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In 2021, African fintech start-ups made up 61% of the $2.7 billion in equity capital financing that was released on the continent, a brand-new research has actually discovered. While its share of worldwide fintech financing is simply over one percent, the continent’s fintech market still videotaped among the highest possible year-on-year development prices worldwide.
‘ Record-High Variety Of Deals Closed’
According to the searchings for of a brand-new Mastercard research, African fintech start-ups– whose number expanded from 311 in 2019 to 564 in 2021– made up “61% of the USD 2.7 billion released throughout Africa in 2021.” The searchings for likewise reveal that fintechs’ share “of the record-high variety of bargains shut” because year was 27%.
When compared to the $131.5 billion that was elevated worldwide, African fintech’s share of the total amount continues to be really reduced– simply over 1% of the 2021 total amount. Nevertheless, in regards to the financing development price, the research kept in mind that the continent– the Sub-Saharan Africa area particularly– had among the highest possible year-on-year development prices worldwide. The research record discussed:
In the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) area, fintech start-ups videotaped 894% year-on-year development in financing in 2021– the 2nd highest possible in the center East, Africa, as well as Pakistan area throughout the duration, as well as the highest possible annual development price over the previous 5 years. SSA got USD 1.56 billion in financing, the highest possible in the area by a large margin.
Worrying the funds elevated by fintech start-ups per nation, the research searchings for reveal that Nigeria, which is residence to several of the continent’s fintech unicorns, had in truth became a leading fintech center not simply in Africa however throughout the Center East as well as Pakistan. According to the research’s searchings for, the West African country’s fintechs alone “made up a 3rd of all moneying released right into fintech in 2021.” Within the nation, fintechs’ share of all equity capital elevated throughout the exact same duration covered 71%.
Fintechs as well as the Financial Exemption Space
Concerning why the fintech market remains to obtain an out of proportion share of the financing, the research, entitled the “Future of Fintech in Africa,” indicates the continent’s historical economic exemption void as well as just how fintechs are “constructing addition from scratch.”
Much of the market’s past as well as predicted success in the future is likewise linked to boosted smart device infiltration. As received the 2022 GSMA record, there is an assumption that the variety of smart device links will certainly expand from the 6.2 billion seen in 2021 to 7.5 billion by 2025.
On the other hand, the record recommended that Nigeria, together with South Africa as well as Kenya, will certainly remain to drive the market development. Nevertheless, the research recommended that the fintech market development price will certainly depend upon regulatory authorities’ as well as policymakers’ ongoing prioritization of “budget friendly web as well as mobile infiltration.”
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UK Launches Digital Tax On April 1st, Tailored For US Giants
The British government has confirmed that the digital tax will be levied on April 1, 2020. This time, the British digital tax has a very high threshold. It applies to companies with global sales of more than 500 million pounds and at least 25 million pounds from British users. For UK users' income, the tax rate is 2%, and the first £ 25 million earned from the UK is tax-free. It can be said that it is tailored specifically for GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) and other "Irish Sandwiches", but it is tailor-made for American Internet giants who do not pay taxes in the UK. If the threshold is not reached at all, it does not matter if you pay taxes. The UK's Revenue and Customs Authority (HMRC) believes that by the end of fiscal 2025, this tax could generate up to 515 million pounds (about 665 million dollars) in additional annual revenue. Digital tax refers to the state's taxation of digital services sold by multinational companies within a country through overseas subsidiaries. This new tax is different from the corporate income tax already paid by many companies, and is widely known as a digital tax, sometimes called a "digital service tax." At present, more than thirty countries have collected digital taxes through different forms. The British approach is to tax the operating income of digital enterprises in full, similar to the current practice of withholding income tax. This method is mainly used in EU countries. Of course, Britain is no longer considered.

domain: news


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Spotlight on plastics
This feature length article provides a spotlight on circular economy efforts to reduce, recycle and reform waste plastic in Australia and overseas.
By Stuart Snell
The decision by the Council of Australian Governments in August 2019 to stop the nation exporting mixed waste plastic overseas by 2021 and process it domestically, has led to a lot of soul searching from industry and governments.
As reported in this background article published by The Conversation, the ban follows a decision in China for it to stop in 2018 accepting the waste of other countries. Even though this was flagged by China since 2013, a lot of scrambling has been underway to prepare for this change.
Many countries have been caught napping and only this month Italy was told by the European Union to stop sending its waste plastics to Malaysia.
Australian plastic waste targets
A leading proponent in the effort in Australia to address the waste plastics problem here is the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO).
APCO CEO Brooke says Australia has responded to these and other global changes with the development of the 2025 National Packaging Targets – announced by industry and government in 2018 to develop a sustainable approach to packaging in Australia.
The overarching target is for 100 per cent of packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025, and businesses across the country are responding to the challenge by asking what operational changes they need to make in order to drive this transformation.
Building a circular economy approach to packaging is about moving away from the “linear” and traditional “take-make-dispose” model to one that is regenerative, or circular, by design.
Over 1500 businesses – including a range of FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) organisations and their suppliers – are working with APCO to optimise their packaging sustainability and supporting the delivery of the 2025 targets.
Collectively these businesses represent some $360 billion in annual revenue in the Australian marketplace. And in the last 12 months from within this group we are starting to see real leadership and innovation to drive improved sustainable outcomes.
Coles and Woolworths’ decision to phase out single-use plastic bags has translated to an 80 per cent drop in the consumption of plastic bags nationwide – preventing billions of bags from entering the environment.
In the manufacturing community, Pact Group is another organisation that’s leading the way with recycled content, as the largest user of recycled resin in the southern hemisphere. The team is currently conducting an exciting new research trial to explore the use of recycled milk bottle plastic content in the manufacture of wheelie bins – with up to 250 milk bottles (the average use of every Australian household) used to manufacture each bin.
Coca-Cola checks in to circular
Coca-Cola recently revealed the extent of its global plastic use for the first time, something only a handful of large FMCG corporations have been willing to admit.
A staggering 3 million tonnes of plastic packaging each year, the equivalent of 200,000 bottles a minute.
Its World Without Waste goals for 2030 include achieving 50 per cent recycled content across its packaging, 100 per cent recyclability across its packaging and recycling as many bottles and cans as it sells.
Australia was the first country in the world to unveil all standard Coke Classic bottles in 100 per cent recycled plastic
As part of its global World Without Waste vision, Coca-Cola aims to collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one that is sold by 2030. The beverage giant is working with NGOs and utilising the container deposit scheme – now in NSW, SA, Queensland and soon to be operating in Victoria – to help make this vision a reality.
Coca-Cola is working with NGOs in the community on initiatives to collect the plastic
Dr Kate Raynes-Goldie, award-winning designer & keynote speaker says: “The invention of plastics at the start of the 20th Century was one of the key factors to creating a disposable society.
“Plastics and other inventions like the factory assembly line meant products could be made cheaply and packaging thrown away.
“This led to rubbish literally piling up and becoming a visible problem. Then a turning, or tipping, point occurred.
“The Keep America Beautiful campaign was launched in the United States in the 1950s. It encouraged people to “properly” dispose of litter rather than throwing it on the ground.
“Anti-littering campaigns took off globally, including Keep Australia Beautiful in 1963. But these popular anti-littering campaigns have less ecofriendly origins than you may expect.
“Keep America Beautiful was started by Coca Cola and the Dixie Cup Company. It was a way to shift responsibility for disposing of single-use plastics from the manufacturer to the consumer.
“The circular economy places that responsibility back on companies. In so doing, large, systematic change is possible.”
So what is happening in other countries?
Global tourism initiative to combat plastic pollution
The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative was in January officially announced by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Through its New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, the initiative unites businesses, governments, and other organisations behind a common vision and targets, aiming to address plastic waste and pollution at its source.
Signatories include companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally, as well as governments, NGOs, universities, industry associations, investors, and other organisations.
The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with the UN Environment Program.
Publicity surrounding the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative described it as ground-breaking and ambitious in its goals. It aims to reduce the amount of plastic pollution caused by the tourism sector.
To achieve this vision, tourism companies and destinations will be required to make a set of concrete and actionable commitments by 2025, including to:
- Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and items by 2025
- Take action to move from single-use to reuse models or reusable alternatives by 2025
- Engage the value chain to move towards 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable
- Take action to increase the amount of recycled content across all plastic packaging and items used
- Commit to collaborate and invest to increase the recycling and composting rates for plastics
- Report publicly and annually on progress made towards these targets.
Plastic pollution is one of the major environmental challenges of our time, and tourism has an important role to play in contributing to the solution.
Introducing the initiative, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “The Global Tourism Plastics Initiative is a unique opportunity for tourism companies and destinations to step forward and lead the global effort addressing plastic pollution. Frontrunning tourism companies and destinations will set quantifiable targets as part of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative and accelerate the transformation of the tourism sector towards more integrated solutions and circular business models.”
The Initiative is a key activity of the Sustainable Tourism Program of the One Planet Network and it acts as the interface for the tourism sector of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Nestlé takes action
Australia’s largest food manufacturer and global company Nestlé has thrown its weight behind the circular economy movement with a massive commitment in January to cut back on the use of virgin plastic for packaging and to use recycled materials in its products.
The Swiss company, which operates six large factories in Australia, has committed $2.5 billion globally to cover the extra cost of utilising recycled food-grade plastic in its food wrappers and allocated more than $375 million to new packaging ventures.
Its commitment will create a market for food-grade recycled plastic, which is difficult to produce and in limited supply.
In 2018 Nestlé committed to make 100 per cent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, and will now aim to cut its use of virgin plastics by a third in the same time frame.
It also has a global of zero net greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
The company said in a January statement: “Nestlé is therefore committed to sourcing up to two million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics and allocating more than CHF 1.5 billion to pay a premium for these materials between now and 2025.
“Nestlé will seek operational efficiencies to keep this initiative earnings neutral.”
The company’s sustainable packaging venture fund will invest in start-up companies that focus on new packaging materials and systems.
Converting plastic and polystyrene into durable railway sleepers
According to Victorian company Integrated Recycling, which has been operating a factory at Mildura since 2010, a kilometre of railway track laid with its Duratrack railway sleepers uses 64 t of recycled plastic.
The sleepers are 85 per cent made of recycled material, a mix of “polystyrene and agricultural plastic waste, including cotton bale wrap, vineyard covers and pipe from the mining industry”.
They also have a lifespan of 50 years, compared to 14 years for timber, and are resistant to rot, fungus and termites.
In June, 190 of these sleepers were installed at Melbourne’s Richmond Station for an 18-month trial. It continues the apparent progress towards mainstream use of recycled composite sleepers.
It started with a trial project supported by Public Transport Victoria (PTV) on recycled plastic sleepers for Tourist and Heritage (T&H) railways.
The shortage of timber for sleepers and the resulting high maintenance demands from using secondhand sleepers has forced operators to rethink their options. The outcome of this project was the development of guidelines for testing plastic sleepers to ensure adequate performance within T&H railways.
Norway leads the way
With its 97 percent recycling rate, Norway is 10 years ahead of the EU’s 2029 target date, by when countries must recycle at least 90 percent of their plastic bottles.
That compares to barely 60 percent in France and in the UK, which is considering a deposit system.
The deposit system is widely viewed as the key to the Nordic country’s success.
Customers pay a few extra cents when they buy a drink in a plastic bottle, and they’re refunded that amount when they return their empties.
“When you have a deposit on the empties, you actually tell the consumers that they buy the product but they borrow the packaging,” explains Kjell Olav Maldum, the head of Infinitum, a company created by manufacturers and distributors to run the deposit scheme.
More than 1.1 billion plastic bottles and aluminium cans were returned in 2018 at collection points in supermarkets, petrol stations and small shops.
In Fetsund, about 30 kilometres northeast of Oslo, a steady stream of trucks dump thousands of empties at a time at Infinitum’s main processing centre.


