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“We’re extra constructive on Apple,” analysts at Bernstein stated in Thursday observe, highlighting the inventory’s underperformance following the hunch year-to-date and poor investor sentiment. “Our perception that its basic enterprise and monetary mannequin are intact,” the analysts added.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) fell 11% in Q1, pushing its valuation to nicely beneath five-year averages, and the inventory is buying and selling at about 24 occasions subsequent yr’s earnings, which isn’t a “horrible value to pay,” Bernstein stated.
Slowing iPhone gross sales, explicit in China, has proved fertile floor for bearish bets and added to worries that Apple’s enterprise in maturing. However the launch of the iPhone 16, anticipated to be outfitted with synthetic intelligence, may spark a powerful improve cycle.
Whereas AI powered smartphones aren’t new and Apple might behind the curve, historical past exhibits that the iPhone maker would not must be first nor persuade Andriod customers to modify, however reasonably persuade its current 1.2M iPhone customers to improve.
“When Apple does nicely and has a very good cycle, it is as a result of extra individuals are changing their telephones. It isn’t as a result of they’re getting much more switchers from Android, essentially, or they’re getting a variety of new customers,” the analysts stated.
Nonetheless, the bears would argue that hopes of a brand new iPhone resulting in an excellent improve cycle have beforehand fallen brief, leaving loads room for skepticism on whether or not an AI-powered iPhone may have sufficient razzle dazzle to spur upgrades.
Margin-rich providers story stays in intact
However slowing or stagnant iPhone gross sales is hardly information. . .
iPhone gross sales reached 230 million models in 2015, has been round that stage ever since. Throughout this era of maturing iPhone gross sales, Apple has, nonetheless, continued to churn out double digit earnings progress.
This means that solely specializing in Apple’s iPhone gross sales dangers loosing sight of the basic driver of progress: providers.
Providers is a key a part of the expansion driver, led by the App retailer and licensing charges, that are funds from Google (NASDAQ:), and promoting, collectively is over 50% of Apple providers revenues and it is greater than 60% of the gross earnings, Bernstein estimates.
Important regulatory headwinds — nonetheless a protracted option to go
Apple’s App retailer practices, nonetheless, have come underneath scrutiny not least in Europe, the place a sweeping new legislation, the Digital Markets Act, has given lawmakers further clout to go after huge tech and drive them to open up their platforms to permit customers extra alternative.
However App retailer income in Europe makes a only a meagre 7% slice of worldwide App retailer income, and simply 1% of Apple’s income. The larger danger is that if those self same regulatory headwinds seem within the U.S., however for now the Division of Justice’s case within the US is way “extra about making an attempt to open Apple up,” Bernstein argues.
There would not look like “any direct laws both on promoting or on the App Retailer,” the 2 huge revenue drivers within the providers enterprise, possible preserving this key progress engine intact.


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We are the Mumtrepreneurs
MEET the mumtrepreneurs – go-ahead mums launching businesses at home so they can bring in the cash while looking after their children.
The new trend could be the answer to the career or carer dilemma, say AXA Protection.
The insurers research reveals that more than one in three new mothers is doing it, and weve talked to two such supermums — Lisa Mackenzie and Kirsten Dudley.
A survey of 1,354 new and expectant mums found that on average they were generating £467.91 a month from home-based business ventures.
And they only have to work an average 18.4 hours a week to do it.
One in five women say they are considering retraining or using existing craft skills to earn money from home.
One in ten say they would consider retraining or using existing skills to earn an income while working from home. About eight per cent are considering looking after other peoples children in return for payment.
One in four of those previously employed said they would consider returning to their previous job if they could work from a home office.
Iain Mallon, of AXA Protection, said: It is interesting to see how many new and expectant mothers are looking to start their own businesses from home.
By undertaking this activity, these entrepreneurial mothers are making a significant contribution to the economy and their familys wellbeing.
Lisa Mackenzie started selling her babys bibs on eBay — and went on to run a £40,000-a-year business from home while caring for her young son.
Lisa, 30, used to work for a top advertising agency in Manchester until she gave birth to son Max in 2000.
The married mum refused to pay expensive childcare costs so decided to quit her job and look after Max herself at the family home in Widnes, Cheshire. One day, while surfing the net, she discovered eBay and managed to sell off Maxs old clothes — so decided to make it a business.
Lisa told Cashflow: Childcare is so ludicrously expensive.
I resented paying it. I decided to sell some of Maxs clothes he had grown out of on eBay to make a bit of cash.
I started to slowly increase my sales and after a month it dawned on me that I could make a decent income doing it.
I scoured jumble sales, car boot sales and second-hand shops for babies clothes to sell and set up a proper business.
Now my business is thriving and I have to pay tax and VAT.
I can pick up and drop off Max from school, work, and even study to become a midwife from home.
When Lisa and husband Martin, 31, an IT manager, first had Max they agreed that she would stay at home to care for him. But Martins income was just not enough for them to cope.
In her first week of eBay selling she made £7.
The second week she made £20 and raked in £120 in her third week — proving to her it could be big business.
Now she is making £3,500 a month.
She set up a company called Funkymum and, after not being able to find enough baby clothes, she branched out into designer dresses.
She added: I would thoroughly recommend eBay as a way for at-home parents to pay off bills.
I started out just selling things around the house we did not want and then changed to whatever the eBay trends were.
Us mums need a helping hand in this day and age.
And if no one is going to help you, you have to do it yourself.
Kirsten Dudley has become a millionaire on eBay while raising six children at home.
The 32-year-old dreamed of going into business with IT expert husband Andrew, 35, when they had sixth child James in 2002. The eBay users thought they could see an opportunity and decided to sell packaging on the site to other users who have to post items across the globe.
Kirsten, from Wallasey on Merseyside, told Cashflow: I have the perfect job. Andrew was the one who spotted a gap in the market on eBay.
He said: ‘All these people need parcel tape and packaging to ship their items.
We thought how attractive it would be to get the packaging you need at a cheaper price – and delivered to your door.
We spent £70 buying rolls of tape and Jiffy bags and sold out really quickly. The next delivery was so large we had to sleep at my mums because our house was so full of packaging.
Now we employ five people in a warehouse. I do the orders and customer service from home and send them to the warehouse team who dispatch them.
Its a great system and we are making a million pounds a year.
Last week we sold our four-millionth Jiffy bag.
Kirstens day starts with getting Elliot, 12, Louis, ten, Lauryn, nine, Luke, seven, Bethany, five and James, three, to school and nursery. Then she goes to the warehouse and checks for any problems before heading home to print off orders and deal with any phone customers.
In the afternoon she picks up James from nursery and plays with him while sorting out customer service queries.
At 3pm she picks up her other five children and prepares their meals before their bedtime, then responds to emails until midnight.
Kirsten says: I think our life is great. I am a full-time mum but can work too.

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Supply to grow by 21% in 2019, mostly to the West
In 2018, 72,500 sq.m NLA from four projects were added to Hanoi retail market, driving up total retail supply to nearly 865,000 sq.m. Retail space in CBD accounts for only 6.3% of total space in Hanoi and will reduce to 4.8% by 2021 with no future supply in the CBD in pipeline. CBD will continue to post positive rental growth and low vacancy rates of below 5% in the coming year. Nevertheless, non-CBD shopping malls will face strong pressure from rising competition. Two of four malls opened in 2018 include Discovery Complex and Machinco in the largest retail supply cluster – the West where nearly half of total retail space is located. Looking towards 2019, retail supply will grow by 21% per annum, bringing total space to surpass one million sq.m. The West will continue to dominate market supply as four out of six projects (126,700 sq.m) will be opened in 2019 in this area. On the other hand, residential developments and infrastructure improvements will lead to more retail supply in the South with two openings in 2019 - Hinode City and Sun Plaza Ancora. New properties in strategic locations with reputable developers are forecasted to charge premium rents while existing ones would face pressure on performance, especially weakperforming malls. As a result, ground floor rents are expected to remain stable or to adjust slightly.
In terms of format, malls as a part of residential complexes will continue to thrive. Five out of six future projects in 2019 are located in podiums, utilizing immediate demand from residential or commercial towers above. Luxury international retailers keen on expanding to local market have searched for shops and podiums along major high streets in CBD as alternative to high-quality retail space, which is of shortage in Hanoi. High street shops, however, pose more challenges than usually unsuitable designs and limited scale. Notwithstanding high rent for prime location, street shops have limitations in terms of façade and technical requirements. International fast fashion tenants require sizeable scales and prefer shared-revenue scheme which is not common for typical shophouse owners. The challenges will remain as landlords and tenants gradually morphed into an agreement.
Evolution of retail locations
At present, there is no established shopping district in Hanoi’s CBD due to a lack of stock. The past few years have seen a shift of shopping areas beyond CBD, gradually forming new bustling retail destinations in local market. The areas within 3-5 km from CBD have seen rapid infrastructure improvements and developments of new shopping malls. Area along Chua Boc, Ton Duc Thang, and Kim Ma streets in Midtown has gained it status as busy shopping areas for street shops and shopping centers, attracting more international brands. On the other hand, the intersection of Pham Hung and Tran Duy Hung streets started seeing more scaled shopping malls with the development of office and residential buildings. Vincom Center Tran Duy Hung is set to open in 2019, luring midend to high-end brands into this area.
International retail developers to be more active
By end of 2018, only four shopping malls in Hanoi are developed and managed by foreign retailers, including Central Group, Lotte Group and Aeon. Looking forward, with the expansion plan of big international players such as Lotte, Aeon, and Big C, the market is expected to see upgrading mall designs with regional scales and comprehensive merchandising mix. Such regional malls tend to locate in non-CBD area with large-scale residential developments, providing add-on services and amenities to residents in the immediate catchment. Looking forwards, the fact that Aeon Mall Ha Dong of regional scale (more than 60,000 sq.m NLA) is expected to come online with its usual Japanese concept, will set new standards and bring more exciting brands to the immediate catchment of Ha Dong district.
Landlords going creative and flexible
2018 saw several cases of flexible offices (co-working) moving into retail spaces on the back of limited quality supply in well-located office buildings. This type of tenants with a typical size of 2,000 sq.m tend to locate from 2nd floor and above, helping to alleviate vacancy pressure for landlords quickly. Besides, some sizeable non-traditional retail tenants such as financial services and health & supplement offices have started moving into shopping malls. This trend is expected to continue in the coming years, especially in malls seeing high vacancy on upper floors. In addition, F&B category will continue to get a bigger bite at most shopping malls, adding experiences to keep mall visitors to stay longer. It is observed that certain new shopping malls have seen share of F&B reach up to 20% while this category typically accounts for only 9 –15% of retail space. Red Sun and Golden Gate are two most active restaurant chains in shopping malls, focusing on those with diversified merchandising mix in populated areas.
Advanced technology boost brick-and-mortar sales
During 2018, retailers and landlords have invested in logistics platforms and new store concept to drive customers in and attract millennials who are technology-savvy. Lotte Department Store in Hanoi has upgraded instore experience and technology by changing shopping environment to “village concept” and “smart experience”, including new Phuong Nam Bookstore with more lifestyle concept and reading area. New feature “Smart Pick-up” leverages store as pick-up for online orders on Lotte.vn, targeting young customers.
In 2019, investments by supermarket chains in technology are expected to reshape the grocery industry. Vinmart recently launched Scan & Go feature on mobile app for customers to shop. From scanning the products’ specifications to paying at express lines using QR code, app users can shop for products at Vinmarts quickly or have it delivered within two hours.
Advanced technology will boost bricks-and-mortar sales. Retail market is expected to see more technology advancement in physical stores amid the disruption of e-commerce.
High quality future supply is expected. The market is awaiting high-quality supply with the increasingly high demand from international retailers and changing young generation’s shopping habits. Besides, the expansion of international mall developers will lead to the transformation of shopping mall designs, putting the pressure of remerchandising and space renovations on many of the existing shopping malls.


