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An anonymous reader shares a report: A former Microsoft worker has been arrested and charged with mail fraud, in an alleged scheme to steal $10 million worth of digital currency from his ex-employer and use the funds to finance extravagant purchases, including a Tesla and lakefront home. Volodymyr Kvashuk, a 25-year-old software developer and Ukrainian citizen who worked for Microsoft from 2016 to 2018, allegedly took advantage of a testing program meant to simulate customer purchases. He made test accounts to obtain Microsoft gift cards and then sold some or all of them through online resellers.
The database of Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency (NRA), which was hacked over the weekend and sent to local reporters, is now being shared on hacking forums, ZDNet has learned from sources in the threat intelligence community. From a report: Download links to the hacked database have been shared by a hacked data trader known as Instakilla, believed to be operating out of Bulgaria. ZDNet obtained a copy of the database and verified its authenticity with local sources, and this is a copy of the same database sent to local media over the weekend. The database contains 57 folders, 10.7 GB in size, and holds personal and financial information consistent with what Bulgarian newspapers reported receiving over the weekend. This includes personally identifiable information, tax information, from both the NRA, and from other government agencies who shared their data.
Back in 2015, Apple introduced pressure-sensitive iPhone screens alongside 3D Touch as a potentially major hardware-software innovation, but barely supported the feature, leading to informed speculation that all of 2019's iPhones would lose their pressure-sensing hardware. This week's release of the fourth iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 developer betas appears to put the final nail in 3D Touch's coffin, tightening up the responsiveness of its replacement: Context Menus. From a report: If you aren't already familiar with 3D Touch, the concept was simple: slight, medium, and heavy pressure on an iPhone's screen could be recognized differently, such that a light press would open an app while a firm press in the same spot would instead conjure up a contextual menu. Apple sometimes nested additional "peek and pop" features within iPhone apps using the same pressure sensitivity, giving users extra options if they pressed down more on the screen.
Over the last few beta releases of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, Apple has been rolling out a replacement called Context Menus -- a change it set the stage for last year by releasing the iPhone XR without 3D Touch hardware. Back then, Apple said it was giving the XR an alternative called "Haptic Touch" that pulled up the same sort of contextual menus as earlier iPhones, but did so using two tricks: Instead of pressure, it sensed button press time, counting an extra split-second as a stronger button press, confirming the different intent with a "thump" from the phone's vibration feature. Now iPad users will get a version of Haptic Touch minus the haptics.
ZDNet: Slack published more details about a password reset operation that ZDNet reported earlier today. According to a statement the company published on its website, the password reset operation is related to the company's 2015 security breach. In March 2015, Slack said hackers gained access to some Slack infrastructure, including databases storing user credentials. Hackers stole hashed passwords, but they also planted code on the company's site to capture plaintext passwords that users entered when logging in. At the time, Slack reset passwords for users who it believed were impacted, and also added support for two-factor authentication for all accounts. But as ZDNet reported earlier today, the company recently received a batch of Slack users credentials, which prompted the company to start an investigation into its source and prepare a password reset procedure. "We immediately confirmed that a portion of the email addresses and password combinations were valid, reset those passwords, and explained our actions to the affected users," Slack said. In a message on its website, Slack said this batch of credentials came via its bug bounty program. The company said it initially believed the data came from users who had their PCs infected with malware, or users who reused passwords across different services.
There are now upward of 700,000 podcasts, according to the podcast production and hosting service Blubrry, with between 2,000 and 3,000 new shows launching each month. From a report: The frequency with which podcasts start (and then end, or "podfade," as it's coming to be known in the trade) has produced a degree of cultural exhaustion. We're not necessarily sick of listening to interesting programs; but we're definitely tired of hearing from every friend, relative and co-worker who thinks they're just an iPhone recording away from creating the next "Serial." "Anyone can start one and so anyone who thinks they can start one will do it," said Nicholas Quah, who runs an industry newsletter called Hot Pod. "It's like the business of me." "Being a podcast host plays into people's self-importance," said Karen North, a clinical professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. And it projects that importance to others. Public speaking and consulting gigs now often go to "the person who's the expert and has the podcast," she said.
People use all kinds of metrics to tout the popularity of their shows, whether it's the number of iTunes reviews they get or the total downloads they receive per month. These metrics mean different things and don't necessarily connote success. And as recent social media scandals have shown, popularity can be purchased. But Dr. North said that having a big audience doesn't necessarily matter. "When people interview experts, even if nobody ever listens to the podcast, hosts get the benefit of learning from and networking with the guest," she said. "It's a great stunt." Call him cynical, but Jordan Harbinger, host of "The Jordan Harbinger Show" podcast, thinks there is a "podcast industrial complex." Hosts aren't starting shows "because it's a fun, niche hobby," he said. "They do it to make money or because it will make them an influencer."
Netflix said on Wednesday that it will roll out a cheaper subscription plan in India, one of the last great growth markets for global companies, as the streaming giant scrambles to find ways to accelerate its slowing growth worldwide. From a report: The company added 2.7 million new subscribers in the quarter that ended in June this year, it said today, far fewer than the 5 million figure it had forecasted earlier this year. The company said lowering its subscription plan, which starts at $9 in the U.S., would help it reach more users in India and expand its overall subscriber base. The new plan will be available in India in Q3. According to third-party research firms, Netflix has fewer than 2 million subscribers in India. Netflix started to test a lower-priced subscription plan in India and some other markets in Asia late last year. The plan restricts the usage of the service to one mobile device and offers only the standard definition viewing (~480p). During the period of testing, which was active as of two months ago, the company charged users as low as $4. [...] For Netflix, the decision to lower its pricing in India comes at a time when it has hiked the subscription cost in many parts of the world in recent quarters. In the U.S., for instance, Netflix said earlier this year that it would raise its subscription price by up to 18%.
Uber passengers in multiple cities were startled Wednesday when they were charged 100 times the advertised fare for short trips, a glitch that sparked jokes about surge pricing gone wild. From a report: Riders in cities including Washington and San Diego took to social media to post about the sky-high rates, a problem that Uber confirmed, although it declined to say how widespread the issue was. Some who ordered food for quick delivery said they were also overcharged. One social media user reported that Uber maxed out her husband's card with a charge of $1,905, when it was supposed to be $19.05. "Not cool, especially on his birthday," she added. Another woman posted to social media that she was charged $1,308 for a $13.08 trip. The charge was so high it triggered a fraud alert, according to a screen shot the rider posted on Twitter.
Uber said the glitch has been fixed. The company said the fare would be corrected so riders are charged only the amount for their actual trip, though they may temporarily see an inaccurate trip fare on their credit or debit cards. Passengers won't need to dispute the charges with their banks.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from PetaPixel: Amazon discounted a wide range of camera gear for Prime Day this week, but some photographers scored what may be the best deals of their lives. Thanks to a pricing error, many people were able to purchase high-end camera gear bundles, some worth over $5,000, for just around $100. It all started when someone noticed that the $550 Sony a6000 and 16-50mm lens bundle was being listed at just $94.50 on Amazon, and the person shared the "deal" on Slickdeals, where it hit the front page.
Many users were able to see the same price and place orders, while other users reported still seeing the normal price of $550. And it wasn't 3rd-party sellers that the $94.50 price applied to -- the gear was being sold and shipped by Amazon. But then people noticed that other cameras and bundles were also being sold for $94.50, and that's when the real frenzy started. "Literally everything is $94.48," one member writes. "I have bought like 10k worth of stuff that was like 900 dollars total." "I got a $13,000 lens for $94," another member writes regarding their Canon EF 800mm f/5.6L IS order. "LOL waiting for the cancellation but thats like 99.3% off." Other members spoke to Amazon customer service about their order and were told that the order would indeed ship. Others also reported that they successfully price matched gear at retailers such as Best Buy and Walmart.
DoNotPay, a free chatbot that offers AI-powered legal counsel, has a new service called Free Trial Card that will help you cancel free trials before you get charged. Wired reports: The Free Trial Card is a virtual credit card you can use to sign up for free trials of any service anonymously, instead of using your real credit card. When the free trial period ends, the card automatically declines to be charged, thus ending your free trial. You don't have to remember to cancel anything. If you want, the app will also send an actual legal notice of cancelation to the service. The DoNotPay app will send you an email when you sign up for a service and another when your trial ends -- a way of nudging you with the reminder that if you want to convert your trial into a paid subscription, you'll need to update your payment info and hand over your actual credit card number.
In an interview with Norah O'Donnell of "CBS Evening News," Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos explained why he's investing much of his Amazon fortune in the development of space technologies through his aerospace company Blue Origin. Why? "Because I think it's important," Bezos said. "I think it is important for this planet. I think it's important for the dynamism of future generations. It is something I care deeply about. And it is something I have been thinking about all my life." From the report: Bezos -- who says "you don't choose your passions, your passions choose you" -- became fascinated with space when he was a child watching astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong land on the moon, he tells O'Donnell. Further, developing space technologies is critical for human beings to have a long future, Bezos says. "We humans have to go to space if we are going to continue to have a thriving civilization," Bezos says. "We have become big as a population, as a species, and this planet is relatively small. We see it in things like climate change and pollution and heavy industry. We are in the process of destroying this planet. And we have sent robotic probes to every planet in the solar system -- this is the good one. So, we have to preserve this planet."
To do that will require being able to live and work in space, says Bezos. "We send things up into space, but they are all made on Earth. Eventually it will be much cheaper and simpler to make really complicated things, like microprocessors and everything, in space and then send those highly complex manufactured objects back down to earth, so that we don't have the big factories and pollution generating industries that make those things now on Earth," Bezos says. "And Earth can be zoned residential." It will be "multiple generations" and "hundreds of years" before this is a reality, Bezos said on CBS, but with Blue Origin he is working to develop the technology that will make it possible.
Todd Austin, a professor at the University of Michigan, is working on an approach known as Morpheus that aims to frustrate hackers trying to gain control of microchips by presenting them with a rapidly changing target. At a conference in Detroit this week organized by the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Austin described how the prototype Morpheus chip works. MIT Technology Review reports: The aim is to make it incredibly difficult for hackers to exploit key software that helps govern the chip's operation. Morpheus does this by repeatedly randomizing elements of the code that attackers need access to in order to compromise the hardware. This can be achieved without disrupting the software applications that are powered by the processor. Austin has been able to get the chip's code "churning" to happen once every 50 milliseconds -- way faster than needed to frustrate the most powerful automated hacking tools. So even if hackers find a vulnerability, the information needed to exploit it disappears in the blink of an eye.
There's a cost to all this: the technology causes a slight drop in performance and requires somewhat bigger chips. The military may accept this trade-off in return for greater security on the battlefield, but it could limit Morpheus's appeal to businesses and consumers. Austin said a prototype has already resisted every known variant of a widely-used hacking technique known as a control-flow attack, which does things like tampering with the way a processor handles memory in order to allow hackers to sneak in malware. More tests lie ahead. A team of U.S. national security experts will soon begin probing the prototype chip to see if they can compromise its defenses, and Austin also plans to post some of Morpheus's code online so that other researchers can try to find flaws in it, too.
Author and programmer Jeff Geerling explains in a blog post why the new Raspberry Pi 4 needs a fan. Unlike previous Pis that didn't require a fan or heatsink to avoid CPU throttling, the Pi 4 is a different beast and "pretty much demands a fan," writes Geerling. "Not only does the CPU get appreciably hot even under normal load, there are a number of other parts of the board that heat up to the point they are uncomfortable to touch." After 5 minutes at idle, he recorded the CPU/System-on-a-Chip (SoC) was around 60C, and it climbed to the 60-70C range when using the USB ports.
"[I]magine if you're truly using the Pi 4 as a desktop replacement, with at least one external USB 3.0 hard drive attached, WiFi connected and transferring large amounts of data, a USB keyboard and mouse, a few browser windows open (the average website these days might as well be an AAA video game with how resource-intense it is), a text editor, and a music player," writes Geerling. "This amount of load is enough to cause the CPU to throttle in less than 10 minutes." So, Geerling did what any programmer and DIYer would do and decided to add a fan himself to the official case -- and in addition to the blog post describing the process, he made a 22-minute-long video showing you what he did. From the post: Without any ventilation, it's kind of a little plastic oven inside the Pi 4 case. A heat sink might help in some tiny way, but that heat has nowhere to go! So I decided to follow the lead of Redditor u/CarbyCarberson and put a fan in the top cover. [...] After installing the fan, I booted the Pi and ran "stress --cpu 4" and let it go for an hour. The entire time, the CPU's temperature stayed at or under 60C (140F), a full 20C lower than the throttling point.
There are some other options which may be even easier than modifying the official case, like the Fan Shim from Pimoroni or purchasing a 3rd party case with a fan built in. But this option was easy enough and all I needed to complete the project was a $4 fan and a $7 hole saw drill bit (which I can use for other projects in the future).
The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $70 million to state schools to replace more than 200 diesel school buses with new, all-electric school buses. Electrek reports: The commission approved the funding this week. A total of $89.8 million has now been earmarked for new electric buses at schools in 26 California counties, as the commission's School Bus Replacement Program works toward this goal. A study published in Economics of Education Review last month showed diesel retrofits had positive results on both respiratory health and test scores. Eliminating emissions from these buses completely will do even more to protect children from dangerous emissions while cutting air pollution. The new buses will eliminate nearly 57,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and nearly 550 pounds of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions annually.
The exact number of buses going to California school districts is unclear -- the energy commission only says "more than 200." If the entirety of the $70 million went to just 200 buses, that'd be $350,000 per bus. But while the exact cost of each bus is unknown, the commission does estimate that "schools will save nearly $120,000 in fuel and maintenance costs per bus over 20 years." Some estimates have noted that electric school buses tend to cost about $120,000 more than diesel buses -- if that's the case here, the price will be equal in the end, with added health benefits. Funding for the electric buses is supplied by the voter-approved California Clean Energy Jobs Act, and the commission's Clean Transportation Program will provide the charging infrastructure to support the buses.
Oakland, California has followed San Francisco and Somerville, Massachusetts in banning the use of facial recognition in public spaces. Motherboard reports: A city ordinance passed Tuesday night which prohibits the city of Oakland from "acquiring, obtaining, retaining, requesting, or accessing" facial recognition technology, which it defines as "an automated or semi-automated process that assists in identifying or verifying an individual based on an individual's face." The ordinance amends a 2018 law which requires any city staff member to get approval from the chair of Oakland's Privacy Advisory Commission before "seeking or soliciting funds" for surveillance technology. State and federal funding for surveillance technology must also be approved by the chair, per the ordinance. According to a public memo by Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Council President, the ban was instituted on the basis that facial recognition is often inaccurate, lacks established ethical standards, is invasive in nature, and has a high potential for government abuse.
Downtown connection Halifax is your one stop shop for everything in downtown Halifax Nova Scotia.
It starts with downtown and moves you all around.
This downtown Halifax portal provides the right connection to the downtown of your choice.
Halifax Nova Scotia is where it all starts.


