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At four o’clock in the morning on January 22, 2010, John Sargent was pedalling furiously on an exercise bicycle in the basement of his Brooklyn brownstone. Sargent, the C.E.O. of Macmillan Books, had a difficult decision to make. In five days, Steve Jobs would announce the first iPad, and he was pressing Sargent to agree to a new way of selling books. For more than a hundred years, publishers had maintained a wholesale business: they sold books to bookstores at a discount, and bookstores marked them up and sold them to consumers. The advent of e-books called that model into question. Because e-books didn’t carry many of the costs of bound books, no one could agree on how they should be priced.
Amazon had the loudest voice in the conflict. Since introducing the Kindle, in 2007, it had come to dominate the e-book market, with about ninety per cent of sales. In the effort to gain even greater market share, it was selling books at a loss: while publishers typically sold e-books to Amazon for about fifteen dollars apiece, Amazon was selling many of them, especially best-sellers, for $9.99. Publishers were making money, but they were concerned that consumers would come to believe that $9.99 was what books were worth, and they were desperate to have greater influence on prices.
The deal with Jobs offered a way: an arrangement called the agency model, which Apple used for selling music and apps. The publishers would set prices, and Apple, acting as their “agent,” would take a thirty-per-cent commission and give them the rest. Apple had a stipulation, though. There are six large publishers in the United States, and if Apple didn’t get four of them to join its program it wasn’t going to sell books.
Sargent was vexed. Amazon accounted for a third of the major publishers’ U.S. sales. What if it refused to carry Macmillan’s books? But if he didn’t consent to Apple’s plan, he feared, Apple would choose not to compete against Amazon, solidifying its monopoly.
This confrontation had been simmering for some time. In 2009, the Hachette Book Group, another of the Big Six publishers, sent a team to Washington to petition the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, hoping for help in curbing what publishers saw as Amazon’s predatory practices. The team gave Justice a report asserting that Amazon was selling e-books below cost in order to induce readers to buy Kindles, and to drive bookstores out of business; if publishers resisted the lower prices, Amazon threatened not to sell their books at all. Justice wasn’t interested in the case. “They just turned around to us and said, ‘Sorry, we can’t help, because the consumer is the winner,’ ” David Young, the chairman and C.E.O. of Hachette U.S.A., said.
The Justice Department believed that Amazon was serving consumers well by reducing book prices and by developing a popular device for reading e-books. Publishers believed that Amazon was attempting to control every part of the industry. It had formed a publishing arm that offered editing and promotional services, and wooed authors with promises of higher royalties; it bought BookSurge, to print its own books on demand, and Audible, a major provider of recorded books. Richard Howorth, the owner of Square Books, a well-regarded bookstore in Oxford, Mississippi, says, “Amazon not only wants to sell books to everyone—they act as publisher and agent and distributor and retailer and manufacturer.”
There is a certain bluster about Sargent; confrontations did not discomfit him. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother moved him and his sister to an isolated part of Wyoming. “It was cowboy country,” an editor at Macmillan says. “John grew up spending lots of time alone.” But he also had strong links to publishing—his grandfather Frank Nelson Doubleday founded Doubleday & Company, and his father, John Turner Sargent, Sr., built it into a respected firm—and as an adult he moved back to New York and joined the family business. At Macmillan, he oversees sixteen publishing houses. Before the Apple deal, he recalls, “I had half the staff saying, ‘Do it,’ and half the staff saying, ‘Don’t do it.’ ” Unlike other publishers, his parent company, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, was privately owned, so his bosses were not responsible to shareholders. They said it was his decision. He told Apple yes.
Five days later, Steve Jobs announced that five of the six publishing giants—Macmillan, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Penguin—would sell their books through Apple’s iBookstore. (Only Random House said no, retaining the more lucrative wholesale model.) In addition to the agency model, the five publishers had agreed to a clause assuring Apple that it would have the right to match any other retailer’s lowest price. Sargent flew to Seattle to confront Amazon. He argued that the agency model was a good deal for Amazon, too; it would pay the same price as any other bookseller, but, instead of losing money on the best-selling e-books, it would make a commission of thirty per cent. He also warned that if Amazon would not accept the agreement he would no longer allow it to carry his company’s e-books.
In response, Amazon stopped selling Macmillan’s books altogether. But Sargent did not back down, and two days later Amazon put up an announcement on its Web site: “We will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles.” Within a few weeks, all five publishers that had accepted the deal with Apple had forced Amazon to agree to the agency model.
By 2012, it seemed that Sargent’s gambit had worked. Amazon’s share of the e-book market had dropped from about ninety per cent to sixty. Apple had about ten per cent of the market, and Barnes & Noble, which had introduced an e-reader called the Nook, had about twenty-five. Bookstores were hopeful. Richard Howorth, of Square Books, said, “It at least enables me to say to our customers that not only do I sell e-books but eighty per cent of them are available at the same cost as anywhere.” William Lynch, the C.E.O of Barnes & Noble, says that without the increased revenue that came with the agency model the Nook might have failed. “We invested over two hundred million dollars this year,” he said, introducing the first color reader and developing a way for store visitors to sample books on the Nook. “If Amazon had maintained its monopoly, we would not have been able to make that level of investment.”
It was a peculiar victory, though. Under the agency model, many consumers paid higher prices, and Amazon made more money, while the publishers made less—according to one C.E.O., a hundred million dollars less each year. E-books are cheaper to produce, by about twenty per cent per book, because they do away with the cost of paper, printing, shipping, and warehousing. They also eliminate returns of unsold books—a significant expense, since thirty to fifty per cent of books are returned. But they create additional costs: maintaining computer servers, monitoring piracy, digitizing old books. And publishers have to pay authors and editors, as well as rent and administrative overhead, not to mention the costs of printing, distributing, and warehousing bound books, which continue to account for the large majority of their sales.
Publishers were terrified. Print revenues had declined fifteen per cent since the year before, and in just a couple of years e-books were projected to make up about a third of all book sales. Publishers worried that bookstores, burdened by the costs of rent and staff, were unable to compete with Amazon. Without the stores, publishers would lose their primary customers, and their strongest ally in marketing. “In bookstores, readers are open to trying new genres and new authors,” Scott Turow, the president of the Authors Guild, has said. “It’s by far the best way for new works to be discovered.” Because each book is a unique product, large-scale advertising is usually unfeasible, so publishers work with stores to guide readers to books, in the belief that the tactile experience of shopping leads people to books they would not otherwise find.
“This idea of going into a store and being able to see a range of books that you never knew you wanted to buy, or you didn’t know existed, is very important,” David Young, of Hachette, says. On Amazon, publishers have little say in how a book is presented; buyers looking for a particular book are led to similar titles, chosen by an algorithm. A striking book jacket matters much less. John Makinson, the C.E.O. of Penguin, said, “Once you lose the ability to display a book and you have to rely on a consumer to discover a book, then publishers are not going to be able to publish anything like the range of books we do today. It will make absolutely no difference to some best-selling authors we publish. But breaking out the new author becomes a virtual impossibility.”
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, believes that the book industry is infuriatingly wasteful. He says that his company intends to disrupt traditional “gatekeepers”—publishers, bookstores, agents, and other middlemen—who “slow innovation” and impede “self-service platforms.” If books were all digitally produced, the process would be much more efficient, and the savings could be passed along to consumers. Bezos is a businessman, but, like the founders of Google and Facebook, he frames his business as a force for social good. In his terms, Amazon offers consumers the lowest prices, and allows authors who otherwise might not be published to sell books directly to readers. The Kindle best-seller list, Bezos wrote in 2011, “is chock-full of books from small presses and self-published authors, while the New York Times list is dominated by successful and established authors.”
Russ Grandinetti, Amazon’s vice-president of Kindle content, says, “Clearly, consumers are paying higher prices for books” under the agency model. “I don’t see how not allowing price competition preserves competition.” He argues that Amazon “is getting people to read more,” pointing to Amazon surveys showing that readers who had a Kindle bought three times as many books as they did before. The ease of purchasing a book online “is powerful for the whole business,” he says.
Yet, when I asked Grandinetti why publishers should view Amazon as a partner, he said, “We’ve always been a company focussed on customers, not competitors”—a peculiar way of describing your suppliers. By offering low prices on everything from books to designer clothes, power tools, and groceries, Amazon has made many business adversaries. It recently developed an app that allows people to scan the price of a product—a book at Barnes & Noble or a television at Best Buy—and instantly learn whether Amazon offers the same item cheaper. Stores complain that Amazon is stealing their customers, and that it often pays no sales tax on its goods.
In May, 2011, Amazon hired the veteran publisher Laurence Kirshbaum to lead a new general-interest imprint called Amazon Publishing, and in December it established a six-million-dollar fund to pay self-published authors. A publishing executive who has had extensive dealings with Bezos told me, “Going into publishing was a last option. But when publishers went into ‘agency’ it shifted the agenda for Bezos. He felt publishers were so irrational that he shifted to a predatory mode.”
Grandinetti denies trying to put publishers out of business. Amazon, he argues, is simply acknowledging that consumers have many choices for entertainment—TV, e-mail, Facebook, games—and that the challenge is to make books both cheaper and more enticing. He believes that publishers are failing to keep up with change, and that traditionalists are missing the point when they ask, “Why doesn’t the book business stay the same?”
The traditional model has advantages for authors, though, particularly in publishers’ function as venture-capital firms. When an author sells a book proposal to a publisher, he receives an advance against royalties, which helps underwrite research and writing. Most of these advances are never earned back. But books that sell well support the ones that don’t. In a good year, this earns the publishers a modest profit, and it allows more authors to take risks in starting new projects—which is to say, it supports a class of professional writers. In a more efficient world, publishers would pay authors who write best-selling books and rarely pay those who don’t, an alarming prospect for most serious readers and writers. According to a recent survey by the Web site Taleist, half of all self-published authors make less than five hundred dollars a year from their writing. If publishers don’t have the money to pay advances, Young says, “we’re going to have fewer books of quality. The impact on authors could be huge.”
The first sign that Sargent and the publishers had won a Pyrrhic victory came in August, 2011, when a class-action lawsuit was filed in California, claiming that Apple and the five publishers had colluded to fix prices. Many in the publishing business pointed out that a lead attorney for the suit, Steve W. Berman, worked out of a building in Seattle where Amazon has several floors of office space. Although Berman insisted that he was working only for his clients, it is clear that Amazon provided much of the evidence in the eighty-three-page complaint: accounts of meetings, phone calls, and e-mails between Amazon and publishers. Oren J. Teicher, the C.E.O. of the American Booksellers Association, asserts that Amazon helped organize the suit in order “to open up yet one more front in their effort to dominate the entire book business,” and to “increase the pressure” on government to intervene.
The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division soon began inquiries, as did the attorneys general of several states, and the European Commission. Unlike class-action lawyers, Justice can issue subpoenas, and it retrieved phone records from Apple and the five publishers, notes from meetings, and e-mails—twenty thousand from Penguin alone, according to an executive there. On April 11th, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that an antitrust suit had been filed against Apple and the five big publishers for “a conspiracy to raise, fix and stabilize retail prices.”
In a thirty-six-page complaint, the Justice Department argues that publishers communicated by telephone and e-mail, and in meetings—including meals “in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants”—to determine how to subvert Amazon’s pricing strategy. The complaint noted that they “took steps to conceal their communications with one another, including instructions to ‘double-delete’ e-mail and taking other measures to avoid leaving a paper trail.” In violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, it said, they had stifled competition and forced consumers to pay an average of two to three dollars more per book, for a total of at least a hundred million dollars.
