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Fueling next-generation social and e-commerce innovation, leading US-based influencer marketing platform acquires team at CommerceUp.
Aspire.io, the leading influencer marketing platform, today announces the acquisition of the Commerceup team at India-based, end-to-end SaaS ecommerce platform. Twelve team members plus executive leadership joined Aspire’s Product Team to build and scale influence-driven commerce, focusing on attributable ROI and marketing spend efficiency through the power of user-generated content.
“The CommerceUp team has built a core commerce platform for some key omni-channel customers in Asia,” said Rajiv Arunkundram, senior vice president of product at Aspire. “I’m excited for them to help us jumpstart our product and engineering investments in India. We have ambitious plans to expand our commerce capabilities with Shopify and other ecommerce platforms, and the team is already underway driving impact for our customers.”
Founded by Piyush Pathak in 2019, CommerceUp’s team built bespoke innovative digital commerce solutions, specializing in direct-to-consumer brands needing multilingual, multi-currency, and multi-brand functionality. Now, the team will build similar products at Aspire to focus on attributable sales, scaled product seeding, and driving ROI through user-generated content in ads.
“We’ve reached a significant milestone in our CommerceUp journey by joining the Aspire family. This is a strategic move for enhanced innovation and collaboration, leveraging both companies’ expertise to provide clients with expanded product offerings,”said CommerceUp founder, Piyush Pathak.
“Aspire has taken a significant step towards establishing a product development presence in India with the acquisition of Commerceup,” concluded Suhaas Prasad, co-founder and chief technology officer at Aspire. “This move reflects Aspire’s commitment to harnessing the immense talent and technological capabilities available in the Indian market. It marks the beginning of the company’s plans to tap into the vast pool of skilled professionals and further strengthen our global operations.”


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Amazon.com announced Tuesday it will open new facilities in Illinois, with its first warehouse in the state expected to open next year. The company says its $75 million investment in new Illinois locations will result in the creation of 1,000 new jobs by 2017.
"We're beginning site selection activities now, and we plan to have multiple facilities of various kinds in Illinois by the end of 2017," Paul Misener, Amazon's vice president of global public policy, told the Chicago Tribune.
The facilities, once up and running, would not be exempt from the state sales tax.
"If Amazon or any online retailer has a physical presence here, they would absolutely have to collect and remit sales taxes here," Tanya Triche, vice president and general counsel at the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, told the newspaper.
Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined Amazon on Tuesday in announcing the company's plan for new facilities.
"Today Illinois is leading the Midwest in job creation and Amazon will strengthen that growth by delivering 1,000 new jobs to our state," Quinn said in a statement. "Illinois' skilled workforce, world-class transportation system and educational institutions are second-to-none. Making the tough decisions is improving our economy and helping us attract new employers, but there's more work to do. Together with great companies like Amazon growing and thriving in Illinois, we'll build on this progress and create even more jobs."
"With our top-notch transportation network and skilled workforce, Illinois has much to offer innovative companies seeking to expand their operations, especially those, like Amazon, seeking to better serve their customers in the most populous state in the Midwest," Durbin added. "It's been my pleasure to work closely with Amazon on my Marketplace Fairness Act and I couldn't be more pleased that the company has chosen to make this substantial investment in our state, announcing 1,000 jobs with good benefits right off the bat and an opportunity to expand in the future."
Click through for more on the Amazon announcement.

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To say that Vegemite is an acquired taste would be an understatement. Made from yeast extract — a byproduct of beer brewing — it’s a brownish, salty, meaty food paste and practically the national dish of Australia. But, now, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, even Australians may be cooling on the stuff.
While 8 out of 10 Australian homes have a jar of Vegemite in the kitchen, the product is struggling. It depends almost entirely on families with small children, for whom lunchbox Vegemite sandwiches have long been a rite of passage. (Once the kids leave home, research shows, purchases of Vegemite in a household drop significantly.)
Today’s kids, however, are finding Vegemite less palatable, both as a result of changing tastes and an increasingly diverse student population. That’s a problem for Vegemite’s parent company, Kraft Foods, which has been tweaking the product to appeal to modern kids — even toying with the recipe to make it less salty — with little success so far.
“If you didn’t have Vegemite as a child yourself, I can’t imagine you would feed it to your own children,” Margaret Heppell, a volunteer school cafeteria manager in Sydney, Australia, told the Journal. At the public school where she works, about half the students are of Asian origin and haven’t developed same the taste for Vegemite as their Australia-born classmates. Kids in Heppell’s school cafeteria “shun Vegemite sandwiches for new delicacies like “Want Want” rice crackers, Singapore noodles and honey-soy chicken.”
Eager to break into new markets, Kraft is now trying to take Vegemite upscale, appealing to the international foodies for whom the product might be an attractively new fad. As the Journal reports:
“Chase Kojima, the San Francisco-born chef at Sydney’s Sokyo Restaurant, pairs Moreton Bay bugs—a type of flathead lobster—with burnt butter mayonnaise, passion fruit jelly and Vegemite croutons.”
Kraft has also taken to the Internet to find potential customers, trawling social media sites and chat rooms “where Vegemite is trending” to find homesick Aussies abroad.
That’s what the internet is for, right? But, really, the foodie idea is a good one. If you can get the young, hip, culinary-obsessed on-board, you’ve got at least a couple years before the trend is fully exhausted. Do that, Kraft. And maybe the foodies will feed their kids Vegemite, and the circle can begin anew.


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Internet radio is a phenomenal development, with its most desirable feature being its lack of geographical barrier. Now it's time to compare its many internet resources that are making waves.
Poppa's gonna love 'em.
Today, entertainment consumption is no longer about escaping the market. Rather it is about escaping cable TV through services like Roku, Chromecast, Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime. Who would have thought that peer-to-peer would usher in the new era of Pay-TV?
The media landscape has changed a lot in recent years, with streaming services (Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, etc.) getting
But with Amazon's Fire TV, all it takes to find what you want to watch is the touch of a button and your voice. I've been
The cars only last for about 20 minutes on a charge, though they can be recharged in about eight minutes. Anki Drive is definitely
Facing increased competition from Google and Apple, Roku is trying to stay in the streaming game by refreshing its products
Roku: Roku has a free app for iOS and Android that turns your mobile into a remote and allows you to stream music and photos
The device -- which was sold out on both Best Buy's website and Amazon on Thursday morning -- is available for order at Google


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Block on Trump's Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court
Snickers do sometimes satisfy but if you're traveling abroad you may want to opt for a candy bar that is not made by Mars. The company this week announced an international recall spanning 55 countries after a customer in Germany found a piece of plastic in a Snickers bar.
The company traced the plastic back to a factory in the Netherlands "where it was determined that the piece came from a protective cover used in the manufacturing process," reports The Guardian. Mars did not report any injuries but said it was recalling products as a precautionary measure.
Candy fans brace yourselves, the recall affects many products sold around the world, including Mars, Milky Way, Snickers, Celebrations and Mini Mix, according to a statement by the company. But the good news is that Mars has not extended this recall to the US, although it may yet.
A Mars Netherlands spokeswoman told reporters, "We cannot be sure that this plastic was only in that particular Snickers. We do not want any products on the market that may not meet our quality requirements, so we decided to take them all back." The company is continuing its investigation and stated that most of the recalled candy bars would come from European countries, as well as Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Alicia Forry, a consumer good analyst at Canaccord Genuity, said Mars could lose up to $2.5m of sales over the next few months as a result of the recall. She predicted that competitors like Nestle -- which makes KitKats -- will benefit from the bad news for Mars, particularly ahead of Easter. "It is not great timing for Mars," she said.
Meeting with a lawyer can help you understand your options and how to best protect your rights. Visit our attorney directory to find a lawyer near you who can help.


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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to block 3 million mobile phones as part of the measures to prevent smuggling of illegal phones in the country.
According to the authorities, the mobile phones will start getting blocked from this week where the people who will eventually pay the legal taxes will be able to operate their devices after eight hours.
The move was decided by the authority during a meeting addressing the phones worth billions of dollars that illegally come into the country and cause damage by not paying taxes, leading PTA to block phones. Since last year, the government has been asking people to register their devices or else be deprived of their favorite gadget.
The authorities started this drive with the launch of Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) which was formed to block the cell phones that do not come with a valid IMEI number. It has already started to block devices in the country.
Additionally, for anyone that is traveling to Pakistan, only one smartphone is allowed for every passenger per year otherwise they will have to pay taxes.
Every year, billions were lost to national exchequer due to illegal import of mobile devices and in order to increase foreign reserves, the government is taking strict measures to curb this menace and promote the legal imports.


