer.
A South Korean company manufacturing lingerie once had to convince North Korean authorities that its package featuring a scantily clad female model, stripped down to the company’s products, shouldn’t be considered pornographic. The North demanded that such packages not be exposed to North Korean workers.
The company compromised by closing their curtains while only the South Korean workers did the packaging. The company’s truck was once denied entrance to Kaesong because it displayed an image of lingerie. The North Korean guards argued that the South Korean company was “out to spoil our employees.”
Much to their chagrin, North Korean customs workers once found a bikini calendar in a heap of discarded paper. A massage parlor inside the complex that employed female ethnic Koreans from China closed its doors after Kim Yong-chol, head of the policy bureau at the National Defense Commission and an influential figure in the regime, said, “There’s no need for such a place.”
At least employees at the Kaesong conclave are well fed. There are the usual meals and snacks, plus occasional servings of ramen and kalguksu, a dish of handmade, knife-cut noodles. After about three months, most of them put on an extra pound or two.
Better still, there’s air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter. Employees can take a hot shower year-round. All of that makes working at Kaesong immensely popular - and expensive. Sources say people sometimes pay up to 600,000 North Korean won (pre-currency revaluation) to get a job there. That’s equivalent to the annual expenses of a typical North Korean household.
The industry is also a significant cash cow for North Korea, which receives yearly wages of about $40 million - salaries that are paid in greenbacks. It’s little wonder, then, that the North was willing to embark this week on a joint inter-Korean tour of foreign industrial complexes, despite a series of provocations toward the South earlier in the year.
By Lee Young-jong [email@example.com]


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Following the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has announced its continued expansion in Europe with a record 18 organic hotel openings in 2015 and over 30 hotels expected to open in the next five years. Looking ahead, Starwood is launching the Tribute Portfolio brand in France, diversifying its brand footprint in Italy and expanding its mid-market brands in the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Russia and Turkey.
In 2015, Starwood further strengthened its lead in the luxury segment with openings including The St. Regis Istanbul and W Amsterdam, as well as four The Luxury Collection hotels in destinations such as Prague, Bodrum and Bratislava. Furthermore, Starwood introduced its new Tribute Portfolio brand, a collection of outstanding independent hotels, to Europe with the Great Northern Hotel in London.
Simon Turner, president of global development for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, comments: “Our strong growth in Europe was instrumental in Starwood’s record-breaking growth in 2015 as we continue to focus on high-quality portfolio growth in desirable and strategic destinations. Our growth forecast for Europe is stronger than ever with over 30 hotels set to open across our 10 distinct lifestyle brands by 2020.”
“We maintained a steady transaction pace in 2015 with conversions driving almost 40% of new hotel signings across Europe, reflecting strong owner interest in our design-led brands and confidence in Starwood’s powerful global systems,” says Michael Wale, president, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East. “We are on track to open close to 10 hotels in Europe this year, introducing our distinct brands to more new markets, and continue to work with our partners on further investments in our existing Sheraton and Le Méridien hotels.”
2016 Opening Highlights in Europe:
Set inside a 19th century heritage building, W Tel Aviv – Jaffa will bring the cutting-edge W lifestyle to the revitalised ancient port neighbourhood of Jaffa, Israel. Following the W brand’s lauded entry into The Netherlands with W Amsterdam, the hotel will unveil its second building with 66 rooms, complementing the existing 172 rooms. On track to reach over 75 W Hotels globally by 2020, the brand recently announced the signing for a W hotel in Madrid, which will open in 2018.
In the upper upscale segment, Tribute Portfolio makes a double debut in France in March with Le Metropolitan and Le Dokhan’s, both located in the upmarket 16th Arrondissement of Paris, within easy reach of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Avenue des Champs-Elysées.
The Westin brand has an exciting year ahead with two openings in Europe – The Westin Hamburg, which will offer breath-taking water views from atop the new Elbe Philharmonic Hall on the banks of the river Elbe, and The Westin La Quinta Golf & Spa Resort, a conversion in the famous sun-drenched Golf Valley near Marbella.
