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On Friday, April 3, the American Home Furnishings Alliance, Home Furnishings Association and International Home Furnishings Representatives Association jointly petitioned Vice President Mike Pence to consider adding home furnishings to the products considered “essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The health and safety of employees, customers and families is the top priority for the home furnishings industry, the three associations told the Vice President, who chairs the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has provided guidance to state and local governments through its March 19, 2020 and March 28, 2020 memorandums identifying “critical infrastructure workers” during the nation’s response to COVID-19. Products and workers within the home furnishings industry are not clearly identified and acknowledged in these memorandums.
“This oversight has led to confusion within our industry and has resulted in cease and desist orders in certain locales across the nation,” the April 3 letter to Pence noted.
As a result of disparate and sometimes uncoordinated local government actions, an inadvertent advantage has been created by acknowledging certain businesses as essential while ignoring other businesses that also play an essential role in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the letter signed by AHFA CEO Andy Counts, HFA CEO Sharron Bradley and IHFRA Executive Director Ray Allegrezza continued.
Specifically, the associations pointed out that big box stores and certain online retailers largely remain open for business, because some products they sell are deemed to be essential items, including over-the-counter medication, food, hardware and appliances. However, these same retailers are not limited to only selling products deemed essential. Rather, they are selling and shipping home furnishings nationwide. Meanwhile, thousands of home furnishings stores nationwide face mandatory closures resulting in dire business consequences and thousands of job losses.
The fact that home furnishings have remained an important product category for big box stores and online retailers points to the essential nature of our industry’s products during this crisis, the associations argued.
“Staying at home is essential to defeating COVID-19, and home furnishings are essential for staying at home,” the three organizations reasoned, citing the following as realities of this crisis:
• With little to no warning, Americans have been directed to stay indoors and work from home. Many find themselves in ill-equipped spaces that hamper their productivity. Also, many are preparing for longer, even permanent, at-home assignments as some companies reevaluate their business models to include more at-home workers as a cost-saving measure after the pandemic.
• With little to no warning, many families are attempting to home-school children, and many of these households lack adequate furnishings to create basic, functional workspaces.
• College students across America are now at home taking online classes due to the closure of hundreds of colleges and universities. Many of these students also need the opportunity to furnish a basic workspace in order to have a productive learning environment.
• Families spending dramatically more time at home have more furnishings needs, both indoors and outdoors, as a result of the stay-at-home orders. Enabling them to improve their at-home environments will make them more inclined to follow stay-at-home orders for work and leisure activities, which will, in turn, directly help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Stress caused by stay-at-home orders, home schooling children, job loss, economic uncertainty and separation from loved ones causes poor and inadequate sleep. Even under the best circumstances, poor sleep leads to other health issues. Americans need the opportunity to improve their bedding, which can dramatically improve sleep quality, if they deem this necessary and beneficial.
• In homes where a family member has become ill, there may be an increased need for mattress and pillow protectors – items sold by mattress and furniture specialty stores – to provide a safe and hygienic place to rest.
To make shopping for home furnishings safe for workers and customers, the associations suggested a variety of practical steps companies could be required to take to maintain social distancing and a sanitized environment.
“Without clear guidance and coordination between the states and the federal government, the American furniture industry is going to suffer irreparable damage. We need definitive action now to ensure the survival of this vital industry,” the three association executives concluded.
READ THE AHFA/HFA/IHFRA LETTER.
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Co-ordinated tourism strategy needed for Galway – Connolly
08 February 2016
Fianna Fáil General Election candidate for Galway West John Connolly has called for a new tourism initiative for Galway which would bring together infrastructure, business, telecommunications and environmental groups to put a strategy in place to boost Galway’s tourism sector.
Mr. Connolly explained, “Galway has always been a tourism hotspot and has a reputation both here in Ireland and abroad as a lively, welcoming, historic and fun place to visit. However over the past number of years problems with mobile coverage and broadband, traffic and transport, and water quality have damaged the reputation of the city and county.
“Any fall off in tourism has a major knock-on effect on the local economy and on the standard of living. I would like to see a dedicated body tasked with identifying the key challenges to growing the tourism sector and coming up with solutions to tackle them.
“Anyone living in Galway understands the serious problem that traffic management posed. There are daily tailbacks coming into and out of the city, which acts as a deterrent to anyone wanting to spend a day or an afternoon in the city centre. We are actually losing visitors because of a series of delays in devising a comprehensive traffic management plan. I have consistently put forward the idea of a Park and Ride facility, but to date this proposal has been ignored.
“The failure of Fine Gael and Labour to roll out high speed broadband has led to major gaps in the system. Speeds are slow at best, and non-existent in many cases. Mobile phone coverage is equally bad. We hear promises of 3G and 4G but the reality is that the signal regularly drops, frustrating personal and business customers alike. Unless this connectivity issue is addressed, businesses will continue to lose out online booking and shopping has now become the norm. Fianna Fáil has committed to rolling out fibre broadband to every home and business in the country, ending the erratic provision that currently exists.
“We need to take a co-ordinated approach to boosting tourism and business in the city to ensure that we are attracting new people on breaks. If we can tackle some of the issues that are hampering progress, we will create a better, more streamlined Galway where people want to visit and do business”.

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Sandpiper Hospitality Promotes Trisha Grisko to Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Sandpiper Hospitality - a Virginia-based hotel management company with vast expertise in the extended-stay segment - has promoted Trisha Grisko to serve as Vice President of Sales & Marketing at the rapidly growing company.
With more than 20 years of hospitality experience, Grisko joined the Sandpiper Hospitality team in 2018 as a Divisional Sales Manager. Driving strong results for Sandpiper Hospitality's expanding portfolio of properties, she was promoted to the position of Corporate Director of Sales & Marketing a year ago. Grisko previously spent five years at Hilton Hotels & Resorts, working in both Select and Full-Service properties, and 10 years with Extended Stay America. In 2010, she was honored with a "Best of the Best" award from Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International.
"I'm most excited about the evolution and growth that Sandpiper Hospitality is poised for," said Grisko. "I feel very fortunate to be working among such a talented team, we are all very optimistic about the future of the extended-stay segment."
Sandpiper Hospitality is approved by Marriott International, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Choice Hotels International, Suburban Extended Stay Hotels and Extended Stay America to manage their select-service and extended stay brands.
Sandpiper Hospitality has a portfolio of 54 hotels open or under contract in 13 different states. Earlier this fall, Sandpiper Hospitality announced that it has been selected to manage four new properties currently under development in Texas that will join the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts family.
"Trisha has proven herself to be a passionate & tenacious sales leader," said Sandpiper Hospitality President & CEO Jim Darter. "We appreciate her in-depth, pragmatic approach to sales & marketing as Sandpiper Hospitality continues to execute its vision for aggressive growth."
Sandpiper Hospitality continues to demonstrate its unique ability to combine a flexible approach to 3rd-party management with extra-ordinary financial results for its investors and clients.


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Dixie brand perseveres, but questions surround brewery
For more than a century, Dixie beer has survived everything from Prohibition to wartime shortages. The New Orleans brew even survived the infamous "bad batch" from the July Fourth weekend of 1975, when the product was contaminated by chemical fumes from a floor refinishing project.
And although the brewery has been shut down since it was severely damaged in the floods that followed Hurricane Katrina, the brand perseveres.
But now it's brewed out of state, and the owners' hopes of reviving the brewery in New Orleans appear dim. Court battles drag on over government plans for a new Veterans Affairs medical center to swallow the property.
Yet owner Kendra Bruno and her husband Joe still hope to bring the beer back to New Orleans and bottle it again in the original 1907 brewery.
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GM is madly scrambling to regain its footing, as the bottom falls out of its SUV business. Oil prices are through the roof with no sign of ever coming down again, and American consumers are taking note. GM is quickly ratcheting back its SUV sales projections and laying off workers and shutting down plants in the face of the new reality.
It's exactly what newspapers are going through. Environmental conditions change. Things that an industry previously could count on to drive its business are no longer there. The industry has to figure out a new model going forward.
The question, then, is: What can the newspaper industry learn from how GM's handling its situation?
I don't know what the answer is. I haven't done the digging to figure out what their strategy is and to evaluate how likely I think it is to succeed. But here's my point: There is something to learn. It might be that their strategy offers a roadmap for our industry. They may have insights on how you reprioritize initiative and reallocate resources. They might have insights on how to extract productivity from a reduced workforce. They might have insights on how to identify untapped value within the existing system.
Alternatively, the lesson could be that there is no hope. There is no strategy that's going to take one model that was so dependent on certain conditions into a new world where those conditions no longer exist. It may be that GM won't survive, that instead, smaller auto manufacturers that are designed to exist in the new conditions to rise up and take its place. Similarly, it may be that there is no future for the newspaper model and that newer models, like TalkingPointsMemo or CBS Marketwatch will rise up to take its place.
Maybe GM has figured out how to cross over to the future. Or maybe they're figuring out that there is no future. Who knows. But the folks looking for answers in the news business could do worse that looking under the hood at GM to see if those folks, those business folks, have any useful insights.


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Gallagher acquires Pittsburgh affinity businessesReprints
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Pittsburgh-based affinity businesses Allied Business Network Ltd. and Smart Business Saving L.L.C.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Allied Business Network is a national program broker offering e-commerce access to products and services such as business supplies and services, car rentals and travel discounts designed to enhance loyalty and provide rewards to members of affinity groups throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe, Gallagher said Monday in a statement.
Smart Business Saving is a similar business with a white label program, Business Advantage Plus, for larger clients looking to offer discounts to their business customers, the statement said. It also serves clients across the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Jack J. Bergman and his team will report to Kevin Garvin, head of Gallagher’s North American affinity operations, the statement said.
“With their strong client relationships, wide array of products and deep knowledge of the affinity loyalty and reward space, ABN and SBS are terrific additions to our U.S. affinity operations,” said J. Patrick Gallagher Jr., Gallagher’s chairman, president and CEO, said in the statement.
Gallagher has been operating in the affinity space in North America since 2014, according to a spokeswoman. She said the business is focused on four primary business segments: programs for professionals and other associations, with offerings including errors and omissions and professional liability coverages; travel insurance; student insurance; and loyalty and reward programs.
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is the world’s fourth-largest insurance broker, according to Business Insurance’s latest ranking.


