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SHANGHAI, April 19- PSA Peugeot Citroen and China's Dongfeng Motor Group will spend 200 million euros to develop a technology platform for small cars that will help to give them more products to boost sales in southeast Asia and China. The joint venture aims to sell 800,000 vehicles this year in China and 1.5 million vehicles by 2020, up from over 700,000 in 2014,...» Read More
WASHINGTON-- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in Monday's auction with rates on six-month bills rising to the highest level since March 2011. The Treasury Department auctioned $32 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 0.105 percent, up from 0.100 percent last week.
NEW YORK-- Irish drugmaker Jazz Pharmaceuticals PLC said Monday that it completed the sale of its women's health business to Swedish pharmaceutical company Meda AB. Jazz agreed to sell the business to Meda in September for $95 million in cash.
NEW YORK-- Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP said Monday that a subsidiary has purchased the remaining 65 percent equity interest in PL Midstream LLC from Boardwalk Pipelines Holding Corp. for $269 million. The holding corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Loews Corp. and the parent of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners' general partner.
NEW YORK-- Shares of AuRico Gold Inc. rose 4 percent Monday after the Canadian mining company announced preliminary production results from its new mine in northern Ontario. The Ocampo mine produced 21,916 gold equivalent ounces at cash costs of $754 per gold equivalent ounce.
The NCAA announced Monday that it would find new hosts for five championships scheduled to be held in New Jersey next year.
WASHINGTON-- The Department of Justice said Monday that a unit of CVS Caremark Corp. has agreed to pay $5.25 million to settle allegations that it reported false information on prescription drug prices to the government's Medicare program.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo.-- Business information and analytics firm IHS Inc. said Monday that it has added Jean-Paul Montupet to its board. Montupet, 64, is chair of the industrial automation business at Emerson Electric Co. and president of Emerson Europe.
The Justice Department is investigating compensation paid to Bridgepoint Education Inc.' s admissions staff, the for-profit education company disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday. Bridgepoint, based in San Diego, operates schools such as Ashford University and University of the Rockies.
CHARLESTON, S.C.-- A $5 billion Savannah River container ship terminal planned since before the Great Recession may not be needed as early as projected because of the world economic slowdown.
NEW YORK-- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said Monday that its board appointed Adebayo Ogunlesi as an independent director. Ogunlesi is a graduate of Oxford University, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Goldman Sachs plans to appoint an additional independent director to its board soon.
The bars are made by Creative Energy Foods Inc. The recalled items are thinkThin crunch mixed nuts bars, chocolate dipped mixed nuts bars, white chocolate dipped mixed nuts bars, and caramel chocolate dipped mixed nuts bars.
WALTHAM, Mass.-- ModusLink Global Solutions Inc., which manages corporate supply chains, on Monday said the filing of its annual report for the year ended July 31 will be delayed as the company works through a restatement of past results.
COSTA MESA, Calif.-- Pacific Premier Bancorp. Inc. said Monday that it agreed to buy First Associations Bank in a deal valued at $53.7 million. First Associations had $356.2 million in assets and $305.5 million in deposits as of Sept. 30.
BOSTON-- BlackRock Inc.' s iShares unit is reducing the investment fees charged at six of its largest exchange-traded funds as the biggest ETF provider expands a fee-cutting war that's benefiting cost-conscious investors.
2. "Argo," Warner Bros., $19,458,109, 3,232 locations, $6,020 average, $19,458,109, one week. 4. " Hotel Transylvania," Sony, $17,241,317, 3,375 locations, $5,109 average, $102,133,934, three weeks. 5. "Here Comes the Boom," Sony, $11,816,596, 3,014 locations, $3,921 average, $11,816,596, one week.
CHANDLER, Ariz.-- Chipmaker Microchip Technology Inc. said Monday that its sales for the quarter that ended two weeks ago were below its expectations, due to economic and industry conditions. The Chandler, Ariz., company now expects revenue of $407 million to $408 million. On Aug. 2, it saw revenue in the $412 million to $430 million range.
SAN DIEGO-- WD-40 Co. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit dropped 11.9 percent because sales in Europe slipped as customers delayed buying its lubricant and cleaning products. WD-40 makes its namesake spray lubricant, along with related cleaning products. WD-40 gets more than half of its sales in the Americas, and about one-third from Europe.
SALES UP: Americans spent 1.1 percent more at retail stores in September, the Commerce Department said Monday. That followed a 1.2 percent increase in August. The gains marked the best two months for sales in two years.
NEW YORK-- Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Monday on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Stock Market:. Citigroup Inc., up $1.91 at $36.66. Clearwire Corp., up 37 cents at $2.69.
SAN CLEMENTE, Calif.-- ICU Medical Inc. said Monday that its net income climbed 32 percent in the third quarter on more sales of infusion therapy and cancer treatment products. Net income rose to $12.2 million, or 82 cents per share, from $9.3 million, or 65 cents per share, a year ago. Shares of ICU Medical rose 75 cents to close at $59.96.


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Kanga Loaders reduces emissions and byproducts of diesel engine exhaust
Leading the industry once again, Iconic Australian brand, Kanga
Loaders, have partnered with an Australian emissions specialist, to
introduce a new loader feature for businesses that are interested in
worker health and safety and the environment. The new feature
reduces emissions and removes the carbon monoxide and
particulate matter released into the air from diesel engine exhaust.
“As a market leader in our industry it was imperative we sought the
experts in emissions control. This partnership is built and forged on
the foundation of providing safer and more effective products to our
customers”, said Rod Lehpamer – National Sales and Marketing
Manager, Kanga Loaders Global.
Recognizing a greater global focus on safety and environmental
issues, Kanga Loaders recently enhanced its specialized line of
loaders with the new emissions control option.
For this product innovation, Kanga recently won the Mayors Award
for Innovation at the Gold Coast Business Excellence Awards.
To see the full flyer please click on the PDF file below

domain: news


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Professional Community for Car Dealers, Automotive Marketers and Sales Managers
Today we focus on customization when selling to women. When dealership personnel say that they “treat everyone the same,” what they really mean is that they greet prospects consistently and similarly with a sales process - whether in person or digitally. However, having the capacity and ability to treat each customer the same simply can’t be accomplished. It sounds nice as a concept, but after all we are humans, not robots. We can’t be shaped and programmed to treat…Continue
Added by Anne Fleming on October 15, 2014 at 10:22am — No Comments
Wantalease.com, the nation’s first online car lease marketplace for new car lease deals, shows a growing number of car and truck lease deals offered for less than $150 per month. What's more, a few cars are even offered for less than $120 per month. The deals arrive as leasing continues to grow in popularity for consumers and dealerships.
The Chevrolet Cruze LT and the Ford Focus SE are both offered at $119 monthly in their current October Wantalease.com lease deals, highlighting…
Added by John Sternal on October 14, 2014 at 7:18am — No Comments
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. From all of the reports and seeing the action first hand we know how active most dealers and remarketers have been this past week. The comments within the Black Book survey personnel summary reports this past week as compared to the prior week took on a…Continue
Added by Black Book on October 13, 2014 at 8:44am — No Comments
Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, reports lease credit approvals during the month of September were down at 64.5%, falling after reaching into the low 80% range during July and August. The approvals rate is an important indicator of how successful car shoppers are at getting approved for a car lease.
The approvals rate has witnessed noticeable turbulence in recent months, with SubPrime car shoppers the likely culprit. Year-to-date approvals are at 67.8%…
Added by John Sternal on October 9, 2014 at 9:35am — No Comments
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed a new rule that would allow it to oversee companies that finance car loans and leases. The new rule is designed to address…Continue
Equifax Inc. (NYSE:EFX), a global information solutions company, announced that its auto lending customers will now have the added benefit of direct access to Black Book® vehicle value data and loan-to-value (LTV) model data.
By incorporating Black Book data with differentiated Equifax data, lenders can better evaluate LTVs at origination, migration of LTVs, collateral risk and layered risk.
Additionally, using Equifax and Black Book data gives lenders additional tools…
Added by Black Book on October 7, 2014 at 7:06am — No Comments
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market. In last week’s video market blog in addition to some market movement insight, we included a short interview with Paul Seger, Vice President, Asset Remarketing with GE Fleet Services. We have two more of the key industry remarketing personnel interviews from the recent NAAA convention to share with you today. We will…Continue
Added by Black Book on October 6, 2014 at 9:53am — No Comments
Today we are looking at the Service Drive. This is the critical department where your female customers visit in between purchasing or leasing their vehicles. With all the touch points in the service department, it's also happens to be the highest gross margin department in your store. It's the place where retention happens - or doesn’t.…Continue
Added by Anne Fleming on October 1, 2014 at 8:27am — No Comments
Welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with insight and data from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. What a week it was as Black Book was on the lanes getting the most current market insight and also attending the annual National Auto Auction Association convention, this year in historic Boston. A huge thank you goes out to all the auctions and remarketers that support Black Book as we…Continue
Added by Black Book on September 30, 2014 at 10:35am — No Comments
In the world of online matchmaking, women express their inner feelings through their online ads more so than men. In the world of online “car matchmaking”, not so much. An analysis of gender-specific online “car ads” by national car leasing marketplace, Swapalease.com, finds that men are more expressive when it comes to details of the cars they’re trying to pair up with others.
The nationwide online marketplace helps match people wanting out of their car lease with others around…
Added by John Sternal on September 30, 2014 at 10:30am — No Comments
Black Book announces the integration of its vehicle valuation data into a number of today’s leading providers of loan origination systems used by auto lenders. Recent integrations include Credex, Compass Technologies and FNI (Financial Network Inc.).
This continued expansion of Black Book data throughout industry loan origination systems allows lending decisions to be made in less time and with lower costs, thus accelerating the approval process. These operational efficiencies,…
Added by John Sternal on September 30, 2014 at 6:34am — No Comments
In Baton Rouge, you will find people debating on whether they should go for used Honda cars or the new ones. There are some people who buy old cars and they have nothing to complain about. The old cars prove worth while buying since they have already passed the test for quality considering the electrifying performance that they have shown for ages. Other people will hear nothing about these old and used cars, and they would rather spend a fortune but have a new Honda car.
Added by Agnes Marylinn on September 29, 2014 at 11:38pm — No Comments
Wantalease.com, the nation’s first online car lease marketplace for new car lease deals, reports domestic auto leases are seeing the largest price drops during September. Seven of the top ten popular lease vehicles with the biggest price drops in September are from Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford and Buick, with prices discounted as much as 46% from the previous month.
Wantalease.com is the nation’s first online destination for new car lease deals, and it is a sister marketplace to…
Added by John Sternal on September 24, 2014 at 1:49pm — No Comments
Welcome to this week’s Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insight from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. As we passed through each day with attendance at auctions and watching others online by the editors, it is obvious regarding the interest in the used market while recognizing the overall value movement and the number of no sales, that we are fully engaged in the beginning of the…Continue
Added by Black Book on September 22, 2014 at 8:24am — No Comments
Can you actually profit off your lease? You can, but it would likely need to be a truck. Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest online car lease marketplace, believes lessees in certain trucks still hold a positive equity position with a few months left in the term. In fact, the company believes it is a large reason why demand has increased for truck leases with less than eight months on the contract.
Compact SUVs and all Pickup trucks have held strong pricing positions through the…
Added by John Sternal on September 16, 2014 at 6:57am — No Comments
Bob visits a website searching for a new vehicle. As he filters down to the model he is considering, he is confronted with a seemingly endless list of stock photos with similar prices. Frustrated at the lack of information, he leaves and attempts his search on another site just to get the same…Continue
Added by Brian Cox on September 16, 2014 at 5:00am — No Comments
A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Car Sellers Refine Pitch to Women” revealed that more women are driving than men. In fact, there are 105+ million women on the roads today, as opposed to 104+ million men and more elderly women are holding on to their driver’s license (USA Today, Nov. 2012). As the relationship women have with their cars tightens, it’s time the industry takes notice and adjusts their pitch to reflect a more engaging “hello."
So how can a…Continue
Added by Anne Fleming on September 15, 2014 at 9:30am — No Comments
Thanks for tuning into this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with data and insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book.
The movement in the market continues, and pretty much as was expected. The average segment change for both the cars and the trucks was at -$73 and -$64 respectively, a greater decline for both pieces of the market than the prior week. For the cars it was a very similar…Continue
Added by Black Book on September 15, 2014 at 8:26am — No Comments
24.9% of all car loans were 73 to 84 months long during the first quarter of 2014 according to Experian. This number continues to grow compared with just a few years ago. And while delinquencies are still at historic lows, how can auto lenders determine when vehicles entering their portfolio are expected to reach a position of equity?
Black Book is working with auto lenders to take a close look at comparative collateral data in order to spot this trend. The company recently…
Added by Black Book on September 15, 2014 at 6:17am — No Comments