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Since 1949, Lee Supply has provided the highest-quality plumbing, HVAC, water treatment, appliances, lighting products and services to customers throughout the Midwest. Whether providing the newest products or implementing the latest technologies, Lee Supply prides itself on a willingness and ability to adapt, putting them at the forefront of innovation.
When we started HeatingHelp.com in 1997, the folks who built that first crude site told me we could have a links page. I asked what that was, and the young man doing the coding told me it was a place on the site where visitors could go to see what other sites I thought were interesting.
The plumbing industry is full of rock star individuals. People that go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure their peers and the people coming in behind them have a better industry than what it was before. InSinkErator’s Rebecca Falish is the epitome of an industry rock star. In fact, to hear retired InSinkErator Vice President Joe Maiale say it, Falish “is a rock star turned superstar,” in the industry.
KBIS drew one of its largest crowds in the show’s 60-year history. Trends from the show floor include mixed metal finishes, pops of color in fixtures and faucets, steam showers, soaking tubs, ease-of-installation and of course, smart technology enabled products.
The benefits of buying companies are vast. In this article, I will explore the reasons for buying a company today that will benefit your company in the future. There is an entire industry built around the idea of “buy to sell,” — private equity.
Although it has a reputation of being a male-dominated industry, the PHCP-PVF supply chain is full of impactful women. Celebrating Women’s History Month, Supply House Times is highlighting 10 influential women who are leading the industry to great success.
RKR was selected for the 2022 Wholesale Manufacturer Representative of the Year award because of their exceptional sales results throughout the year, as well as their overall approach to innovation and growth.
Waterworks infrastructure is essential for our health and well-being. Working with engineers on projects brings many benefits, particularly regarding innovation and resilience. When public health is at stake, having the right team of professionals is essential.
Bartle & Gibson Co. Ltd., a Western Canada-based premier plumbing, heating, and electrical distributor announced today a new regional partnership with T&S Brass, a leading manufacturer of commercial plumbing fixture products, across Western Canada.


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Instacart has announced several new features rolling out across the Instacart App that are designed to make online grocery shopping more affordable. From a Deals Tab and exclusive savings for Express members to a new reduced cost and free delivery option and new Dollar Store Hub destination on the Instacart marketplace, the company is rolling out ways for customers to save when shopping from their favourite retailers.
New savings features from Instacart: The Dollar Store Hub, the Deals Tab, Reduced Cost and Free Delivery options, and 5 per cent credit back on Pickup orders for Instacart Express members.
This new slate of features comes at a time when grocery costs are continuing to rise across North America ahead of the holidays and amid increasing global supply chain challenges. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for groceries and other food prepared at home increased by 2.6 per cent over the past year—and that's on top of a 3.5 per cent increase from 2019.


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Bhupathi goes online to sell sports merchandise
India's ace tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi has a new avatar -- that of an online salesman of sporting merchandise.
India's ace tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi Friday stepped into the e-commerce world by unveiling an online portal to sell sports merchandise, including equipment, accessories, apparel and footwear.
As one of its kind in the burgeoning e-commerce market, the website aims to be the first port of call for sports and fitness related needs of customers by providing quality service at affordable prices through latest technology, he said.
"The merchandise portal caters to sports practitioners of all ages and skills. We have already uploaded on the website over 8,000 sports and fitness products of renowned global brands, including Yonex, Head, Wilson, Babolat, Puma, Adidas, Prince, GM, Arena, Donic, Tunturi and Body Sculpture."
"This kind of initiative was over due for sports enthusiasts and players. Often, sports aficionados buy equipment with no guidance. Sometimes, equipment is ill-suited, not genuine or of poor quality. We strive to provide them with best products and service that will give them a lot of customer satisfaction," Bhupathi said at the launch event here.
Bhupathi roped in Vishal Gupta and Chandra Sekhar Reddy as co-founders to set up the venture -- LiveSports365 e-retail Ltd -- as a professionally managed sports solutions provider to individuals and institutions across the country.
"To be in touch with our patrons, we are also present on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter for comments and feedback. We look forward to interact with our customers and their valuable suggestions to make the portal more lively, interactive and informative," Bhupathi said.
Growing at 30 percent average annually, the sports market in India, comprising sports goods and accessories, fitness equipment, apparel, footwear and nutrition is projected to cross Rs.300 billion (Rs.30,000 crore) by 2015 from Rs.138 billion (Rs.13,800 crore), while the overall e-commerce market is estimated to grow 39 percent per annum to Rs.1,078 billion from Rs.285 billion in 2011.
"The venture is an endeavour to provide a suitable platform to sport and fitness enthusiasts. We are not here to simply sell great equipment. We have live chat with experts and purchase guides to help our patrons make an informed decision on what equipment is best for them. We are backing our portal with delivery logistics based on industry best practices," Reddy asserted.
The website also offers sport and fitness equipment and infrastructure related services to sports academies, corporates, schools, hotels, fitness centres and housing developers.


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The company has been experimenting with this using Google Home, but you can only do so much blind shopping with your voice. Target and Google also will partner to explore and develop future digital experiences focused on Target's signature style categories.
"In the markets where we've offered Google Express, guests tell us they love the ease and convenience of shopping Target through Google".
After testing out Google's delivery service in New York City and California, the big-box retailer on Thursday said it's now expanded nationwide on the Google Express website and app and on the Google Home smart speaker via voice shopping.
Target is jumping into voice-activated shopping as it deepens its relationship with Google, offering thousands of items found in the store except for perishables like fruit and milk.
"We're excited to offer this service nationwide in time for the busy holiday season", Mike McNamara, Target's chief information and digital officer, said in a statement. One of the core functions of the Echo is its ability to easily order and reorder products, so for the Google Home to be an equal competitor, it needs to be able to offer that same ability. Google Express also has plans for offering 5% discount to users who shop with Target REDCard along with free shipping.
Beginning in 2018, guests will have the option to pick up their orders in a Target store, where orders are ready in just two hours. Also in 2018, users will have the option to link their Target.com and Google accounts for more personalization, similar to the deal Walmart announced in August. With Google lacking warehouses full of products and Walmart and Target lacking smart speaker hardware, it makes sense for them to combine forces.
Be on the lookout for additional features that bring together the best of Google and Target in the coming year.


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Darth Vader might have ended up muscling Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor aside as a marquee entertainment name among high bids in the auction world. However, the galaxy may never get to find out.
The “Star Wars” villain’s costume was suddenly withdrawn from a Tuesday auction, according to auctioneer Bonhams’ website. The live auction, which could be watched online, was set for 1 p.m. Pacific time.
In a similar vein to how Newman’s Rolex Daytona watch and Taylor’s rare jewels set records at auction, Bonhams aimed to fetch at least $500,000 for a complete Darth Vader costume when it went on sale in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
In a statement, Bonhams officials said Tuesday, “Bonhams, together with Mr. [Bryce] Kermit Eller and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, agreed to withdraw from auction the Darth Vader costume from ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’”
Asked if Lucas Museum, which was founded by “Star Wars” creator George Lucas and is being built in L.A.’s Exposition Park, would acquire or exhibit the costume, Bonhams spokeswoman Sung-Hee Kim said, “We would be delighted if that is the case, but it’s up to the museum.”
Lucas Museum representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Prior to its auction, there was buzz about the rare “Star Wars” costume.
“If you sat ‘Star Wars’ people down and said, ‘If you could have anything from any of these films, what would you want?’,” said Catherine Williamson, Bonhams’ director of entertainment memorabilia in Los Angeles, “they would want a lightsaber, they might want one of the droids, and they’d want this costume.”
Eller, who performed as Vader for five years at various events including the 1978 Academy Awards, had planned to consign the costume, which is a complete set composed of 17 pieces. Sized for his 6-foot-4 frame, the outfit includes the iconic helmet and face mask, a belt that lights up with batteries, two capes, gloves, a chest box and a pair of men’s black leather riding boots measuring size 15/16. According to Bonhams’ website, Eller made personal appearances as Vader through 1981 before storing the costume in his garage.
“It’s nearly impossible to find something like it,” Williamson said. “A lot of the principal shooting was in the U.K. What trickled out generally stayed overseas. You wouldn’t necessarily see it in Los Angeles.”
Eller became interested in selling the Darth Vader costume after a friend, director William Malone, sold a prop of Robby the Robot from the 1956 science fiction flick “Forbidden Planet” for more than $5.3 million through Bonhams in 2017.
The “Star Wars” costume, which initially stood out for having the highest estimated price, set between $500,000 and $1 million, was going to be part of Bonhams’ live auction titled “TCM Presents … Wonders of the Galaxy.”
Eller also had planned to unload a crew T-shirt from “A New Hope” and a pair of black gloves that were worn in “A New Hope” before he used them for his public appearances as Vader.
Other items that were initially listed in the auction included a burgundy satin baseball-style jacket from the 1982 futuristic movie “Blade Runner,” a trio of zombie costumes from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” music video and a wig worn by Taylor for her role in “Cleopatra.”
In the auctioneer’s catalog, Eller said he would like to see the costume go to “someone who could really, really appreciate it, and it could be a source of excitement and wonder.”


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Earlier in the year, Nike debuted its first-ever hands-free shoe, the Go FlyEase, with much fanfare. The positive hype died down rather quickly, however, once the sneaker released and virtually no one was able to secure a pair aside from resellers. While this may sound like nothing new given the current landscape of the sneaker industry, the scenario with the Go FlyEase is significantly different, as it centers around a shoe designed specifically for those with disabilities.
Following the limited release (Nike promised a wider launch at a later date), the Go FlyEase quickly began popping up on resale websites for as much as six times the original retail price of $120. Again, this is a shoe made to be easily accessible for people with disabilities. Now, while we're still awaiting the second drop, a new colorway of the Go FlyEase has emerged, but one question remains: will it actually be obtainable?
The latest take on the hands-free shoe appears with a predominantly red upper with orange and pink accents. Hits of black serve to complement throughout, in addition to the white midsole below. Showcasing the latest advancement of Nike's FlyEase technology, the Go FlyEase is characterized by its bi-stable hinge and midsole tensioner that allow the shoe to fully open and close for hands-free on and off. The tension band that runs the length of the sneaker essentially holds the shoe open so those with disabilities aren't forced to bend over and/or use their hands to put it on or take it off.
A truly revolutionary design, but what good is it if the people it were made for aren't able to purchase it? At this point, only time will tell if the target demographic will be fortunate enough to get their hands on a pair — we just hope Nike has a plan in motion to remedy the issue.
To stay updated on everything happening in the sneaker world, follow @highsnobietysneakers on Instagram, check out the best sneakers to add to your rotation this week, and sign up to our newsletter for the latest sneaker news sent straight to your inbox.