Together with its hotel owners, Starwood continues to grow and refresh Le Méridien brand’s European portfolio. Milestone projects this year include Le Méridien Visconti Rome, which is located in the Prati district near the Vatican, following a conversion and extensive renovation, and Le Méridien Etoile in Paris, alongside the transformation of lobby spaces in Le Méridien hotels in Vienna and Hamburg into lively Le Méridien Hubs.
Starwood’s largest and most iconic brand, Sheraton, remains on track to add 150 new Sheraton hotels around the globe by 2020. Echoing the company’s conversion strategy, recent examples include Sheraton Cascais Resort, which became Starwood’s third Sheraton hotel in Portugal when it joined the brand last month, and Sheraton Donnafugata in Sicily, which will welcome guests beginning in May. As part of the Sheraton 2020 plan to solidify Sheraton as a leading global hotel brand of choice, Sheraton Park Lane in London, Sheraton Berlin Grand Hotel Esplanade and Sheraton Paris Airport Hotel & Conference Centre will unveil smart, intuitive and forward-looking design when renovations are finished later this year.
Aloft, Element and Four Points have re-energised the mid-market space and created an unprecedented level of buzz in the development community as they expand across Europe. Keeping up with the rising trend of guests seeking eco-conscious alternatives, Element Hotels introduced its whole-living, sustainable lifestyle to The Netherlands earlier this year with the opening of Element Amsterdam in the vibrant Buitenveldert business hub.
Known for its genuine service, stylish comfort and flexible options for developers, Four Points by Sheraton boasts Starwood’s fastest growing pipeline globally. Following its successful entry into Turkey last year, the brand will expand its footprint in the country over the next four years with new signings in Atasehir and Kagithane districts in Istanbul and the coastal city of Izmir. Aloft continues to introduce its passion for live music, vibrant design and innovation across Europe, most recently announcing the Aloft Brighton, which will be the brand’s fourth hotel in the United Kingdom when it opens next year.


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For years, top-level marketers have remarked how they need to get a “seat at the table” in the C-suite—a tough task, especially considering the notoriously short tenure of CMOs. Judging from the spirited discussion I heard at the annual CMO Council Summit last month in San Jose, Calif., it appears many have finally achieved that highly coveted spot.
During a break in the one-day event (see story, page 3), I asked CMO Council Executive Director Donovan Neale-May if he sees CMOs gaining more power in the C-suite. He responded that he sees a new type of CMO emerging, particularly in the more complex world of b-to-b marketing.
“Consumer products, you know, it's a cookie cutter—out they go,” he said. “But with business systems, business products, there's a lot of hand-holding. There's a lot of need for customer co-innovation, a lot of need for aftermarket support, a lot of need for building channels of distribution and delivery and support. And these are where we're seeing a new type of CMO with a lot more operating experience.”
Many newly minted CMOs are arriving better prepared because of their background in field marketing and regional operations, Neale-May said. In some cases, they've had P&L responsibility and product development experience.
“We're actually seeing CMOs with business backgrounds coming in to run marketing, and they're bringing with them a lot of customer-facing experience, a lot of operational knowledge, a lot of relationships across the organization,” Neale-May said. “So their role as a CMO leader is becoming greater, and also their linkage to the CEO is tighter—which is also helpful as well.”
Neale-May's comments were echoed in a separate interview by Jan Soderstrom, VP-CMO of SunPower Corp., a marketer of solar energy products and systems, and chairwoman of the CMO Council.
“I think the CMO is gaining greater power,” she said. “As the companies by their very nature have to be more customer-driven, the CMO is really the advocate for the customer.
“They're the ones who actually understand customer insights, understand issues that face the company from the external perspective and help make sure that the brand promise that is so critical to the company is exhibited across all of the touch points that the rest of the C-suite [members] are responsible for.”
That ability of CMOS to help others in the C-suite members and as a unit succeed should no doubt go a long way toward enabling CMOs to retain their hard-won seats at the table.