Courts recognize various forms of price-fixing. One is horizontal collusion, in which competitors conspire to set prices. Another is vertical collusion, between, say, a manufacturer and a retail store. Justice’s charge was a hybrid: “hub and spoke” collusion, in which a retailer coördinates manufacturers to gain control of prices. Between December, 2009, and January, 2010, the complaint said, an Apple executive named Eddy Cue shuttled between the publishers, keeping “each Publisher Defendant informed of the status of its negotiations with the other Publisher Defendants.” (Apple denied the charges, and, through a spokesman, Cue declined to comment.) According to Justice, Penguin (which published my last three books) asked for assurances that other publishers would join with Apple, and Cue supplied them; two other publishing executives told me they had similar conversations with him. When Sargent threatened, in January, 2010, to pull Macmillan’s e-books from Amazon, D.O.J. claims, Cue told him that other publishers were on board.
A number of publishers insist that they did not collude. “It was my decision alone,” Sargent says. “That’s why the whole thing about collusion is ludicrous to me. I was in a silo. It was just me.” In places, the D.O.J’s evidence is thin. The complaint says that, in September, 2008, the C.E.O.s of the Big Six publishers met in a private room at Picholine, a French restaurant near Lincoln Center, and notes, rather unsurprisingly, that “business matters were discussed.” David Young says that he organized the dinner to welcome the new C.E.O. of Random House, Markus Dohle, and several C.E.O.s maintain that if there was any business discussed it was the sort of gossip and stray publishing talk common among executives who often encounter each other at awards ceremonies and public dinners. Sargent recalls, “I talked to him about getting his kids into schools. How do you get collusion on price and a business model from that?” In any case, the dinner was held a year and a half before Apple adopted the agency model—and before it had announced that it was going into the book business.
But the complaint provides several pieces of strongly suggestive evidence. Around the time that Apple presented the agency model, it notes, one C.E.O. called David Shanks, Penguin’s U.S. publisher, to tell him, “Everyone is in the same place with Apple.” In an e-mail, another executive discussed a prospective joint venture among publishers to create their own online books site, saying, “The goal is less to compete with Amazon as to force it to accept a price level higher than 9.99.” One C.E.O. admitted under oath to calling two other publishers, including Sargent, in order to find out whether they planned to sign with Apple.
In responses to the Justice Department, Penguin and Macmillan insisted that they were innocent. Sargent, sounding incredulous, told me, “I cannot comment on a phone call that I may or may not have received. There was no collusion.” And though the publishers welcomed Apple’s terms, they insist that they arrived at them independently. In March, one of the five publishers defended Cue, saying, “He was telling me, ‘Look, I’m not going to do the iBookstore unless I get three.’ That was an absolutely fair and sensible thing to say. Otherwise, he’d be misrepresenting Apple’s intent. He wasn’t going to do an iBookstore if he got just my books. He needed some substance in that store to make Apple look like a player.” Others pointed out that they hadn’t profited from the deal with Apple. Young told me in March, “I had always understood that antitrust was about people colluding to make money. We were making less money on the agency model. We were playing the long game in the absolute belief that if we didn’t do this the bookshops would suffer.”
Nonetheless, lawyers for the defendants explored the possibility of a settlement. A public suit would embolden the European Commission, which can impose severe financial penalties—as much as ten per cent of the parent company’s annual revenues—and it might fortify the class-action lawsuits. In April, Arnaud Nourry, the international chairman and C.E.O. of Hachette Publishing, sat in Hachette’s midtown offices and explained unhappily that his company had agreed to settle. “It’s been a tough decision,” he said, and added, “I would have liked to convince D.O.J. we did not misbehave.” The lawsuits had already cost Hachette eight million dollars in legal fees and were projected to cost as much as twenty million more. “It’s a waste of time and a diversion for management. We’re a small company compared to the big guys, like Apple and Amazon.” Lagarère SCA, Hachette’s parent company, has two and a half billion dollars in yearly revenue; Amazon has fifty billion, and Apple a hundred and eight billion.
In the end, three of the five publishers—Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster—agreed to settle. Justice did not file a criminal complaint, as is common in price-fixing cases, and it imposed no fines (although Hachette and HarperCollins agreed to pay at least fifty-one million dollars to tentatively settle the class-action suits). Under the terms of the settlement, the three publishers were allowed to maintain the agency model, but for the next two years they had to permit discounts of up to thirty per cent, the amount of booksellers’ commission.
Effectively, publishers lost the ability to set a floor price, while Amazon could still offer deep discounts. As long as its total discounting did not exceed its commission, it could sell a typically priced e-book at $9.10, or discount select best-sellers to far less. The publishing consultant Mike Shatzkin wrote on his blog, the Shatzkin Files, “Every company in the industry is going back to the drawing boards. Only one is not unhappy about it.” On the day that Justice announced its filing, Amazon released a statement: “This is a big win for Kindle owners, and we look forward to being allowed to lower prices on more Kindle books.”
Apple, Macmillan, and Penguin decided to fight the suit. John Makinson, the chairman and C.E.O. of Penguin, disputed the D.O.J.’s evidence, saying, “Most fundamentally, we don’t think we’ve done anything wrong. We did not collude with other publishers in reaching an independent decision.” Nor, he believed, had they colluded with Apple. And since publishers were challenged in five different legal arenas—by Justice, state attorneys general, the European Commission, and class-action lawsuits in the U.S. and in Canada—“if we were to say in one jurisdiction, ‘O.K., we will not admit liability, but we will settle,’ we would be sending a signal that, in some way, we acknowledged the justice of the Department of Justice’s position.”
Sargent released a statement saying that “the terms the D.O.J. demanded were too onerous” and could allow “Amazon to recover the monopoly position it had been building.” In April, I met him in his office on the nineteenth floor of the Flatiron Building, a triangular room with tall windows and views in three directions. He told me that many people in publishing thought that Amazon was enabled by the Justice Department, and that his colleagues’ response had been “ ‘Thank you. Somebody had to stand up.’ ” Justice, he believed, had targeted the wrong party: “I felt the antitrust department should be addressing the predatory pricing that was keeping others out of the marketplace.”
Every prosecutor has the power to choose what cases to bring before the courts. In 1940, Attorney General Robert H. Jackson, who later served on the Supreme Court, addressed a conference of U.S. attorneys, attempting to distinguish between justice and the rigid adherence to legal code. “Law enforcement is not automatic. It isn’t blind,” he said. “What every prosecutor is practically required to do is to select the cases for prosecution and to select those in which the offense is the most flagrant, the public harm the greatest, and the proof the most certain.”
The D.O.J. could have chosen not to bring this case. But, once it did, the law is clear, according to Christine A. Varney, who led the Antitrust Division until she returned to private practice last fall. “The fact that publishers or record labels or movie producers say their business models may not survive the digital revolution is not a particular concern of the antitrust laws. The antitrust laws look to preserve competition and innovation.” Publishers might have had admirable intentions, she says, but if they colluded with Apple they violated the law.
But the Justice Department’s complaint doesn’t address the question of Amazon’s attempt to monopolize the market. Nor does it concede that the publishers’ and Apple’s actions generated competition—helping to allow Apple and Barnes & Noble into the e-book market and driving up sales of the Nook and the iPad, which spurred a reduction in tablet prices. “I believe publishers decided to lower their income on e-books and are making the kind of long-term decisions we often accuse businesses of not making,” the literary agent Simon Lipskar told me.
Tim Wu, a Columbia law professor who spent last year as a senior adviser to the Federal Trade Commission, defends Amazon. “It is possible that online book sales are a better business model than actual bookstores,” he says—just as iTunes delivers a greater variety of music at lower prices than Tower Records did. “If Amazon was losing money on the sale of each e-book, who is the harm to? Not consumers. Barnes & Noble gets hurt. Is protecting booksellers worth it if consumers are paying more?”
But, if Barnes & Noble closes, Amazon will have an effective monopoly on all books, electronic and otherwise. What makes Amazon “dangerous,” Sargent says, is that “there could come a day, if they get back up to ninety per cent of the e-book market and if the e-book format becomes the predominant way that people read, that we will be in a world where one company can decide what books get widely distributed.”
David Young believes that Amazon’s low prices—what he called “predatory pricing”—would have forced bookstores into bankruptcy, and perhaps driven prices below what it costs publishers to produce books. Wu disagrees, saying, “A predatory pricing theory relies on the idea that Amazon plans later on to raise prices. I don’t know of strong evidence for that claim.” But what Amazon did with Diapers.com provides at least one example. First, it competed to lower diaper prices; then it acquired the smaller business; then it raised prices. Amazon’s profit margins are slim, especially compared with its stock-market value. The pressure from stockholders to increase profits will only grow, and, like conventional publishers, Amazon may want to make more money on its best-selling books.
Amazon is already using its position in the market to intimidate less powerful publishers. Although the Justice Department focussed on the Big Six, the majority of books are produced by independent publishers. “Amazon is using its monopoly power to dictate to these companies that they will continue to discount our books below cost,” one small publisher says. “Amazon continues to insist that these publishers sell their books at prices that threaten their business.”
On May 15th, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied a petition from Apple, Macmillan, Penguin, and Simon & Schuster to dismiss the class-action lawsuits. The court acknowledged the publishers’ concern for bookstores and their sacrifice of income under the agency model. Nevertheless, it decided that there was enough evidence of a horizontal conspiracy to proceed.
As Apple and the publishers fight the suit, courtroom precedents are stacked against them. Barry Hawk, the director of Fordham Law School’s Competition Law Institute, says that courts invoke two tests to adjudicate antitrust cases. In cases of vertical collusion, they typically use the “rule of reason,” which allows defendants to argue that they were acting in the interest of healthy competition. For horizontal collusion, they use the per-se rule, in which agreements to fix prices are illegal under any circumstances. Hawk told me that he can’t think of a single horizontal-conspiracy case in which defendants were found to have engaged in price-fixing and still won. “That’s how strong this is,” he says.
For the traditional publishing industry, the consequences of a loss could be dire. The consultant Mike Shatzkin says, “If Macmillan and Penguin were to lose their appeals, and the settlement between the D.O.J. and the three other publishers were allowed to stand, it would accelerate what is already an increasing concentration of book customers under Amazon’s control.” Amazon is the only publisher with ready access to consumers, and to their credit-card information. In the worst case, Shatzkin says, it will become the only company that can effectively create books and sell them to consumers. “The American trade-book publishing network of many publishers, wholesalers, and retailers will be effectively dismantled,” he says. “It will be too late then to recognize the dangers of concentration. It will not be possible to rebuild what will have been destroyed.”
In boxing, there’s the main event, and there’s the undercard—the warmup bouts that precede it. The fight between Amazon and book publishers could have profound repercussions for publishers, bookstores, and authors, yet to Amazon that fight is the undercard. The main event is a free-for-all among the five U.S. digital giants: Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft.
In late April, Microsoft invested three hundred million dollars in the Nook tablet. For Barnes & Noble, it was a tremendous boon, allowing it to keep alive, in however attenuated a form, the old-fashioned idea of the bookstore. For Microsoft, it was a hardware solution: a way to produce a more popular tablet computer. Although Amazon is intensely secretive about its data, the figures it has released show that content—books, music, movies, TV shows, newspapers, and magazines—produces less than half of its revenues. For Apple, too, content is a small part of its business. The real fight is elsewhere. The iPad and the Kindle Fire compete as mobile platforms, and all five companies will likely compete in collecting credit-card information. Google is testing a one-day shipping service for online shopping which targets Amazon. Google and Microsoft compete with Apple and Amazon to provide operating systems for mobile devices. Four of the five firms are working on some form of search, and all are interested in cloud computing, games, social media, and selling ads.
The fierce competition among them “is the next iteration of the U.S. v. Microsoft case,” Christine Varney, the former antitrust chief, says. The government has tried, with varying degrees of success, to police these companies: their privacy policies, their market dominance, their patent claims, their outsourcing of manufacturing, and their meagre tax payments. “Competition is good, so long as innovation remains viable for new entrants,” Varney said. “That’s the difficult thing to balance. Where does the competition between the big players promote our consumer welfare, and where does it inhibit new innovation?”
Tim Wu, who is sympathetic to Amazon in the fight against publishers, says, “I change my position,” when he considers the battle between digital giants. “The Internet industries are incredibly concentrated, and probably more concentrated than old media. We need to watch Amazon, Google, and Apple and the rest very carefully.”
Publishers know that they don’t have the money for a prolonged struggle with Amazon. John Sargent says, “These are huge companies, who are fighting a very large game. Whether it be for the sale of devices, or to own the shopper, or to own a particular set of tools that people use—they are fighting to get as big a piece of that as they can get.” Books, he says, are “in danger of becoming roadkill in that larger war.” ♦