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- Airbnb is fielding "significant" interest from investors even as the coronavirus crisis hits the travel and hospitality industry especially hard, two sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
- Early Airbnb investor Ron Conway confirmed to CNBC that he's been referring calls to the company, including from several large and sophisticated investors.
- It's still unclear how a fundraising round could impact the company's plans to go public, a move that was previously expected to occur this year.
Airbnb is fielding "significant" interest from investors even as the coronavirus crisis hits the travel and hospitality industry especially hard, two sources familiar with the matter told CNBC.
Airbnb is in "listen mode" as it considers raising money during what it believes could be a good opportunity, one of the sources said. Another source said the company is in a position to weather the outbreak, but is in discussions to raise. The amount of a new funding round and a new valuation for Airbnb are still being discussed.
Airbnb declined to comment.
Airbnb already has plenty of funds with $3 billion in cash and $1 billion in credit, CNBC is told. The company has raised a total of $4.4 billion so far, according to Pitchbook. The company has seen interest from venture capitalists, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, according to the sources.
Early Airbnb investor Ron Conway confirmed to CNBC that he's been referring calls to the company, including from several large and sophisticated investors.
"Those investors are calling me saying, I hope Airbnb is raising right now because if they are, I want a seat at the table," Conway told CNBC. "A lot of them are ones that went through the dotcom crash with me back in 1999 and 2000. They're the same people who were very wise and invested in companies like Google, Amazon and Apple. They're saying, coming out of this downturn, it's going to be companies like Airbnb that will be huge huge market performers."
Conway said he didn't know what valuation the offers would be looking at or whether Airbnb will accept a new round of funds, though he said the extra cash could be used to help it out of the downturn. Conway said Airbnb is more "nimble" than other travel companies like Expedia and Booking and will be able to "weather the storm."
"I would highly expect that they would use some very good market technique to gain market share coming out of this," Conway said. "Their growth rate was already much higher than their competitors. Now, everyone in the travel industry is reeling but Airbnb, with that management team, will be much more nimble coming out of this trauma."
A fundraising round for Airbnb would buck the trend of VC deals simmering down as the markets plunge on coronavirus fears. Investors told CNBC they predict fundraising rounds generally stalling and reaching less eye-popping valuations. One source said about a dozen "high quality private companies" are fielding interest from investors despite the turmoil in public markets.
It's still unclear how a fundraising round could impact the company's plans to go public. Airbnb had said it planned to debut this year but the economic shift resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown that possibility in question again. CEO Brian Chesky told CNBC's Jim Cramer last year that the company was not in a rush to go public because "We don't need to raise money." Employees at Airbnb had put pressure on the company to go public as their valuable stock options are set to start expiring toward the end of the year, The New York Times previously reported.
For the same reason, Airbnb could choose to pursue a direct listing over an initial public offering, meaning it would not need to sell new shares to public market investors. The company has not yet made a decision about an IPO or direct listing, according to one of the sources familiar with the situation. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are lead underwriters for the company.
-CNBC's Laura Batchelor contributed to this report.


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The trend of complication of Russian beer market is going on and in several directions at the same time. The range has got wider, the import and small segments are growing, namely craft beer, alcohol-free beer and special flavor beer. At the same time, all ex-mega brands and light lagers by Russian brewers are experiencing a decline of their shares. AB InBev Efes, Heineken, MBC and Pivzavod Trekhsosenskiy have exceeded the market, Carlsberg was developing slower than the market and Ochakovo as well as some other mid-sized breweries have been cutting down their volumes. To a big extent brewers’ performance was connected to their ability to reach agreement with networks, sacrifice their margin and enter new markets. Craft brewers are facing a serious danger of producers’ registration introduction – de facto licensing. ...
The global outlooks of the legal market of cannabis are excellent. It is possible to simultaneously imagine dry law repeal and craft brewing boom but not in one but in several consumer categories. For alcohol is contained in liquids and cannabis derivatives can be in three physical forms.The value of legal market of cannabis and its products can reach 10% of the world beer market in five years, and in 2030-2040 even reach the same scope provided the current rates of legalization and development of market infrastructure remain at the same level. Cannabinoids are actively integrating into the food industry from chewing gum to beverages deforming the pharmaceutical and alcohol markets, they influence the trends of healthy lifestyle and beauty. ...
Beer market of Kazakhstan acquired both traits of East European countries and South Eastern Asia taking a transitional position between them by many criteria and consumption style. Yet there is a positive trend in beer production which differs Kazakhstan from most of the neighboring countries. The market has remained consolidated in the hands of two international players because of its small size. However, it faces dynamic processes such as fast growth of draft beer sales, up and downs of regional companies and Carlsberg Group’s ultimate expansion. Excessive mainstream segment has declined over the recent years, yet, Zhigulevskoe and national brands with regional links have yielded their positions to a range of new products. In our review special attention was paid to regional analysis of the markets. In 14 regions of Kazakhstan we compared the companies’ positions, the market price segmentation and DIOT channel development. Besides we have compared the beer market of Kazakhstan to neighboring countries. ...
Beer trouble: Why South Korea’s local brewers are crying foul
South Korean beer drinkers are drinking to the more robust flavours of imported brands, encouraged in part by attractive discounts for multi-packs – so much so that local brewers are crying foul over pricing tactics and have asked for government help.
Beer imports surged 43 per cent last year in South Korea, as consumers, among the most enthusiastic beer drinkers in Asia, move beyond often-bland local lagers. Lighter domestic beers may be well-suited to accompany traditional spicy food but Korean drinkers increasingly crave variety.
The jump in imports has seen the two main local brewers – Anheuser-Busch InBev SA’s Oriental Brewery and Hite Jinro – go from commanding 99 percent of the market in 2012 to sliding to 82 percent in the first half of last year – a swift encroachment that is expected to take further ground.
“Foreign beer has boosted its share of the household retail market rapidly and I expect the same trend will emerge as they find favour in bars and restaurants over time,” said Park Sang-jun, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities Co Ltd.
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd and Kirin Holdings Co Ltd have led the invasion – aided by a weak yen, with Japanese products alone accounting for more than a quarter of imports.
European and US brands, helped by free trade agreements in 2011 and 2012, account for about half of imports led by the likes of Heineken. Chinese labels have also made inroads with E-mart, the country’s biggest hypermarket chain noting that Tsingtao’s flagship brew is now its top-selling beer.
The drastic increase for foreign beer is no trivial matter in a country known for consuming the most alcohol per person in the Asia-Pacific region. Beer accounted for 42 percent of the country’s 9.1 trillion won ($8 billion) alcohol market in 2014, government data shows.
But South Korean brewers, including new domestic entrant Lotte Chilsung Beverages Co Ltd, are keen to stem the tide – rolling out new products with higher malt content, expanding exports and making their case to authorities that local laws hamstring their ability to compete.
Where imported brands have no restrictions on discounts or promotions, local brewers cannot by law discount below factory prices.
“Domestic brands have suffered from reverse discrimination as imported beers have more flexibility in their pricing,” said Lee Eun-a, deputy general manager at Oriental Brewery.
South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission said last month it is conducting a review of competition in the beer industry- a statement that analysts view as heralding fewer discounting restrictions for local players.
An Asahi spokesman said that while the company does offer discounts, changing tastes have been the primary force driving the success of imported beer in South Korea.
Yu GoEun, a 24-year-old student in Seoul, who often joins friends for a pint of Hoegaarden, a Belgian wheat beer made by Anheuser-Busch InBev, seems to agree.
“I don’t drink domestic beer for the taste, only when I want to get drunk cheaply,” she said.
14 Апр. 2016


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Xbox boss Phil Spencer took to Twitter last night to tease Microsoft’s plans for its E3 press conference next month.
“I feel like what we will show this year is stuff we are committed to, from top studios, for this year and future,” Spencer said.
You won’t have to wait until E3 for everything, though. According to Spencer, “you’ll get a couple things before” the show. He promises May will be a “good month for news,” and that plans took a month to be finalized.
But the main focus is the ‘hardcore gamer,’ Spencer added.
We’ll likely see some Japanese Xbox One games at the show, as well. When asked, Spencer teased “you won’t have to wait until TGS” to see them.
And what about 343 Industries? “I have strict orders from [343 boss Bonnie Ross] that I can’t talk about anything related to a 343i IP,” Spencer said. It’s rumored the company is working on a Halo 2 remake, alongside the new Halo announced at last year’s E3.