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Alan Wake 2 is a survival horror game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Epic Games.
Unlike its predecessor, it is an out-and-out survival horror experience.
Accessible anytime, the Mind Place is where Saga investigates the case, arranging clues on the Case Board and checking objectives.
Creative director Sam Lake says the team created a new concept for Alan Wake 2 "between every game project we have made."
Remedy's head of VFX Johannes Richter does reiterate that the focus is more on "spine-chilling atmosphere and psychological frights."
"We didn't want to release something that we weren't proud of, basically, and we didn't want players to play," said Remedy's Kyle Rowley.
With Alan Wake 2's release quickly approaching, we analyse the many factors surrounding its release and deduce whether or not the game is sailing through some troubled waters at the moment.
Remedy Entertainment is looking at "modern" films like Hereditary and Midsommar in addition to "classic art-house horror films."
Remedy Entertainment's long-awaited survival horror sequel is going to be e meaty experience, the developer has revealed.
"Whether they buy Alan Wake 2 or Spider-Man 2 isn’t really what we’re thinking about. We just want to put forward our game and present it to the players," says co-director Kyle Rowley.
Players will have the freedom to choose which character they want to play as and experience the story with, the developers explain.
"We wanted to basically allow players to replay through the game," says Alan Wake 2 co-director Kyle Rowley.
New playable character Saga Anderson investigates the woods in pursuit of a lead and encounters an axe-wielding foe in the darkness.
In addition to new locations, several locations from the original game will also be recreated, including Cauldron Lake.
FBI profiler Saga Anderson is new to the Bright Falls area, and finds herself pulled into a mysterious string of murders.
On June 8th, creative director Sam Lake joins Geoff Keighley live on stage to showcase the upcoming survival horror title.
"We did say in 2021 that we're gonna push the graphics hard on this one. I think we'll have the best-looking game in 2023," said Thomas Puha.
Remedy says not releasing a physical version will allow the game to be released at a price of $60 on consoles and $50 on PC.
The titular novelist will be joined by FBI agent Saga Anderson, who arrives in Bright Falls to investigate a string of ritualistic murders.
In addition to the two expansions, called called Night Springs and The Lake House, the survival horror title will also see free post-launch updates.
Remedy Entertainment's survival horror sequel looks impressive in its debut gameplay trailer. An October launch has been confirmed.
Alan Wake voice actor Matthew Porretta says Remedy Entertainment's highly anticipated survival horror sequel is set to launch this October.
"Alan Wake 2 is on its way to becoming a great game and has everyone excited at Remedy," the developer says about its survival horror title.
According to XboxEra's Nick Baker, the survival horror title is "pretty far along," which is in line with Remedy stating it would launch in 2023.
The studio behind Max Payne, Alan Wake, Control, and more has updated its logo for the first time in over 20 years.
Alan Wake 2 is reportedly hitting later this year and here are 14 things we don’t want Remedy to implement in it.
Remedy Entertainment reiterates that its long-awaited survival horror sequel is making good progress behind the scenes and will launch this year.
Starting with Alan Wake 2 in 2023, Remedy Entertainment plans to release a new game ever year, on top of "additional free and paid content."
Remedy says the game, which is due out sometime this year, will soon be content-complete, following which the developer will shift focus to polishing the experience.
However, those familiar with the Remedy Connected Universe will find plenty of "connections, pieces of lore, and familiar characters".
"Gameplay, narrative, atmosphere, music – it’s all singing from the same hymn sheet," says game director Kyle Rowley.
"I feel like I never left Alan Wake behind. There was always the full intention to return to him," says creative director Sam Lake.
Remedy CEO Tero Virtala says, "There is still a lot of work to be done, but the game is coming together on all fronts."
Writer and creative director Sam Lake shares a brief update on the writing process of Remedy Entertainment's upcoming survival horror sequel.
No royalty revenue earned from Alan Wake Remastered in Q1 2022 due to Epic Games having yet to "recoup its development and marketing expenses."
Additionally, Remedy has also released some new concept art for Alan Wake 2 which showcases the stunning art direction for this sequel.
Ilkka Villi and Matthew Porretta, who provided the appearance and voice for Alan Wake respectively in the first game, will be returning for the sequel.
Remedy Entertainment will stick with its in-house engine for the upcoming survival horror game, and is promising big things where the visuals are concerned.
Remedy Entertainment's long-awaited sequel will be its first survival horror title. More details are slated to come in Summer 2022.
Alan Wake 2, rumoured to be in development at Remedy Entertainment in partnership with Epic Games, might be announced tomorrow.
Remedy Entertainment's headcount has grown to nearly 300 people, and the developer has provided updates on several upcoming projects.
Remedy has five games in development.
Epic Games reportedly offered the best publishing deal for the sequel.
The agreement entails full development funding, 50/50 revenue split, and more.
Talk about some mixed emotions.
Sam Lake still wants to do a follow up to the beloved thriller.
Will we ever see more of Remedy's horror thriller?
Remedy Entertainment's beloved horror-thriller almost got the sequel it deserved.
Apparently, sequels for both games depend on Microsoft's buy in.
Alan Wake 2 will have to be on Remedy's terms according to Sam Lake.
"The developer has to want to make the game.”
The new project is being worked on for at least nine months.
But Remedy still interested in doing a follow up if they can.
'We said, let's make it something bigger.'
"You need the right funding. You need the right concept," says Sam Lake.
Director is still hopeful it's coming.
Creative director says there's been discussion internally about a possible sequel.
'Someday, when the time is right.'
"I would definitely love to do more Wake."
Alan Wake was an interesting case of expectations. No one knew what to really expect, so opinions were mixed. But there was a general consensus that it took too long to come out. This hasn't phas... Read More
Alan Wake is one of the cult hits of this generation, with the former Xbox exclusive game widely hailed for its captivating atmosphere and storytelling. However, low sales of the first game all but ... Read More
Remedy's Oskari Hakkinen, had a lot to say about the studio's design choices in creating Alan Wake in an interview with OXM. When asked about Alan Wake 2, and what direction the studio might take fo... Read More
Spike, hosts of the annual Video Game Awards, announced recently in a press release that an all new BioWare game from a new franchise and Alan Wake 2 will be among the several reveals made at the aw... Read More
A recent rumour in this month's issue of Xbox World Magazine states that Alan Wake 2 and Saints Row 4 are both in development for Microsoft's next generation home console. Xbox World’s Insider co... Read More
Remedy has posted a job listing over at Gamasutra which reveals that they are looking for a producer for a "AAA" console project exclusive to the Xbox 360. Alan Wake 2. Bingo! This bodes well wit... Read More