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When the news broke that PepsiCo was suing small farmers in India for growing a potato variety that is used in its Lay’s chips, popular sympathies immediately went, of course, to the farmers. National and international pressure swiftly mounted, and in short order a humbled PepsiCo backtracked, announcing its withdrawal of the lawsuit. There was global schadenfreude at Goliath’s PR disaster and, in India, pride at being on the side of the righteous Davids.
What should not be a source of pride, however, is the fact that so many small farmers are, like the ones targeted by PepsiCo, reliant, directly or indirectly, on proprietary seeds. Typically these seeds are grown in high input (fertilizer-pesticide-irrigation) environments that, over time, erode local biodiversity. Between the expense of buying these seeds and inputs, and the loss of the skills and social relationships needed to do otherwise (through the saving and exchange of seeds of indigenous varieties), small-scale farming looks set to continue on its downward spiral of lower income, status and dignity.

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Global e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world, with the UN estimating that at the current rate, global e-waste will reach 74 metric tonnes by 2030.
These discarded materials hold overlooked value, with at least 7% of the world’s gold discarded in broken or old electronics. The Royal Mint has launched the world’s first jewellery company to ease these issues using 100% recovered gold from electronic waste for their products. The collection, titled ‘886’, features a series of necklaces, earrings, rings, and bracelets produced at The Royal Mints plant in South Wales. The company combines traditional manufacturing methods with innovative engineering skills to create highly distinctive and sustainable pieces. The collection aims to create jewellery that will retain its value for multiple generations.
Royal Mint, 2022
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Comment by Ian Jindal ,an experienced multichannel retailer and Editor-in-Chief and Founder of InternetRetailing.
With one of the leading eCommerce markets in the world, turning over an estimated £26bn in 2015 , UK retailers are battling global giants such as Amazon to win over customers. Ian Jindal, Editor and InternetRetailing Magazine, indicates how Amazon has dominated the industry and advises on the steps retailers can take to rival their success.
Zoologists would make us believe that there are only two kinds of elephants, the African and the Asian.
However, few rarely indicate the third kind, the one that is in the room – that no one wants to discuss. Except in the retail – and retail logistics world – there is an elephant in the room people can’t stop talking about, and that’s Amazon. The giants seem to have the rest of the retail world permanently on the back foot.
In the recently published 2017 InternetRetailing EU Top 500 report, Amazon didn’t make it into the Elite category. But don’t let that fool you. It continues to dominate the hearts and minds of the customer, and as such manages to dictate developments in retail fulfilment.
Dominance of Amazon
So, how big really is Amazon? In 10 years, Amazon’s market value increased by 1,934% to become the biggest online merchant by 2016, overtaking most of America’s physical retailers combined. 2016 saw American market leaders Sears, JCPenny, Macy’s, Target, Walmart and Best Buy take a combined $298bn, an extraordinary amount in a suffering global economy. However, when we see Amazon taking $356bn alone,2 how can traditional retailers compete?
Amazon recently had its most successful Prime Day to date with sales growing more than 60% from 2016. But, how and why have Amazon excelled within the retail sector?
Ecommerce has always been about keeping your promises to the customer. In the earliest days, those promises tended to be about whether a site could be trusted. But now that promise is more tightly aligned with the customer experience.
Delivery needs to keep the promises ecommerce makes to the customer, and if there’s one thing Amazon seems to have been getting consistently right for several years now, it’s that. So much so, that even consumers who claim to dislike Amazon will still buy from the marketplace because of its convenience. Operational excellence at scale, providing same-day delivery on a growing range of items across an expanding area of the UK is little short of breathtaking.
Even more impressive is the way Amazon is changing customer expectations of delivery en masse. Consumers expect Amazon to offer faster and faster delivery and they’re expecting that of the entire eCommerce sector. It’s becoming the new normal, and if your business can’t accommodate that, it is going to show. If you can’t keep up, you will get left behind.
The Challenges Faced by Logistics
International Cross Border
With a potential marketplace of over 1.13m online shoppers, it pays for retailers to have an online presence. But, no matter where a customer lives they expect to receive their order in a timely manner, a challenge many retailers face.
One issue is retailers must understand the delivery and logistics process which takes place in the areas which they are servicing. Retailers are able to save time and money by understanding local delivery options and consumer preferences.
In Germany an address must be 100% accurate or it will not be delivered, whereas in the Netherlands neighbour delivery is a common practice; where if the consumer is not at home the parcel will be diverted to their neighbour and a note will be left to indicate where it is. But, in Scandinavia consumers prefer to pick up their parcels through locker boxes, which are making a rise in the UK.1
By understanding consumer preferences and the best practices within the countries they are operating, Amazon dominate the marketplace as customers know their parcel will be received in an efficient manner. By operating in this fashion, other retailers can gain loyal customers who are reassured they will receive their order promptly.
Transportation Cost and Capacity
Retailers must maintain a cost effective way to transport their goods from the warehouse to the customer. Usually this comes in the form of external delivery drivers who are paid by the company to make the deliveries, but this can be pricey for smaller retailers. Often these merchants are left to send orders through the countries’ national postal system, which has the potential to lose orders or damage the goods in the process.
Recently we have seen Amazon take major steps to speed up its shipping services with algorithms to anticipate orders, robots picking the items and express delivery which can see an order arrive in a matter of hours. But the problem faced here is how does Amazon deliver to those living in the most remote areas in the same way?
To this they came up with ‘Prime Air’ a drone delivery service set to revolutionise the way consumers receive their packages. Although the majority of retailers can’t foresee drones delivering their packages within the next five years, retailers can be efficient in their delivery to retain customers.
Internet returns are usually three times higher than that of the traditional retail store adding a substantial dent to the business’ bottom line. An upper-hand to those competing against Amazon.
Retailers must make the returns process efficient to appeal to customers, making the process simple, efficient and clear will ensure retailers gain those initial orders. 82 percent of online
shoppers said they would complete a purchase online if they could return the product for free in-store or with a prepaid label. Yet only 32 percent of the Top 500 retailers offer some form of omnichannel or store-based return.5
The most efficient way retailers can raise their customer service for returns is to add a simple return label and including them in the package which has been delivered. Something Amazon prides itself on.
How Can Retailers Challenge Amazon?
Along with the above suggestions, there are already plenty of signs in the retail sector of the kind of innovation that will be required to face Amazon’s dominance. The Asda toYou service is a great example of a retailer finding ways to monetise what would otherwise be latent capacity in its network – previously empty space in vehicles is now earning its keep, customers are getting new delivery and collection options in familiar, easy-to-access locations, with hopes to attract an extra 40 million visits to its store estate.
Retailers without their own delivery network may want to look at collaborations and partnerships to extend their reach and avoid the pain of significant investments. When it comes to investing in better, more flexible and more efficient fulfilment operations, developments like DHL’s augmented reality glasses, and Honeywell’s voice operated picking technology both point to a future that’s a long way from the traditional view of warehousing.
One theme of discussion at this year’s EDelivery Conference will cover how retailers are able to challenge the dominance of Amazon. Attendees will also be given the opportunity to take part in peer-learning roundtables with industry giants such as IBM, Selfridges, LastMinute, Corra, Whittard and Amazon themselves.
Visitors will experience groundbreaking presentations on logistics and supply chain industry issues such as returns strategy, International cross border delivery and reputation management from Trainline, Deliveroo, John Lewis, ASDA and many more.
To find out more and order your ticket, visit the EDelivery Conference: http://edelivery.net/2017/07/key-themes-2017-edelivery-conference-edc/