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JSG Capital Investments, a San Francisco hedge fund, has been accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars, with its CEO and a colleague having spent the money at strip clubs, casinos and sporting events. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims JSG Capital took close to $9.3 million in a ponzi scheme. The men reportedly sold fake pre-IPO shares of Uber, Airbnb and Alibaba, before transferring the money to their own personal accounts. Jason Gill, the CEO and founder, along with Javier Carlos Rios, allegedly defrauded 200 investors out of their money, taking new money and paying it to old investors. They used companies such as Airbnb, and Uber Technologies to entice investors, promising them that they would invest their money this way. Both men have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, according to the Department of Justice. Of the $9.3 million they are accused of raising, they are said to have stolen in excess of $5.5 million. Gill and Rios allegedly transferred less than 1% of investor funds to JSG Entity brokerage accounts and no pre-IPO company shares were ever purchased.
Let Us Get Your


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BENGALURU: Tea retail chain startup Chai Point is set to introduce IoT-enabled tea dispensing machines to corporate offices as the next step towards serving its product to office employees. The company already has about 1000 semi-automatic dispensers across 100 companies, and the new product, called boxC, is expected to bring 100 more corporate customers for the company by the end of the year, said co-founder and CEO Amuleek Singh Bijral.
The product will be officially launched on Friday.
The machines will be connected to a cloud-platform which will also be accessible to customers who can keep track on the functioning of the machines as well as the billing process. Chai Point has collaborated with partners making IT products in India for the product. Singh says the machines will be adaptable to new softwares in the future.
As a pre-launch, the company selected five mid-sized corporates for its trial in Bengaluru and NCR.
Chai Point currently serves more than 1.5 lakh cups of chai every day through orders as well as from its 100 physical stores located in five cities.
Mamaearth is targetting a valuation of around $3 billion - 10-12 times forward earnings based on sales growth and future revenue potential, a person briefed on the discussions said. It plans to file draft regulatory papers by the end of this year, said sources, who declined to be named as the plan is private.


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CONCORD, Mass. (CBS) — Police say they’ve arrested a thief who spent thousands of dollars using credit cards stolen from a gym locker room.
Concord police arrested 32-year-old Pablo Riviera, of Worcester, Wednesday afternoon. He is charged with multiple crimes, including 11 counts of ID theft.READ MORE: TD Garden Requiring Vaccination Or Negative COVID Test For Bruins, Celtics Games And Concerts
On February 11, police say Riviera stole a debit card from the Beede Center Gym, located the PIN number, and withdrew more than $3,000 from ATMs in Concord and Acton. He also bought more than $8,000 worth of merchandise from jewelry stores in Leominster, police said.
Riviera returned to the gym on February 19, wearing a dark peacoat and sporting a black beard, police said. He allegedly swiped an American Express Card and shopped at the Natick Mall and stores on Newbury Street in Boston.
Officials said Riviera went back to the same gym Wednesday afternoon and staff called police.
“This case is a clear example of the effectiveness of the Concord Police working together with the community,” Police Chief Joseph O’Connor said. “I am pleased that the employees maintained a high degree of vigilance and called police immediately upon this suspect’s return.”READ MORE: Woman Arrested For Stabbing Morton Hospital Worker
Police had described the man sought as well-dressed, about 6 feet, 2 inches tall, olive-skinned and weighing roughly 180 pounds.
Police say they are also looking to identity a second man who may be traveling with Riviera.
Anyone with information is asked to call police.
According to police, Riviera had several items in his possession when he was arrested, including an American Express card belonging to one of the victims.MORE NEWS: Retired Hudson, New Hampshire, Police Sgt. Donna Briggs Killed By Hit And Run Driver
In total, Riviera faces 27 charges for the alleged thefts.


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Colorado To Become First Us State To Accept Cryptocurrency Tax Payments
Burger King and McDonald’s are among several of the world’s biggest fast-food companies that have started experimenting with payments in crypto, the study showed. Burger King has run trials in Germany, the Netherlands, and Venezuela. McDonald’s is working on it in El Salvador – the first country to adopt https://allcoinss.com/turkey-jails-6-in-probe-into-missing-thodex-crypto-exchange-ceo/ bitcoin as legal tender – and chicken chain KFC has been experimenting in Canada. “However, the adoption of crypto is still in its infancy, and the majority of digital tokens accepted by businesses tends to be limited to Bitcoin and one or two other leading cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum,” it said.
- You’ll get all the advantages of payments with digital currencies while keeping business as usual.
- The company says methane emissions and agricultural disease outbreaks are just some of what could be uncovered by its technology.
- Those particles are the result of a 1986 explosion at the power plant, which deposited them in the soil in the exclusion zone that rings the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
- The kiosk installed in Austin, Texas, is similar to bank ATMs but has scanners to read government-issued identification such as a driver’s license or a passport to confirm users’ identities.
- Stolen assets “typically find their way to illegal markets and are used to fund further criminal activity”.
These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in oureditorial policy. If the payment gateway is hacked, you’ll lose any funds you have in your account with the provider while you’re waiting for them to be transferred.
Ebay Might Take Crypto Payments, Already Accepts Nfts
“Gen-Z spends more time on gaming than on any other activity online. The global crypto market cap decreased by 0.25 per cent to $1.99 trillion at 8.50 am. The global crypto volume too decreased by 17.67 per cent to $88.12 billion, as per Coinmarketcap data. Singapore-based smartphone lock screen services platform Glance has purchased Gambit Sports, a Bengaluru-based gaming company.
Thailand’s securities regulator announced that https://www.gemini.com/ for goods and services will be outlawed starting April 1. The ban is intended to fend off financial instability, according to the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission. BANGKOK — Thailand on Wednesday issued a ban against payments using cryptocurrencies and other digital assets that will go into effect next month in a bid to maintain stability in financial markets. “PayPal getting into this space has been great for our business, because it causes companies to start asking the question of should they accept crypto payments,” Pair said.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be used in almost any country. This saves you from converting into the local fiat currency when making international payments. The recipient creates a digital invoice to be paid using their payment gateway.
Considering The Benefits Of Crypto
The hack worsened an already ongoing cryptocurrency selloff by an additional $42 billion. In January 2018, Japanese exchange Coincheck reported that hackers had stolen $530M worth of cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency networks display a lack of regulation that has been https://allcoinss.com/ criticized as enabling criminals who seek to evade taxes and launder money. Money laundering issues are also present in regular bank transfers, however with bank-to-bank wire transfers for instance, the account holder must at least provide a proven identity.
With ForumPay’s instant settlement technology, money moves across the globe using the speed and transparency of crypto while being shielded from price volatility. The alternative coins’ use surged partly as more businesses have begun using stablecoins for cross-border payments. Consumers also tend to move to stablecoins — whose value is supposed to stay steady — when crypto prices drop, and they’ve been falling since early November. Coins like Doge also made a splash last year, thanks to fans like Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, who on Friday said the token can be used to buy the company’s merchandise.
It’s perfectly acceptable to use your personal wallet to accept cryptocurrency payments; however, gateways take the extra work of exchanging cryptcurrency and managing a wallet out of your hands. Ever since the first famous real-world Bitcoin pizza purchase for 10,000 BTC in 2010, people have been using crypto to make payments. Over ten years later, we’ve progressed from a manual process to integrated digital currency gateways offered through FinTech banking and crypto services. If you want to start experimenting with crypto payments yourself, check with your crypto exchange to see what services they offer. Wharton Business School is now accepting Bitcoin payments for tuition.
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Rising energy costs will increase pressure on UK car manufacturers to lift prices this year, the industry’s motor lobby group warned, after annual production from British plants fell to its lowest level since 1956.
Semiconductor shortages pushed car production at UK sites down to 859,575 last year, down 6.7 per cent on 2020 and a third lower than 2019 before the pandemic hit, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders released on Thursday showed.
The SMMT expects production to rise above 1m this year as chip shortages ease following a “deeply depressing year”. However, it warned that plant operators faced surging costs from climbing energy bills and meeting Brexit regulations.
“There were price increases last year, if higher input costs continue that will flow through into pricing,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive. “The margins on volume car producers are wafer thin.”
While the amount varies from plant to plant, energy costs are typically the third largest outgoing for car manufacturers after material bills and staff wages.
Plant operators faced an energy bill increase of up to 70 per cent in the coming months, Hawes warned. While carmakers would try to absorb some of that, it would be difficult to offset all of the higher bills, he said, adding that manufacturers were also paying higher administration costs to meet new post-Brexit trading rules.
While ministers sought to shield some industries from rising power bills, carmaking is not classified as an “energy-intensive” sector.
After the chips shortage that has hampered the global industry, Hawes said energy costs were the single greatest challenge for UK plants. “If semiconductors can be resolved, energy is the most immediate and pressing issue,” he added.
After years of strong growth, Britain’s car plants have suffered from dwindling output and some sites closing, such as Honda’s Swindon car facility.
This had left the country’s industry facing permanently lower production levels, struggling to get back to historic levels of 1.5m cars a year without new plants opening, Hawes said.
However, there were bright spots last year, with the value of announced new investments rising to £ 4.9bn, the highest level in eight years.
Spending on new plants and car models fell to just £ 600m in 2018 as a result of uncertainty over Brexit, but has climbed steadily, with carmakers including Nissan and Ford pledging significant new investments last year.
Van production, which largely hinges on the Vauxhall plant in Luton, rose 21 per cent last year and is only 3 per cent below pre-pandemic levels owing to demand for online deliveries and among businesses.
Four out of five cars made in the UK are sold internationally, with about 55 per cent of exports going to the EU. The US was the second-largest export market followed by China.