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Spotify is planning to increase the monthly price of a standard subscription from $9.99 to $10.99 in the US, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Previously Apple Music and other competitors have raised their prices, so Spotify will not be pricing higher than competitors. Therefore it seems unlikely that there will be significant churn from this price increase, the first in the US since launch in 2011.
In the US Spotify had about 44 million subscribers earlier in 2023. They are on a mix of plans, e.g. standard, family, and student.
I’m assuming the majority of subscribers are on standard plans, say at least 30 million subscribers (68%). That means $360+ million in additional annual revenue, of which Spotify would keep $120+ million (30%) in gross profit.
If reports are correct, it seems likely that Spotify will increase prices in Europe too with about €1 per month. Which would bring in as much as in the US, for a total of $750+ million (ca 6%) in additional revenue and $250+ million in gross profit.
Price increases combined with underlying subscriber growth, lower costs (staff and podcast content spend) and hopefully ad sales holding up could push Spotify into being more solidly profitable on both IFRS and free cash flow basis.


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Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Documents about Indonesian batik are now stored in a digital application called iWareBatik, which was launched on the anniversary of the 75th Indonesian Independence Day on Monday (Aug 17).
The application made by an Indonesian student at Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) Switzerland, Puspita Ayu Permatasari, is a collaboration with UNESCO (The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), according to a statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs received by Indonesia Window here on Tuesday, citing the Indonesian Embassy in Bern.
“Through this application, we hope not only do people wear batik but also aware the meaning of the batik they are wearing,” Puspita said.
iWareBatik which can be accessed through iwarebatik.org and a smartphone application is a digital batik archive for identifying batik textiles, philosophical values behind the motifs, place of origin and other information related to batik.
iWareBatik contains more than 100 documented batik motifs, and will continue to be enriched with other patterns.
The application is also equipped with artificial intelligence technology that allows users to find out batik motifs by taking photos of the batik cloths.
So far, the application can identify several Indonesian batik motifs, among others peacock, cleaver, and flowers.
“Hopefully, people who visit Indonesia, for example to South Kalimantan, or Maluku, or any province, can find out typical batik motifs of each area, before deciding to buy batik fabrics for souvenirs,” said Puspita, who is now pursuing the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Intangible Cultural Heritage and Tourism as the focus of her doctoral degree at USI.
During the development of the application, Puspita and the USI team consulted with the Indonesian Embassy in Bern.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Switzerland Muliaman D. Hadad said, “The idea to digitize batik documents can be in line with the increasing number of tourists who will come to Indonesia to buy and wear batik”.
Therefore, materials about Indonesian tourism is included in the application.
Indonesian batik was designated by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of the World on September 30, 2009, and October 2 was designated as the National Batik Day.
Reporting by Indonesia Window


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The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (Seifsa) warns that the difficulties facing the local steel industry will continue to worsen in the year ahead if the US Department of Commerce's recommendation for a tariff of at least 53% on all steel imports from 12 countries - including South Africa - is accepted.
Describing this as "extremely concerning", Seifsa chief economist Dr Michael Ade added that the US Department of Commerce had recommended the imposition of the tariff rate on all imported steel products from Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, India, Malaysia, Russia, South Korea, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam, in addition to any antidumping or countervailing duty collections applicable to any steel products from those countries.
All other countries would be limited to 100% of their 2017 import level.
According to the global trade analysis project model, produced by Purdue University, in the US, a 53% tariff on all steel imports from these countries would be expected to reduce imports by 13.3-million metric tonnes from 2017 import levels from the targeted countries.
This action would enable an increase in domestic production in the US to achieve an 80% capacity use rate at 2017 demand levels, including exports.
The countries identified are projected to account for less than 4% of US steel imports in 2017.
In January, the US Department of Commerce announced an affirmative final determination in the antidumping duty (AD) investigations of imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from South Africa and Ukraine.
This followed parallel investigations, launched in October 2017 by both the US Department of Commerce and the US International Trade Commission (ITC), to determine if American producers had been harmed by carbon and alloy steel wire rod imports from Italy, the Republic of Korea, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and the UK.
For the South African investigations, the US Department of Commerce assigned a dumping rate of 142.26% for the entity composed of ArcelorMittal South Africa Limited, Scaw South Africa and Consolidated Wire Industries, based on adverse facts available owing to these companies' alleged failure to respond to the Department's requests for information.
The ITC is scheduled to make its final determination on or about February 22.
"If the ITC makes an affirmative final determination that imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from South Africa and/or Ukraine materially injure, or threaten material injury to the domestic industry, the US Department of Commerce will issue anti-dumping orders. Should the ITC make negative determinations of injury, the investigations will be terminated," said Ade.
Seifsa raised its concerns last year about the initial investigations and commented that it was just the tip of the iceberg, with the possibility of antidumping duties being extended to other domestic steel products. The federation also highlighted the potential for retaliation from many overseas trading partners to protect their steel industries.
Ade added that, although the initial indications were for possible tariff imposition on selected steel products from South Africa, it now appeared that the US Department of Commerce was advocating for the imposition of a blanket tariff on all South African steel exports.
"This is really a matter of enormous concern to Seifsa, since the latest developments have the potential of further dampening production in the local steel industry, reducing steel exports to the US, squeezing margins and depriving the steel industry of much-needed foreign reserves.
"Imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod by the US from South Africa are valued at an estimated $7.1-million," Ade pointed out.
He said this situation was further compounded by a low domestic growth scenario which did not augur well for local steel production.
He noted that for growth in apparent steel consumption to be sustainable, gross domestic product has to grow by at least 5% - and the South African economy has not grown at those levels since 2007.
Ade said the significant uncertainty in steel production and imported input cost, which was sensitive to exchange rate volatility, was of particular concern. He feared that widespread protectionism of steel products might lead to trade wars and further price spikes in the raw materials used in everything from automotive manufacturing to household appliances and construction.


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- Adotas, Wednesday, November 27, 2013 12:16 PM
Spill Games report on trends for 2014 sees big growth. Interesting stats: Of the 700 million global online gamers, 46% are women, it's big in emerging markets (in Turkey, 70% of Internet users play
games) and most users are affluent.
Read the whole story at Adotas »


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Samsung has launched One UI 3.0 beta based on Android 11 for the Galaxy S20 series smartphones. The beta version is available only for developers who work with the Galaxy S20 series devices. The company revealed that the public trials for One UI 3.0 will start immediately.
According to XDA-Developers, One UI 3.0 is currently in pre-beta stage and is available only for developers based in the US and South Korea. Samsung is mainly testing the compatibility of the apps with the One UI 3.0 before throwing open to the general public. If you are a regular user, you will not be able to install the beta build. The company revealed that customers in India, China, UK, US, Germany, South Korea, and Poland will be able to test-drive the new build.
As of this writing, both LTE and 5G mobile variants of the Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra are eligible to receive the beta update of the One UI 3.0 interface. The company has included both locked models offered by Sprint/T-mobile including unlocked as well.
We don’t have any information about the features included with the new release. However, those developers who test drive the new build will be able to throw open the list of new features on the public domain. Due to the nature of the beta program, there will be restrictions in revealing the features but we expect something very soon.


