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The world's largest advertiser, consumer products titan Procter & Gamble, is bucking the trend of its rivals and forecasting better than expected sales for its fiscal second quarter.
In October the Cincinnati-headquartered company said sales would grow between 5% and 7%, but has now revised that figure to 8%.
P&G's cheerful prognostications are in marked contrast to US household products manufacturer Colgate-Palmolive's whose grim plans for 4,400 job losses and major financial restructuring was revealed earlier this week [WAMN: 7-Dec-2004].
Another major competitor, cosmetics company Avon, says its sales are expected to fall by 5% in Q4; while profits are not expected to break surface until 2006.
P&G's domination has been masterminded by ceo Alan G Lafley. During his four year tenure the company has boosted its global yearly ad spend to around $4 billion (€3bn, £2bn), ploughed more millions into new product development and revamped existing brands.
P&G has also been singleminded about its expansion into China, Russia and Latin America where it has challenged its competitors and reaped rich rewards in market share and sales.
Says Burt Flickinger, of Strategic Resource Group: "As Colgate has undermarketed its brand, P&G with both the Latin and Asian retailers, has really seized the initiative."
Data sourced from New York Times; additional content by WARC staff


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Bigger Rebate for Electric Vehicles
Queensland Government's announcement of an increase in the electric vehicle rebate has been welcomed by locals and lawmakers.
The new eligibility requirements and increased rebate will make it more affordable for Queenslanders to buy electric vehicles, which will not only benefit families but also help reduce emissions and tackle climate change.
“The new rebate is available to eligible households earning up to a gross household income of $180,000 per year.”
Chris Whiting MP, who represents Bancroft, said that the government's move would make EVs more attractive to locals, and that many families in his constituency had already purchased EVs or planned to buy them in the future. He added that the government's new measures would help families save more money in the long run.
According to the government's estimates, around 75% of the average household energy bill is spent on car fuel. With EVs being cheaper, cleaner, and more secure to run, the government hopes that more households will choose to switch to electric vehicles. The new rebate will provide eligible households with a $6,000 rebate when purchasing a new EV, up from the previous amount of $3,000.
The eligibility threshold for vehicles has also been increased from $58,000 to $68,000, including GST, and dealer delivery fees will be excluded from determining 'dutiable value'. The number of EV models available under the scheme will be doubled, with an expected 19 EV models available under the new price cap by the end of the year.
Queensland Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said that the government was committed to making EVs more accessible and affordable for Queenslanders. "The Palaszczuk Government is leading the charge on electric vehicles and we're backing Queenslanders who want to take advantage of these emerging technologies," he said.
The new rebate is available to eligible households earning up to a gross household income of $180,000 per year. If a household has already received a $3,000 rebate under the earlier scheme and is under the income threshold, they can apply for the additional $3,000 rebate.
For more details on the expanded rebate and eligibility requirements, visit https://www.qld.gov.au/transport/projects/electricvehicles.

domain: news


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But does big necessarily mean beautiful? That’s the question behind Ethical Corporation’s recent Country Briefing. The answer all depends, author Stephen Gardner concludes, on who’s doing the beholding.
If it’s a box-ticker, then ‘yes’. More than six in ten (63%) of major Dutch companies produce an annual sustainability report – a figure far in advance of European counterparts such as Germany, Italy and Spain.
Internationalists are also likely to answer positively. From the days of the Dutch East India company, the Netherlands’ sights have been firmly set overseas. It’s a perspective to which its modern multinationals have remained true. As with its government, private companies rank international development highly. And not just in cash terms. Programmes such as the Sustainable Trade Initiative are making strides in spreading efficient, ethical standards away from home. Their supply chain record is no less impressive. The vigilance of Dutch campaign groups and investors has a lot to do with that.
For others, big means bad. Not all Dutch companies are whiter than white. Global bank ING, for instance, has recently come under scrutiny for its holdings in controversial companies”, such as cluster bomb and landmine component makers.
But for most, big simply means cumbersome. Dutch companies have a reputation for following, not leading. Most are a century-plus old. That slows the dynamo somewhat. As Gardner puts it: “Though Dutch companies are among the best, they are generally not the very best, or they are the best only in certain areas.” Shell stands as a case in point. It recently slipped from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, the first time since the ranking’s inception over a decade ago. The reason has yet to be published. Problems in the Niger Delta could be to blame. But more likely, the company just stood still and let others go past it.
Yet the Netherlands is not without its ethical innovators. It’s just a case of where to look. The real action is happening at the other end of the telescope, among the moths not the behemoths. The Dutch know these small, nimble players as “double goal” firms. Triodos Bank, the ethical finance pioneer, is perhaps best known. Its fames for using its $3 billion balance sheet to finance those “working to make the world a better place.” Others - like union-founded bank ASN, local brewer Gulpener and pro-organic fashion label G-Star Raw - are less well known. (The Briefing includes a case study of carpet manufacturer Desso’s cradle-to-cradle production approach should anyone need convincing).
Of course, there’s always a danger that the Netherlands’ ethical minnows might sink rather than swim. In an age of austerity, government incentives are few and far between. That said, the Dutch government does now apply sustainable purchasing criteria to all public contracts.
But government support is confined mostly to the realm of the rhetorical. “Inspiring, innovating and integrating” runs the current mantra from the Staten-Generaal (the Dutch Parliament). If you’re on the look-out for examples, it’d be as well to think small as it would big.


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Following a successful trial in August at Thomas Cook’s concept store at Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, customers visiting selected outlets in the UK will be given a closer look at holidays via a head-mounted VR display unit.
These VR “taster” experiences feature a variety of destinations such as a helicopter tour of Manhattan, a trip to the pool at a Sentido resort in Rhodes and a visit to the restaurant in a SunConnect resort in Cyprus.
As part of Cook’s multi-channel retailing strategy, known as Onmi-channel retailing, holiday-oriented content will also be available on the company’s website to complement the current, standard video content.
Marco Ryan, who was recently appointed chief innovation officer at Thomas Cook, said: “Thomas Cook has a long history of innovation, continually exploring ways to offer unique experiences to the customer.
“Our use of VR is set to further enhance the in-store shopping experience for Thomas Cook customers, allowing them to make informed decisions.”
The technology will become available at Bluewater and two other UK locations yet to be confirmed. Shops in Germany and Belgium will also be trialling the virtual reality headsets.


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In a televised interview, the Winklevoss Twins state that bitcoin is more stable than gold as a store of value, opining that investors are starting to look at storing their wealth in the cryptocurrency.
The Winklevoss Twins are understandably going through a press-tour, plugging their Gemini exchange which began operations in Canada yesterday.
Speaking to Bloomberg in an interview, the twins vouch for bitcoin as a better store of value than gold, noting that investors who hold precious metals in their portfolio are considering bitcoin as a better store of value.
Cameron Winklevoss opined that bitcoin, the way they saw it, is digital gold, or “a better version of gold as a store of value.” The cryptocurrency’s characteristics such as fixed supply garners interest from those suffering due to economic instability, he said, pointing to economic crises like the Cyprus bail-in.
It [bitcoin] definitely reacts in situations