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While not earth shattering news, it's worth mentioning that the honeymoon between Toshiba and Fujitsu appears to be over, with Toshiba packing up and going home. This as both companies are on the cusp of launching the imaginative and unique IS12T running Windows Phone "Mango". While that launch will of course go forward, what this means is that for 2012, Fujitsu is preparing to buy out Toshiba's nearly 20% stake in the joint venture, going solo afterwards.
Here in the West, this won't really mean too much as Fujitsu will still carry on and they are even reportedly doing pretty well. At least for bloggers and tech journalists, we can save a few keystrokes in the future instead of having to write Toshiba-Fujitsu every time. Yay.


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Fighting for the UK manufacturing. Meeting the challenges of the future
UK manufacturing at a crossroads faces Brexit, COVID-19; embracing Industry 4.0 technologies crucial for growth, productivity, and competitiveness.
What is the future of UK manufacturing? What are currently the most vital challenges that British industry is facing? And finally – how can embracing technology come to the rescue and drive business growth?
There is no doubt that the manufacturing sector in the UK stands at a crossroads, and that’s driven not only by the uncertainty of Brexit but also by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, or Industry 4.0 as it has come to be known, harnessing automation and other features delivered by technological innovation, brings promising opportunities to the table.
Wise implementation of technology is a way to go for manufacturing companies to create a strategic roadmap. And there is something to fight for because, according to Transparency Market Research, the global smart manufacturing market is expected to grow to $445 billion in 2024!
To get a better understanding of the situation, we took a deep dive into two recently published reports:
- Fighting for the future of UK Manufacturing – An Industrial Strategy published by the Unite Manufacturing Combine.
- Disrupting the Manufacturing Industry – A Breakdown on Startup Driven Innovation, published by StartUs Insights.
While the first, in-depth publication, scrutinizes the industry from the perspective of trade unions, employees, and the British economy perspective, the second one emphasizes particular types of technology associated with the industry.
That said, let’s take a look at the highlights from Unite’s report:
According to the authors, the UK economy is far from OK. It’s a critical moment in the country’s history, experiencing an economic slump, unprecedented wage stagnation, and yawning wealth disproportions.
After years of austerity and underfunding, it’s necessary for the state to start investing in the sector to revive and support sustainable and diverse economic growth.
The state should take action to protect strategic industries, such as steel, transport, communication, or energy, and embrace the “Build Local / Buy UK” approach.
There is a strong need to boost future-oriented education, where employees have a chance to up-skill or re-skill as the technology keeps on evolving and creating a growing skills gap. Developing new skills and making the most of new technology will be paramount to ensure a bright future for the manufacturing landscape.
Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and other technological milestones are regarded as an opportunity for business and a threat to workers simultaneously. But it’s a matter of maintaining a wise approach to employ those advancements in the best way.
With regard to the last point – Introducing Industry 4.0 and its automation features should align with protecting jobs and preventing pay cuts, promoting shorter working time, and up-skilling and re-skilling the British workforce.
Automation makes absolute sense as a solution to increase productivity, time-saving, stimulating the work-life balance, earlier retirement for workers, and a chance for them to enjoy their lives.
From a national perspective, proper implementation of a system where people, machines, computers, and software cooperate opens a way for the UK to “become a hub for the manufacture of Industry 4.0 technology.”
To become a leader in the field, however, the state must significantly invest in R&D and design and engineering capabilities.
Since we got to know the broader perspective delivered by Unite’s report, it’s time to take a closer look at specific technological breakthroughs included in the “Disrupting the Manufacturing Industry” breakdown.
Remember the vision of the smart manufacturing market to be worth $445 billion in 2024? Well, adopting the technologies below will not only improve productivity but it will bring us closer to this upcoming Eldorado:
Robotics will play a vital role in creating smart factories. Putting collaborative robots (co-bots) into action will take challenging and mundane tasks off human workers’ shoulders and speed up the production and supply chain processes. We are also talking about cutting costs, bringing quality to a higher level, and better productivity.
Composite materials such as ceramic, glass, or carbon fibres are expected to grow rapidly during this decade, especially for the automotive and construction sectors. Still, some of them can also be applied in gas turbines or military rockets.
Nano-engineering, which is also the way to game-changing improvements to increase the lifecycle of components and mechanical parts. Investing in nanomaterials can help manufacturing players save time and cost and manage their water and power storage.
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing can be invaluable for production planning so that an end product can find its way to a potential customer much faster. How? Instead of creating multiple individual parts in the process, 3D printing can already print multi-material parts and will be able to print more significant components or machines.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is the term smart factories can’t ignore. Staying in control of upgrading efficiency and productivity is at stake here. How about better performance management, predicting product failures, and sending mobile alerts in real time? It can all come to reality, thanks to the adoption of IIoT.
Simulation software, which provides motion simulation and animated prototyping tools, is a brilliant way to virtually test a product before a factory decides to spend time, money, and resources to produce it. Imagine that you are sure how a prototype product will perform before you build it. This is an excellent way of minimizing risks and cutting down costs!
Finally – the famous Artificial Intelligence (AI). Similar to the aforementioned simulation tools, AI can be of use to improve product quality and prevent possible engineering failures. Diagnosis is where AI supplies a magic ingredient and provides companies with essential data to make the right business decisions. essential data
But the above technologies are not the only ones that can drive the UK’s manufacturing to excel. Automation and bespoke manufacturing software that can empower you with control over:
- Material requirement planning
- Inventory management
- Financial management
- Purchase management
- Order management
- Production control
- Shipping management
All in all, adopting digitalization and technology can support the entire manufacturing sector and your company in particular.
What are your thoughts concerning this industrial overview? Is there a specific type of technology that appeals to you most? What are the most crucial pain points that your company is dealing with? Let us know via the contact form below.
If you need a partner in software development, we're here to help you.
We will respond to your enquiry within 24 hours.