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Toyota, long a stalwart of the auto industry seemingly invulnerable to market fluctuations, is suffering just as much as its competitors, a new study finds. The world’s biggest automaker is set to make an official announcement of revised earnings estimates, as well as reduced production capacities in certain plants based on slow sales in the United States and Europe.
According to Nikkei of Japan, Toyota will post an operating profit somewhere around 1.3 trillion yen, or about $12.8 billion. That’s well below the automaker’s current forecast of 1.6 trillion yen, which was lowered earlier this year. A combination of the strong yen and weak sales particularly in North America pushed Toyota’s operating profit down 39 percent in the April-June period, potentially signaling what the rest of the year will look like for the automaker.
Toyota will also likely revise its overall sales estimate for the year. Previously, Toyota had suggested that 9.5 million units would be a realistic target.


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10 Horrible Tech Habits You Need To Break Today
REUTERS / Samantha Sais
Or, even worse, some poor habits could put your personal information at risk.
From managing your passwords poorly to becoming the equivalent of a digital hoarder, here are a few habits and routines you should try to avoid.
- A college is removing its vending machines after a student discovered they were using facial-recognition technology
- 11 states pay more in federal taxes than they get back - here's how every state fares
- Steve Jobs once said the best managers are 'individual contributors' who aren't interested in managing people
- Great to reunite with Sanjay Leela Bhansali after 25 years: Manisha Koirala
- Farhan Akhtar, Shibani Dandekar team up for Netflix series 'Dabba Cartel'
- 10 Fruits that help increase stamina
- DGCA fines Air India ₹30 lakh after elderly passenger's death at Mumbai airport
- Oppo F25 Pro with a 32MP selfie camera launched starting at ₹23,999


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Mybet opens betting shops in Austria
posted on 31-08-2017 by Gurusoccer
The mybet Group has moved to expand its B2B services business by opening its first betting shops in Austria.
Working with a new partner, seven betting facilities have been opened, with more planned for the future.
Customers who use the new shops will be able to use the cash-out feature on their wagers, the company said.
“Cashout is a very popular feature in the market and already a standard offering for a modern betting provider,” Markus Peuler, chief executive of mybet, said. “This is why we are very glad to be able to offer this feature not only like before in some but in all our sales channels.”