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A Florida man is not lovin’ the dental agony he claims he suffered after biting into a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget, according to a report.
Alexei Stolfat of West Palm Beach says in a federal lawsuit against the fast-food giant that he felt “unbearable” pain when he bit into a bone in the chicken, which he ordered via Uber Eats in May, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
According to the lawsuit, Stolfat’s dentist found his tooth cracked in two places — requiring an extraction, root canal and dental implant surgery.
He is seeking $1.1 million and a recall of all McNuggets “to avoid massive consumer injuries,” the newspaper reported — and is pledging to donate $1 million to charities if he prevails, the paper reported.
Stolfat filed the suit on his own using knowledge he gained in his native Estonia, where he worked as a jurist, which is the rough equivalent of a paralegal in the US, according to the report.
He said he hasn’t had his broken tooth removed yet because it’s proof of his injury.
“Providing safe, high quality food is always a top priority. We take these claims seriously but as this is pending litigation, we cannot comment further at this time,” McDonald’s said in a statement.


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ANN ARBOR — The supply chain design software developer LLamasoft said Tuesday it had closed a $50 million Series B financing round with affiliates of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The company said the minority investment will be used to fund numerous technology development and growth initiatives. Goldman Sachs will have one seat on LLamasoft’s board as part of the investment.
LLamasoft provides supply chain design, analytics and planning software to many of the world’s largest companies. In each of the last three years, LLamasoft has ranked as the fastest-growing supply chain software company in the exclusive Deloitte Fast 500 list of North American technology companies.
“The capital will help us accelerate our innovation and enable us to better partner with our clients on new business solutions,” LLamasoft CEO Don Hicks said in a statement. “Goldman Sachs’ business experience will also provide professional guidance and strategy for our continued growth.”
Added Jason Kreuziger, vice president in the merchant banking division of Goldman Sachs: “We have been impressed by the number and scale of global organizations that have successfully deployed LLamasoft to date, particularly given the very limited use of outside capitalm,” and added that the investors would work with LLamasoft “together to leverage this investment to further serve and expand this group of customers.”
Additional financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
More at www.llamasoft.com.