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Orlando 'Hamilton' tickets have a sale date
Prepare yourself, "Hamilton" tickets will be going on sale at the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando.
The Dr. Phillips Center Twitter page said tickets will be going on sale Friday, Nov. 16, at 9 a.m.
The "Hamilton" performances will be part of the “FAIRWINDS” series from Jan. 22 to Feb. 10, 2019.
Tickets range from $76.50 for rear balcony seating to $199.50 for front orchestra and front mezzanine seating.
For VIP front orchestra seating, the cost increases to 429.50.


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I am baffled that someone would commission a clone of a dead pet to the tune of $50k, but apparently this is exactly what a woman in Texas has done and the cloning of pets does not stop there:
The California company that produced the cat, Genetic Savings and Clone, says it hopes to produce the world’s first genetically cloned dog by next May.
What bothers me about this story is that $50K could help a lot of animals living in shelters, not to mention what it could do for children who don’t have enough food to eat.
In some way, it reminds me of that P.D. James book in which infertility amongst humans was so widespread that people started walking kittens around in baby carriages. Gawd, what was the name of that book?


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Report: Variety and Low Price are Streaming Must-Haves for Consumers
How are consumers spending their time on various streaming services? New research from Parks Associates shows that consumers who prefer one or more specific genres of content spend 70% of their viewing time on streaming services that offer more variety. Services like Netflix, Tubi, and AMC+ all feature a wide array of content, giving consumers more choice.
44% of consumers spend 76% of their viewing time on broad-based services while 48% of consumers use niche services for 25% or less of their viewing time.
“Services offering a variety of content categories are the foundation of consumers’ video service ensembles,” said Paul Erickson, Senior Analyst, Parks Associates. “Many niche services have been successful, including those dedicated to horror, religious, children’s, and anime content, and niche services such as ESPN+, Britbox, and Crunchyroll make up an important part of the service ecosystem. However, they are unlikely to be the primary, foundational content source within a household.”
“If services are to challenge the ‘Big 3’ OTT services (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu), they need to feature a variety of programming across genres,” Erickson said. “We will see more bundling services emerge like AMC, which bundled together its niche services Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films under the AMC+ service umbrella in order to give viewers more options.”
The Parks Associates report also notes that “content is king.” However, while consumers want access to a variety of content, cost also plays a role when subscribing to various streaming services. 50% of consumers said that the cost of a service is a deciding factor. As consumers subscribe to multiple services to get a full selection of shows and moves to watch, they may be racking up a costly home entertainment bill.
Last month, the TiVo Video Trends Report showed that consumers are subscribed to an average of 8.8 streaming services. This gives folks the variety they’re looking for, but it comes at a cost.
“A hybrid pricing approach meets consumers where they are,” Erickson said. “Maximizing revenue potential with hybrid pricing will help services finance the growing cost of content library growth.”
Going forward, streaming services will have to focus on giving consumers a variety of content while keeping costs low. To cater to consumers’ budgets, many of the big streaming services, including Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+, and Peacock, offer more budget-friendly options. Disney+ offers its bundle. Peacock offers a free ad-supported tier, while both HBO Max and Paramount+ allow subscribers to choose from a cheaper, ad-supported option and a pricier, ad-free subscription. Recent studies have shown that consumers don't mind watching ads, especially if they can save money while doing so.


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UMi have been powering along with OTA updates for the UMi Iron. The latest V1.4 OTA brings with it 11 optimisations and changes.
The UMi Iron’s claim to fame is the unique Eyeprint ID feature. How does it work? Does it require additional hardware? Keep reading to get all your questions answered!
The UMi Iron is a daring move for UMi. A device with good hardware and tons of added features, but have the phone maker managed to pull it off? Find our what we think in our UMi Iron hands on and first impressions.
UMi have sent up some information about the UMi Iron to clear up the confusion about the specs and details of the phone. Keep reading for the details.
UMi have revealed today that the UMi Iron will be getting eye recognition software in the form of Eyeverify for a completely different level of security.
With the announcement of the UMi Iron specs yesterday, and the start of giveaways we were under the impression that all the secrets of the UMi Iron have been revealed, but this isn’t the case.
Full specifications for the brand new UMi Iron smartphone. Keep reading for details of this all alloy flagship phone.
The UMi Iron is official from today, but don’t go off buying it just yet as we have coupons for lucky readers to buy the new phone for just $17.99!
We were pretty sure the UMi Iron specifications had all pretty much been revealed, then today a heart rate monitor has been sprung on us.
UMi kick off the weekend with some official photos of the all new UMi Iron. Keep reading for the first official UMi Iron photos.
UMi have updated their Facebook today with another teaser letting us know the resolution of the UMi Iron’s display, plus they are also offering a chance to win the phone too.
More teasers reveal more specs as we wait until next week for the official unveiling of the UMi Iron. Here is what we have learned about the new phone so far this week.
UMi confirm that their UMi Iron phone will have a full metal body made to “Swiss Watch” standards in latest teaser.
UMi confirm the amount of RAM and the launch date of the UMi Iron smartphone coming this month.
Kicking off this weeks Chinese phone news is the latest leak from UMi about their UMi Iron phone detailing possible flagship specs.
UMi have just released their big battery UMi eMax today at $159.99, but it looks like it won’t be the only one this month as details of the UMi Iron are slowly being seeded.


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Magazines Archives - 2008 March
Retail executives set new benchmarks in priorities for the year ahead
IMPROVING customer satisfaction is US retailers top goal for 2008. That was according to one of the findings of the sixth annual survey Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2007, Forecasts for 2008, jointly conducted by NRF and IBM.
The survey took place in the fall of 2007, before the economic downturn was apparent. Other changes expected include declining attention on expansion, which has been retailers chief objective for several years. Behind customer satisfaction and retention issues, cost reduction and containment took the number two spot in overall strategic initiatives.
Tied for second place in priorities was domestic expansion. Employee retention and development moved up to third place from the fifth.
The survey polled 418 executives at 137 companies on how they would evaluate the success of their 2007 initiatives and their priorities for 2008. Among goals set for the year ahead are driving sales and increasing market share while controlling costs. Customerinsight executives were reported to be looking to emphasise customer-loyalty programmes, with IT executives planning to concentrate more on merchandise/ inventory-management system upgrades and replacements.
Costs seem to be on everyones mind this year. Executives with supply-chain responsibilities plan to make reducing and containing costs their primary goal for 2008, replacing last years warehouse and distribution-network optimisation. Human-resource executives, too, are focusing on cost control, citing concerns over health-care costs and benefits as their second-highest priority next to leadership assessment, development and succession planning.
The foremost goals of those with merchandising responsibilities are driving comparable-store sales, and improving margins and inventory turnover. As for marketing executives, increasing market share comes first, followed by a growing share of the customer wallet.
Retailers this year will be balancing fiscal priorities (cost reduction and control) with growth and moderate expansion initiatives, the study concluded.


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Sollers Group intends to launch mass production of security system components in 2025. The matter concerns the production of airbags and seat belts, steering wheels and electronic control units of the system. The Industrial Development Fund issued a loan of 1.2 billion rubles for the project implementation.
It is reported that production is planned to be set up at the Ulyanovsk plant. Consumers of the products will be enterprises of Sollers Group and other Russian manufacturers of cars and light commercial vehicles. The project provides for the creation of more than 200 new jobs.
NAPI (National Industrial Information Agency)


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Ad Views in Premium Video Jump 17 Percent, FreeWheel Says
NEW YORK—According to a new report from FreeWheel, advertisers continue to make their way to premium digital video. Premium ad views great at 17 percent year-over-year, with a strong push from full-episode and live stream monetization. Video starts were up 26 percent.
To find out more, read the full story on TVT’s sister publication B&C.
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After only about a month and a half on the market, reports are that Microsoft is pulling the plug on the Kin line of phones. The group that was working on the Kin are being teamed up with those working on Windows Phone 7.
Sales on the device were never as good as Microsoft had hoped after pouring years of development time and money into the pseudo-smartphones. Price cuts and heavy marketing couldn't save the phone from high plan costs associated with the device. Hopefully the Kin team can bring some good ideas to the table of Windows Phone 7 and add to a hopefully stellar product.
The official statement from Microsoft: (via Gizmodo)
"We have made the decision to focus on our Windows Phone 7 launch and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones."


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SAN FRANCISCO - International conservation organization WildAid congratulates the Council of the City of New York for being the first U.S. municipality to approve a law making it illegal to buy or sell products containing, or advertised as containing, endangered species.|
The law, signed today by Mayor Bloomberg, will enable New York City enforcement authorities to take action against those consumers and merchants in violation of the new legislation.
WildAid and other organizations fear that, prior to this legislation, illegal wildlife products were widely available. A recent WildAid Survey on traditional medicines, conducted in New York City in May 2004 among of 37 pharmacies and 3 liquor shops, revealed:
- 87% of pharmacies carried at least one kind of product claiming to contain tiger bone
- 73% of pharmacies carried at least one kind of bear product
- 37% of pharmacies carried at least one kind of sea lion product
- Ivory and illegally imported caviar are also widely available in New York
"The illegal wildlife trade, now estimated by Interpol to be worth $10 to 20 billion a year, has drastically reduced numerous wildlife populations and currently has some teetering on the brink of extinction including Tigers, Rhinos, Asian Elephants and Asian Bears. Enforcement and consumer education are the key to reducing consumer demand and the New York Endangered Species Bill will help on both fronts. We hope other cities across the United States will follow New York's lead and approve similar legislation," says Peter Knights, Executive Director of WildAid.
Founded as a nonprofit wildlife conservation organization in 1999, WildAid's mission is to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade in endangered species within our lifetimes. WildAid channels 100% of donations from the public into award-winning programs designed to protect the wild on land and at sea, stop the illegal trade, raise awareness and reduce consumer demand.