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Forget flexitarianism. The hottest new trend in British diets these days – according to RSPCA Assured – is ‘reducetarianism’. Unlike flexitarians - who are choosing to eat less meat - reducetarians are “mindfully and gradually reducing the amount of animal-derived produce they consume.”
See the difference? No? Neither do we. So I’m not sure why the farm assurance body is so determined to make the term ‘reducetarian’ - originally coined in the US by Brian Kateman, co-founder and president of the Reducetarian Foundation - catch on this side of the pond.
Perhaps it’s a way for RSPCA Assured to set its new ‘Eat Less, Eat Better’ campaign apart. Launched today, it’s encouraging Brits to eat less lower welfare meat and choose only high welfare labels. As opposed to the existing ‘Eating Better Alliance’ campaign, which is encouraging shoppers to eat less, but better meat.
Not exactly radical thinking, then. But it’s a worthy push all the same and RSPCA Assured does make a good point – which is that British farmers should see the switch to higher welfare meat as an opportunity, not a threat. With Brexit on the horizon, there is a big opportunity to establish the UK as the ‘gold standard’ for farm animal welfare and encourage shoppers to choose British assured meat above imports.
Of course, making that case will depend on whether or not we are the ‘gold standard’ for farm animal welfare. So the revelation in the Guardian this week that thousands of British cattle reared for supermarket beef are being fattened in industrial-scale units with little or no access to pasture is a bit worrying, to say the least.
The UK beef industry has long sought to distance itself from US meat production by highlighting the difference between our systems. Unlike in the US, where cattle are reared intensively on feedlots and fed grain, our extensive grass-fed systems see cattle spend their lives grazing the lush rolling hills, the argument goes.
But according to the Guardian’s joint investigation with The Bureau of Investigation, there are nearly a dozen intensive feedlot-style beef farms operating across England. It claimed the farms- which include sites in Kent, Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire – are used to fatten cattle prior to slaughter, with the largest fattening up to 6,000 cattle a year.
It’s important to recognise these farms are few and far between, but the fact they exist in the UK somewhat undermines the argument our beef systems are so superior to the US. And when combined with the 800 pig and poultry ‘mega-farms’ across the UK, it does point to a trend towards intensification in this country.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing – proponents will argue raising animals more intensively is more efficient and therefore more environmentally friendly, not to mention the fact it keeps costs down for consumers – but it’s likely to be a sticking point for the British public, who tend to be ideologically opposed to the idea of mass-scale industrial farming.
At the very least, it’s an issue the industry is going to have to recognise and address. If we want to promote British meat as the natural choice for people eating ‘less but better’ animal products – be they flexitarians or reducetarians – we’d better have a clear idea of exactly what establishing the UK as the ‘gold standard’ on animal welfare involves, and stick to it.


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Banijay Media Germany appoints Nienaber as Co-MD
January 18, 2024
Media and entertainment powerhouse, Banijay, has announced the appointment of Christian Nienaber as the new Co-Managing Director of creative and marketing agency, Banijay Media Germany. Effective from April, Nienaber will be working alongside long-standing Managing Director of Banijay Media Germany, Ingrid Langheld, as they jointly take charge of the agency’s business areas: House Of Brands, House Of Likes and House Of Rights.
Nienaber joins from TV and video analytics specialists, all eyes on screens (aeos), where, as Chief Commercial Officer, he was responsible for sales, marketing and partnerships. Prior to his time at aeos, he held various management positions at RTL Deutschland, RTL ZWEI, and Saatchi & Saatchi, where he was site manager for the southern German agencies.
In his position as Co-Managing Director at Banijay Media Germany, Nienaber will succeed Daniel Durst, who joined Banijay Media Germany in April 2021. During Durst’s tenure at Banijay Media Germany, alongside Ingrid Langheld, he was instrumental in leading the restructuring of the label as a digital and marketing strategist within the Banijay Germany network.
Marcus Wolter, CEO and Co-Founder, Banijay Germany commented: “Banijay Media Germany stands for innovation and strong, individually-staged brand experiences. Many thanks to Daniel, who has significantly contributed to the successful repositioning in the market and the expansion of our digital offering. Christian will continue to drive this forward in the future together with Ingrid – we warmly welcome him to Banijay Germany.”
Ingrid Langheld, Managing Director, Banijay Media Germany added: “I would like to thank Daniel for the invaluable strategic support during our realignment and for the positive collaboration we’ve shared. As a result, we have created a healthy foundation for the ongoing growth of our businesses, and the expansion of our customer portfolio. I am looking forward to working with Christian, a recognised industry expert, whose expertise will strengthen Banijay Media Germany.”
Nienaber said: “I am thrilled to become part of the Banijay Media Germany team. Together with Ingrid and the strong team already in place, we will continue to exploit and expand the potential of the extremely successful TV brands and personalities, as well as the resulting cooperation opportunities with strong brand partners.”
Banijay Media Germany is the creative marketing agency of Banijay Germany.


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FRAMINGHAM (04/24/2000) - When CIO Dennis H. Jones started at Federal Express Corp., it was a 2-year-old, $30 million start-up.
Now, after 25 years with the $20 billion, Memphis-based global shipping giant, Jones plans to retire by year's end.
Jones, who agreed to stay on to help his successor, Chief Technology Officer Robert B. Carter, make the transition to CIO, said he will be looking for new challenges.
"I'll probably be retired for half a nanosecond," said Jones, who is also FedEx's executive vice president of information technology. "I'm looking for a different challenge with a lot of breadth and depth to it. I have a lot of different options, but it remains to be seen in which direction I go."
Company officials said the shift won't affect its operations or customers.
"Dennis has been our IT visionary, placing us at the forefront of technological innovations and Internet business applications," said FedEx CEO Frederick W.
Jones began his career at FedEx in 1975 and ascended to CIO 10 years ago.
At that time, customers were tracking and tracing their shipped goods via free PCs and proprietary software provided by FedEx, a system later named FedEx PowerShip.
In 1994, FedEx launched its Web site and became the first shipping company to offer customers online package tracking.
The company also brought out two new products: FedEx Ship, a shipping and tracking software for Windows and Macintosh that is loaded directly onto customers' computers; and interNetShip, a Web-based shipping application.
"I'm proud of the leadership we have taken in the area of e-commerce and the way we have extended our IT capacity into the marketplace," Jones said.
Jones was also the driving force behind the development of the FedEx World Technology Center in Collierville, Tennessee, home to the company's state-of-the art IT department.
John Fontanella, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston, said Jones is, in many ways, an IT pioneer. And he's the type of person who will do whatever it takes to get a job done -- a trait that didn't always sit well with some of his colleagues, said Fontanella.
"He's a very forceful person, and some people in FedEx were unwilling to make the changes necessary to make FedEx a supply-chain management company," Fontanella explained.
Carter, 40, joined FedEx in 1993 and has more than 20 years of IT experience.
As CTO for the past two and a half years, he has been responsible for technology strategy and for developing applications to make it easier for customers to do business with FedEx.
FedEx is working on creating a single point of access to its customer support functions, such as customer service, e-commerce, billing and automation, either online or via the telephone, said Carter.
"I'm already active in the transition phase -- taking these new initiatives and bringing them to conclusion," he said.


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Boris Johnson's route map out of lockdown has thrown up a number of key dates in the months ahead.
They are a guide to when we can expect parts of normal life to return to normal but with the proviso that four key tests are met at every phase of re-opening.
Here is an at-a-glance guide for what is coming up for shops, services, leisure and tourism.
The High Street
The region's High Streets will be the first to see life return when non-essential retail and public spaces are allowed to re-open no earlier than April 12.
Non-essential shops, personal care premises such as hairdressers and nail salons, as well as public buildings such as museums will be allowed to open their doors.
Restaurants, bars and pubs
Hospitality venues will open for outdoor customers only from April 12. It means that restaurants and pubs can only serve people outdoors.
Social mixing rules continue - you can only go to these outdoor venues in groups of six, or larger groups with just two households.
The so-called Scotch Egg rule comes to an end, as there will be no rule that you must have a meal in order to buy a drink.
There will be no 10pm curfew but you must be seated when you order anything.
Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has previously called for pubs to be able to re-open at the same time as non-essential retail, arguing that premises are Covid-secure.
He said that the 'substantial meal' rule is 'a load of cobblers' and maintained that trading only outside is lockdown by any other name.
Other industry bosses, including St Austel Brewery chief exectutive Kevin Georgel have questioned suggestions that well-run hospitality premises increase transmission rates.
Events such as weddings, wakes and funerals can be held with 15 people (up from 6 now) .
By May 17, it is hoped that indoor hospitality will be allowed, so venues such as pubs can start serving indoors. The the rule of six/two household still applies indoors.
Outdoor venues such as zoos and theme parks can re-open on April 12.
Indoor attractions, like cinemas can open no earlier than May 17.
Sport and leisure
Outdoor activities such as golf and tennis are due to return by March 29.
From April 12, indoor leisure facilities such as gyms and swimming pools will also re-open subject to social contact rules, meaning people should only visit these facilities with members of their own household.
No earlier than May 17, indoor exercise classes will be able to re-open.
Hotels and holiday lets
Bookings for Easter are out of the question as rules will only ease from April 12.
Even though you can mix with six others in two households from March 29, you cannot stay away on holiday overnight with them.
Self-catering holiday stays will be allowed from April 12 but only for a single household.
Hotels and B&Bs will not be able to re-open until May 17 at the earliest.
The disparity has been questioned by industry leaders without data.
Robin Hutson, founder of the PIG Hotel group and campaigner for a Minister for Hospitality said on Twitter that there is no reason why hotels cannot open at the same time as other areas of society.
Robin Hutson's tweet
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Brits have been warned against booking “elaborate” summer holidays later in the year - even if they’re just in the UK - because it is “too early to say” what the coronavirus crisis will look like.
Brittany Ferries has accused transport secretary Grant Shapps of going over the top when he told the nation not to book a holiday earlier this month.
The lockdown easing plans suggest that overseas travel could be possible this summer.
A Government taskforce will produce a report by April 12 recommending how international trips can resume.
If the vaccine and a cautious reopening schedule brings infections under control, foreign holidays could be permitted from May 17.
There have been a surge of bookings for overseas holidays at the news
Offices and workplaces
Despite the return to fewer restrictions staff are being told to keep working from home where they can.
The move will strengthen the transformation of how we use our workplaces, with a focus on 'hub' style working environments with a switch to fewer days in the office, eventually.
The plan is to offer all adults the vaccine by July 31.
The Government plans to introduce twice-weekly testing for all those unable to work from home.
Furlough, VAT relief and business rate support are among the measures that are due to come to an end in March and April.
If restrictions continue as expected, businesses will want to know what help will be available to them.
There will be pressure on the Chancellor Rishi Sunak to reveal those details before the Budget on March 3.
What do you think of lockdown easing plans - are they fair, do they go far enough or too cautious - be part of the conversation in the comments section below