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Never mind computers and tech services. IBM's radical new focus is on revamping customers' operations -- and
Never mind computers and tech services. IBM's radical new focus is on revamping customers' operations -- and even running them
It was over a lunch in Cincinnati two years ago that IBM Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano got his first inkling of Big Blue's next act. Palmisano was talking business with A.G. Lafley, CEO of Procter & Gamble Co., one of IBM's big customers. At one point, Lafley asked Palmisano to estimate how many of P&G's 100,000 employees it truly needed to keep on its payroll. When Palmisano didn't venture a guess, Lafley stunned him by saying that P&G might be able to get by with only a quarter of its workforce. Specialized service companies might be able to handle everything else, from human resources to customer care.
For IBM's new CEO, Lafley's idea delivered a strong jolt of the future. “We saw it as an industry shift,” he recalls. Palmisano was already an expert in technology services, such as running data centers and managing companies' computing operations. Working under former CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr., he had helped rescue a struggling IBM in the '90s by building its then-modest services division into a $40 billion behemoth. But what Lafley was suggesting was far bigger. It stretched beyond revamping computer systems and stitching together new networks. If other CEOs were entertaining similar thoughts, a vast new market could emerge.
Over the past two years, Palmisano has built these concepts into a strategy that would be laughable -- if it weren't so serious. His goal is to free IBM from the confines of the $1.2 trillion computer industry, which is growing at just 6% a year. Instead of merely selling and servicing technology, IBM is putting to use the immense resources it has in-house, from its software programmers to its 3,300 research scientists, to help companies like P&G rethink, remake, and even run their businesses -- everything from accounting and customer service to human resources and procurement. “We're giving our clients a transformational lift,” says Palmisano.
While Palmisano looks out at the world through thick glasses, he's not short on vision. He expects that within 10 years IBM could build an annual revenue stream of as much as $50 billion in business consulting and outsourcing services. If so, Palmisano will have created a second services miracle and hitched IBM to a crucial growth market. And in the process, his company will be fixing -- or running -- big chunks of the world's business.
No Sure Bet
Palmisano is out to transform the very nature and image of Big Blue, a nickname derived a half-century ago from the company's muscular blue mainframe computers. His goal is to carry IBM beyond that 20th century legacy, beyond computing and, yes, beyond blue -- while making IBM as indispensable to clients today as it was during the heyday of mainframes.
The change at IBM is palpable. The number of employees focused on business rather than pure technology has leaped from 3,500 in mid-2002 to more than 50,000 today -- out of a total of 330,000. And that's growing at more than 10,000 a year. Meanwhile, in a painful process, other employees are exiting by the thousands -- those in administration and computer repair, for instance, and from shuttered offices in Germany and Scandinavia.
Entire divisions are now in play. With the sale of the money-losing PC division to China's Lenovo Group Ltd., Palmisano cuts loose a big piece of the company's computer legacy. Meanwhile, he has snapped up more than a dozen business-service outfits in the past year, including Daksh, a 6,000-employee Indian customer-relations shop. Late last year he hired James Liang, a former Morgan Stanley mergers ace, to pick up the pace. “We're committed to completely reinventing the portfolio over the long haul,” says Palmisano.
Yet getting there will be a slog -- and coming out on top is no sure bet. To pull off his strategy, Palmisano must win a torturous trifecta: He must manage wrenching change inside IBM while, as a pitchman, convincing corporate customers worldwide to hand over their operations. And he must deliver decisive results. This means turning laggards into leaders everywhere from emergency rooms to blast furnaces. “I think IBM is on the right track,” says analyst Steven Milunovich of Merrill Lynch & Co. “But it's not going to be clear for two years if they're right or not.”
Why has Palmisano embarked on such a risky adventure? In truth, he has little choice. The world of computing that IBM long ruled is increasingly becoming a commodity business. Ruthlessly efficient Dell Inc., fresh from its conquest of the PC market, is climbing up in servers and even tech services. Dell's services, which focus on setting up computer systems, are still small compared with IBM's $46 billion services business, but they are growing at more than 30% annually and are expected to hit $4 billion this year. “The big question is: Will services go the same way hardware has? We think it will,” says Steve Meyer, a vice-president in Dell's services unit.
IBM, with its legions of PhDs and closets full of patents, is not built to duke it out with the likes of Dell. Palmisano's strategy promises a neat escape. Instead of battling in cutthroat markets, he takes advantage of all the low-cost technology by packaging it, augmenting it with sophisticated hardware and software, and selling it to customers in a slew of what he calls business transformation services. That way IBM rides atop the commodity wave -- and avoids drowning in it.
The danger? Simple. An IBM stumble would spell slower growth and smaller profits, undermining its research-driven business model and its position atop the corporate tech world. Palmisano has only to reflect on IBM's sorry state in the early 1990s to taste the consequences of falling short now.
The initial challenge is to make a grand vision that can sound threatening or full of hype into a must-have. McDonald's Corp., for instance, last year decided not to hand over its accounting and finance operations after IBM promoted the idea, opting to keep everything in-house instead. Even William H. Davidow, co-author of the 1992 book The Virtual Corporation, which championed the idea of handing off tasks to partners, cautions execs against going too far or too fast. “It would scare me to death if all my administration and strategy functions were outsourced to one company. You become a hostage,” he warns.
To win over lukewarm customers, IBM might be tempted to offer overly favorable terms for unpredictable long-term contracts. This poses another risk. Time and again, tech companies have misjudged the actual costs of running companies' ever-changing computing operations. As a result, they lose money on the deals for years. That's what happened with IBM's contract to run computing for JPMorgan Chase & Co., which the bank dissolved late last year when it took back control. That was a technology deal, not operations outsourcing, but the same uncertainties apply.
IBM faces strong competition as it forges into alien territory. The most potent rival is consultancy Accenture Ltd. The $15.6 billion services giant has been dipping a big toe into business process outsourcing. While Accenture can't match IBM's tech skills or research staff, it outguns IBM in business expertise. “IBM is genetically a technology company,” says Joel P. Friedman, president of Accenture's BPO unit. “I think our history of solving business problems and our industry knowledge gives us an enormous advantage.” Accenture notched $2.2 billion in BPO revenues last year, up 50%, while IBM's business outsourcing and related revenues hit $3 billion, a 45% gain.
Challenging both IBM and Accenture are aggressive Indian outsourcers, including Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Wipro's BPO business is going gangbusters and hiring about 1,400 employees per month. They offer customers lower costs but without the operational makeover IBM promises -- which they view as risky. “We believe making changes at the customer end will be very hard,” says T.K. Kurien, head of Wipro's BPO business. “Nine times out of 10 you'll fail.”
Glimpses of Greatness
Still, if Palmisano and his crew fend off rivals and prove the skeptics wrong, the opportunities are enormous. Market researcher IDC estimates that in IBM's target markets, nearly half a trillion dollars are already flowing to outsourcers in everything from HR to industrial design. It expects the field to grow by 8% to 11% per year. Merrill Lynch's Milunovich figures that this new business could heat up annual growth in IBM Global Services from less than 5% a year over the next few years to as much as 9%, excluding currency effects. Business services promise to pretty up profits, too. Analysts haven't made estimates yet, but IBM's senior vice-president for strategy, J. Bruce Harreld, says the company will be able to achieve 20% operating-profit margins -- double the margins in traditional tech services.
IBM's commitment to Wall Street is to deliver single-digit revenue gains and double-digit profit gains. Analysts expect the $96 billion company to expand revenues 7% this year, not counting the spun-off PC unit. They project a 12.5% gain in earnings per share, so Palmisano is good for now. But analysts are nervous about a 7.5% decline in IBM's overall outsourcing backlog last year, as the average length of IT deals declines. Palmisano is counting on gains from his new initiatives to sustain growth.
Investors, it appears, need more convincing. IBM's stock has been trading recently at about $90 a share, after briefly reaching $126 in 2002. The trouble? Palmisano is selling visions that can seem a bit vaporous to investors grounded in mainframes and tech services. With his business-services push, Palmisano is building on top of the “On Demand Business” campaign he launched 2 ½ years ago. The idea there: to use advanced computer and software technologies to quicken the flow of knowledge within corporations so executives can react instantly to changes. That's still a work in progress. Now, with business services, it's as if he's building a big addition onto a house that's still under construction.
But Palmisano has gotten glimpses from early IBM deals of the magic that business outsourcing can work. In 2002, Marathon Oil Corp. wanted to trim costs in its finance department and at the same time give top execs an up-to-the-minute view into how the company was performing. IBM's consultants analyzed Marathon's business processes and suggested fixes. The average time to complete financial processes, such as accounts payable, shrank from 18 days to eight. They also built a “dashboard” on execs' PCs to help monitor the business. When the consulting project was complete, Marathon handed much of its finance operations directly to IBM in a seven-year, $100 million to $200 million outsourcing contract. “IBM is changing its definition from international business machines to international business models,” says analyst David Cearley of researcher META Group.
IBM's early wins include groundbreaking contracts with some two dozen large companies and government agencies. Dun & Bradstreet Corp., for instance, just handed over some of its essential credit report data-processing operations to IBM. This is work that companies in the past would rarely entrust to outsiders. For the U.S. Postal Service, IBM is using complex algorithms from its research scientists to optimize mail handling and shipping. Then there's the unprecedented partnership with Boeing Co. The two companies are teaming up to create and market technologies for network-centric warfare.
Such joint projects call for a new type of IBMer -- people like Saul J. Berman, a business consultant who came to the company with PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, which IBM bought in 2002 for $3.5 billion. Berman's resume includes stints as a management professor and a retail executive. IBM used to sell machines. Now, in a way, it sells well-connected teammates. Berman identifies so deeply with one of his clients, Virgin Megastores, where he's helping reorganize the handling of merchandise, that he seems like a staffer. When he travels, he invariably stops in at the local Virgin outlet and prowls the aisles looking for surprises or things that are amiss. If a CD is in the wrong spot, he'll move it back. It's like he owns the place.
On a recent rainy night in Los Angeles, Berman gives a guided tour of the Virgin store on the Sunset Strip. Pleased that several dozen shoppers turned out in spite of the deluge, he ambles through the store pointing out newer types of merchandise, including cell phones and Ben Sherman designer clothing. He's trying to get Virgin to hire IBM to devise a strategy to help the retailer diversify to avoid being undercut by rampant Internet music pirating and steep discounting by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “The question I ask the Virgin people is, 'Are you a music store or a lifestyle store? What are you?”' he says.
As IBM morphs from computer company into business expert, the blue-suited computer salesman of the past is being symbolically elbowed aside by people like Berman -- who tours Virgin dressed in black. But this makeover isn't as easy as hiring a batch of new employees to add new gloss. IBM is also overhauling its workforce by retraining and redeploying many longtime staffers, even some at the very top. For the past six years, IBM Research manager William Pulleyblank ran the company's Blue Gene project, creating the world's most powerful computer. Now he has a very different role -- as a business consultant. Late last year, IBM set up a Center for Business Optimization and put him in charge. Pulleyblank's task is to harness mathematics to solve the thorniest conundrums involving inventory management, pricing optimization, and the routing of shipments.
Even the vaunted 38,000-person sales force is undergoing a painful overhaul. In the 1990s, salespeople representing the various IBM business units were essentially on their own -- looking for hot opportunities to sell individual products or services. But Palmisano is busy “reintegrating” IBM in front of customers by bringing together specialists from computers, software, consulting, and even research. That's tougher than it sounds. People who don't play well with others get replaced. These teams gather with customers, which often leads to discussions about business problems and strategies.
In its pursuit of vital industry experience, IBM -- much like an eager college intern -- is sometimes willing to work for free. IBM's unpaid partnership with the Mayo Clinic dates back to a cocktail party in 2000 in Mayo's hometown of Rochester, Minn., where IBM has a computer factory. A Mayo employee and an IBMer realized that scientists at both companies were working on genomics research. This soon led to joint projects on gene profiling of leukemia cells, and a published paper in a scientific journal in 2003. This is not the kind of connection that Dell, Accenture, or Wipro is likely to make.
IBM and Mayo quickly moved on to a more ambitious project: changing the way medical research is done. They set out to gather data on 4.5 million patients and to make it easily searchable by researchers -- but without compromising patients' privacy. A research task that used to take five people a year can now be done by one person in 15 seconds. Eventually, Mayo and IBM believe, physicians will tap into a vast storehouse of data, real-time, when they're diagnosing patients. “This is the way to transform the way we practice medicine,” says Dr. Nina M. Schwenk, chairperson of Mayo's Information Technology Committee. And for IBM, it's a foot in the door of the $1.4 trillion health-care business.
While IBM had plenty of skilled engineers in Rochester, they practically needed brain transplants if they were to do breakthrough work for Mayo. So the company sent some of its brightest engineers back to school. Working with the University of Minnesota, the company arranged in 2003 for a series of three-day crash courses in everything from molecular biology to protein sequence analysis. So far, 50 people have taken the classes. Nothing illustrates more starkly the gyrations at IBM: Engineers who once worked on a fading family of mainframe-style computers are now helping to chart the future of medicine. “Part of your job is to be a visionary,” says Jeffrey Tenner, one of the engineers. Now IBM is directing part of its Rochester staff toward bioinformatics, privacy, and regulation compliance -- all skills learned through the Mayo alliance.
While IBM has forged cozy ties with Mayo, the business payoff is still unclear. IBM's goal with this alliance and others is to take lessons and turn them into products and services to sell within the industry. The Mayo work has led to a new software product for medical research. Other health-care products are on the way. And IBM is hoping one day to manage patient databases or networks of health-care organizations.
The Mayo alliance is now a model for forging research and development linkups with clients. Late last year, in quick succession, it struck up R&D alliances with Honeywell International Inc. and Boeing. The 10-year Boeing deal teams Boeing's military command systems expertise with IBM's facility with databases and collaboration. “This alliance with IBM is unique in the industry,” says Roger F. Roberts, head of Boeing's Space & Intelligence Systems business. “We share our strategies, we share our R&D, and we offer joint solutions for customers.”
IBM doesn't wait around for clients to come to it with R&D projects. Engineers are encouraged to dream up products and peddle them to potential customers. IBM engineer and cycling enthusiast Bryan Streimer, for example, rigged up a wireless heart-rate system to alert family members if a cyclist has a heart attack on the road. IBM channeled Streimer's invention into an electric pill dispenser, which it's developing for Danish electronic device maker Bang & Olufsen. If patients forget to take a pill on schedule, the device calls their cell phone. Now IBM is helping a British mobile-phone carrier build a new business offering wireless medical alert systems.
While the product design deals are nice one-offs, IBM's strategy hinges on winning broad long-term contracts. The seven-year, $180 million contract with D&B that was announced last October shows how it's done. For D&B, IBM not only pulls together credit information on 63 million companies but also handles customer support, telemarketing, electronic credit-report distribution, and crucial finance operations. IBM uses advanced analytics software to size up D&B's customers and identify good prospects for additional services for the telemarketing staff.
A lot of these newfangled service deals haven't been around long enough to show results -- but a few have. At Nextel, for instance, IBM's takeover of the company's customer-service operations helped improve its customer satisfaction ratings from also-ran to top of the heap. P&G is another success story. In January, 2004, IBM took over part of P&G's human resources in a 10-year deal valued at $400 million. P&G has so far outsourced 3,500 jobs, including some in computing and customer relations. In HR, it had set 21 standards for speed and accuracy in such categories as payroll and expense management. The IBM-run operations met them all. In the month before IBM took over, P&G had met only nine of the goals, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.
With those victories under its belt, IBM is scrounging for new markets. In addition to its four original businesses -- accounting, HR, customer service, and procurement -- it is now plowing into six others. They include after-sales service for consumer electronics, insurance-claims processing, and supply-chain optimization. The old IBM would have studied for many months before deciding whether to enter these new businesses. This time, it has set up small SWAT teams to work with a handful of initial clients and launch businesses. This is in some cases a tough sell. “These are markets we're making. A client may not have thought of doing this before,” says Ginni Rometty, managing partner of IBM Business Consulting Services.
Plenty of pitfalls lie ahead. But for companies like IBM that bank on innovation, there's little choice but to create new markets and exploit them. “In the past, IBM defended the mainframe against client-server computing and PCs,” Palmisano says. “We're not defending the past anymore.” No, IBM is off and running into a new world of business, beyond computers. So long, Big Blue.
GRAPH: Palmisano's Progress Report
PHOTO (COLOR): LOOKING FORWARD: Instead of defending markets, Palmisano is making new ones
PHOTO (COLOR): ON SITE: Berman keeps close tabs on consulting client Virgin Megastores
PHOTO (COLOR): ROMETTY: IBM's consulting boss sells services clients have never considered
By Steve Hamm
With contributions by Spencer E Ante, New York
How IBM's Business-Services Strategy Works
Big Blue's methodology isn't set in stone, but here's how it played out with Marathon Oil
A PUSH FOR CHANGE
In 2002, Marathon Oil's executives want to trim costs in the finance department and put in place monitoring tools so that managers can follow daily operations and make quick adjustments. They call in IBM consultants and researchers to talk it over.
Big Blue's consultants and software developers analyze Marathon's business processes. They suggest ways to reduce accounts payable and other processes from 18 days to eight. They build a “dashboard” on execs' PCs to help monitor the business.
THE PATH FORKS
While some clients keep control of their business processes and technology supplied by IBM, Marathon hands much of its finance operations directly to Big Blue. Other customers go further, having IBM manage human resources and customer service.
IBM CREATES NEW PRODUCTS
IBM builds new businesses around the knowhow it develops for early customers, such as Marathon. Already, IBM has sold the business-analysis dashboard it created for Marathon to more than a dozen other clients -- and has installed it within IBM itself.
1. What is IBM's corporate or multibusiness strategy for the twenty-first century, and how is it different from its long-standing strategy?
2. What does the case title "Beyond Blue" mean?