John Obrecht is editor of BtoB and Media Business. He can be reached at [email protected]


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Target Releases First-Quarter Earnings, Experiences Surge in Digital Sales
MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) reported a 10.8 percent increase in total sales during the first quarter, including digital sales growth of 141 percent. The Minneapolis-based retailer’s first quarter ended on May 2. While revenue rose 11.3 percent to $19.6 billion in the first quarter on a year-over-year basis, operating income fell 58.7 percent to $468 million during the first quarter. Target invested heavily in its response to COVID-19, spending roughly $500 million in cleaning and safety measures as well as extra pay and benefits for its employees. Target also says it experienced a slowdown in apparel and accessories sales as guests stocked up on categories like essentials and food and beverage. It also experienced “unusually strong digital volume” as shoppers turned to online purchases.


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McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) has a gift for the Japanese people this new year. According to CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, the company has lifted its voluntary restriction on fries in the country.
Earlier this month, McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) revealed that it will be rationing its supply of fries in Japan after delays in shipping fries to the country restricted its stock. The fast food giant were only selling small servings of fries after import delays struck.
“McDonald’s now saying that an emergency airlift has been alleviating the French fry shortage in Japan. The company is ending its self-imposed ration at more than 3,000 restaurants in Japan as of January 5,” Sorkin said.
Aside from import delays, labor disputes have also contributed to the shortage of French fries at McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) restaurants in the Asian country. The labor disputes were experienced by the international behemoth in the west coast of the U.S.
According to the Agence France-Presse, McDonalds actually airlifted over 1,000 tonnes of potatoes to Japan earlier in the month. The company has also revealed that it shipped by see some 1,600 tonnes of potatoes. Even with these massive shipments, the company still warned that it may not be enough potatoes for constant supply in Japan.
Meanwhile, his partners at the CNBC desk also commented that the latest study on salt may benefit McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD). Critics of the company’s French fries have long derided the product for its oil and salt content.
However, according to a new study, sugar may actually be more harmful than salt for blood pressure.
Mason Hawkins’ Southeastern Asset Management reported ownership of about 7.52 million McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) as the third quarter ended. The stake was added to the firm’s portfolio just this third quarter and represented 3.75% of its 13F holdings.


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Gaspari Nutrition Is Proud To Announce Title Sponsorship of the 2014 Arnold Amateur IFBB Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure, and Bikini Championship.
The popular brand has embraced physique sports by not only sponsoring the 2014 show, but also offering multiple full year endorsement contracts to the overall winners.
Gaspari Nutrition, a globally distributed sports nutrition and lifestyle company is proud to announce they have resigned as the title sponsor of the 2014 Arnold Amateur IFBB Bodybuilding, Fitness, Figure, and Bikini Championship. With almost 800 competitors from all over the world, the Arnold Amateur is one of the largest bodybuilding shows of the year. This prestigious event will be taking place in Columbus, OH February 27 through March 1, 2014 during the world famous Arnold Sports Festival. Not only is Gaspari Nutrition the title sponsor but they are also offering full one year endorsement contracts to the each of the overall winners in bodybuilding, fitness, figure, and bikini divisions.
“I am very excited to once again be the title sponsor of the Arnold Amateur. Bodybuilding was the stepping stone to my success in business and giving back by being a sponsor gives me great gratification. To further this commitment I am also offering full year endorsement contacts to the overall winners as well. Helping the Amateurs pursue their dreams of being champions is what it’s all about and I love being a part of it,” said CEO Rich Gaspari.
Gaspari Nutrition is not alone in the sponsorship of this event or in the prize offerings. Many of the fitness industry’s premier brands have joined forces to create a well-rounded event sponsor pool and diverse prize package for the competitors from around the world. 6-Pack Fitness, Bodybuilding.com, Gasp/Better Bodies Clothing, IFBB, Jan Tana, Lone Star Distribution, McDonald & Gann, Nutrition Pit and Collins, Quest, Tony Nowak Jackets, V-Power have all been key sponsorship partners with Gaspari to provide what is to be the premier amateur event on the global fitness stage.
For more information about the Arnold Amateur, please visit www.arnoldamateur.com


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The $400m venture financing of Content Square was the Technology industry’s top artificial intelligence venture financing deal as total deals worth $1.1bn were announced globally in July 2022, according to GlobalData’s deals database.
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The value marked a decrease of 70.5% over the previous month of $3.83bn and a drop of 77.9% when compared with the last 12-month average, which stood at $5.12bn.