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After a promising start to the summer where it looked like COVID cases were tapering off, the resurgence of cases across the United States sent many consumers back home and retailers scrambling to prepare for another (unprecedented) holiday shopping season.
Early estimates anticipate a better holiday season in 2021 than what businesses saw the year prior. This is in part due to consumers’ eagerness to get back to a sense of normalcy. However, retailers still face serious challenges when it comes to health and safety concerns, consumer shopping habits, and supply chain disruptions.
With more than a year of rapid changes behind them, many retailers continue to look for more ways to provide peace of mind for their customers, both with touchless in-person solutions and secure online buying options.
Online and touchless tech dominate the holiday shopping scene
Online shopping will continue to be a major trend during the 2021 season, especially with the move by several major retailers to remain closed for Thanksgiving. These closures will drive more Black Friday shopping online, not dissimilar to what occurred in 2020.
That online shopping trend is likely to continue throughout the holiday shopping season, even with some consumers concerned about shipping delays, as global supply chain disruptions continue to cause difficulties for delivery carriers.
One way retailers are meeting this challenge is with heavy implementation of in-store and curbside pickup options. Retailers can implement the use of kiosks to facilitate in-store pickups while still mitigating the health risks associated with face-to-face transactions.
These pickup options appeal to consumers because they offer the convenience of online shopping without the hassle of shipping or worrying if an order will be delivered on time.
Some consumers will continue to do their shopping in person. For these consumers, contactless checkout, self-checkout, digital signage and customer service kiosks will be key. Successful solutions will engage shoppers while allowing them to remain physically distanced.
Effective solutions means a happy holiday season for your customers
Many retailers hastily added and implemented digital technology last year to adjust to the changing world created by the pandemic, but those solutions were not always well thought out or implemented effectively.
In a world of digital noise, consumers are being targeted by businesses in all aspects of their digital lives, and the cost of reaching and acquiring those customers continues to rise. The key to success in this space is creating a stellar omnichannel user experience.
The omnichannel user experience means that your customers have a seamless journey across all the channels you use to communicate with them. If your technology is clunky and creates problems for your customers, they’re going to look elsewhere for an easier shopping experience.
Get started on perfecting your customer journey today
Now is the time to create lasting technology improvement in your business that will support you and your customers long term. Staley Technologies can help you implement technology that will create the best possible experience for your customers. For more information, contact Staley Technologies at (800) 280-9675 to speak with an expert.


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WASHINGTON -- Vice President Joe Biden argued that the Obama administration's $787 billion stimulus package has been effective, and said the process used for tracking stimulus spending should be applied more broadly.
In a speech marking the second hundred days of the plan, Mr. Biden predicted that the stimulus package will have created or saved a total of 750,000 jobs since it was passed in February. The president's Council of Economic Advisers on Sept. 10 will issue its estimates of the number of jobs saved and created with stimulus spending.
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British chef Angus Denoon fell in love with jhal muri, Kolkata's favourite street food, and decided to sell it on the streets of London.
Editor’s Note: The video states Angus began selling Jhal Muri ‘a decade ago’. He began selling the snack in 2005. The error is regretted.
British foodpreneur Angus Denoon first tasted jhal muri while exploring his fascination for Indian street cuisine, on a trip to Kolkata in 2005. Shortly after his return to London, he quit his job as a chef and started selling the spicy puffed rice snack in the city’s Asian-dominated neighbourhoods of Tooting, Whitechapel and Southall.
Angus was homeless at the time, but preparing jhal muri didn’t require a kitchen, and it wasn’t long before the Bengali snack became a crowd favourite on the streets of London.
In fact, a video of him selling his authentic take outside the Oval– during the 2019 World Cup– went viral on social media and was also appreciated by Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan.
Today, his roadside van ‘Everybody Love Love Jhal Muri Express’ also offers ghugni chaat, puchkas, dhokla, Gujarati dal, lassi and chai.
“I know because of where I am from, I am a novelty. But ultimately I would like to be known as someone who makes jhal muri nicely, with respect for where it comes from, and of how much it means to many people,” he was quoted as saying.
Watch his love for the ‘small piece of personal theatre that you eat’:
— The Better India (@thebetterindia) January 18, 2022


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VP of Research and Special Initiatives, Google
Founder and Managing Partner, Frazier Healthcare Ventures
Chair, Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute; Co-director, Center for Physiological Proteomics, The Scripps Research Institute
Founder and CEO, Acme Packet
More than 50 percent of the game industry’s $60 billion in annual revenue has traditionally been generated by three companies: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. But now the landscape is shifting as new game platforms and categories are introduced almost daily. The San Diego Venture Group hosts a panel discussion about the gaming industry, which has been experiencing rapid growth in educational games, brain training software, virtual pets, fitness games, social games, fantasy sports leagues, and music-based games. More information and online registration is available here.


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NZ: Freshmax takes full ownership of BerryCo brand and operations
New Zealand-based Freshmax is buying out its joint venture partner, Southern Produce, to take full ownership of BerryCo.
Since 2015, the Freshmax Group has been in a 50:50 partnership with the Bay of Plenty company and have jointly operated the New Zealand blueberries business, trading as BerryCo. The buy-out of Southern Produce’s 50% stake in the business comes into effect on October 1.
With New Zealand’s blueberry industry poised to grow by $100 million over the next five years, the buy-out marks Freshmax’s commitment to support growers and play a leading role in export market development across Asia where New Zealand-grown berries are prized for their size, taste, shelf life and health attributes.
“Berryfruit is a core category for our New Zealand business,” says Murray McCallum, Freshmax Group chief executive.
“The JV has transitioned from a start-up to a company with strong volume growth forecast. Taking full ownership of it is an exciting step in expanding our footprint in this category for New Zealand growers of premium berryfruit and supplying it to our Asian and New Zealand customer base.”
Following the sale of its New Zealand domestic divisions in 2019, the Freshmax Group indicated long-term plans to ramp up its international operations and scale. Already, a considerable volume of BerryCo’s fruit is exported to Asia.
Freshmax NZ chief executive Andrew Common says the acquisition provides an opportunity to invest further in the berryfruit category, and play a greater role in nurturing New Zealand’s exceptional berry production.
“Throughout this JV we have led the commercial process, establishing a fantastic consumer following in New Zealand and Asia. We look forward to expanding on this in the years to come.”
Southern Produce director and chief executive Tony Ponder says BerryCo’s growth in New Zealand and its performance in the export markets is something to be proud of.
“The business has evolved considerably over the last few years and it very quickly established a track record for delivering value to its customers and growers. Having contributed to its early growth and positioning in the market, we are satisfied BerryCo has the ingredients to fulfil its export potential in Asia where consumers value premium quality New Zealand fruit. We look forward to seeing what it will achieve next.”
BerryCo is a critical player in the New Zealand berryfruit IP space. In 2017 it acquired the exclusive New Zealand rights to blueberry varieties from Australia’s Mountain Blue Orchards (MBO), including the flagship Eureka variety. A berry that has wowed health-conscious consumers and taken Asian markets by storm, it will be marketed under a newly minted ‘Blue Royal’ brand later this season.
The suite of Southern Highbush varieties from MBO and others have provided opportunities for New Zealand growers to re-invest in their operations as new varieties have been released. Bred to suit the Australasian climate and for specific flavour and eating characteristics, they cater to the early, mid and late-growing harvest windows.
“IP in all forms is such an important part of realising value for both the supply chain and the end consumer,” adds Common. “BerryCo has a vital role in realising value and opportunities for New Zealand growers to share their premium berryfruit on a world stage. We will uphold and expand on the work already done in this space.”
About 680ha of blueberry crops are grown in New Zealand, involving about 80 growers. The overall value of the New Zealand blueberry industry in 2020 was $80 million. The export market was worth $44 million to the economy, but that’s expected to more than double by 2026.


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Will Apple’s FaceTime Audio Disrupt the Telecom Industry?
Could Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) new iOS 7 FaceTime Audio feature seriously disrupt the mobile industry? One of the new features of iOS 7 introduced at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday was FaceTime Audio.
Despite not being the focus of too much attention, this new feature has the potential to pull the rug out from under the telecommunication companies by giving users a free voice over Internet Protocol option for their long-distance phone calls. Although FaceTime video already exists for the iPhone, users now have a first-party audio option as well.
FaceTime audio makes it easy for iPhone users to select a VoIP alternative to a traditional phone call. This allows users of iOS 7 to make Internet-based phone calls to each other no matter where they are located. Although the beta version of the service is for Wi-Fi only, this may be expanded for the final version.
If this function becomes a viable alternative for many iPhone users, it could significantly impact telecommunications companies’ profits from long-distance phone calls. Apple Insider notes that the voice clarity heard in the beta version of this feature is similar to the quality found in Skype’s app.
By making VoIP phone calls an easily selectable built-in option, Apple could steal a significant slice of the profits that telecommunications companies make from international and long-distance phone calls. However, the telecommunications industry is not likely to go down without a fight. AT&T (NYSE:T) initially tried to block some subscribers from using the video version of FaceTime on their networks before relenting and allowing the service. It remains to be seen if the audio version of FaceTime will be met with similar resistance from the major carriers.
Here’s how Apple has been trading so far this week.
Follow Nathanael on Twitter (@ArnoldEtan_WSCS)
Don’t Miss: Has Apple Solved the Smartphone Theft Problem?


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UPS Sets Up Special Cold Chain Solutions Unit
UPS is expanding its specialty pharmaceutical offerings by establishing UPS Cold Chain Solutions, a comprehensive suite of cold chain technologies, best-in-class capabilities, and new and expanded global facilities providing complete, end-to-end temperature-controlled logistics.
Wes Wheeler, UPS Healthcare president said: “Our customers have been taking advantage of our cold chain capabilities for years, but the pandemic caused UPS to move even faster to enhance an integrated set of cold chain solutions to support the future of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry.
“UPS’ near-perfect, on-time delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine proves how effectively and efficiently our network handles biologically derived drugs, even at extreme temperatures.”
According to the Biopharma Cold Chain Sourcebook, cold chain trends show 48% growth between 2018 and 2024 for drugs that require at least 2 to 8 degrees Celsius storage and shipping.
Additionally, the overall market for cold chain services (packaging, transportation and data services) is expected to significantly accelerate growth over the next three years, growing by 24% by 2024, after posting a 10% increase from 2019 to 2020.
UPS Cold Chain Solutions is purpose-built to provide pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers and laboratories a full, end-to-end cold chain service offering, including storage and distribution, transportation, visibility, and quality assurance for critical products around the world.