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Local.com, operator of a local search and advertising network, entered the daily deals game with the launch of Spreebird as it acquired advanced product search tech via Krillion.
The company hopes to diversify its offerings – and revenue – while using the red-hot daily deals category to upsell local merchants to other ad products.
Local.com claims more than 20 million users of its search for businesses, products and services on Local.com and partner sites. It offers advertisers a mix of subscription, performance and display advertising.
Krillion aggregates and matches consumer product information from multiple retailer websites and data feeds to create an up-to-the-minute structured index of categorized consumer products, from diapers to video games. The data index incorporates product images, current pricing, manufacturer or retailer discounts and real-time in-stock information.
Local.com recently bought the iTwango deal platform, upgrading and rebranding it as Spreebird. Spreebird aggregates deals from across the United States, overlaying its proprietary search technologies to let consumers browse and buy deals, as well as to share them with their social networks. It plans to launch mobile phone apps later this year.
The plan is to gradually add in daily deals sourced directly from local merchants. Spreebird.com launched with original deals from Denver, Philadelphia and Orange County. Seventeen additional markets are expected to go live by the end of the year.
It has some competition from Google Places, which displays relevant products in local search results, as well as via Google Product Search. Google recently added the ability for retailers to highlight popular products in-stock. But this requires individual merchants to set up their own product feeds.
In an earnings conference call today, Local.com CEO Heath Clarke said these acquisitions increased the company’s sales force, allowing it to better serve small businesses, while also expanding its inventory of products to sell.
Clarke said more acquisitions are in the works. “We think daily deals are here to stay, because it allows our industry to demonstrate the value with no money down. This model shows small businesses how powerful, immediate and effective online advertising can be.” The plan is to upsell other ad products after merchants try daily deals.
Another item in Local.com’s shopping bag is Krillion’s StockCheck, a real-time tool that lets online shoppers find, compare and buy products from nearby retailers.
Krillion and Spreebird will be part of a network of distributed content, services and advertising that also includes the distribution to third-party ad networks of geo-targeted, hyper-local interactive shopping data via rich media, thanks to the Rovion business unit, and similar distribution of the data to geo-targeted shopping sites powered by Local.com’s OCTANE360.
A barrier to local search advertising in general has been the lag in SMBs getting online, but this may have reached a tipping point. Research firm Borrell Associates recently surveyed 2,872 small and medium sized businesses, finding that, while 86 percent had websites last year, a full 91 percent expected to have one in 2011.
The big question for these newly digital SMBs is getting visibility for their websites, and Borrell noted that local media companies can play that role.
Having a website is only the initial challenge for merchants. Setting up and maintaining feeds from their inventory systems to a proliferating number of local search services is far from seamless. And determining whether a daily deal will bring in new customers or break the bank is still a dark art.
Research firm BIA/Kelsey recently forecast that local online/interactive advertising revenues will climb to $42.5 billion by 2015, while consumer spending on daily deals could reach $3.9 billion in 2015.
BIA/Kelsey vice president Mark Fratrik agrees that the daily deal is more than a fad, although there will be an inevitable shakeout.
“It’s getting really crowded, ” he told ClickZ. “One question we have is, how much fatigue consumers will have. If they are sent two or three different offers each day, how many will a consumer click on each day?”
According to data gathered for the report,‘Communications Infrastructure: The Backbone of Digital,’ 88% of IT professionals and 61% of marketers ranked their company’s current communication infrastructure as 'cutting-edge' or 'good.'
President Trump's digital savvy isn't limited to social media. As it turns out, the Trump Organization owns thousands of domain names, possibly even more than 10,000.
Silicon Valley loves fancy job titles. It’s just something we do, and software and technology lend themselves to it. But it’s not always helpful.
In an often fragmented workplace, where various departments have varying opinions and goals, it can be challenging to get everyone on the same page and make strategy meetings productive.


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Bitcoin Trading Volume to get a Boost as Goldman Sachs Onboards Clients & with Bakkt Launch CoingapeGoldman Sachs is Signing up Customers for its Bitcoin Trading Product: Report CCNBitcoin [BTC] derivatives trading facility to be rolled out by Goldman Sachs for their clients AMBCrypto7 things to know and the best place to open a restaurant? Sorry, it's not […]
Recall that unique addresses are a proxy for the number of users, because they indicate how many non-zero Bitcoin addresses are in use. This metric has its strengths and weaknesses, which I wrote about here. Also, I have reviewed several other pricing methods which attempt to do the same thing using Metcalfe's Law. You can find those here and here.
After Bitcoin nearly reached $20,000, it was not able to maintain those figures. January did see a high of over $17,500 around the 7th, but this was short-lived and followed by a steady drop. By the end of January 2018, Bitcoin was at just over $10,000. By Feb. 5, it was under $7,000. It rallied again, getting over $11,000 in early March, but this was followed by a drop back below $7,000. The largest recent high for Bitcoin was in early May, when it was above $9,500. By late June, it was under $6,000. Following a rise to more than $8,000 in late July, Bitcoin has remained around $6,000 to $6,500, other than a brief spike up over $7,300 in September.
Though transaction fees are optional, miners can choose which transactions to process and prioritize those that pay higher fees. Miners may choose transactions based on the fee paid relative to their storage size, not the absolute amount of money paid as a fee. These fees are generally measured in satoshis per byte (sat/b). The size of transactions is dependent on the number of inputs used to create the transaction, and the number of outputs.:ch. 8
In 2013 and 2014, the European Banking Authority and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a United States self-regulatory organization, warned that investing in bitcoins carries significant risks. Forbes named bitcoin the best investment of 2013. In 2014, Bloomberg named bitcoin one of its worst investments of the year. In 2015, bitcoin topped Bloomberg's currency tables.
Bitcoin is one of many cryptocurrencies currently finding its way across the world of business and finance, Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and was thought of as Internet money in its early beginnings. Unlike fiat currencies Bitcoin is considered a decentralized currency that means that a network of users control and verify transactions instead of a central authority like a bank or a government.
Josiah is an assistant editor at CCN. A former ancient and medieval literature teacher, he has been reporting on cryptocurrency since 2014. He lives in rural North Carolina with his wife and children. He holds investment positions in bitcoin and other large-cap cryptocurrencies. Follow him on Twitter @Y3llowb1ackbird or email him directly at josiah.wilmoth(at)ccn.com.
The whole process is pretty simple and organized: Bitcoin holders are able to transfer bitcoins via a peer-to-peer network. These transfers are tracked on the “blockchain,” commonly referred to as a giant ledger. This ledger records every bitcoin transaction ever made. Each “block” in the blockchain is built up of a data structure based on encrypted Merkle Trees. This is particularly useful for detecting fraud or corrupted files. If a single file in a chain is corrupt or fraudulent, the blockchain prevents it from damaging the rest of the ledger.
Various journalists, economists, and the central bank of Estonia have voiced concerns that bitcoin is a Ponzi scheme. In 2013, Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, stated that "a real Ponzi scheme takes fraud; bitcoin, by contrast, seems more like a collective delusion." A 2014 report by the World Bank concluded that bitcoin was not a deliberate Ponzi scheme.:7 The Swiss Federal Council:21 examined the concerns that bitcoin might be a pyramid scheme; it concluded that, "Since in the case of bitcoin the typical promises of profits are lacking, it cannot be assumed that bitcoin is a pyramid scheme." In July 2017, billionaire Howard Marks referred to bitcoin as a pyramid scheme.
If fewer people begin to accept Bitcoin as a currency, these digital units may lose value and could become worthless. There is already plenty of competition, and though Bitcoin has a huge lead over the other 100-odd digital currencies that have sprung up, thanks to its brand recognition and venture capital money, a technological break-through in the form of a better virtual coin is always a threat.
Mining is a record-keeping service done through the use of computer processing power.[e] Miners keep the blockchain consistent, complete, and unalterable by repeatedly grouping newly broadcast transactions into a block, which is then broadcast to the network and verified by recipient nodes. Each block contains a SHA-256 cryptographic hash of the previous block, thus linking it to the previous block and giving the blockchain its name.:ch. 7
Another interesting way (literally) to earn bitcoins is by lending them out, and being repaid in the currency. Lending can take three forms – direct lending to someone you know; through a website which facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, pairing borrowers and lenders; or depositing bitcoins in a virtual bank that offers a certain interest rate for Bitcoin accounts. Some such sites are Bitbond, BitLendingClub and BTCjam. Obviously, you should do due diligence on any third-party site.