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Battlefield 2042 Open Beta And Live Service Elements Revealed
This year's new Battlefield game is multiplayer only, and a beta is coming.
Battlefield 2042 has been officially announced, and it's a multiplayer-only game. Developer DICE also revealed its plans for a beta test and a separate tech test, and here's what we know so far.
A FAQ posted on the Battlefield website reveals that there will be an open beta for Battlefield 2042 that will be released "in the months leading up to launch." The beta will be available on all platforms, which includes PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
The FAQ also states that people who preorder a copy of Battlefield 2042 will get "early access" to the beta. DICE will announce more details on the open beta in the future, at which point we should learn more about its release timing and content.
There will also be a technical playtest for Battlefield 2042 taking place in July. However, DICE says this will not be a closed alpha like those we've seen for past games; instead, it'll be "done in a closed setting where we'll be using a grey box environment." Those included will be under an NDA, so we likely won't hear any details about what's included unless someone breaks the agreement.
In regards to Battlefield 2042's live service elements, DICE says the studio is taking a "new approach" with the new game with the aim of keeping the community together "for years to come." While the game has no campaign, DICE says it will deliver new storytelling elements throughout the game's seasons. Each of these will last "about three months."
Each new season will add new free and paid content through its Battle Pass. In the first 12 months, DICE will launch four battle passes, four new Specialist characters, and "more fresh content."
Battlefield 2042 launches on October 22. A cinematic announcement trailer can be seen above, while the first gameplay footage will be released during the Xbox E3 2013 briefing on Sunday, June 13. For lots more, check out GameSpot's preview content linked below.
- Battlefield 2042 Imagines A Huge Multiplayer Hellscape Of Climate Change
- Battlefield 2042 Is Fully Multiplayer, Trailer And October Release Date Revealed
The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email firstname.lastname@example.org
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Australian man who's had a microchip inserted into his hand so that he can do more with the iPhone 6...maybe
- Advertising director Ben Slater had the microchip inserted two weeks ago
- It was implanted in the webbing of his hand at a Melbourne tattoo parlour
- Mr Slater hopes the new generation iPhone will be able to read the chip
- He is able to open doors and switch on lights without touching anything
- The iPhone 6 will be launched by Apple in two days on September 9
A Brisbane man is living the life of the future after having a microchip implanted under his skin so he can control electronic devices with just a wave of a hand.
Ben Slater had a radio-frequency identification microchip - which has similar measurements to a grain of rice - injected into his left hand through a syringe two weeks ago at a Melbourne tattoo parlour.
The advertising director's move comes as technology enthusiasts eagerly await the unveiling of the iPhone 6 in two days time.
Scroll down for video
Ben Slater has had a microchip inserted into his hand to allow him to open doors and switch on lights with the wave of his hand
He hopes the new generation of Apple's smart phone will have the capability to read the microchip implanted in the webbing between his thumb and forefinger.
The new addition to his body means Mr Slater can swing his front door open, switch on his lights and store personal information with the flick of his hand.
'The most obvious thing the chip allows me to do is store my contact information on it, so that I can just touch a phone with NFC and pass my information to their phone. That is a great party trick,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'But it can also trigger an action on my phone to turn the house lights off, open a secure door which is set to recognise the chip or I could - and probably will - set up my car ignition to be linked to the chip for keyless entry and start up.'
Mr Slater told Daily Mail Australia he made the decision to implant the microchip because he had always been interested in the future of technology.
'I wanted to get the chip implanted to generate discussion,' he said.
'It intrigues me that we live in an age where this type of activity is even possible, especially for some seeming random guy in Australia to arrange to have done.'
It was inserted in a Melbourne tattoo parlour with a syringe containing the chip
Mr Slater said the procedure to implant the microchip was painful, but over quickly.
'I just needed to be really careful when it was healing over the course of the two weeks later so that I didn't move it - otherwise it could have travelled in my hand,' he said.
The microchip implant may still be new to Australian shores, but it has become a growing trend in the United States after it was introduced in 2004 when the nation's Food and Drug Administration gave the green light for its use to carry information about people's medical conditions, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
The iPhone 6 is expected to be the largest phone Apple has produced, with a 5.5-inch screen.
It is believed the handset is so large that it will come with a special 'one-handed' mode to make it easier for people to use it.
Anticipation over the phone is so high that people in the U.S. started lining up outside Apple stores two weeks ago to be one of the first to get a slice of the action.
In the U.S., the chip is used to store the medical information of people with illness
Mr Slater hopes the new generation iPhone 6 - which will be launched on September 6 - will have the capability to read the chip
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by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
British consumers have become freebie hunters, with a recent survey finding that a third of them have switched from their regular brand in order to receive a promotional product.
Other items that can persuade consumers to change brand include fizzy drink branded glasses (39%), a cuddly toy, such as the puppy associated with a well-known toilet roll brand (34%), the meerkat toy (34%), a cosmetic purse or tote bag (30%) and the monkey toy associated with a familiar tea brand (28%).
Men are most likely to switch their brand for a coffee mug, while women would switch their brand for cooking accessories.
The survey of 1,000 consumers was commissioned by Promotional Products Week, which has been organized by the British Promotional Marketing Association.
Of the promotional products that consumers have and use, 62% stated they have a pen, 35% a mug, 33% a keyring, 25% a t-shirt or sweatshirt and 25% a drinking glass. Other items of merchandise kept and used including USB sticks, bags, caps and notepads.
82% of consumers said they keep promotional products because they are useful, 24% because they are relevant and 20% because they are good quality. Interestingly, over a quarter (26%) keep them because they are a novelty.
I must say that I do tend to keep most of the stuff from shows and such that I end up being given and have USB drives almost coming out of my ears and the same goes for mugs. Gimme hats are also very welcome with me as I almost exclusively wear baseball hats and one can never have enough and free is always a good cost here.
Consumers have picked up or expect to be able to pick up promotional products at exhibitions (80%), roadshows (60%), hotel rooms (49%), banks (38%), hotel receptions (32%) and car dealers/garages (31%).
Looking at branding on promotional products, nearly half of the consumer surveyed (47%) said that ‘significant’ branding was acceptable, whereas a third (33%) stated that branding should be ‘subtle.’
As far as I am concerned the advertising on the freebies does not bother me in the least, unless I do not support the company. Otherwise I rather have a brand such as that on show than the Nike or whatever other clothing brand logo that I may not support.
In the current economic difficulties nearly three-fifths of consumers said they are more likely to keep freebies than before the recession. What’s more, one in 10 consumers said they would give a free branded product as a gift to a friend or family member, again showing how product choice can help to raise brand awareness among not only the direct recipient, but among wider friends and family as well.
But, in these economic times brand awareness is not what anyone is interested in when it comes to branded merchandise and it was not in the old days either when you could collect all manner of useful things for home and kitchen via grocery store brands, be that drinking glasses, mustard pots, or even cutlery, etc.
Everyone loves a freebie, including cuddly toys, and that even more so in an economic downturn.


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The Amazon Great Indian sale exclusively opened for Prime members on January 19. Now, the sale is open for all and scheduled to run till January 23. The e-commerce platform has also partnered with HDFC bank and offering up to 10% discount to users who will make payment through the bank’s debit or credit card. So, let’s just take a look at the deals.
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Just as employees often must learn new skills to meet changes in their careers, so companies must repeatedly reinvent themselves to stay strong.
Faced with mounting global competition, companies can't survive as they once did by churning out the same products or services in the same way year after year. The most successful companies don't wait until they're in trouble or are overtaken by rivals to make changes. The trick is to analyze portfolios constantly, to move quickly to shed weak businesses and to gamble on new opportunities without making the company unstable.
Whereas in the past decade, the concern among companies was reinventing their businesses for new technologies, today it's staying ahead of foreign rivals who produce items more cheaply, and are working their way up to more high-end products.
"Windows of opportunity open and close so quickly today, you can't just mull decisions right in front of you. You have to look around the corner and figure out where you need to go, without becoming spastic or jerking your company in too many different directions," says Michael Fraizer, CEO of Genworth Financial, the insurance company based in Richmond, Va.
To test his own decision making, Mr. Fraizer regularly fires himself -- at least in his own mind. It's a tactic he learned from former Intel CEO Andy Grove in his 1996 book, "Only the Paranoid Survive." When Intel's memory-chip business was getting battered by Japanese rivals in the 1980s, Mr. Grove asked Intel co-founder Gordon Moore: "If we got kicked out and the board brought in a new CEO, what would he do?"
Mr. Moore answered that a new CEO would get Intel out of the memory-chip business.
"Why shouldn't you and I walk out the door, come back and do it ourselves?" Mr. Grove retorted. He then did just that, reshaping Intel from a memory-chip producer to a microprocessor maker.
Two years ago, Mr. Fraizer and other Genworth Financial employees had to learn how to change directions fast. Their former parent, General Electric, decided to exit the insurance business and expand into health-care information technologies and other businesses it believed would yield higher profits. Persuaded that Genworth could prosper as an independent business by focusing on mortgage, life and long-term-care insurance, Mr. Fraizer led the company through an initial public offering.
The company looked to Spain, Italy, Portugal, Poland, Mexico and other countries, where the housing market for first-time and lower-income buyers -- who can't afford large down payments and need mortgage insurance -- was about to boom, Genworth managers predicted.
They hired local managers and worked with overseas banks to understand mortgage-lending requirements in different countries and to help them evaluate risk. "We both underwrite the loan and do the valuation of the property so we are growth partners with [overseas] banks," says Mr. Fraizer.
He also urged managers to think of new ways to reach the growing population of senior citizens as well as younger consumers who don't have the pensions or lifetime health benefits to sustain them through retirement. Among its new products: Clear Course, a variable annuity with a fixed guarantee income that will be offered in 401(k) plans.
"We thought about how a packaged-goods company would come into our business and think about retirement -- and came up with something simple" for risk-averse consumers who don't feel confident making investment decisions, says Mr. Fraizer.
Reinvention isn't a short process. At International Business Machines, it has been going on for more than a decade.
Former IBM CEO Louis Gerstner brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy by transforming it from a computer-hardware dinosaur to a technology-services giant. Current CEO Sam Palmisano, who took over four years ago, has accelerated Big Blue's transformation to a technology expert that helps companies adopt more-sophisticated management processes.
Steady revenue growth has been hard to come by in technology services, where IBM must compete against Hewlett-Packard, Accenture and various India-based outsourcers to get contracts to run companies' computer operations. So, Mr. Palmisano is emphasizing executive-level consultant work and also expanding IBM's highly profitable software division.
Its programmers and research scientists work side-by-side with employees of big customers to help them rethink, and sometimes help run, everything from payroll processing to customer service. Top IBM executives hope the close customer relationships will pull in more software and hardware sales.
"I send my lab teams to work with customers every day -- and I want their noses rubbed in what isn't working," says Steve Mills, senior vice president of IBM's software group, which has 40,000 employees and has acquired 40 specialized companies since 2000.
There isn't a day that goes by, he adds, that IBM executives don't talk about how to move the company into more-profitable businesses.