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Ferrero is looking to celebrate Pancake Day on 17 February with a £1.4m media campaign for Nutella.
Kicking off at the start of February, the campaign includes TV, out of home advertising, radio, digital, social media and in-store displays.
Customer development director Levi Boorer encouraged retailers to stock up on Nutella.
“Chocolate & Hazelnut Spreads are the most popular toppings of all Sweet Spreads at Pancake Day and, with Nutella being the number one brand in the spreads category, we want to drive excitement amongst consumers at every touch-point this year, whilst reinforcing the date,” he said. “Our nationwide digital 6-sheet advertising, featuring across shopping centres and National Rail stations, will creatively count down the days to Pancake Day, whilst our tailored theatrical in-store display solutions will increase awareness and sales.
“The number of shoppers who buy Nutella almost triples (+189%) in the four weeks prior to Pancake Day so we’d recommend that retailers capitalise on this year’s campaign by creating hotspots in-store using the tailored POS solutions.”


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Rockmelon listeria outbreak claims fifth life
A fifth person has died after eating rockmelon contaminated with listeria.
The fifth death was a Victorian man aged in his 80s.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Brett Sutton, said last Friday 16 March 2018 that the man’s death has only just been linked to the listeria outbreak after microbiological testing was conducted.
“And sadly, the investigation has also confirmed that a miscarriage has also been linked to the outbreak,” Sutton said late last week.
Dr Sutton reminded the public that all affected rockmelons were now withdrawn from sale and distribution.
He also reminded the public that pregnant women should avoid eating pre-cut melon.
A day before the fifth death was announced, Rombola Family Farms, the farm which the NSW Food Authority has linked the contaminated rockmelons back to, released its first statement on the incident after being named by the NSW Food Authority.
“We have been working co-operatively with the Authority, and directly with the entire supply chain to assist with further investigations and to identify, quarantine and remedy the source of the listeria,” Rombola Family Farms said.
“All action to suspend operations in the potentially affected types of melons have been taken by Rombola Family Farms on a voluntary basis – in line with our commitment to upholding the best interests of consumers.”
Rombola Family Farms said that it regularly tests its products in line with industry best practice and is regularly subject to independent food safety audits.
“As a family business we are all too aware of the impact the outbreak is having on fellow growers and the wider industry,” Rombola Family Farms said.
“We remain ever vigilant to food safety and contamination risks and are focused on working to achieve a resolution for all stakeholders. Safety and quality are at the centre of what we do – year on year we examine and improve our systems and technology and we believe we operate one of the most advanced grower and packer facilities in the industry.”
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MEST Africa Challenge 2020 Announces Overall Winner
As Africa’s biggest tech startup pitching competition, the MEST Africa Challenge offers entrepreneurs and young businesses the opportunity of a lifetime; $50,000 in equity funding and a slot in one of MEST’s hubs.
This year, the competition was held virtually, and expanded its reach from five to nine African countries, making room for more startups to receive support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The competition kicked off with seventy-five finalists, tech startups from Ethiopia, Kenya, Côte D’Ivoire, Rwanda, Ghana, Tanzania, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa chosen from among one thousand applicants.
The country finals lasted two months, after which DeboEngineering (Ethiopia), Fundis(Kenya), Tutoo+(Côte d’Ivoire), BAG Innovation(Rwanda), Oniocha Ltd(Ghana), Kilimo fresh Foods Africa Limited(Tanzania), Mousso Africa(Senegal), Gradely(Nigeria) and PopUpShopShop(South Africa) emerged country winners, qualifying them to compete in the finale. Their solutions were as varied as they were innovative, covering everything from health to agriculture, education to finance.
Judging the finale was a veritable list of investors, serial entrepreneurs and executives who have contributed immensely to the growth of Africa’s tech ecosystem. They included MEST Africa’s very own CEO and founder – Jorn Lyseggen, Microsoft’s Senior Director for Software Partnerships – Chris Lwanga; the Founding Principal of Imaginable Futures – Teresa Mbagaya and Partner of TLcom Capital – Andreata Muforo. Each startup was assessed based on a variety of factors including value proposition, impact, size of the target market, customer identification, revenue model, competitor analysis, growth strategy, traction-to-date, and expertise of the founding team.
At the end of the three-hour live finale, Kilimo fresh Foods Africa Limited was named as the ultimate winner, walking away with an envious prize of $50,000 in investment. They will also join one of MEST’s incubators for a year of support and acceleration. Moussa Africa and BAG Innovation came in as 1st and 2nd runner up respectively.
Debo Engineering was announced as the winner of the first MEST Africa Challenge Community Choice, an award given to the startup with the most votes from the audience. They will receive a fully-funded slot in one of MEST’s incubators, with access to its vast and international community as well as drool-worthy perks.
The 2020 MEST Africa Challenge was supported by the global tech giant, Microsoft, and a network of over thirty ecosystem partners including VC4A, AfriLabs, YUX, Briter Bridges, Blue Moon, Founders Factory Africa, Silicon Cape, Gebeya, Nailab, Royal Work Hub, Growth Africa, Nairobi Garage, Swahili Box, 250 Startups, Impact Hub Kigali, KLab, Ghana Tech Lab, Hacklab Foundation, Move Me Back, SBIncubator, Seedstars, GrowthLab, Levers in Heels, Robotech Labs, Africarena, Impact Hub Lagos, Take My Word and She Leads Africa.


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The Dutch Gaming Authority has officially fined EA and demanded that the publisher remove “addictive gaming elements” from its FIFA games. As you would expect, this concerns FIFA Ultimate Team and the expensive card packs/loot boxes EA sells for that mode.
Over in The Netherlands, the Dutch Gaming Authority has been taking action against loot boxes for a couple of years now, to the point where some games have removed the sale of them. CS:GO is the biggest example of this, as loot boxes can't be opened in The Netherlands or Belgium.
In FIFA though, you can still by Ultimate Team packs and The Dutch Gaming Authority isn't pleased about that. The latest demand calls for EA to remove FUT packs from sale in the country or face fines between 500,000 and 5 million Euros each week.
EA already adapted its strategy for FUT in Belgium, but has yet to do so in other territories.
KitGuru Says: EA has already changed its FUT strategy once, so I imagine it will just carry over those same measures to The Netherlands to avoid fines and further legal issues. EA has yet to publicly respond though, so we'll have to wait and see.


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German haute-couture designer Karl Lagerfeld, artistic director at Chanel and an icon of the global fashion industry for over half a century, has died, a source at the French fashion house Chanel said on Tuesday. He was 85.
Lagerfeld, instantly recogniSable in his dark suits, pony-tailed white hair and tinted sun glasses, was best known for his association with Chanel but simultaneously delivered collections for LVMH’s Fendi and his own eponymous label.
French celebrity online magazine Purepeople said Lagerfeld died on Tuesday morning after being rushed to a hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine just outside Paris the night before.
A spokesman for Chanel was not immediately available for comment.


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What Oprah Winfrey is the giving away free cars, Sergio Marchionne is to promising to make automakers debt-free!
Marchionne told investors in a conference call today that the Italian sportscar maker will be debt-free a year earlier than he predicted, while pushing earnings to $2.5 billion by 2022. The sweater-wearing leader told FCA investors that the company would be debt-free by the end of the year.
He believed that the increased production levels and coming products, especially hybrids, EVs and the sport-utility vehicle will drive the increase in earnings.
The expansion of the Ferrari portfolio is designed to tap into a larger demographic. The prancing horse hybrid will arrive in 2019 and the long-rumored-now-true sport-utility is expected to arrive in 2020.
(Marchionne confirms plans for Ferrari SUV, hints at battery supercar. Click Herefor the story.)
Marchionne also mentioned that producing smaller engines was a possibility in future as long as Ferrari’s “uniqueness” remains.
“We are absolutely convinced that these numbers are doable,” Marchionne told analysts on a conference call, adding that profit margins could rise to at least 36% by 2022. They are at 30% now. “The house is firing on all cylinders, we are in a good place.”
Ferrari reported an 18% increase in 2017 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to 1.04 billion euros, which was in line with analysts’ expectations. The increase was helped by sales of its 12-cylinder models, including the GTC4Lusso and the 812 Superfast.
(Click Here for details about Ferrari doubling its production levels a year early.)
For 2018, Ferrari forecasts an adjusted EBITDA of at least 1.1 billion euros and shipments above 9,000 vehicles, up from 8,398 vehicles in 2017. That number is approaching the company’s max output, which Marchionne acknowledged.
He took a moment to assuage investor concerns about the coming SUV, which hasn’t been hailed by everyone as a positive. He said that any ute would need to exhibit “Ferrari style” for “the selected few” and its claim to fame would not be “being able to climb rocks.”
He echoed the exclusivity sentiment for any potential true all-electric powered supercar that may ever be produced. Marchionne hinted that it may be coming during last month’s North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
(To see more about Ferrari’s plans for an SUV, Click Here.)
“Whenever Ferrari does express itself in a fully electric vehicle, it will do so by making sure that both sound and handling are reflective of Ferrari’s heritage,” he said.