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IONNA Nationwide BEV Charging Network Gets Approved
Initially announced in July 2023, several major automakers entered into a joint venture to build a high-powered EV charging network across North America. Called “IONNA”, this is possibly one of the largest joint ventures in the auto industry to date. Composed of seven of the world’s foremost automakers: BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis, the goal is to build a new national charging network. The need to meet the growing number of battery-electric vehicle (BEV) models being produced with charging stations is imminent, and in 2024, IONNA received approval from regulatory authorities to start producing the most accessible and reliable high-powered charging networks.
With the goal of deploying at least 30,000 chargers, this will nearly double the amount of DC fast chargers currently available to consumers in the United States – a total of 32,000 are currently located throughout the nation. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a mere 60k battery-electric vehicle charger is not quite enough. We need closer to 182,000 DC fast chargers if the auto industry isn’t going to collapse under the weight of the estimated production by many automakers going electric by 2030, with about 30-42 million units sold.
The IONNA charging network will be powered by renewable energy to keep them always capable of recharging BEVs without causing harm to the environment. A promise backed by the world’s leading automakers, resources to build the chargers in this new network will also be sustainable. The joint venture planned to begin operations starting this summer (2024), so it seems that IONNA is right on track. Some of the first charging stations will open in the United States, followed by expansion into Canada at a later stage. First, we need to see high-powered chargers at various sites that can recharge BEVs quickly for long-distance journeys. It all comes down to developing and changing North American infrastructure in cities and highways to support fast-charging as practical as fast-charging smartphones.
IONNA’s charging network will also focus on the consumer experience. Meeting the North American Charging Standard for BEV connectors and Combined Charging System design for BEV connectors, the IONNA charging network will be accessible to everyone. Charging sites won’t just be barren locations with multiple charging stations like we see today. Initially, we’re thinking BEV charging stations, and eventually, rest sites where consumers can recharge their car and themselves with various amenities, such as restrooms, food service, and retail operations. There will even be canopies to make charging up more comfortable, instead of having the sun beating down on us while we wait to recharge.
This also means making charging stations more digital to create a seamless, vehicle-consumer integrated charging experience via in-vehicle and in-app experiences. IONNA will also build on many of the features popping up in modern BEVs, such as intelligent route planning and navigation for marking charging stations nearby, payment applications, transparent energy management, and more. It’s too bad construction might not happen until the summer, because automakers are producing BEVs in high volume now. The Kia Corp has already announced six BEV models in the span of twelve months – EV5, EV4, EV3, and the recent Kia EV8 in addition to the EV6 and EV9.
Want to keep up with Kia and news about the IONNA BEV charging network? Follow along with us on Miami Lakes Automall social media. Learn why the fuss about BEVs is slowly growing by checking out a new Kia EV6 or Kia EV9 at Miami Lakes Automall today.


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GGA partners with Key Data to launch TripIQ platform
US: Travel insurance and assistance provider, Generali Global Assistance [ GGA ], has partnered with short-term rental market data provider, Key Data, to launch TripIQ, considered to be the hospitality industry’s first business intelligence and benchmarking platform for travel insurance.
GGA, part of the Generali Group and comprised of Travel Insurance & Assistance, Cost Containment, Identity & Cyber Protection, is sharing select proprietary data points from its short-term rental survey, which was conducted by Phocuswright for presentation at the upcoming 2021 conference [15-17 November].
It is claimed that TripIQ will allow professional lodging partners to see clear, data-driven insights around its travel insurance sales and conversion metrics. Additional dashboards will provide benchmarking for partners so they can visualise their comparative performance against similar competitors in their target markets.
Chris Carnicelli, CEO of Generali Global Assistance, said: “Partnering with Key Data was an easy decision for us. Their extensive expertise within the realm of short-term rentals will greatly benefit the implementation of our new platform, TripIQ.
“Given the results of our short-term rental study, we found that gross bookings will reach $37 billion by the end of 2021, which is a 52 per cent increase compared to 2020. With travel on the rise post-pandemic, the amount of vacation rentals has clearly increased exponentially, as well.
“Ultimately, implementing TripIQ in partnership with Key Data was an easy choice,” he added.
Jason Sprenkle, CEO of Key Data, said: “We’re excited to work closely with an industry leader like GGA to make this market data available to the property managers that need it most. As travellers look for fun and safety on their next trip, property managers can use their TripIQ data to determine how to best position their travel insurance offerings to potential customers.”
In preparation for its partnership with Key Data, GGA examined the current short-term rental habits study conducted by Phocuswright:
- Roughly one third of prospective hosts expressed concerns about the potential for damage to their property if rented out.
- On average, five per cent of short-term rental stays resulted in the property damage, according to the property managers.
- 68 per cent of hosts purchased supplemental liability insurance beyond what is offered by booking platforms. Those with longer tenure, who managed short-term rental properties for three years or more, are 25 per cent more likely to purchase supplemental liability insurance beyond what is offered by booking platforms.
- Ten per cent of renters indicated that they had been motivated by an offer of the insurance to book via a specific booking platform.
- 43 per cent of renters indicated that purchasing travel insurance is now more important than before Covid-19. Those renting out a luxury rental home / apartment are more likely to purchase travel insurance [almost 56 per cent]. Those between 25 and 44 years of age are particularly finding insurance to be more important now compared to their younger and older cohorts [50 per cent of each found it more important now compared to 30 per cent in the 55+ cohorts or 36 per cent in the 18-24 cohorts].
Carnicelli said: “As our data demonstrates, the way we travel post-pandemic has changed dramatically. Having reliable, consistent access to a dependable platform, which will assist in rental and travel resources, is going to be a game-changer for renters and property managers alike,”
Upon its general release, TripIQ will be free to all customers that use both Key Data and GGA Travel Insurance and Vacation Rental Protection products.
GGA will be speaking alongside Beyond and Vacasa on Tuesday 16 November on “The continued rise of short-term rentals” at Phocuswright.