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Will Apple Vs. Samsung Round 2 Be a Re-Run?
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Samsung (SSNLF.PK) now have a date set for the retrial on some of the devices that U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh had ruled did not violate any of the iPhone maker’s patents, but it might not be a very spectacular event.
The two massive smartphone makers have been at each other’s throats for a while now, with; Apple has claiming that Samsung had “slavishly” copied its iPhones. The lawsuit started out with 26 Samsung devices under review for patent infringement. At the end of the trial, Apple won and was awarded $1.05 billion in damages.
However, after the victory, Judge Koh discovered that the jury had used theory which she had specifically told them not to use when weighing the damages. Because of this, Koh lowered the damages by $450.5 million and removed 14 of the Samsung products from the ruling — though one has since been added back. The remaining 13 products are the focus of the retrial.
Naturally, Apple had been pushing for an earlier start to the trial, while Samsung had been requesting to have the retrial put on hold until the U.S. appeals court had taken a look at the validity of some of Apple’s patents. Neither company got what it wanted, as the date was set for November 12.
According to Koh, the retrial “is going to be Groundhog’s Day” as it is simply going to be a repeat of the previous trial, with almost nothing new added to the case. An additional trial will begin March 31, 2014, for the companies to settle other intellectual property claims.
There is almost half a billion dollars at stake, as the retrial could find the damages to be higher or lower than the original valuation. The trial will not be drawn out, as its set to only last 5 days and will remain within the legal scope of the original trial.
Fortunately for Samsung, the company has been pulling in heaps of money, as it boosted net profit in the past quarter by about 42 percent, reaching around $6.5 billion. As sales of the Galaxy S 4 speed up, it could be generating even more revenue. A loss in the retrial would still cost the company a fair bit, but it might be able to handle the burden with its increasing economic resources.
Don’t Miss: Is Apple’s iOS 7 Targeting Cars?


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The following are uniform incident and offense reports from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office from Sept. 8-23:
-Miscellaneous incident from the 300 block of McDow Road, Columbiana. Two
We’re less than a week away from the October 19 premiere of “American Horror Story” Season 11 and FX has released another spooky video teaser. This time around, the focus is on
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Starbucks wireless network a sweet deal for MobileStar
Starbucks Coffee this summer will launch one of the largest wireless network initiatives ever, rolling out high-speed Internet access in all 4,000 of its North American shops.
The initiative is a boon to MobileStar Network, the ISP responsible for the wireless LAN connectivity in each Starbucks stores and the backbone network connecting the shops to the Internet. MobileStar expects Starbucks will account for 50% of its network footprint by 2003.
"This is one of the largest wireless networks that is going to be deployed globally for sure," says Ali Tabassi, CTO and development officer at MobileStar. "This is our biggest project."
Tabassi says MobileStar is seeing interest in its wireless network from other hospitality chains. Among MobileStar's customers are American Airlines Admirals Clubs and Columbia Sussex Hotels.
"As we continue expanding our footprint to support Starbucks, it becomes more convenient for them to sign up," Tabassi says.
Other IT companies benefiting from the Starbucks project are Microsoft, which is providing a customized Web browsing experience, and Compaq, which will provide wireless LAN cards and iPaq Pocket PCs for loan or purchase at the shops.
"Starbucks was seeing more business people and college people come into their shops with laptops to drink lattes while they worked," says Dayna Fried, Compaq's spokeswoman on the Starbucks project. "[The company] thought: Why not turn Starbucks into a place to hold business meetings? They had to go wireless because they didn't want people to trip over wires."
Starbucks began talking about its wireless plans in January and will launch the service in Dallas, Seattle and San Francisco by mid-summer.
Each Starbucks will have an 802.11b wireless LAN that is hooked up to a T-1 line out to MobileStar's backbone. At each store, MobileStar is installing a wireless transceiver that can transmit and receive messages as well as a premises router and a miniswitch that hooks into a dedicated T-1.
"We have deployed in over 350 Starbucks locations. The majority of them are installed in Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, Dallas, New York and Houston," Tabassi says.
When a person with a wireless device, such as a laptop or handheld, comes into a Starbucks shop and opens up the Web browser, a welcome screen will be pushed onto the computer that provides information about Starbucks' promotions. End users who want Internet access will need to sign up as subscribers to the MobileStar service.
MobileStar will offer Starbucks customers two types of subscriptions that are good wherever they access the MobileStar network: monthly plans that start at $15.95 for 200 minutes per month or a pay-as-you-go plan that costs 20 cents per minute.
To access the MobileStar service, Starbucks customers will need a wireless LAN-capable device. Starbucks and Compaq officials are working on a scheme to offer wireless LAN cards and iPaqs to customers on a loan basis if they don't have a wireless-enabled computer, Fried says. Starbucks also may sell wireless LAN cards and iPaqs - which retail for $500 to $1,000 - at some stores.
Microsoft, Starbucks team on wireless 'Net services
IDG News Service, 01/03/01.


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FEZ resident GP KONUS won the business award "Leader of the Year-2019"
On December 11, 2019, the presentation ceremony of International Business Award "Leader of the Year-2019" was held in Minsk. In 2019, the Leader of the Year Award acquired an international format. 54 companies from Belarus, near and far abroad became winners of the Prize.
According to the decision of the Expert Council, FEZ Grodnoinvest resident KP Konus RUP NAN of Belarus on Agricultural Mechanization was awarded with a diploma of the International Business Award "Leader of the Year-2019" for the application of science-based production and the intensive economic development of the enterprise in the nomination "Providing services for the protection of metal products from corrosion by hot dip galvanizing". For high professional skills and effective results, the director of the enterprise Andrey Zhamoida became a laureate of the award.
It should be noted that this is not the first award of hot-dip galvanizing plant Konus in 2019. A month earlier, Andrey Zhamoida became the winner of another prestigious national award "Leader of the Year 2019. The Elite of the National Economy" for his personal contribution to the overall success of the enterprise. Also, the state-owned enterprise Konus became the laureate of the International Recognition Award, the award ceremony of which was held on December 12, 2019, in Moscow as part of the International Entrepreneurs Summit 2019, dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the Eurasian Economic Union.
GP Konus is a modern production enterprise for the protection of large-sized metal structures using method of hot dip galvanizing. As a resident of the FEZ “Grodnoinvest” it was registered in 2011. The company offers hot-dip galvanizing of metal products for customers from Belarus, Russia and CIS countries, other neighboring countries. It performs service of galvanizing large and long structures, road bumpers, lighting masts, cable support systems, sheet thin metal products, etc. It also carries out finishings on products before galvanizing, packaging of galvanized products, delivery by own transport. In 2019, an international scientific and practical conference on the prospects for the development of hot galvanizing in the Republic of Belarus was held at the enterprise.


