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2023 Food and Nutrition Trends
Like everything else, food and nutrition go through their own trends each year, with more and more discoveries we can learn about keeping our health and wellness in good shape.
We talked to two experts about some of the most popular trends to expect in 2023 about food, nutrition and wellness, learning more about what we all can all be expecting as the new year starts!
Kathy Warwick is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Care Education Specialist with more than 40 years of experience in several areas of nutrition care practice. She is owner of Professional Nutrition Consultants, LLC in Madison.
Melissa Harrell McKissack is employed with Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood and works in the bariatric clinic helping patients with weight loss, optimizing health outcomes and quality of life. As a Family Nurse Practitioner, she has worked primarily in health and wellness, advocating health promotion and disease prevention.
Today’s consumers want to know not just what the nutritional values are of the foods they eat, but where the food is grown or raised, and the sustainability practices of where it was produced. Why is that an important factor in food shopping now?
Warwick - Citing a study by the 2022 International Food Information Council Survey, Kathy Warwick points out that more than half of Americans believe their food and beverage purchases have an impact on the environment.
“Sustainability is associated with practices that conserve natural resources and reduce food waste,” she said. “For healthy food to be widely available at all income levels now and in the future, sustainability also means keeping food affordable, which has become more important in times of inflation and increasing food costs.”
Curbing food waste is an important key to sustainability, she said “The Feeding America organization reports that $408 billion in food is thrown away each year. Shockingly, nearly 40 percent of all food in America is wasted.”
To avoid food waste, consumers are reporting that they are planning meals before shopping, freezing leftovers, and storing foods more carefully to prevent spoilage as means to reduce food waste.
Warwick mentions that Mississippians fortunately have access to a wide variety of high quality, locally grown produce, meats, dairy products, and more. Visit the Genuine Mississippi Grown website at https://genuinems.com/members/grown/ for options.
McKissack points to the possibilities of potential toxins that could impede on sustainability.
“As consumers are becoming more aware of the harmful effects of toxins to the body, they are more attentive to how agricultural products are grown and processed,” she said.
She cites the writings of Dr. George Burnell, author of “Toxic Food Nation,” who explains how processed foods, fat, sugar, pesticides, and antibiotics are toxic, causing “chronic inflammation to the body, which can lead to obesity, arthritis, heart disease, diabetes and many other conditions.”
The United States Federal Drug and Food Administration’s actions to ensure that farmers growing organic crops “are not allowed to use certain types of fertilizers, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or pesticides” are making organic foods very popular, she said.
McKissack believes that “more and more people are making nutrition a priority, and research has found that organic foods have been found to be more nutritious than conventional foods,” helping to eliminate harmful farming agents that could threaten sustainability.
Instead of short-term weight-loss diets per se, there has been a shift to more of a “lifestyle change” based on meal plans such as Keto, Paleo, Mediterranean or other nutrition-guided patterns of eating. Do these types of programs really work, and are they healthful?
Warwick - As a registered dietitian, Warwick said she has “seen many trendy fad diets come and go” during her 40- year career, emphasizing that some meal plans don’t always deliver on weight-loss promises and “may be difficult to sustain.”
“These restrictive diets often eliminate one or more nutritious food groups such as whole grains or fruit, and people usually find that they are preparing two different meals because it may not be safe or practical for everyone in the family to follow,” she said. “We do not know the long-term health effects of these diets. The current research supports moving to more plant-based eating patterns with a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, with moderate amounts of fish, lean meats, and healthy fats. The Mediterranean-type eating pattern is more closely aligned with this advice.”
She also noted that a “mindful eating” trend is emerging, explaining that it involves “eating slowly and savoring flavors, working to identify when you are eating as a response to stress or other emotional triggers rather than eating out of true hunger can be very helpful.”
McKissack believes using a well-planned diet program that emphasizes nutrition and wellness - and can be customized for each person - may very well encourage participants to adjust to new meal routines based on foods specifically recommended or removed from your daily diet.
“Short-term weight loss diets are just that, short-term, she said. “Most people are unable to achieve sustainable weight loss with short-term, fad diets. Essentially all efforts result in moderate weight loss with subsequent regain.”
She encourages consumers to consider various meal plans or programs such as the Keto Diet (“great for diabetics”), the Paleo Diet and the Mediterranean Diet and decide if any of these programs fit their personal diet goals.
“Those who commit to the lifestyle changes not only lose weight, but they reap the benefits of an increased quality of life,” she said.
In an emerging trend for 2023, shoppers may find new information added to meat packaging designating that those items are “animal welfare certified,” meaning animals grown for beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and other foods are raised humanely and in quarters similar to their natural habitats. What are your thoughts on this idea?
Warwick - While Warwick believes this labeling is a good option for consumers, she adds that “many people do not realize that most farmers do all they can to ensure the health and welfare of their animals because their livelihood depends on it.”
According to the USDA, she said, consumers perceive that grass-fed beef and organic meat products are safer to consume, but “all meat processed for sale in the United States is subject to inspection by USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service under a set of scientifically based food safety criteria. The science available at this point does not clearly support the claims that these (certified) products are safer, significantly more nutritious or have greater health benefits.”
McKissack believes consumers who purchase Certified Animal Welfare (CAW) meats “will likely do it for the same reasons one would choose organic fruits and vegetables. As Diane Sanfilippo, the author of ‘Practical Paleo’ explains, just as conventional crops pass on toxins to our bodies, the same happens with animals”.
“In the United States, meat is graded based on the ‘marbling,’ which is the intramuscular fat swirled in the meat. While more fat in the meat may make for a tastier eating experience, the residue from exposure to pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics, or hormones is simultaneously ingested as well. Again, toxins cause inflammation. Inflammation leads to disease.”
In addition to CAW meat containing less fat, it is also proven to be more nutritious, she explained, thanks to the amount of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an antioxidant shown in many studies to fight heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and other health conditions.
Another rising trend since the pandemic is to grow home gardens or purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, and other products at local farmers markets. Do these actions really make a difference in our overall health?
Warwick - While Warwick has long grown her own gardens, she admits that “it is a lot of work, and many factors that are out of my control can impact garden success in any given year.”
That said, she believes that “most people may opt out of growing their own food” thanks to the abundance of farmers’ markets in our area that provide fresh goods at a reasonable cost.
However, since everyone does not have access to fresh foods on a regular basis, she suggests that frozen and canned fruits and vegetables found in local grocery stores or dollar stores are equally nutritious.
“In fact,” she said, “most frozen veggies are harvested, washed and flash frozen within hours, which preserves the nutritional value even better than ‘fresh’ vegetables that may have traveled several days all the way from the West coast or South America to our local grocery stores.”
“The most important take-away message is that eating more fruits, vegetables, and other simple staple items will provide health-promoting nutrients without the added sugar and salt of highly processed convenience foods,” she said.
McKissack agrees with the assessment of the nutritional value of fresh, garden-grown foods.
“I believe people who decide to ditch unnatural and processed foods become more empowered to eat healthier, easier, and smarter,” she said.
While she is all for farmers’ markets, she believes having a backyard garden is even better.
“Knowing that your food is coming from your own yard means you can be certain it is free of chemicals, and it’s much more convenient to step into your backyard than it is to drive to the grocery store. Also, gardening can potentially help keep you fit because it requires some degree of labor, and from a mental health standpoint, it could likely save money,” potentially decreasing anxiety caused by overpriced options at grocery stores now.
Another option she recommends for those who want a garden but don’t have the space or outdoor growing conditions is using a gardening technique called the “Tower Garden,” offered by the Juice Plus+ company.
“This system allows you to grow your own produce indoors or outdoors, year-round, and without chemicals or “loads of work,” she noted.
The phrase “food is medicine” is becoming more common as people are seeking ways to incorporate nutrition into their health routines, and physicians are becoming more interested in “functional foods.” What is your take on this idea?
Warwick - “Functional foods are certainly gaining popularity and there is a lot of research that has been conducted to support the benefits of including these foods in our diets as a way to enhance health,” Warwick said.
“Interestingly, most of these functional nutrients are included in foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, oily fish, dairy, fortified dairy alternatives, healthy fat sources and some herbs and spices. These functional foods often have anti-inflammatory or antioxidant properties that may play important roles in maintaining health by protecting our cells from damage. These foods are frequently higher in fiber and colorful.”
She also emphasizes the importance of eating fresh foods over downing supplements to add more nutrients to one’s plan for overall health improvement. “Many people feel that taking a supplement carries the same value as eating the whole food sources of these beneficial nutrients, but the science does not support this idea.”
McKissack confirms the concept that food can provide healing, noting that Greek physician Hippocrates supported this idea as early as the late-400s BC when he said, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”
“Simply put,” McKissack said, “this means eating whole foods that provide the proper nutrients for your body and avoiding processed, refined and calorie dense factory foods. Organic, nutrient-dense foods are proven to provide many health benefits.”
“As a primary care provider practicing evidence-based medicine, I am a proponent of the idea that ‘food is medicine.’ There is a lot of research supporting this idea. I believe eating food in the whole form provided by nature optimizes health benefits.”