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Shares of MoneyGram jumped 10.5 per cent on Thursday, after the money-transfer company said it partnered with blockchain firm and bitcoin-rival Ripple.
As part of the arrangement, MoneyGram will test the use of Ripple’s cryptocurrency, XRP, to move funds in a faster and cheaper way.
Ripple, created by the founder of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has risen 31,000 per cent over the past year, overshadowing bitcoin’s 1,200 per cent increase.
South Korea plans to ban cryptocurrency trading
XRP rose 13 per cent to $13.38 on Thursday, according to coinmarketcap.com.
Many see it as a close contender to bitcoin, which is by far the biggest cryptocurrency with a market value of more than $250 billion.
XRP allows banks and payment companies to send money quickly, no matter the location. Its transaction fee, at just “fractions of a penny”, is also comparable to bitcoin’s $30 per transaction fee.
US official warns Bitcoin could become the new Swiss bank account
Several companies such as UBS and Santander already use Ripple’s products to enable payments. In November 2017, American Express also launched an instant blockchain-based payment system using Ripple.
China’s Ant Financial’s deal to buy MoneyGram for $1.2 billion collapsed last week.
Loses more than 20% amid purported profit-taking
While none can match Bitcoin's $242 billion market capitalisation
The steps will include a ban on opening anonymous cryptocurrency accounts
Original news : https://tribune.com.pk/story/1609031/8-moneygram-shares-jump-partnership-bitcoin-rival-ripple/


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LOS ANGELES, CA — Consumer Watchdog today joined the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy and 19 other consumer and health advocacy groups in calling on the Federal Trade Commission to hold app makers accountable for unfair and deceptive practices, including falsely marketing apps that require in-app purchases as “free” and manipulating children to watch ads and make purchases.
The call for action by the FTC came as a major new study detailing a host of concerning practices in apps targeted at young children was published. The study, “Advertising in Young Children’s Apps,” was led by researchers at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, and examined the type and content of advertising in 135 children’s apps.
Researchers found a number of troubling advertising practices, including apps that force kids to watch ads or make in-app purchases in order to advance in the game, ads disguised as game play, and beloved characters urging children to make in-app purchases.
Reads the study here.
The groups’ complaint to FTC charged that these practices are deceptive to kids and parents alike. Read the FTC complaint here.
“With young children now using mobile devices on an average of one hour a day, it’s important to understand how this type of commercial exposure may impact children’s health and wellbeing,” said Jenny Radesky, M.D., a developmental behavioral expert and pediatrician at Mott Children’s Hospital and a senior author of the new report. “Our findings show that the early childhood app market is a wild west, with a lot of apps appearing more focused on making money than the child’s play experience. This has important implications for advertising regulation, the ethics of child app design, as well as how parents discern which children’s apps are worth downloading.”
“This groundbreaking study demonstrates that popular apps for preschoolers are rife with marketing that takes unfair advantage of children’s developmental vulnerabilities,” said CCFC’s Executive Director Josh Golin. “Disguising ads as part of game play and using cartoon characters to manipulate children into making in-app purchases is not only unethical, but illegal. We urge the FTC to take swift and decisive action to hold app developers accountable for their unfair and deceptive marketing.”
“This study provides compelling evidence the children’s app industry is failing the needs of children and parents,” said Kathryn C. Montgomery, Ph.D., Professor Emerita at American University and Research Director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The research adds to a growing body of scholarship documenting unethical and illegal practices in the children’s app marketplace. The FTC should act swiftly to hold app developers accountable.”
“Apparently unethical app developers are more interested in money than anything else,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy and Technology Project director. “The FTC needs to hold them accountable and stop this unconscionable exploitation of young children.”
The letter to the FTC was drafted by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) and the Center for Digital Democracy (CDD), with assistance from the Communications & Technology Law Clinic in the Institute for Public Representation (“IPR”) at Georgetown University Law Center.
Joining CCFC, CDD and Consumer Watchdog in signing the letter were Badass Teachers Association, Centre for Child Honouring, Color of Change, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Corporate Accountability, Defending the Early Years, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Media Education Foundation, New Dream, Open MIC (Open Media and Information Companies Initiative), Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, Parents Across America, Parents Television Council, Peace Educators Allied for Children Everywhere (P.E.A.C.E.), Public Citizen, the Story of Stuff, TRUCE (Teachers Resisting Unhealthy Childhood Entertainment), and USPIRG.
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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recently released figures showing that online shoppers in the UK have spent up to 13.4% more in June 2014 than they did in the same month last year, Internet Retailing reveals.
Around £728.9 million was spent every week on online retail in June 2014, however this figure is 0.1% lower than the figure recorded for May 2014. This is the first decrease to be recorded since January 2014, in the post-Christmas crash.
June 2013 accounted for around 10.4% of all retail spending, whilst June 2014 enjoyed an increase and accounted for 11.3%; there was also a 3.6% increase in the quantity bought in the retail industry in June of this year, and an increase of 0.1% compared to May 2014. In fact, all retail sectors indicated estimated increases in the quantity bought year-on-year in June 2014.
There was an estimated spend of £35.3 billion on retail goods during the five weeks of June, an increase on the £27.8 billion spent in May 2014 and even up on the £34.1 billion spent in June 2013.
The managing director of VoucherCodes.co.uk, Claire Davenport, noted that retailers will be “cheering” at the news from the ONS that retail spending has increased, but that those in the undustry need to remember not to get ahead of themselves. The cost-of-living still remains a contentious issue, she states, and it could still affect the retail industry.
Other areas that enjoyed a positive outcome were online food sales, which grew by 14.5%, while household item stores witnessed an increase in sales of 5.5%, meaning that it accounted for 5.8% of total retail sales.


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New policy in effect with pre-order for upcoming fantasy title Disciples: Liberation
The Kalypso Media Group has today announced a new price reduction policy for all of its titles moving forward. The policy arrives as a result of constant shifts in the video games marketplace, a further move toward digital sales, and the noticeable and ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kalypso has confirmed that its sales are doing well and that, moving forward, the resulting profit margins will be passed directly back to the players in the form of a lower baseline price for all titles.
“We have been able to increase our digital sales and, above all, margins in recent months, while physical sales in traditional retail have slumped due to the COVID-19 situation. Currently, we do not expect this trend to reverse even after the pandemic. Most of our fans buy or stream games, primarily, digitally, so it is very likely that sales of physical products will continue to decline, saving us costs in manufacturing, logistics and distribution,” said Simon Hellwig, CEO of Kalypso.
In the past, new release games from the publisher have launched with a recommended retail price of €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 for PC and €59.99/$59.99/£54.99 for consoles.
“We would like to reward the loyalty of the community by partially passing on the higher margins as part of permanent price reductions,” said Dr. Anika Thun, Global Marketing Director at Kalypso, adding that “the entry price of a full-price product in the standard edition will be no higher than €39.99/$39.99/£34.99 for PC and €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 for consoles on launch day. In due course, we will also be reducing the prices of current top sellers such as Tropico 6, Port Royale 4 and Spacebase Startopia.
Included in the reductions is the publisher’s upcoming dark fantasy strategy title Disciples: Liberation which, alongside the most recent iteration of the company’s flagship franchise Tropico 6, stands as the largest Kalypso production to date. PC pre-orders for the game are now live at the Kalypso Store for 15% off, as well as Steam and the Epic Games Store at 10% off. The ‘Standard Edition’ of Disciples: Liberation set to release in Q4 of 2021 for €39.99/$39.99/£34.99 on PC and €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 on consoles.
Customers will also be able to purchase the ‘Deluxe Edition’ of the game for €49.99/$49.99/£44.99 (PC) or €59.99/$59.99/£54.99 (console) with additional bonus content.
“Disciples: Liberation is an expansive and content-packed title which would justify a much higher retail price. However, we believe that despite high production values, we are right with our pricing policy and can continue to inspire our community for Kalypso products,” adds Hellwig.
Kalypso has implemented the price reductions from 1 June, 2021 and will continue to roll out the policy as more products are launched.


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Music Gear News
2:54 concerts on their way
The dates begin on October 27th with the final gig being on November 8th, in between which the band are set to take in the likes of Brighton on November 4th, Newcastle on October 31st and Guildford on November 6th.
All in all there are 11 shows, in 11 locations, on the group's tour itinerary for the United Kingdom.
2:54's first LP - also called 2:54 – came out earlier in 2012 and is home to tracks such as Watcher, You're Early, Creeping and Revolving.
2:54 has two members, Collette Thurlow and Hannah Thurlow. The surname similarity is no coincidence however, as the pair are in fact sisters.
When they visit Sheffield, the pair will be at the Leadmill venue, which is also expecting gigs from the likes of Friday Night, Don't Ever Let It End band Spector.
Published by KT. Posted on 16 Aug 2012 16:29 to category : Band / Celebrity News
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Dynamic electronic duo, Daft Punk and Grammy award winning sound engineer, Mick Guzauski, have disclosed the secrets of the unique sound of Daft Punk's latest album, Random Access Memories.
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The record for the longest drum session in a retail store was set in New York yesterday by musician and party-devotee Andrew W.K.
He explained why he took up the flute in an exclusive clip from Neil McCormick's Needle Time.
The band are currently top of the charts with their latest album, 13.
The former Smiths guitarist will play nine shows across the UK in the autumn.
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Shure are looking for unsigned bands and singer/songwriters to answer their call for legends. Enter their competition to win one of three unbelievable prizes fit for legendary artists.
Until 2nd January 2014, receive a free Focusrite VRM box when you purchase a Saffire Pro 40 or Liquid Saffire 56.
The 2013 MIA Awards were recently announced, showcasing the best products this year, voted for by readers of publications such as Future Music, Computer Music and Total Guitar, as well as Classic FM and Music Radar.
Gibson have announced a huge price drop on many Tribute Les Paul and SG electric guitars, including models with the Gibson Min-ETune and Les Paul Signature T models.
Peavey have made free Vypyr Edit software available for their Vypyr VIP Series Amps.
Gibson are marking 120 years of great guitars with 28 new 2014 models, featuring new appointments and debuting four new pickups.