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Dendreon is readying a $5 million-per-quarter “targeted” DTC advertising campaign as the company seeks to goose sluggish growth in sales of its prostate cancer treatment Provenge.
Said EVP, global commercial operations Joe DePinto in an earnings call Feb. 25: “There are two main reasons that this campaign is important. The first is that when Provenge is recommended to patients by physicians, some patients may hesitate because they don’t understand immunotherapy. Second, we know that when a well-educated consumer asks his doctor for Provenge and he is an appropriate patient, there’s an extremely high connect rate.”
In the company’s first spot, a man says: “No matter what, people can count on me to get the job done, so when my prostate cancer returned, my doctor told me this time is going to be different—with Provenge, a personalized treatment that lets me count on my own body to fight back.” The tagline: “Provenge: helping you help yourself.”
DePinto told analysts and investors that the company has also seen traction with its PROPEL direct-to-patient branded education program, though which physicians give presentations on the drug to patients at meetings of major prostate cancer support groups.
“This enables us to access an extremely wide audience of potential patients,” he said, noting that the company conducted 75 PROPEL meetings in 2012, with an average of 20 patients per meeting, but some reaching more than 400 patients.
On the professional side, the company has added key account managers in its urology sales unit, and community urology accounts were up 25% in the fourth quarter. In community oncology, where Dendreon will add reps next, accounts grew a more modest 4%.
Community clinics account for 71% of sales, “which is where we believe the long term revenue potential exists,” said DePinto. “While adding new infusing accounts is important, our focus remains on penetrating our existing customer account base to increase our depth of sales, which drives volume.”
Dendreon has been struggling amid slower-than-expected sales of the biologic, and has hemorrhaged reps. The company is in the midst of a major restructuring aimed at paring down costs. While product revenues rose 51% year-over-year for 2012, the company recorded a net loss of $393 million for the year—up from last year’s $337 million.


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India is quickly becoming the fastest growing smartphone market in the world. However, iPhone sales are declining.
While there was speculation on whether Apple CEO Tim Cook’s trips to India and China have any influence on the company shares, the CEO was trying to lure the country to sell refurbished pre-owned iPhones.
His trip may or may not have gone as he planned, but there’s one memory that we bet still make him cringe. While visiting an Apple retail store at Galleria market in a store in Gurgaon, he got upset over a “counterfeit” Apple-branded iPhone case.
He demanded an explanation right then and there.
Imagine his embarrassment when he was shown that the case was the real deal made by his own company.
Imagine- Apple CEO failing to recognize his own product!
Apple sells through authorized dealers in India, but fake knockoff Apple products are not a rarity in the country. That's one of the reasons why the brand wants to open its own stores there.
There is also speculation that Cook’s four-day India trip wasn’t as fulfilling as hoped by him. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at least for the time being, has turned a blind eye to the Cupertino-headquartered giant’s push to sell refurbished pre-owned iPhones here,” wrote The Hindustan Times.
“The government is believed to have rejected a formal proposal from the company just two weeks back. The company had earlier applied for the same while the Congress government was in power, only to be rejected by the environment ministry, which cited e-waste or dumping issues as the primary reason for rejection.
"However, while following up with the ministry, sources said that the formal proposal was not rejected yet and is still under consideration,” the paper reported.
So, embarrassment aside, Tim Cook did leave with good hopes — at least it is hoped so.
Thumbnail/Banner Credits: Reuters


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A busy town centre market a thing of the past in many areas across the UK and in Teesside.
But that's not the case in Thornaby, as it was voted Best Small Outdoor Market at the Great British Market Awards.
The panel of judges decided Thornaby won overall due its constant popularity and 100 per cent occupancy rate each market day.
On Thursday, Teesside Live headed to Thornaby to the traders keeping the market alive after over 50 years.
Go here for more what's on updates, news and reviews from around Teesside
Green Lane Eggs has been a stalwart at Thornaby market for over 40 years
Self titled 'egg man' 59-year-old William Fife has ran his stall since he was 17, when his mum used to help him.
William said: "I sell fresh eggs from my neighbour's chickens and I'm a lucky man in that sense - you could say I'm a lucky egg! I look forward to coming to the market every Thursday because the people are just lovely and it's a great community of traders.
"I'm chuffed to bits for Thornaby receiving this award, I hope local markets like this one can make a resurgence in years to come because it's great for local businesses and the community as a whole."
Thornaby market has a plethora of different stalls; from fresh produce and flowers, to pet supplies and brick-a-brack.
The market was awarded Best Small Outdoor Market at a ceremony in Birmingham on Thursday February 3, with judges from the National Association of British Market Authorities commending it for having ‘a most effective social media platform linking in strongly with the community and local education providers’.
Les Taylorson, from Peterlee, is another trader at Thornaby Market. Always joined by Spaniel Bobby, Les offers a wide range of products on his stall from vintage football shirts to keepsake coins.
Covid meant 49-year-old Les lost a lot of trade, but is hoping to make up for lost time.
He said: "I only started my stall two years ago so covid hit me pretty much straight away and I obviously couldn't trade at all which was difficult.
"The market award is brilliant and I think well deserved! Anything to promote the area and to get footfall is fantastic, people come out and enjoy the market and I think that's one of the most important things."
'A community market'
Stockton on Tees Borough Council's Markets Manager Richard Beddard expressed his pride in Thornaby winning the accolade of Best Small Outdoor Market.
Richard said: “Thornaby is a community market with strong links with local schools, community groups and the Pavilion shopping centre. This award was for the market traders who are a collective group, work with each other and this shows in the atmosphere and the outstanding customer service provided.
“Our social media use was also a big part of the award in how we use this to promote the market and our traders. We’re also seeing a lot of market traders digitalising their offering which is encouraging. It showcases them as individuals and shows how they are at the heart of any communication.”
Mark Witterick, known as 'Mr Brick a Brack' to many of his customers has been trading at his Thornaby Market stall for 36 years.
From vinyl records to books and shoes, his stall has something for all punters to enjoy, and Mark has seen first hand the benefits a weekly trip to the market can have for some of his customers.
Mark said: "A lot of my customers are elderly folk and don't go out a lot because of covid, but even if it's just something once a week like the market it really helps them get out into the world again and gets them chatting to people instead of being on their own.
"I'm delighted that the market has received the award, it can only bring more footfall into the town and attract more people. When people see that we've won the award they might think 'oh lets go and have a look about' which will bring hopefully more trade to all the independent businesses that run at the market.
Looking at the market, the sense of the community is strong amongst the traders.
Anne Robinson, 64, runs 'Anne's Scents' on the market, selling household goods and trinkets, she explained how everyone chips in to help each other every Thursday.
She said: "We all set up early on a Thursday morning. On some days like today (Thursday) the weather can be worse than usual with the wind so we all help each other pitch our stalls, put extra weights down if we need them and we all just look out for each other really.
"It's just one big community and the award is fantastic for the area, I'm over the moon!"
Popular with humans and animals alike, is Matt's Wild Bird and Pet Supplies.
Owned by 46-year-old Matt Graves from Darlington, the stall stocks a wide range of animal supplies and he also stocks the popular Avon catalogue.
He said: "I've traded at Thornaby Market for five years and took the pet stall over in November, I'm old but new!
"I love that we've won the award. There's just something about Thornaby and it's great the way the market is laid out, you have to walk through all of us to get to the shops so that gives us great footfall
"It's such a chilled out town and I really look forward to every Thursday."
Although it was a quieter Thursday due to high winds and freezing temperatures, the market was a hive of activity with traders promoting their businesses and customers able to shop locally and independently in the town - as some have every Thursday for over five decades.
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It's the hottest ticket in town. And that's the problem.
Online retailers have been selling scalped tickets to President Barack Obama's second inauguration this weekend for thousands of dollars even though they are meant to be free to the public.
Craigslist and eBay on Thursday pledged to help stop the sale of scalped tickets to the ceremonies, said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. who serves as chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
eBay will enforce an existing policy not to allow the listings on their Website, while Craigslist employees will monitor their site and remove the items, he said. StubHub already refuses to resell the tickets.
"This year’s Presidential inaugural ceremonies are not for sale,” Schumer said. “I hope that everyone who has an Inaugural ticket will think twice before posting these tickets on any ticket resale site. This is a chance for people from all 50 states to celebrate our democracy, not for ticket scalpers to make a quick buck.”
Schumer unveiled the inaugural tickets for this weekend's event on Monday, along with a mobile app that helps ticket holders find their way to their seats or standing section. The tickets clearly state "Not for Sale."


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Dixons (excluding the impact of disposals) and Carphone Warehouse today reported profit spikes for fiscal '14 in what will be the last set of annual results the pair announce before the £3.7bn borg set for calendar Q3. The European Commission yesterday gave the thumbs-up for the merger to go ahead, creating a £12bn retailing …
Two old dinosaurs told it's ok to mate one last time...
Unfortunately, meteorite incoming.
- HP Ink COO: Sorry not sorry we bricked your otherwise totally fine printer cartridges
- Microsoft warns Windows security fix may break network shares
- ‘Inflexion point’ BlackBerry washes hands of hardware biz
- BT tops Ofcom's broadband whinge list
- Microsoft preps defence against the dark arts for enterprise customers


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“In October, Canada’s merchandise trade surplus increased, helped by a declining Canadian currency. However, trade volumes seem to have contributed to the month’s rise” according to a report by BMO Capital Markets analyst Shelly Kaushik.
Since a sizable portion of Canada’s commerce is conducted in U.S. dollars, converted values increase when the value of the Canadian currency declines relative to the U.S. dollar. According to Statscan, Canadian imports fell 2.2% and exports fell 1.3% in October as measured in U.S. dollars.
According to Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, “the almost constant level of export volumes in October, despite a significant lift from increased agricultural exports, implies that the industry is beginning to suffer with weakening external demand.”
Ottawa According to figures released on Tuesday, Canada’s imports and exports both increased in October, with the increase in imports mostly due to a decline in the value of the Canadian dollar.
According to Statistics Canada, the nation’s trade surplus with the rest of the world increased to C$1.21 billion ($888.53 million) in October, slightly above experts’ predictions of a surplus of C$1.20 billion.
According to Statscan, increased shipments of pharmaceuticals, gold bars, and coins to the US contributed to boost exports by 1.5%. Exports increased in volume by 0.1%.
Although volume was down 0.9%, imports increased by 0.6%. Gains were driven by imports of motor cars and components, metal and non-metallic mineral items, and energy products, which were supported by imported American crude oil.
“The Canadian dollar’s decline helped the country’s goods trade surplus grow in October. Nevertheless, trade volumes appear to have contributed to growth in the month “BMO Capital Markets economist Shelly Kaushik made this statement in a note.
Since a sizable portion of Canada’s commerce is conducted in US dollars, converted values increase when the C$ falls in value against the USD. According to Statscan, Canadian imports dipped 2.2% in October while exports fell 1.3% when measured in U.S. dollars.
With the support of canola and wheat, exports of agricultural, fisheries, and intermediate food items increased 10.2% in October to a record-high C$5.5 billion. Increased exports of canola, oilseeds, and wheat all played a part in the 25.4% increase in exports to China, which in October reached a new high of C$3.3 billion.
The Canadian dollar was down 0.3% on the day, trading at 1.3625 to the dollar, or 73.39 U.S. cents.