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Apple CEO Tim Cook kick starts the company’s World Wide Developers’ Conference in San Francisco in a keynote speech at 1pm Eastern time Monday, the first since the passing of Apple’s visionary Steve Jobs last October.
Apple will unveil a bevy of additions and updates to its product and software line up this week, from the upcoming Mountain Lion operating system to the next version of iOS. Apple watchers also expect the company to launch a new maps application, severing Apple’s relationship with Google Maps.
Tech reporters have also heard whispers of a refresh for Apple TV and the MacBook Pro, Apple’s popular line of power laptops.
According to Computer World, tickets to WWDC sold out faster than ever this year, thanks to the increasing social cache of Apple products like the iPad and iPhone. WWDC off-loaded all of its tickets in two hours this year. It took eight days just two years ago.
If you couldn’t make it to San Francisco this year, you can catch all of the exciting tech-nerd action in real-time at the WWDC live blogs of Wired.com, The Wall Street Journal, Engadget and Information Week.
You can also follow the a host of tech bloggers and reporters real time via Twitter including:
-- Nate Anderson's Ars Technica @arswwdc
-- Editor-in-chief of The Verge, Joshua Topolsky, is @joshuatopolsky.
Cook remained coy about Apple's new goodies in a lengthy interview to All Things D this week saying only, “We’re gonna introduce some great stuff.”

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The Amaya Gaming Group (AGG) has been on a roll since the very start of 2014 from earning recognition, to closing acquisition deals and sealing iGaming contracts one after another, not only in Canada but also in the international gaming market as well.
Last week, the Toronto-based gaming and lottery company, came out with another announcement of its iGaming partnership, this time with Sweden’s Cherry AB.
A licensing agreement between Cherry AB and the AGG, will see the Canadian firm providing gaming contents to Cherry’s three European online gaming sites, namely Euroslots.com, Cherrycasino.com and Spilleautomater.com This means that players coming from different European regions will finally have access to a wide-ranging selection of online casino games, lifted from the hundreds of titles available for deployment via the Canadian firm’s proprietary casino gaming platform. Real money gaming entertainment such as online slots, video poker and casino table games will be available in multiple languages and currencies, and can be accessed via desktop or by way of mobile phones and other portable gaming devices.
Not surprisingly, the seemingly unceasing announcements about Amaya’s newest iGaming achievements and partnership agreements have created positive effects on AGG’s stock market performance. Last Friday, the Canadian gaming company’s stocks went up by 14 percent and closed at CA$10.25, after starting at only CA$7.71 at the opening of the previous week’s stock trading.
Accordingly, there will be more announcements to come, which could even involve PokerStars; but all deals still have to be finalized before these are made public, because AGG is a publicly listed company. The Amaya-Cherry agreement is now official and as expected, has created favorable effects on Amaya’s stock trades.
Cherry AB actually started out in 1963 in Sweden as a restaurant business called Restaurang Rouletter and later changed its business name to Cherry in 1972. A year later, the Swedish government passed a legislation allowing licensed restaurants to install slot machines, and this signaled Cherry’s introduction to the gambling business. In the same year, Cherry grew rapidly and came to own 55 percent of Sweden’s slot market, which was cut short in 1978 when the government passed new laws that banned slot machines.
In 1984, Cherry re-emerged by acquiring several Swedish gaming companies, which became the foundation of a new business group that supplies slot machines and casinos in some East European countries. In 1992, the Cherry Group arrived at a decision to close down its Eastern European operations and for the company to devote its full concentration in Sweden and on Scandinavian ships. Years later the Cherry Group became a shareholder in several Sweden-based gaming businesses, including Net Entertainment AB, First Casino, Betsson.com and several other Swedish casinos.
In 2005, the Cherry Group came out with an announcement of dividing the business into three divisions, Betsson, Cherry and Net Entertainment. The year 2011 Cherry saw the launching of Europe’s biggest lottery, the EuroLotto.com. and a year after, the group launched EuroSlots.com, which was followed by the launch of CherryCasino.com and SpilleAutomater.com in 2013. In the same year, the Cherry Group made another substantial investment in Yggdrasil Gaming and in Sweden’s new sports lottery, Klubblo.
This year, Cherry became the recipient of the 2014 International Gaming Award as “Online Gaming Operator of the Year.”


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Master core skills for design, games and VFX work with our new 228-page collection of 3ds Max tutorials, complete with project files and over 14 hours of video training
We take a first look at the newly released animation and rendering software from pmG. Find out if version 6 will suit your needs
Maxon today revealed the first step in delivering a new level of integration between Cinema 4D and After Effects…
Leading computer graphics and VFX software developer, Luxology, has just launched MODO 701. Watch the featurettes here and find out what’s new…
Check out dates, rumours and videos which show some of the new features in the forthcoming Autodesk software releases
You’ve got just over 24 hours to cash in on Allan McKay’s special sale on his FumeFX Core Fundamentals. You’ll get half price software and some bonuses in the form of some of his other training DVDs too
Find out what our first impressions are of the new features and functionality in the newly released LightWave 11.5.
Last October, the developer of the acclaimed fluid simulation system showed off the key new features in the forthcoming update. Watch a video of the event here
Hiero is The Foundry’s shot management, conform and review tool and its latest release – 1.5 – is now available to download from The Foundry’s website. The new version brings new features to users as well as all-important Windows support, meaning that Hiero is now available on all three platforms.
Get a daily delivery of fresh design inspiration every day with this new iPad app launched today by our sister site, Creative Bloq
As Maxon announces the forthcoming release of Cinema 4D R14, 3D World technical editor and R14 beta tester Rob Redman offers his early assessment of the new features
Dive into this mega bundle of flowers, grasses, shrubs and more – the Mega Bundle vol.1 contains 169 beautiful 3D models!
iToo Software recently launched a new version of RailClone – its parametric modelling tool – which now comes with 280 preset models!
iToo Software recently launched a new version of Forest Pack – its popular set of plugins for creating large extensions of trees and vegetation – which supports Max 2013 and introduces new features
With the Shroud plugin you can add highly realistic capes, cloaks, hair, ropes and more to your Unity games with ease. Watch the demo to see how…


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Google I/O Day 2 brought us less news than the first, but included in the mix we had Daydream VR 2.0, as well as some new rumors about the OnePlus 5’s camera sensor.MCOJ Daily on iTunes MCOJ Daily on Pocket Casts MCOJ Daily on Google Play
Google announced Daydream 2.0 at Google I/O
Google first announced Daydream back in May of last year. Since then, there have been few devices released with Daydream capabilities, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL being the biggest ones. Today at Google I/O, Google announced the second revision of Daydream, codenamed “Euphrates.” Daydream 2.0 will bring a bigger focus on easier sharing of content, Google Chrome support with webVR, new dashboards, and the option to capture screenshots/video while in VR, or even casting what you’re seeing to a Chromecast or capable Google Cast device.
As of right now, there is no word on when Daydream 2.0 is set to launch, but we expect it to be alongside the new device-less Daydream headset that Google announced yesterday.Via: Android Police
Send payments through Google Assistant
Google has been pushing Assistant more and more lately, especially with the recent updates that Google Home got alongside launching Assistant on iOS. Google’s latest announcement will allow you to use Assistant to send money to people through your phone or Google Home (maybe Wear? Unknown at this point). On the phone, you have to confirm payments via your fingerprint, password, or PIN. We aren’t completely sure how authentication will work with your Google Home, though Joe and I have some fun discussion as to how we would like to see it implemented!Learn more about sending payments with Assistant
OnePlus potentially teaming up with DxO to make the best smartphone camera yet
In other news, OnePlus is reportedly teaming up with DxO, creators of the DxOMark test that rates camera quality. If this report is true, and the OnePlus 5 really launches at the sub-$500 price point rumored, it could really be another game-changer introduced by the once-small Chinese smartphone manufacturer. Now, just because OnePlus is looking to partner with DxO doesn’t mean that they will for sure team up, and even if they do, it doesn’t mean that it will house the best smartphone camera ever; but what it does mean is that OnePlus will get some great insight into how to make a give people a great photographic experience when using their latest handset.


text: Chevrolet is the First Brand to Test Autonomous Cars in Manhattan by Evan Williams October 17, 2017 Share Comments GM’s Cruise Automation is taking autonomous Chevrolet Bolt EV test cars to New York City. The plan is to test the company’s autonomous cars in one of the most difficult driving environments in North America. The New York State Governor’s office says that the cars will cruise a five square mile piece of lower Manhattan. But Before they can do that, GM and Cruise engineers will need to map every street, alleyway, stop light, building and road sign in order to give the cars the picture they need to navigate when it gets more congested. GM has already been testing autonomous technology in San Francisco, Phoenix, and Detroit, but none of those offers the combination of weather and a massive volume of pedestrians and traffic. Detroit has more snow, and San Francisco has traffic, but neither has nearly as much pedestrian and vehicle traffic as New York. Pedestrians are a big challenge for self-driving cars, as they behave less predictably and can change direction more suddenly than drivers. Cruise Automation CEO Kyle Vogt said that the dense population will let the company test the software in unusual situations and help it improve faster. The test cars will have an engineer in the driver’s seat, and another in the passenger seat, with testing set to begin in earnest in 2018. The news follows on the heels of GM’s acquisition of Lidar manufacturer Strobe. Strobe’s Lidar helps autonomous cars “see” what is around them using reflected laser pulses.