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News / 27.08.20
SIMIAN to take over the day-to-day operation of Aspects’ centre in Coventry
SIMIAN and Aspects Total Training Limited have agreed a new joint-venture partnership. The initiative will see SIMIAN take over the day-to-day operation of Aspects’ centre in Coventry, as a hub to support their operations in the Midlands region.
Michelle McFall, Aspects’ Director, said: “We are extremely pleased to formally agree a partnership with SIMIAN and we are looking forward to benefitting from the wealth of industry knowledge and expertise they bring to the venture.
“We are confident that the centre will release its full potential and build on the early success we have enjoyed. Our agreement opens up opportunities for the centre and will enable the JV to develop and realise our long-term objectives at a faster pace, and this will ultimately be for the benefit of the scaffolding industry in and around the Midlands region.”
Jackie Thomason, Finance Director at SIMIAN, added: “The venture is the ideal model for both businesses and fits perfectly with our post-COVID business plan. The centre is ideally located with easy access just off Junction 3 of the M6.
“The team at Aspects have built a very high quality training facility that will benefit all of those that go to learn there. In the short time that the business has been operating, Michelle has already developed a great team and we look forward to working with them and welcoming them into the SIMIAN family.”
A full programme of courses at the Coventry facility is now available via SIMIAN’s website. For enquiries contact firstname.lastname@example.org and 0345 6022418. Existing Aspects customers can continue to contact the centre team directly at the Coventry site.
Please enter a postcode to search for a member:


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UFC on ESPN+ #1
The UFC's January 19th event in New York represents the promotion's first event with it's new broadcast partner, ESPN. The show will air in it's entirity and exclusive on ESPN+ (get a free 7-day trial), the network's streaming service available for mobile phones, laptops, and tv connected media devices. (Apple TV, Roku, Amazon FireTV, etc).
The event will be headlined by a superfight between flyweight champion Henry Cejudo and bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw for the flyweight title.
|Name:||UFC on ESPN+ #1|
|Date/Time:||Jan 19, 2019 12:00 AM|
|Location:||BARCLAYS CENTER |
620 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, New York USA
|Promoter:||Ultimate Fighting Championship|
|Commission:||New York State Athletic Commission|
* Official events are those supervised by an Athletic Commission as defined by the Association of Boxing Commissions.
|13||Henry Cejudo||TJ Dillashaw||Flyweight||5|
|12||Gregory Hardy||Allen Crowder||Heavyweight||3|
|11||Gregor Gillespie||Yancy Medeiros||Lightweight||3|
|10||Joe Benavidez||Dustin Ortiz||Flyweight||3|
|9||Paige Vanzant||Rachael Berdon||Flyweight||3|
|8||Glover Teixeira||Karl Roberson||Light-heavyweight||3|
|7||Alexander Hernandez||Donald Cerrone||Lightweight||3|
|6||Joanne Calderwood||Ariane Lipski||Flyweight||3|
|5||Alonzo Minifield||Vinicius Mamute||Light-heavyweight||3|
|4||Cory Sandhagen||Mario Bautista||Bantamweight||3|
|3||Dennis Bermudez||Te Edwards||Lightweight||3|
|2||Belal Muhammad||Geoff Neal||Welterweight||3|
|1||Kyle Stewart||Chance Rencountre||Welterweight||3|


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If the Facebook (FB) of the future suggest some similarities to Skynet, the self-aware artificial intelligence villain in "The Terminator" movies, it's not hard to see why.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg this week provided a glimpse of where he sees the social-media giant in a decade, and it involves a novel combination of drones, lasers, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. In other words, it's not the Facebook of Zuckerberg's formative years at Harvard, which he dropped out of 11 years ago to focus on building a social network for college students.
To some, it may seem like a vision from a science-fiction movie.
Of course, Facebook has always been about evolution and pushing product development, as well as carefully plucking acquisitions such as Instagram and Oculus Rift. And while it might seem odd that Facebook would get involved in drones and lasers, it's all geared toward the company's long-term goal of providing Internet (and Facebook) access to everyone across the globe. Drones, for instance, will help bring fast online connectivity to people who currently can't get it.
While Facebook's ambitions are huge and raise questions about whether the company will succeed in achieving them, another niggling problem is at hand. Will Americans -- and everyone else on the globe -- want to hand over so many aspects of their lives to Facebook, which doesn't exactly have a stellar reputation when it comes to privacy?
"They're looking to have you bring your real-world ID to every digital experience you have, whether that's texting with a business or sharing photos on a stream or jumping into the next digital world," said Christian Brucculeri, the chief executive of Snaps Media, a New York-based mobile messaging platform. One potential downside for Facebook, he noted, is that "young digital consumers want to own their content," which may cause some of them to search for alternatives.
Still, a Facebook of drones and lasers isn't happening anytime soon. At this point, the company is investing in the technology and people it hopes will make its 10-year plan a reality. Earlier this week, Facebook said it hired Regina Dugan, the former head of DARPA, or the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. She'll lead a new team called Building 8, into which Zuckerberg said the company will invest "hundreds of people and hundreds of millions of dollars" over the next few years to help achieve his long-term goals.
In the nearer term, the social network will continue working on issues such as getting its customers to spend more time on the platform and improving products such as Instagram and Messenger.
Consumers may first notice changes with Messenger, Facebook's instant-messaging platform, than in other areas. That's because the company is making a chatbot platform for Messenger, which will allow marketers to reach out to consumers, and vice versa. For instance, if you spill coffee on your shirt, you might start a Messenger chat with a bot owned by a detergent company to find a solution.
The bot might say something like "Welcome to Stain Genie. What's your problem?" said Brucculeri. The bot would next give advice and offer a how-to video and a coupon for purchasing the detergent, he said. Media companies could ask to show a consumer news reports or other content, allowing the user to decide whether to read more or search for additional articles.
"I call it the bumper bowling of building a chatbot," Brucculeri said. "It allows you to select from a menu of options, but it doesn't mimic human behavior."
Messenger's evolution pushes Facebook's long-time goal of enabling social interaction, said Chris Monberg, chief technology officer of Boomtrain, an artificial intelligence company. At the heart of its success is Facebook's ability to extract users' likes and dislikes, and then tweak their newsfeed -- or, in the future, their Messenger content -- to give consumers what they're interested in, he noted.
"The more you know about the user, when and what to communicate to them can be super-successful," Monberg said. "They are trying to make our live easier and make some money from it."
As for whether Facebook can achieve its 10-year plan, Monberg said he believes it will take longer than the company expects.
Zuckerberg "wants to be taken much more seriously by the global community," Monberg said. "He's setting a vision. Will he execute in getting drones in the air in 10 years? I would be surprised."
On the artificial intelligence side, though, it's more likely, he added: "The time is definitely now."


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Christina Wilkie, The Hill, April 6, 2011
With a government shutdown looming, Capitol Hill was a pretty serious place on Wednesday afternoon.
But for Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.), what better way to ease the tension than with a congressional ladies personal shopping trip in Arlington, Va.?
According to an email from Brown’s scheduler titled, “Outing with Congresswoman Corrine Brown,” staff member Cathy Gass invited Brown’s fellow female Congressional Black Caucus members to join the lawmaker at a boutique in Crystal City, Va. on Wednesday afternoon.
Gass also suggests that for members who “would like to share [their] dress size, the boutique can pull some items for them to have available once they arrive.”
For those unfamiliar with the ultra high-end service, pulling clothes that a client might like before they arrive is better known as personal shopping.


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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Maryland will lift quarantining requirements for residents who travel out-of-state starting Friday, Gov. Larry Hogan announced Tuesday.
Hogan announced he would lift more covid-19 restrictions starting Friday, March 12 at 5 p.m., including all capacity restrictions on dining (both indoor and outdoor), retail, personal services, religious buildings, indoor recreation, fitness centers and casinos.
Large indoor and outdoor venues -- used for weddings, concerts, conventions, theaters, racing or sports -- will remain at 50% capacity.
However masks are required and social distancing should be maintained.
UPDATES FROM GOV. HOGAN'S NEWS CONFERENCE:
- Maryland Lifts COVID Capacity Limits On Restaurant Dining, Retail And Other Businesses, Masks Still Required
- Maryland's Statewide Mask Mandate To Remain In Effect As COVID-19 Restrictions Loosen, Gov. Larry Hogan Says
- Graduations, Proms Should Be Allowed 'As Long As We Follow All Health Advice,' Gov. Hogan Says
- Mass COVID-19 Vaccination Site In Hagerstown To Open March 25, One Week Ahead Of Schedule
- COVID-19 Latest: Oriole Park Can Host Fans At 50% Capacity, Gov. Hogan Announces
- COVID-19 Latest: Adult Day Care Centers To Reopen With Safety Measures In Place, Gov. Hogan Says
Previously, residents who traveled out-of-state were required to quarantine for 10 days when they returned or have a negative coronavirus test.
Gov. Hogan said testing was still strongly encouraged, but no longer required.
WATCH: Gov. Hogan's Full News Conference:
for more features.


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China Mobile Ltd (Hong Kong, China), the world's largest mobile operator, said on Friday it will use $780 million to set up a finance unit in a move that could disappoint shareholders hoping for a dividend hike.
The new unit would be called China Mobile Finance and would engage in financial services such as insurance agency business and inter-bank lending, China Mobile said in a statement posted on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
"It has become increasingly important to find a solution to further strengthen the internal funds management and better control liquidity risks," China Mobile Chairman Wang Jianzhou said in the statement.
China Mobile's wholly owned subsidiary Beijing Mobile will contribute $720 million to the new company, with China Mobile's parent company CMCC giving the remaining $62.6 million, the company said.
This is the second time China Mobile is associating with the financial services sector, having spent about $6 billion in March last year to buy a 20% stake in the mid-sized Pudong Development Bank.
Then, China Mobile had said the purchase was necessary to help it develop its electronic mobile payment system by making it easier to process the money it receives.
China Mobile is one of the world's most cash-rich companies with over $45 billion in cash sitting in its bank accounts at the end of 2010, prompting calls from some shareholders for it to raise its dividend payout ratio.
The company has so far refused to do so, saying it operates in a fast-growing market and needs the money to fund its future growth strategies. China is the world's biggest mobile phone market with over 900 million users at the end of June.
"The cash China Mobile has is probably enough to buy up some companies," said Bertram Lai, an analyst at CIMB Securities.
"There were calls for the company to raise its dividend payout, but that's cooled off as investors get used to the reality that China Mobile probably won't."
(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Chris Lewis and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Geo IoT is anticipated to move well beyond simply the ability to determine proximity for commerce and various retail applications. Longer term, presence detection and location determination will be a critical aspect of IoT privacy, security, and preference management for both consumer and industrial applications.
Analysis of the DAS market, including carrier WiFi, small cells, and SON, and the leading companies in the DAS ecosystem and their solutions. The report also includes evaluation of market drivers, challenges, and provides forecasts for 2016 to 2021.
Comprehensive coverage of NGN OSS/BSS including opportunities within Big Data and IoT, analysis of the drivers and issues related to the technical and business aspects of OSS/BSS, deployments and operations issues, and quantitative analysis with forecasts for anticipated growth through 2021.