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Our work in action
Are you prepared and planning ahead as the transport sector is becoming increasingly automated and digitalised?
The European Commission is gathering information to evaluate the impact on smaller businesses in the supply chain of the legal requirement
Please read our response to the current situation.
The European Commission is keen to hear from businesses about the shape of its new LIFE programme, the only EU fund dedicated to the environment.
Nearly 60 companies in the South East, the Midlands and the North are competing to present their business to investors.


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Two leading wine fairs have fallen victim to the latest rounds of tightened social distancing measures in China, underlining the challenges for wine fair organizers even two years after the start of the pandemic.
Wine to Asia, organized by Vinitaly and Shenzhen Paco Communications announced last week that its planned wine show in Shenzhen on Dec 2-4 is postponed due to the southern metropolis’ tightening Covid-19 measures amid China’s latest Covid surges following new cases found in Shanghai.
Meanwhile TOE Wine announced that it would cancel its wine fair planned for August next year outright due to uncertainties posed by pandemic measures.
“The pandemic that has started since early last year has greatly impacted wine fairs at home and abroad. We are among a lucky few in the wine trade that managed to host two successful and consecutive wines fairs. But when will the pandemic impacts last? We can’t predict. Therefore, we have decided to cancel the 5th edition of TOE wine show,” the organizer of TOE Wine announced this week.
China’s sporadic Covid surges this year have pushed back wine fair schedules a few times. The country’s biggest wine and spirits fair, China Food & Drinks Fair, was pushed to April from March. In October Vinexpo Shanghai 2021 was cancelled due to international travel restrictions. The second edition of Wine to Asia has been delayed now three times this year, due to Covid flare-ups.
Only ProWine Shanghai so far was able to host its planned wine show without disruption in November.
It’s worthy to note that up till today, China hasn’t set out timeline to open to international visitors and implements stringent zero Covid policy, posing a daunting challenge for international wineries eager to make physical contacts with contacts on the ground.
In absence of large-scale wine shows, multi-city roadshows across the country has emerged as an effective way to make contacts with local trade and consumers.
Interwine for instance earlier organized a roadshow covering 18 cities in two months, and Vinitaly China Roadshow covered three cities – Beijing, Qingdao and Chongqing in September. ProWine Shanghai toured some 40 Chinese cities before officially kicking off in November.
However, with China’s zero policy, wine fair organizers will continue to face hurdles in putting up a successful wine fair for both international participants and domestic buyers.


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Azizi Developments, a leading private developer in the UAE, has overhauled the designs of its upcoming homes to appeal to customers’ post-pandemic needs.
Amid the substantial changes in preferences due to the implications of the pandemic on residential developments, Azizi Developments said it has redefined several of its soon-to-be launched designs.
For instance, the importance of foyers has risen, as they act as separators between the outdoors and indoors, allowing one’s home to be kept sanitary, where residents can, for example, take off their shoes and wash their hands, it stated.
Azizi is now also integrating more non-porous materials that are easier to clean and thereby reduce the likelihood of contamination.
The Emirati developer said post-pandemic workspace at home is also becoming increasingly important for adults to work from home and children to pursue e-learning.
Azizi’s units are designed with larger, dedicated, and secluded work areas with more suitable furniture, for these purposes. Moreover, additional amendments to balcony sizes and outdoor spaces were made, with larger such spaces now being higher in demand, it stated.
The developer has added renowned designers to its team to find new ways of enhancing its project layouts and aesthetics, such as by exploring role of colours in promoting serenity within its homes, with neutral and demure mid-tones being proven to bring harmony and joy to those residing there, it added.
Chief Development Officer Mohamed Ragheb Hussein said: "Even post-pandemic, we will see these trends continue. Home office is becoming increasingly prevalent, and families feel safer spending more time in their own space."
"Homes have turned into offices, playgrounds, cinemas, restaurants and more – a trend that is here to last. It is of the utmost importance for us to design solutions that meet these needs and keep our valued customers safe and comfortable," observed Hussein.
"Along with the facilities management team and owners’ associations, we have also enhanced the landscaping areas by adding more trees, seasonal flowers and children-friendly play areas, while also upgrading the fitness centres," he stated.
"Every element, be it equipment, flooring, walls or lighting, has been designed with special attention to detail to enhance our tenants’ lifestyles. Sanitisation is kept at the forefront of all this – but meeting the market’s needs and wants doesn’t end there – we will continue to find further ways of enhancing our designs in light of the pandemic’s after-effects," he added.


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A recent UK-wide survey conducted by 3GEM for TrustedHousesitters revealed that after finances, the biggest factor stopping Brits travelling abroad is the welfare of their pets. Not a surprize, it was already known pets are the single biggest factor stopping people from going on holiday more often. More than half (50.7%) of 2,000 Britons surveyed said they would travel more frequently if they had better pet care, with over one third (37%) taking at least two more trips abroad each year.
Andy Peck, CEO and founder of TrustedHousesitters said: “In times of economic uncertainty, when the cost of travel appears prohibitive, it is an extra burden to pay for pet care on top of flights and accommodation. Aside from the costs, our survey found that 88% of people say their pets are happier at home keeping the same routine than being put in a kennel.”
Also in the survey, 72% of people admit to loving their animals as if they are children, with the majority saying their pets have helped them get through a difficult time like a bereavement, health problems and work worries. In spite of this, only 6% travel with their pet when they go on holiday.
Most of those who do use kennels and paid-for pet-sitters say that they find the services expensive with one fifth spending more than £40 per night. More than 73% say their pet knows when they are about to leave for a holiday.
Dr Scott Miller, best known as the vet on the TV show The Vet on the Hill, said: “Animals do respond to a new carer better than a new environment. Most animals are particularly bonded to their home and the smells that are present there and also the smells of their owners, even when they’re not there. So for me, it’s best if they can stay put, stay in their own surroundings, and be looked after by a carer. And that’s what TrustedHousesitters provides.”
TrustedHousesitters has already helped members to save over £150m in pet care and accommodation. The site operates in 140 countries and has tens of thousands of house sitting opportunities abroad or closer to home for the ultimate low-cost staycation, as well as thousands of house sitters registering each month. House sitters build a trust profile, including previous pet care experiences, third party references, criminal background checks, video profiles as well as being rated by existing members. Home & pet owners choose the sitters who best match their needs.
Peck continued: “Many of our house sitters are retired and may have owned pets previously but are now at a life stage where they don’t want to commit another decade or two of ownership, but they still love animals and want to travel, so this helps fill a pet shaped hole for them. A growing number are in their twenties to fifties and they live online lifestyles, meaning they can work anywhere in the world – but they don’t always want to stay in hotels. And of course it’s a brilliant way for families to have authentic travel experiences that money can’t buy, especially helping summer break price hikes and for everyone to enjoy the fulfillment of looking after an animal that will welcome you into its home while being spared the stress of foreign travel or a new living environment.”