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Waitrose to open at Akoya by Damac
Dubai, January 15, 2014
British food chain Waitrose is set to open a 26,000 sq ft store in the Akoya by Damac Retail Centre.
Set within the 42 million sq ft golf and lifestyle community in Dubai, the shop will be the eighth outlet to open in the UAE under a licence through the retailer's partnership with Fine Fare Food Market (FFFM).
Akoya by Damac is a fully-integrated lifestyle community which includes international schools, a boutique hotel and spa.
Niall McLoughlin, senior VP, Damac Properties, said: “Waitrose is the ideal anchor tenant for the Akoya by Damac Retail Centre. The fresh food and stylish home ware available will provide residents with everything they need.”
The retail centre will cover a total of 94,500 sq ft with upscale casual dining options, cafes, a pharmacy, travel agency, dry cleaners, opticians and a host of fashion stores.
Construction at the site is already well underway, with the first handover of units scheduled for completion by the end of 2015. - TradeArabia News Service


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C,mm,n and the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment: towards one million electric cars in 2020
Electric Mobility Action Plan
In the year 2020, there will be one million electric cars on the road in the Netherlands.
Driving electric is hot. But all the plans produced so far only address one element of electric driving; cars that have yet to be launched on the market, charging points that have yet to be built or steps that the cabinet has yet to take. The Electric Mobility Action Plan is the first master plan for a large-scale introduction of electric cars in the Netherlands. From two thousand cars at the end of 2010, the coalition will be working step by step towards one million electric cars on the road in 2020.
'I heartily support the Formula-E Team,' says Guido van Woerkom, general manager of the ANWB. 'We want to make sure that the problems the consumer faces are minimal. You have to make the choice for electric transport appealing to the consumer.'
'Cars driving on wind-generated electricity reduce CO2 emissions by 90%. Just imagine!' says Mirjam de Rijk, director of the Society for Nature and Environment. 'And it's actually cheaper for the consumer in the end.'
'Electric cars are the future. Now is the time to build a solid foundation for the electric car, and that is what this plan does,' says Ruud Nijs, Rabobank's Director of Corporate Social Responsibility.
'This plan is a perfect match for our vision and approach,' says Richard Sikkel, CEO of Athlon Car Lease Netherlands. 'Athlon Car Lease sees electric cars as a key focus area for creating sustainable mobility, and to that end we will be offering electric mobility to our clients and lease drivers in the very near future.'
'Electric mobility is an enormous stimulus for innovation in scientific research,' adds Prof. Bart van Arem of the University of Twente.
'This is an ambitious plan that Amsterdam is very happy to be a part of,' says Marijke Vos, municipal executive member for the environment. 'Particularly in the city, this will mean an enormous improvement in air quality and noise pollution.'
'ProRail fully supports this initiative,' says Kees Jan Dosker, ProRail's Executive Director for Rail Development. 'We are studying the options for using our rail facilities and our electricity network for public access charging points. At the same time, working with a number of different partners we are exploring new, sustainable transport concepts in which new forms of electric transport can play an important role.'
'Eneco endorses the objectives of the Society for Nature and Environment for achieving more sustainable mobility,' says Jeroen de Haas, CEO of Eneco.
C,mm,n is an initiative of the Society for Nature and Environment and the universities of technology TU Delft, TU Eindhoven, and the University of Twente. The main private sector partners are Rabobank, Athlon Car Lease and Logica. Other partners are: DHV, the Municipality of Amsterdam, the Ministry of Transport, Public Works & Water Management, the Netherlands Centre for Social Innovation, Nationale Postcodeloterij, the Sustainable Mobility Platform, Transumo, AutoRAI 2009 and a number of companies in the supply industry.
This is the core proposition of the Electric Mobility Action Plan presented by the Netherlands Society for Nature and Environment and the three partner universities of technology this morning at the opening of the c,mm,n (pronounced 'common') pavilion at AutoRAI 2009. Around 9 o'clock this evening, Prime Minister Balkenende and Minister Camiel Eurlings (Transport, Public Works and Water Management) will be appearing at the pavilion to receive the plan. The Action Plan is being supported by a broad coalition that includes the Municipality of Amsterdam, Dutch auto club ANWB, Athlon Car Lease, Eneco, ProRail and Rabobank. Together, these coalition partners are taking the first step towards the Formula-E Team for Electric Mobility. The Action Plan covers every aspect of electric mobility: the infrastructure (charging points, net capacity), electricity generation, battery development, and even the role of the consumer and the government and the new knowledge that will be required on the part of mechanics and road services. Every action point indicates the party or parties that have to take action. We ask the cabinet to support this Action Plan and charge the implementation to a 'Formula-E Team for Electric Mobility' to be created. 'In order to make the ambitions a reality, we have to ensure that the generation of electricity for the vehicles is 100% sustainable and that charging points for home and office are created. Eneco will be making major investments in these areas in the coming years.'


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Brand new IP revealed Watch Dogs
Ubisoft probably had the biggest reveal of E3 so far with the unveiling of a brand new IP called Watch Dogs.
Watch Dogs is based on the fear that computers and the information gained from our use of them can expose our whole lives to other people.
From the gameplay demo it looks like a thriller preying on fear of the surveillance society modern Assassin's Creed crossed with elements of Splinter Cell.
Much of the player's modern tools will be accessed from his rather advanced smartphone including comms jamming and hacking controlling traffic lights and working through crowds to find targets using their own technology against them.
Ubisoft's creative director Jason Morin said, "Watch Dogs goes beyond the limits of todays open-world games by giving players the ability to control an entire city. In Watch Dogs, anything connected to the city's Central Operating System becomes a weapon. By pushing the boundaries, we can provide players with action and access to information on a scale thats never been seen in a video game before."
- Ninja Theory: We'll cross the 1080p/60fps bridge for Hellblade when we come to it
- Standalone DayZ not expected to leave Steam Early Access until 2016
- Telltale gives their Game Of Thrones series final release dates
- Large patch arrives to tackle the matchmaking issues with Halo: The Master Chief Collection
- BioWare looking into a bug stopping banter between party members in Dragon Age: Inquisition
- New Assassin's Creed: Unity patch introduces a new visual bug
- Metal Gear Online will return, reveal coming at The Game Awards 2014
- Ever wanted to know which next-gen console would survive a 15-foot drop?
- New Assassin's Creed: Unity patch is a bit on the large side


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Despite new regulations issued by President Donald Trump's administration in April 2018, loosening the rules that govern the export of drones to foreign militaries, industry analysts say unmanned aerial vehicle manufacturers still have their hands tied by regulations when it comes to marketing and selling their aircraft abroad.
US drone manufacturers have complained for years that foreign countries, especially Middle Eastern nations, were expressing interest in buying American-made UAVs, but were instead purchasing Chinese, Russian and Israeli drones in the face of US export restrictions.
To address those concerns, the Trump administration's new policies attempted to speed up the sales process for US manufacturers, allowing them to directly market armed drones to US allies and partners, eliminating the need to go through the State Department via the Foreign Military Sales process – a system that sometimes required buyers to make political concessions to the US.
The new arms sales policy also eliminates the need for manufacturers selling unarmed UAVs equipped with laser target designators to go through the FMS process.
Yet industry analysts and lobbyist say they remain disappointed by the lack of changes to the interpretation of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary international agreement that restricts the proliferation of cruise missiles and large drones capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Drones controlled by the MTCR are capable of delivering a payload of at least 500kg (1,102lb) with a range of at least 162nm (300km).
Their exportats are subject to a strong presumption of denial from the State Department. Such “Category 1” drones include the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator C Avenger. These UAVs have only been approved for export to US allies, with the recent exception being the approval of the sale of General Atomics MQ-9s to India.
The drone industry believes that without changes to the MTCR, access to foreign markets will remain restricted.
"The changes in the US UAS export policy are good ones, but you still have to make changes in how UAVs are treated in the MTCR to normalise the treatment of this technology and open up the marketplace fully," says Remy Nathan, vice-president of international affairs for the Aerospace Industries Association. "If you are imposing a strong presumption of denial, you are severely damaging companies in countries that are signatories of MTCR to compete in the global marketplace and innovate."
The export market for large UAVs has grown rapidly over the past decade and is expected to continue to grow for years to come. The estimated global military and commercial UAV market – for small and medium as well as large drones – is projected to grow from about $6 billion in 2015 to about $12 billion in 2025, according to research by the Stimson Center.
For years, the USA dominated the drone export market with a near monopoly. But in light of MTCR restrictions, as well as a reluctance by the Obama administration to sell armed drones to countries with poor human rights records or dubious allegiance to US foreign policy objectives, nations such as China, Russia and Israel have elbowed their way into the industry and grabbed a growing share of the market.
For example, Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group of China has exported its Wing Loong II drone – allegedly a copy of the GA-ASI MQ-1 Predator – to at least nine countries since 2011 including Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, according to the RAND Corporation. The drone comes at a cheaper price than its American competitor – and without MTCR restrictions or commitments to US foreign policy goals, such as supporting democracy and human rights.
In light of an eroding market share, the Trump administration moved in April 2018 to help ease the drone export process for US manufacturers. "Providing our allies and partners with greater access to American arms will also reduce their reliance not just on Chinese knockoffs, but also on Russian systems, consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act," says Peter Navarro, assistant to the president for trade and manufacturing policy. "For too long we have hamstrung ourselves and limited our ability to provide our allies and partners with the defensive capabilities they require, even when in the US interest."
PUSHING FOR MORE CHANGES
Many drone manufacturers had hoped the White House would relax the State Department’s interpretation of the MTCR. For example, in August 2017, after disclosing the potential sale of 90 Predator C Avengers to an undisclosed international customer, General Atomics chief executive Linden Blue urged the administration to take a more lax view of the MTCR. "That allows the executive branch to use judgment on MTCR-related decisions," he said. "Changing the MTCR, which is not a formal treaty, that will take longer and involve many countries."
FlightGlobal reached out to several drone manufactures for comment but all declined to speak, citing a wariness of upsetting the Trump administration. But industry analysts and lobbying groups say they see the MTCR as a remaining obstacle.
"It was never designed to deal with UAVs," says Joel Johnson, executive director with the Teal Group, an aerospace and defence consultancy. "It was designed to deal with missiles."
Yet, it may be a while before the US drone manufacturing industry sees export restrictions swept away. Surprisingly, the Trump administration has bucked industry pressure and its go-it-alone reputation to pursue an agreement between the 34 other members of the voluntary MTCR regime to reclassify how drones are treated under the agreement.
"To ensure that we are able to meet both the non-proliferation objectives at the heart of the MTCR and the rapid evolution in both UAS technology and its applications, the US government has submitted a proposal for consideration by MTCR partners for modernising MTCR controls on UAS and related technology," says the US State Department. "In addition to considering the feedback we receive from MTCR partners, we will continue to discuss and seek input and recommendations from US industry as we move forward with this effort."
Source: Flight International