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Valve has sent a cease and desist order to popular Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin trading website OPSkins, giving the site two weeks to comply with its demands.
In the past few years, Valve has attempted to crack down on skin gambling and trading in CS:GO. The developer introduced new terms in its Steam Subscriber Agreement in 2016, as well as a seven-day trade cooldown earlier in the year.
While there have been a handful of websites that have disappeared since the new rules were put in place, some skins sites haven’t gone away. Popular skins site OPSkins even launched ExpressTrade on June 6, a feature that allows for instant skin trading. The feature “uses Valve intellectual property and violates our Steam Subscriber Agreement,” according to Valve in a blog post.
In response to these violations, Valve sent a Twitter direct message to OPSkins that not only notified the site of its wrongdoings, but also demanded that it stop the use of Valve intellectual property before June 21. Valve will also disable OPSkins’ Steam accounts, which were used for “commercial purposes in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement,” according to Valve.
Skin trading used to be one of the biggest attractions for CS:GO players, but the rabid underage and unregulated gambling made the video game giant begin enforcing in-game trading guidelines.
With trademarks, gun models, and Valve’s images out of the question, it’s hard to see how OPSkins will survive.
Update June 9 11:07am CT: OPSkins issued an official statement regarding Valve’s cease and desist order. “Please be advised that Valve has notified us that they will disable OPSkins Steam accounts associated with trade on Steam by June 21, 2018. OPSkins customers should withdraw their Steam-based items from OPSkins prior to June 21 to avoid any trading restrictions.” OPSkins also said that this “does not mean the end of” the site, and talked about the future of the company in its statement.


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COVID-19: Montréal will support its business owners as economic activities resume
21 mai 2020
Montréal, le 21 mai 2020 - With businesses reopening on Monday, we enter an important phase of our metropolis' economic recovery. In order to ensure as successful resumption of economic activities, as well as the safety of Montréal's population in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city will roll out a series of measures to support business owners and provide for a successful economic recovery.
“Montréal's business owners have been hit hard by the pandemic. Reopening businesses is a long-awaited breath of fresh air. The city was present and supportive of its businesses since the very beginning of the health crisis, and it will continue to support them as economic activities resume. We want to make sure that business owners are ready to welcome their clientele safely and in keeping with public health directives, so that they may successfully reopen without hindering efforts to contain the spread of the virus,” said Mayor Valérie Plante.
Partnership and financial contribution for architecture In an effort to support business owners as they reopen their businesses, the city has concluded a partnership with Architecture sans frontière Québec. A financial contribution of $150,000 from the city will enable the organization to provide advice and technical support to more than one hundred independent businesses to reconfigure their premises in compliance with public health directives. The organization will also issue a configuration guide for open consultation, to be published in June.
As a UNESCO city of design, Montréal is proud to contribute the talent of its architects and designers. Our metropolis is firmly determined to showcase its creative community, namely its architects and designers, as Montréal reinvents itself. This was, in fact, one of its main commitments to the community.
Communications package In addition to the efforts invested by commercial development organizations (Sociétés de développement commercial) and other entities acting in support of business owners, the city has developed a communications package to provide guidelines for safe travels on public property and along safety corridors, safe active transportations lanes, and construction sites, in compliance with public safety requirements.
It is a highly effective communications system, including signage, furniture and support. Graphic elements developed by the city are uniform across the entire territory of Montréal, enabling users to identify them easily from one borough to the next. The system remains unchanged in all contexts, whether the pedestrian is crossing a street undergoing construction work, a safety corridor, a pedestrian, slow-traffic or shared street, or a safe active transportation lane along an arterial road.
SDC Initiatives Finally, in order to resume Montrealers' consumer experience and to facilitate the adaptation of business owners to the health context, the Sociétés de développement commercial have taken significant initiatives that reflect great reactivity.
Whether in the form of microsites for business owners containing all the information pertaining to health standards and available financial support, the implementation of a cargo-bike urban delivery service, local business promotion campaigns, the mutualisation of resources or gathering the expertise of design firms in order to adapt the indoor and outdoor customer experience, these projects reflect their involvement in and contribution to the city's economic recovery.
“Reopening businesses is a major step, but this is certainly not the time to let down our guard. In order to avoid a second wave of COVID-19 contagion, we must continue to follow public health directives. I ask of all Montrealers who enter businesses to do so wearing a face covering. This must become a habit for us. It is a way of protecting others, thus protecting ourselves as well,” concluded Mayor Valérie Plante.
For more information A web site containing all the information and available tools to reopen businesses safely has been set up.
Helpline Business owners who wish to obtain more information regarding the various programs, measures and tools available can contact the city on weekdays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at 514-394-1793, or fill out the related form (in French).


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May 8, 2003 |
Playboy Enterprises Inc. earned $632,000 in the first quarter after 16 straight losses, a boost attributed to higher sales of sexually oriented material on the Web. Net income was 2 cents a share, compared with a net loss of 38 cents, or $9.4 million, a year ago, Chicago-based Playboy said in a statement. Sales rose 12% to $74.3 million. Playboy shares rose $1.48, or 15%, to $11.43 on the NYSE. Separately, Midway Games Inc.
February 13, 2009 |
Seeking to avoid mortal combat with its creditors, Midway Games Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday. This probably isn't game over for the Chicago game publisher. Midway would have tipped over years ago if not for Sumner Redstone, whose family owns National Amusements Inc., a holding company that has controlling stakes in Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. Redstone, who has his own financial troubles, pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Midway before he was forced to sell it last year, for pennies on the dollar, to an investor named Mark Thomas.
February 13, 2009 |
Sumner Redstone, under pressure to restructure his family company's $1.6 billion in debt, said Thursday that "substantial progress" had been made in talks with banks. "An agreement acceptable to all parties is now within reach," the 85-year-old Redstone said during a conference call to discuss Viacom Inc.'s quarterly earnings.
October 22, 2008 |
Media magnate Sumner Redstone has filed for divorce from his wife of five years, Paula Fortunato, citing irreconcilable differences. The split comes as the 85-year-old chairman of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. faces financial difficulties. His family-owned holding company, National Amusements Inc., is scrambling to restructure $1.6 billion in debt after it violated the covenants of its bank agreements.
December 10, 2002 |
Despite record sales of video games, a leading Wall Street analyst Monday downgraded the stock of four major publishers and sent shares across the industry lower. Citing a possible slowdown in industry growth next year, UBS Warburg analyst Michael Wallace lowered his recommendations on Calabasas Hills-based THQ Inc., Santa Monica-based Activision Inc. and Midway Games Inc. from "strong buy" to "hold." The new rating is two grades below his earlier designation.
April 18, 2009 |
Although Viacom Inc.'s stock took a beating in 2008, losing more than half its value, the media conglomerate's chairman, Sumner Redstone, and its chief executive, Philippe Dauman, earned pay raises for the year. Redstone was awarded a total compensation package valued at $12.1 million. Viacom said that given the decline in value of his stock options, Redstone's actual take-home pay was $6.3 million. In 2007, the chairman took home $8.3 million.
June 12, 2008 |
Petty Enterprises, the venerable NASCAR team led by Richard Petty, sold control of the family business Wednesday to investment firm Boston Ventures. Once one of stock car racing's most powerful teams with "The King" himself at the wheel, Petty Enterprises fell into mediocrity during the last two decades and hasn't won a race since 1999. "The time has come for Petty Enterprises to take the steps necessary to get back to victory lane," Petty, 70, said in a statement.
July 23, 2003 |
Activision Inc., the nation's second-largest video game publisher, posted lower quarterly sales and profit Tuesday but still beat expectations as the company pursued a new strategy of developing fewer but bigger titles. Sales fell 17% to $158.7 million in its fiscal first quarter. Spring is typically the industry's slowest period. Net income dropped nearly 80% to $4.2 million, or 4 cents a share. Activision earned $20.
November 27, 2008 |
Media mogul Sumner Redstone has proposed selling part of his family holding company's movie theater circuit to pare down its debt, according to people close to the situation. A restructuring plan submitted to bankers this week by Redstone's private holding company, National Amusements Inc., also proposed shedding stakes in the video game company Midway Games Inc. and slot machine maker WMS Industries Inc.
May 12, 2003 |
The next "shock and awe" campaign may be advertisements for hot sauce, pesticides, video games or even condoms. The phrase that described bombing attacks on Baghdad is listed in 28 applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for use in marketing a variety of products. The first application, for fireworks, was filed March 20, the day U.S. bombs started raining on the Iraqi capital.