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As part of its strategic objectives to develop and bolster the next generation of Bahraini business leaders, Tenmou, the Kingdom’s First ‘Business Angels’ today announced its latest batch of Bahraini entrepreneurs who have received an investment boost to commence business. Mr. Sami Jalal, the Chairman of Tenmou, introduced the entrepreneurs to the local media during an exclusive meet and greet session held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
The tech savvy start-ups in the latest batch include: uTrack, the Kingdom’s first company to provide a unique way of covering sports events, such as car, bike and horse races using go-Pro cameras, the world’s most versatile cameras (Hasan ALDOY Creator and Founder). Spades Studio, the first multi-use photography studio in Bahrain where products such as cars and furniture can be photographed. The studio will also provide a ‘members only’ space for hiring cutting-edge equipment and studio space.
Onebox Solution, aims to enhance education tools for teachers and students, by converting books into e-books; Eat: is an app which makes dining at 5-star restaurants in Bahrain more accessible, through an online reservation system. Finally Fish Transporter: provides a unique service for fish lovers. The app enables customers to have fresh seafood delivered to their doorstep. The fish is cleaned, filleted or even cooked and delivered as per the need of the consumer.
Sami Jalal, Chairman of Tenmou, commenting on the announcement said: “Continuing with our pledge to enhance the start-up experience for promising Bahraini ventures, we at Tenmou are excited to see a new crop of digital businesses being established in the Kingdom. These companies are part of our country’s promising digital sector and will be paving the way for many more’.


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By Pamela Ramcharan
Ramsaran’s Dairy Products can once again be sold in groceries as the Supermarkets’ Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SATT) has lifted the boycott on its products.
The call was made a couple of days ago when an employee, alleged to be a relative of the owners, posted what was considered as divisive comments on social media.
An apology was issued by the family member but two supermarkets were the first to pull all Ramsaran’s products from their shelves.
SATT then called on all its members to boycott the company’s products after which Ramsaran’s apologised and fired the employee in question.
In a media release on Friday, SATT stated, “The decision to remove the products, at that time, from our shelves was a principled stance as SATT continues to make every effort to align with partners who share our core values.”
It stated, “We acknowledge that the opinions expressed on social media and highlighted in the press were the views expressed by an irresponsible employee and family member who does not in fact accurately represent the views of Ramsaran Dairy Products.”
“We take note that the company also issued a full repudiation of the same employee’s opinions as policy and also acknowledge that it has taken subsequent redress to have the matter amended. This included the dismissal of the employee in question as well as a full apology communicated via national press media,” it added.
SATT stated, “This matter has sparked impetus for national conversations on a number of platforms. In light of the actions taken by Ramsaran’s Dairy Products to redress this unfortunate situation, we are satisfied at this time to lift the boycott on Ramsaran’s Dairy Products.”
The Association reminded consumers that they had the power to choose to support the products and urged them to move away from “divisive diatribe” that had the crippling potential to polarize them as a nation.


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A year is a long time in the world of video-on-demand streaming.
This time last year, Foxtel faced an existential threat after shutdowns around the globe cancelled sporting events. This, in turn, prompted a huge number of subscribers to cancel their Foxtel subscriptions, culminating in hundreds of Foxtel staff being made redundant in a bid to cut costs and stay solvent.
Since then, Foxtel has fought back hard.
First, Foxtel outbid streaming rival Stan for exclusive rights to Warner Bros, WarnerMedia, HBO and HBO Max content. In turn, Foxtel bolstered its exclusive line up, whereas Stan lost various WarnerMedia programs from its platform.
Stan’s troubles were then compounded in June when it also lost an exclusive deal with ViacomCBS to stream Showtime content, thus stripping it of more content.
Second, Foxtel launched its Binge streaming service, which has proved highly successful. The number of Foxtel paid subscribers rose by 12% year-on-year to 3.314 million in the three months to December 2020, with both Kayo and Binge experiencing explosive growth.
Specifically, Binge added 431,000 paying customers in its first 7 months of operation in 2020.
Now Stan is the one whose future is looking precarious. Stan boasts about 2.3 million active users at present, while nearly 150,000 of them also have a Stan Sport subscription. Nine Entertainment Company’s CEO Mike Sneesby also admitted that Stan is now ‘consolidating’ in the post-Covid environment after its Stan Sport subscriber numbers came in lower than expected:
“We’ll be building on that cost out program and making sure we right-size our cost base, focusing on growth, but really looking to the long-term opportunity and making sure we don‘t become complacent about the strength of our financials.”
My family has basic subscriptions to:
- Foxtel Now (primarily for news);
- Amazon Prime;
- Stan; and
Out of the above, Stan’s and Disney’s offerings are by far the weakest with Netflix and Amazon providing the best value.
Stan desperately needs exclusive content to bolster its catalogue and give people a reason to subscribe. Otherwise, it faces a difficult future in the crowded video-on-demand streaming market.
- Brisbane property the winner from Sydney’s lockdown - July 28, 2021
- Realtors shed crocodile tears at soaring property market - July 28, 2021
- CPI in detail: No smoking gun to lift rates - July 28, 2021


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Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn today announced it fourth quarter and full-year financial results for 2021, showing a net income of $17.9 billion and the rapid progress of the growth plan to establish the company as a leader in the connected and electric vehicle market.
“Financial performance is obviously critical,” says Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford. “We’re also proud that customers see how Ford is taking EVs mainstream and have already ordered or reserved more than 275,000 all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs, F-150 Lightning pickups and E-Transit commercial vehicles — and we’re breaking constraints to deliver every one of them as fast as we can.”
The company’s adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) was $10 billion at the midpoint of $9.6 and $10.6 billion guidance range after the first quarter reclassification of Rivian gains. Fourth-quarter revenue was $37.7 billion, net income was $12.3 billion, and adjusted EBIT was $2.0 billion, all up from 2020. So, too, was Ford’s performance against each of those measures for all of 2021.
Ford was the number-two seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. in 2021. Farley says that the company will double worldwide EV manufacturing capacity to at least 600,000 by 2023 — and for fully electric vehicles to represent at least 40 percent of its product mix by 2030.
“Our team did a fantastic job working with partners to maximize component availability,” says John Lawler, CFO at Ford. “We allocated those volumes to in-demand new vehicles like the Bronco and Maverick, profitable models like F-Series and Transit, and customer orders.”
Ford worked with LG Energy Solutions to improve battery supply for the Mustang Mach-E, expanding capacity three times over the past 10 months. Benefits from those increases will continue to accrue to more than double originally contracted volumes by 2023.
Meanwhile, Lawler said, full-year benefits from a strong mix and net pricing, as well as lower warranty costs, more than offset the effects of the production losses and higher commodity costs. As a result, automotive EBIT of $7.4 billion and margin of 5.9 percent for 2021 were both significantly higher than in 2020.
During the fourth quarter, Ford reinstated a regular dividend of 10 cents per share. The company’s balance sheet was further strengthened in the quarter by repurchasing and redeeming $7.6 billion in high-cost debt. Around the same time, Ford introduced the North America auto industry’s first fully integrated sustainable financing framework, which spans both the auto business and Ford Credit.
The automaker also is adding to Ford+ capabilities for connectivity and EVs. Since the company last announced quarterly results on Oct. 27, developments have included:
- The launch of VIIZR, a field-service tool for small-business customers built on the Salesforce platform.
- An initiative that allows plug-in EV owners in California to opt into carbon-neutral charging at home, a program of the California Air Resource Board’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.
- A five-year agreement with Stripe, the economic-infrastructure company, to scale Ford’s always-on e-commerce capabilities for customers.
- Formation of Canopy, a joint venture with ADT, for professional security monitoring and artificial intelligence-based camera technology that strengthens security of customers’ new and existing vehicles of all makes.
- Creation of Ford Pro Intelligence, a cloud-based platform powering digital services to support commercial customer fleets.