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Twitter adds replies, Facebook subtracts Oculus founder
Reply all — from Twitter
Here’s another Twitter innovation that spammers and pranksters may get excited about. The San Francisco company says that when you reply to someone — or a group — the user names will no longer count toward its famed 140-character limit. But lifting the limit makes it easier for people promoting a product to mention an endless stream of users. It also makes it easier to put your friends in a “canoe” — Twitter slang for an interminable group thread.
Happy to go, Luckey?
Friday is Palmer Luckey’s last day at Facebook, the company told UploadVR. The founder of Oculus sold the virtual-reality company to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014. While it’s now shipping the promised Rift headset, Luckey cost Facebook a bit more than expected. In February, the company was ordered to pay gaming company ZeniMax $500 million in damages over allegations that Luckey violated a nondisclosure agreement. And in September, he apologized for secretly funding Nimble America, a group associated with online political provocateurs.
Number of the day
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That’s the median home price in the Atherton ZIP code of 94027, the most expensive in the nation, according to data from Zillow. The next most expensive ZIP code is for the East Hampton town of Water Mill, N.Y., where the median price is $3,798,500.


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TRAVEL OREGON: New magazine promotes state
Sun | R & R
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A new magazine touting Oregon's gardens, golf courses and other getaways is the state Tourism Commission's latest effort to bolster a tourism industry trying to heal from the recession and the East Coast terrorist attacks.
"Travel Oregon" resembles an off-the-shelf lifestyle or travel magazine, with stories and photographs about exploring eastern Oregon, paddling the wild Rogue River and the state's farms and orchards.
"We're trying to focus on what's unique to Oregon," said Tori Benson, a tourism commission spokeswoman. "This is the inside track to a great vacation, as told by the people who live here."
The 128-page spring/ summer issue is available for free at visitors centers across the state and online at www.traveloregon.com. The Web site will be expanded with sample travel itineraries and details about hotels and other activities linked to the magazine stories.
Unlike the commission's previous travel guide, "Travel Oregon" will be published twice yearly and feature new, seasonal stories each time.
The first issue also includes a calendar of events and recipes using made-in-Oregon ingredients. The second issue, due to be released in mid-August, includes stories about fall and winter travel.
With an annual economic impact of $6 billion and 83,000 employees, tourism is one of the state's top money-earners.
Benson said planning for the magazine began well before the terrorist attacks.
A month after the Sept. 11 attacks, the tourism commission launched a campaign to encourage Oregonians who are reluctant to fly to vacation destinations out of state to instead drive to holiday spots within Oregon.
The campaign, under the tagline "It's Easy to Take a Great Vacation in Oregon," offers sample travel itineraries. It is still running in local newspapers and on radio stations.
On the Net, visit www.traveloregon.com.


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Open Source, Vendor Lock-In Are Top of Mind for Execs This Year
The use of open source software has increased dramatically in the past decade, and this year could be the one in which we see real maturity in the market.
Couchbase Chief Executive Officer Bob Wiederhold spoke with Information Management about what he sees for the market in 2017, as well as issues related to digital infrastructure and vendor lock-in.
Information Management: What should we expect from players in the open source market in 2017?
Bob Wiederhold: In 2017, we will see a major ‘rubber hits the road’ moment for many companies using an open source model. Over the past decade, the use of open source has expanded dramatically in the IT infrastructure of enterprises and there was a large influx of venture capital funding for open source-based companies as a result. Many of these companies are now reaching maturity and we will begin to see which vendors have built sustainable, profitable business models, and which ones will not survive without continued VC funding.
We expect the market to experience considerable consolidation, and likely a few shocking moments, as some companies go public or are acquired while others struggle to grow without continued VC funding. Those whose fortunes have risen largely on an open source project’s popularity will have to demonstrate their business models are strong enough for long-term, sustainable success.
IM: What critical issues will organizations face regarding their digital infrastructure?
Wiederhold: In 2017, many enterprises will take the next steps in ensuring they are prepared for the next wave of digital experiences and can keep up with or outdo their digital-only competitors. For some, this will require a major shift in management.
Enterprises will need to address vital questions: Do we have the right leadership with the right digital foresight and skills? Do we have people who are experts in these modern technologies? Is our executive team able to lead our digital transformation? Do we need to create a new department or role?
Enterprises in nearly every industry will need to restructure to address these new demands and focuses. It is no longer enough to just have a digitally-savvy developer or IT team. It is also required all up and down the management chain in order to have a competitive digital business. We’ve already begun to see big changes in many enterprises’ C-suites. In the past year, when we’ve seen these shifts, we’ve see much faster digital transformation progress than in those who didn’t make any changes.
IM: What are the top technology issues that organizations will face this year?
Wiederhold: The conversation around vendor lock-in is becoming much more prominent in senior level meetings, spurred on by many enterprises’ decision to move to the public cloud. To this point, the issue of vendor lock-in was initially discussed as a black or white situation. However, in 2017 we are going to see this conversation shift to acknowledge the many shades of gray, as executives realize and consider the varying degrees of lock-in and how it impacts various departments and levels of management.
Examining the potential consequences of using proprietary technology on the different levels of the hardware and software stack will be an important issue within companies this year as more enterprises implement digital transformation initiatives.


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A messy courtroom wrangle involving the Rite Aid Corporation, originally set for trial in April, is dragging on into the summer - a pain for investors as well as the principals.
The company and its president, Martin L. Grass, were charged in Ohio last year with attempting to bribe a state Board of Pharmacy member to resign. They deny the charges, saying that a payment to the board member was a buyout of his contract with a company that Rite Aid had acquired. The trial is now set for July 2, but Rite Aid's motion to dismiss the case is still pending Worries about the case may have hurt Rite Aid's stock - it has lagged the market this year - but the mess has not affected corporate performance. Tomorrow, the company is to announce results for its first fiscal quarter, which ended June 2 and is typically its second strongest of the year. Wall Street is expecting profits of at least 60 cents a share, which would be the best showing for that particular quarter in several years.Continue reading the main story


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Could online privacy one day be a thing of the past as we share more and more details about ourselves through social networks? Vint Cerf certainly believes that privacy will become much harder to ensure.
The father of the Internet spoke Tuesday about online privacy at a US Federal Trade Commission workshop called the "Internet of Things." A series of tweets posted by Adweek reporter Katy Bachman captured some of Cerf's key comments.
Cerf said that "privacy may be an anomaly," warning that "it will be increasingly difficult for us to achieve" it. But at least some of the fault lies with us.
"Most of the experience with privacy is a result of our own behavior," Cerf said. "Our social behavior is quite damaging to privacy. Technology has outraced our social intellect."
Cerf certainly makes a valid point. We can shake our fists at the Googles and Facebooks of the online world for not giving a damn about our privacy. But those of us who share every personal detail about our lives via Facebook or Twitter must also shoulder some of the blame for the erosion of privacy.
(Via The Register)


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Because of the successful implementation of the Track and Trace system in all 79 sugar mills in Pakistan, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has received a record Rs26.5 billion in sales tax from the sugar industry.
According to the Federal Board of Revenue, sales tax collections from the sugar industry increased by 33 percent during the first four months of the sugarcane crushing season.
According to the records, the sector produced 7.51 metric tonnes of sugar during the current season, compared to 5.63 metric tonnes during the previous equivalent time.
Officials from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) stated that the supreme tax collection authority had collected Rs19.9 billion in tax in the previous year, compared to Rs26.5 billion this year.
Particularly, under the FBR’s Trace and Track system, sugar bags cannot be transferred from the factory unless they have been stamped with a tax stamp.
Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, in the meantime, complimented the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the successful implementation of the system, which has resulted in an increase in the sales tax. In addition, he announced that the same Track and Trace system would be used in the tobacco, fertiliser, petroleum, and cement industries.