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Last month’s SGF annual Crime Seminar (6 February 2020) saw the launch of the Scottish Crime Report and heard several industry experts discuss the issues around shoplifting and abuse of staff. From amid the grim statistics and shocking CCTV footage it emerged that greater cooperation could provide an answer to the seemingly unsolvable crime problem.
by Findlay Stein
The Scottish Grocers’ Federation’s annual Crime Seminar last month marked the official launch of the Federation’s Scottish Crime Report for 2020 which, as in previous years, suggests yet again that incidents shoplifting and assaults on staff are at an all-time high.
The survey of 500 retailers put the total cost of crime to its participants at a massive £2m in 2019, with stores spending an average of £4,000 each on crime prevention measures last year. Astonishingly, every single respondent had experienced shoplifting in the previous 12 months, with 98% enduring it daily.
“Criminologists frequently try to downplay the problem by saying the fear of crime is greater than crime itself,” said SGF boss Pete Cheema. “For retailers this is not the case,” he added, introducing a montage of CCTV footage that painted a graphic picture of the extent of the problem.
The Crime Report also found that requests for identification in relation to age restricted products and a refusal of sale continue to be the main triggers for abuse and assault.
This comes as the Scottish Parliament considers MSP Daniel Johnson’s Protection of Workers Bill, which aims to give shop workers additional legal protection, particularly in relation to carrying out mandatory activities around age verification.
Back the Bill
The seminar’s first speaker, MSP Richard Lyle, called on retailers to back Johnson’s Bill, which looks to give shopworkers similar protection under the law to that which safeguards the emergency services.
Lyle, who had a long career in retail himself before turning to politics, said shopworkers faced severe penalties for failing to properly police the sale of age-restricted items and deserved legal protection in return. He offered his own statistics to the audience, saying the average shopworker in Scotland is threatened or abused 17 times a year, and that there 15 assaults on staff every day. Lyle also drew attention to the shopworkers’ union Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from fear’ campaign and quoted its General Secretary Paddy Lillis, saying “abuse is not part of the job”.
For the seminar’s next speaker, abuse is a routine part of the job; Mark Anderson is a long-serving police officer, currently on secondment as Retail Resilience Lead for the Scottish Business Resilience Centre (SBRC). Anderson outlined the organisation’s three-tier bespoke crime prevention training package available to retailers.
The SBRC takes a partnership approach to crime prevention and the training packages are the result of a nine-month pilot scheme ran with the help of the retail industry. As Anderson admitted: “The police don’t have all the answers.” Courses are free of charge and only take a couple of hours. All are delivered by police or fire officers. Topics covered include crime trends and methods; personal safety and security at work; anger management and de-escalating tense situations; fire risks; human trafficking; cybercrime; and counterterrorism.
The Co-op’s Head of Risk, Health & Safety Jenny Alleyne, urged the industry to come together to fight crime. Cooperation is important, she said, “because a loud voice on its own is no good but if everybody’s voices are loud together, we can really make a difference”.
Alleyne also relayed some grim statistics – specific to the Co-op – which saw 10,876 incidents in the first half of 2019. Every day during that period, at least two members of staff were attacked with a weapon; the number of assaults had tripled in 12 months.
To tackle this rising tide of crime the Co-op has rolled out a ‘Safer Colleagues’ initiative. This takes a three-pronged approach: with campaigning and lobbying working alongside in-store and community action. Stores have upgraded CCTV and issued headsets to staff, who have also received fresh training. POS material stating abuse won’t be tolerated has been distributed, while the Co-op’s Local Community Fund has given a total of £5.5m to more than 1,600 schemes tackling crime.
Rupert Lewis, Director of the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association, shared findings from the TMA’s latest anti-illicit trade survey. The poll of over 12,000 UK smokers revealed over three-quarters (76%) had bought tobacco in 2019 that had not been subject to UK tax. What’s more, that figure doesn’t include tobacco purchased abroad or at duty free stores. One in two smokers had “no objection” to buying illicit tobacco from a source they knew and a mere 15% claimed to only smoke branded cigarettes.
Lewis pondered what the 16% of consumers who claimed to smoke menthol cigarettes would do when flavoured tobacco is banned in May: “Undoubtedly, some will continue to want to smoke menthol cigarettes, which will add another dimension to the illegal tobacco market.”
Citing further TMA research, he said one in eight convenience stores faced a risk of closure due to the illicit trade, with shops losing up to £32,000 in turnover to it.
Lewis said fighting this meant firstly raising public awareness and changing behaviours around what “is not a victimless crime”.
It also requires enhanced coordination between law enforcement agencies and the industry. Lewis said the sector always shared information about suspected illicit tobacco activity with Trading Standards and/or HMRC. However, it often proved difficult to secure feedback on how or when information was acted upon or whether enforcement action was taken.
He praised the Scottish Anti Illicit Trade Group, which plays “a fantastic role” in bringing parties together across government, law enforcement, retail and industry, and said he would press for similar collaboration around the rest of the UK.
Lewis concluded by urging both the Scottish government and parliament to view illegal tobacco as a “priority law enforcement issue” so that “the punishment matched the severity of the crime”.
SGF’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs John Lee then hosted a panel discussion where the event’s speakers were joined by Maxine Fraser, Managing Director of Retailers Against Crime (RAC).
Asked about the effectiveness of the Tobacco Register on the illicit trade, the TMA’s Lewis said it had a part to play, but that the major players (i.e. organised criminal gangs rather than rogue retailers) “aren’t even on the radar” of the register.
The TMA Director’s frustration with the authorities was once again evident when pressed on what the organisation was doing to help retailers. “Manufacturers are pretty limited by what we can do,” he admitted. “It’s just ensuring the appropriate authorities are provided with the details as speedily as possible and to act on that.
“Often manufacturers share this information, and don’t always get the response and the feedback in terms of what action is taken. The challenge is putting the jigsaw pieces together. We are constantly speaking to retailers persuading them if there’s anything which they are aware of, to share information as soon as possible.”
The information sharing theme continued; Alleyne urged retailers to “share their stories” and change perceptions so that violence against colleagues isn’t labelled as a business crime.
Shocked by stats
Similarly, Lyle called on retailers to talk to their MSPs to get their support for Daniel Johnson’s Bill. The former shopworker was “shocked” by the statistics revealed during the seminar and said he hadn’t faced that level of abuse in the Co-op in the 60s and 70s.
And are the police doing enough to tackle retail crime? PC Anderson’s response was frank: “There are less of us on the street than you would like. There are less of us on the street than we would like.”
In the face of rising crime, the police must prioritise, he said. While the response time for historical shoplifting incidents should be between two to four hours, he admitted this could take “two to three days”, advising retailers to dial 999 for an immediate response to an ongoing incident where there’s a danger to life or theft of property.
Anderson said the police were looking to introduce Statement Packs where retailers could log all the details of shoplifting incidents and an officer would collect on a weekly basis and help streamline the process and save “hundreds of thousands of man hours spent every year recording and reporting crime”.
Naming and shaming
On the thorny topic of publicly posting CCTV screengrabs of alleged shoplifters, the RAC’s Fraser mused that a cardboard cut-out at the front door might be a good idea, prompting a laugh from the audience and no doubt a shudder from the panel’s resident policeman.
Anderson stressed the importance of staff sharing details of who is coming into the store but couldn’t condone cut-outs or so-called ‘walls of shame’.
“GDPR is there for a reason and you must abide by that,” he warned, prompting Fraser to suggest pictures on a wall inside a secure locked office wouldn’t fall foul of data protection laws.
Lyle backed a retailer who publicly displayed an image of a suspected shoplifter, leading to a name 20 minutes later: “Personally, if I was a grocer nowadays, I would do it and let them sue me.” This too got the audience chuckling, although there was a somewhat bitter tone to the laughter.
The SNP MSP was also frank when a questioner suggested there was a close correlation between austerity and crime. Lyle laid the blame squarely at the door of the Conservative government in Westminster and its roll-out of Universal Credit: “Nowadays we have a situation where people are trying to live on £75 a week. We’ve got to look at how our society takes care of people.”
The seminar, held at the University of Stirling, also hosted a bustling trade exhibition and was followed by a networking lunch.