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Realme X9 Pro Concrete Edition images and specifications have surfaced online. A TENAA listing said to be of the smartphone, which could be called the Realme GT Neo in some markets, shows a rectangular rear camera module. Separately, Chinese blogger WhyLab has also shared a set of images of the phone that show a similar camera module. These images show the phone sporting a textured gray back similar to the one on the Realme X2 Pro Master Edition designed by Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa.
As per a TENAA listing of a Realme phone believed to be the Realme X9 Pro Concrete Edition — said to be called Realme GT Neo in global markets — sports a curved 6.55-inch display and a dual-cell 4,400mAh battery. The listing shows that the phone has a model number RMX3116, and measures 159.9×73.4×7.8mm. The handset could come with 5G connectivity, a rectangular rear camera module, and will run on Android 11 out-of-the-box.
Photos of the rumoured Realme X9 Pro Concrete Edition have also been leaked by Chinese blogger WhyLab on Weibo, as spotted by GSMArena. As per the tipster’s post, which now seems to have been taken down, the smartphone has a similar camera module as seen in the TENAA images. There are three cameras in the module, and the back panel sports a textured gray concrete design similar to that of the Realme X2 Pro Master Edition designed by Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa.
What’s interesting is that the back panel texture on both the set of images is different which could mean that Realme could launch the Realme X9 Pro in at least two variations. There is no official statement from the company on the phone yet.
A previous report suggests that the Realme X9 Pro will be a part of the Realme X9 series that will also have the vanilla Realme X9 smartphone. The pro variant is tipped to feature a 90Hz refresh rate, MediaTek Dimensity 1200 SoC, up to 12GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of storage. Furthermore, the phone may have a 108-megapixel main camera and two assisting 13-megapixel sensors. The phone may pack a 4,500mAh battery with 65W fast charging support.
Can Realme X7 Pro take on OnePlus Nord? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.
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Daniell Hebert, CEO of Moto Development Group joins Jennifer Jones at PodTech’s CES Bloghaus to talk about the future of social media applications. Moto develops products, then manages their work through manufacturing. Hebert explains what his explorations at CES provide ...
Daniell Hebert tagged posts:
February 3rd, 2008 | Jennifer Jones


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HUCKNALL and Bulwell businesses are being warned about a scam where advertising space is offered in a bogus police magazine.
The words of caution come after a local business was contacted by someone claiming to be a Nottinghamshire police officer.
The caller said he represented a police publication called ‘Streetwise’ and tried to get the company to pay hundreds of pounds for advertising space in the magazine.
It was only when the business owner researched the magazine online that he discovered that the call was a scam.
Pc John Bridgewater, who is investigating the con, urged potential victims to be vigilant.
Anyone with information about the scam should contact Nottinghamshire police on 0300 3009999 or call the free and confidential Crimestoppers hotline on 0800 555 111.


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Wondering what’s going on in Asian tech news? We’ve got 3 of the top stories here for you so you can keep caught up on what’s going on where all the tech is made.
Today we take a closer look at Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun who will not be attending CES to make a statement around the state of the relationship between component manufacturers and those who make finished products. Via Korea Times
Huawei is making waves in Asia with its Quad Coree Hass K3V2 chipset. Via China Times
Apple doubles its iPad sales thanks to the resolved trademark issues. Via ComputerWorld


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NH celebrates 9th annual Wine Week
The New Hampshire Liquor Commission's ninth annual Wine Week features wine personalities and bottle-signings and tastings, and culminates with an Easter Seals fundraising event featuring nearly 1,800 wines.
Wine Week is being held from Monday, Jan. 27, through Thursday, Jan. 30.
On Wednesday, there will be two "Cellar Notes" events, one held in Manchester at the Puritan Backroom Event & Conference Center and another in Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Harbor Events and Conference Center. They will feature four elite wine personalities for an educational tasting and reception.
The 11th Easter Seals Winter Wine Spectacular, the largest wine tasting event in northern New England, takes place Thursday at the Radisson Hotel Manchester from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
"Wine Week taps into New Hampshire, and the region's love of wine," said Joseph Mollica, chairman of the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. "With more than $273 million in wine sales last fiscal year, which marks a 7.3 percent increase from the previous year, New Hampshire is a significant player in the wine world. Our status draws the industry's premier wine producers, who travel great distances each January to interact with our customers."
For more information on Wine Week events and to purchase tickets, visit www.NHWineWeek.com.


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Apple is facing several class action lawsuits, just days after it admitting it deliberately slows down old iPhone models.
On Wednesday, the firm admitted it slows down phones to extend their life and stop them from shutting down as batteries age and become less effective.
Some customers are unhappy the company has been less than transparent about the performance throttling feature, which they see as a ploy to drive sales of new handsets.
Apple intentionally throttles the performance of its smartphones when a battery gets too old, a new study has claimed, including the iPhone 6 and 7, once battery life begins to suffer. This image shows CEO Tim Cook at the launch of the iPhone 6 on September 9, 2015
Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas from Los Angeles have filed a lawsuit with the US District Court for the Central District of California.
They are accusing Apple of interfering with their devices without consent.
The pair are trying to get the case certified to cover all people in the United States who owned an Apple phone older than the iPhone 8.
Their application for the lawsuit states: ‘Plaintiffs and Class Members never consented to allow Defendants to slow their iPhones.
‘As a result of Defendant’s wrongful actions, Plaintiffs and Class Members had their phone slowed down, and thereby it interfered with Plaintiffs’ and Class Members’ use or possession of their iPhones.’
A second lawsuit, filed by five plaintiffs in the Northern District of the State of Illinois, accuses Apple of deliberately keeping its power management features under wraps to persuade people to upgrade to newer devices.
‘Apple’s iOS updates purposefully neglected to explain that its purposeful throttling down of older model devices and resulting lost or diminished operating performance could be remedied by replacing the batteries of these devices,’ the lawsuit states.
‘Instead, Apple’s decision to purposefully slowdown or throttle down these devices was undertaken to fraudulently induce consumers to purchase the latest iPhone versions of the iPhone 7, as well as new phones such as the iPhone 8 and iPhone X .’
In a statement sent to MailOnline, a spokesman for Apple said: ‘Our goal is to deliver the best experience for customers, which includes overall performance and prolonging the life of their devices.
‘Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components.
‘Last year we released a feature for iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and iPhone SE to smooth out the instantaneous peaks only when needed to prevent the device from unexpectedly shutting down during these conditions.
‘We’ve now extended that feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and plan to add support for other products in the future.’
A consumer watchdog that evaluates electronic gadgets’ performance sparked the outcry after it found that processing power of older models is limited once battery life begins to suffer.
Apple has come under fire for not being clear with users about the software update, or explaining when throttling happens.
The update reduces this drain on resources, allowing the phones to continue operating.
The drop in performance came to light in benchmark tests, from Toronto-based firm Geekbench.
Geekbench developer John Poole decided to analyse the results of a number of iPhone 6 and 7 models running various versions of iOS. He found an update issued to fix a ‘ sudden shutdown’ issue wit the iPhone 6 was to blame for poor performance
It found that on certain versions the Apple operating system, phones with older batteries achieved much lower performance scores.
Battery capacity is expected to decrease as they age, but processor performance should stay the same.
However, users with older iPhones with lower-than-expected Geekbench scores have reported that replacing the battery increases their score, as well as the performance of the phone.
Apple said it recently extended the feature to iPhone 7 with iOS 11.2, and said it plans to add support for other products in the future
Geekbench developer John Poole decided to analyse the results of a number of iPhone 6 and 7 models running various versions of iOS.
He found that an update issued to fix the ‘sudden shutdown’ issue, when users found their iPhone 6 was turning off when its battery reached half charge, was to blame.
This resulted in the poor performance results observed.
Writing in a blog post, Mr Poole said: ‘It appears the problem is widespread, and will only get worse as phones, and their batteries, continue to age.
So it’s true Apple intentionally slow down old iPhones. Proof: My iPhone 6 was bought 3years ago and recently got really slow. APP ‘CPU DasherX’ shows iPhone CPU is under clocked running at 600MHz. After a iPhone battery replacement. CPU speed resumed to factory setting 1400MHz. pic.twitter.com/pML3y0Jkp2
— Sam_Si (@sam_siruomu) December 20, 2017
‘I believe, as do others, that Apple introduced a change to limit performance when battery condition decreases past a certain point.
‘If the performance drop is due to the ‘sudden shutdown’ fix, users will experience reduced performance without notification.
‘Users expect either full performance, or reduced performance with a notification that their phone is in low-power mode.
‘This fix creates a third, unexpected state.’
Without this warning Mr Poole believes that the fix will cause users to believe their phone is slow so they should replace it, rather than the battery which is actually at fault.
‘This will likely feed into the ‘planned obsolescence’ narrative,’ he added.
Apple’s iPhone 6s battery fiasco caused some iPhone 6s handsets to shut down without warning. The issue only affected a ‘relatively small batch’ of the devices manufactured in 2014
Every time Apple launches a new handset people seemingly flock to Google to ask why their current iPhone or iOS is slow.
This trend has been seen every year since Apple released the iPhone 3G in 2008.
Explanations for the slowness range from Apple’s iOS causing problems on older devices to the firm deliberately slowing down old phones to make people buy the new handsets.
This latter explanation is known as planned, or built-in, obsolescence.
This is the idea that manufacturer’s deliberately make their products in such a way that they become out-of-date sooner.
By doing this, the companies can encourage customers to buy the latest model of a certain product.
This also stimulates demand for products because people return again and again.
Alternatively, the so-called ‘slow iPhone phenomenon’ may be psychological, as people believe their phone is being sluggish even if its not.
In a blog post Felix Richter, from analytics firm Statista, said: ‘Many of us know the feeling: one day we’re perfectly happy with the smartphone we’ve been using for the past 12 months, the next day, after we’ve seen a colleague showing off his new gadget, ours suddenly feels inadequate, bulky and slow.
‘The good news is we’re not alone.’
He continued there are two possible explanations for these spikes.
The first is that it is a psychological phenomenon caused when people convince themselves their old phone is slow in comparison to the latest devices, and this could help them justify buying a new one.
The second explanation, which Mr Richter said is much more plausible, is down to the operating system not being compatible with the hardware on older phones.
New operating systems are often designed to work most effectively with the more advanced processing power and RAM seen in the newer models meaning older models can struggle to keep up.
In 2014, a study by Harvard University PhD student Laura Trucco appeared to back up conspiracy theories that Apple deliberately slows down older models of its iPhones to encourage users to buy a new release.
The study analysed worldwide searches for ‘iPhone slow’ and compared those results with similar searches for the term ‘Samsung Galaxy slow’.
Interestingly, it discovered the term was unaffected by new releases from Samsung, but this may be due to the fact Android updates aren’t rolled out at the same time like iOS ones are.
While some MailOnline readers said at the time they hadn’t noticed a slow down, others claimed Apple sabotages older phones through software updates.
‘This is common knowledge,’ one reader wrote.
‘If you want to keep your iPhone running at the same pace do not do the software upgrade that comes out within six months of a new iPhone release,’
Sendhil Mullainathan, a professor of economics at Harvard, described the results of the study as ‘striking’.
But added it does not prove Apple has done anything wrong.
No matter how suggestive, he said, the data alone doesn’t allow anyone to determine conclusively whether their phone is any slower.
There are other explanations for why an older model iPhone may slow down, he claims.
For instance, the latest version of the Apple operating system, iOS, is always tailored to the newest device and may therefore not work as efficiently on older models.
‘Hearing about a new release makes you contemplate getting a new and faster phone,’ he said. ‘And you suddenly notice how slow your old phone is.’
Dom Ferkin, managing director of UK-based iOS experts, Creation Application, agrees.
He previously told MailOnline he doesn’t believe Apple is doing this intentionally.
‘On every hardware release they tend to upgrade the chips and they are faster every time they are released,’ he said.
‘Each year they release a new iOS. If you’re running an iOS 7 on a 5 chip, for example, it’s comparable to running Windows XP on a Windows 95 machine.
‘It’s just enough to annoy the users, but it’s needed if you want the slew of new features that Apple releases each year.’