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WICHITA FALLS, Texas (TNN) - The Coronavirus pandemic has continued to take its toll on the economy, causing many to lose their jobs and businesses of all sizes to feel its impact.
“It’s more indirect pains that we are feeling from COVID-19 rather than just closures or people not wanting to get out and shop,” Walter Lambert with America’s Small Business Development Center at MSU Texas said.
It’s also things like federal aid programs no longer being around and no clear end to the pandemic that has businesses still struggling to hang on.
“Certain business are still operating with reduced capacity, you’ve got some businesses that are still closed,” Lambert said.
Even large operations are feeling the pressure; Howmet Industrial laid off another round of workers on Tuesday, following a previous reduction of 65 positions just last week.
“Everything becomes local especially when you see your friends and neighbors losing their jobs, even temporarily or possibly permanently,” Woody Gossom, Wichita County Judge, said.
But there are positives coming out of all this, new industries like Panda Biotech, a hemp processing company, will bring in around 50 jobs when it opens in Wichita Falls.
“Certainly bringing in this new operation will offer the opportunity for other things to come in and grow also,” Gossom said.
Lambert adds the entrepreneurial spirit of so many is to thank for that.
“They have the hustle, failure is not an option to a lot of those people and so they are going to find a way to make it work,” Lambert said.


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A new study reveals EV battery prices will drop by the end of the decade. How will this affect the auto industry?
Read This Article
The Nissan name has successfully succeeded the defunct Datsun for almost three decades, as the Japanese automaker moved its products to its global namesake in 1983.
Earlier this year, the Nissan Leaf had its best-ever monthly sales, and a 423.5 percent year-over-year increase compared to last year.


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A video, purportedly of a Pakistani bride wearing tomato jewellery as a show of wealth, is going viral on social media.
Music composer Shekhar Ravjiani was on Friday, November 15, trolled on Twitter over an exorbitant…
The India arm of France-based B2B catering firm Elior launched the app El Chef on Wednesday. Read to know how this app stands apart in the crowd.
Commuters of San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) are taking to eating in a form of protest after a man was handcuffed for doing exactly that.
A study conducted on more than 470,000 people claims that those who drink #coffee have a 50% lower chance of getting the most common form of liver #cancer.
The FSSAI has issued draft notifications for rules that could lead to the ban of sale and advertising of junk food within 50 metres of schools.
A woman in North India reportedly eloped with her paramour because her husband could not feed her eggs. Read to know more.
MP BJP leader Gopal Bhargav has wondered out loud if feeding children a non-vegetarian diet could turn them into cannibals.
ITC Fabelle has launched the world’s most expensive chocolate, and even Guinness World Records has confirmed that it is so!
Here are 10 things you should know about the possibility that bloggers can be sued for giving bad reviews to restaurants.
India’s government-owned airline Air India has been ordered to pay Rs 47,000 — around $660…
A US company is offering people $1,000 to buy coffee for a whole month. However,…


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Target celebrates 20-year St. Jude’s partnership with Bullseye Bash
MINNEAPOLIS — Target is celebrating 20 years of partnership efforts with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which helps save the lives of children battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
The sponsorship celebration culminated last week with Target’s holiday Bullseye Bash, which was attended by Target’s chairman and CEO, Brian Cornell, and other Target leaders. Hundreds of patients and their families had a chance to enjoy a variety of holiday-themed activities, including Nutcracker-inspired performances featuring a cast of characters. They also had an opportunity to meet Target’s dog mascot, Bullseye. Click here for more on Target’s Bullseye Bash.
Target’s relationship with St. Jude began in 1996 with a commitment to design and build Target House, the hospital’s long-term housing facility that gives patients and families a home-away-from-home while undergoing treatment. Since opening in 1999, Target House has hosted more than 4,500 families from 45 states and 47 countries and territories. While accommodating up to 98 families at a time, each apartment is fully furnished with products donated by Target and vendor partners. Staying true to the mission of St. Jude, none of these families ever receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
Beyond Target House, Target has donated millions of dollars throughout the years to help fuel research at St. Jude. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened more than 50 years ago.
“We’re proud of Target’s longtime partnership with St. Jude and are honored to have helped the incredible patients and families at St. Jude over the past 20 years,” said Laysha Ward, chief corporate social responsibility officer, Target. “I visit Target House every year – the families that I’ve met and the hope and resilience I see in these children is awe-inspiring. On behalf of Target, I want to extend a huge thank you to the St. Jude team and all of the Target partners and volunteers across the country who have dedicated countless hours and financial resources to help St. Jude achieve their mission of saving lives and finding cures.”
Automated pharmacy notifications can make the difference in advance of natural disasters
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — Automated pharmacy notifications can provide the necessary push to encourage patients with chronic conditions to refill medications prior to a forecasted natural disaster, according to new research conducted by the CVS Health Research Institute and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The study also concluded public-private partnerships can facilitate timely pharmacy outreach as part of broader community-based natural disaster planning.
"Emergency departments and medical responders can be overwhelmed by the number of people seeking medical care after a disaster simply because they ran out of their daily medications and couldn't reach a pharmacy due to impassable streets and business closures," said Dr. Nicole Lurie, HHS assistant secretary for Preparedness and Response. "The number of people who need medications for chronic conditions continues to rise, and communities across the country need solutions that can help them stay healthy, even in a disaster situation. This study demonstrated how powerful public-private partnerships can be in providing solutions that can protect health for residents and whole communities."
The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, had researchers compare medication fill rates of more than 2 million patients who were contacted by CVS Pharmacy in advance of a storm to a randomly assigned control group of patients of the same stores who received no outreach. The research revealed that those who received outreach prior to the storm were 9% more likely to refill their medications within the 48 hours after receiving the notification and before the storm impacted the region.
"Ensuring our patients have their medications available to them is one of our top priorities, and this research highlights how proactive outreach to patients before a natural disaster can encourage timely medication refills which may help ensure continuity of care and avoid adverse health events due to inadequate medication supply," said Kevin Hourican, EVP, Pharmacy Services and Supply Chain, CVS Health. "Operationally, we have the infrastructure in place at all of our more than 9,600 CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide to facilitate this type of proactive outreach in advance of forecasted weather events."
CVS encourages flu shots during National Influenza Vaccination Week
WOONSOCKET, R.I. — It’s not too late to get a flu shot.
CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic are encouraging consumers to get their flu shot during the week of Dec. 4-10, which is The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Influenza Vaccination Week. Vaccination Week, established by the CDC in 2005, is intended to emphasize the importance of getting vaccinated as the holiday season begins.
"National Influenza Vaccination Week is a great reminder that the flu virus doesn't take the holidays off and families should make sure they're protected by getting vaccinated," said Papatya Tankut, R.Ph., VP of pharmacy affairs at CVS Health. "CVS Pharmacy understands that families' schedules are packed with holiday to-dos this time of year, and that's why we make getting the flu shot convenient."
A CVS Health survey concluded that two in five Americans make multiple trips to get their entire household vaccinated. It also revealed that nearly two of every three employed Americans (64%) would still go to work even if they were feeling ill with flu-like symptoms.
"With many people choosing to go to work even when they're experiencing flu-like symptoms, it's vital to take all precautions necessary to avoid getting sick," said Angela Patterson, DNP, FNP-BC, NEA-BC, chief nurse practitioner officer at MinuteClinic. "Getting a flu shot is the most effective way to protect yourself and your loved ones from the flu and the potentially serious effects of influenza infection."
The flu vaccine is considered a preventive service under the Affordable Care Act, and is fully covered and available at no cost through most insurance plans. In addition, customers will receive a 20-percent off CVS Pharmacy Shopping Pass when they get a flu shot at CVS Pharmacy or MinuteClinic. Patients who receive a flu shot at CVS Pharmacy or MinuteClinic locations inside select Target stores will receive a $5 Target GiftCard.


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Thirty-four percent of marketers admitted that they did not have a documented marketing plan last year, according to a new report from Marketo. The research indicated that smaller companies were the
least likely to have this kind of plan in place and the largest companies were the most likely to have a plan in place. Only fifty-six percent of companies with less than 50 employees had a documented
marketing plan in place, and 81 percent of companies with 1,001-5,000 employees had a documented marketing plan in 2013.
Read the whole story at MarketingProfs »


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Scientists analyzed five studies in which 575 thousand people took part, writes Express.
See also: Nutritionist refuted the effectiveness of separate nutrition
They found that eating 28 grams of black chocolate reduces the risk of heart failure by 17%.
It is associated with flavonoids – natural compounds found in cocoa. They enhance the health of the blood vessel and help reduce inflammation.
One study confirms that eating chocolate helps to avoid the development of such a dangerous heart disease as atrial fibrillation (interruption of heart rhythm).
Dark chocolate reduces the risk of heart disease
People who consume between two and six servings of dark chocolate per week are less at risk of cardiovascular diseases than those who consumed this product at least once a month.
According to scientists, because of the content of potassium and magnesium, chocolate helps to improve the functioning of blood vessels and prevents the formation of blood clots. Experts advise to use dark chocolate to people who have problems with pressure.
Regular consumption of dark chocolate can improve mood and memory.
Despite the beneficial properties of chocolate, do not forget about the rate of consumption. Researchers recommend eating no more than 1/3 bar of chocolate per week. Also recommend to choose only high-quality dark chocolate.
For more news on treatment, medicine, nutrition, healthy lifestyles, and more, see the Health section.