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Switching Down, UCS Up in Latest Cisco Quarter
The UCS converged systems business at Cisco Systems is beginning to find its natural level in the market, with slower growth that is nonetheless many times more than that of the systems market overall. And, as the financial results from Cisco for its third quarter of fiscal 2014 ended in April show, the overall datacenter business (which includes UCS systems and Nexus switching) is doing a lot better against the competition than its more plain vanilla switching and routing divisions.
As with other IT giants that were riding high on the IT expansion in China and India, the last few quarters have been tougher sledding for Cisco, which saw revenues contract by 5.5 percent to $11.55 billion in the April quarter. Services revenues across all product categories – and Cisco has a lot of them – rose by 2.6 percent to $2.73 billion, but product sales fell by 7.7 percent to $8.82 billion. Cisco was able to trim costs here and there, but spent more on research and development and its cost structure is still not quite in line with sales, so net income fell by 12 percent to $2.18 billion.
But it is not like you have to worry about Cisco's solvency. It has $6.24 billion in cash on hand and another $44.2 billion in investments, which washes out the $20.9 billion in debt that company is carrying quite nicely.
That said, worrying a bit about how Cisco is going to take on the whitebox switch and router movement and the advancement of network function virtualization (NFV) efforts is probably in order. Just as an example, Cisco switches are used by social media giant Facebook, which is the safe bet in switching for sure, but Facebook is behind the movement to create an open switch that will absolutely undermine profit margins for Cisco and its peers. The other thing to remember is that Cisco is resilient and adaptive, and the company that started out as one of the suppliers of routers for the early commercial Internet era moved into switching to dominate that market and has, against some pretty strong odds, carved out a respectable niche in the converged systems market. (See our report on the converged systems market here for more on that.)
In the April quarter, here's what the breakdown in sales was by general product line:
In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, chairman and CEO John Chambers said that the company has just introduced high-end switching and routing products and that it takes time for the new products to find their footing. The Nexus 9000 switches, which include software-defined networking (SDN) features baked into their circuits, had 175 customers in the April quarter, eight times as many as in the January quarter. The product has a pipeline that is nearly 1,000 customers deep, and these high-end switches come with a pretty hefty price tag.
Robert Lloyd, president of development and sales at the company, said on the call that in the core datacenter switching market, Cisco had a market share approaching 70 percent, and this is precisely where the company likes its share to be. Campus switching is declining, and Cisco warned that it would take a few more quarters before overall switching revenues would grow given the transition at the high end. The company is hoping, in fact, to have a similar ramp on the Nexus 9000 that it saw on the UCS blade servers.
The Data Center business, by which Cisco means the UCS blade and rack servers as well as Nexus converged switches often affiliated with them, grew by 29 percent to $662 million. When asked about how UCS was positioned against the competition, Chambers said that he felt "very comfortable with us continue to beat them pretty well," referring specifically to Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and IBM. And reminding everyone that the UCS line has had 17 consecutive quarters of sequential revenue growth.
"Our real competition here is white label," Chambers explained. "We saw this coming three to four years ago. We are going to sell architectures in the white-label approach as opposed to standalone products. I personally believe standalone products from any company, whether it is a standalone switch or a standalone server, will get squeezed pretty hard. And so our competition there is architecture and how you bring compute and network and storage together." That, he said, was what the application-centric approach in the Nexus 9000 switches coupled with the UCS systems was all about. "That should get premium floor space and we know how to sell it pretty well," Chambers added.
The main problem for Cisco seems to be a slump in the emerging markets. Brazil was down 27 percent in the quarter, and Russia was down 29 percent, while India was off 1 percent, China down 8 percent, and Mexico off 3 percent. Overall, orders in the Americas region was up 3 percent, while EMEA orders were down 1 percent and Asia/Pacific, Japan, and China as a group had an order slump of 5 percent. The good news for EnterpriseTech readers is that orders by enterprises in fiscal Q3 were up 6 percent year-on-year even as orders to service providers were down 5 percent. But revenues show a slightly different picture geographically. Revenues in the Americas were off 6 percent to $6.69 billion, and sales in EMEA were off 2 points to $3.07 billion and APJC was down 9 percent to $1.79 billion.