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Parishioners at Corpus Christi in Wokingham showed their avid support for Fairtrade Fortnight by holding banana petition signing after all Masses. Eighty nine cards were collected in support of the ‘Stick with Foncho’ campaign. CAFOD volunteer, Cathy Hills, sent us these lovely photos of the display that was set up in the parish and the fantastic banana bread they sold too! The fortnight was then finished off with the parish monthly Traidcraft stall. Fantastic!!! Thanks for letting us know Cathy and big hugs to everyone at Corpus Christi! Great parish!
And there’s still time to support the Fairtrade Foundation’s banana campaign if you haven’t already done so. Over the past 10 years, the typical price of a banana in the UK has nearly halved, whilst the cost of production has doubled. Join the parishioners of Corpus Christi in asking Vince Cable to investigate unfair supermarket pricing practices and act to protect the producers of the UK’s favourite fruit here. Thank you everyone!


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A survey conducted by Deloitte has revealed some interesting trends in the smartphone market. It appears that many users don’t buy smartphones for their flexibility and apps, but rather because they just get better hardware.
The survey found that only 18 percent of smartphone buyers claim to have been swayed to purchase a smartphone due to app functionality. Most went for smartphones because they offered better hardware and more functionality. However, despite this some 65 percent smartphone users download and use apps on a regular basis.
Users also appear to be ditching specialized gadgets such as MP3 players or standalone GPS devices in favor of smartphones. It turns out that 42 percent of smartphone users have reduced or completely eliminated the use of MP3 players, while 28 percent have ditched their GPS devices. Users are also turning away from handheld game consoles and FM radios.


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Motorola moves into Egypt
New Cairo office will provide jobs for local people; enhance operations in the MENA region
Motorola Solutions is expanding further in North Africa with a new office and Regional Engineering Centre in Cairo, Egypt. Motorola hopes that this will be a key office for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
"Egypt's technology market is gaining significant momentum during this dynamic time of change, and with an enhanced local presence Motorola Solutions will be able to provide a sharp strategic and operational focus that is both clear and purpose-driven. We see Egypt as a focal point for trade in North Africa, and we are committed to providing the talent and resources to our new Cairo office to deliver superior customer and partner experiences," said Motaz Hourani, vice president, Motorola Solutions, Middle East and North Africa.
Motorola will continue to deliver its mission-critical communication products and services directly to Egyptian customers and is now able to expand its Cairo base of operations to also support customers outside of Egypt.
Cairo's new base will utilise local expertise and talent and Motorola expects that the new office will provide up to 20 jobs for local people.


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OnePlus, a chinese smartphone vendor, is going to launch its wireless earbuds soon. OnePlus already has a pair of earbuds. The alredy existing earbuds are wired and are called Bullets. But its not clear whether these earphones are fully wireless or it has a wire that wraps around the neck. According to reports, OnePlus is going to launch its Bullet headphone in a few weeks.
These wireless bullet headphones have been listed on Bluetooth certification site. There is no more information on the certification site about the OnePlus Bullets. The upcoming OnePlus headphones are the follow up of OnePlus’ popular bullets V2 earphones. V2 headphones were launched in 2016, along with OnePlus 3 smartphones.
As all the smartphone vendors are getting involved in the race of launching wireless earphones, OnePlus has now joined the race. Wireless Bullet is the response of OnePlus to the Apple’s AirPods and Google’s Pixel Buds.
New leak indicates bluetooth’s listing, but it doesn’t contain much informationn. The wireless headphones are about to come with some more enhancements and modifications as compared to the earlier headpones, v2.
According to reports, OnePlus is focussing on offering a truly wireless experience to its users. According to the listing, the OnePlus Bullets Wireless will be based on Bluetooth v4.1, and would run a Qualcomm chip.
The earphones were listed on April 4, and have model number BT31B, according to Bluetooth Certification Page. Bluetooth Certification page also reveals that Bullet headphones will be based on Bluetooth V4.1 and would run a Qualcomm chip.
The company is selling Bullet V2 since 2016 at low cost as $20 in the US. But wireless Bullets are the best among so many wireless headphones at comparatively low cost.
- Wireleess music
- It will retain its 3.5mm audio jack along with wireless earbuds.
- Low cost.
- Qualcomm Chip
- Use Bluetooth V4.1
News Editor at Mobiletutorial1 a Gadget freak , he covers exclusive news around gadgets & technology by digging deep into the Internet. You can connect with him on all the social platforms @shivamrbic. Experience. Mobiletutorial1. Mobiletutorial1.in. . Latest Technology News


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Malian transport cartel`s greed; PSI on Salt In trouble
Salt exporters from Ghana to some ECOWAS countries have raised concern about the arbitrary increases in transport cost by some truck owners. They are calling on the government to set up a board to investigate as well as remedy the situation before it gets out of hand. The sub-regional salt export business, they say could be sabotaged completely if the government fails to act to restore discipline.
The truck owners, mostly from Ghana's ECOWAS neighbour of Mali are alleged to have been unilaterally increasing the transportation cost without any justifiable basis like increase in fuel prices.
The latest increase was introduced by the Malians last two weeks from 24 to 26 million cedis per truck load using the budget recently approved by the parliament as an excuse, although there has not been an increase in fuel prices.
One of the aggrieved salt exporters in an interview with the ADM said the truck owners "were taking 24 million cedis for a trip to Niger throughout last year.
Before then, they were taking 17 million cedis per trip and this moved to the 24 million cedis we know during the last fuel increase. For that increase we understood them but what they are trying to put across now is daylight robbery, since there hasn't been any increase in petroleum prices."
Another exporter who sad he paid for a trailer to convey his salt to Niger since August last year but only got one this month, said the truck owners are not to blame. He said the non-existence of a body to monitor the activities of the transportation of salt to neighbouring countries allows for the free-for-all. He explained that as far as there is no body to monitor them and regulate prices, the truck owners control their own prices and can abuse this freedom anyhow they like.
"To add insult to injury, we have to chase them for their trailers after fully paying them. I see if there is a government-appointed body controlling them, they just can't stand up and do whatever they like.
I wonder what the Golden Age of Business means as we continue with all these frustrations." But another exporter sees it from a different angle. According to this exporter the truck owners can do whatever they like because they are united. "We can oppose their decisions only if we also come together."
He said while some of them (exporters) refuse to succumb, others have already started paying the new price apparently to win the truck owners' favour.
Some of the exporters were even reluctant to speak to the ADM fearing that the truck owners may deny giving them trucks in the future when they get to know that they (exporters) revealed the new price increase to press men.
In an interview with the ADM, a truck owners Alhaji Habibou feigned innocence and said prices are determined by their executives, Ghana Haulage Trucks and Drivers Union at Tema. He modified this by stating that the transport cost of salt varies depending on the availability of the trailers.
ADM enquiries at the offices of the union he mentioned in Tema revealed that they (union) deal with only goods from the harbour but not salt as alleged.
Alhaji Joni, another truck owner stated in an interview with the ADM that he did not team up with anyone to increase the price and does not force anyone to accept his prices. "You accept it if you like it" he said. He even threatened to prevent his vehicles from transporting salt should that be the case.
According to him, they are doing the salt exporters "great favours" because there are harbour goods at better prices than the 26 million cedis they earn for transporting a truck load of salt across the border. "Even the harbour goods do not damage our vehicles as the salt does so if they feel we are cheating them, that's fair enough for I am ever ready to suspend my trucks from loading salt" he threatened.
Mr. Leon Appenteng, Managing Director of Panbros Salt Industry, one of the country's biggest salt producing companies expressed dissatisfaction about the recent increase by the truck owners, talking from the point of view of the salt buyers.
He said even if the local price of salt is competitive but the transport and freight charges go up, the delivery price also goes up which indirectly affects the company's sales. He hoped the situation would remedied somehow.
Alhaji Yusif Adams a former chairman of the now defunct Progressive Transporters Union said the problem surfaced in 1996 when some exporters started directly approaching truck owners for transport instead of the Union.
"Formerly when the Union was active, we arranged for the exporters transport. When there is an increase in fuel prices, the Union assembles both the exporters and truck owners to deliberate on new prices which are done orderly amidst understanding from both sides. The Union then approves of it.
But things took a different turn when some of the exporters apparently not satisfied with us (Union) started engaging directly with the owners. They no longer approached us and this led to the breakdown of the Union" he said.
He said unless there is an authority to control them, the truck owners would continue to increase the prices anytime and anyhow they like. He predicted that the price is likely to go up to 30 million cedis within the next three months if no action is taken.
There is also a political dimension to it. ADM has en informed that the Malians say the NDC is their party and would therefore take deliberate action t would make the NPP government unpopular. According to an exporter who pleaded anonymity, the Malians have often openly boasted that they can bring NPP government down.
The salt industry is vital to Ghana's economy. The President sees it as a strategic industry and has added it to his Special Initiatives.
A subset of the industry is the crucial transportation sector which cannot be left unregulated.