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LAS VEGAS — WIX Filters is branching out into new areas that its sales staff drives by nearly every day.
WIX at AAPEX 2010 announced a new industrial filtration product line consisting of more than of 8,000 part numbers for critical hydraulic and fluid power system applications found in manufacturing environments including power generation, mining, foundries, pulp/paper and more.
Jeff Blocher, brand manager for WIX Filters, says the company “looks for ways to take the aftermarket customer into new business.”
The WIX Filters industrial filter line is cataloged by a smart part number that is common in the industry. Each part number describes the type of filter, its construction family, micron rating, media type and special characteristics.
But WIX is not leaving the aftermarket behind. Blocher says the company has increased focus on foreign nameplates, improving its time to market by 30 percent. The improved flow can mean more than one additional part a day for a store.
WIX has introduced 291 new light and heavy duty filters through the first 10 months of 2010. This total includes 32 domestic and 33 foreign nameplate premium light duty filters and 66 opening price point filters. WIX also placed 112 new heavy duty filters into service, while expanding international coverage by 48 new product numbers.
In addition to adding parts coverage, WIX is building its promotions of programs like Good Guys. WIX will become the Official Filter of The Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, the world’s largest hot rod and custom organization, beginning in January 2011.
“We look forward to sharing the passion for custom hot rods with Goodguys’ 70,000 members and the hundreds of thousands of car enthusiasts that attend their annual events across the United States,” Blocher says.
Every year Goodguys hosts more than 20 events, ranging from two-day affairs attended by 30,000 to 40,000 people to three- and four-day extravaganzas attracting over 100,000 automotive enthusiasts.
Also WIX during the last year raised $45,0000 for the American Cancer Society through its Filter Out Cancer program.
“That’s really neat,” Blocher says. “It’s something that the people at WIX have enjoyed supporting.”


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Marks & Spencer has debuted a new integrated hub on M&S.com featuring multi-brand ecommerce activewear site The Sports Edit, marking a big move by the British retailer into the fast-growing sportswear category.
M&S acquired The Sports Edit in March 2022, noting the platform’s leadership position in the activewear market as well as its “proven capability in brand curation and emerging brand identification.”
That curation will continue as The Sports Edit settles into its new home on M&S.com. The dedicated website section combines popular features from The Sports Edit standalone site — such as expert sports content and the ability to shop by brand, activity or product type — with the advantages of shopping with M&S such as free click-and-collect service at more than 700 stores.
“We have worked closely with the team at M&S to understand their customer lifestyles in order to hand-pick the very best of The Sports Edit for M&S.com,” said Nick Paulson-Ellis, CEO and Founder of The Sports Edit in a statement. “The launch builds on M&S’s foundation in sportswear to take it to the next level, filling gaps in areas that require specialist product, such as trainers, to offer a platform equipped for the future.”
At launch the site features 200 sportswear products across women’s activewear and apparel, from brands including Beyond Yoga, FP Movement, Girlfriend Collective, Asics and YMO as well as footwear brands Veja and Hoka, with more brands to be added throughout the year. These third-party brands will sit alongside M&S’s in-house activewear brand Goodmove, which launched in 2020. Goodmove has now become M&S’s biggest in-house brand, selling 1.6 million products annually. The latest Goodmove collection for Spring 2023 includes kidswear offerings for the first time, alongside new offerings for women and men.
“This year we’re backing our growth categories with confidence and going into battle on sportswear,” said Katie Bickerstaffe, Co-CEO of M&S in a statement. “Building on the strong foundation of Goodmove, we’re combining our brand loyalty with the expertise of The Sports Edit to offer our customers an online sports retail platform that is a one-stop-shop for health and wellness. The launch of The Sports Edit as an integrated hub on M&S.com demonstrates the strength of our leading omnichannel platform, which continues to make M&S an increasingly attractive brand partner.”


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There are two flagship smartphones that are ruling the rumor mills in a manner of speaking — Samsung Galaxy S8 and Apple iPhone 8. With all eyes set on these two big launches, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo gives his two cents on which of the two could come out as the eventual winner. Kuo says that the Galaxy S8 is likely to suffer, as buyers are more likely to be tempted by the iPhone 8.
In an investor note, Kuo says that Samsung’s Galaxy S8 “lacks sufficiently attractive selling points” and the iPhone 8 with OLED screen is likely to be a “bigger draw for consumers,” 9To5Mac reports. Kuo further says that the increased competition could see a weaker demand for the Galaxy S8 as compared to the Galaxy S7 last year. “We project Galaxy S8 shipments of 40-45mn units in 2017F, implying slower momentum compared to Galaxy S7 in 2016 (around 52mn units shipped),” Kuo writes.
Both the devices have been ruling the rumor mills, and we have already come across multiple leaks around them. Samsung is hosting its Unpacked event on March 29, where it will be unveiling the Galaxy S8 and a bigger variant dubbed Galaxy S8+. Apple, on the other hand, is expected to unveil as many as three models sometime in September — iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus and a high-end iPhone 8.
Though it is too early to predict the eventual winner of this year’s biggest launches, it is hard to disagree with Kuo’s assessment. Samsung will no doubt launch a flagship smartphone with new features, and hopefully a battery that doesn’t explode. But if all the rumors are to be believed, Apple is preparing something special for the 10th anniversary of the iPhone launch.
While the iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus are expected to be iterative upgrades, the iPhone 8 will represent the biggest jump in iPhone technology we’ve seen in years. Some of the rumors that we have come across so far hint at a glass design, curved OLED screen, a fast processor, improved cameras, wireless charging, better water and dust resistance, USB Type-C port, and a Touch ID sensor that is embedded under the display. Some Android users will no doubt say that most of these features have been available to them for quite sometime now, but in terms of overall execution, Apple is no doubt likely to trump them.


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Delivering prices to the street without involving store managers means we get the new price to the street quickly.
Colorado Springs, Colo. (PRWEB) April 19, 2017
PriceAdvantage, a fuel price management software company and division of Skyline Products, announced today that Davis Oil has selected PriceAdvantage fuel pricing software to help expedite the fuel pricing process across their chain of 19 “C-Store” brand of convenience stores located across West Michigan.
“The time-consuming, manual process of conducting store surveys and posting new prices can often create critical delays and errors that impact gross profits,” shared Chip Stadjuhar, President and CEO of Skyline Products. “Davis Oil will utilize PriceAdvantage to automate the pricing process – supporting faster, more accurate pricing decisions.”
PriceAdvantage will allow Davis Oil to import pricing data feeds rather than rely on manual pricing surveys. Then, once an optimal price is approved, the software will push that new price to the point-of-sale, pumps, and gas price signs. The entire process takes just minutes, allowing Davis to respond to market changes quickly.
“Relying on store managers to conduct price surveys and then post new prices was creating delays and taking time away from serving our customers,” shared Jon Davis, President of Davis Oil. “PriceAdvantage imports competitor prices automatically, ensuring that we have the most accurate, up-to-date pricing data. Delivering prices to the street without involving store managers means we get the new price to the street quickly.”
Davis Oil selected the PriceAdvantage SaaS solution to leverage the benefits of a cloud service model including the low upfront cost, ease of implementation, and the maintenance and infrastructure cost benefits. The PriceAdvantage pre-built integrations with PDI Enterprise, NCR Radiant POS, and Wayne Nucleus POS allowed for rapid deployment and state-wide adoption within a matter of weeks.
PriceAdvantage creates Software to Fuel Your Pricing StrategyTM. Our easy-to-use, highly configurable, patented solution allows fuel marketers to execute their unique fuel pricing strategy faster and more accurately by reducing manual processes and human errors. PriceAdvantage enables customers to make rapid, informed fuel pricing decisions based on their unique business rules, then automatically post new prices to their POS systems, fuel pumps and price signs, and then receive price change confirmation – all in just minutes. PriceAdvantage is singularly focused on fuel pricing software and is a division of a privately held U.S. company, Skyline Products, which produces software solutions and thousands of American-made electronic price and transportation signs annually. Learn more at http://www.PriceAdvantage.com.


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The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is protesting Burger King’s headquarters in Miami today. They want the fast food giant to pay workers another penny a pound for harvesting tomatoes. Burger King says the coalition can’t prove workers are receiving the extra penny. CIW says Burger King is trying to skirt the issue. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.
Friday, 30 November 2007 00:00
Coalition of Immokalee Workers Protest Burger KingWritten by Luis Hernandez


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Eidoo, the Swiss DeFi startup, has introduced a new Visa crypto debit card that uses regulated stablecoins for crypto-to-fiat conversion in order to build a bridge between traditional finance and emergent assets like Bitcoin.
On May 25, it has been reported that Eidoo Card has been approved for operation by Visa, as its new card will enable 40 million Visa merchants to accept crypto-derived fiat currencies, including the British pound (GBP) and euro (EUR).
However, Thomas Bertani, the CEO of Eidoo, said that this latest approval by Visa is a part of Eidoo’s partnership with Contis, a principal member of Visa Europe and a holder of a UK e-money license.
Bertani said that Visa has approved the entire flow of Contis-led card issuance as well as crypto-to-fiat conversion involving regulated stablecoins issued by Moneyfold, a UK-based financial services firm focused on fiat-pegged stablecoins.
It has been analyzed that Contis acts as the issuer of the Eidoo Card, similar to how other crypto cards like Monolith operate.
New DeFi-enabled crypto debit card to enable Visa merchants to accept Bitcoin and Ether via conversions into regulated EUR and GBP stablecoins https://t.co/mdBo162XXU — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 25, 2020
In the meantime, Moneyfold’s Ethereum-based stablecoins, Moneyfold Euro and Moneyfold GBP are planned to unlock a higher degree of decentralization and transparency in the process of converting between crypto and fiat.
“People have a given crypto token, they sell it for the stablecoin via DeFi DEXes like Uniswap. Then the regulated stablecoin obtained from there is topped up with a 1:1 exchange rate (1 Moneyfold EUR = 1 EUR) on the crypto card when the payment occurs.”
Likewise, Nikola Tchouparov, the co-founder and CEO at Moneyfold, emphasized the unique stablecoin-based nature of Eidoo’s crypto debit card:
“It will be the first time the backend of a crypto card is done via stablecoins and DEXes.”
As per the report, in order to pre-order an Eidoo Card, users need to stake or burn Eidoo’s native EDO token, as depending on the plan, an Eidoo Card requires that the user burn 100 EDO tokens or stake 25,000.
As of press time, EDO is trading at $0.26 according to data from Coin360.
Thus, Bertani said that users have already pre-ordered more than 2,700 cards, with more than 3 million EDO tokens staked to date.