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Stakeholders from around the world attend inaugural e-cig summit.
Las Vegas, NV -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/04/2013 --The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association (SFATA) held its 2013 E-Cig Summit, Monday January 28, 2013 at The Oquendo Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. In attendance were approximately 100 stakeholders from the personal electronic vaporizing unit (“PEVU”) segment of the market place, which included manufacturers, distributors and retail sellers of electronic cigarettes as well as representatives from The U.S. Food and Drug Administration FDA (“FDA”). The purpose of the summit was to educate stakeholders on regulatory and legal issues facing the electronic cigarette industry.
“We are extremely pleased with the overwhelming support and input members of the industry shared with SFATA and each other during yesterday’s summit” says SFATA executive director Chris Venis. “The willingness this large group of stakeholders showed in their commitment to work together, in a strategic and organized manner to achieve common goals is truly remarkable.”
SFATA is aware that the FDA plans to deem electronic cigarettes as tobacco products, which will have significant and negative consequences for stakeholders. If regulated under the current Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (the “Act”) stakeholders may be required to spend millions of dollars per year on testing specifically designed to prevent harm caused by combustible tobacco products like combustible tobacco cigarettes, which would be inappropriate for PEVUs such as electronic cigarettes and electronic cigars.
Another, perhaps unintended consequence of applying the Act, which was never intended to govern PEVUs, would be that consumers who currently enjoy a wide variety of e-cig flavors would likely be limited to a choice of Menthol only.
Attendees were particularly interested in hearing keynote speaker Mr. Ralph Tyler, Esq. and his thoughts on whether the FDA had proper authority to deem electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and the significance and applicability of Sottera, Inc. v. Food & Drug Administration, 627 F.3d 891 (D.C. Cir. 2010), a case which is often misunderstood and one which Mr. Tyler oversaw while serving at FDA.
Mr. Tyler is currently a partner within Venable LLP’s Litigation and Government groups, located in Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.; he is uniquely qualified to comment on such issues.
Immediately prior to joining Venable LLP, Mr. Tyler served as the Chief Counsel for the FDA where he oversaw the FDA’s legal operations, including all counseling, litigation and enforcement matters, which included the Sottera case.
Mr. Tyler’s keynote address was entitled The Immediate Threat to the E-Cig Industry of FDA Substantial Equivalence Requirements. He informed attendees that while reasonable legal minds may disagree, it remains clear that Congress never intended the Act to apply to electronic cigarettes.
He continued by clarifying that the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the Sottera case did not determine that electronic cigarettes are to be classified as tobacco products. Rather, the issue before the court was limited to whether or not electronic cigarettes could be classified as “drugs,” “devices,” or “combination products” not whether or not e-cigarettes could be classified as tobacco products.
Mr. Tyler noted that while the Court in Sottera held that the FDA could not classify electronic cigarettes as “drugs,” “devices” or “combination products” absent therapeutic health claims, the FDA may [not shall], deem electronic cigarettes as tobacco products under the Act if, and only if, the FDA were to issue proper deeming regulations. To date, the FDA has not attempted to deem electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and as such, electronic cigarettes are not deemed as tobacco products.
Mr. Tyler and one of his Partners at Venable, Mr. Todd Harrison, Esq. who is the Chair of Venable’s FDA practice group regularly advises clients on FDA matters, stressed the importance of industry stakeholders playing an active role in SFATA and in coming together to: (1) Implement universally accepted industry standards for Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and scientific testing and (2) Communicate the standards to officials within Congress as well as to those at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.
Other presenters included Mr. Lou Maiellano, from TAZ Consulting who discussed the evolution of the e-cig industry; Mr. Kevin Altman, a consultant to CITMA (Council of Independent of Tobacco Manufacturers of America) who spoke of the positive influence strong industry trade associations can have in shaping appropriate legislation and closing remarks by Mr. Phillip Daman, Esq. of Daman and Associates, LLC, an attorney who regularly counsels stakeholders in the electronic cigarette industry on regulatory matters and issues involving the protection and use of their intellectual property.
Mr. Daman cited the importance of reaching out to local, state and federal legislators to help educate them about e-cig technology as many city, state and federal agencies misunderstand the relevant laws and technology. By way of example, Mr. Daman pointed to an opinion letter written by the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia which was requested by Christopher Peace, a Delegate within Virginia’s House of Delegates after a constituent called him subsequent to being incorrectly told by the Virginia Department of Health that the e-cigs do violate the state's ban on smoking in restaurants or other public places. Contrary to the Department of Health’s assertion, the Attorney General for the Commonwealth stated that e-cigs did not fall within the Virginia’s ban on smoking laws because they produce “vapor” not “smoke.”
SFATA plans to have additional workshops in 2013 so that industry stake holders may continue to collaborate on issues such as manufacturing standards, scientific testing and lobbying initiatives to ensure that the industry does not suffer harm from inappropriate regulations. Specifically, SFATA plans to return to the White House, with many of its new members, to speak with officials in the Office of Management and Budget to discuss why FDA’s efforts to regulate PEVUs under the FSPTCA are inappropriate. To learn more about SFATA please visit www.SFATA.org.
SFATA’s E-Cig Summit 2013 was held at The Oquendo Center in Las Vegas on January 28th. Attendance was free to members of the electronic cigarette industry. The next workshop is scheduled for April 2013; details will be announced soon. Individuals seeking information about future workshops can email SFATA’s Executive Director, Mr. Christopher Venis at firstname.lastname@example.org.
The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Association represents a wide cross section of the “Smoke Free” industry including distributors, manufacturers, retailers and consumers of Personal Electronic Vaporizing Units such as electronic cigarettes and the liquid solutions they contain. SFATA is largest organization of its kind and is dedicated to educating members of the industry on state and federal regulatory issues, providing a framework for meaningful industry standards and GMPs, furthering the advancement of peer reviewed scientific studies and serving as an advocate capable of successfully engaging government officials on behalf of its members. Through its membership, SFATA builds the networks necessary to support outreach and research endeavors paramount to the future of the industry. For more information, visit SFATA.org.


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A bill sponsored by State Rep. Martin Causer to allow dairy farmers to move their milk even during winter weather has been passed by committee and is on its way to the State House Floor.
House Bill 915 would exempt milk trucks from weather-related commercial vehicle travel bans. Causer introduced the bill in response to travel bans ordered by the Wolf Administration.
Causer criticized the Governor in his remarks during debate on the bill, saying “I keep hearing from the Administration that farmers need to change their business model. Well, that’s someone that has no clue about how the dairy industry operates. You can’t turn the cow off. You either ship the milk or you dump the milk down the drain.”


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Weak Canadian dollar, recession ground trips to U.S. for some Calgarians
Business down by 40%, says Calgary travel agent
Some Calgary travel agents are seeing a significant downturn in the number of people jetting off to the U.S. because of the low Canadian dollar and the recession.
Hazel Affonso, owner of Affordable Travel that has been in business for more than 30 years, is seeing a big reduction in bookings.
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Oilpatch downturn takes toll on Calgary companies that rent suites
- MORE ALBERTA NEWS | Parks Canada to waive entrance fees in 2017 to celebrate Canada's 150th
"I would say a good 40 per cent," she said.
While others are not seeing the same slow down yet, they are bracing for it this year.
Still, deeply discounted flights to the U.S. are motivating some people to go anyway, even if it means doing some careful budgeting.
Burakama Kazmiro is pricing out a trip to Phoenix to see his cousin. He's been saving up and isn't sure he'll have enough given the current exchange rate hovering around 72 cents.
"Of course you know, I'm even thinking about the budget and I will have to save more to cover the expenses and all that," he said.
Meanwhile, Affonso offers some tips to travellers to save a little extra cash, including booking into accommodation with a kitchenette or staying with friends. She even suggests packing some food items, suggesting it's worth it even if you have to pay extra luggage fees.
"I'm going to be very upfront and tell you what I tell everybody, take your groceries with you," Affonso says. "I know you're going to pay for luggage ... but it's really cheaper in the long run."


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The Cross-Border Ecommerce Community (CBEC) enables Merchants, Payment Service Providers, ISOs and Acquiring Banks to access valuable content about mature and developing markets that can support strategic decision-making. Read more
More information can be found in the Cross-border Ecommerce Report the UK
Payment fraud in Europe’s leading ecommerce market has led UK merchants to recognise the importance of sophisticated fraud prevention strategies, and rules tailored to address online and mobile fraud.
The UK is the leading ecommerce market in Europe and the third largest in the world. According to IMRG, online sales reached GBP 91 billion in 2013, a 16 % increase for 2013.
Fraud losses on UK cards totaled GBP 450.4 million in 2013, a 16% rise on the 2012 total but still down 26% since fraud was at its peak in 2008. Losses are currently 7.4p for every GBP 100 spent.
While card not present fraud peaked at GBP 326.4 million in 2008, 2013 did see a 22% increase in 2013, with fraudulent purchases made online, over the telephone or by mail order totaling GBP 301.1 million. This CNP fraud accounts for 67% of total fraud, up from 54% in 2008.
Within the CNP total, whereas online fraud against UK retailers reached GBP 105.5 million (up 4%), there was a substantial 48% increase in online fraud against retailers based overseas, with losses of GBP 57.8 million.
The face of fraud in the UK continues to change, with increases in 2013 in ID theft, ‘vishing’ and phishing attacks. The UK ranks second behind the US in terms of phishing attack numbers.
‘Low tech’ attempts to steal customer card information (and PINs) remain an issue in the UK, as chip and PIN and sophisticated fraud prevention and detection tools have proved effective in deterring other fraud types. Lost and stolen cards accounted for USD 58.9 million of fraud in 2013, with distraction thefts and shoulder surfing at the ATM highlighted by the UK Cards Association.
The UK market is an attractive proposition for cross-border ecommerce. UK consumers are the highest online spenders in Europe (EUR 2466 per capita in 2012) with travel and hotels the largest single area of spend. Consumers are well protected - recent industry research indicates that 97% of customers receive a full refund of any losses sustained through online shopping and the great majority are willing to make purchases online.
Centre for Retail Research statistics show that the UK leads the market for mobile commerce in Europe, with a predicted spend of GBP 7.9 billion in 2014, up from GBP 4.9 billion in 2013. With above average fraud rates occurring on mobile transactions, merchants need to ensure that they are well prepared for the growth of this sales channel.
More information (including sources) about ecommerce fraud, mobile fraud and online fraud prevention in the UK can be found in the Cross-border Ecommerce Report - The UK
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Crestron unveiled Crestron Pyng, the app that IS the home automation system. For years, home automation apps have been add-ons to control systems that are programmed using computers. Now, technology integrators can create lifestyle scenes for each room, schedule events, and much more right from an iPad®. The whole house can be ready in minutes without ever opening a laptop.
Rockleigh, N.J.-based Crestron rolled out its Mobile and Mobile Pro control apps, which provide systems designers and programmers with capabilities that simplify and expand the design possibilities of Crestron and Prodigy touchscreen interfaces on Apple mobile devices.