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World of Days Gone Highlighted in New Video
Ahead of its release for the PlayStation 4 on April 26, Sony Interactive Entertainment and SIE Bend Studio have released a new video for Days Gone that takes a look at its world.
The video, which can be seen below, features Creative Director John Garvin as he talks more about the game. He stresses that everything is trying to kill you in this game, and has created a world that is not seen too often in video games. The danger of the game comes from the Freaker threat, the marauders, the weather, and other threats.
The World of Days Gone | PS4
Learn more about the story behind NIS America’s Disgaea 6: Defiance of Destiny with the latest story trailer for the SRPG
All PlayStation Plus subscribers will be able to add Worms Rumble, Just Cause 4 and Rocket Arena to their libraries this December


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Active Sports is shutting down its retail store and warehouse in Little Canada, affecting about 90 workers.
Active Sports, a mostly online retailer of outdoor gear including bikes and snowboards, said in a letter to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development that it is restructuring its operations.
Active Sports is owned by Illinois-based retailer Camping World Holdings Inc.
Camping World acquired Active Sports and its online component The-House.com in August 2017. The-House website currently is holding a liquidation sale.
A representative of Camping World could not be reached for comment. Camping World also acquired Minnesota's Gander Mountain chain through a bankruptcy auction in 2017.
The publicly traded Camping World released financial results last month showing that its fourth-quarter sales were down 7.1%. Retailers everywhere are facing challenges in the current economic climate.
Marcus Lemonis, known for hosting the CNBC reality show "The Profit," is the CEO of Camping World.


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Sweden’s IKEA said on Thursday that it has temporarily closed all its stores in China because of the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
The decision to close all of its 30 stores follows an announcement from world’s biggest furniture retailer on Wednesday that it was closing around half of its stores and shortening the opening hours.
The total number of confirmed deaths from the coronavirus in China has risen by 38 to 170 as of Wednesday, as the number of infected patients rose by more than 1,700.
McDonald’s shuts down all branches in coronavirus-hit Chinese provinceUS fast-food giant McDonald’s said on Wednesday it closed all of its restaurants in Hubei, the Chinese province at the epicenter of a virus ... Variety
China coronavirus death toll surges to 170, more than 1,700 new casesThe nationwide death toll from China’s coronavirus epidemic has leaped to 170, the government said on Thursday, with more than 1,700 new ... World News
Four family members infected with coronavirus in UAEFour people from the same Chinese family are infected with coronavirus in the UAE, state news agency WAM on reported on Wednesday. The family infected ... Gulf
How to protect your children from coronavirusThe coronavirus is currently classified as an epidemic and continues to spread. The virus, also known as corona, began in Wuhan, China, and has ... World News


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GDP Growth Set a Record Pace, but Recovery Only Two-Thirds of the Way There
|The economy expanded at an annualized pace of 33.1% during 3Q20, a record pace of growth but one that was expected after the severe pandemic-induced slowdown this spring. The annualized figure translates into a 7.4% increase over the prior quarter, and the economy has now regained approximately two-thirds of the losses suffered earlier this year.
The pace of the recovery to date has been rapid compared to the rebound from the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), when the economy took four quarters to recoup a similar level of relative losses and another four quarters to surpass the pre-GFC peak. With the easiest gains now behind us and headwinds picking up, the question for the current recovery now shifts to ‘how long until a return to pre-COVID-19 levels of activity?’
For some sectors of the economy, the answer is ‘we are already there.’ For example, seasonally adjusted personal consumption of durable goods, such as motor vehicles, furnishings, and recreational goods and vehicles, stands 6.7% above 4Q19 levels. And spending on nondurable goods is up 4.0% relative to 4Q19, while fixed residential investment has increased 5.1%.
Other sectors of the economy, however, still face a long road to full rebound, providing further evidence of a K-shaped recovery. Personal spending on services remains 7.7% below 4Q19 levels on a seasonally adjusted basis, which is likely due to many services, such as healthcare and food services, require face-to-face contacts that could present a risk of infection. Nonresidential investment, which includes spending on business equipment and structures, came in 4.9% below 4Q19 figures.
Contribution to 3Q20 GDP
Consumer Spending Notches Fifth Consecutive Month of Gains, but Faces Uncertainty
|After fueling the strong headline 3Q20 GDP figure noted above, consumer spending improved another 1.4% during September, marking the fifth straight month of increases. Consumer spending nationwide now hovers 2.0% below pre-pandemic levels.
The September figure bodes well for the recovery during 4Q20, but at the same time uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus are likely to continue to hamper consumer activity. According to Opportunity Insights, the rebound in consumer spending has stalled in Midwestern states in recent weeks where new case counts are surging. And consumer spending in states with stricter lockdowns, such as California and New York, continues to lag the U.S. pace of recovery.
Unemployment is also likely to generate additional headwinds moving forward as many households grapple with lost or reduced income. After five consecutive months of gains, nonfarm payrolls still stand 10.7 million jobs lower than before the pandemic. And of these losses, permanent job losses have risen steadily over the past several months to 3.8 million.
In addition, many consumers remain unsure about their financial prospects as well as the broader economic situation. While the University of Michigan consumer sentiment edged up 140 basis points during October to 81.8, the index is still 19.2 percentage points below February levels.
Slowdown in Multifamily Construction Outweighs Pickup in Single-Family Activity
|Multifamily construction activity has slackened during the pandemic as apartment developers have demonstrated caution in an uncertain economic environment. Construction starts for structures with five or more units decreased 11.9% YOY during April to September, according to the Census Bureau. Multifamily permits fell even further by 15.3% YOY during the same time period.
With the slowdown, the pace of multifamily construction activity now more closely aligns with its long-run average after an uptick in starts and permits during 2019. Last year’s increase in activity helps explain the 10% YOY increase in multifamily construction underway.
The deceleration in multifamily development has pulled down the pace of overall residential construction, which had never recovered to pre-GFC levels due to supply constraints across the country. Combining single-family and multifamily product, construction starts and permits are down 1.4% YOY and 2.1% YOY since the pandemic started.
If prolonged, the slowdown in multifamily construction could increase already-significant shortages of affordable housing that predate the coronavirus in many major markets nationwide. Class B/C product accounted for 9.2% of multifamily deliveries in 2007 prior to the GFC but represented only 2.1% of new supply during 2019, according to REIS.
Monthly Housing Starts, Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate (Thousands of Housing Units)
The Weekly Briefing - November 2nd, 2020
The Weekly Briefing – November 2nd, 2020:
In This Week’s Brief:
- GDP Growth Set a Record Pace, but Recovery Only Two-Thirds of the Way There
- Consumer Spending Notches Fifth Consecutive Month of Gains, but Faces Uncertainty
- Slowdown in Multifamily Construction Outweighs Pickup in Single-Family Activity


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Mondelez recently announced its Q3FY2023 financial results, reporting net revenue growth of 16.3% year-on-year to US$9bn and gross profit growth of 20.1% year-on-year to US$3.5bn. During a call with investors to report these results, Mondelez Chairman and CEO Dirk Van de Put told the floor that the firm’s well known snacking brands such as Oreo and Cadbury continued going strong despite an apparent increase in competition from supermarket private label products such as house brand chocolates or biscuits which are usually cheaper.
“Consumers continue to prefer our widely-loved brands over private label alternatives,” he said. “This is particularly clear in emerging markets, where consumer confidence remains strong and we continue to see resilient underlying demand. In fact, we are seeing lower price sensitivity [for snacks] as compared to in developed markets – this shows that there is clearly a strong preference for branded products in this region.”
Mondelez’s definition of emerging markets primarily consists of Asia (except Japan), the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and various Eastern European markets. “Looking at results from emerging markets alone, Q3 has delivered strong growth in volume and value at 4% and 24% respectively,” he added. “These very healthy results make us confident that there are strong opportunities to drive expanded distribution and create new snacking occasions here.”
Mondelez CFO Luca Zaramella reported that emerging markets made up 39% of the firm’s total revenue over the past nine months in 2023. “Our business has proven to be resilient in these emerging markets, having grown 19% in this quarter,” he said. “Across the board, chocolates, biscuits and baked snacks have all delivered double digit growth in the past quarter as well – Biscuits and backed snacks made up 50% of our total revenue growing 12.4%; whereas Chocolates made up 30% of our total revenue and grew 14.9%.” Pricing adjustments were reported as 12%, but what was not highlighted in the announcement was that over half of growth in all of these categories was generated by pricing adjustments.
Given the undeniable economic instability and inflationary pressures ongoing in the market, in order to maintain profitability the firm is being more selective about its investments, choosing to focus on areas that will hopefully bring down costs and spur further consumer demand. “The three main areas we have been selectively investing into are digital services, marketing and sales, and this will continue into next year,” Zaramella added. “All the rest has been kept absolutely controlled [though we will definitely] continue investing into sales capabilities particularly in emerging markets [given the enormous potential there].”
Van der Put also highlighted the snack bar categories as the next big thing for the firm. “Snack bars are going to be a very big opportunity for us, especially when looking at the potential in the rest of the world [outside of the United States],” he said. “The snack bar development here has been far ahead of the rest of the world, so in the years to come there is a lot of development to be anticipated.” Mondelez has already entered the snack bar category with several brands such as Clif, Grenade and Perfect Snacks.