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7m of us 'too poor to afford a home'
One in eight of us can no longer afford to buy a home, according to one of Britain's biggest banks.
More than seven million people say house prices have risen too high for them to get on the property ladder, the research by Abbey showed.
And a further ten million people say that although they might be able to afford a home, they feel 'excluded' from the market for other reasons.
These include not being able to save enough money for a deposit and feeling too insecure about their jobs to take out a huge mortgage.
The average British salary is around £25,000 - but the average house price has rocketed to about £180,000.
Meanwhile, a report by property website Hometrack reveals today that house prices are growing at their fastest rate for more than two years.
Prices have risen nearly 5% over the last year, which is double the rate of inflation. And estate agent Knight Frank predicted this month that prices will rise a further 6% next year.
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Japan, the United States and Europe have agreed to work together to diversify supply of rare earths and develop technologies to reduce their reliance on the metals.
Government officials and engineers met in Tokyo on March 28 to discuss stable supplies of rare earths against a backdrop of export restrictions by China, the world's largest supplier.
"(We) plan to create a global supply chain so that we do not rely on resources of a certain country, or even on rare earths," industry minister Yukio Edano told the gathering.
Earlier this month, the parties involved in the meeting filed a complaint about China's restrictions with the World Trade Organization.
Edano outlined a plan to collaborate in technology and mining development to produce high-tech goods without having to rely on China. He asked Australia and Canada for cooperation.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that in the short term it is important to develop technologies to reduce rare earth use. He said the U.S. government will make investments to develop the appropriate technology.
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Matt Cutts: The Greenspan of GoogleBy
Fraser Cain realized on Mar. 2 that his 12-year-old astronomy website had lost 20 percent of its traffic in five days. The quality of the writing on Universe Today hadn't deteriorated, nor was there a redesign that irked readers. The problem was Google (GOOG).
Like every Web business, Universe Today gets a sizable portion of its traffic via Google, which accounts for 65 percent of U.S. Web searches, according to Nielsen. Occasionally, Google tinkers with the way it ranks search results—and it did just that on Feb. 25. The goal: reduce the prominence in query results of so-called content farms, sites that churn out content low in quality and high in likelihood of getting noticed by Google's search algorithms. The Online Publishers Assn. estimates that this most recent change will shift $1 billion of advertising revenue from sites identified as farms by Google's technology to other sites it deems more worthy.
Universe Today began appearing lower on results pages when Internet users googled astro-related topics. So Cain logged onto a Google forum to testify on behalf of his site's quality. "If there are some changes you'd like me to make, just tell me what I need to do," Cain wrote. Elsewhere in the forum, distraught business owners—financial advisers, lingerie salespeople—raged and pled for clemency. "I'm a smoldering cinder from last week's napalm strike," wrote one publisher.
Many supplicants invoked the name of Matt Cutts, the 38-year-old head of Google's Web spam team. He's the public face to thousands of Webmasters and search engine optimization (SEO) marketers who practice the art of making sure Google's search engines take note of their clients' sites. Cutts posts about algorithm changes on Google's blog. "SEO is a huge business, and Cutts is at the center of it," says Gabriel Weinberg, founder of search engine DuckDuckGo. In 2010 the SEO market in North America reached $16.6 billion, according to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization. "Anyone interested in the subject gravitates towards him and, depending on interest, proceeds to dissect his every word," says Weinberg. That goes for Cutts's blog posts, tweets, and speeches. Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the website Search Engine Land, says when Cutts speaks at public events he's mobbed by SEO practitioners—"Cuttlets," Sullivan calls them.
Cutts has earned a reputation as a kind of Alan Greenspan of SEO—a dispenser of vague pronouncements that send online businesspeople the world over into paroxysms of scrutiny. "He's mastered the art of talking without really saying anything," says Sullivan. Cutts said the Feb. 25 change would favor "high-quality sites" with "original content and information such as research, in-depth reports, thoughtful analysis, and so on." What defines "high quality"? Cutts didn't say, and the Web erupted in chatter. The tech news site ZDNet called targeting low-quality sites a "slippery slope"; Stephen's Lighthouse, an SEO blog, titled a post "Google, Content Farms and Sleight of Hand."
"Part of the issue is that Google has a vested interest in not fully revealing the search algorithm," says Peter J. Meyers, president of User Effect, a website consulting firm. "Those details could be gamed by people with bad intentions. So Matt is sometimes accused of being evasive." Says a Google spokesman: "While Matt Cutts speaks frequently with Webmasters and the media, he is actually one of many engineers working on search quality. Like many other Google employees, he has made substantial efforts to educate Webmasters."
At Universe Today, Cain says he's not waiting for a response from Google. If astronomers can figure out black holes, his thinking goes, Webmasters can handle Google. "We're in the dark right now," says Cain. "But complaining about it doesn't do any good."
The bottom line: Google's Feb. 25 change to its search algorithm announced by Cutts may affect $1 billion of online advertising revenue.


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Though the Cortana-powered GLAS thermostat from Johnson Controls isn't even available yet, the Cortana Device Setup app appears to be adding support for the device. Previously limited to assisting in setting up the Harman Kardon Invoke, the Windows 10 PC and Mobile app is now presenting at least some users with the option to set up GLAS.
GLAS was initially teased in a reveal video last July, but Microsoft and Johnson Controls remained tight-lipped concerning details about the thermostat. In January, Johnson Controls revealed GLAS would be available for preorder in March for $319. However, March came and went, and GLAS still isn't up for preorder.
The sleek thermostat features an OLED touchscreen display and is powered by Windows IoT Core and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410E embedded platform. GLAS uses Cortana for voice control and to provide information like the weather forecast, increases or decreases in temperature, traffic, and more.
GLAS will also be able to adapt to your schedule to maintain a comfortable temperature, track air quality, and report on information such as humidity, carbon dioxide levels, and volatile organic compounds.
Support for GLAS in the Cortana Device Setup app doesn't seem to be showing for everyone just yet, but it could indicate that the device is closer to going on sale. For more, you can read up on GLAS at Johnson Controls.
Thanks, Zack, for the tip!
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Banking data aggregator Plaid has acquired their main competitor Quovo in a deal that Bloomberg said could reach $200mn; the move follows another big announcement by Plaid, raising $250mn from Mary Meeker and other investors; “This represents the merging of two complementary but both very important businesses,” said Zach Perret, Plaid’s CEO; the deal will help Plaid ramp up expansion as they look to gain more market share and sign agreements with some of the leading banks. Source.
Todd is the host of PitchIt: the fintech startups podcast, a weekly interview show featuring emerging fintech founders and leading venture capitalists. He is responsible for leading the content team which covers fintech through daily & weekly email newsletters, editorial, virtual events, and in-person conferences. He has been covering fintech, banking, and venture capital for more than 15 years, including speaking regularly at industry events.


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China's exports, imports fall as economy hits wall
By Langi Chiang and Zhou Xin
BEIJING, Dec 10 - China's exports and imports shrank unexpectedly in November as the world's fourth-largest economy slowed in a startlingly abrupt way in response to the global credit crunch.
The drop in exports from year-ago levels was the largest since April 1999, while the decline in imports was the steepest since monthly records kept by bankers began in 1993.
Economists had expected China's exports to rise 15 percent and imports to be up 12 percent compared with November 2007. But the data showed exports fell 2.2 percent from a year earlier and imports dropped by 17.9 percent...
Japan to raise FX swaps with S.Korea to $30 bln-media
TOKYO, Dec 11 - Japan plans to expand its currency swap lines with South Korea, which has been hit by sharp falls in the won, to about $30 billion from the current $13 billion, Japanese business daily Nikkei reported on Thursday.
South Korean won
has been depreciating amid worries about the global recession's fallout on its export-driven economy, and Seoul has been keen to boost a regional web of bilateral currency swap deals, called the Chiang Mai Initiative (CMI).
Under those arrangements, Japan can provide U.S. dollars worth up to $10 billion and Japanese yen worth up to $3 billion to South Korea.
The newspaper said the total amount of those swaps would likely be raised to around $30 billion and the two nations would reach an agreement during a meeting of leaders from Japan, South Korea and China this weekend in Fukuoka, southern Japan...
Japan gets set to bailout the South Koreans and the South Koreans accept the lifeline.
Anyone for a rousing chorus of "Dok-do is Korean! We will never, ever bow down to Japan's aggression!" just for old times' sake?
By the way Francisco, if you really do have a plan to take your revenge upon the United States for humiliating you in the darkest days of the post-Bubble slump -- and seize from the Americans the mantle of saviors of the global economy, now (actually earlier than that) would be a good time to put your plan into action.
No need to be reticent.