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Thirty years ago, medical marketing history was made with the launch of the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) TV advertising campaign for Marion Merrell Dow’s Seldane. On the heels of the prescription antihistamine’s blockbuster success, medical marketers’ eyes opened suddenly to the possibility of engaging consumers directly to “ask your doctor” about an Rx drug choice.
Armed with this new insight, creative minds within advertising and public relations agencies went to work making patients part of the disease awareness and therapeutic choice wave. If the idea was attention-grabbing and gained sufficient media power, patients would be motivated to ask for a drug by brand name. This formula contributed to awareness around heart disease risks, breast cancer awareness, and HIV prevention. It also created wave after wave of blockbuster prescription brands.
Fast forward to today. DTC remains an important avenue to alert consumers to disease conditions that place them at health risk. Celebrities continue to secure seats on the morning talk-show circuit, fill satellite media tours, and schedule editor desk sides. To many in product management and marketing—despite continued Food and Drug Administration scrutiny—creative ideas and top-name personalities that grab headlines and spur consumer choice and demand remain a proven path to increasing brand visibility and traction.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
The new health economy has thrown a wrench in the “consumer as king” growth engine. Perhaps the current economic realities that put pharma, payer, provider, and patient at odds brings up the question of whether the consumer ever attained royalty status. What king or queen must wait patiently to see a doctor, change health insurance frequently to keep costs in check, or switch primary care physicians to correspond to their payer’s roster of providers? What regal personality receives a prescription for one drug and is denied it because it’s not on their plan formulary?
Data from Finn Futures Health, a 1,000-person national poll, explore how consumers understand and navigate the health system when it comes to relationships with their health insurance plan, primary-care provider, and medications, and looks at the behaviors behind these choices and how their decisions influence marketing communications and investment.
Many in the health marketing community continue to cite “The Consumer as King.” However, royalty—even a monarch from a small duchy—holds ceremonial powers and receives warm regards from their community. In today’s health economy, in which 87% of the population has some form of health insurance, consumers are waking up to the reality that they have little sway—or even ceremonial influence—over a health system that is vital to their longevity. If information is power, American consumers still lack sufficient knowledge of what a health insurance formulary actually is, how and why it is developed, and whether the drugs included address their specific medical needs.
Understanding how the health product system is created and managed will be key to enabling consumers to have greater sway over formulary access. But consumers and the system don’t speak the same language. Payers create formularies to provide their members with care and use competitive market forces to get drug prices in line. Consumers are only somewhat familiar with the terms “prior authorization” and “formulary recommended.” A lack of understanding around balancing care and cost is perceived by consumers as an obstacle to exercising choice.
Americans are evenly split on whether they read their health insurance plan benefits, but those most likely to do so have been with the same plan for six to 10 years. However, data show that most Americans change health insurance plans every three years or less. As plan rates change, employers and private payers go to the open market to find something less expensive. If consumers are healthcare royalty, then their rule is without power.
The force of influence within the health system is not the consumer. Rather, it is consumerism—economic flow among sectors of care. Each of these major health sectors—payers, providers, pharmaceutical companies, and policymakers—are centered on addressing patient needs. All are focused equally on how to provide access to care, offer the best medicines, and secure their own financial well-being.
Consumers Become Their Own Health Historians
Unlike other developed nations such as the United Kingdom, where patients have access to and own their electronic health records (EHR), U.S. consumers are their own health historians. The U.S. healthcare system forces consumers to navigate medical care on their own, putting convenience and cost into the forefront of their decision-making. This fragmentation of information is influencing how people access health providers.
In a recent Harvard Business Review blogpost titled, Speeding Up the Digitization of American Health Care, Dr. David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund and former National Coordinator for Obama Administration Health IT, and co-author Aneesh Chopra, co-Founder and executive vice president of Hunch Analytics, and the first Obama Administration Chief Technology Officer, offer a promising view of EHR yet unrealized:
“No more of those infuriating forms to fill out at doctors’ offices: The information is all on the computer. Doctors and hospitals don’t repeat tests you’ve had someplace else—they’re all on the computer. All your caretakers know exactly what medicines you’re on and what you’re allergic to—that’s on the computer. When your elderly mother moves from a hospital to a rehabilitation center, the nurses and doctors there know all about her before she arrives—all on the computer.”
However, the optimistic and practical outlook suggested by health IT gurus is still far off. Dr. Blumenthal and Chopra assume that consumers remain loyal to health providers because that is where their personal health history is archived.
“Patients tend to be loyal to doctors and hospitals at least in part because that’s where they’re known—that’s where their records reside. If that information can travel to another hospital or doctor at the push of a button, patients can more easily leave current providers behind. That’s not good for business.”
Revolving Health Plan Relationships Lead To PCP Disconnect
Results from Finn Futures Health show consumers who change health insurance plans frequently switch their primary care physicians just as often. While consumers cite their primary care physician as the most trusted source for medical information, half of Americans with health insurance have had a relationship with their primary care physician for fewer than three years. Additionally, less than 50% of respondents said they saw their personal physician twice a year, and many only when ill or reminded. This lack of medical provider continuity will soon impact health behavior, disease-awareness engagement, and pharma marketing.
Lack of EHR, health insurance coverage that changes for 50% of the population every three years, and equally frequent switches in primary care providers is creating a new health consumer DNA in the 45—and younger—U.S. population. The 65-plus population covered under Medicare Part D retains a traditional connection to their family physician.
While the primary care physician is still the go-to source for health information (54%) during those infrequent office visits, medical information websites are the second choice (21%) for addressing questions. Yet an important trend is on the rise. Suddenly, alternatives to primary care are gaining favor. More and more of the under-45 crowd saw walk-in medi-merge clinics, pharmacists and telemedicine as a convenient and cost-sensitive health destination. Walk-in clinics and pharmacies are easily accessible, and the latter is a no-cost, credible source.
The diminishing importance of the patient-primary care physician relationship is creating a gap in health information and preventive care. If this trend continues, no longer will there be a point of care reminding consumers to schedule annual check-ups or diagnostic exams.
Physicians are still important to consumers in addressing drug questions. During those visits— whether to a family physician or walk-in-clinic—consumers use that moment to ask about their prescription medications. Yet those visits are so infrequent that consumers are turning more to pharmacies (30% of the time) that are readily available, open at convenient hours, and offer free advice. Pharmaceutical industry drug-brand websites fall a distant third at 8% when it comes to fulfilling patient information needs.
Economics, Convenience, And Cost
The younger crowd has developed an Amazon Prime “convenience and cost” prioritization in consumer-product purchase and access to health needs. Gone are the days of the friendly Dr. Marcus Welby family physician who tended to our grandparents, parents, and even our children. Now the physician relationship is seen as an extension of the co-pay office visit system. If the doctor is not part of their insurance plan, consumers simply shop for a new one.
Using walk-in clinics, consumers shoulder their own health history—including or forgetting background at the varied visits. Health has become a consumer-buying experience. That choice does not make the consumer or patient part of healthcare’s royalty. It does welcome the consumer to participate in this new market dynamic.
That shift in the health economy is not lost on payers and pharmacy benefit managers who are rallying to use consumer pocketbook concerns to support formulary priorities. Now pharmaceutical marketers must reflect on how those economic and consumer decision-making patterns converge around brand-building efforts. Just as consumers are no longer wed to a physician relationship, Finn Futures shows that they are not rooted in prescription brand loyalty.
Retail pharmacists have significant sway as to the final decision on what Rx brand consumers will take home. Though encouraged to “ask their doctor” for a specific medication, once consumers arrive at their pharmacy, formulary is the clear gatekeeper. Pharmacists charged with balancing care and cost will, 67% of the time, recommend an alternative brand to reduce patient out-of-pocket costs.
How does that pharmacy guidance impact the final decision? According to the 1,000 consumers polled in the Finn Futures survey, the majority will accept the pharmacists’ alternative medication suggestion. At this point, the market force—negotiation between pharmaceutical managed market teams, payers, and pharmacy chains—will determine the outcome of brand marketer success. While creative campaigns may drive consumers to see their doctors, words from a trusted medical provider and out-of-pocket costs are playing a bigger part of the final consumer decision.
Pharmaceutical marketers have long sought to address the consumer cost burden by adding “co-pay” cards that pledge to cap the monthly cost of a branded medication: However, only 19% of Americans under age 65 are aware that they even exist. While pharmaceutical companies are ready to address consumer concerns around drug costs, lack of awareness around co-pay savings options and payers gearing up to limit their future use will require new creativity and negotiations with health insurers.
Shift In Power And Influence
Pharmaceutical marketing often operates under the optimistic parameters set 30 years ago with the introduction of the Seldane DTC campaign. If you drive consumers who are knowledgeable about their health needs and a possible solution into their doctor’s offices, they will walk out with a brand prescription. That approach has saved and improved countless lives from the dangers of heart disease, stroke, allergies, depression, and many other life-debilitating concerns. At times, it also failed (e.g., gallstone therapy of the 1990s). However, this approach works! It falls flat at the point of sale—the pharmacy—where payers can influence the choice outcome.
The health economy is now in full swing. Payers and providers are seeking to fulfill their patient care mission and watch their operating costs. They too have become savvy at what patients expect and how to use market competition to balance their bottom line. Pharmaceutical marketing and public relations firms will now have to apply new insight and magic to their creative efforts and a full understanding on how the patient navigates the health system and how economics—consumerism—is the new healthcare environment royalty.


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Meet four trendsetting women in art whose distinctive styles are forever in fashion: Diane McClary, Plein Air Painting; Linda Shrimplin, Glass; Leslee Adams, The Watercolor Chef; and Joanne Casey, Mixed Media.
Chico’s invites the public to enjoy light refreshments and informal modeling throughout the day while shopping for the latest fashion trends. Chico’s has once again generously committed to donate ten percent of purchases that day to LQAF programs.
LQAF Executive Director Christi Salamone expressed her appreciation to Chico’s for their continuing partnership stating, “This is a wonderful opportunity to pair artists and fashion in one fun day, all for a good cause.”
Chico’s The Shops On El Paseo is located at 73100 El Paseo, Palm Desert; 760-779-1079.


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What is the new upcoming phone in 2021?Xiaomi is about to bring a smartphone with an invisible camera – Nbc Bangla
But no phone has yet seen an under-display camera. A few days ago ZTE said they would launch the Axon 20 5G on September 1st. According to the company, this phone will be the world’s first smartphone with an under-display camera. This time, in a video shared by Shaomi, there is a hint of camera technology under the display. It became known on Twitter Xiaomi President Shou Zi Chew shared a video on his Twitter handle.
This video shows a phone with under display camera technology. Shou tweeted, ‘We are proud enough to present new masterpieces created by our Xiaomi engineers; Third generation under display camera technology! Production of full-screen display phones could begin in large numbers next year. ” How does this technology work? Through several posters, Xiaomi reveals how their third-generation under-display camera technology works.
According to the company, one in every four pixel displays was initially reserved for this technology, which affected the display’s pixel density. By keeping three of the four pixels transparent, the company could reach more light in the selfie camera. This time the company reserves a portion of each pixel for display and the rest is transparent, so that the camera can work well with good pixel density as well.
This phone may launch next year Xiaomi may launch this great technology smartphone next year i.e. early 2021. On the other hand, a closer look at the prototype seen in the video shows that it looks like a modified Mi 10 Ultra. It has no punch holes for selfies and the camera works from inside the display.


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IRCTC live streaming fails within a week
The irctc’s live streaming of railway kitchens on the website that was launched with much fanfare failed within the first week, reported The Economic Times. instead of the live webcast, what was being streamed in the video gallery of the website were five to 10 minute recordings. Officials told the newspaper that the service was launched even when the proper infrastructure was not in place. The live streaming service was launched by Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani in the first week of July.