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Just before Christmas last year, in Seattle in the US, Jeff Bezos sat with Diego Piacentini to discuss India, where
was nearly seven months young. It was a quarterly review for Bezos, Amazon's CEO, who keeps a close vigil on his fledgling business in India. The message to Piacentini, who runs Amazon's international business, was succinct and direct: continue to invest big and build the most customer-centric company in India.
, the India unit of the world's largest online retailer, was something that would have sent Bezos into a furious tizzy. A young father in India's tech capital had ordered a toy for his son for Christmas but the present did not ship on time. Missing a delivery promise is near-criminal at
given Bezos's obsession with customer satisfaction. The miffed customer, in this instance, escalated his complaint to Amit Agarwal, who heads Amazon's India business and reports to Piacentini. It didn't take a detailed audit for Agarwal to find out what went wrong: the toy was an imported one, the seller on Amazon.in did not have it in its inventory, and it took time to procure it, resulting in the late shipment.
Jeff Bezos has a simple mandate for his India team: invest big
Agarwal, a "shadow" or technical adviser to Bezos between 2007 and 2009, had to fix it, once and forever. He put in a new service-level agreement with sellers on procurement time, worked backward so that sellers could accurately predict the time it took for procurement and shipping, and promise customers deadlines that could be met. Sounds simple, but when you deal with hundreds of retailers and thousands of customers, it can get complex. The process has been standardised since then, says Agarwal. "When you get to the root cause, you fix it, and then that defect doesn't happen again."
In 19 years, Bezos built Amazon from an online book seller to the world's largest online store, valued at over $180 billion today - as much as Ireland's gross national income. It sells everything, from diapers to sex toys and from electronics to grocery. The growth was driven by three fundamentals of the business: choice, price and delivery. A vast stock selection, low prices, and fast and reliable delivery rolled together into value and convenience for customers - over 215 million at last count.
In the US, Amazon is a retailer who sells directly to customers, and also a marketplace where other retailers can list and sell their products. In India, where laws don't allow international online retailers to sell multiple brands, Amazon only has a marketplace - its tenth such venture.
Even at half strength (marketplace accounts for 40 per cent of Amazon's global sales), India is Bezos's biggest new bet for simple and obvious reasons - it has the world's third largest Internet user base, and online retail promises immense scale.
In a retail business of about half a trillion dollars, online retail (not including ticketing) is close to a billion dollars. Retail consultancy Technopak expects it to grow 61 times in the next 10 years. That is almost deja vu for Bezos and Amazon. When the Internet was coming into the mainstream in the early 1990s, Bezos, then a Wall Street banker, read a report which said that e-commerce would grow 2,300 per cent in a few years. "I want a part of it," he told himself. He quit his job, drove from New York to Seattle and started Amazon in 1994 (the original name of the start-up was Cadabra) from his garage.
There is a small but critical difference in the Indian situation, though. The country's online retail industry already has a growing gorilla: Flipkart, the largest domestic e-commerce company, which replicated Amazon's model and is often called the Amazon of India. Started in 2007 by former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal (they are not related), Flipkart has cornered more than 20 per cent of the online retail market. It has raised over $550 million from a clutch of venture capital funds including Vulcan Capital, which in the past has backed another Amazon rival, Alibaba.com in China.
Amazon is unfazed. Much of Bezos's and Piacentini's ambitions ride on Agarwal, 39 years old and a graduate of IIT Kanpur. Bezos has faith in the Mumbai native. "After all he was Bezos's most technology-savvy technical advisor," says Piacentini.Out of the Shadow
Amit Agarwal, VP, and Country Manager, Amazon India
In a setting other than his Bangalore office, Agarwal could easily be mistaken for a bouncer. In one of his four interactions with Business Today for this story, he lets on that he cross-trains and can dead-lift 200 pounds. But what lights up his face even more is talking about his experience as Bezos's technical advisor from 2007 to 2009 - the best workout of his career. Technical advisors are often referred to as Bezos's shadows, and the Amazon CEO has had just eight of them to date. Something like a chief of staff, the shadow spends most of the work day with Bezos - travelling with him, attending meetings with him and, at the end of the day, discuss the day with him and preparing for the next one.
It was during one such chat in early 2008 that Agarwal brought up India. The timing was prescient. Amazon was struggling in China and had to look for an alternative country. "We didn't want to just dabble with India. We wanted to make sure we were absolutely ready with our game plan and investments," says Piacentini. It took Amazon four years to get ready. During that time, Agarwal headed Amazon's international market expansion, which included India.
Amazon, like Flipkart, wants to scale up business in India. Period.
Amazon.in was launched in June 2013, and Agarwal's conviction is borne out so far by the website's 6.77 million unique visitors monthly, as per December data by online tracker comScore. Flipkart gets about double that traffic at 13.22 million, and Snapdeal, another e-tailing site, gets 9.35 million.
Amazon has launched 15 categories in seven months, and already has the largest catalogue of books, e-books, watches, toys and games, and fashion jewellery. In the US, Amazon has more than 30 categories, and that is what Agarwal is aiming for. "You basically need to find a way to sell everything," he says, echoing the 'Everything Store' moniker for Amazon, in the news recently for a book by the same title.
Amazon.in started with books, because globally, Amazon is known as the biggest bookseller. People searched for media players online, so it started selling portable media players, followed by other consumer electronics, baby products, toys and games, watches, jewellery, personal care appliances, health-care devices, home and kitchen products, and beauty products. It has more than 440,000 products, in addition to 12 million books and two million e-books. It has 2,300 sellers, as compared with 100 sellers seven months ago. Flipkart has 1,000 sellers. "The goal is to constantly expand the depth of the selection in existing categories and add new categories," says Agarwal.
Agarwal knew that if Amazon had to deliver fast to customers, it needed control over logistics, and it needed warehouses. By the time it launched, it had already built a 150,000 square-foot (roughly 3.5-acre) 'fulfilment centre' on the outskirts of Mumbai, in Bhiwandi. The idea was to let sellers stock goods in the warehouse, and manage packaging and delivery for them for a fee. Such delivery, called 'Fulfilment by Amazon', and accounts for three out of every four deliveries by Amazon in India. A second 150,000 sq ft warehouse will be operational from February in Bangalore, for buyers in southern India.
The bulk of Amazon's investments in India will go into logistics and payments. The US and Europe, when Amazon started, already had an efficient payment infrastructure. India has multiple systems - cash on delivery (COD), credit cards, debit cards and net banking.
Mobile technology is next. "We are looking forward to facilitating mobile internet shopping, as it is an important factor for technology investments for us," says Piacentini. He says that lessons about mobile learned in India could be applied in other countries.
Ambareesh Murthy, founder of online retailer Pepperfry, says: "The marketplace model scales very fast, because it is a platform where many retailers come to sell and put in a lot of variety." At the same time, he points out that the model fetches lower margins, as they are split between the seller and the platform owner. But who cares about profits? Certainly not Amazon, which took eight years to turn in its first profitable quarter and which to date has had losses in more quarters than profits. Agarwal, like the ultra-competitive Flipkart, wants to scale up business in India. Period.
"They are building the capability... If they have the infrastructure and product portfolio in place, customers will flow in," says Technopak Chairman Arvind Singhal. To lure customers, Amazon also started offering next-day delivery for an additional charge of Rs 99. Within a week, Flipkart copied the idea, calling it In-a-day Delivery and charging nine rupees less (See story on Flipkart, page 68). And then eBay.in launched nine-hour delivery for some products.Follower turns Warrior
It was the second time Flipkart adopted Amazon's idea. It launched its marketplace in April 2013, just two months before Amazon launched in India. Copying the one-day delivery service confirmed that the battle had begun. How could Flipkart let go of its turf? From Rs 5 crore in 2008/09, its revenues grew to over Rs 1,180 crore in 2012/13, according to the Registrar of Companies. Like Amazon, the Bansals built their own logistics, copied the cash-on-delivery model from China and pioneered it in India (See COD: Necessary Evil, page 62). Flipkart's business is growing at breakneck speed - the company is running at annualised revenues of over Rs 3,600 crore, and is targeting over Rs 6,000 crore by 2015. After enjoying a free run for five years, Flipkart launched its health-care and fashion jewellery categories soon after Amazon did.
The battle has only begun. What Flipkart did in six years, Amazon did in seven months. It has already reached one-third of Flipkart's size in terms of the number of transactions, says Mahesh Murthy, Chairman of digital marketing company Pinstorm and co-founder of SeedFund. "They have done that with one-tenth of the money that Flipkart has spent."
Flipkart sells about 100,000 products daily. When that number reaches a million, the company will have to do things differently, says Bansal. This will require a lot of money. Flipkart recently raised $360 million, but that will last only a couple of years, says Murthy. He notes that Flipkart is built with venture capital money, and may not able to keep investing as it has done. Amazon, however, is under no such pressure, he says, and it can keep pouring in money without worrying about profits.
To sustain its business, Flipkart will need an initial public offer. Though Flipkart's cash burn is smaller than Amazon's when it listed its shares in 1997, its losses are not small for an Indian company: on revenues of Rs 1,180 crore, Flipkart made losses of Rs 192 crore.
On the other hand, Amazon generated $2.25 billion in cash in 2012 (Rs 13,770 crore then) and invested $3.6 billion back in the business. If Amazon invested even 10 per cent of its global investment in India, that would be $360 million. Amazon executives decline to give investment details. "We are literally investing hundreds of millions of dollars," says Piacentini. That was a lesson well learned in Amazon's nine years so far in China.What the Dragon Taught
In 2004, Amazon entered China, then the world's second largest Internet market, by acquiring Joyo.com, the country's largest online retailer of books, music and videos. But eventually it lost the market to Alibaba.com, China's home-grown e-commerce giant.
China has home-grown leaders in search, social networking and e-commerce. In India, on the other hand, US companies dominate: Facebook is the largest social networking site, and Google is the leader in search. Amazon could well lead in e-commerce.
Agarwal and Piacentini did not want to make the same mistakes in India as it had in China. It decided to invest big from day one, instead of deferred investment. It also started from scratch, rather than by acquiring a company. It imported its transportation model from China, something which it had not done anywhere else, says Piacentini. It also put to use the COD lessons it learned in China.
It also started educating sellers about Amazon - something it had not done in China. Unlike in other countries, seller registration is free in India for the first year as part of a promotion to attract sellers. "There is no risk or cost for them, and we are helping them get started," says Amit Deshpande, Director of Amazon Seller Services in India.
The promotion is for a year, and to benefit from it, seller must sign a two-year contract. In the second year, Amazon charges Rs 499 a month as fees. Sellers get nationwide reach. They pay a minimum commission of four per cent on mobiles, laptops and computers, and up to eight per cent on jewellery and watches. A Rs 10 closing fee is also charged on each purchase. Globally, Amazon has two million sellers contributing 40 per cent to its sales.
It also launched its "Mainstream-ing Sellers/SMEs" pilot project in three cities, where Amazon's staff helps small businesses become sellers, including those who have never made a transaction online. Amazon makes their catalogue and teaches them how to accept payment.
If a seller fails to maintain standards, Amazon reaches out and tries to help. If logistics are a problem, the seller is offered Fulfilment by Amazon services. Sellers who can still not maintain standards are politely asked to discontinue and come back when they are ready. "Until then, you have to stop, because it's a bad customer experience," says Deshpande.Secret Recipe at Amazon
To start any new venture, a press release is the first step, and Agarwal thinks that is the best way to connect with the consumer. In April 2011, he wrote a release to start Junglee.com, a website that helps buyers in India compare options from a mix of online and offline sellers, and provides analytics to registered sellers. Junglee started with 220 online sellers, and has expanded to 1,600 online and 50,000 offline stores, with a catalogue of 30 million products.
It is not profitable, but Agarwal says it can be monetised with value-added services. "It is a thoughtful business decision to build something that would make a significant free cash flow in the long run," he says.
Amazon's goal in India is to constantly expand its catalogue
Amazon is tight-lipped about the number of transactions, revenue, technology back-end, investment and budget for India, and even about how it compares itself with rivals. One exception comes after 38 questions over about an hour's chat with Piacentini, when Agarwal interrupts to say: "We... have a higher coverage than what Flipkart does". Amazon adds a new PIN code every day for service delivery. Amazon.in is reportedly negotiating with India Post, the world's largest postal service, for logistics. It reaches 21,000 PIN codes, compared to the 12,000 served by courier companies.
Shreya Vora, director of Peora, a company that sells silver jewellery on Amazon.in, was surprised on December 31, when she got a Rs 3,000 order from the tiny town of Duttaphulia, West Bengal. "At the end of October, we started [selling on Amazon.in], and we are getting orders from tier-II and tier-III towns," she says. Fifteen per cent of her online sales come from Amazon, 12 per cent from Flipkart, and the rest from other online retailers.
Vora also says Amazon.in has the best back-end set-up among all online retailers. Everything is automated, she says, and she does not need to contact anyone to upload new products or change prices, unlike other sites. "There is a large factor of trust, and they are bringing the best practices and service guarantees," says Parag Rao, who heads HDFC Bank's credit cards business.
Kaushal Arora, Founder of Techeye Creations & Technologies, a seller of health-care devices, says: "Flipkart is very good as far as payment is concerned, but they haven't got the resources as far as marketplace is concerned." Amazon provides better analytics, he says, and adds that its control panel is much more advanced, as it gives details such as number of units sold and inventory remaining in the warehouse.Sights Set on the Consumer
Over 19 years, Bezos has built a USD 180-bn company
Agarwal realised early on that India has address issues, so he added PIN code and landmark fields to the address form on the delivery page - something the US site does not have. "Fulfilment by Amazon" is prominently displayed when applicable, to gain the buyer's trust. Cash on delivery is an option only on Amazon-fulfilled orders, and not if the seller ships the product.
Mobile is another area of focus in India. The country has 198 million Internet users, most of them users of mobile devices (of which 70 million are smartphones). "Forty per cent of e-commerce is over mobile, and that's where the industry is going to be," says Rachna Nath, Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers.MUST READ: Cash-on-delivery a necessary evil for e-commerce companies
So Amazon launched mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. "Amazon India is the fastest growing geography that we have seen in terms of mobile share of sessions and gross mobile sales," says Agarwal.
Of course, Amazon.in still has gaps to fill. A significant one is apparel, the biggest component of the lifestyle category. Lifestyle accounts for 35 per cent of all Indian online retail, according to Technopak. Sellers such as Myntra and Jabong have a lead, and Flipkart has a growing presence. An Amazon executive says apparel will be launched in a couple of months. Some experts expect this to increase Amazon.in's traffic by about 20 per cent.
There are signs that the ticket size of orders at Amazon.in has grown. According to an executive at a large private bank, the average credit card transaction at Amazon already equals Flipkart's at about Rs 2,700.
"You have to have the conviction that, over long periods of time, you can generate a large free cash flow for shareholders," says Agarwal. How long is long term? Ten years and more, says Piacentini. Amazon's international business head has something else in mind for the long term, too: "We want to build India operations so that, when we look back 20 years from now, it will be bigger than the US."
The battle for supremacy in online retail in India, set to be the worlds second-largest Internet market by this summer, has barely begun, but it is already bitter.