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What Analysts are Saying about Apple’s iPhone SE Event
As expected, Apple yesterday introduced the next-generation, 4-inch handset branded as the iPhone SE (in which SE stands for Special Edition, Phil Schiller told a Fortune journalist) and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and showed off new Apple Watch bands, and updates on its environmental and medical efforts.
The rumour mill had already anticipated the upgrades, but the analysts expected a higher price for the iPhone SE (they didn’t consider Canadian and international pricing, though, which is pretty spicy), so the $399 (USD) pricing took some of them by surprise, such as Kirk Burgess of the independent Braeburn Group, as highlighted by Fortune’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt in his usual media event roundup. We’ve handpicked a few of the analysts’ comments below.
As Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray puts it, the “biggest feature” of the iPhone SE is its starting price, which is 11% lower than his expectation of $450 (USD). However, it has the potential to cannibalise some sales from the $550 price tier, he adds.
Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley sees demand for the iPhone at 56.5 million units in the March quarter, so she expects positive earnings revision and better iPhone demand.
Ben Bajarin, Creative Strategies: Apple in the “Post-Mature Consumer” Era. The era of hyper growth in smartphones and tablets is over. Which also means the land grab for global consumers is largely over. The most important dynamic facing Apple today is a maturing installed base and globally maturing Android owners. It was by no mistake Apple called out that the 4” iPhone form factor was serving as the global gateway for increasing numbers of brand new iPhone owners to enter Apple’s ecosystem. Much of this has to do with price more than size, but we can’t ignore the worldwide demand we see from customers in markets like China, India, Indonesia, and Brazil, who long to own an iPhone but simply can’t afford it. By essentially launching their first true mid-range priced iPhone with the iPhone SE at $399, Apple is targeting that market with a powerful offering.
You can read the rest of the comments by clicking on the following link.


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NEC, Lawson Begin Proof of Concept of Store using Digital Technologies
NEC Corporation (NEC), a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies, and Lawson, Inc. (Lawson), one of the top convenience store chains in Asia, will begin Proof of Concept (PoC) of a store using digital technologies at the Lawson Graha Tamiya store in Indonesia from August 25 to September 30, aimed at improving store operations and sales.
In this PoC, NEC’s systems and knowledge of store operations, such as visual analysis technology and sensing technology, will be used to visualize store operations, customer purchasing trends, and the power consumption of store equipment. NEC will make proposals for improvement, including real-time feedback to employees based on visualized data.
Lawson entered Indonesia in 2011 and currently operates 71 stores in the country as of the end of July 2020. Based on the results of this PoC, Lawson will optimize store operations and improve sales using digital technologies at stores in Indonesia and other Asian countries.
(This content is surmised from a press release)


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Moto G4 & Moto G4 Plus Latest News & Update: Finally Getting Its New Android 7.0 Nougat Update?
After several months of teasing consumers, Google has finally releases its new Android version 7.0, usually called as Android Nougat. It was released last August 22.
Moto Z and Moto Z Force Edition have already been reportedly starting to receive Android 7.0 Nougat update. But many users hasn't updated its smartphone as the software is not available for all. One of which is the Moto G4 model. Moto G4 and Moto G4 Plus -- have been left out, upsetting their owners.
What's your review for Moto g 4 plus after Android N update#askgeekyranjit pic.twitter.com/aDDkqI4FQc
— Abhishek Das (@AthisDas) November 8, 2016
The Reason On Why Owners Got Disappointed
IB Times explained that, "it was the Lenovo-owned company that confirmed in a blog post that it would release Android 7.0 Nougat update to Moto Z and Moto G (4th Gen) devices in the fourth quarter of this year. " It gave the feeling that the smatphones would receive the new firmware at about the same time, but that was not to be.
It was even speculated that Moto G4 Models had already got it (over-the-air) much before the Moto Z devices received the update but it turned out to be false. Motorola even clarified that it had not seeded the firmware to its devices.
Moto G4 Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play Next In Line To Receive Android Nougat
Though according to Moto G3, "most of the Motorola's 2014 devices will not get the Android Nougat update." There are tons of reasons behind this, one of these is hardware limitation!
But next in line for the new firmware update could be the Moto G4, Moto G4 Plus and Moto G4 Play, and it should happen before the end of December. December hasn't yet to start so there could be a possibility that sometime soon Android Nougat will be available to Moto G4 Models. Let's wait and don't forget to stay tuned.


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From the rise of his coveted Shopping Bags to the launch of Telfar TV, Telfar Clemens is known for constantly redefining the luxury space. His latest venture? Opening a physical store for Telfar in New York City — and it’s coming sooner than you think.
On Monday, March 14, the Liberian-American designer guest-starred on The Breakfast Club radio show, chatting with hosts Charlamagne tha God, Angela Yee, and DJ Envy about a range of topics, including his genderless clothing line and working alongside Solange Knowles. During the 30-minute long conversation, it was confirmed by none other than Clemens himself that the brand is planning to open its first-ever brick-and-mortar location very soon.
The designer revealed few details about his anticipated Telfar store, which he plans to base in his hometown. “There is one coming, we’re opening a store this year in New York City,” Clemens said in the interview. “We’re still deciding where that’s going to be. I don’t want to say too much about it but it’s opening this year.”
Since its official launch over a decade ago in 2005, the New York-based label has been strictly online with the exception of a few retailers, like SSENSE and Saks Fifth Avenue, among other resale sites. As the brand has expanded on ways for consumers to shop the affordable yet highly sought-after pieces over the last couple of years, including the pre-order-based Bag Security Program, we can only imagine how much easier it will be (or will it?) to get our hands on Telfar’s upcoming launches going forward.
NYLON has reached out to a Telfar spokesperson and will update this post as we learn more. In the meantime, you can view Telfar Clemens’ full interview on The Breakfast Club below.


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BERLIN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- New orders in Germany's manufacturing industry in August decreased by 0.6 percent compared to the previous month, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday.
Compared to August last year, industrial orders in Germany even declined by 6.7 percent, nurturing worries that Europe's largest economy is moving towards recession.
"The industrial economy remains subdued for the moment," announced the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and noted that the "weakness in demand" was continuing.
Domestic orders declined strongly by 2.6 percent compared to the previous month, while foreign orders still showed a slight plus of 0.9 percent, Destatis noted.
According to the Destatis, incoming orders from the euro zone increased by 1.5 percent and rose by 0.4 percent for the rest of the world.
After an initial decline of 2.7 percent had been reported for July, Destatis revised the decline in orders upwards to only 2.1 percent.
According to Destatis, real turnover in the manufacturing industry in August was 1.3 percent higher than in the previous month.
Last week, Germany's five leading economic research institutes had "significantly" lowered their economic forecasts. For this year, the institutes expect an increase in gross domestic product of only 0.5 percent, 0.3 percentage points less than in the spring forecast.


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Mar 05, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s AIA Insurance Lanka Plc said it had valued its general insurance business ahead of a split of life and non-life divisions under a regulatory requirement in the third quarter of 2014.
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AIA Insurance Lanka said it was using its “best and reasonable endeavors to brief shareholders of a possible value” at which a transfer may be made.
The firm said at December 31, 2013 its general insurance business had a net asset value of 1.89 billion rupees.
It was forecasting the value “not to exceed” 2.
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4 billion rupees, the firm said in a stock exchange filing.