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Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2021 second quarter ended March 27, 2021. The Company posted a March quarter record revenue of $89.6 billion, up 54 percent year over year, and quarterly earnings per diluted share of $1.40. International sales accounted for 67 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“This quarter reflects both the enduring ways our products have helped our users meet this moment in their own lives, as well as the optimism consumers seem to feel about better days ahead for all of us,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Apple is in a period of sweeping innovation across our product lineup, and we’re keeping focus on how we can help our teams and the communities where we work emerge from this pandemic into a better world. That certainly begins with products like the all-new iMac and iPad Pro, but it extends to efforts like the 8 gigawatts of new clean energy we’ll help bring onto the grid and our $430 billion investment in the United States over the next 5 years.”


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Even tiara-wearing socialites appreciate a good bargain.
Quirky art scenester Stacy Engman — who infamously sank her teeth into a fellow passenger on a flight from Instanbul to JFK in 2016 — told us she recently hit the jackpot at Christie’s when she bought a tiara worth $6 million by “Marie Antoinette’s jeweler” for a mere $35,000.
Bidding began at $15,000 and Engman nabbed the deal at the auction house’s magnificent jewels sale, she said, by outmaneuvering a pal in the bidding. The tiara was made by famed French jewelry house Mellerio, she claims. The brand dates back to the 17th century.
“They sold it for garage sale prices! There must’ve been some intern or junior staffer who listed it for 15 grand because nobody seemed to realize it was a Mellerio piece. But I did!” she said. “It was made by Marie Antoinette’s jeweler and is worth $6 million.”
Engman — who owns thousands of tiaras and also designs them with over-the-top sunglasses — told us she recognized the piece because she’s also a Mellerio ambassador herself.
“I’ve seen the secret archives of Mellerio in Paris. They have secret archives of [Marie Antoinette’s] pieces in the safe, that’s how I spotted it,” she said.
But an insider familiar with the sale told us the auction house was aware it was a Mellerio tiara, and said Engman’s $6 million estimate may be inflated.
“They have multiple experts look at these things and appraise it before it’s catalogued. They do all the research. There’s a full due diligence process,” the auction source aid.
The highest previous sale of a Mellerio tiara was $735,000 in 2019, according to Artnet’s database.
Engman did not have her tiara appraised, and relied on her own art background instead, proclaiming herself the “queen of art royalty.”
“I did my masters at Sotheby’s in London. I’m an art curator, and the queen of art royalty. I’m one of the few royalty specialists,” she definitely said. “The American market doesn’t know as much about royalty. It’s not normal for the tiaras to come up in New York. There are very few. It usually comes up in the Zurich auction.”
She also claims her fancy Hamptons pals have been hitting her up and offering to buy it for “$6 or $7 million, people are quite interested.”
Engman says she plans to convert some of the elements of the piece into her signature tiara sunglasses.
“It’s going to be really fabulous as part of my art gallery … people purchase my own art royalty gem design collections and art garments,” she said.


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Partners See Growth Opportunities As Verizon Brings 5G Trials To SMB Customers, Consumers In 11 Cities This Year
Not to be outdone by rival AT&T, telecom giant Verizon is forging ahead with aggressive 5G buildout plans. The carrier revealed plans to pilot its 5G service in 11 markets by mid-2017.
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based Verizon, said it selected the 11 cities for 5G trials to test a variety of terrain, population density and neighborhoods. Samsung Electronics America, one of Verizon's 5G technology forum partners, will be involved in the trials in five of the 11 cities.
Beginning in April and running until June 2017, Verizon will pilot its "pre-commercial" 5G technology to customers in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Atlanta; Bernardsville, N.J.; Brockton, Mass.; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Miami; Sacramento, Calif.; Seattle; and Washington, D.C.
A spokesperson for Verizon told CRN that it will be targeting both residential customers and small businesses within its trial markets. Once available to the channel, partners will be able to access Verizon's 5G technology for SMB customers through Verizon's new division, Verizon Business Markets.
By targeting small-business customers with its 5G offering, Verizon is opening up new selling opportunities for channel partners, said Michael Wolfington, vice president of partner sales for Kingcom, a national Verizon Platinum partner.
"Historically, this customer segment has been largely dominated by the cable companies, so it's a massive growth opportunity for Verizon to target [that will] give customers increased options for their network needs," he said.
Portland, Ore.-based Kingcom is fielding questions and increased interest about 5G technology on a daily basis, Wolfington said.
Verizon has informed Kingcom that its initial plan is to make 5G available in the largest "NFL cities" in 2017 with a larger rollout slated for 2018, he added.
"Verizon has been somewhat limited in regard to their expectations for 5G's rollout, but they have communicated that it will deliver speeds at least 10 times faster than 4G, with [Quality of Service]. Even more exciting is the decreased headache customers will experience through implementation," he said.
Verizon's services division and Samsung Data Service America will be managing the trial deployments, Verizon said. Samsung's 5G Access Units have been installed throughout five of the 11 cities’ business and residential neighborhoods that Verizon has targeted for the trial.
The 5G trials will use the 28GHz spectrum and advanced beamforming technology. Access units will communicate radio signals to a virtualized core network that is set up within Verizon’s data centers, according to the carrier.
In addition to Samsung, Verizon's 5G Technology Forum partners include Ericsson, Intel and Qualcomm Technologies. These vendors are working on commercializing chipsets, infrastructure products and consumer devices for the 5G specification, the carrier said.
A formalized 5G standard isn't expected to be finalized until 2018, with a global rollout expected in the 2020 time frame, according to industry analysts. As it stands today, 5G standards and technology aren't consistent across all carriers.
AT&T is also aggressively pushing into 5G. The Dallas-based carrier in January said it getting ready to launch two "evolution markets" during 2017 that will receive peak wireless connectivity speeds of 400 Mbps. AT&T named Indianapolis and Austin, Texas, as its two first sites. The launch follows AT&T's 5G trial for business customers it conducted with Intel in 2016.


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It's about this point in time where the PSX 2016 organisers start to get fidgety, because everything is starting to leak. First up, Lara Croft Go – which almost certainly would have occupied the Gio Corsi segment of the press conference – has all but been confirmed for the PlayStation 4 and Vita. You can view its Trophies through here. You may remember that Hitman Go was announced at least year's event.
With the trinkets already locked and loaded, this could represent an "out now" moment. The game, which originally launched on smartphones, drew plenty of critical acclaim, so we're looking forward to giving this – ahem – a go.


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Safaricom’s subscribers will now access the internet at much faster speeds, following a $ 860,215 upgrade of the firm’s 3G network in Nairobi.
Subscribers on Safaricom’s Data Belt, an area served by 80 3G base stations covering Langata, Lavington, Westlands, Upperhill, South C, South B and parts of Industrial Area, which traditionally show high internet usage, will now have faster speeds that can potentially go up to 21Mbps.
Safaricom upgraded and has been testing its data network in these areas at for the last two weeks.
“We understand the huge potential of the internet as a tool that can bring about massive improvements in education, entertainment, health service provision, agriculture and other facets of life,” said Safaricom chief executive Bob Collymore.
Before the upgrade, the maximum speeds for a subscriber was at 7.2 Mbps while the maximum capability of a 3G base station was 14 Mbps. Following the latest upgrade, which cost about $ 10,753 per site, the user experience in terms of internet speeds is expected to at least double.
Average user internet speed is currently between 700 Kbps to 1.5 Mbps during busy hours.
With the upgrade and using a high speed modem, which are now available at Safaricom Shops, the user will now enjoy average speeds of between 2.5 and 3 Mbps during peak hours and maximum speeds in excess of 17 Mbps off-peak.
Actual speeds may not reach the maximum level as 3G is a shared resource and speeds are eventually dependant on usage levels at a given time.
Safaricom plans to further extend the data upgrade to the rest of Nairobi with another 50 sites earmarked for an identical revamp in the next three months before the program is taken to the rest of Nairobi and other key towns in Kenya, starting with Mombasa.
Mr Collymore noted that the move was a direct response to consumer concerns and promised that the firm would continue listening and acting upon user feedback.
The upgrade of Safaricom’s consumer data offering also saw the introduction of new modems to support the speeds. The modems also come with expandable memory.
Safaricom was the first Kenyan operator to commercially launch a 3G network after paying a $ 25 million license fee to the CCK in October 2007, defying market convention and ensuring that its subscribers accessed high speed mobile data. The technology was initially available in and around Nairobi but was later rolled throughout the country within a year.
Safaricom has been actively investing in its 3G networ
k, the only one in Kenya since it was launched. The network boasts the kind of wide reach and versatility that will ensure data customers take full advantage of the latest upgrade as the consumer data market continues to record rising demand.