Comparing artificial intelligence venture financing deals value in different regions of the globe, Europe held the top position, with total announced deals in the period worth $439.16m. At the country level, the France topped the list in terms of deal value at $400m.
In terms of volumes, Asia-Pacific emerged as the top region for Technology industry artificial intelligence venture financing deals globally, followed by North America and then Europe.
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The top country in terms of artificial intelligence venture financing deals activity in July 2022 was the US with 18 deals, followed by the China with 13 and Republic of Korea (South Korea) with nine.
In 2022, as of July, Technology artificial intelligence venture financing deals worth $27.94bn were announced globally, marking a decrease of 26.2% year on year.
Technology industry artificial intelligence venture financing deals in July 2022: Top deals
The top five Technology industry artificial intelligence venture financing deals accounted for 61.1% of the overall value during July 2022.
The combined value of the top five Technology artificial intelligence venture financing deals stood at $692.68m, against the overall value of $1.1bn recorded for the month.
The top five Technology industry artificial intelligence venture financing deals of July 2022 tracked by GlobalData were:
1) BlackRock, BPI France,Canaan Partners, Eurazeo,Highland Europe (UK), KKRInc, LionTree, Sixth Street Growth and SoftBank Vision Fund 2 $400m venture financing deal with Content Square
2) The $148.68m venture financing of Iluvatar CoreX by HOPU Fund II, HOPU-Arm Innovation Fund, Shanghai guosheng (group), Vista Investments and ZGC Science City Science and Technology Growth Fund
3) Ahren Innovation Capital, Amnon Shahua, Mark Leslie, Pitango Venture Capital, TPY Capital and Walden Catalyst Ventures $64m venture financing deal with AI21 Labs
4) The $40m venture financing of Pulley by Avichal Garg, Elad Gil, Jack Altman, Keith Rabois and Stripe
5) Ajax Strategies, Galvanize Climate Solutions, Grupo Jacto,iSelect,M2O, Middleland Capital, Prelude Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and S2G Ventures $40m venture financing deal with Arable Labs


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Apple's TV prospects are moving to the front of the analyst chatter again---talk surfaces almost quarterly---and signals once again point to a big living room move.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a research note that it appears that Apple will replace its Apple TV set-top box will a real TV. Signs pointing to Apple TVs are:
Patents in May and January for TV broadcast menus and other technology.
iCloud makes media storage easier and could be the enabler of Apple TVs. It's not a big leap to add a TV to the slide to the right.
Apple has prepaid for components (likely for displays).
An App Store for TV is likely should these efforts launch in late 2012.
While Apple's commitment to the living room remains a "hobby," we continue to believe the company will enter the TV market with a full focus, as an all-in-one Apple television could move the needle when connected TVs proliferate. We estimate that of the 220m flat panel TVs sold in 2012, 48% or 106m units will be internet-connected, of which Apple could sell 1.4m units. We believe an Apple Television could add $2.5b or 2% to revenue in CY12, $4.0b or 3% in CY13 and $6.0b in CY14.
Barclays analysts Ben Reitzes on Friday penned a long research note about Apple's prospects. Apple shares have generally lagged rivals and the broader market in recent months. Part of the problem: There may not be a "next big thing."
One of the most attractive things about investing in the Apple story since about 2005 has been that it was pretty easy to envision the “Next Big Thing” – i.e., phones or a “big iPod Touch” were easy guesses. We didn’t know how the specifications would look or all the details, but you get the idea. Now there are camps that think the next big thing after the iPad is now an integrated TV system – and some who think there isn’t anything. We think the next big thing is really a combination of China (the next US or bigger?) and increasing the utility of the iPhone with 4G connectivity – creating the next “mega upgrade cycle” (usability that fuels 200 million units/year like volumes) – we think Apple is laying the foundation for this type of cycle to start in mid-CY12 with new partners in China and new iPhone products. We are hesitant to say it is TVs given the issues of having cable companies involved. Perhaps TVs running iOS and Apple TV software are coming in the near future, but we just can’t nail down the impact and are uneasy about anointing TVs as the next big thing. We believe the biggest opportunities for Apple moving forward include the enterprise opportunity and China.