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More than 2,100 jobs have been saved by Sports Direct International's purchase of 116 stores from fashion retailer Republic.
The Sports World group has also taken over the stock, along with the group's head office in Leeds and its websites and brands SoulCal, Fabric and Crafted.
More top news
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G. Skill has announced yet another memory kit SO-DIMM high-capacity, stating that this is the “world's fastest”. We have already heard this song and dance, with G. Skill, which has recently published a kit of memory that is advertised in the same way to 4000 MHz . However, the new kit SO-DIMM doubles...
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“A block that chains everything is the youngest of innovation for the oldest of functioning”
Blockchain- As per the Research & Advisory firm Gartner, Blockchain technology is listed under the top 10 strategic technologies for the year 2021. The technology is expected to come under the mainstream functioning by the year 2023.
From banking, cybersecurity, healthcare to intellectual property, Blockchain emerges as the technology that is capable of bringing major changes and new opportunities across the industries.
Meanwhile, when this was the global market size of the technology is also growing majorly in a few regions in Billions!
This results in evolving blockchain technology trends 2021 that are also going to remain the market for the long run from this year. Before checking out the trends in detail, let us quickly have a look at the blockchain technology statistics to strengthen its potential for the coming years.
Get a quick look at- what are blockchain technologies, its basic understanding of blockchain and how it works in our blog. The understanding will then easily connect the dots while bridging the gaps too.
Top Blockchain Market Statistics
- The market capitalization of Bitcoin expanded to approximately $72.37 billion in Q1 last year.
- There are high chances that financial institutions and banks using blockchain technology can reduce their cost on infrastructure by 30%.
- 9 out of 10 people are engaged in Bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin cryptocurrency is built using blockchain technology.
- Over 20+ countries have researched about national cryptocurrency.
- In the year 2018, almost 9 banks in Europe and America explored the trends of blockchain technology.
- It is predicted that by the year 2025, half of the global healthcare administration will use blockchain technology for business operations and functions.
With a handful of information on the side, it is now the right time to check out blockchain technology trends 2021 in detail.
Top Blockchain Technology Trends 2021 & Beyond Follow
1. Blockchain as a Service (BaaS)
One of the very first blockchain technology trends 2021 and beyond is BaaS. BaaS is generally referred to as Blockchain As A Service. The technology though listed itself as the trend for 2021, but it is still in use by startups and well-known companies.
BaaS is basically a cloud-based service giving access to users to develop their own digital products all the while including blockchain technology.
What is blockchain technology used for can be answered here.The Digital products that involve BaaS can be decentralized applications (often called Dapps), Smart Contracts, or other services that require a little less of a blockchain-based infrastructure.
For future trends of blockchain technology, well- known organizations that provide BaaS based services are Amazon, Microsoft strengthening the potential of the technology.
2. Federated Blockchain
The network for Blockchain is broadly divided into 3 categories named-
- Hybrid or Federated.
Among the 3, Hybrid or Federated blockchain is seen as the best and latest blockchain trends in the industry. It is the upgraded version of the blockchain model making it the ideal choice for various use cases.
Emerging blockchain technology Federated blockchain can be used by multiple authorities and can easily control pre-selected nodes of blockchain. The selected group of nodes can validate the block in order to process the transactions further.
By the end of this year, there will be a rise in the usage of federated blockchain networks with a customizable outlook.
Cryptocurrencies one of the best known blockchain trends, are seen as the byproduct of Blockchain which is highly volatile in nature. This made the entry of Stablecoins in the field. Stable value is associated with each coin which is yet in its initial phase and is predicted to showcase its potential by the end of this year.
One of the top reasons for the Stablecoin blockchain technology trend is the introduction of Facebook’s cryptocurrency “Libra”.
4. Social Networking Problems
More number of smartphones and mobile applications obviously means more number of users around the globe. Last, there were over 2.77 billion social media users worldwide.
The introduction of blockchain technology or better say emerging blockchain technology in social media platforms can limit the issues of scandals, forgery, privacy violations, content relevancy, data control, and many more. Hence, blockchain technology trends 2021 also revolve around social media platforms.
With its help, it will be ensured that social media data published can neither be copied nor be traced even after deletion. This will make users store their data securely all the while maintaining ownership. Also, blockchain technology ensures that the power of content remains in the hands of the owner instead of the platform owner.
However, one of the emerging blockchain technology challenging tasks will be convincing the social media platform owner to accept the technology.
5. Interoperability and Blockchain Networks
Next in the lead for blockchain technology trends 2021 will be based upon interoperability and blockchain networks.
Blockchain interoperability has the potential to share data and other important information across multiple blockchain systems including networks. This makes the process of viewing and accessing data across different blockchain platforms streamlined.
However, Interoperability latest blockchain technologymight be challenging currently when it comes to sending data from one Ethererum blockchain to another specific blockchain network, but it has numerous benefits. These benefits can be explored once the use of interoperability will become mainstream.
6. Economy and Finance Based Applications
Financial institutions and the banking sector don’t require to change the whole process of operations in order to integrate blockchain trends.
The Banking and financial sectors after applying cryptocurrency are also in support of using the same for traditional banking operations too.
As per the PWC report, around 77% of the financial institutions are about to adopt blockchain technology under their in-production system by the end of 2021.
Meanwhile, blockchain technology will simply reduce excessive bureaucracy, while conducting faster transactions that too at lower costs. The practice also improves the secrecy side too.
Furthermore, blockchain trends gartner, one of the predictions for blockchain showed that the banking industry will derive over 1 billion dollars of business value through blockchain-based cryptocurrencies by 2021.
Along with that, blockchain can also be used for launching new cryptocurrencies which can further be regulated or influenced by monetary policy.
7. Blockchain for Government Agencies
Blockchain for Government agencies is one of the next trends in blockchain technology.
A distributed ledger is one of the most attractive things for governmental bodies meant for administering large amounts of data.
Similar to blockchain in the Supply chain, Governmental bodies today got their separate database in order to look for the required information related to residents from each other. To this, the integration of blockchain technology for effective data management will further help in improving agencies’ functioning.
Know more- Top blockchain programming languages to be a blockchain expert
As per the report by blockchain trends gartner for the year 2022 showed that over a billion people will store on a blockchain irrespective of their awareness.
8. Blockchain Combines with IoT
The IoT market, next in blockchain trends will come up with more innovation along with safety challenges while focusing on security. Meanwhile, the number of internet-connected devices crossed 26 billion marks till now.
With the constant surging of internet-connected devices, the hacking issue will also increase. This makes it an urgency for the business to stop intruders from interpreting the core operations. Also, when used strategically, the trend can answer how blockchain technology is predicted to upstages businesses.
This can be eliminated through the integration of blockchain technology. Via the blockchain for business, everyone can participate in the network of nodes of the blockchain network in order to check the blocks along with transactions stored and approved. Other than that, users will get private keys for controlling transactions too.
Furthermore, as blockchain technology is decentralized, there is no single authority that can approve the transactions eliminating Single Point of Failure (SPOF) weakness.
Now comes the number of the third and most important thing is all about security. The blockchain database can be extended whereas the previous records cannot be altered.
9. Blockchain with AI
Artificial Intelligence with blockchain has the ability to bring better developmental results. Also, the integration will also show a level of improvement through a plethora of applications.
International Data Corporation (IDC) suggested AI global spending will reach $57.6 billion by the end of this year whereas over 51% of the organizations will make the use of AI with blockchain integration.
This one of the next blockchain future trends with dual strength will help in recording data and variables used for decision making under machine learning. When this was about strength and mechanism, AI can boost blockchain efficiency better than manual and standard computers.
A few examples of AI in blockchain applications can be- AI decision making, Smart computing power, Diverse Data Sets, Data Protection, Data Monetization.
10. Ricardian Contracts
Ricardian contracts are new in the list of blockchain technology trends for 2021. These contracts are human-readable legal agreements agreed and signed by the parties involved in the contract.
The contract converted into a machine-readable contract listing down the intentions of the parties involved.
The next blockchain technology trend that is going to make things a little better will be a Hybrid blockchain. This type of blockchain will use the appropriate part of public & private blockchain solutions.
The advantages one can take from Hybrid blockchain are-
- Lower transaction costs
- Cyber threat and attacks protection
- Options for changing rules
- Confidential practices
- Operating in a closed ecosystem
12. Content Streaming
Content streaming is the next top blockchain technology for the year 2021 and for the upcoming years too. Video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon can incorporate the blockchain technology and its solutions for storing user data in a secure and accessible manner.
These are the top blockchain technology trends 2021 that are going to dominate the market sooner or by the end of this year.
A few among them are still in use but slowly and gradually keeping technology advancement, acceptance by side, Blockchain is going to enter major mainstreams.
Meanwhile, we being the leading app development company can help in the making of blockchain technology-based applications to make you lead the race. Connect with our blockchain experts for a more in-depth understanding.
Co-Founder and AVP Technology at Appventurez Mobitech. A tech enthusiast who has broad expertise in delivering end to end software solutions. He is an expert technocrat ho has in-depth knowledge and is highly experienced in delivering solutions for Android, Xamarin, Ethereum Smart Contracts, ASP.net.
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|A Screen shows the prices of bitcoin at a virtual currency exchange store in Seoul, South Korea. (Photo by Seung-il Ryu/NurPhoto via Getty Images)|
The good news for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies keeps coming this week after the bitcoin price jumped by over 10% a few days ago.
Now the South Korean financial regulator is reorganising so it can “proactively respond to financial innovation in the fourth industrial revolution era” — meaning it’s looking to nurture bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain.
The regulator — the Financial Services Commission (FSC) — has created the Financial Innovation Bureau to take oversight of the burgeoning crypto sector.
“The FSC plans a major organizational reshuffle to better protect financial consumers and proactively respond to financial innovation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution era,” an FSC statement read. “The new Financial Innovation Bureau will also be tasked with policy initiatives for financial innovation, such as innovating financial services using fintech or big data, and responses to new developments and challenges such as cryptocurrencies.”
The move appears to chime with a report earlier this week from the international Financial Stability Board (FSB), which South Korea is a member of, that found bitcoin and cryptocurrencies do not currently pose a material risk to the global financial system and encourage countries to take a soft approach towards them.
The regulatory shake up has been welcomed by cryptocurrency watchers, with an official from the South Korea-based Fantom Foundation telling the Korea Times: “Virtual coin and related blockchain technologies will come to our everyday life sooner or later. I think Korea can be an ideal incubator to test drive new virtual coins and their blockchain systems. Now it is the government’s role to establish a favorable environment for virtual coins and their blockchains.”
South Korea has rapidly become one of the world’s bitcoin, crypto and blockchain hubs, and is home to one of the biggest virtual coin exchanges, Bithumb.
At the beginning of this year the bitcoin price in South Korea was at one time 50% higher than the global average, CoinDesk data revealed — which became known as the kimchi premium.
|In South Korea the bitcoin price was far higher than elsewhere in the world.COINDESK|
The kimchi premium peaked in January with bitcoin trading at the equivalent of $22,525 in South Korea — some $7,500 higher than the composite price at the time. It has however all but evaporated since then.
Last month South Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that bitcoin is a legally recognizable asset, overturning a decision made by one of the country’s lower courts in a case dating back to last year.
However, it hasn’t been all plain sailing for bitcoin in South Korea. In June South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail was hacked, sending the bitcoin price tumbling some 10% at the time.
Last week, South Korea brought in new anti-money laundering rules for cryptocurrency settlement that mean banks are obliged to expand due diligence procedures for cryptocurrency exchanges to their non-client accounts, to share information about overseas digital trading platforms with the FSC, and to halt immediately suspicious cryptocurrency transactions.