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Fashion labels are designing outfits for video calls during the coronavirus pandemic.
A “waist-up” focus has been noticed at both Milan and London Fashion Weeks, with detailed necklines and relaxed trousers.
Prada placed its logo near the collars of its tops, and featured large coats pulled around shoulders like a blanket.
It said it was not inspired by Zoom, but by the “contemporary human relationship with technology”.
“Fashion is about reacting to reality,” said Miuccia Prada, head designer of Prada, at its virtual Milan fashion show. “During lockdown, I realised how important technology is and how it is impactful for us, and in some ways, an extension of ourselves.”
“The tunic tops and roll necks, with the brand’s famous triangle logo blown up and placed directly below the neckline, will certainly catch the eye of your fellow Zoomers,” Jane McFarland, fashion director at The Sunday Times, said of the collection.
“This year has been all about ‘waist-up dressing’. Having spent a lot of time on video conference calls, the top half of our outfit has become significantly more important than our bottom half.”
Luxury fashion sales worldwide are forecast to fall by around 35% this year, due to shops closing and lockdown, analysis by the Boston Consulting Group suggested.
Clothing sales in the UK plummeted by 34% in March, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, as the industry struggles to attract customers.
But fashion is reflecting history and the economy through these clothing trends, said Lynne Coleman, textile expert.
“Designers are thinking about how we are living our lives. That’s why you see logos appearing in places you haven’t seen before,” she added.
“We’ve been stuck inside for so long now and we want to express ourselves.”
Fashion critics have noted jewellery has increased in popularity, while sales of handbags and shoes are down.
“Moving the logo up to the neck is a good way of keeping your brand out there and making a fashion statement,” said Deborah St Louis, founder of Fashions Finest, which represents emerging designer labels during London Fashion Week,
“People still want to appear professional, when working from home especially, but now we see a shift towards a more casual relaxed look.”
At Milan Fashion Week, designers also seemed influenced by remote working, with a trend for flatter shoes with a small heel, elasticated trousers, matching silk sets and pyjamas.
“I’ve never seen so many elastic and drawstring waists in my life,” said Lauren Indvick, fashion editor at the Financial Times. “All the stylists are talking about ‘waist-up’ dressing, because that’s all everyone sees these days.
“They have to inspire people to buy clothes, and there aren’t social occasions to dress up for, so maybe luxury at home is the new focus.”
Outside of leading fashion houses, smaller designers have also focused on comfort at home with their new ranges.
“I have created a cashmere collection, focusing on home comforts and pieces that have bold colour touches, especially from the shoulder up,” said fashion designer Valentina Karellas.
“I realised over the pandemic a lot more people were doing a lot more self-care, but still wanted to be stylish for their work or social calls.”
She has designed scarves, beanie hats and leg warmers, inspired by staying at home in lockdown.
“Clothing has always been used to signify status and social standing, which is difficult to manifest now that we have moved much of our interaction online,” said Sonal Keay, founder of fashion brand This Is Silk.
“The clothing industry has suffered from the pandemic, as people realised that they do not need to wear formal clothes as much.”
Mrs Keay says she’s seen an increase in demand for silk hair wraps – fabric used to tie up wet hair while it dries after showering.
“Sales have skyrocketed and people keep sending me snapshots of themselves on Zoom calls, wearing these wraps. It reduces frizz and is an art deco, glam statement.”


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Can AI Be a Fair Judge in Court? Estonia Thinks So –
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Microsoft promises to act as Teams continues to get pummeled by phishing attacks
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May 17, 2013 BY Brendan Dunne
The only Reebok Shaq Attaq colorway to have hit stores so far is the OG “Orlando” look, but we’re certain that there are more on their way. In fact, we’ve spotted a very special version in the form of this blinged out look done by one Gabe the Jeweler. Unfortunately they don’t appear to be a retail release, instead they’ve been touted as as charity item. Tell us what you think of this bejeweled makeover for the Reebok Shaq Attaq in the comments and stay tuned to find out what sort of rollout the Reebok team has planned for them.
Filed under: Reebok


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British consumers continued to splash out on new cars in August, extending the record unbroken run of sales growth to two-and-a-half years.
New car sales were 9.5% higher than August 2013, with 72,163 vehicles registered, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
It marked the 30th consecutive month of growth in new car sales, the longest since records began in 1959, with consumers spurred on by cheap finance deals and a desire for more fuel-efficient models.
August is typically one of the quietest months for new car sales, falling just before the September plate change and accounting for abound 3% of annual sales. September usually accounts for about 18% of new car sales each year.
Economists said growth in August sent a positive signal about the industry's short-term health but warned that weak wage growth and the prospect of rising interest rates may start to weigh on the car market.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "The economic fundamentals still look largely positive for the motor industry which will hopefully fuel ongoing healthy car sales – although the growth rate is highly likely to ease back given double-digit growth both in 2013 and over the first eight months of 2014.
"One concern for car manufacturers is that extended low earnings growth could become a constraint for private car sales while some consumers will also be worried by the prospect that interest rates will start to rise before long."
The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates in the early months of next year. Rates have been on hold at an all-time low of 0.5% since March 2009 in response to the financial crisis.
Wage growth has lagged behind inflation for much of the past six years, with persistent falls in real pay.
Such pressure on household finances has not been reflected in the new car sales data. A total of 1.53m new cars have been registered in 2014 so far, 10.1% more than at the same stage last year.
Last month, the SMMT raised its 2014 forecast for new car sales for the second time this year. It now expects sales to jump 8.1% to 2.45m, underpinned by cheap finance deals and a better-than-expected economic backdrop, with unemployment falling faster and consumer confidence at higher levels.
The Ford Fiesta was the bestseller in August, followed by the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Corsa, mirroring the top three best sellers in the year to date.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said buyers were snapping up "enticing deals on a wealth of advanced new products".
He added: "The UK's performance in the context of Europe is particularly impressive, with growth consistently ahead of the rest of the EU for the past two years. As the UK market starts to find its natural level, we expect to see the growth level off during coming months."
David Raistrick, UK automotive leader at Deloitte, said there were other risks to the new UK car market, as well as rising borrowing costs.
"Aside from a potential interest rate rise, the biggest challenge facing the automotive retail sector will be the impact of the increasing numbers of nearly new used vehicles returning to the market.
"This could detrimentally affect residual values with the knock-on effect that the used-vehicle purchase becomes a more competitive proposition – bringing an element of balance back to the industry."