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It seems as though the old Kylie Jenner if officially back!
Since she gave birth to her first daughter, Stormi, the 20-year-old has broken her silence and re-emerged on all of her social media accounts. Not only that, but Jenner has reportedly been hitting the gym hard as of late. As the Inquisitr reported last week, Kylie Jenner has been “obsessed” with getting her pre-baby body back, and by the looks of her Snapchat account, all that hard work is paying off.
Earlier today, the lip-kit mogul wowed fans with two short Snapchats video of her post-baby body. TMZ shared the flat tummy photos and also believes that maybe Kylie posted the videos on her Snapchat rather than her Instagram to make up for her tweet that said she doesn’t really open her Snapchat anymore, causing them to lose billions reportedly.
In the video, Jenner is wearing a tight black top and a black thong. The side-profile view on the video shows Jenner’s flat stomach without any trace of a baby bump. Kylie also flashed a front view of her stomach, and it already looks visibly toned. As fans know, Kylie gave birth exactly one month ago today.
When people caught wind of the photo on Jenner’s latest Snapchat story, they immediately took to Twitter to express their thoughts on the business mogul’s toned body.
“Kylie Jenner looks better 1 month after giving birth than I ever will or ever have.”
Kylie Jenner looks unreal???? https://t.co/F6DlxJk2hE
— Harper’s Bazaar (@harpersbazaarus) March 1, 2018
Another fan chimed in with, “One month postpartum and Kylie Jenner already looks bomb.”
In addition to sharing photos of her flat tummy, Jenner also shared a Snap of a room full of roses that she said were from her “baby daddy” Travis Scott. The video shows dozens and dozens of bouquets of gorgeous roses in Jenner’s home.
But this wasn’t the first time that Scott showed Kylie the love with a beautiful display of flowers. According to Us Magazine, Travis sent Kylie 443 white-stemmed roses to signify the time that their daughter Stormi was born on February 1.
Over the past few weeks, Jenner has stayed busy promoting her newest drop from her cosmetic line, titled “Eye of the Storm,” named after her daughter, Stormi. The new line has everything from eyeshadow to eyeliner to lip gloss. The collection just launched on her website yesterday, and many items have already sold out, according to the site.
Whether she’s posting about makeup or her daughter or body, one thing’s for sure — fans are on the edge of their seats to see what Jenner is going to post about next.


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(Adds content producers' worries)
WASHINGTON, June 24 (Reuters) - AT&T Inc's proposed merger with DirecTV does not compare with other mergers shaking up the telecommunications industry because the companies largely provide different services, AT&T's chief executive told lawmakers on Tuesday.
"This is not Comcast/Time Warner, this is not two cable companies getting together, this is not Sprint and T-Mobile," CEO Randall Stephenson said at a hearing on the proposed $48.5 billion merger before a House Judiciary Committee panel.
"We're putting (DirecTV's satellite) TV product with our broadband wireless product ... There is not a content player per se in this transaction."
A Senate Judiciary Committee panel also planned to hold a hearing on the deal, which is one of several proposed or considered mergers roiling the cable and wireless industries. The others are Comcast Corp's $45.2 billion bid for Time Warner Cable Inc and Sprint Corp's potential bid for T-Mobile US Inc.
Consumer advocates have raised red flags about industry consolidation, warning that content providers and consumers might face higher prices, despite reassurances to the contrary.
Content producers worry a combined company would become so powerful it would be able to discriminate among producers, determine programing costs and hamper content innovation. Smaller cable operators who will not be able to negotiate programming costs will also be at a disadvantage, they argued at hearings on Tuesday.
Stephenson and DirecTV CEO Michael White repeated their assurances to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this month that the merger would combine the complementary products to offer the bundles of video and broadband Internet services that consumers increasingly want.
"We've competed aggressively," White told lawmakers. "In recent years, however, broadband is changing everything. If we want to continue to compete effectively in today's Internet-driven economy, we must adapt as well."
AT&T, the No. 2 U.S. wireless carrier, told the FCC in a filing that the merger with the largest U.S. satellite TV provider would mean stronger competition for the cable companies, including in the areas where DirecTV and AT&T now overlap, and provide better Internet service to rural areas.
Lawmakers can be a major influence on merger deliberations. However, they will have no formal role in deciding whether the AT&T/DirecTV deal wins approval from the Justice Department, which must ensure the merger complies with antitrust law, and the FCC, which has a broader public-interest standard.
(Reporting by Alina Selyukh and Marina Lopes; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Andre Grenon)


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Buyers have snapped up eight out of 10 commercial properties at the first Burgess Rawson Sydney portfolio auction of 2020.
The highest-priced property to sell on Thursday was a retail asset in Lithgow leased to Supercheap Auto and BWS. It fetched $4.08 million, on a 6.05 per cent yield, and attracted bids from both Sydney and Melbourne.
The sole childcare centre in the line-up – a property in Kelso, near Bathurst, leased to G8 Education – sold for $2.01 million on a 6.4 per cent yield.
Following the devastating bushfires in January, the auction held positive signs for the NSW south coast market, with a group of shops in the tiny coastal village of Broulee – 20 minutes south of Batemans Bay – selling for $1.025 million on a yield of 10 per cent.
Agent Kieran Bourke said that the listing had received 101 inquiries, 11 contract requests and three bidders at auction.
“The south coast location was the main driver for inquiry, [along with] the affordability of the asset and there was a lot of nostalgia for this little long-established neighbourhood village, as many people know it from when they holiday in Broulee,” he said.
Other sales on the day included a restaurant in Rozelle, which fetched $2.05 million on a 6.75 per cent yield, and an IGA-occupied property in Brisbane’s Burpengary that sold for $2.3 million on a 7.69 per cent yield.
The cheapest sale of the day was a Gelatissimo ice cream shop in Coolangatta that sold for $796,000, on a 6.55 per cent yield.
Burgess Rawson director Dean Venturato had predicted earlier this week that commercial real estate’s relative “safe haven” status compared to the sharemarket would contribute to a strong result at the Sydney auction.
He told Commercial Real Estate that alternatives to commercial property were either “low return or high risk” and that looming global threats such as coronavirus would probably exacerbate this.
“The sharemarket is at an all-time high, which traditionally means a big correction is around the corner. Add to that the fact that interest rates are at an all-time low and money in the bank isn’t really achieving any returns,” he said.
Keep up with Commercial Real Estate news.


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By Sue Mitchell
The growing public angst about the health effects of sugar is having a major impact on Australia's big soft-drink makers, who are scrambling for alternatives to attract consumers looking to make life a little less sweet.
The trend means big bottlers like Coca-Cola Amatil and Pepsi/Schweppes are under pressure to step up investment in healthier beverages as consumers turn their backs on sugary soft drinks.
In a worrying sign for the major beverage bottlers, the shift away from sugar and low-sugar soft drinks is most pronounced in their target market, 18 to 34 year old consumers, despite new pack sizes, products and social media campaigns directly targeted at millenials.
According to a survey of more than 1500 consumers conducted in May by investment bank Morgan Stanley, 48 per cent of respondents do not consume or have cut back on consumption of carbonated soft drinks, or "CSDs", as they are known in the industry, over the last 12 months, compared with 45 per cent in 2013.
Amongst millenials, 40 per cent of respondents said they did not consume or had cut back on consumption of CSDs in the last 12 months, compared with 33 per cent in 2013.
The launch of new low-calorie soft drinks like Coca Cola Life has failed to lure consumers back to the CSD category. According to the survey, 55 per cent of respondents have cut back or do not consume low-calorie CSDs, up from 54 per cent in 2013, with 18 to 34 year old consumers cutting back at a faster rate than any other age bracket.
The survey was released as the The Coca-Cola Co's latest sales figures showed that still beverages such as water and iced tea are growing much faster than sparkling beverages and as a new study in the UK linked soft drink consumption to diabetes.
According to Food Navigator, a review of 17 independent studies by researchers at the University of Cambridge and published in the British Medical Journal estimated that a daily serving of sugar-sweetened beverages was associated with an 18 per cent increase in Type 2 diabetes, or 13 per cent adjusting for other risk factors such as obesity.
Artificially sweetened beverages were associated with an 8 per cent increase in diabetes and juice a 7 per cent increase.
Morgan Stanley analyst Tom Kierath said the major driver of declining CSD consumption was awareness of sugar content - even with low calorie CSDs.
More than 60 per cent of respondents cut back full-sugar CSDs because of the sugar content and 30 per cent of consumers cited sugar as the reason they cut back on low-cal CSDs.
Consumption of sports drinks and cordial has also fallen because of sugar concerns.
The biggest impediment to higher Coke Life consumption is that people think that it is unhealthy.Tom Kierath, Morgan Stanley
Bottlers such as Coca-Cola Amatil and Asahi Australia, which makes Schweppes and Pepsi, have stepped up investment in healthier beverages such as bottled water, coconut water, sports drinks, flavoured milk, ready to drink tea and mid-calorie colas sweetened with plant-based stevia to counter the long term decline in CSD consumption.
According to Morgan Stanley, one-third of households (and 49 per cent of millenials) had tried stevia-sweetened Coca-Cola Life, which has 35 per cent fewer calories than classic Coke.
However, 55 per cent said they considered it a substitute for Diet Coke and Coke Zero, suggesting that the new brand will cannibalise sales of low-calorie colas rather than generate incremental sales growth and restore volume growth to the brand, as Coca-Cola Amatil hopes.
"The biggest impediment to higher Coke Life consumption is that people think that it is unhealthy," said Mr Kierath.
In May, Coca-Cola Amatil dismissed suggestions that Coke Life had failed to hit the mark with consumers, saying repeat purchases were higher than Cadbury's popular Marvellous Creations chocolate bars.
After a horror year in 2014, when profits fell 25 per cent, Coca-Cola Amatil is reinvesting $100 million from cost savings into product innovation and marketing and is confident that earnings per share will stabilise this year before returning to mid-single-digit growth over the next few years.