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Breakfast Brunch Cafe, which opened on Fry Road in March, has expanded to a second location in the Boardwalk at Towne Lake. The new restaurant opened Thursday at 9955 Barker Cypress Road, Ste. 110, Cypress.
Breakfast dishes such as eggs benedict, beignets and biscuits and gravy are on the menu. Lunch offerings include truffle fries, burgers, wraps and salads.
A dinner menu is also available at this location, which is new for the eatery. Executive chef Ossume Price said the staff would also implement a juicing program, cocktail program and cafe for specialty coffee drinks.
“We’re trying to use as much local produce as possible,” Price said. “This is something beyond the chain to get great breakfast in Cypress. We’re kicking it up on the creativity side as far as what we can bring to the table.”


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- Research firm New Constructs has put particularly pessimistic calls on some of this year's hottest IPOs.
- The firm said electric vehicle Rivian was worth $13 billion at the time of its IPO last month, about one-fifth of its initial market cap.
- "I feel really good when we put something out there that just makes a lot of mathematical sense," said New Constructs CEO David Trainer.
Just before Sweetgreen held its IPO last month, research firm New Constructs came out with a particularly gloomy price target on the salad restaurant chain: $0. The offer price was $28.
A week earlier, New Constructs said Rivian was worth $13 billion, far shy of the $66.5 billion valuation it achieved on IPO day. Before GitLab hit the market in October, the firm valued the code-sharing software developer at as low as $770 million, or 93% below where the company sold shares.
None of those calls have come close to hitting the mark. Even after a recent sell-off that pushed almost all of this year's IPOs into bear market territory, New Constructs' bearishness looks extreme.
David Trainer, founder and CEO of the 19-year-old firm and a former Wall Street analyst, isn't deterred.
"I feel really good when we put something out there that just makes a lot of mathematical sense," said Trainer, 49, in a recent interview over video. "Crazy stuff happens. I can't let that bother me. I have to stay true to what I think is right."
Trainer does not think IPO valuations are anywhere close to right.
His research is based on a model he's refined over the past two decades to evaluate company fundamentals, like cash flow, earnings, and competitive moat. It serves as an antidote to the hype cycle that's shoved venture-backed start-ups into the public market with big promises instead of profits.
IPOs are poised to end the year with a record level of fundraising, surpassing the previous record set in 2020. On Thursday, infrastructure software vendor HashiCorp debuted on the Nasdaq and closed the day with a market cap of over $15 billion, becoming the 19th tech company to go public this year with a valuation that's currently above $10 billion.
This week, Samsara, whose technology connects devices to the internet, is poised to be the 20th.
Both companies are losing money.
Trainer knows that his downbeat views on tech IPOs put him on a financial island. That resembles his location in real life.
Some 900 miles from Wall Street, Trainer lives and works in Nashville, Tennessee, where he and his wife both grew up and have three kids.
"We have a different belief system than Wall Street," said Trainer, whose firm has about 20 employees. He avoids recruiting people with traditional finance experience because they tend to be "brainwashed to be a Wall Street banker and to do research like what we've seen in the past," he said. "What we do is counter to that."
Trainer started New Constructs in 2002 after six years as an analyst, primarily at the firm known then as Credit Suisse First Boston. After having a front-row seat to the dot-com boom and bust and seeing the troubling role analysts played in hyping companies that also happened to be banking clients, Trainer wanted to create a firm that focused exclusively on research, removing it from any potential conflicts.
His company relies on software to sift through thousands of pages of quarterly reports, annual filings and prospectuses and make determinations on how companies should be valued. By letting computers do the quantitative work, New Constructs is able to cover more than 10,000 stocks.
Trainer said the firm has hundreds of customers in the investment universe, including partnerships with TD Ameritrade and Interactive Brokers. Both firms make New Constructs' reports available to any customer with a brokerage account.
IPO coverage is just a piece of the mix. Trainer's team has lists like "most attractive stocks" and "most dangerous stocks" and it rates exchange-traded funds in various sectors.
It also goes deep on public companies. In a November report, New Constructs said Tesla's $1.2 trillion valuation implies the company "owns 60%+ of the entire global passenger EV market and becomes more profitable than Apple (AAPL) by 2030," even as its EV market share is declining.
But Trainer's IPO reports include the most provocative calls and have helped New Constructs stand out in a market that's saturated with coverage of big public companies.
"We don't have as much competition in the IPO space," Trainer said. "If we are quick when the S-1 comes, we can be one of the first companies to have an opinion out there."
That's because traditional sell-side firms don't cover IPOs. Investment banks are restricted from publishing material during a quiet period after the offering, and companies don't typically start providing forecasts until they first report earnings.
New Constructs can play by different rules. The firm doesn't do advisory work and is using publicly available information from prospectuses, roadshows and other online material to form its position.
Because it's solely a research firm, readers know there's no ulterior motive, Trainer says, unlike investment banks that are covering the same companies they're courting as clients.
"The higher the capital-raising needs, the fewer bearish people you're going to see," Trainer said, referring to the swarm of coverage that bigger companies attract in the months after they go public. "Set your watch to it."
Trainer jumped into the IPO game in 2015, just after cloud software vendor Box made its New York Stock Exchange debut. The inaugural report on Box was titled, "This IPO belongs back in the tech bubble," and said that to justify its $22 share price after the pop, the company would need to increase its pre-tax margin to 10% from -127% while growing revenue 20% for 25 years.
Box hasn't been a good investment relative to the broader market, but it hasn't crashed either, and currently trades around $25.
New Constructs dabbled in other IPOs over the next couple years, putting out "danger zone" warnings on travel site Trivago in late 2016 and Snap in early 2017, highlighting the social media company's "dismal fundamentals and nosebleed valuation."
The Trivago call looks smart, as the stock has plummeted to $2.19 from its $11 offer price. Snap, on the other hand, has more than tripled in value since its IPO.
Trainer's IPO coverage became more frequent in 2018, with reports reports on software makers Dropbox, Domo, Avalara and Eventbrite along with non-tech companies like BJ's Wholesale Club and thermos and cooler maker Yeti.
But New Constructs' critical eye really paid off in 2019.
"WeWork is the most ridiculous IPO of 2019," read the headline of a New Constructs report on Aug. 19, five days after the office-sharing company, valued privately at $47 billion, filed its initial prospectus.
"WeWork has copied an old business model, i.e. office leasing, slapped some tech lingo on it, and suckered venture capital investors into valuing the firm at more than 10x its nearest competitor," New Constructs wrote.
Six weeks after the firm placed WeWork firmly in the "danger zone," the company pulled its IPO. Investors balked at the company's valuation and were turned off by mounting losses, shoddy corporte governance and a torrent of devastating news on founder and then-CEO Adam Neumann.
"That was a bit of a gamechanger for us," Trainer told CNBC. "That IPO never even happened and a lot of people gave us credit for changing the course of events there."
In a victory lap of sorts, New Constructs published a follow-up report titled "WeWork’s Failed IPO Is a Win for Main Street."
But WeWork has been an exception. More typically, stocks have rocketed up after their IPOs as retail investors celebrate their first opportunity to get in on the party.
In November 2020, for example, New Constructs applied its WeWork model to DoorDash, the food delivery company whose business more than tripled in size during the pandemic.
"This IPO reminds us of WeWork's attempted IPO, which we called The Most Ridiculous IPO of 2019, because DoorDash's business is similarly disadvantaged," New Constructs wrote in a note headlined "The Most Ridiculous IPO of 2020."
The report said DoorDash had no profits on the horizon and faces "competition that can offer the same service for free." New Constructs thought DoorDash was crazy at a $25 billion valuation.
Nevertheless, the company shot up on its first day of trading to over $60 billion, and is now worth around $54 billion.
"We think the stock is likely worth $0 given the company's limited differentiation and the intense competition from other new entrants and established restaurants, which are easily replicating Sweetgreen's menu and concept," the firm wrote.
Sweetgreen reported a loss of $87 million in the first three quarters of the year and New Constructs saw a "narrow" path to profitability.
"Sweetgreen is an easy one," Trainer told CNBC. "It's in the business of selling lettuce. There's not a lot of complexity there and you've got a lot of good comps."
Trainer also published particularly bearish reports on shoemaker Allbirds (rated "unattractive"), eyeglasses company Warby Parker ("very unattractive"), investing app Robinhood ("unattractive" and "a casino for users, a bad bet for investors") and blogging service Squarespace ("very unattractive" with a valuation that's "out of this world").
New Constructs warned against buying GitLab because of limited cash, high burn and hefty competition from Microsoft, and said to avoid Rivian, which hasn't "shown it can consistently produce more than a handful of cars."
Those stocks haven't yet gone his way, but Trainer made one extremely prescient call this year. In June, New Constructs said Chinese ride-hailing company Didi was worth no more than $37 billion. After its NYSE debut, the market cap was almost $68 billion.
As of Friday, Didi is worth about $31 billion following a five-month slide. Earlier this month, Didi said it was delisting from the NYSE and will plan to list in Hong Kong amid pressure from the Chinese government to keep greater control over local technology.
New Constructs didn't specify delisting concerns in its report, but it did highlight regulatory issues as a major overhang. The company was reportedly already under investigation by the Chinese government on antitrust issues.
On June 30, Didi's listing day, Trainer told CNBC's "Power Lunch" that the company is "one of the many overpriced IPOs coming to market," and it wanted to "make hay while the sun shines."
Looking at the broader tech IPO market, Trainer acknowledges that the sun has been shining for a surprisingly long time. He said he expects "some sort of reckoning" eventually.
In the meantime, Trainer said he'll keep doing what he thinks is right.
"Either we believe in what we believe in or we're just swimming upstream for no reason," Trainer said. "We're not here to do people harm. We believe what we're doing is providing society a service."