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Law enforcement officials are getting ample assistance as they investigate the weekend theft of Drivin N Cryin‘s band equipment from a trailer in Macon.
For starters, fans of the 25-year-old band are helping the Atlanta rockers search pawn shops, Craigslist ads and under every available rock between here and Macon for clues.
On its official website, Facebook and Twitter pages Monday, singer Kevn Kinney, bassist Tim Nielsen, guitarist Mac Carter and drummer Dave Johnson posted information about the crime: “Between 3:45 and 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 11, Drivin N Cryin’s tour trailer containing their stage gear was stolen from the La Quinta Inn at Exit 169 off I-75 in Macon. The black Quicksilver Racing 5-foot by 10-foot trailer held the band’s guitars, amplifiers, drums, merchandise and stage production gear.”
Thr band posted a complete list of the lifted items, along with pictures on Facebook. Within hours, tips began rolling in and the band has recovered some of their gear from a DeKalb County pawn shop. The store handed over a copy of the photo ID (at right) the suspected thief used to the cops and the band, who immediately posted it online.
Kinney went on-air with Rock 100.5 FM’s Regular Guys in Atlanta Tuesday morning to discuss the theft and the overwhelming response from fans.
“It’s the great American trailer theft,” Kinney explained. “We had it backed up against the curb. We woke up and it was like, ‘Where’s the trailer? Did someone take it home?’ ‘Um, no.’ There’s one thing I learned in New York. If someone wants something bad enough, they’re going to get it. After 25 years, this happening once is OK.”
Kinney explained that the investigation is being slowed because the theft and the pawn shops are spread out across various counties throughout Georgia.
“It is just gear. Nobody got hurt in the process,” reasoned Kinney. “So many musicians have reached out to us. People have been offering us gear. It’s wonderful. The brotherhood of musicians is our insurance policy.”
The band’s scheduled shows will go on, thanks to the offer of loaned instruments from their pals in Dillon Fence.
In a note to fans, Nielsen writes: “Thanks for all the support. With all of the media attention, I doubt this perp is gonna try to sell anything else in the Atlanta area. We are going to start looking in other towns. Check Craigslist, music stores that buy used gear and pawn shops in Charlotte, Chattanooga, Nashville, Charleston, Birmingham, Orlando and so on. Thanks y’all. We love you!”


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Although it was not announced at the event on the 18th, I think that out of embarrassment, Apple has a cleaning cloth for sale in the Apple Store for its screens. The excuse is that it is excellent for certain screens, but the reality is that it is a lifelong suede but at a price of 25 euros in Spain. I am not saying that it is not efficient, what I am saying is that there are other equal or better options at infinitely lower prices. Even Elon Musk knows it and has wanted to write it down on Twitter.
We all know that Apple products are expensive. The new MacBook Pros attest to this. But it is true that the technology behind them makes the American company set those prices. They are high, of course they are, but this is not new. What is new is that they launch certain products that you can find anywhere and that are equal or better. You may not find a tablet better than the iPad or computers as good as Macs in all its versions. But a cleaning cloth for the screen for 25 euros?
It is something that has astonished many and even Elon Musk has not been able to contain himself and has replied on Twitter to a message sent by Tim Cook about the opening of a new Apple Store in Istanbul. The CEO of Tesla has stated: “Come see the Apple TM cloth”. Very ironic of him, but at least I think the CEO of Apple will see it and may even realize that what they have put up for sale is amazing.
Come see the Apple Cloth ™
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2021
But beware. What if this is in the store is because it has its audience And I will not be the one to come to remove it from the middle.


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The economic development of the Holy Land is a modern miracle that is happening right before our eyes. Despite very difficult conditions, ongoing conflicts and the influx of millions of Jewish refugees, Israel managed to become the world’s innovation engine, which has more companies listed on the NASDAQ Technology Sector than Europe, Japan, South Korea and India combined.
This success has earned Israel the nickname “Startup Nation.” And although the source of new innovation does not seem to run dry, the Jewish state is entering a new economic phase today, because Israel is now also beginning to be called the “unicorn nation.” “Unicorns” are companies worth more than a billion US dollars. As the name suggests, such companies are actually very rare, but in Israel more and more startups are becoming unicorns.
Which Israeli company will be the next unicorn?
Those who can answer this question early enough can potentially make a lot of money by investing in such a company.
Israel Today it building bridges between our readers and the Israeli startups, because whoever blesses Israel can also benefit materially from it. A minimum investment is $25,000 is required, and as with all investments there is of course some risk involved.
We present two Israeli startups that are currently looking for investors. Israel Today has partnered with ExitValley, which enables everyone to invest in Israel’s startup ecosystem and share in its success. If you are interested in investing in any of these companies, write to us at [email protected] and we will get back to you.
The startup Sol Chip has developed a tiny solar chip that is smaller than a coin. This chip does not require batteries as it is powered by a solar cell that acts as a constant source of energy.
So far, the company has developed a sensor system based on this solar chip, which is used in agriculture to enable precise irrigation and care of plants. Since this chip and the respective hardware do not require batteries, they can be operated permanently and with little effort.
Sol Chip has already signed a contract with Netafim. This company, the world’s largest supplier of irrigation systems, has now added solar chips to its range. The Golan Winery, one of the largest wineries in Israel, also uses Sol Chip to tend its vines.
In addition to agricultural use, there are countless other areas in which a solar chip can be used, which means for Sol Chip its biggest growth is still ahead.
The hi-tech company Youtiligent has developed an intelligent connection for machines that connects them to the Internet without any major installation processes. Thanks to the company’s proprietary algorithm, the processes in the machines can be monitored precisely.
This algorithm observes, for example, a production machine or a cold room for medicines and records a kind of “electrical heartbeat” of the system. Before disturbances occur, this heartbeat normally changes and the system can issue a warning before production comes to a standstill, thus, for example, saving expensive drugs from spoiling.
All this and more is made possible by a simple but very intelligent connection between the device and the power connection. Since this connection is made directly with a cable, no wifi is required, so the highest level of reliability is guaranteed.
So far, Youtiligent has won a number of well-known customers, including Nestle, McDonalds and Nespresso, but its technology can capture far more market share if it has the capital to do so.


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Updated: House of Cards vs. Walmart Without Shame, Remorse, Guilt or Accountability: Asking Employees to Donate to Co-Workers
UPDATED: February 28, 2015
PRSpin: Walmart “decided” to raise employee wages above minimum wage to $10 an hour by February 2016.
did House of Cards #ForceAccoutability on Walmart:
PRSpinUnSpun: House of Cards Season three Episode 8 exposes Walmart for underpaying employees who then qualify for food stamps which the employees then turn around and use in Walmart. The government is rewarding Walmart’s unethical and illegal behavior by subsidizing it with our tax dollars.
The starting salary for an employee at Walmart is below the poverty line. Now if the American government subsidizes Walmart to the tune of $7.8 billion dollars a year by issuing food stamps to over 1 in 10 of its workers-but here’s the scary part 15% of all food stamps are actually used at Walmart-meaning Walmart gets to double dip into the federal government’s coffers…Walmart’s top executives have reaped almost $300 million in tax deductible performance pay over the last six years.
House of Cards Season 3 Dunbar 2016 Speech
That sounds like fraud to me (government subsidized fraud)-too bad Ms. Dunbar is a character played by an actor because there was more truth in speech than any we’ve heard from politicians. So if you’re still shopping at Walmart you’re paying your groceries-twice!
November 20, 2014
Walmart without shame, remorse, guilt or accountability asks (manipulates) employees to help out other less fortunate co-workers this holiday season by donating.
Well, that certainly is inconsistent & contradictory language to action for several reasons:
If Walmart paid their employees a fare wage they wouldn’t have to manipulate their employees into picking up their slack
The Waltons who own Walmart aren’t just the face of the 1%; they’re the face of the 0.000001%. The Waltons have more wealth than 42% of American families combined
Employees often become concerned that boycotts hurt them more than the company, and initially that may be the case but in order to force accountability from a company operating unethically hurting image which is tied to profit is the best way to ensure better results for the employees in the long run. Could a Walmart boycott hurt employees any worse than Walmart is already hurting their employees?
What do Elon Musk and Walmart have in common? Government subsidies in the billions.