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Stephen Shankland of CNet recently reported, “Google updated its Hangouts app on Wednesday so the multipurpose communication tool can detect when people are trying to find each other and make it easier to connect. The updated app, available for Google’s Android mobile operating system first but submitted to Apple for approval on iOS, also lets people express themselves with stickers and video filter effects, Bradley Horowitz, vice president of product at Google, said at the LeWeb conference here.”
Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Daniela Hernandez of Wired recently wrote that Quoc Le “works on the Google Brain, the search giant’s foray into ‘deep learning,’ a form of artificial intelligence that processes data in ways that mimic the human brain—at least in some ways. Le was one of the main coders behind the widely publicized first-incaration of the Google Brain, a system that taught itself to recognize cats on YouTube images, and since then, the 32-year-old Vietnam-native has been instrumental in helping to build Google systems that recognize your spoken words on Android phones and automatically tag your photos on the web, both of which are powered by deep-learning technology.” Read more
Right before Thanksgiving The Semantic Web Blog gave readers a heads-up about how retailers use of semantic technology could help make the holiday shopping season brighter for consumers. This week, to help those still in need of finding something special for that someone special on his or her shopping list – i.e. friends, children and family with a taste for meaningful computing (or at least for the products that result from it) – we’ll take a look at some holiday gift buys that might fit the bill.
Ladies and gentlemen, start your shopping engines:
- Joining his artificial-intelligence inspired robot friends like Robosapien X and Roboraptor is MiP, which toymaker Wowwee calls a balancing multifunctional and autonomous robot powered by iOS or Android smartphones. The device includes GestureSense technology that lets it respond to the motions of hands or other objects, so that you can play games like Follow the Leader, and to mobile apps that let you drive him around, set him up in a boxing match, or play games like stacking objects.
The MIT Technology Review recently wrote, “Translating one language into another has always been a difficult task. But in recent years, Google has transformed this process by developing machine translation algorithms that change the nature of cross cultural communications through Google Translate. Now that company is using the same machine learning technique to translate pictures into words. The result is a system that automatically generates picture captions that accurately describe the content of images. That’s something that will be useful for search engines, for automated publishing and for helping the visually impaired navigate the web and, indeed, the wider world.” Read more
This past weekend the movie about British mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, The Imitation Game, had a successful debut. Turing, of course, created the Turing Test, which is a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. Fittingly enough, tonight is the end date for entries to Google’s Imitation Game Code Cracking Challenge, a test designed to determine whether it’s being taken by a human or computer and which has as its focus the film’s principal character, Alan Turing.
Judges this week will be evaluating entries this week, and should be contacting winners by week’s end, making their determinations based both on entrants submitting the correct codes and which entrants solved them the fastest. (The test went live in mid-November.)
Fun stuff, with prizes to include a screening of the movie in the winner’s hometown with 200 friends and signed-cast posters, but perhaps even more interesting is that come January, a group of scientists at the 2015 meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, conduct a workshop to come up with a replacement of the original Turing Test. It’s aiming to create an annual or bi-annual Turing Championship, that might consist of up to five different challenging tasks, “with bragging rights given to the first programs to achieve human-level performance in each task,” according to a statement by workshop organizers Gary Marcus, Francesca Rossi and Manuela Veloso. Read more
Ben Woods of The Next Web reports, “Google has joined forces with the University of Oxford in the UK in order to better study the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in the areas of image recognition and natural language processing. The hope is that by joining forces with an esteemed academic institution, the research will progress more rapidly than going it alone for its DeepMind project. In total, Google has hired seven individuals (who also happen to be world experts in deep learning for natural language understanding), three of which will remain as professors holding joint appointments at Oxford University.” Read more
Cade Metz of Wired recently wrote, “Deep learning can do many things. Tapping the power of hundreds or even thousands of computers, this new breed of artificial intelligence can help Facebook recognize people, words, and objects that appear in digital photos. It can help Google understand what you’re saying when you bark commands into an Android phone. And it can help Baidu boost the bottom line. The Chinese web giant now uses deep learning to target ads on its online services, and according to Andrew Ng—who helped launch the deep learning operation at Google and now oversees research and development at Baidu—the company has seen a notable increase in revenue as a result. ‘It’s used very successfully in advertising,’ he says, sitting inside the company’s U.S. R&D center in Sunnyvale, California. ‘We have not released revenue numbers on the specific impact, but it is significant’.” Read more
Jordan Novet of Venture Beat reports, “Many people know Google first and foremost as a search engine company. But really it’s a machine-learning company, using data to make predictions that get incorporated into applications like search and advertising without people even realizing it. Today Google is announcing in a blog post that people can now choose to apply its machine-learning savvy to Google Sheets, the company’s spreadsheet app, to make educated guesses and fill in blank cells. This applied use of machine learning follows Microsoft’s recent announcement of a cloud-based service for that purpose, Azure Machine Learning.” Read more
AlchemyAPI’s New Face Detection And Recognition API Boosts Entity Information Courtesy Of Its Knowledge Graph
AlchemyAPI has released its AlchemyVision Face Detection/Recognition API, which, in response to an image file or URI, returns the position, age, gender, and, in the case of celebrities, the identities of the people in the photo and connections to their web sites, DBpedia links and more.
According to founder and CEO Elliot Turner, it’s taking a different direction than Google and Baidu with its visual recognition technology. Those two vendors, he says in an email response to questions from The Semantic Web Blog, “use their visual recognition technology internally for their own competitive advantage. We are democratizing these technologies by providing them as an API and sharing them with the world’s software developers.”
The business case for those developers to leverage the Face Detection/Recognition API include that companies can use facial recognition for demographic profiling purposes, allowing them to understand age and gender characteristics of their audience based on profile images and sharing activity, Turner says.
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An industry wide survey for the Business Travel & Meetings Show taking place in London next week has shown that a huge 74% of all business class travellers are annoyed by children on flights. The results are similar to those found by Skyscanner which conducted a similar survey earlier in 2010.
Suggestions have been made that there should be adult only flights, or quiet zones similar to those on trains to help manage the problem.
Business travel writer Dave Richardson said: ‘Introducing an adults-only cabin or service is a good idea and it would work well on high-frequency routes so that families could be accommodated on other services. On long-haul routes, I might look to more innovative airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, Emirates or Etihad to consider taking this on board.’
Children on flights were not the only annoyance for some passengers, 18% said that they were annoyed to see those in economy class get a free upgrade when they have paid full price. A further 15% wanted more privacy from the economy class section.
What are your gripes on flights? Would you want adult only or adult zones on flights? How about parents who take children on flights, do you feel that this would be discriminatory? Please comment below!


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Almost 500 new volunteers joined the ‘Good Neighbours’ scheme helping support vulnerable people by shopping for them and spending time talking to them at their front door or garden gate.
During the COVID-19 pandemic they delivered almost 2,000 food boxes and made almost 2,000 shopping trips for people; almost 20,000 check-in phone calls were also made by council staff redeployed to help people who were encouraged to shield.
The ‘Good Neighbours’ (GN) scheme, run by local charity organisation VODA, has provided support to 1,778 shielding residents, including shopping services, click & collect, prescription collection and delivery, delivering food parcels, and telephone buddies.
North Tyneside Council, local charities and the local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which fall into the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System, worked with VODA to adapt the GN scheme during the pandemic, using existing volunteers as well as furloughed staff from local businesses.
The GN scheme previously offered help for local residents with tasks such as changing lightbulbs, tidying gardens and small DIY assistance, however quickly adapted to offer a wider range of services aimed at reducing loneliness and ensuring isolated people had access to necessities.
Between the beginning of lockdown in March 2020 – June 2020, regular phone calls were made, following training, to problem solve with the person receiving the support. Whilst the service continued it was scaled back over the summer of 2020 and then re-introduced from November 2020 to March 2021 with over 16,000 North Tyneside residents on the “Clinically Extremely Vulnerable” list and advised to shield.
In addition to the phone calls and other support everyone identified as Clinically Extremely Vulnerable was sent copies of two different publications both developed to share details of the wide range of support available and give practical help and support to help navigate live as the shielding restrictions eased.
This included advice and support when going shopping, visiting their GP or ways to looking after their mental wellbeing.
The GN scheme also identified that shielding residents had no access to their cash and developed a system where they could make payments to the council, allowing a volunteer to go shopping on behalf of the resident, delivering the shopping and any change.
North Tyneside council took 1,893 payments, turning £82,874 into petty cash so that volunteers could go shopping for their residents.
Following the positive impact the GN scheme had on local residents during COVID-19 pandemic, North Tyneside CCG are looking at how to invest remaining funding from a three-year 2018 voluntary, charity and social enterprise (VCSE) grants programme in 2018 to reduce loneliness and isolation.


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Despite enforcement actions over the last six years that led to the shutdown of about half a dozen online illegal drug sales websites, there are still close to 30 illegal online markets, according to the website DarknetLive. This week, customers could score five grams of heroin — “first hand quality no mix” — for 0.021 Bitcoin (roughly $170), or a tenth of a gram of crack cocaine for 0.0017 Bitcoin (roughly $14) on the market known as Berlusconi, reports the New York Times. The fight against online drug sales is starting to resemble the war on drugs in the physical world. There are raids, sites are taken down, arrests are made, and the trade and markets pop up somewhere else.
Dark web markets are viewed as a crucial source of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids. These drugs are often produced in China and sent to users found on the dark net. The packages flowing from China are blamed for expanding the opioid crisis. Illicit online drug sales have grown since the shutdown of Silk Road, the original dark net market that came online in 2011 and initially offered only a small selection of psychedelic mushrooms. When the authorities took down the Silk Road in 2013 and jailed its creator, Ross Ulbricht, there was a widespread assumption that his failure would deter imitators. The dealers who had been selling the drugs on the market migrated to competing sites set up with a similar infrastructure, using the Tor web browser, which hides the location of the websites and their viewers, and Bitcoin, which allows for essentially anonymous payments. In early 2018, the FBI created the Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement team, or J-Code, with more than a dozen special agents and staff.


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LEBANON, SUBSIDY PLAN FOR EXPORTS BY SEA EXTENDED
The IDAL, the Authority for Development and Investment in Lebanon, said that the Government has decided to extend the program of subsidies to exports until 31 March 2017 (Resolution No. 134/2016).
The Government has not yet allocated additional funds to the program from its initial allocation of 14 million dollars. Since its beginning 18 September 2015, the program has used about 4.6 million dollars. The grant scheme will then continue, but only until exhaustion of the funds already allocated.
This aid scheme is intended to offset the additional costs caused by the redirection of exports to Arab countries by sea, following the closure in April 2015 the Syrian-Jordanian border. The incentive system applies to all exports of agricultural and industrial products provides for the payment of subsidies to ship owners – after approval of IDAL – trucks carrying goods to Aqaba in Jordan to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and in Dubai in the UAE.


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For our final PFTV segment of the week, we look at the general question of whether it makes sense to spend big money on free agents.
Though activity has been consistent with past seasons in the uncapped year (more on that in a bit), the pool of talent arguably isn’t as deep.
As usual, we’ll shut up before we write everything we’ve already said.
[UPDATE: Yes, we mentioned during the segment something about Thomas Jones wanting to get paid. He has been signed since we taped the segment. So we’re not stupid. OK, maybe we’re stupid. The Jones comment simply isn’t proof of it.]


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In an earnings call Fitbit's CEO was asked about whether the company was looking into regulated medical devices, his answer was essentially "yes."
“Look, I think it’s a pretty massive opportunity,” he said. “I think these devices are going to get increasingly more sophisticated over time, but there is obviously a lot of legal and regulatory challenges that we’re going to have to navigate. I think the great thing is that, due to our leadership position, we are very visible in Washington and I think we’re going to have a big seat at the table in driving those discussions, so it’s going to be a pretty big opportunity for us.”
This highlights the competition that pharma and medtech companies are facing from outside their industries. Just like Tesla is an upstart Silicone Valley competitor to the big auto manufacturers we should expect smaller firms to try and compete in healthcare. Whether they can be successful remains to be seen, but consider this from FitBit:
“Our investments in software have resulted in increasing retention of our users over time,” Park said on the call. “We noted that out of 18 million new registered devices users added in 2015, 72 percent were still active users at year end.”
Other stories from MobiHealthNews:
- Study: 12 percent of US consumers own a fitness band or smartwatch
- Researchers develop algorithm to turn any phone into a clinically-accurate spirometer
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