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If you ever tried browsing the web using ad blocking and anti-tracking software – especially one capable and resource-friendly like uBlock Origin -, you will find it very difficult to go back to the web pages visually littered with unwanted advertising garbage, and choking under the hood with tracking cruft and scripts.
And that’s just the usability angle – how about security and privacy that browser add-ons like uBlock Origin improve for their users?
Well, if you’re a Google Chrome user, you’re out of luck – you will have to go back to experiencing that terrible web you knew before getting to know ad blockers. Alternatively, you’ll be paying Google some money for the privilege.
The way Google is doing this is to change Chrome’s Manifest V3 extensions system, and in the process break the blockers. And not only them, but also privacy extensions and anything else dependent on intercepting content before it shows up in the browser.
Specifically, Google is deprecating manifest V3’s web API blocking capabilities. Developers and users have strongly criticized the decision.
But it’s not the first time Google has faced a user backlash over a decision made on one of its products and services, and it won’t be the last they will staunchly ignore any opposition to the move.
But paying, enterprise customers, will still be able to use ad blockers like uBlock and Ghostery, Google replied.
Everyone else will have to use lower quality ad blocking software, based on a limited, rules-based system, a-la Adblock Plus. However, Google promised to possibly of increasing the current limit of 30,000 rule – maybe, one day.
Developers also took issue with Google attempting to sell this as a positive because the webRequest API itself will not be deprecated – when the real issue is that its blocking capabilities will be, for all but enterprise.
Lead uBlock Origin developer Raymond Hill has reacted by basically observing that it’s a miracle Google has not done this sooner – considering that unhindered ad blocking goes so directly against the way the tech giant makes its billions.
Hill recently found out that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, filed an SEC Form 10-K where blocking software used in the browser was described as a risk factor for its revenue.
In it, Alphabet explains that the bulk of Google’s revenue comes from displaying ads, and that the blocking tech could harm the core functionality of third-party advertising online.
Despite this, Google is still trying to frame the change as motivated by webRequest API’s performance concerns – something that, even if present as a problem, Firefox has already solved. And Google could have easily modeled its own solution after it. No, said Hill – slower page loads come from tracking code, rather than extensions performing their function.
It seems undeniable that making more money is the motivation behind this highly unwanted change, that still leaves current Chrome users objecting to intrusive advertising and tracking with two options: stay on Google’s platform, but become a paying enterprise users; or leave, and start using one of browsers where uBlock Origin and similar software is still fully supported and functional.
In fact, in a post on GitHub Hill said he was confident Firefox would continue to use its own webRequest and support his ad blocker.
As for “regular” users of Chrome, they will still have access to some ad blocking capability, but now via the declarativeNetRequest API – that will likely not even be supported by some developers of current ad blockers, either for technical or for ethical reasons.
Hill spelled the situation out in an email to the Register, where he said that Google’s primary business is “incompatible with unimpeded content blocking.”
“Now that Google Chrome product has achieve high market share, the content blocking concerns as stated in its 10-K filing are being tackled,” he wrote.
Here’s the section in full:
Personal view on this
What we see are the public statements, for public consumption, they are designed to “sell” the changes to the wider public. What we do not see is what is being said in private meetings by officers who get to decide how to optimize the business. So we have to judge not by what is said for public consumption purpose, but by what in effect is being done, or what they plan to do.
This is how personally I see the deprecation of the blocking ability of the webRequest API in manifest v3:
Another ad blocking entity that has pointed the finger at uBlock Origin as a risk factor to its own business model is Adblock Plus owner eyeo GmbH. But how is it possible that an ad blocker thinks ad blocking is bad for its revenue stream? Perhaps because although once a pioneer, it’s not really a true blocker nowadays – Ad Plus block is the partner of Google, among others, that let’s “acceptable ads” through – and makes money from showing them.
Meanwhile, among those concerned about Google’s move has been EFF’s Privacy Badger extension.
If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.


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BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY; Industrial Robots Make the Grade
By JOHN HOLUSHA
Published: September 7, 1994
In the early 1980's, when Roger B. Smith, then chairman of the General Motors Corporation, described his vision for the auto industry's future, he imagined factory floors where, one by one, workers would be replaced by robots.
"Every time the cost of labor goes up a dollar an hour," Mr. Smith said, "a thousand more robots become economical."
But while hundreds of thousands of jobs were subsequently lost in the American auto industry and other manufacturing businesses, robots had little to do with it. Indeed, the early industrial robots were often expensive, more temperamental than the most recalcitrant worker and in many cases ill suited to the tasks assigned them. By the late 1980's, a steep decline in orders for robotic equipment had driven most American companies -- including G.M. -- out of the business of making industrial robots. Sales Are Booming
Fortunately for United States manufacturing industries, some small American robot makers stayed the course, as did the big Japanese robotics makers. Today, sales are booming for robots, which are cheaper, stronger, faster and smarter than their predecessors.
Industrial robots are hard at work in the industrial heartland, spot-welding car bodies on auto assembly lines, placing tiny parts on circuit boards in electronics factories and packing frozen hamburger patties into boxes at food-processing plants. And rather than replacing workers in droves, robots are reserved for tasks that either are ill suited to human hand and eye or are so onerous or strenuous that people don't want to do them.
"In the early 1980's robots were a fad and expectations were overly high," said Takeo Kanade, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. "Now I think views are a little more practical and realistic."
In the first half of this year, 4,355 robots with a total value of $383.5 million -- a record both in terms of units and dollars -- were sold in the United States, according to the Robotic Industries Association in Ann Arbor, Mich., the industry's principal trade group. That represented a 25 percent increase in value over the first half of 1993, the previous record.
And the industry's backlog of unfilled orders stands at $350 million, the highest in nine years, the association reported. The increase in demand is largely fueled by orders from the automobile companies, although other industries are showing renewed interest, officials of the trade group said.
Lower cost and greater reliability are the keys, said Steven W. Holland, a robotics specialist at General Motors. Prices today are about half what they were 10 years ago for comparable machines and reliability is four times better, he said.
Among other jobs, G.M. uses robots to lay a bead of urethane sealant around the windshield frames of its vehicles before installing the glass. Labor costs are not even an issue, Mr. Holland said. More importantly, it is a task whose uniformity and repetition would make it difficult for human hands to do.
"We use robots to put a urethane seal around windshields very precisely, because we don't want any leaks," Mr. Holland said. "We would install them even where the labor rate is like Mexico's."
And unlike simpler "fixed automation" machinery, designed and built to perform one task and one task only, like a conveyor line, today's robots can be reprogrammed for a new task, while a conventional automated machine would have to be replaced. "We can replace fixed automation with robots with a similar or lower investment," Mr. Holland said. American Giants Pulled Out
If today's robots are different, so is the lineup of companies making them. No longer in the business are American giants like G.M., Cincinnati Milacron Inc., the General Electric Company, the International Business Machines Corporation and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation, all of which chose to bail out.
As a result, the robots that American auto makers and other domestic manufacturers are buying to help fend off the likes of the Toyota Motor Corporation, the Nissan Motor Company and the Honda Motor Company are largely machines that themselves are made in Japan. The Fanuc Robotics Corporation, a unit of Fanuc Ltd. of Japan, is the leader in the United States, with robotic sales expected to reach about $260 million this year.
A unit of the Swedish industrial conglomerate Asea Brown Boveri A.B. is second in the United States robotics market, with sales estimated at $120 million. But after that, the big makers of industrial robots are Japanese: Motoman , the Panasonic Factory Automation Company, Kawasaki Robotics, Sony Component Products and Nachi Robotic Systems, all of which do their manufacturing in Japan.
The only major American producer to have survived is Adept Technology Inc. of San Jose, Calif., which makes robots for light assembly work on circuit boards and electronic devices and was not tied to the boom and bust cycles of the auto business. Still, it has annual sales of only about $50 million in a $700-million-a-year market. Japan's Heavy Use


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Every day is a holiday for the owners of this stylish and sophisticated, hotel-inspired HDB apartment.
18 May 2012
A home inspired by its owners love for design and travel, this three-room resale HDB apartment in Aljunied exudes the sleek and stylish vibe of the hotels the couple has stayed in during their various holidays.
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Hong Kong lifestyle retailer Goods of Desire opened its first store outside of its home city, right here in Singapore.
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White Horse Ceramic proudly opens its new showroom at Balestier Point