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About 5000 beta testers didn't receive their CD-ROMs containing the debut beta of Windows Millennium last week as expected. But Microsoft sent beta 1 out the door Tuesday morning, after a three-day delay.
Except for a select group of testers, however, Windows Millennium is keeping a low profile. Neither the public nor the press will get a peek now at the successor to Windows 95/98, according to a Microsoft spokesperson.
There's little visible difference, Microsoft representatives note. Microsoft changed its earlier plans to revise the Windows interface with this update to the consumer edition. The interface will have some new elements and provide some home networking and digital media, but it will look much like the current version.
"The finishing touches went on [the beta] early last week," the spokesperson confirmed. "It took a little longer than expected."
The final release of Millennium -- the code name for the consumer version of Windows -- is expected to ship sometime "in the year 2000", according to Microsoft representatives. At this point, that is about as specific as officials are willing to get.


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It’s time for newspapers to reinvent their distribution model: Jwalant Swaroop, Happy Ho
Guest Column: Swaroop, the CEO of Happy Ho, says that the pandemic may have stopped the presses, but newspapers will continue to thrive in a post-COVID-19 world
It seems that the world would not be the same after the COVID-19 crisis is over. The world will clearly get divided into two parts -- Pre-Corona and Post-Corona.
Several industry sectors are busy in formulating their post-corona plans and response to the market realities. As most of us have not seen such gigantic disruption ever before, it surely compels us to think about the business models in post-corona times.
From the newspapers standpoint, this disruption has been of monstrous proportions, and never in our normal self has anyone imagined a world without newspapers. Even in the world’s worst scenarios of past ridden with war (World War 2) or other pandemics such as Spanish Influenza in 1918, newspapers, which were the only source of credible information for people, were never suspended even for a day. Frankly speaking no one in the industry was ever prepared to face such a challenge.
Lockdown just hit us overnight. Suddenly, those who were part of our ecosystem were socially distanced beyond imagination and therefore a newspaper hawker was not a welcome guest in several localities and residential complexes. In many areas, even hawker unions refused to pick the copies for distribution fearing the COVID-19 spread. On the contrary, in COVID-19 hit countries other than India, the newspaper distribution has been able to survive the onslaught. Time to ponder
Newspapers had to incur losses on account of unsold copies and therefore decided to discontinue printing. The presses came to screeching halt.
The 21-day lockdown is long enough to alter a habit. You can make a new habit or drop an old one. Therefore one can apprehend in a post-Covid 19 scenario, a sharp change in newspaper consumption. And it may be worth considering that newspapers may be compelled to bring some serious changes in content. It is quite possible that news and current affairs may shift completely out of the ambit of newspapers. Though many publishing friends have circulated PDF of pages on WhatsApp. But whether the practice serves any purpose in a time like this is a serious challenge.
The one thing that COVID 19 has highlighted is the distribution model in Newspapers in India seriously requires reinvention. We have for long relied on to the door-to-door delivery model of newspapers, but during the COVID 19 crisis, this model is devastated. Ironically, newspaper organizations have concentrated on distribution channel in past with a greater degree of push and control. For many newspapers, this has been the clear competitive edge with the least transparency. All kinds of favours and practices were prevalent to control the Newspaper Hawker and its union. But years of hard work to nurture and tame these unions have gone down the drain. Because newspapers were so heavily invested in the existing distribution channel that all efforts to bring transparency in the distribution were beaten down in support of the existing channel.
So what went wrong
- Readers’ demanded a safe, sanitized and hygienic newspaper: All efforts and videos promoted on social media that the newspaper is delivered with due sanitization yield no result as the dump centres did not follow the social distancing and operated in severally unhygienic conditions (which were overlooked so far) on the roadside. Result Readers refused the newspapers.
- Hawkers refused to pick the printed copies: Hawkers themselves feared being infected and so refused to pick the copies, on the other hand, the same fear was with the reader. For the first time the market demanded a crisp fresh and corona free copy, The existing distribution channel failed to guarantee and convince the reader and trade.
- Social Distancing on the dumb centres: Never before this aspect was highlighted and the awareness created about social distancing in the last 21 days of lockdown will surely stay with people. In post lockdown days, this aspect will surely haunt the existing distribution channel.
The Silver lining
While I followed the discussion on several WhatsApp forums wherein members missed their morning dose of the newspaper. The pleasure of holding your printed copy, its feel and engagement were sorely missed by readers. The desperation to get printed copies was a big driver but not big enough to overlook the safety. So it will be wrong to say that newspapers are heading for early sunset, No. I also saw some argument among the housewives for the raddi value of the newspaper in the household economy.
The way forward
Desperate times need Desperate measures: It is time for newspapers to reinvent the alternate distribution mechanism which addresses the need of the hour.
- Change the delivery timing (Temporary): During the COVID-19 crisis the essential commodities were made available by the administration freely. Though the door delivery was impacted the availability in the market was never a question. We did not see newspapers utilizing the approved retail store on a locality basis to sell the newspapers wherein they could be delivered in hygienic wrapping at any general merchant store. Now some critics may say that in the conventional distribution the newspapers are made available early morning, maybe here was a case to explore the new timings in desperate times.
- Is it time to reinvent the wheel (Sustainable Intervention): I somehow feel that newspaper’s over-dependence on the door to door delivery model has matured well. It is time to introduce alternate distribution mechanism like western countries have to dispense newspapers through Automatic Vending Machines. Today post demonetization the Indian population has matured to use ATMs for their cash requirements, they can use the similar solution for newspapers as well. The industry will have to collective take the call for the size, pricing (Good time to increase cover price when advertising is falling and pull is being created) and paginations. There can be brand-wise stand-alone vending machines. The existing hawkers/newsagents can work as back end solution providers. Today technology delivers to use card scanners on such machines with sufficient protection as well.
- Bring Variety of resellers: Point of Sales to be increased bringing more shops and General Stores in the newspaper sales. This may expand the consumer touchpoints and thus build an alternative to the existing distribution network.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not in any way represent the views of exchange4media.comFor more updates, be socially connected with us on
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Sales slump 22.5% y-o-y on high-base effect, excessrains and delays in harvesting
After hitting a historic high in domestic sales in October, the tractor industry reported a significant fall in production and domestic sales in November due to a combination of factors, while exports grew year-on-year.
The total production hit a 11-month low at 67,566 units in November this year. However, exports were higher by 49 per cent at 10,790 units compared with 7,200 units in November 2020. However, on a month-on-month basis, November 2021 export volumes were down 11.5 per cent.
Key factors behind decline
“High-base effect has definitely played a role but not production issues. There was excess rainfall in some pockets of the country and delay in harvesting also led to delay in cash accruals for farmers, thereby deferring purchases. Also, inventory in the system was higher than usual, which has also seen reasonable correction as deliveries were much better than offtake,” said Hemal Thakkar, Director, Crisil Research.
Tractor market leader Mahindra & Mahindra, which saw its tractor volumes drop 17 per cent year-on-year at 26,094 units in November 2021, attributed the de-growth in volumes to high base of last year and incessant rains in some States.
Escorts, which saw 33 per cent decline in its tractor sales at 6,492 units, pointed out that delayed harvest of kharif crops owing to late monsoon rains this year affected the rural cash flows and hence the retail demand of tractors. Industry wholesale in November was further impacted by post-season channel destocking.
The company terms this as a temporary phenomenon and believes that cash flows should start improving as soon as kharif harvest gets fully monetised.
“Rural sentiments continue to remain positive on account of good rabi sowing and high reservoir levels. Escalation in procurement of kharif crop will bring steady cash flows, which is expected to boost tractor demand going forward,” said Hemant Sikka, President – Farm Equipment Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
While tractor makers are confident of ending this fiscal with a marginal growth supported by recovery in Q4, industry analysts are of the view that overall domestic volumes may see a decline. “High base of last year will definitely play a role in the remaining months of this year which may make the growth look a little muted. We, however, feel that tractors will clock a minor decline in growth of about 2-6 per cent for FY22,” added Thakkar.


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Rock your inner jock with a pair of sturdy, sweatproof, and tangle-proof headphones. Here are our favorites.
The European Union’s decision to effectively ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2035 is unreasonable and hurts Italy’s economic interests, Prime Ministe…
There are numerous opportunities to disrupt the market by investing in new innovative ideas while challenging the norms of technology investing.
It’s the best time to buy a used car in 16 months — as long as you don’t have to take out a big loan
Used car prices are the lowest in over a year, but you might not be able to afford the interest rate on a loan.
The show featured not only a slew of EVs but the presence of companies that will keep all these new cars juiced up.
MIT, BCG research digs into the value of enterprise artificial intelligence: What employees get out of AI
New research from BCG Henderson Institute and MIT Sloan Management Review found that 85% of employees say they directly benefit from AI in the workplace.
A homeowner is selling a $1.1 million property with a free Tesla car to make it stand out from the crowd
The seven-bedroom Auckland house is being sold with a Tesla car worth $60,000 to bring positivity to a challenging market, said a real estate agent.