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press – San Francisco Chronicle
Paper wedding invitations become something old
If any of you remain undecided about whether the economy is bad, this may convince you. Paper wedding invitations – those romantic testimonials on letterpress linen that recall kinder, slower pre-digital days – may be on the wane.
Last month Pingg, an online invitation service, noticed that nearly 20 percent of its business was coming from wedding-related events – 15 percent for actual wedding ceremonies, doubling the number from last year. more »


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Welcome to Tertulia News
The moment is finally here!
We are OPEN.
It has been a long and difficult few months but finally the doors at Tertulia – A Bookshop LIke No Other, are open and we cannot wait to welcome you back. Online book sales and postal orders are still in operation and we continue to reach out across social media and virtual events but if you want to come into our shop, have a coffee, meet real booksellers, smell the scent of printed paper and purchase a physical book, then please come in and see us.
We can’t wait to welcome you.
Tertulia, a bookshop Like no other, is collaborating with Paper Lanterns literary journal on a teen writing competition in the summer of 2021.
Tertulia is sponsoring the competition, and offering a cash prize, thanks to funding from Spot-Lit EU (www.spot-lit.eu/ “Putting Literary Tourism on the Map”.)
This will be annual event sponsored by Tertulia – a writing competition for teens, with the goal to promote teen writers living on the island of Ireland.
We have an exciting guest judge lined up. The two winners (one 13-15 year-old, one 16-18 year-old) will be published in Paper Lanterns Autumn issue each year.
Tertulia are delighted to have been awarded Best Independent Bookshop of the Year 2021 Regional winner. The award is an amazing achievement considering the last year with restrictions and Covid. The shop has not been open very long and this award is a testament to the support of our amazing customers and to all the hard work, despite of and because of, the pandemic.
Thank you to everyone for your support.
As the digital media landscape rapidly evolves with the introduction of new technologies such as A.I., analytics, automation and a movement towards high definition video communication, companies are finding it increasingly hard to attract and maintain talent…
We are now onto our sixth week of Newstalk supporting local Irish businesses in the lead up to Christmas. We will be continuing to speak to a range of businesses right across the country that need our support. With thanks to the Local Enterprise Offices – Look for Local this Christmas…
INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION St Patrick’s Drama Group’s production of ‘The Beauty Queen of Leenaun’ won an award at the International Martin McDonagh Festival in Russia. Pictured are cast members Colette Ginty, Conor O’Neill, Mary Carr (director), Seamus Beirne and Regina McCormack. Pic: Conor McKeown …
It’s safe to say there might not be another person in Ireland who could point to their stair rail and boast that James Bond (in the guise of our own Pierce Brosnan) once clambered over it. Or that their handmade kitchen tiles (featuring a series of scorpion images) featured in the Russell Crowe film, Proof of Life…


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Standalone apps are one of the hallmark features of Android Wear 2.0, and Google has announced they’re heading to smartwatches running Wear 1.0.
The company has also updated the terms of its Play Store policy, encouraging developers to work towards the changes.
Currently, apps are able to work due to multi-APKs, which means that the software can detach from the accompanied phone. The benefit of this, of course, is that developers can create apps for Wear watches tethered to an iOS smartphone. Google says these multi-APKs will now work for Wear 1.0 devices.
As for the Play Store changes, Google will remove the “Enhanced for Android Wear” tag from apps that combine Wear and a mobile app. This also applies to watch faces and complication providers.
As of 18 January, 2018, the search engine giant wants apps to become independent through the Wear APK and upload separately as a multi-APK in order to qualify for the tag. This will also mean the same apps will feature in the curated collections located in the store.
This is all good news for those still holding onto the old software or those who own a device which won’t receive the Wear 2.0 upgrade, though Google have indicated this is a move being made in order to keep the gate open for those who pair with an iOS device.
“This is critical to providing apps not only to our Android users, but also iOS users – which is increasingly important as we continue to expand our diverse ecosystem of watches and users,” Google said in a blog post.
Since this a move geared toward iOS users and not necessarily Wear 1.0 owners, it’s not yet clear if any more support will be coming to older devices, but expect to see further improvements to the platform in the coming months.
Source: 9to5GoogleVia:Android Developers Blog
Thanks for your visiting on this page Google is bringing standalone apps to Android Wear 1.0, We hope this post can be a good reference for you and provide useful information for you :-).
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AMO Mobility Solutions, an e-bike startup company based out of Uttar Pradesh, has launched four new e-bikes and its first showroom in India.
The four new E-bikes launched are Feisty, Jaunty, Inspirer and S-Pin. The showroom is located at Shaniwar Peth in Pune and is known as Green Wheels. All new four e-bikes will be on display and sale at this showroom.
The Feisty is priced at Rs. 61,500/-, the Jaunty at Rs. 57,500/-, the Inspirer and S-Pin at Rs. 49,500/- and Rs. 45,500/- respectively (all prices are ex-showroom, Pune).
All these e-bikes are powered by a 60V/26Ah, 60V/32Ah batteries except for the S-Pin which is powered by a 48V24Ah battery. Feisty, Jaunty, and Inspirer get a range of 75-100km depending on the battery variant and charging and they take 4 hours to charge up to 60% and 6 hours to fully charge. The S-Pin does not get the option of fast charging like others and offers a range of 75km on a full charge.
These e-bikes host a lot of features and also get digital instrument clusters and all weigh less than 60kg.
The showroom is located at Sriniketan Apartments, 609, Shaniwar Peth, Pune. With the launch of four new e-bikes and a new showroom in a city which is known as a city of two-wheelers, the company plans to develop its dealership across India soon and also looks forward to launching new products in the next few months.


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Due to the establishment of a new research center and several startup companies in the city, Helsinki is now recognized as a hub for blockchain innovation. In recent years, blockchain technology has grown in popularity and has the potential to revolutionize numerous industries, from finance to healthcare. The city’s tech entrepreneurs are working hard to make Helsinki a global leader in this emerging discipline.
The recently launched Blockchain Innovation Hub is one of the main drivers of blockchain innovation in Helsinki. Aalto University, the University of Helsinki, and the Finnish National Blockchain Centre have collaborated to create the hub. The purpose of the center is to promote the advancement of blockchain technology and facilitate collaboration between researchers, startups, and established businesses.
Additionally, the hub is home to a number of firms developing innovative blockchain solutions. Finance, supply chain management, and healthcare are among the industries that these firms are concentrating on. One startup, for example, is developing a blockchain-based platform for supply chain management that will enable businesses to monitor their products from the point of origin to the point of sale.
Another startup is developing a blockchain-based platform for healthcare that will enable patients and healthcare providers to securely share medical records.
In addition to the Blockchain Innovation Hub, Helsinki is also home to a number of other blockchain-focused enterprises. Due to the city’s supportive startup ecosystem, these ventures have attracted significant venture capital and other investments. The city of Helsinki is home to numerous accelerators, incubators, and co-working spaces that provide resources and support for early-stage businesses.
Chainfrog, a company that specializes in blockchain development and consulting services, is one of the most notable blockchain businesses in Helsinki. Chainfrog has developed blockchain solutions for a variety about industries for a variety of clients, including significant corporations and government agencies.
The company has also created its own blockchain platform, dubbed Chainfrog Core, which is designed to be both user-friendly and extremely configurable.
Teserakt is a notable Helsinki blockchain startup that focuses on developing blockchain solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT). Using blockchain technology, Teserakt’s technology enables IoT devices to communicate securely with one another, thereby protecting against cyberattacks and other security threats.
The company has already attracted significant venture capital investment and formed partnerships with a number of leading IoT companies.
In addition to the city’s favorable regulatory environment, Helsinki’s emergence as a blockchain innovation center is also partially attributable to the city’s favorable regulatory environment.
Finland has been supportive of blockchain technology and has taken measures to establish an innovation-friendly regulatory framework. The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, for instance, has provided guidance on the use of blockchain technology in the financial sector, which has aided the development of blockchain-based financial services.
In addition to a conducive regulatory environment, Helsinki benefits from a highly qualified workforce and an innovative culture. Finland has a robust education system, and its universities are renowned for their technological and innovative expertise. Due to its high quality of life and reputation as a center of technology and innovation, Helsinki is also a thriving city that attracts top talent from all over the world.
As the blockchain ecosystem in Helsinki continues to expand, it is likely that the city will become an even more significant center for blockchain innovation. The Blockchain Innovation Hub is providing a platform for collaboration and innovation, as the city’s startups are already creating waves in the blockchain industry.
With its innovative culture, supportive regulatory environment, and highly qualified workforce, Helsinki is well-positioned to lead the way in blockchain technology.


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“The Google Nest Hub offers a 7-inch display, integrated speakers, and the Google Assistant to support smart functionalities.”
The Google Nest Hub has been launched in India, expanding Google’s smart home and automation ecosystem in the country. Launched internationally last year, the Google Nest Hub was earlier called the Home Hub, and offers the experience of a smart display and speaker with an AI digital assistant. The Google Nest Hub is the only smart speaker from Google’s new products that have been launched in India so far and is officially priced at Rs 9,999.
In order to sweeten the launch deal and increase the appeal, Google is offering a limited time offer of a bundled Mi Security Camera worth Rs 1,799 for now. The bundled deal, which can be availed through Flipkart and Tata Cliq, is aimed to show first-time users the benefits of a smart home ecosystem. For reference, one of the features of the Google Nest Hub is to access smart home surveillance cameras in order to answer doorbells remotely, and more. As a result, the Nest Hub can also work as a portable smart intercom system for smart home, which can be accessed via the Google Assistant.
Furthermore, the Google Nest Hub is optimised for content consumption as well, featuring a 7-inch display and integrated speakers. The setup is optimised for viewing content via YouTube, as well as news services and localised content such as recipes, etc. Alongside this, one of the biggest draws of the Google Nest Hub is the smart home integration that it offers. For reference, most smart home and IoT products such as bulbs, smart plugs, etc., are compatible with the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, making them the most popular home automation ecosystems that users are beginning to adopt.
The Google Nest Hub has been launched hot on the heels of the Amazon Echo Show 5 (review), which too has introduced a display and integrated speaker setup in the Alexa ecosystem. With the Echo Show, Amazon introduced the concept of a device that can work as a connectivity hub for smart home devices, while also having entertainment features of its own. With the Nest Hub now in the play, it remains to be seen how the Google and Amazon battle heats up in the smart home space, and which of the two tech giants establish a lead in the immediate future.