The funny part here is that China and the enterprise are the keys to Apple's revenue and earnings growth. The problem is that those categories aren't all that sexy. Apple 50-inch TVs capture the imagination a bit more. As far as real business returns though, enterprise and China look way more fulfilling.


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If Asean were a country, its combined gross domestic product of US$2.8 trillion would make it the fifth largest economy in the world, after the US, China, Japan and Germany.
Asean accounted for 3.5% of the world’s GDP in 2017, up from 2.4% in 2007. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 10 member nations reached US$114.5 billion in 2017, up 37% from US$83.8 billion a decade earlier. The region was ranked No 3 in the world for FDI inflows that year.
The road map to a digital Asean was at the top of agenda at the 33rd Asean Summit that concluded in Singapore in November last year. According to a recently released report by Google and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, the region’s internet economy is expected to reach US$240 billion by 2025 — larger and sooner than projected.
“It is hard to keep up with Southeast Asia’s internet economy because it keeps blowing expectations out of the water. Our research in 2016 and 2017 foresaw a US$200 billion internet economy in the region by 2025. The region is taking much less time to get there than earlier expected. With eight years left to go, Southeast Asia is already more than a third of the way to the target,” say the authors of the report.
The study covered four key sectors of the digital economy — online travel (including flights, hotels and vacation rentals); online media (including advertising, gaming, subscription music and video-on-demand); ride hailing (including transport and food delivery); and e-commerce. It excludes education, financial, healthcare and social commerce services.
The study mapped the six largest markets in Asean: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. “The region’s tech companies have already raised 50% of the US$40 billion to US$50 billion in funds we expected them to attract,” says the report.
Asean sits at the crossroads of many global flows. Singapore is currently ranked No 4 on the McKinsey Global Institute Connectedness Index, which tracks the inflow and outflow of goods, services, finance and people as well as the underlying flows of data and communication that enable all types of cross-border exchanges. Malaysia (No 18) and Thailand (No 36) feature among the top 50 most connected countries.
“Asean is well positioned to benefit from growth in all these global flows. By 2025, more than 50% of the world’s consuming class will live within a five-hour flight of Myanmar,” says McKinsey.
The moot question? What is the prognosis for the next seven years? Which technologies and issues are going to define Asean’s progress going forward? My answer: there are 10 key trends to keep in view — from A to J.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzzword today. It is about getting computers to perform tasks or processes that would be considered intelligent if done by humans. An autonomous car, for example, is not just making suggestions to the human driver — it is the one doing the driving.
How big is the market for AI? In 2017, the global market for AI products and services was worth US$12 billion, up 59% from 2016. By 2021, the market will cross US$57.6 billion, according to conservative estimates from International Data Corp (IDC). That is a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 50% from 2016 to 2021.
Big data refers to making sense of the huge amounts of data, both structured (in databases) and unstructured (in photographs, email and social media). Malaysia’s market for big data software solutions alone is set to top RM595 million by 2021, up 10.9% from RM433.7 million in 2016 — a CAGR of 8.8%.
“By using analytics capabilities, organisations can run their business operations better, improve overall customer experience and expand their product and service offerings by increasing their competitive advantage. Organisations in Malaysia have started to prioritise analytics solutions. C-level executives are constantly seeking intelligent solutions to convert raw data into meaningful information to make strategic decisions in their businesses,” says Ng Quan Xiong, IDC software market analyst for Malaysia.
Cloud adoption in Asean is still slow, but it has huge potential to grow, especially if small and medium enterprises (SMEs) jump at this opportunity. That is one reason the market for cloud-related services is set to grow at 24% a year for the next five years. “The pace of change in Malaysia is a tad slow because of the inherent preference for traditional IT architecture and services sourcing models,” says Sherrel Roche, senior market analyst at IDC Asia-Pacific.
SMEs are the backbone of the Asean economy. There are more than 907,000 SMEs in Malaysia. An overwhelming 76.5% of these are micro-enterprises, or those with less than five employees and annual sales of less than RM300,000. A further 21.2% are small enterprises, with less than 75 staff and annual revenue of less than RM15 million. Cloud computing could level the tech playing field for them.