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News by Topic
- Search Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Loyalty Marketing
- Mobile Marketing
- Social Marketing
- Viral Marketing
- Trends & Ideas
- Internet Marketing 101
Quarter of SMBs have no presence in local search results
Are small businesses doing enough to ensure success in an increasingly digital and social environment? Not really, according to new figures released this week by Marketecture.
In their recent infographic, Marketecture illustrates just how well small businesses are performing in today's online and social environment.
The good news is that small businesses see the value in social media - 86% consider Facebook valuable, 71% YouTube and 60% Twitter. Recent research by G/O Digital found that Facebook is the go-to social channel for consumers looking for small local businesses. Eighty percent of those surveyed by G/O Digital said they'd be more likely to make a purchase after seeing positive user comments on a company's Facebook Page and 41% rated seeing customer reviews and ratings as the most important aspect of a small business' Page.
However, that's about it in terms of good news. According to Marketecture's infographic, while 88% of consumers that search for small local businesses on mobile go on to call or visit that business, 25% of those businesses have no presence in Google or Bing local searches.
Furthermore, 60% of small businesses don't have a telephone number on their website. If, indeed, they even have a website. In 2013, a whopping 63% of small businesses relied on traditional methods of advertising and didn't have a website. Where have they been for the last decade?
- Britain has more female gamers than male
- Permission-based email marketers still finding inbox placement hard work
- Study: Mobile driving travel plans
- Study: Top retailers failing at email
- Study: Most shoppers engage via mobile before hitting stores
- Report: CPG brands reinvest in RTB
- Report: In mobile, color matters
- Vungle releases ad tool, integrates with Adap.TV
Featured White Papers
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Just as the shopping seasons guide demand in many categories, they shape the conversation around these categories as well. How...
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A Tight Labor Market Means Businesses Need to Be More Efficient
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the September 2019 unemployment rate hit a fresh 50-year low, matching a level it last saw in December 1969. The natural rate of unemployment is 4.7%-5.8%, so less than the natural rate presents challenges for businesses who cannot find enough qualified workers to keep operating at full capacity. This means that businesses, small and large, need to find ways to work smarter, be more efficient, and increase productivity. SAFIO Solutions helps companies do just that.
WORKFORCE CONCERNS AMID POSITIVE BUSINESS GROWTH
In the September jobs report, the National Federation of Independent Business said 57% of owners reported they are hiring or trying to hire workers, but 88% of these owners reported that they are having difficulty finding qualified candidates for the positions they are trying to fill. The NFIB, who calls itself “the voice of small business”, reported that 23% of business owners’ No. 1 problem is finding qualified workers.
“The strong labor demand is a clear indication that small business owners are optimistic about prospects for the economy. Hiring has slowed down, but it’s due to the inability to find qualified workers, not because of a lack of customers,” said NFIB’s Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg.
The new tax laws and a strong economy are very supportive of business growth and profitability. With the help of SAFIO Solutions, businesses can work smarter, not harder, to achieve greater productivity and sales growth.


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Amazon’s share price has continued to surge amid the coronavirus pandemic as people across the world opt to shop online rather than hit the high street.
On Monday, the e-commerce company’s shares soared by 8 per cent, taking Bezos’s estimated net worth to $189.3 bn (£149bn).
Jeff Bezos, already the world’s richest man by a wide margin, added $13bn (£10bn) to his personal wealth in a single day.
The 56-year-old has seen his fortune swell by around $74bn (£58bn) in 2020 alone, according to an analysis by Bloomberg.
The publication said Monday’s rise was the biggest ever recorded on its Billionaires Index, first launched in 2012.
Bezos’s personal wealth is around nine times greater than Britain’s richest man James Dyson, whose fortune totals £16bn, according to the Sunday Times rich list.
He is also now worth more than the UK’s largest company, AstraZeneca, which is valued at £118bn on the London Stock Exchange.
Bezos’s wealth continues to grow despite an expensive divorce from his ex-wife MacKenzie last year.
She received 4 per cent of the company as part of the settlement and saw her personal wealth shoot up to around $62bn (£48.7bn) – making her the world’s 13th richest person.
In 2018, Bezos launched a $2bn (£1.5bn) fund focused on education programmes for homeless people and earlier this year pledged $10bn (£8bn) to tackle climate changes.
But critics have accused Bezos of donating far less money than other philanthropists, such as Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
Mr Buffet, CEO of US conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, has given around $34.5bn (£27bn) to charity since vowing to donate all of his shares in the company.
Meanwhile, estimates suggest that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $46bn (£41bn) to charitable causes around the world.


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Initiated by Sohu.com, Joy.cn, and Union Voole Technology Company, a new anti-piracy alliance that is co-founded by 110 Chinese Internet video copyright owners has been launched in Beijing.
This new anti-piracy alliance released ten slogans that call for Internet video websites' prevention of the spread of unauthorized video works. The websites are encouraged to block the uploading of unauthorized videos. The alliance also hopes that advertisers and advertising enterprises can improve their awareness of copyrights and not place advertisements on websites that are involved in infringements. In addition, the alliance calls for stricter punishments for infringing activities in the Internet video sector.
At its launch ceremony, the alliance announced that it has started lawsuits against major Chinese video websites, including Youku.com and Tudou.com, for their illegal broadcasts of over 1,000 movies and TV series. The major part of this safeguarding action is a lawsuit against Youku.com. A lawyer from the alliance told local media that during the next year, the alliance will ask for compensations of between CNY50 million and CNY100 million from Youku.com, according to the market prices of the movies and TV series Youku.com provides on its website.
At the same time, the indictment shows that companies such as Pepsi and the Minute Maid brand of Coca-Cola, are also on the list of defendants for placing advertisements of Youku.com.
In response to the news, a representative from Youku.com said that according to the law of China, advertisers will not bear legal liabilities for video copyright problems. Meanwhile, the alliance's accusation hurts Youku.com's reputation and the company reserves its own right to take action against this.


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Every weekday we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the always-on TV ad measurement and attribution company. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time on Sept. 9.
A few highlights: Bert, Ernie and other Muppets team up with J.K. Simmons in the latest from Farmers (I-Hsien Sherwood has the backstory on the campaign: “Grover and Cookie Monster prove coverage is necessary in a Farmers Insurance tie-up with ‘Sesame Street’”). JuJu Smith-Schuster helps EA Sports hype Madden NFL 20. And Nature Made serves up a fresh TV cut of a wry, selfie-centric commercial that it actually first debuted online last year.


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You have searched for ""Bluetooth""
Showing 1-10 of 1732
A trial of a hands-free payment system is set to be carried out on the rail network and public buses, in a move to make the public transport system more inclusive.
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A trial of a hands-free payment system is set to be carried out on the rail network and public buses, in a move to make the public transport system more inclusive.
THE Honor MagicWatch 2 is the latest range of smartwatch that seeks to immediately impress, especially at its price range and specifications.
Thwarting the sale of “illegal” Android boxes is paramount to rejuvenating the entertainment industry, and stemming the loss of billions of ringgit and thousands of jobs.
Owners of Android smartphones and tablets should use Bluetooth with care at the moment as a security vulnerability means that an attacker could use it to steal personal data or inject malware.
Researchers develop app letting users opt out of IoT device data collection practices outside the home
On Feb 19, researchers at Carnegie Melon's Security and Privacy Institute, CyLab, announced that they've created a mobile app that gives users the power to opt out of public and private data collection practices conducted by IoT connected devices.
Anglo-German chip designer Dialog Semiconductor is buying California-based Adesto Technologies for US$500mil (RM2.09bil) to diversify further away from its reliance on Apple
Gadgets and smartphone apps are here to help users make data-driven decisions for various health-related matters.
A GROUP of pupils from SJK (C) Kai Ming in Bintulu, Sarawak have invented the ‘B-Beep’ - a Bluetooth pager to enhance the safety and security of schoolchildren.
PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has issued a stern warning to Android box suppliers and sellers not to misuse the Sirim certification and MCMC label to mislead the public into believing that the authorities condone any act of illegal streaming and downloading.


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San Francisco, Oct 25 (IANS) Epic Games, developer of popular game Fortnite and is locked in a battle with Apple has filed another case against the company, stressing that the iPhone maker has “has no rights to the fruits of Epics labour”.
In the latest salvo, Epic Games said Epic did not “steal” anything that belonged to Apple.
The company did not “interfere with any prospective economic advantage Apple sought to gain from Fortnite users separate and apart from their interest in Fortnite,” the filing read.
The latest Epic move against Apple after a US judge ruled earlier this month that Apple can keep blocking the popular game Fortnite permanently but restrained the Cupertino-based iPhone maker from retaliating against the open and real-time 3D creation platform Unreal Engine owned by Epic Games which is also the developer of Fortnite.
Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers refused to grant Epic Games a preliminary injunction against Apple, The Verge reported.
In August, Epic Games introduced a new direct-payment system in its Fortnite game to bypass Apple’s 30 per cent App Store fee.
Apple then removed Fortnite from the App Store for violating its rules.
In its latest filing, Epic said: “Apple’s repeated assertions of theft boil down to the extraordinary assertion that Epic’s collection of payments by players of Epic’s game to enjoy the work of Epic’s artists, designers, and engineers is the taking of something that belongs to Apple”.
Apple was yet to comment on the new court filing.
Daily active users of the Fortnite game have plummeted more than 60 per cent on Apple iOS devices since the ban.
Unless Epic decides to remove its own in-app payment mechanism that initiated the bitter legal feud in August, it has no chance to bring Fortnite back on the App Store.


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There have been reports of unidentified individuals going door-to-door throughout the community stating that residents will receive $800 in cash if they sign a release not to file a claim.
In this scam, the perpetrators are asking for personal information such as social security numbers,
“It is a shame that even in the depths of an environmental emergency, we still have those who would come into our county and try to deceive the victims of this community,” Freeholder Director Robert Damminger said in a release.
Some of the scammers are posing as utility company employees or dressed in work uniforms and hard hats.
Residents are asked to call police immediately if someone knocks on your door with a similar proposal.
Under the New Jersey Identity Theft Protection Act of 2006 law enforcement agencies are required to take a police report from you if you claim you have been the victim of identity theft. Italso allows you to place a security freeze on your consumer report which prohibits consumer reporting agencies from releasing your report to a third party without your permission.
For more information on identity theft and scams, please contact the county Office of Consumer Affairs at 856-384-6855.