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Accountable.US: “Actions speak louder than words, and Kroger’s decision to elevate a top Trump official complicit in the former president’s anti-democratic and inhumane agenda speaks volumes”
Washington, D.C. — On Monday, major U.S. grocery store chain Kroger announced that Elaine Chao, former Secretary of Transportation and a key ally of the disgraced former president, had been named as one of the company’s board of directors — a move that undermines the values promoted on Kroger’s website: honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and inclusion. In light of widespread backlash, it appears the company is now trying to distance itself from the decision, highlighted by a since-deleted Tweet that welcomed Chao to its board.
“If Kroger was interested in living up to its values, it wouldn’t associate with Elaine Chao, let alone select her to serve on its board,” said Kyle Herrig, president of Accountable.US. “It seems clear that honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and inclusion are simply buzzwords to Kroger, which has a history of exploiting workers and the community it claims to serve for profit. Actions speak louder than words, and Kroger’s decision to elevate a top Trump official complicit in the former president’s anti-democratic and inhumane agenda speaks volumes.”
This isn’t the first time Kroger has strayed from its values. The grocery store chain has a troubling pattern of choosing profits at the cost of its employees: as heroic front-line workers in grocery stores across the country ensured the American people had food on the table, they were denied hazard pay and lost their jobs due to store closures, all while Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen reaped $22.4 million in 2020 compensation. Previously, Kroger was criticized for targeting stores for closure in mostly-minority communities and contributing to food deserts and food insecurity for low-income families, who would later be particularly vulnerable to the threats of a deadly virus, unemployment, and evictions.
Chao was one of the former president’s worst enablers, and was involved in a series of ethics controversies throughout her time leading the Department of Transportation (DOT). Chao failed to condemn the former president for his comments after white supremacists gathered and attacked racial justice advocates in Charlottesville, resulting in the death of an innocent protester, and stood next to Trump as he claimed there were “very fine people, on both sides.” Chao repeatedly sought to use her position in the DOT to benefit her family, including giving the state of Kentucky preferential treatment for road upgrades and other projects to help her husband, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s political career. Chao failed to divest her shares from the industry that supplied construction materials to the transportation sector, enriching herself by $40,000 as a result.
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- Sq. Inc. revealed $170 million Bitcoin buy throughout the latest dip.
- Bitcoin buying and selling on Money App accounted for majority of Sq.’s income in 2020.
- The corporate has elevated its Bitcoin holdings to $420 million, purchased at a mean value of $25,000.
Share this text
Sq. Inc. published its annual earnings report yesterday and revealed a $170 million Bitcoin buy at a mean value of $51,235.
Bitcoin Propels Sq.’s Income
Price earnings from the acquisition and sale of Bitcoin on Money App proceed to be the first earnings supply for Sq. Inc. Money App’s month-to-month lively customers reached 36 million, a 50% improve year-to-year.
Bitcoin accounted for 48% of Sq.’s complete income of $9.5 billion in 2020. The income from Bitcoin elevated 9 occasions from the earlier yr; Sq. made 2% of the income in revenue of $100 million.
The yr’s internet revenue was $215 million, with an earnings per share (EPS) worth of $0.84. Sq. Inc. inventory has elevated by 315% for the reason that starting of 2020, from $62.5 to $256.5.
The finance app noticed strong progress in crypto buying and selling for the reason that final quarter of 2020, including $1.8 billion to the corporate’s income in This fall 2020. The report additionally cited that:
“In January 2021, multiple million clients bought bitcoin for the primary time.”
Within the final quarter of 2020, the corporate made a internet revenue of $294 million, of which investments accounted for $274 million or 93%.
Sq.’s earlier Bitcoin funding from September of $50 million is price over $240 million. It added $170 million BTC throughout the dip within the final two days.
The monetary companies agency now owns 8,807 BTC, purchased at a mean value of $25,000.
The Bitcoin funding revelation on the finish of yesterday’s tumultuous value motion instilled bullish strength again within the asset. The premier cryptocurrency regained $50,000 degree, rising from 3.5% on an hourly scale after the announcement.
Disclosure: The writer held Bitcoin on the time of press.
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Blog: St George's Day protests against A&F
Katie Smith | 24 April 2012
St George's Day - a celebration marking the patron saint of England famously slaying the dragon. The people of Chap magazine certainly celebrated in style - or at least they thought they did.
Armed with briefcases and their British tailored tweed suits, ties, hats and placards, the group of chaps and chapettes staged a protest yesterday (23 April) against teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch's plans to open a children's store on Savile Row, London.
The group started singing "All we are saying is, give three-piece a chance" adapted from John Lennon's original. Ironic really, considering 3 Savile Row used to be home of Apple Records, in which the Beatles gave their last concert on the roof in 1969.
The rain didn't seem to dampen their spirits but it did send them to the pub for a few drinks.
Abercrombie & Fitch didn't respond to requests for comment when contacted by just-style.
The group appear to be confident that Westminster Council will veto A&F's application to open the store and "allow it to remain the heartland of British bespoke tailoring".
Confirmation that digital supply chains are top of mind for apparel industry executives came last week with the latest plans from global sourcing specialist Li & Fung....
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Over the past month, Donald Trump and his team failed to offer any clear plan to ensure Americans would "Buy American, Hire American" - while the British government's attempts to clarify the specifics...
The Bangladesh government was forced to respond late last week to pressure over its crackdown on labour activists after a number of global brands and retailers, including H&M and Inditex announced pla...
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- Nike filed patent for "reinforced denim"
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- Outdoor performance apparel 2016: A broader perspective
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Voodoo Manufacturing factory
Voodoo’s new Print API and Partner Program will seek to centralise typically ad-hoc approaches to manufacturing, and make 3D printing more accessible for clients.
Voodoo Manufacturing, a leading software-optimised 3D printing factory, has today announced two new initiatives in an effort to grow the 3D printing and manufacturing ecosystems.
Print API will offer an on-demand 3D printing service which is said to allow businesses to build never-before-possible experiences and campaigns. Orders placed through the API will be routed directly to Voodoo, where they will be 3D-printed, packaged and then shipped back to the client or end customer. Dixie Products, a US supplier of practical goods, recently utilised Voodoo’s Print API during the launch of a campaign in which 10,000 custom coffee cup stoppers were ordered online, produced by Voodoo, and then shipped to individuals across the States.
Jonathan Schwartz, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Voodoo Manufacturing, believes the company’s new Print API service is helping to further modernise standard manufacturing processes.
“This is a natural extension of what we already do, and pushes us closer to achieving our goal of making manufacturing more like software,” Schwartz said. “Through the Print API, we’re turning a process that’s typically regarded as manual and analogue, and making it more scalable and accessible by turning it into an end-to-end digital pipeline.”
Voodoo Manufacturing factory
In January 2017, Voodoo Manufacturing expanded its facility to 2,000-square-feet and advance its 3D technology offerings.
Meanwhile, Voodoo’s Partner Program will allow service providers like fabrication bureaus, design studios, or manufacturing consultancies to refer to, and receive referrals from, Voodoo Manufacturing. The aim of this program is to bring 3D printing companies together, encourage collaboration and promote the use of 3D technology in manufacturing processes.
“The Voodoo Partner Program brings together key players in today’s 3D printing ecosystem,” said Patrick Deem, co-founder and Chief Financial Officer at Voodoo Manufacturing. “We believe that a number of projects go uncompleted because they’re outside scope of the provider. The Voodoo Partner Program changes that and now projects can be passed off to a partner to complete quickly and in a cost effective manner, increasing customer satisfaction and spreading adoption of additive manufacturing globally.”
Current participants of the Voodoo Partner Program include Dimensional Fidelity, a provider of CAD modelling, 3D printing and manufacturing consultancy; Essentium, a 3D printing and materials company that focuses on high-performance end-use parts; and Ninja Tek, a high-performance 3D printing filament company.
Nominations and bookings for the inaugural TCT Awards can now be made on the TCT Awards website.


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Domino’s has decided not to launch a Facebook shop, opting to keep its ecommerce activity on its own site.
Speaking at the Online Marketing Show yesterday, Domino’s sales and marketing director Simon Wallis said the take-away pizza brand doesn’t think the market is ready so has no plans to invest in Facebook commerce.
“We’d prefer to keep our customers on our own site and that’s why we haven’t launched a social commerce page on Facebook,” he said. “It’s better to keep the customer one click away from purchasing on our own site. You won’t see us doing an ASOS by launching a Facebook commerce page.”
In the same panel discussion, Havas Media social media director Amy Kean spoke about social commerce and cited recent research the agency had done. It found 89% of people hadn’t bought anything on Facebook and 44% had no interest in doing so.
She also said the research found innovations such as mobile check-in services have been overplayed by some of the industry. “Half of respondents said they would check in at venues in return for an offer, but a third of people didn’t even know what checking in was,” said Kean.
In a separate panel discussion about mobile commerce, O2 Media outlined plans to boost the numbers of customers opting for its mobile advertising service.
O2 Media’s head of planning Charlie Hunter-Schyff said its advertising arm aims to increase the number of subscribers to O2 More from the current 2.5m to 10m by the end of 2011, to deliver scale to advertisers.
He said O2 Media plans to promote O2 More, whose users agree to receive ads sent via SMS, more heavily from next month.


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Xiaomi ranks second among the top vendors in Italy for smartphones distributed in the third quarter of 2022, with a market share of 26% in Italy and 23% in Europe
Xiaomia Chinese consumer electronics company with smartphones and smart devices interconnected by a platform Internet of Things (IoT), increases its presence on the market positioning itself in second place in Italy and in Europe in the ranking of the top vendors for smartphones shipped in the third quarter of 2022, as confirmed by the latest report Canalyswith a market share of 26% in Italy and the 23% in Europe, reaching an annual growth of 5%.
The words of Thomas Ma
Thomas MaGeneral Manager of Xiaomi Italia, says:
In a decidedly challenging global situation, towards which the smartphone sector must inevitably adapt and reinvent itself, we are proud to once again confirm our presence and our growth in the Italian market. n a 2022 that has tested the entire sector, we have strengthened our position as the second player in the country, thanks to the support of our commercial partners and the confidence of consumers.
The report Canalys, also highlights the company’s second place as a top European vendor with a market share of 23% and an annual growth of 5%winning the only positive growth result among the “big three”.
For more information on the company, visit the dedicated website, while for other updates follow their social channels. What do you think of this growth path in Italy and Europe reached by Xiaomi? Let us know below in the comments. Don’t forget to follow us on our Instagram page, on all our other social networks and to stay connected on TechGameWorld.com.


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Elon Musk to acquire TwitterElon Musk to acquire Twitter
Musk pledges to make Twitter 'better than ever.'
April 25, 2022
Musk pledges to make Twitter ‘better than ever’
In a dramatic turn of events, Twitter announced that it has agreed to be acquired by maverick tech billionaire Elon Musk in an all-cash deal valued at $44 billion.
The CEO and founder of Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company will take the company private upon closing of the deal.
Twitter shareholders will receive $54.20 per share, which Musk said in a regulatory filing was his ‘best and final’ offer. The purchase price is a 38% premium to Twitter’s closing price prior to Musk disclosing his 9% stake in the company.
Twitter’s board has unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close this year. The board initially resisted and adopted a ‘poison pill’ share-dilution defense meant to deter hostile takeovers.
The company said Musk has secured $25.5 billion of financing and will cough up $21 billion of his own funding to buy Twitter.
"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," Musk said.
"I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans,” he continued.
“Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."
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