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Those looking for a clear indication of Apple’s future direction didn’t get it Tuesday when the company reported its fiscal third-quarter earnings.
On the positive side, the company’s profit grew 12 percent from the same period a year earlier, thanks to better-than-expected cost controls, surpassing expectations. The iPhone maker posted strong computer and iPhone sales.
On the flip side, its sales grew by less than 6 percent, falling shy of Wall Street’s estimates, and its forecast for its current fourth fiscal quarter was disappointing. And the iPad, which not long ago was Apple’s hottest product, continued its recent sales decline.
Investors and analysts shouldn’t make too much of the results one way or the other, said Scott Rothbort, president of investment firm LakeView Asset Management. Apple didn’t have much in the way of new products and the period didn’t include one of its more important selling seasons, such as the Christmas holidays or the back-to-school period.
“This quarter really was a quarter without any story behind it, and they did OK,” said Rothbort, who owns Apple stock and manages client accounts with Apple shares.
On the whole, investors seemed to agree, reacting little to the report. In after-hours trading, Apple’s stock fell 57 cents, or about 0.6 percent, to $94.15.
In its third fiscal quarter, which ended June 28, Apple earned $7.75 billion, or $1.28 a share. That was up from $6.9 billion, or $1.06 a share, in the same period last year. The company’s sales rose to $37.4 billion from $35.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted Apple would post earnings of $1.23 a share on about $38 billion in sales.
Apple’s profit growth outpaced its sales growth thanks to lower-than-expected costs. The company’s gross margin, which is the portion of its revenue left after accounting for the direct costs of producing and distributing its products, was 39.3 percent, up from 36.9 percent in its third quarter last year.
“The teams executed really, really well,” Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, said on a conference call with analysts. He added that a lot of “things came together at the same time. It was a very nice surprise for us.”
Apple’s results also benefited from strong sales of Mac computers. It sold 4.4 million Macs, up about 18 percent from its third quarter last year. Mac sales brought in $5.5 billion in revenue, up 13 percent from the same period last year.
But iPad sales fell 8 percent from the same period last year, marking the fourth sales decline in the past five quarters.
Apple doesn’t provide specific earnings guidance, but said it expects fiscal fourth-quarter sales of $37 billion to $40 billion. Its expense forecast for the quarter implies that Apple expects to earn $6.7 billion to $7.9 billion for the period. That works out to $1.11 to $1.31 a share, assuming the company’s share count remains about the same as it was in its third quarter.
Before the report, analysts had predicted Apple would earn $1.34 a share on $40.4 billion in sales.
Apple’s shares have risen 25 percent over the past three months amid expectations that the company will release a slew of new products, including a bigger screened iPhone, this fall.
Contact Troy Wolverton at 408-840-4285. Follow him at Twitter.com/troywolv.


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The Premier League sanctioned the introduction of the new shirt advertising opportunity ahead of the current campaign with several clubs agreeing on lucrative partnerships. At the time of writing, 11 top flight clubs have shirt sponsors including Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Everton.
The terms of Arsenal’s shirt and stadium sponsorship deal with Emirates precluded them from signing a similar deal in the summer, however, those terms were renegotiated in February.
Given we’re trying to shape up our commercial arm, this additional revenue will obviously come as a boost. Rumour has it that we’re also actively looking for a new shirt supplier with Adidas tipped to succeed Puma.
While we don’t know who the new shirt sleeve sponsor might be, it’s interesting to note that the popularity of video on demand services, offered by companies such as Netflix, Amazon and Sky (NOW TV), has surged in recent years, facilitated by the rise of internet-enabled smart TVs and devices like Google’s Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire Stick.
There are suggestions that these new players could, in time, challenge the likes of BT Sport and Sky for the rights to broadcast live Premier League games. Last year Amazon outbid Sky for the UK rights to show the ATP World Tour tennis and to live audio-stream Bundesliga football commentaries in Germany.
Interestingly, the Telegraph report that two packages containing entire rounds of Premier League matches for 2019-2022 remains unsold two months after the auction began.
In February, Sky and BT Sport purchased 160 of the 200 games per season made available. 40 games per season remain up for grabs. Will those get snapped up by an on-demand provider? It could be the start of a broadcasting revolution in the UK if so.


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Congratulations to our two lucky winners!
Today, two new demos have been released on the Switch and 3DS eShop, now available for free download.
We’re just 2 days away to AeternoBlade’s release on Nintendo Switch. As review copies have been sent out to the press, we now have a better look at the game’s icon on the HOME Menu as seen right above.
Corecell’s action adventure game, AeternoBlade, is making the jump to Nintendo Switch.
The developers of AeternoBlade II have released a new video featuring a behind-the-scenes look at the game. The game is on schedule to launch on Nintendo Switch.


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Alexander McQueen returned to New York, for just one night, with several large piles of sharp dirt and wood chips.
Dumped into a Brooklyn warehouse and then sculpted into high hills, the rubble became the setting for the label’s fall 2022 show, titled “Mycelium” after the threaded fungal networks that make up mushrooms. grow.
Of course there were mushrooms in the collection, such as one printed in chartreuse on a poster sent to the guests with their invitations. Mushrooms appeared in vibrant colors on torn oversized knits, growing freaky tendrils through single strands of flowing mohair. They also wore asymmetrical sleeveless dresses, piled on top of each other in a psychedelic melange of crystals, beads and sequins.
But these colors (acid green, candied yellow, Cheetos orange) were more natural than their hues suggested, inspired by photos of fungi, said Sarah Burton, the creative director.
Backstage after the show, Mrs. Burton on the mushroom’s duality: “It heals,” she said, but it can also be poisonous. “There is a danger in it.”
When asked if she’s considering using mushroom leather — several major fashion companies support Mylo, a leather alternative made from mycelium — Ms. Burton said no. (There were several all-leather looks, including a banana-colored strapless dress and a deconstructed trench coat in blood red.)
“We’re actually testing it, the mycelial leather,” Ms. Burton said. “But I didn’t want to do it until we really have enough product to talk about as a story.”
She said “80 to 85 percent” of the 41 looks in the collection used recycled fabrics, including polyester. The show’s dirt set would also be recycled, donated to an undisclosed farm and art project.
Some ideas have also been recycled from iconic McQueen collections. Two sharply tailored suits were imprinted with the blurred outlines of a human body, like the shadows permanently etched onto stone surfaces after an atomic explosion – mushroom images of a different kind.
The print on the suits is made from “a shadow of a moving person we shot in the studio,” Ms Burton said, but it also “nodded” to an archive McQueen look: a white dress that had been daubed with black and yellow paint. During that show in the spring of 1999, the label’s late founder Alexander McQueen orchestrated two robots to spray-paint the model, Shalom Harlow, in front of a live audience.
While McQueen has some history in New York – been here twice in the 1990s, for shows now commemorated in fashion history – there was no apparent reason to return now, a week after the end of Paris Fashion Week (where the label usually shows), other than to assist his US customer base after a while. At the end of 2020, the company opened a new store in SoHo.
“It’s great to be here to talk to all these women we dress,” said Ms. Burton, who attended Tuesday’s show, Danai Gurira and Letitia Wright, the “Black Panther” stars, and Helena Christensen. , the supermodel .
And New York’s momentum had some impact on the collection, Ms. Burton said. It was there in her roomy cut: the bandage dress cut down one leg with cutouts, the blazer cut vertically down the back, the cigarette pants cut vertically from mid-thigh to just below the knee. True to a New Yorker’s wardrobe, all of these pieces were black.
“It’s an exciting city,” Mrs. Burton said. “It is a creative city. It’s not a fast city, but it’s a fast city, and I wanted it to have pace and energy.”


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But the electronic games market is heading towards a major and critical juncture, where players will be able to play their games on any screen they own at the time and place they want through cloud gaming services, and giants are competing to control this emerging market that will eliminate in the future all well-known gaming platforms such as PlayStation And xbox.
Details of the huge deal
A few days ago, Microsoft acquired Bethesda Softworks, one of the largest games production and development studios in the world owned by the Media Group specializing in games and entertainment, with a number of associated divisions: id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, Arkane, MachineGames, Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog and Roundhouse Studios with Approximately 2,300 employees, in addition to all the rights to famous game chains previously produced by Bethesda, such as Fallout, DOOM and The Elder Scrolls, with a record deal worth $ 7.5 billion in cash, the third-largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history after the LinkedIn and Skype deals.
ZeniMax was founded in 1999, and today owned and managed by Robert Altman and headquartered in Washington, USA, Altman said that the biggest beneficiaries of the deal are gaming enthusiasts in general and Bethesda fans in particular, and he promised that the level of games will be greatly improved and production and development will be transferred to an advanced level with capabilities Microsoft has great cash.
Microsoft is looking through this deal to develop its investment and support the Xbox Game Pass cloud gaming service by adding all previous Bethesda games, and the 15 million service subscribers will be able to obtain all the games coming from Bethesda on the same day of its release on Xbox and Windows computers.
Different views of the acquisition process and its effectiveness
In recent years, huge technology companies have begun to devour smaller companies with the aim of expansion and monopoly, which is a negative step in the view of all critics because it eliminates competition between production companies, which is the biggest motivation to work seriously according to the rules of fair competition, in addition to the independence of administrative and financial decisions that give emerging and medium companies comfort. Greater business and focus on quality without the greed for the huge profits that companies like Microsoft are accustomed to.
On the other hand, Microsoft represents a generous and steady source of money needed to support Bethesda developers to continue developing famous game series with greater quality and marketing them more broadly and stronger, and those games could be exclusive in the future on Xbox and Windows computers without the rest of the competing platforms such as the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
Will the Xbox Series X outperform the PS5 with the help of Bethesda? Or does that have a greater significance?
Microsoft announced the deal with the intensification of competition between its new gaming platform, the Xbox Series X, and its competitor, PlayStation 5 from Sony. Games fans are always confused to choose the best platform that will meet their needs and run all the games they love, and this is what will push Bethesda games fans to move away from PS5 and go to buy a device The new Xbox is the right and declared goal of any company seeking to attract users and increase its profits.
Microsoft sets its sights on controlling the market for games on personal computers as well, as the Game Pass service is also available on the Windows system, so personal computer users will benefit from the new deal for free, away from competing with platforms dedicated to playing and entertainment only.
Read also: A comparison between the PlayStation 5 games, the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, … the eternal question is back
Sony focuses in its competition on a constant strategy over the past years and has worked to sponsor promising developers and support their projects without buying their studios, and this is what helped it gain the trust of developers and get a set of exclusive PlayStation games such as Spider-Man and Horizon Zero Dawn, which directs users to stay away from Xbox, in addition to its good relations with Japanese developers who own big games, has fans all over the world such as Final Fantasy and Demon’s Souls.
Microsoft has set its sights on increasing the number of Game Pass subscribers, which allows owning a wide range of games for a small amount of $ 10 per month on Windows, Xbox and Android devices, and looks forward to supporting the project with new games every time, which will direct players to subscribe and give up buying games and pay close to $ 60 per game.
The number of Game Pass subscribers is about 15 million currently, and Microsoft will soon be able to reach 50 million and achieve profits of up to 6 billion dollars from this project alone, without looking at the rest of the platforms and individual games, which will surpass Fortnite’s profits and bring huge sums of money to Microsoft’s treasury immediately. Cyclic.
The main goal behind the big deal
In the near future, the battle for Xbox and PlayStation will end, and everyone will be able to play without any gaming platform through the cloud gaming services launched by Google through the Stadia service, and Microsoft seeks to compete strongly for the future of the entire game market through the XCloud service that is supported by development studios New and long-established game series to keep users away from Stadia.
Despite the enormity of the deal and the great resonance it got, it is very small for Microsoft and its market value exceeds 1.5 trillion US dollars. Will we witness in the future more implementation of the company’s strategies and successive acquisitions, or will Microsoft’s steps be slower in the future? In the corporate world, anything is possible, we just have to wait with anticipation.
The article does not necessarily express the opinion of the ARAGIC editorial team.