Digital transformation (DX) is about using digital technologies to change processes, products and services. By 2021, DX will add an estimated US$10 billion to Malaysia’s GDP and increase the growth rate by 0.6% on an annual basis.
“Malaysia is clearly on the digital transformation fast-track. Within the next four years, we expect to see about 45% of Malaysia’s GDP derived from digital products and services. Organisations in Asia-Pacific are also deploying emerging technologies such as AI as part of their DX initiatives. That will accelerate growth even further,” according to a report by Microsoft Corp done in partnership with IDC Asia-Pacific.
Cybersecurity is a dynamic game, which the hacker and the hacked, the attacker and the attacked, play 24/7. It is a stealth game played in the shadows, sometimes using tools that turn employee against employer, without the employee even knowing about it, like a developing cancer.
Vigilance and tools, such as analytics and AI and big data and BI (business intelligence), must be used to mitigate risks, halt hackers, alert the authorities and keep cyberterrorists out. The fear is that Asean-based enterprises may focus more on getting robust growth and revenue, rather than on ensuring data security.
Gartner forecasts that 8.4 billion connected “things” will be in use worldwide, up 31% from 2017, and will reach 20.4 billion by 2020. Total spend on endpoints and services will touch US$2 trillion this year.
Factory automation using the Internet of Things (IoT) has great potential and can transform the industrial face of a country. It can also be a great competitive advantage. This is especially true for Malaysia.
Manufacturing accounted for 81.5% of the country’s exports last year, according to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp. The manufacturing sector directly employs 1.03 million people, out of a total labour force of 14.65 million.
There were more than 350 million internet users across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines as at June last year — 90 million more than in 2015. More than 90% of them connect to the internet through their smartphones.
Internet users in Asean are the most engaged in the world. For example, users in Thailand spend almost five hours a day on mobile internet, the highest in the world, says a report by Hootsuite. Users in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines spend about four hours a day on the internet.
By comparison, internet users in the UK and the US spend just over two hours a day on mobile internet. Users in France, Germany and Japan spend 1½ hours per day.
There should be a strong push to let people and businesses in Asean access government services online.
Overall, the 10 Asean countries have a mobile phone penetration rate of 110%, with countries such as Singapore and Malaysia at 140%. “Asean member states make up the world’s second largest community of Facebook users, behind only the US. But there are vast differences in adoption,” says a McKinsey report.
“Hyper-connected Singapore has the fourth highest smartphone penetration in the world and almost 75% of its population is online. By contrast, only 1% of Myanmar has access to the internet.
“Indonesia, with the world’s fourth largest population, is rapidly becoming a digital nation. It already has 282 million mobile subscriptions and will have more than 100 million internet users.”
A smart Asean starts with the smartphone.
Lack of infrastructure services — high-speed internet connectivity, access to healthcare and other critical services and adequate physical infrastructure such as roads, electricity and drinking water — may make a huge difference in growth rates across countries in Asean. Malaysia, for example, plans to boost infrastructure spending in the next few years, especially in transport, logistics, digital connectivity and utilities.
“Malaysia has always been a trade and investment-friendly country, known for its ease of doing business. It looks to be on a steady growth path over the next 20 years — although we can expect some short-term ups and downs as a mature emerging economy. The introduction of sustainable economic reforms, a focus on technology and education and efforts to address the wage gap will help support the country’s growth,” says a PwC study.
Labour force expansion and productivity improvements drive GDP growth. And Asean has made impressive strides in both. “Home to more than 600 million people, it has a larger population than the EU or North America. Asean has the third largest labour force in the world, behind China and India. Its youthful population is producing a demographic dividend. Perhaps most important, almost 60% of the total growth since 1990 has come from productivity gains as sectors such as manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and transport grow more efficient,” says a McKinsey report released earlier last year.
The bottom line: Can Asean individually and collectively address these issues with understanding, maturity and transparency? That is a US$200 billion question (the projected value of the region’s digital economy by 2025). Asean should ride the digital revolution to adopt common standards and interoperability across its member states.
“Many countries are going to introduce digital systems. It could be e-cash, government services or data rules. The more we can harmonise and bring them in line with one another, the more we can operate across borders and have a more integrated economy,” said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the closing of the Asean Summit as he handed the chair to Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.