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Kastamonu Romania Heads Toward EUR145M Revenue; Mulls EUR90M Investment
Wood processor Kastamonu, part of the eponymous group based in Turkey, estimates this year’s exports to surpass 100 million euro, 17% higher than in 2014, as foreign trade accounts for 70% of turnover.
“Kastamonu Romania reported 123 million euro turnover in 2014. Out of that sum, 86 million euro was generated by exports. We estimate the turnover to reach 145 million euro in 2015, 101 million euro of which from exports,” said Esat Ozoguz, general manager of Kastamonu Romania.
At group level, Kastamonu reported revenues of 1 billion euro. Part of Hyat Holding – Turkey’s leading player in the wood industry – Kastamonu entered the local market in 1998 when it acquired a 98% control stake in Prolemn Reghin. Prolemn was renamed to reflect its majority shareholder in April 2012. Since then, the platform hosts two production facilities for door skins and particleboard. According to information available on its website, Kastamonu covers 10% of the global demand for door skins, while the particleboard factory is the result of a 150 million euro investment.
“Kastamonu Romania invests around 10-15 million euro annually in modernization and maintenance. We have earmarked 8 million euro for equipment acquisitions and the expansion of our facilities in 2015. We plan to develop an MDF production line, following the completion of our adhesives factory, which is scheduled for 2016,” Esat Ozoguz added.
Kastamonu is one of the leading players in the global wood processing industry, ouitranked only by Austrian group Holzindustrie Schweighofer, Kronospan and Egger, and the new investment will also mark its entry in the MDF sector (Medium Density Fibreboard – used mostly in the furniture industry; more expensive than particleboard).
An investment conditioned by another
“The estimated value of this investment is of 90 million euro, which will generate 250-300 new jobs. With this, the total investment unfolded by Kastamonu in the region amounts to 350 million euro,” added the general manager of Kastamonu Romania.
Kastamonu plans to invest 10 million euro in an adhesives factory, whose construction was scheduled to start in August 2014. The project provides a capacity of 100.000 tons of formaldehyde and 130.000 tons of urea-formaldehyde resins and other products, which should cover the company’s adhesives requirement.
The projects in such production capacities are sensible and usually do not enjoy the support of local authorities. Local press wrote that the municipality rejected the company’s request for a construction permit, while representatives of civil society requested the project be relocated to a different area.
“Bureaucratic delays in issuing the construction permit have postponed the kick-off to this date. We are hoping that a positive resolution will come in the near future. For Kastamonu Romania, the largest investor in the Reghin area, it is extremely important to be able to start and finalize this new investment. It is a de facto investment which will provide a positive outcome for our existing business capacities (in which we have already invested over 250 million euro,” Esat Ozoguz said.
At the moment, Kastamonu employs 865 people, while 200 more are employed through outsourcing, and data sent shows that the door skins factory is the second-largest of its kind in Europe.
“The delays in the permitting procedure for our 10-million-euro investment in the adhesives factory raised a series of concerns at management level. Thus, at the moment we are reconsidering the additional investment in the construction of the MDF line, valued at 90 million euro, taking into consideration the possibility of relocation,” concluded Esat Ozoguz.
The wood industry is a 2.84 billion-euro-a-year market, supported by some 7,000 companies with combined profits in excess of 180 million euro, according to 2013 data provided by the Office of the Trade Register.
Ziarul Financiar, by Ioana David, April 2


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Scoops: Who’s moving, buying, opening, changing, winning
Owner of Taco Bells, Pizza Huts sells to Nimes Capital
The private investment firm Nimes Capital has acquired TD Food Group, which operates almost 70 fast-food restaurants throughout Hawaii.
California-based Nimes Capital, the private equity investment arm of Nazarian Enterprises, has acquired TD Food Group from Brentwood Associates for an undisclosed price. Both investment firms are based in Los Angeles.
TD Food Group originally was owned by Theo H. Davies & Co. Ltd., one of Hawaii’s Big 5 companies, until Brentwood acquired TD Food Group in December 2004.
Company President and CEO Henry Katsuda, the entire executive team and its roughly 2,000 employees will remain with the company in their current roles.
Karen Craig, vice president of Nimes Capital, said it is acquiring the company because it believes TD Food Group has a world-class management team representing a world-class brand.
“As a family-owned fund, we really like the culture of the company and really look to build a long-term relationship with companies like this, to have it embody a similar culture,” Craig told PBN.
Katsuda said the acquisition likely means the company will be looking to grow its business in Hawaii. TD Food Group already has 38 Pizza Huts, 30 Taco Bells and one A&W/Long John Silver’s restaurants in the state. It also has 14 restaurants on Guam and one on Saipan.
“We penetrate most of the key trade areas,” Katsuda said. “There are still opportunities to grow in specific gap areas that we’ve identified recently.”
Nimes Capital’s plans for TD Food Group in Hawaii include opening more restaurants and investing in the company’s existing brands throughout Hawaii, Guam and Saipan, Craig said.
Stephanie Silverstein covers tourism, retail and money for Pacific Business News.
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An incident took place on Tuesday December 9, at 4.55pm, in the Next store on Enham Arch Retail Park in Andover. A man and woman were seen entering the store and removing various items from the store and placing them into a carrier bag, before leaving without any attempt to pay.
The woman shown on the CCTV is aged between 25-35, and was wearing a distinctive coat.
The man, also shown on CCTV, was wearing a black puffer jacket with blue jeans on and a two-tone baseball cap.
PC Rachel Noble said: “In the run up to Christmas we are all stretched financially and it is not acceptable for some to flout the law to their benefit when others are working hard to make ends meet. If you recognise who these two are, please give me a call on 101.”
Anyone who can recognise the two pictured on CCTV is asked to contact PC Noble on 101 quoting crime ref 44140439533


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The recovery of the U.S. automotive industry got another shot in the arm Tuesday, when Fitch Ratings hiked its rating on Ford Motor and its credit arm to investment grade.
The ratings agency said the move reflects the carmaker's "significantly improved financial performance, balance sheet repair, and product portfolio improvement." CEO Alan Mulally and his management team got a nod from Fitch, which noted that the company's leadership has been "heavily focused on increasing profitability, growing liquidity, lowering debt an reducing the company's pension obligations."
Those efforts have Ford in decent shape to fight through the pressures still facing the auto industry while maintaining the liquidity and flexibility to deal with a continued period of economic stress.
Fitch readily acknowledges the risks of such stress, chiefly the uncertain strength and stamina of the global recovery and "the durability of global auto demand," with growth likely to be slower than previous forecasts due to slowdowns in emerging markets like China and India. The ratings agency considered the impact of a severe downturn in auto demand and still believes that even with the cash needed to withstand such a trend Ford has sufficient liquidity with nearly $10 billion in net cash at the end of 2011.
"The company has a lower break-even volume as a result of its restructuring actions over the past several years," Fitch says, "and Ford's more balanced product portfolio has put it in a better position to weather the likely mix shifts to smaller vehicles typically seen in economic downturns."
Tuesday's upgrade lifts the Fitch ratings on Ford Motor and Ford Motor Credit to BBB-, from BB+, with stable outlooks. Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's both rate Ford at their highest level of speculative-grade (or junk territory), Ba1 and BB+, respectively.
Ford, which reinstated its dividend in December and is due to report first-quarter results April 27, was up 2.4% before the bell Tuesday. Rival General Motors was up 0.7% pre-market, while Chrysler parent Fiat's shares were 1.3% higher in Italian trading.