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When Economies Turn Down, Entrepreneurs Turn Up: How COVID-19 Has Spurred Nigerian Businesses to Build for an Inclusive Future
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been easy on enterprises, regardless of their country. Entrepreneurs around the world spent 2020 navigating the effects of both the economic and healthcare crises on their businesses.
But these crises have had a particularly harsh impact on companies in emerging markets. In Nigeria, for instance, founders of high-growth startups and scaleups had to launch or grow their businesses within the context of a fragile economic recovery and a government with limited fiscal space to provide support for them.
COVID-19’s Impact on Nigeria’s Innovation Ecosystem
In April 2020, when lockdown measures came into effect in several states across Nigeria, it quickly became clear that the country’s innovation ecosystem would be negatively impacted by the crisis, due to diminishing cash runways and interrupted fundraising efforts. A survey conducted by the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub revealed that nearly eight out of 10 Nigerian startups had less than six months of runway.
At the time, as Managing Director of Endeavor in Nigeria, I wrote an op-ed urging the government and other stakeholders to provide tailored support for startups and scaleups in Nigeria. Later in the year, we released a whitepaper detailing the measures that could be taken to provide this support. The solutions we advocated included liquidity support for entrepreneurs, capital injection into the innovation ecosystem and government support for technology businesses driving digital transformation. This approach was motivated by Endeavor’s core belief that high-growth startup and scaleup companies, led by high-impact entrepreneurs, are the key to a vibrant economic future. These companies contribute to ecosystem development and innovation, and create thousands of jobs.
For Nigeria’s informal economy, the pandemic has been equally devastating. Many of these jobs cannot be carried out online, negatively impacting countless entrepreneurs and laborers, and exposing inequalities both domestically and globally. It is likely that we will never know the quantifiable impact of COVID-19 on the country’s informal sector, but it brought to light the urgent need to create infrastructure that can enable Nigerians to thrive in the new digital world.
How Tech-Driven Startups are Responding to the Pandemic
This is where the innovation ecosystem – led by high-growth, technology-driven startups and scaleups – comes in. Endeavor’s global footprint means that we’ve been lucky enough to have front row seats to witness how entrepreneurs across the world — in 38 markets on six continents — have proactively tackled COVID-19’s challenges head-on. For many businesses, the pandemic has revealed weak spots, areas for improvement and inefficient processes. For Nigeria’s startups and scaleups, it has also provided an opportunity to accelerate the digitisation of the country.
When the country’s initial lockdown was announced last April, millions of small businesses had to shut down their operations. In response, Flutterwave, a payments technology platform, helped hundreds of small business owners by releasing an e-commerce platform to enable them to set up their shops online, with payments and delivery integrated into the platform. The logistics platform Kobo360—which matches shippers and truck operators to confirm, finance and complete long-haul trips— also saw an opportunity in the crisis, as online commerce was increasing under lockdown, and companies found it easier to work with a fully digital platform. It has experienced increased usage and has doubled the value of trips on its platform to close to $200 million annually. And as markets closed and retailers struggled to source supplies for their stores, many of them turned to TradeDepot, a scaleup company that is digitising Nigeria’s supply chain. During periods of restricted movement, the 40,000 retailers on TradeDepot’s platform were able to order essential supplies via SMS texts, USSD codes or the company’s website. TradeDepot even became part of Lagos State’s emergency food response strategy, distributing essential products to designated markets during the nationwide lockdown.
When lockdown restrictions were eased and banks re-opened, images of crowded bank gates were common on social media, as social distancing and other safety measures slowed their services. One bank that did not have to deal with such crowds was Kuda bank. As a digital-only bank, Kuda has no branches: This pandemic-friendly feature helped to power its rapid growth, leading to a $10 million seed round in November -– the largest seed round raised so far in Africa. And in the second quarter of last year, mobile payments platform Paga reported over 330% quarter-on-quarter growth in new signups for its mobile wallet, which it attributed to the pandemic.
Beyond these tech-enabled solutions to social distancing measures, scaleups have also made more direct contributions to Nigeria’s crisis response. For instance, when the country’s COVID-19 testing capacity needed to scale rapidly, 54gene and LifeBank quickly launched mobile testing facilities to support the government.
At Endeavor, we say that when economies turn down, entrepreneurs turn up. Companies like Google, Facebook, Uber and AirBnB were launched during (or just before) periods of economic turmoil. Just like their peers in other countries, in the middle of the current healthcare and economic crises, Nigerian entrepreneurs have turned up. Their innovations have saved lives, created jobs and contributed to economic prosperity. In the early days of the pandemic, we worried about the effects it would have on young businesses’ cash positions and ability to fundraise. While we can never know what would have happened if there wasn’t a pandemic, startups in Africa raised $1.6 billion in 2020, according to ecosystem analyst Maxime Bayen. This is more than they raised in 2019.
The COVID-19 crisis has devastated lives and livelihoods, but it has also re-shaped our way of living in more positive ways, by changing our habits and digitising the economy. It is nearly impossible to counterbalance the emotional, mental and physical toll that many of us have faced this past year – let alone the lives that have been lost. Yet the looming presence of a global health crisis has pushed Nigeria’s technology companies to innovate, and forced us to imagine alternative ways of living and conducting business. If there could be a bright side to such a dark time, this would certainly qualify.
Photo courtesy of Olumide Bamgbelu.


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Security researchers have discovered that a misconfigured cloud-hosted database has leaked more than 300,000 records, including sensitive personal information of e-commerce buyers.
Team Safety detective found The Elasticsearch database, which was leaked on July 25 this year, claimed that the content was published without password protection or encryption after November 2020.
After hosting company Alibaba did not respond to the team’s outreach, efforts to close the leak have proven unsuccessful so far, and the identity of the database owner remains a mystery.
From the 500 MB data breach, all Safety Detectives were able to confirm that the owner is a Chinese ERP provider servicing companies that sell their products on platforms such as Amazon and Shopify.
According to the report, about half of the 329,000 published records contained the buyer’s name, phone number, email, billing address, and shipping address. In some cases, the seller’s name, email address, and billing information were also leaked.
According to the report, e-commerce customers in Germany, France and Denmark have been in the spotlight, with as many as 150,000 potentially exposed customers.
The leaked data can be a gold mine for scammers who are masters of the past by reusing personal information in subsequent phishing and personal information fraud attempts designed to extract more sensitive financial information. prize.
“Home addresses are also available in databases. This makes burglary / robbery a viable possibility if personally identifiable information (PII) is sold to other criminals. It could target users with high-value orders in the hope that the victim’s home will be filled with expensive items, “the report claims.
“Theft of ordered items is another risk associated with leaking order details. Tracking links, shipping times, courier information, shipping addresses, and ordering information intercept the items ordered by users. Providing criminals with enough data to steal. “
If database owners are ultimately tracked, they may face investigations from regulators of both the GDPR and China’s new equivalent law. Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL).
Misconfigured database leaks data from 300K e-commerce buyers
https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/misconfigured-database-leaks-300k/ Misconfigured database leaks data from 300K e-commerce buyers