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What is REALLY in your hamburger
U.S. defends treated meat dubbed “pink slime” in school meals
By Ian Simpson
The Department of Agriculture is defending the use of ammonium-treated beef, dubbed “pink slime” by detractors, in meals destined for schoolchildren as part of the national school lunch program.
The Internet news source The Daily reported this week that 7 million pounds (3.2 million kg) of the product — beef trimmings treated partly with ammonium hydroxide to fight contamination — would appear in school lunches this spring.
“All USDA ground beef purchases must meet the highest standards for food safety,” the agency said in a statement.
“USDA has strengthened ground beef food safety standards in recent years and only allows products into commerce that we have confidence are safe.”
Fast-food chain McDonald’s stopped putting the USDA-approved ammonium-treated meat into its hamburgers in August after a number of food activists, including celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, drew attention to the additive.
The USDA, schools and school districts plan to buy the treated meat, categorized as “lean fine textured beef,” from South Dakota’s Beef Products Inc for the national school lunch program.
The BPI product makes up about 6.5 percent of the 112 million pounds (51 million kg) of ground beef that has been contracted for the National School Lunch Program, the USDA said.
The department oversees the program, which buys about 20 percent of products served in U.S. schools. The rest is bought directly by schools or school districts.
Read original here:
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Auto industry executives aren't terribly popular these days, and they'll become less so now that some of them say the best way to boost fuel efficiency is to increase the gas tax.
They stepped on that third rail today during the Reuters Auto Summit in Detroit when they said $4 gasoline would do more to cut fuel consumption than the $25 billion federal program aimed at spurring the development of fuel-effieient automobiles. They noted that sales of the Toyota Prius spiked last year along with gas prices, but gave way to bigger, thirstier cars as gas dropped below three bucks a gallon. The national average price at the end of last month was $2.66 a gallon.
"The U.S. allows the price of gasoline to go back and forth across this line where the consumers don't care about fuel efficiency and where consumers do care about fuel efficiency," Mike Jackson, head of AutoNation Inc, the nation's No. 1 auto retailer, said, according to Reuters.
Gas at $4 or even $5 a gallon would do more to spur demand for so-called next-generation vehicles like the Chevrolet Volt than any policy initiatives, the execs said. "Unless gas is $3.50 or $4 a gallon, consumers are not going to want to buy those cars," said Jerry York, a former GM board member and an adviser to billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian.
There's no way in hell a politician is going to call for an increase in the gas tax, which stands at 18.4 cents for the feds and varies by state. It's such a hot topic that when we raised it last year, we got some emails from people threatening us with bodily harm.
"In the United States, we're afraid to touch the fuel price," Tim Leuliette, chief executive of parts supplier Dura Automotive, told Reuters. "We've got to continue to raise taxes in the United States so that, by the end of the next decade, gas is about $8 a gallon in today's terms. What you have to do is do it in a manner that is slow enough and predictable enough that vehicle selection and choices by people over the cycle can be made in a logical way,"
Read the full story here and let 'er rip in the comments.
Photo: Flickr / ilmungo


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Allen Premium Outlets are all set to reopen starting Wednesday, May 31, about three weeks after the mass shooting tragedy killing eight innocent people and injuring seven others at the outlet mall.
About the reopening, the mall said, "As we reopen, we do so with heavy hearts in remembrance of those who were lost and with care for those affected by the tragedy on May 6, 2023. We will continue to pray for the victims, their families, and all who loved them. At the same time, our retailers and center employees have been uplifted by the incredible outpouring of compassion and goodwill from the Allen community, of which we are so proud to be a part."
The mall hours will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Despite these standard hours, each store will have the flexibility to reopen its store.
On the security front, the outlet mall has an agreement with Allen PD to provide security.
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New Money In New PlacesNitin Sumangali |
The rise of the BRICS economies is an old story, cited in many places for many years. These days it’s become more important and more interesting to tighten our collective lenses down one level and look at the changing economic dynamics of cities. Across the BRICS markets, there are world-class economic and cultural cities— São Paulo, Moscow, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Johannesburg are among the world’s most vigorous metropolises. However, to judge the future strength of these countries by their alpha cities may be missing a critical step. Some new research shows that smaller cities in the BRICS are witnessing wealth accumulations that are changing the equation.
According to a report by WealthInsight cited by The Atlantic magazine’s business website Quartz, smaller cities in the BRICS economies are the site of a fast growing number of ultra high net worth individuals—$30 million and up. The examples cited make the case that these smaller cities are crucial for anyone who does business in these countries.
Chongqing, China, reports the most dramatic growth of multimillionaires of any city in the BRICS—an 80 percent increase to 96 from 2007 to 2011. More broadly, the city’s economy grew at 15.8 percent last year, outpacing China’s overall growth of 10.5 percent. Chongqing is tied with Tianjin as China’s fastest growing city. Chonqing is also an industrial city, the third largest auto producer in China.
The city of Pune, India is also a car town. Both domestic car makers like Tata Motors and foreign players like General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, and Fiat, all have manufacturing operations in the city, according to Quartz. Pune now is the sixth highest per capita income metro area in India, right behind Mumbai.
Belo Horizante in Brazil has benefited from the mining and auto industries, including global steel giant ArcelorMittal and car maker Fiat, both based in the city. Belo Horizonte has become the country’s fourth largest economy and the fastest growing population of ultra millionaires.
These three cities are also diversifying into more knowledge-based industries. The city of Chongqing is investing $236 billion over the next three years to develop industries like electronic communication and medical equipment. Google has established one of its Brazilian offices in Belo Horizonte. Pune has a thriving IT sector and is a hub for German companies who locate in India.
The increase in wealth outside of the major cities implies the power of consumers in these markets isn’t only in the capitals or business centers. Smaller cities are experiencing strong growth in markets around the world, and they are developing a mix of both industrial and knowledge-based economies they will be able to continue to improve the quality of life for residents. The more urbanization continues in developing markets, the prospects for commerce improve and the quality of life for residents gets better.


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Updated Rumors suggest Google is working on its own flagship smartwatch to show off Wear OS – here's what we know so far.
The rumors are starting to build up again about a Google smartwatch – and there are newly leaked images too.
The Pixel Watch is expected to launch later next year and is expected to offer the best WearOS experience
Realme Watch T1 Indian variant could make its way to the country soon. The Chinese variant of the smartwatch includes more than 50 watch faces, SpO2 monitoring, AMOLED display, etc.
Valve co-founder Gabe Newell all but confirmed his company's future lies in VR, AR, and 'brain computer interface' technology.
Carl Pei's Nothing says its Ear 1 TWS earbuds are now carbon- neutral. And the company started accepting cryptocurrency as a mode of payment on its online store.
The latest Oculus Quest 2 update brings mixed reality casting to the VR headset, effectively allowing you to film yourself in a virtual reality space.
The best cheap Apple Watch sales and deals have arrived with fantastic prices on the best-selling Apple Watch lineup.


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TRUNK SHOW: There was more than one kind of trunk on display in Paris Tuesday night as Galeries Lafayette inaugurated its holiday windows, designed in collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Model Loulou Robert arrived astride an elephant named Dumba, who didn’t so much press the buzzer as lift it out of its socket to switch on the department store’s Christmas lights.
Officials including Galeries Lafayette chief executive officer Philippe Houzé and Roberto Eggs, president for North Europe at Louis Vuitton, then unveiled the windows on the theme “The Ball of the Century,” to mark the centenary of the store’s stained glass dome. The window displays feature a menagerie of exotic animals flocking around leather goods and ready-to-wear, along with vintage luggage to chart Vuitton’s 158 years of history. Presumably the elephant worked for more than peanuts.


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New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on January 28, 2021) follows:
The company is also expected to kick-start the Realme UI 2.0 Early Access program on a number of devices from its portfolio such as the Realme X2, 6, C12, and C15 this month.
However, as we reported earlier, the Early Access program for a couple of devices was allegedly postponed to next month.
And now that there are only a few days left for January to end, we will simply have to wait and see whether the company sticks to its plans to get started with the Early Access program for the devices.
That said, we’ve got our hands on some good news for Realme X2 users as it appears that the early adopter program for the device will go live soon, at least in China.
This information comes directly from a moderator on the company’s community forums who has claimed that the Realme UI 2.0 early adopter program is about to start.
We’ve shared a screenshot of the moderator’s comment — translated to English — below:
The moderator has asked users to keep an eye out on the system update section of the device to be the first to know when the Realme UI 2.0 early adopter program goes live for the Realme X2.
At the time of writing, Realme has not yet made an official announcement regarding the availability of the early adopter program for the device.
Moreover, it’s unclear whether Realme will kick-start the Realme UI 2.0 Early Access program for the Realme X2 outside of China at the same time.
As usual, we will keep close track of the situation and will post an update once the official announcement is made.
Update 1 (January 28)
05:45 pm (IST): Realme has officially announced the early adopter program for the Realme X2. The registrations will open up on January 30 at 10 am in China.
The beta update will be pushed to users who successfully enroll for the early adopter program on January 31. The second recruitment drive will go live on February 10.
PiunikaWeb started as purely an investigative tech journalism website with main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.