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Max’s Group, Inc. (MGI)’s net income expanded by 34% in the second quarter of the year, as the company implemented operational efficiency initiatives to help temper rising costs of raw materials.
In a statement issued Wednesday, Aug. 8, the listed casual dining restaurant group said net income picked up to P208.3 million for the April to June period, accelerating from the P155.7 million posted in the same period a year ago.
System-wide sales went up by 11% to P4.9 billion, as same store sales growth stood at six percent. New store sales also grew by five percent during the quarter.
“The results underpin prior initiatives to reorganize ourselves and invest on building professional capabilities to spearhead long-term growth,” MGI President and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. Trota said in a statement. — Arra B. Francia


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Rising inflation has been disrupting global markets in recent months and is likely to endure well into the future. Inflation will continue to rise over the next two years, according to revised projections by the OECD. It is expected that price increases will be significantly higher over the next two years than previously forecast for most G20 countries. Since inflation increases inventory costs, businesses need to develop new purchasing and pricing strategies to minimize future price spikes. Retailers and brands must shift to a new pricing infrastructure that will consider future inflation changes when predicting supply replenishment costs.
As we are all searching for the way out of the pandemic recession, we face a somewhat new challenge -- global inflation. After almost a decade of relatively low inflation, global prices climbed to extreme new heights in the last couple of months. Inflation is a global phenomenon, affecting not only the United States and Europe. For example, in China, factory-gate inflation in August accelerated to a 13-year high, adding even more pressure to global consumer prices. In Japan, wholesale inflation is also nearing levels unobserved since the global financial crisis.
Economists in the United States and Central banks in Europe and the UK predict inflation will continue to climb over targets and begin to slow down only next year. And even then, economists suspect a long-term inflation problem. The OECD is even less optimistic and projects inflation will continue to rise over the next two years.
Rising prices are driving up costs of inventory procurement and threatening margins. Under these extreme conditions, the old ways businesses conducted their pricing and procurement strategies will be enough. In an inflationary economic environment, those who will survive will have to adapt quickly to the new market conditions and find new, better ways to protect themselves.
There are multiple reasons why inflation is on the rise and apparently here to stay. Differences in vaccination rates between countries to outbreaks of the virus, forcing some countries to restrict activities, eventually resulting in bottlenecks and pressures on supply chains. As economies re-open, the rapid increase in demand that has pushed up prices in essential commodities such as oil and metals. Tensions along supply chains caused by the pandemic have added to cost pressures. At the same time, shipping costs have increased sharply.
After over a year of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, consumer demand has met strained delivery routes and supply chain problems. Even now, supplier’s delivery times are getting longer as factories are experiencing delays receiving raw materials. Combine that with the quantitative easing led by the U.S. economy, and you get the perfect market conditions for inflation to raise its ugly head.
Growing procurement costs pose another challenge of simply managing inventory. As a seller, ensure you have enough stock to sell over time. It is better to secure sufficient inventory before procurement costs rise even further (taking into account seasonality and expiration dates).
Under these conditions, it is better to act fast and develop improved, robust strategies to secure business revenues. Failing to act might result in substantial losses and may lead to money flow problems, and in extreme cases, some businesses might go bankrupt.
To do so, you need a way to calculate future inflation rates in real-time. You must be able to look back on how, when and at what pace your inventory costs have changed over time. Once you have a prediction model of the inflation rate in your industry, construct a leading strategy to keep you ahead of the curve in both pricing strategy and inventory maintenance, adjusting in real-time to changes in market conditions.
Gathering all relevant data and producing a model that predicts future costs is no simple task. Even today, many companies still use outdated, manual spreadsheets to make such complicated decisions. Even if those ways were enough to produce satisfactory results for businesses in "normal" times, this is no longer the case.
Supply chain constraints and bottlenecks are raising costs rapidly across the board. Under these conditions, businesses that will continue to rely on manual ways to analyze multiple, ever-changing data sources will find it extremely hard to keep up. Especially when competing with industry giants armored with better artificial intelligence (AI)-based pricing tools.
Scientific, data-driven pricing software enables retailers and brands to monitor market trends and make more informed decisions. For a business to survive and thrive in an inflationary environment, it should have the ability to adjust prices according to changes in costs even before they happen, as they take into account future replenishment costs, otherwise risking their margins. Obviously, in cases of hyperinflation or when failing to react in time, there is also the risk of actual losses.
These are extraordinary times in more ways than one. Consumers and businesses alike are facing immense, never-before-seen challenges. Yet, times like these are when human ingenuity shines brightest. We have the means to overcome these hurdles.


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I couldn’t help but think of Star Trek when reading John Legere’s forward-looking post for next year. Published a short while ago, T-Mobile’s CEO outlines what he sees happening over the next twelve months in the wireless industry. It’s certainly worth a read and doesn’t stop with just mobile phones and carriers.
Of particularly interest to us though is his take on the state of the wireless industry. With T-Mobile having kicked off the trend in 2013, carriers are now selling more subsidy-free phones than before. Around 41% of devices are being sold without subsidies, and it’s predicted that 2015 will see two thirds sold without subsidy, and more than half of US wireless customers will be contract-free. It’s clear then, that at least one of the Uncarrier moves is working. But it’s not the same for all the others. John ...
Google Nexus 9 Comes to T-mobile
The moment has arrived! Google’s Nexus 9 tablet has now available to buy on T-Mobile’s online store. The latest tablet showed up on the store this morning along with the long-awaited “buy now” button. It costs $599.76 full retail price, or $24.99 per month on EIP with $0 down payment.
This news comes as something of a surprise after T-Mobile informed its staff that the device launch was being postponed until further notice. Key spec include an 8.9-inch IPS LCD display, 64-bit NVIDIA K1 processor, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage as well as 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi technology. What’s more, an FCC filing indicates that it could be band 12 (700MHz) compatible. It supports all North American LTE bands, but no CDMA. It also hints that HTC has at least tested a 64GB model, despite the fact ...
T-Mobile to get HUGE upgrades in Illinois
T-Mobile is about to get a bunch of new towers licensed in many counties around IL where service previously had been weak or non-existent at all. They're expanding their range in all directions and are expected. These upgardes are expected to launch within the next month to two months and will cover about 1.1 million more people in the coming days. The counties in IL that will be affected are below:
Crawford, Edwards, Lawrence, Massac, Richland, Wabash, Wayne, White.
keyword: t-mobile in schaumburg, tmobile in schaumburg
In an exclusive scoop over at Bloomberg it’s been revealed that Masayoshi Son is ready to play the long game when it comes to SoftBank/Sprint’s purchase of T-Mobile US from Deutsche Telekom. The site’s sources claim that the wealthy business man is asking banks to commit financing for a “longer-than-usual amount of time.”
In response, the financial institutions are wanting higher fees, since they are expecting the deal to take a long time to be approved by the U.S. regulators. Deutsche Telekom, the banks and SoftBank all expect the approval process by the FCC and Department of Justice to take at least one year after the the deal is announced officially. If/when the announcement is made by T-Mobile, Sprint or SoftBank, the banks have pruportedly given the companies 18 months to seal the deal. If that time period goes by without ...
With any network upgrades there are bound to some customers experiencing issues with network reliability and signal strength. And that seems to be what’s happening to many customers.
Threads on HowardForums and Reddit indicate that there are plenty of T-Mobile customers who – when connected to a strong LTE network – notice that speeds suddenly stall. A customer posted the following on Reddit, three days back:
Is anyone else still experiencing stalled data while on LTE? I have almost full signal, everywhere, and my data will just stop working periodically throughout the day. I have to toggle airplane mode on and off to fix it.
So far, there are 58 comments in response with many of them being people using different devices. Nexus 5, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s and the OnePlus One have all been noted to be suffering with the stalled data. But in some ...
There was once a time in T-Mobile’s recent history when John Legere would lambast results from RootMetrics’ network survey reports. But I have a feeling that might change soon. The company’s most recent results from some of the major metro areas are painting T-Mo in a very good light. Two separate, recently published reports suggest that T-Mobile has one of the best networks around.
In Kansas City, T-Mobile’s network tied with Verizon for top spot. The area was tested between May 16th and 23rd and our favorite carrier ended up with a RootScore of 97.2. For those of you unaware, the RootScore is calculated by taking in to account the reliability index and speed index scores. In KC, T-Mo’s was the fastest with a score of 93.1 ahead of Verizon’s 91.9, AT&T’s 82.5 and Sprint’s paltry 66.1. Sadly, even in ...


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Will Smith, Margot Robbie and the rest of the cast for Warner Bros.' upcoming supervillains movie have been revealed in costume in a tweet from the film's director.
Google's technology could pave the way for the cable providers to finally get wireless right.
Which has the most apps? Which has the coolest features? Which one is the best? The most popular streamers all have their merits, so we'll help you decide which box is right for you.
The chief executive of HBO-parent Time Warner says he's "pretty confident" Apple will launch its own streaming TV offering soon. Also: HBO chief says HBO Now will soon be available through more ISPs.
The agreements include the rights to stream past episodes from the Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Warner Bros. Animation.
The studio signs a deal with Netflix that will make the streaming service the exclusive online home of prior seasons of several shows.
The Marvel comics legend and "Hobbit" star James Nesbitt bring the new series to Sky in the UK.
Some of our favorite TVs from last year were Vizio's M series, and now they're back with 4K resolution for inexpensive prices. The company also said its Reference series sets, first announced 15 months ago, would be released sometime in 2015.
Comcast's $45.2 billion merger with Time Warner Cable is officially dead, and the companies may have the fiery Net neutrality debate that raged this past year to blame.
Selected WB TV shows will be available via video-on-demand services "just hours" after their local broadcast.


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Conforama plans to generate an employability for about 250 people in the new logistics center that will build in the polygon of Carrasses de Llíria (Valencia), which will have facilities of 60,000 square meters and a thousand more for an administrative building.
The firm will request “shortly” to the City of Llíria the works license to start construction of the logistic center “as soon as possible”, as has been stated by the general director.
In addition to the 60,000 square meters of facilities, the company does not rule out opening an adjoining store in the 80,000-meter plot it has acquired in Carrasses in the future.
For his part, the mayor has thanked Conforama the “confidence” deposited in Llíria: “It means the arrival of a new company to the Carrasses industrial estate, which has become the main engine of economic growth and job creation in Llíria. “