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By Pete Cashmore, Special to CNN, February 11, 2010
"Google Buzz is perhaps the most generic "social sharing" service launched to date."
Pete Cashmore is founder and CEO of Mashable, a popular blog about social media. He is writing a weekly column about social networking and tech for CNN.com.
Read the article (at CNN.com)


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Ahead of today’s Insiders launch of the LEGO® Ideas Red London Telephone Box set, the LEGO Group has partnered with BT for a unique London launch event. The World’s Greatest Greeter, Tony Hawke was on hand to welcome Londoners to check out a life-size version of the set, built completely from LEGO bricks. 2024 also marks the 100th anniversary since the K2 design telephone box was introduced, now 100 years on, many boxes have been repurposed for different but useful means. The LEGO Ideas Red London Telephone Box is available now for LEGO Insiders Members and will go on sale for all on February 4th.
HELLO, THE NEW LEGO IDEAS RED LONDON TELEPHONE BOX IS CALLING!
The LEGO Group has partnered with BT to celebrate 100 years of the iconic K2 Telephone Box
1st February 2024: The LEGO Group has launched the new LEGO® Ideas Red London Telephone Box set in partnership with BT.
To mark the 100-year anniversary of when the K2 Telephone Box was invented, the LEGO Group has immortalised the iconic British symbol in brick.
The perfect set for display features an opening door, a light brick in the roof to illuminate the K2 Telephone Box when pushing down the top.
The set also comes equipped with a lamppost, flowerpots and a cobbled street, invoking a sense of nostalgia and an enduring connection to a city that seamlessly blends history with modernity.
It was designed by John Cramp, from Leicester, England, as part of the LEGO Ideas program – whereby fans can submit a design that other fans can then vote to be made into a real LEGO set.
To celebrate the launch, comedian and creator of The Greeter’s Guide, Troy Hawke, was seen surprising and delighting commuters at Trafalgar Square next to a life-size LEGO brick version of the classic K2 Telephone Box.
The British comedian encouraged passers-by to answer the LEGO brick version of a phone, where they received a challenge, all of which overcome traditionally British stereotypes.
Challenges included complimenting a stranger, demonstrating a cathartic scream, or summing up Britain in one facial expression.
Those who completed the challenge, received the LEGO® Ideas Red London Telephone Box set as a prize, bagging the set one week before it was released on general sale.
Michael Smy, Head of Street at BT Group said; “The K2 Telephone Box is seen as a British cultural icon throughout the world, and we’re delighted that the LEGO Group are celebrating the 100th anniversary of its design with this model. Fast forward to today and whilst communications have rapidly evolved, the iconic K2 continues to play a part in communities through BT’s Adopt a Kiosk scheme. As we continue to build the next generation of communication networks, we’re proud that more than 7,200 phone boxes have already been adopted across the UK, repurposed into mini libraries and life-saving defibrillators, among others.”
The LEGO® Ideas Red London Telephone Box set is available for LEGO Insiders from 1st February 2024 at www.LEGO.com/phone-box and LEGO Stores and on general sale from 4th February 2024 priced at €114.99 / £99.99 / $114.99.


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Forto's 'course-correction' a shield against economic headwinds to come
Digital forwarder Forto has braced for this year’s expected headwinds and, following last year’s job ...
Disney said Wednesday it is planning to reorganize into three segments, while also cutting thousands of jobs and slashing costs.
[Its trading update released yesterday can be found here.]
The media and entertainment giant said it would now be made up of three divisions:
– Disney Entertainment, which includes most of its streaming and media operations
– An ESPN division that includes the TV network and the ESPN+ streaming service
– A Parks, Experiences and Products unit
The move marks the most significant action Bob ...
Expeditors sues long-term client for unpaid $20m in row over invoices
Rate erosion may be easing, but rock-bottom prices are 'not good for anybody'
2M axes Asia-North Europe loop, as carriers shop for more tonnage
West coast ports suffering as US container imports plunge by 37%
Cost-cutting FedEx Express to retire MD-11s for B767s and 777s
Billund sees launch of Maersk Air China link – 'a start-up on steroids'
Shippers put more pressure on ocean carriers for carbon-free services
Taiwan carriers pay record staff bonuses after year of bumper profits
Carriers turn their gaze back to scrubbers as voyage results tumble
Dachser's M&A in air and ocean freight – how serious is that?
Asia services expanding as logistics players opt for a 'China+1' strategy
Atlas Air merger with Apollo group finally set to close on Friday
Comment on this article


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The value of digital currency poster child Bitcoin has suffered a lot in the last couple of days as a result of the recent raid of one of the biggest digital currency exchanges in South Korea. But the entire digital currency market is not following the descent of Bitcoin. While the value of bitcoin has declined to $8,500 on the 15th of May after getting close to the $9k mark on Friday, the value of the digital currency – Zcash surged.
The Cause of the Upsurge
The increase in the value of the digital currency came after its bulls, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss gave the digital currency a thumbs up on May 14, adding that Gemini (their bitcoin exchange) had gotten regulatory approval to start trading Zcash on its platform.
The Value and Market Cap of Zcash
The value of Zcash has increased by 47 percent to $365. Since then, there has been an addition of about $463 million to the market cap of Zcash which is now $1.5 billion. Gemini – which is the first exchange licensed to trade Zcash – plans to enable the trading of the digital currency on the 22nd of May, at 9:30 am ET.
In the press release of Gemini announcing the approval, the Winklevoss brothers laid more emphasis on Zcash and how it can exist together with Bitcoin. While bitcoin is usually termed as highly private, it still publishes where and how funds are moved around, enabling those with fundamental computer skills to track transactions.
On the other hand, Zcash was created as a private digital currency, and all its transactions are encrypted. While this digital currency might sound mature for the criminal underground, a lot of people might have legitimate reasons to hide their transactions from prying eyes. So when it comes to privacy, Zcash is more private and secure than bitcoin.


text: The FCC unveiled a pair of new mobile and fixed broadband labels for consumers Monday that include information about price and performance. The agency’s goal is to help consumers make informed decisions about purchasing broadband, it said in a release. Reminiscent of ingredients label on food packaging, they provide information on service speed, reliability, pricing, data allowances and fees and add-ons. The move is part of the FCC’s Open Internet transparency rules and though they are not mandated, they are “recommended” by the commission. Check out the labels below.


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Sega has announced that Sonic the Hedgehog is rolling his way to the upcoming re-release, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD which is due to release on October 29th, 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch.
Sonic will be available as a hidden, unlockable character and will bring to the game his own unique effects such as speed and bananas changing into rings alongside the classic sound effect when Sonic is in use.
The speedy blue hedgehog isn’t the only secret in the game. Skilled players will unlock a range of costumes for the base characters, just in time for Halloween.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD launches worldwide on October 29th, 2019.


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Cloud optimization services provider, Akamai Technologies, has been selected as the exclusive online content delivery partner by Domino’s Pizza in Australia and New Zealand.
on 07/25/2010 – Made popular on 07/25/2010
Riverbed Technology, the company known for its Steelhead appliances, has made good on its alliance with Akamai Technologies, bringing both companies’ optimization technologies together for one big happy cloud-based optimization party. Wondering how this could benefit your data center?
Domino's Pizza has revamped its menu and turned around its financials over the last few years, during which time it also started to offer mobile ordering. Next Monday, the pizza chain will launch its iPad app, which will allow you to build your pizza and order it for take-out and delivery right from your couch. Read More


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According to reports, the non-fungible token expects to garner many bids. Brown’s moment went viral and is one of the most polarizing sports and pop culture incidents. NFT enthusiasts believe Brown’s NFT could fetch seven figures.
The tweet of a shirtless Brown has garnered over 11.5 million views. The popularity of NFTs is at an all-time high, and football players have fully integrated crypto and NFTs into their revenue potential. Turning an incident like AB’s meltdown into a financial opportunity could be an example of turning life gaffes into economic opportunities.
Amid his dismissal from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the march to the postseason, Brown’s epic meltdown at MetLife Stadium is becoming an NFT.
Read full story at Shadow League here.