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Until recently Man and Machine UK had been one of the CAD software giant’s two distributors in the UK alongside Datech. However, in September the German firm announced it was offloading its Autodesk distribution rights to its rival. The company has now re-branded its remaining distribution portfolio – which includes vendors such as NVIDIA /PNY, AMD, HP and Dell – as Elmtec.
“It is important that Man and Machine retains its established values but at the same time develops a new and modern identity for its distribution arm,” says Jasmine Gledhill, marketing director at the distributor. “The rebranding exercise will ensure that we get the right message out there. We feel it’s important to let people know what Elmtec stands for.”
A new website launches today, and will, says the firm, allow resellers to source stock levels, see price lists and account history as well as an online ordering.
Of interest to its channel partners will also be the news that the firm is to follow in its German parent’s footsteps by creating a niche for itself as a reseller, and is to start selling Autodesk software directly to customers. The VAR arm of the business will retain the Man and Machine name.
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Christine has been a tech journalist for over 20 years, 10 of which she spent exclusively covering the IT Channel. From 2006-2009 she worked as the editor of Channel Business, before moving on to ChannelPro where she was editor and, latterly, senior editor.
Since 2016, she has been a freelance writer, editor, and copywriter and continues to cover the channel in addition to broader IT themes. Additionally, she provides media training explaining what the channel is and why it’s important to businesses.


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How to stop sms ads from appearing in your inbox
Which of these ads should you buy?
The Australian Financial Council says it has launched a new campaign targeting sms advertisements that appear on the company’s website.The new anti-sms campaign will be running on its website and mobile app from April 3 and will be available to people who have already opted in to receive alerts via SMS, email or Facebook Messenger.“While […]
How to use Twitter to sell your company
Advertising rules vary from country to country, but it’s generally understood that there are three types of advertisements that can be sold for digital and television: video ads, sponsored videos and digital advertisements.The two types of ads are most often sold to people who already subscribe to a TV service, or to people that are […]
How to Find a Job that’s Great for You
Twitter is a great way to sell products and services.But its a great marketing tool for companies that want to promote their products or services.Here’s how to use it to your advantage.1.Get your brand in front of potential customers.When you launch your product or service, you’re not just selling it to the masses.You’re trying to […]
How to get the most out of your sms ads
The job market for those who like to take their business online has been a tough sell.Some companies are seeing their businesses sink as more companies choose to operate in the virtual world.Here are seven ways to find the best job for you.1.Make a Career Choice.Many of us will be at work for just a […]
Which mobile ads are illegal?
The purpose of this post is to help you understand what is actually happening on the frontend of your ad network.If you’re just getting started with sms, there’s no better place to start than with the basics.We’ll cover:How to add your own ads to the top of your site.What the different types of ads do.How […]
Which of these ads does Google get paid for?
This article originally appeared on VICE UK.Follow the latest news in the world of smartphone advertising with the VICE News app.
Why you need to know about Bulk SMs advertising in order to understand Digicel
Posted October 09, 2018 07:29:37 Some of the most common ads are Google Ads, but there are many other ways in which Google gets paid to deliver the ads it provides.These are all covered in our article on AdSense.Read more: How Google earns money from you and other usersThe following ad is not Google Ads.However, […]
Sms: How the media got you to buy ads
Bulk sms ads are another layer of marketing for Digicels products, they allow customers to receive more than one Digiceline product at the same time.For example, if you need a specific Digicelle 3GB of data per day for one Digixion 2GB, you could buy that Digicell 3GB from DigicELSM.This means you are receiving one Digicaion […]
Why are some of the new advertising formats for Ireland more effective than others?
Sms text advertisement article Smas text ads appear to be more effective than other types of text ads, according to a study from the University of Michigan.The study suggests that a text ad may be more persuasive than a photo ad, but not as effective as a direct mail campaign.The findings come from the Sms […]
A survey of some of Ireland’s biggest ad firms suggests some are less effective at attracting people to sign up and stay.Read moreIn a survey conducted by AdServe Ireland, advertising agency PPP and ad agency AdMob showed that while the use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn has become more […]


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Amazon wants to empower teens to spend their parents’ money. What, like it was hard before?
The retail giant introduced a new program this week for the children of Amazon customers to use their parents’ accounts to make purchases and stream TV shows and movies. Kids aged 13 to 17 can now link their own accounts to their parents’, and parents will be able to oversee kids’ activity through setting spending limits and text and email purchase approval. All without having to see their kids in person!
This codifies a process that was already taking place unofficially: For as long as it’s been possible to buy things online, kids have logged into their parents’ accounts to do so. Of course, it goes back further that that, to that age-old request: “Hey [mom or dad], can I have 20 bucks to [insert activity here]?” How the new program will work sounds needlessly complicated to the point of absurdity, like something you’d dream up for a movie satire about how modern technology is wreaking havoc on family life: Users are supposed to communicate via Amazon notification when kids need to buy a book for class (as in the example Amazon cited in its press release) and then parents have 48 hours to approve.* So much for a gentle pat on the arm and the words “Sure, slugger, anything for your education.”
Of course Amazon is happy to insert itself into these kinds of interactions, because ultimately its goal is to be part of every spending decision anyone makes anywhere. Amazon also sees a convenient opportunity to hook a new generation of customers—those kids will have their own accounts already when they turn 18, and boom, time to pummel them with offers for all the stuff they need to buy for college and young adulthood.
Amazon’s age range of 13 to 17 is another slightly laughable element of this initiative. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act restricts websites from marketing to children under 13, but in practice, we all know kids are online and using services like Amazon way before they reach their teen years. By the time they’re 13 to 17, they’re advanced enough internet users that keeping them out of their Amazon accounts in probably the least of parents’ concerns—does Amazon have any suggestions for keeping teens from ordering drugs on the dark web?
*Correction, Oct. 13, 2017: This post originally misstated that parents using this feature have 30 minutes to approve or deny their kids’ charges using text messages. Parents have 48 hours to approve, have 30 minutes to cancel orders that have gone through, and can do this in text message or by other means. (Return.)


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Inflation fears have peaked among small business owners
Small businesses are increasingly concerned about the financial impact of high inflation, with the vast majority of owners saying the worst is yet to come.
That’s according to a new survey from the Chamber of Commerce and MetLife published Wednesday that found 90% of small business owners are concerned about the repercussions of the highest inflation rate in nearly four decades. More than half of respondents – 54% – said they were very concerned, an increase of 23 percentage points from the start of 2022.
“In recent quarters, there has been optimism from small businesses that are still feeling good about their business performance,” said Tom Sullivan, vice president of small business policy at the Chamber of Commerce. “However, inflation is hitting small businesses hard, and this reality is negatively impacting their confidence and ability to hire, invest in their businesses, and grow.”
Inflation — which came in more-than-expected in August, jumping 8.3% year-on-year — now ranks as the biggest financial challenge for small businesses. About 45% of owners said steeper prices were their only concern, an increase of 11 percentage points from the beginning of the year. This compares to 28% of those who rated supply chain bottlenecks as the number one problem. Other concerns include revenue, interest rate hikes, COVID-19 safety protocols and compliance.
Billionaire David Rubinstein warns inflation will be ‘hard’ for the fund to reduce
To deal with higher prices, about 7 in 10 companies said they are raising costs for consumers. Moreover, almost half – 46% – reported taking out a loan in order to cover high costs, while about 35% made a salary cut.
Small business owners are also increasingly uneasy about the economic outlook. About 88% of owners expressed concern about the US entering a recession next year, with 54% saying they were “very concerned”. The majority of small business owners (59%) believe the economy is in either “fairly poor” or “very poor” health.
However, when asked to choose between reducing inflation or avoiding deflation, the majority – 59% – said the priority now should be to combat price hikes, while 41% preferred preventing a recession.
US inflation expectations slipped again in August, New York Fed said
Despite the headwinds, small businesses said they remain relatively upbeat about their operations and outlook for the future. About 66.8 said their business is in good health; That’s up from a low of 39.5 recorded in 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey was conducted between April 29 and May 17.
Although economists have been hoping to see inflation ease since then as supply chains improve, consumer prices remain stubbornly high.
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Despite expectations of a slowdown in August, prices actually rose 0.1%. Even more worryingly, core prices – which exclude more volatile measures of food and gasoline – also rose more than expected, a sign that underlying inflationary pressures in the economy remain strong.


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The roll out of the NBN has impacted Telstra's net profit after tax, which dropped 28 per cent to $1.2 billion in the half year ended 31 December 2018.
Lenovo is laying off 3200 employees and trimming down its smartphone portfolio in response to a slowdown in its PC and handset sales.
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SAP's strategy event for the investment community on Tuesday offered few major surprises to anyone who's been closely monitoring the software vendor lately, but did serve to cement the company's future direction for product development, growth and cu...
Oracle is gearing up to report its second-quarter earnings Wednesday and given the restrained expectations CFO Sandra Katz earlier set for key areas such as software revenue, Oracle's results are sure to come under even more scrutiny than the tech be...
Politics collided with the world of technology this year as stories about U.S. government spying stirred angst both among the country's citizens and foreign governments, and the flawed HeathCare.gov site got American health-care reform off to a rocky...
Despite the frothy headlines stirred by Twitter's initial public offering, tech is not in a bubble of the sort that arose before the 2000 dot-com crash.
Oracle's annual OpenWorld conference is less than a week away, and as usual the vendor is expected to make a slew of new product and strategy announcements.
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