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Press Release: Wakulla County Sheriff's Office
An arrest warrant has been issued for a suspect in a Crawfordville business burglary that occurred Tuesday, Oct. 22, according to Sheriff Charlie Creel.
A forced entry was reported at Glenda’s Country Store in Crawfordville. Detectives determined that a change box, cigarettes and Florida Lottery tickets were stolen in the burglary.
A Special Agent for the Lottery contacted detectives with information about stolen Lottery tickets being cashed in Leon County. One of the two subjects cashing the Lottery tickets was identified by law enforcement.
On Oct. 23, a search warrant was served at the home of one of the suspects and evidence was collected that connects the suspect to the crime. The suspect also attempted to sell a stolen carton of cigarettes to a Tallahassee area business.
The charges on the warrant include burglary, grand theft and criminal mischief. The value of the stolen items from the store is estimated at $602 and damage to the store is estimated at $300.
The investigation continues as the suspect remains at large.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Derek Lawhon at 850-745-7100.


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India maybe one of the first markets to get the global small car being jointly developed by the Renault Nissan alliance and Mercedes Benz.
Daimler and the alliance earlier announced their plan to cooperate on platform and drivetrain sharing with Mercedes, Renault, Nissan and Smart working together on new models.
One of the first elements of the collaboration is Project Edison, a new small car that uses rear wheel drive powertrains, currently used in Smart cars.
The Hindustan Times quoted Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche as saying: “We have worked very closely with Renault over the past year and if we are able to develop something suitable for the market, then India could get it.
“We know small cars is big in India and we are aware of the growth potential. There is a lot of work going on between Renault and Smart. The new A-class also has a high chance.”
Despite being the first German luxury brand to launch in India, Mercedes has lost its number one position to BMW.
Zetsche said: “Competition is always good for the industry as it creates demand for luxury cars and it is [not only] in India that we are witnessing this.
“For sure, we are not at the top in terms of the number of cars sold but our profits are very healthy here and that to me is a more important consideration,” he said. “Nevertheless, the product offensive will continue.”


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Justin Paul Lawrence, IVP’s recently promoted senior sales and marketing director, has been recognized by Publishers Weekly (PW) in their annual Star Watch program. Lawrence is one of fifty innovative publishing professionals, including editors, booksellers, publicists, marketers, agents, and designers honored in the program, which is in its fifth year.
“Since he assumed the role of director of sales in July of 2016, Justin Paul Lawrence has made significant contributions to the overall growth and momentum that InterVarsity Press has achieved, opening new sales channels and serving legacy markets and customers with excellence,” said Jeff Crosby, publisher of IVP. “I’m grateful for this recognition of his work and am looking forward to his contributions in the recently expanded role of senior director of sales and marketing. I join my colleagues at IVP in extending my hearty congratulations.”
Lawrence started at IVP in 2015 as academic and library markets sales manager, working with colleges, universities, and libraries to make IVP’s books known to a broader market. In the last two years of his leadership of the sales department, IVP has seen over 25 percent growth across both print and digital markets and has seen the rise of bestselling books such asThe Road Back to You. Under Lawrence’s direction, IVP has expanded its reach with their Library Select program, expanded their presence at trade shows like BookExpo and ALA Annual and Midwinter, and entered into a distribution partnership with SPCK (UK).
Prior to working at IVP, Lawrence’s publishing career included working as the trade buyer for Calvin College’s campus bookstore, as a publicist and copywriter for Eerdmans, as the shipping department manager for Regent College’s online bookstore, and as a bookseller with Barnes & Noble. He received an undergraduate degree in history, theology, and art from Houghton College, an MCS degree from Regent College, and an MBA from Grand Valley State University.
“I am amazed and honored to be part of PW Star Watch for this year,” said Lawrence. “IVP has a fantastic team that is building on a legacy of nearly seventy-five years of groundbreaking publishing. I am glad that my inclusion can highlight that long development in some small way.”
Lawrence is IVP’s first honoree in PW Star Watch. Their top fifty honorees will be narrowed to a top five to be announced and profiled in the September 2, 2019, issue of Publishers Weekly magazine. One “superstar” will be named at the PW Star Watch celebratory event at the Marquee nightclub in New York City on Wednesday, September 18, 2019.
For more information about PW Star Watch, please visit: www.publishersweekly.com/pw/event/item/65-pw-star-watch-2019.html


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My little bridal store in Bridgnorth has been acknowledged as ‘distinctive’ on the Wedding ceremony Emporium, the Wedding ceremony Trade Awards in Shropshire.
Recognition was offered for buying within the Clothes Provider class.
The awards carry collectively companies within the wedding ceremony trade throughout the UK after homeowners suffered from the Covid-19 pandemic this yr.
Jennifer Bone, Boutique Proprietor, stated: “I’m delighted to have been acknowledged on this method particularly as we’re presently celebrating our tenth yr on the Boutique.
“We have now simply reopened after the nationwide lockdown.
“I can not wait to see all of our brides once more and listen to what they have been as much as over the previous yr, it may be busy months.
Jennifer stated My little Wedding ceremony Store now hopes to benefit from this distinctive recognition.
Created in 2011, My little Wedding ceremony Store is celebrating its tenth anniversary this yr.
The boutique makes a speciality of luxurious and authentic bridal put on, with every costume designed and created within the Bridgnorth workshop.
The boutique presents its personal collections of in-house attire whereas providing a very bespoke design service, for brides who need one thing distinctive.


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Just as Google starts rolling out new password protection features in Chrome 88, Microsoft has revealed the inner workings of its password monitor features in its Chromium-based Edge browser.
Not to be confused with a password manager, this is Microsoft’s alert for passwords that have been exposed in data breaches and leaked online. Google added a feature to Chrome in 2019; Mozilla started testing its password breach alert service in 2018.
SEE: Network security policy (TechRepublic Premium)
Browser makers are keen to get us to sign-in, but how do you get users to sign in to a browser when there’s no perceived value beyond syncing browsers across desktop and mobile? Security, or more specifically, a security service that alerts the users to a password that’s been leaked online


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We pretty much know everything we think there is to know about the Huawei Nexus 6P ahead of its launch, thanks to multiple leaks and rumors. Until Google announces it however, none of the information can be treated as gospel. Including the latest leak which seemingly shows the price for each storage model across many regions.
As revealed previously, the Huawei 6P is going to launch in USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, Korea, France, Germany and Hong Kong. A leaked press release somehow made its way online and shows all the pricing information, for all the regions it’s going to be available in at launch. In the US, the 32GB model will cost $499, with the 64GB costing $549, while the highest storage option will cost a handsome $649. For a flagship device, with the spec and premium design we’ve seen leaked, the pricing is very reasonable. For those in the UK like me, prices are £449, £499 and £579 respectively for the 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models.
If those prices are still a little to steep for you, and you want a great stock Android experience, you can still snag the current generation Nexus 6 for just $349 on Amazon. Once Android 6.0 Marshmallow arrives for it (allegedly on October 5th), it’ll look and feel like an up-to-date phone.