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Hotels across the world are at different stages of their tech and digitalisation journeys. But most agree that technology is an absolute necessity to keep hotels running, profitable and delivering an exceptional guest experience. In recent years, there has been an explosion of technologies entering the market specifically for the hotel sector. So what should hoteliers be focusing on when selecting and investing in technology for their hotels?
“Hoteliers need to not see technology as an unknown term or something that is scary,” said Sotiris Kopatsaris, CEO and founder of Future Hotels. “But rather it is friendly, nice and intuitive. It’s something that helps hotels become more profitable.”
Introducing new digital technologies to a hotel can feel like a mammoth task. Significantly, 63% of hospitality operators do not believe their business has invested enough in digitalisation (Hospitality & Catering News). And although 75% of top executives in hotel chains supported the idea of marketing using artificial intelligence tech, only 36% of them actually deploy it (eHotelier).
With so many technology solutions out there directly serving the hotel industry, the current focus is on finding the right technology partners, rather than developing technology in-house. “Hoteliers can’t do everything,” said Tess Mattison, President and CEO at Zaplox. “Tech is complex, expensive, and you need competence and knowledge in it. A partner can complement what is already in place.”
Investing in technology solutions frees up hoteliers’ time to focus on the guest experience, and keeps them closer to the cutting edge. “There’s not a typical architecture historically implemented in hospitality; [we need] to innovate,” said Paolo Dona, Chief Information Officer (CIO) at StayCity. “I don’t think a single hotelier doing everything in-house will be able to achieve the level of innovation required to stay relevant in the next few years.”
So if buying the right technology is the way forward, where should hoteliers start? According to Zetter Hotels’ Managing Director, Liutauras Vaitkevicius, you need to assess technology “operationally, commercially, and as a wider brand. You can’t [succeed] without having the right tech stack behind the scenes.” Tech that helps understand a hotel business, and not just deal with transactions, is also essential.
With so much technology to choose from, what should the key buying and selection criteria be for hoteliers?
Focus on ROI, not the cost
Investing in anything carries a burden with it for hoteliers, particularly in the current economic climate. It can be tempting to be led by cost, and by finding a solution that you think you can afford as a hotel business.
But instead of focusing on cost, look at the return on investment (ROI) instead. Does it actually deliver what you need? Ask for proof that the product delivers – don’t be rushed into a decision if you’re not sure. According to Hotel Tech Report, “hotels should break out their digital transformation into small, achievable efforts directly connected to a business outcome.”
It’s important to check that technology solutions can adapt and grow with your hotel business, and not just deliver the solution you need right now. This is critical for making an investment in technology that makes sense for the medium to long term, as well as for the hotel’s needs right now.
Technology solutions that integrate and talk to each other is an absolutely crucial point in the buying journey for hoteliers. “The technology stack in the hospitality business is very fragmented,” said Antonis Chalkiopoulos, Co-Founder and CEO of Triparound. “There are so many software solutions that hoteliers are using. You cannot connect all of them in one place.”
Alexandre Pereira, Head of Commercial Strategy at Real Hotels Group explained this is his top priority. “We need to guarantee there is seamless, real-time integration with all our different systems,” he said. “If you look back 10 years, we managed two different systems: the property management system (PMS) and a financial system. But now, we’re maybe looking at 10 or 15 systems.”
Roger Tabbal, Vice President Global Guest Technology and Innovation at Accor, also recommends open API technology. “A lot of integration is required, so we work on an open API strategy,” he said. “It means we can integrate other solutions into self-check-in, such as in-room management.”
Align with key teams
The kind of technology you bring into a hotel depends on the state of readiness of different teams in the business who will use it. Involving operations, marketing and sales teams in the process of acquiring new technology is crucial. Assessing how aligned all the various teams are is also critical. “There is a quote that says ‘would you rather go fast, or far?’” Alexandre Pereira from Real Hotels Group said. “Take things step by step. We need to have full alignment from the operational team so we walk the path at the same speed.”
The nature of most hotel groups is that staff are based at different properties and offices across the world. So it’s important to ensure any technology that is implemented can be used and accessed seamlessly, regardless of location and geography. Many hotel groups making progress with their digitalisation strategies say the cloud is the key to this. “Whatever we do, we do it cloud-based,” said Roger Tabbal from Accor. “That’s the Accor strategy and vision to 2025, where we will move all our applications to cloud.”
How apps work
Many hoteliers see the benefits of having an app, as it can help guests self-serve, while creating deeper and more personal connections between hotels and guests. But it’s important to give guests choices, as not all will want to download an app. Accor gives guests the option to either use a web progressive app, where a download is not required, or a downloadable app, which brings extra benefits. Whatever decision you make, integration between the app and other hotel technologies is also vital.
Ease of use
Hoteliers must ensure any technology they introduce can be used easily and intuitively. “Any new system means staff have to learn to use it,” said William Lee, Chief Business Development Officer at Onda. “And the learning period of time is usually short.”
Most hoteliers will want to ensure the training time for staff is short, as ultimately, this helps to manage limited staff time and resources. The same principle applies to any technology that hotel guests will interact with. “We want to make sure that tech is so seamless and so simple that customers just don’t think of it,” said Liutauras Vaitkevicius from Zetter Hotels.
Maintenance, support and security
Thinking about some of the practical implications of a new technology solution being implemented can sometimes be an afterthought. Yet maintenance and support “will be one of the biggest concerns of a hotel when implementing a system that is outside their country,” William Lee at Onda explained.
Think about time differences, language support and the other practicalities of getting help if you need it. Security should come top of the list before a technology is implemented too, as guest data could be at risk if not. Let your tech partner convince you of their security credentials to ensure this isn’t an issue.
Make sure it’s easy to switch providers
It may seem counterintuitive to plan how to end a partnership before you even start one, but hoteliers need to be free to continually innovate. And this means not being tied to a technology that might not work for you in the future. There are plenty of technology suppliers out there who show flexibility and fluidity with their offering. So ask about the exit options before committing to a technology partner, and find out how easy it would be to switch providers if necessary.
Some takeaway points:
- Ask questions. Don’t rush your decision – or let vendors rush you. If it’s terminology you don’t know, ask.
- Involve your team in the decision-making process. Trust them to give you honest feedback. They’re the ones who use the systems so really listen to their thoughts.
- Talk to other hotel brands or properties using the system you’re interested in. Don’t just take the word of vendors who produce their own case studies and testimonials.
- Prioritise areas that will bring your company efficiencies and improve the customer relationship. Automation and personalisation are key areas to focus on. The reward will be seen in your revenue.


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CALGARY — The pace of luxury home sales outside Calgary are strong this year but not as active as what’s been happening in the city where the market is setting records at a torrid clip.
Rachelle Starnes, realtor with Royal LePage Foothills, sold a Bearspaw home just this week for just under $3 million.
“We have seen a slower year for sales over $2 million and attribute this to an oversupply of luxury homes coupled with unreasonable ‘test the market’ pricing by sellers,” she said. “We have seen a dramatic spike in activity over the past month due to reductions in prices. We forecast an increase in sales over the next few months due to the excellent price reductions we are seeing in the market.”
Starnes said Springbank is one of the highest net worth areas in the country and sales of luxury properties in the Springbank and Rockyview areas are consistently strong every year.
“Sales are consistently strong due to the proximity to the schools and due to the extra 45 minutes cut off for their drive to recreational properties,” she said. “We are seeing the sales being not as strong as in 2007 as the homes are now getting older in some of the areas and need to be renovated. The incredible prices in 2007 were mainly for homes that were only three to five years old and the original sellers were seeing 50 to 75 profits. We are now still seeing some homes sell for 20 per cent to 30 per cent profits but the majority of the sales are exercising modest returns.
“The Calgary luxury home areas such as Britannia, Mount Royal, Elbow Park, Eagle Ridge, Bel Aire, Elboya and the downtown core are considered recession-proof in our opinion being that they are within a 10-minute drive to downtown, are within walking distance to amenities, the arts, cultural and sporting events and empty nesters from the outlying areas always seem to move into the city from acreages once they retire or their children are off to university.”
According to the Calgary Real Estate Board, year-to-date there have been 576 MLS properties sold for $1 million or more in the city, eclipsing the previous annual record of 544 set in 2012.
The most expensive sales so far this year in the city are: Crescent Heights, $11.1 million; Aspen Woods, $10.35 million; Mount Royal, $4.75 million; Mount Royal, $4.75 million; and Britannia, $4.45 million.
In the towns market, there have been 30 luxury home sales so far this year compared to 44 for the entire year in 2012. The annual record is 75 luxury home sales in 2007.
The most expensive sales year-to-date in the towns market are: Rural Rocky View County, Watermark, $1.95 million; Rural Rocky View County, Watermark, $1.9 million; Heritage Pointe, $1.78 million; Heritage Pointe, $1.75 million; and Heritage Pointe, $1.7 million.
In the country residential market, there have been 172 luxury home sales year-to-date compared with 185 for the whole year in 2012. The record is 210 in 2007.
The most expensive sales year-to-date in the country residential market are: Rural Vulcan County, $5.1 million; Three Hills, $3.81 million; Rural Foothills MD, $3.725 million; Rural Foothills MD $3.5 million; and Rocky View County, Bearspaw, $2.925 million.


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Today's round-up includes advance analyst prediction on this week's NPD game sales data, as well as a new senior employee for Zoo Tycoon
developers Blue Fang, and the latest report casting its net into the future and predicting next-gen console sell-through rates, as well as the latest product news and Gamasutra job postings.
- Morgan Wedbush commented on the upcoming June NPD North American game sales data with its expectations and analysis on the sales numbers: chief among its predictions were that June would see 13 titles selling over 100,000 copies, compared with 12 for June 2004. Total sales are expected to hit $400 million, an increase over June 2004's $380 million; factors contributing to the increased expectation are the influx of new and popular titles, as well as the PlayStation Portable's strong month.
- Blue Fang Games, developers of the Zoo Tycoon
series, has named Jay Dee Alley as its new Art Director. Alley will oversee the artistic direction of all future Blue Fang games, and manage its art department. Prior to his hiring at Blue Fang, Alley was Creative Director for the Xbox Entertainment Network at Microsoft, and Managing Art Director for Dynamix. "The Blue Fang team has proven that they can create games that appeal beyond the traditional gaming audience, and I am eager to help them explore new concepts and opportunities as we bring them to the next generation of gaming platforms," said Alley.
- Elsewhere in industry analysis, Strategy Analytics has predicted that the three console manufacturers -- Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft -- will sell a combined 200 million next-generation systems by 2012. Sony is expected to account for 121.8 million units of that with its PlayStation 3, with the Xbox 360 selling 58.8 million and Nintendo a distant third with 18 million units. Principal analyst David Mercer concentrated on the systems' future as systems, saying "The Xbox 360 represents one of Microsoft's best hopes of controlling the digital home," but the report appears to have left out predictions regarding software sales and revenue.
- Also posted today: product news including a release date for ClayTools for Maya
, as well as the latest job postings
from companies including Activision/Raven Software, Buzz Monkey Software, Concrete Games, Datascope Recruitment, Factor 5, Midway Games, Ratbag Games, Sessions.edu, Sucker Punch Productions, and Surreal Software.


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My Dairy Dashboard’s Renee Smith sits down with Dairy Radio Now’s Bill Baker to introduce listeners to data visualization and how users can make better decisions faster by connecting their dairy data!
The internet is abuzz with news of the launch of My Dairy Dashboard! Take a look at what people are saying: Hoard’s Dairyman with Video Interview Brownfield Ag News Radio Interview Dairy Herd Management – Top 10 Dairy Industry Innovators Recognized at World Dairy Expo Dairybusiness & Holsteinworld – My Dairy Dashboard Launches; Partnership with DFA […]
My Dairy Dashboard, a joint venture between Virtus Nutrition and Dairy.com, recently announced the nationwide launch at World Dairy Expo, Oct. 2nd of the My Dairy Dashboard web app, an online technology hub that simply connects and visualizes dairy data so dairy producers and their advisors can make better decisions faster. “This is an exciting […]
Apply by July 10 for your chance to be an Insider and get free early access! My Dairy Dashboard is looking to partner with 30 data-minded dairy producers to be a part of our Insiders program that rewards ideas and feedback with first access to this mobile dashboard. “As we gear up for My […]