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Credit card holders can take advantage of cards that offer rewards to earn cash, points or airline miles. But if those cards aren't used correctly, the rewards won't be worth it, one expert cautions.
Some cards will even pay you a few hundred dollars just to sign up, which can come in handy especially with credit card debt piling up in part from painfully high inflation. However, unpaid debt can cripple you with high interest charges if you don't pay off the balances on time.
According to a recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Center for Microeconomic Data, credit card balances have already increased 26% since the first quarter and total credit card debt has already surpassed the $1 trillion mark.
"The second quarter of 2022 showed robust increases in mortgage, auto loan, and credit card balances, driven in part by rising prices," Joelle Scally, administrator of the Center for Microeconomic Data at the New York Fed, said in a statement.
While credit card offers like sign on bonuses or cash back can seem appealing, certain rewards cards are "only helpful inflation-fighters for consumers who regularly pay off their balances in full every month," Credit Sesame financial analyst Richard Barrington told FOX Business.
Often, these cards "charge higher interest rates, and in the long run that interest rate difference may cost more than the rewards are worth," he added.
"If you’ve been accumulating debt and can’t pay off your card balances in full every month, you’re probably better off forgetting the rewards and looking for a card with the lowest interest rate," Barrington said, adding that your actual interest rate may differ from the advertised rate, depending on your credit score.
However, if you pay off your balance every month, the interest rate difference is no longer important. In that case, look for a card that offers the best rewards for your buying habits, according to Barrington.
Here are some of the top-rated rewards cards according to LendingTree.
Chase Freedom Flex credit card
The Chase Freedom Flex credit card, which doesn't have an annual free and has a 0% annual percentage rate (APR) for the first 15 months, was ranked the best rewards card for 2022 overall.
It was deemed the best in part because it "earns cash back in a variety of categories at generous rates and comes with an easy-to-earn sign-up bonus on top of that," LendingTree said.
Cardholders will earn $200 after spending $500 in the first three months of opening the account.
Consumers will also get 5% cash back for up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories they can activate each quarter. Cardholders can earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% on dining and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases.
However, after 15 months consumers will get hit with a high APR ranging between 17.24% - 25.99%, according to LendingTree.
Blue Cash card from American Express
The Blue Cash card from American Express was ranked the best rewards credit card for everyday purchases in part because it "has one of the top rewards rates on U.S. supermarket purchases of any credit card on the market," according to LendingTree.
After spending $3,000 in the first six months after opening the card, consumers will get a $350 statement credit.
Cardholders will get 6% cash back at grocery stores for up to $6,000 per year. They can also get 6% cash back on select streaming subscriptions, 3% cash back at gas stations and transportation such as taxis/rideshare, trains and buses and 1% on other purchases, according to LendingTree.
The card has a 0% APR for the first year. After that, consumers can get hit with a high APR ranging from 16.24%-27.24%.
Capital One SavorOne
The Capital One SavorOne rewards credit card was voted the best for dinning and entertainment rewards.
Consumers can get 8% cash back on Capital One Entertainment purchases and tickets at Vivid Seats as well as 3% cash back on dining, entertainment, popular streaming services and grocery stores (excluding superstores like Walmart and Target). They can also get 1% cash back on other purchases.
Cardholders can also nab a $200 cash bonus after spending $500 within the first three months of opening the card.
Although there is a 0% APR for the first 15 months, afterward consumers will face an APR between 16.49% and 26.49%.


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41 40-foot container train carrying mineral water and chocolate to China, departed from Turkey on June 28, has arrived in Baku Port today, Baku International Sea Trade Port told APA-Economics.
Unloading of wagons to the general cargo warehouse from the train arriving at the port to the general cargo warehouse in the morning today was carried out operatively.
These cargos are planned to be loaded to Barys ship belonging to Kazakhstan.
Cargos will be transported from Kazakhstan to China by means of a railway too.
According to the information, these cargos transported through middle corridor will travel a total of 8 693 km to reach the destination.


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Ford CEO Jim Farley believes that the electric car market is going to soon enter a price war with upcoming $25,000 models. He added, electric vehicles will be sold 100% online and have nonnegotiable price.
Thanks to production constraints and strong demand, there’s currently nothing resembling a price war when it comes to electric cars. On the contrary, the low inventory and strong demand are resulting in dealerships charging fat premiums for electric vehicles – but one major player in the industry believes that is about to change.
At the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference on Wednesday (via ABC), Ford CEO Jim Farley said that he expects the cost of building electric vehicles to fall in the coming years – low enough to sell some EVs in the ~$25,000 range.
He believes that this will lead to a “huge price war” in the industry:
So I believe there will be our industry is definitely heading to a huge price war.
He noted that the Mustang Mach-E starts at around $45,000, but the battery pack alone costs Ford $18,000 to build. This doesn’t leave a lot of room for lower prices.
Farley believes that significant cost improvements are coming to batteries, and Ford is developing its next-generation EV platform that he believes will bring significant manufacturing cost reductions.
Half the fixtures, half the work stations, half the welds, 20% less fasteners. We designed it, because it’s such a simple product, to radically change the manufacturability.
In order to be ready to be more price-competitive during this possible “price war”, Farley said that Ford is also ready to cut distribution costs and advertising.
Farley didn’t share any specific plan on a $25,000 EV model, but there are already a few projects in the industry.
VW has its ID.Life concept that the German automaker says is a preview its upcoming ~$24,000 electric car. Tesla has also been talking about launching a $25,000 electric car, but CEO Elon Musk recently said that it paused working on the model as the company focuses on ramping up production of its existing vehicles.
That’s an interesting take. I think this year might be one of the rare – if not the only – years where EV battery costs are actually going up due to a bunch of different factors. So when it comes to seeing EV prices going down, I think we may have to wait a little while.
I think Farley’s point is still correct, but it will likely be closer to 2024-25. I believe EV demand will still far outpace EV production at that point, but there are going to be a lot more options, which should create better competition, including on pricing.
Extracted in full form: Electric car price war is coming, says Ford CEO – Electrek


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Riverbed's global channel chief claims the WFH boom has supercharged sales of two of the four technologies it carries, and that partners are currently facing a window of opportunity to close purchase orders in 48 hours.
Talking to Channel Partner Insight, Bridget Bisnette said the vendor is currently seeing ten-fold growth for its application acceleration and network performance management solutions.
"The customers are just trying to get their WFH employees operational, and now they've moved to the phase of saying ‘okay, how can I improve their performance?'," she said.
"Our sales cycle [normally] runs about three to six months; these POs are closing in 48 hours. That's the opportunity for the partners."
US furloughs and cost-saving actions elswhere designed to minimise the fallout of COVID-19
Partners will gradually earn less money from reselling IBM products under new programme, claims IBM’s partner boss, as vendor puts more emphasis on building IP and services
Digital event will take place in July
Vendor drafts in boss of strategic alliances, Aron Precht, to channel role as Ulrich Seibold moves to newly created GreenLake position
Data protection vendor looks to promote more Gold-level partners into its top Platinum tier as it rolls out new rebates and incentives


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Dayliss and YCWB report that McGyver-like Chinese smugglers have taken to using ingenious cable and pulley systems, launched from home-spun crossbows and catapults, to smuggle iPhones and iPads back into China. M.I.C. Gadget sums up:
The iPad and iPhones were transported over a small river that separates the booming city of Shenzhen from the rural northern part of Hong Kong using an elaborate pulley system. The cable was shot across the border using a crossbow and the Apple products were flying across at night, which store in black nylon bags. The cable was suspended to a high-rise building in the Chinese border town of Shenzhen, and goods were moved several hundred meters from a small village house located in Hong Kong
No word on whether or no Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker were instrumental in helping Chinese and Hong Kong customs crack the smuggling ring, but we have our suspicions!
Video after the break.


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High Alpha has added Darin Brown and Geoffroy Bauer as entrepreneurs in residence.
Brown is an enterprise cloud technology veteran who most recently served as chief technology officer at Angie’s List. Prior to Angie’s List, he spent five years at ExactTarget in various leadership roles, including vice president of the Interactive Marketing Hub. Brown has more than 20 years of experience in enterprise software, consumer search and decision analytics.
Bauer has more than 20 years of experience building and leading enterprise cloud and e-commerce companies based in Europe. He co-founded Transwide, a cloud-based transportation hub, which sold to Wolters Kluwer Group in 2005, and Snapstore, a fashion and design online flash sale club which sold to
Vente-Exclusive.com in 2015.
As entrepreneurs in residence, Brown and Bauer will work together with High Alpha to develop and launch new companies.


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Today, Apple officially achieved $1 trillion dollar market capitalization. It’s a historic benchmark no company has ever achieved. But is it? When we look at companies of the past, and adjust their market cap for inflation, we discover that other companies were even bigger during times of their peak.
The below chart shows the world’s most valuable companies in history. You might have not heard of some of these behemoths while others are still around and kicking. Did you know that Microsoft was valued at $0.9 trillion during their peak in 1999?
“What comes up must come down.” We’d be surprised if Apple is still at no. 1 five years from now, especially when it faces so much competition from Amazon and Google. Until then, enjoy it very much Apple!


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Firefox 17 is out of beta, but the biggest story for us Mac users is what it doesn't do, namely support OS X 10.5 Leopard. That's right, Mozilla's browser has moved on, so if you're still running 10.5, this latest version is not for you. But it does add a new "Social API," which Facebook has al...
Changes are coming for Chrome users who are running Mac OS X Leopard. According to reports in Ars Technica and CNET, Google is dropping support for OS X 10.5 with Chrome version 22.0.1201.0, which is now available in Chrome's developer channel. This version will make its way eventually into the p...
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Ofo, one of China’s two billion-dollar-valued bike-sharing companies, has announced that it raised a $700 million Series E funding round which is led by e-commerce giant Alibaba, Hony Capital and CITIC Private Equity. Existing backers including ride-sharing firm Didi and DST Global also took part. This is the first time Alibaba has officially thrown its lot into China’s… Read More on Tech Crunch
Chinese bike-sharing startup Ofo raises $700M led by Alibaba
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