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For students studying in the Law School’s new Robert B. Aikens Commons, it’s hard to ignore the sweet smell of freshly brewed coffee and baked scones wafting through the air.
The aroma emanates from the new Kirkland & Ellis Café, which opened earlier this month at the grand opening of the new commons area located in Hutchins Hall. The café offers customers a variety of products from freshly baked pastries, to grilled sandwiches, to Starbucks coffee.
The café is owned and operated by Picasso Café, Inc. — a local, family-owned business that also operates the 20/20 Café at the University’s Kellogg Eye Center. The construction of the café was funded through a donation from two University alumni and partners at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, the Kirkland & Ellis Foundation and 1956 Law School alum William Jentes.
Caleb Pizana, general manager of the café, stressed that the Kirkland & Ellis Café offers many affordable options for students.
“Our sandwiches are anywhere from a dollar and a half to $2 less than what you would find at other cafés, so very reasonably priced,” Pizana said. “We hope to gain the trust of the students — that they can come here and not feel that we’re taking more money out of their pockets than what they’re already putting into the school.”
Pizana added that the Kirkland & Ellis Café uses local ingredients — including produce from Eastern Market in Detroit — and sells homemade goods.
“We have a bakery out of Detroit that we use that brings in fresh muffins and donuts and (other products),” Pizana said. “We also provide our own fresh baked goods: scones, cookies, rice krispie treats, brownies — that sort of thing we all take care of in house here.”
The café also imports Starbucks coffee. But Pizana said the café offers the full Starbucks menu at a slightly cheaper price than the franchise’s stores.
“We’d done our research, and Starbucks was what we felt was wanted by the people that both go to school here and study and then also the people around town,” Pizana said.
The opening of the Kirkland & Ellis Café on Sept. 7 comes around the same time as the closing of the Law Library’s snack bar, a small café previously located on the library’s lower level. Though Pizana recognizes that the snack bar was a popular choice for many students, he said he hopes the new café can fill the snack bar’s void.
“We’ve been well accepted due to the change with the snack bar downstairs,” Pizana said. “A few people had mixed feelings about it, but now that we’ve been up and running and we’ve strived for customer service and gained those customers on a one-on-one level … I think we’ve kind of won them over with our café and the products that we serve.”
Business at the café has been going well during its first three weeks, Pizana said. He added that the Sept. 7 grand opening ceremony of the Robert B. Aikens Commons increased the number of students and staff visiting the café.
The business is also in the process of setting up a system to accept Blue Bucks, but Pizana said he hopes the café’s customer demographic will expand beyond Law School students and staff.
“We are really hoping that the public finds out about us — people passing through from classes, people passing through to work,” Pizana said.
Pizana said he believes the personal nature of the café, along with the quality of food it serves, will draw customers.
“You can go into any café and get a sandwich, but the experience, I think, is what brings people back,” Pizana said. “We are very personable here. We make it an effort for everyone, not just our cooks but our cashiers, to know our customers on a personal basis.”
First year Law School student Elisabeth Madden said she has been to the café everyday since it opened and finds the location a convenient stop between classes.
“We have a lot of one-hour breaks in our classes, so it’s not really enough time to go home,” Madden said. “So it’s nice to have a place to be able to sit down and have a snack or coffee.”
First year Law School student Laura Jacobson said she also frequents the new café and enjoys the salads, sandwiches and muffins. She added that the snack bar was “awful,” and she doesn’t miss it, even if products at the new café are slightly more expensive.
“I know everything at the snack bar was like a dollar or two, but it’s really not that expensive (at the Kirkland & Ellis Café),” Jacobson said.
Madden also said the new café is an improvement over the snack bar and offers a better space for students.
“It’s a nice place to kick back after class and relax and see friends, but it’s also quiet enough that it’s a good place to study and get ready for the class you have the next day,” Madden said.


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As automation improves, more organisations are choosing to deploy robots within the industry to reduce costs and increase overall work productivity.
Indeed, CIOs have taken full advantage of robotics by helping to construct, inspect and operate within their organisations.
CIO UK looks at which organisations are implementing robotics and which CIO industries are benefiting from the use of the technology. (See also: Which industries are benefitting from the use of VR)
Which industries are benefitting from the use of robotics: Healthcare
Clinical CIOs are finding difficulty in experimenting with digital technology, with strict IT budgets.
Healthcare industries are currently using robotics through the use of surgery to perform invasive procedures.
A surgeon would use a computer-controlled robot to assist them in certain surgical procedures. The robot would have the same motion as the surgeon allowing a greater precision and control over the patient.
The use of technology has seen robotics follow suit to Amazon's acting porters by transporting and delivering goods around healthcare Trusts.
South Glasgow University Hospital recently implemented 22 robots to help boost its patient services.
The robots would be signalled through a network of pick up points to help carry food, linen and medical equipment around the hospital.
Indeed, the technology has given clinical CIOs and hospital Trusts a realistic experience of the future in healthcare with the use of robotic surgery and robotic porters helping to achieve this.
Which industries are benefiting from the use of robotics: Food
CIOs today are exploring new ways of producing and manufacturing food.
Most recently the University of Lincoln has launched a government-funded project which will see the use of robotics in food manufacturing. The project will aim to replace industrial food preparation and focus on automating the handling, weighing and transporting of ingredients.
The robotics will make the food preparations advance in efficiency, quality and quantity in the production of the food products.
The robotics will make food production more efficient in the quality and quality of service while also reducing manual labour.
Food organisations Domino’s and Just East deliver food while also keeping orders at a consistent temperature when delivering to customers. It will see the robots fitted with camera and GPS to help navigate the automation technology.
As robots are being equipped for food packaging, sorting and distributing of goods, newer developments have seen Nestle and Pizza Hut use food automation to help take orders. It allows customers to place an order electronically with the robot processing the payment and then taking the order.
The digital technology has given CIOs a more realistic view of robotics and how it can reduce costs while also ensuring efficiency in production.
Which industries are benefitting from the use of robotics: Oil and gas
Oil and gas industries have seen the biggest impact from the use of robotics.
The digital technology has seen components such as pipes, columns and reactors being inspected by robotics to create a safer way of working.
The trend for robotics has been cited by a number of organisations with continual growth in the digital technology, and recently CIO UK spoke to IT Director Andrew Quail and how he is using robotics at to enable an efficient customer service at SGN.
“Introducing pipe robotics at SGN will mean customers will have fewer disruptions in their fuel supply as well as a better and safer way of inspecting the pipelines for SGN,” he said.
Indeed, robotics will see a great precision of measuring and collecting data while also creating a safer work environment.
Which industries are benefitting from the use of robotics: Transportation
A key development in robotics has seen autonomous self-driving cars being used in transport industries.
The self-driven cars work by combining different sensors with automated –steering technology used for parking to help with driving.
Most of the technology to create the driverless cars is already being used on the roads through parallel parking and automatic tracking with Google, Apple and Uber leading the way for robotic cars.
Robotics will see CIOs working towards delivering new digital technology while also ensuring business innovation within their organisations.
Which industries are benefitting from the use of robotics: Retail
According to Harvey Nash, 15% of CIOs are expecting to increase their user engagement to ensure an efficient customer service.
This trend has seen retail industries adopt robotic technology as more customers move online to purchase their goods.
Speaking as part of the 2017 CIO 100 CIO Paul Coby expects to see automation and robotics to have a big impact on an infrastructure level at retail giant John Lewis Partnership.
For many retail CIOs it see robotics move beyond shipping and logistics but to roaming shop aisles and stock checking. The development will allow customers to find a particular item with the robot locating the good.
The use of automation will see organisations adopt a self-service approach to its customers to help ensure a higher-quality user journey.
Which industries are benefitting from the use of robotics: Manufacturing
The latest deployments in manufacturing have seen robotics being used to carry out menial tasks such as handling and product packing.
Most notable companies such as Amazon, Quiet Logistics and Lowes are making the shift from industrial to service robots in using the technology to help find, carry and package goods to their customers.
Robots used in manufacturing create efficiencies all the way from raw material handling to finished product packing.
Recently, CIO UK spoke to Ford CIO Marcy K’levorn about how the car manufacturer is using robotics to benefit its employees and increase work productivity.
The campaign led by CIO K’levorn will see Ford use iRobot’s Ava500s, a tablet device used during video conferences in the absence of remote office workers.
The tablet device can also provide headquarter tours for recruiting graduates on college campuses via its web browsers. The tours can provide potential employees the opportunity to view their motor vehicle inventory, company operations and Ford’s business culture.
While robotics is in greater use within organisations today, it can promote a greater safety and productivity amongst its employees. (Read next: People skills are crucial to the CIO role, says Ford CIO Marcy K'levorn)


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Lite-On sent out a press release this morning, announcing its new line of 24x DVD writers. The company plans to ship the iHAS324 (SATA) and iHAP424 (PATA) in March. Both drives will feature Lite-On's SmartErase technology and, in the case of the iHAP424, support for LightScribe. Lite-On will also be shipping a third drive in mid-May. Along with SmartErase and LightScribe, the iHAS624 will feature Lite-On's new LabelTag technology. For those not familiar with LabelTag, the technology allows you to write text and graphics on the recordable side of a disc.
Lite-On, a global leader of optical storage solutions, today announces a new line of internal DVD writers that deliver a maximum write speed of 24X on select DVD media, the fastest in the market. Select drives will also include Lite-On’s own LabelTag and SmartErase technologies – unique labeling and data erasing features for DVDs and CDs.
Compared to similar devices in the market today, Lite-On’s new internal writers offer the fastest DVD recording available with its DVD writing speeds of 24X. All drives will include new Lite-On technologies designed for true power users who are concerned with more than just writing speeds. Lite-On’s SmartErase technology will be included in all drive versions, and the iHAS624, available in Mid-May, will also feature LabelTag – a new solution in disc labeling.
“PLDS is proud to manufacture the fastest 24X writers in the market, especially with included technologies such as LabelTag,” said Christine Hsing, Marketing Manager at PLDS. “LabelTag provides a cost-effective and flexible method for professional disc labeling, a great solution for today’s busy professional and people on-the-go.”


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Kent Reliance has become the latest bank to launch a cash Isa to help savers fight rising inflation, joining Yorkshire Building Society and the Post Office, which launched products in February 2011.
The Kent Reliance cash Isa is a five year, fixed term savings product which will pay interest based upon the growth of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) at the end of the term. But Which? is concerned that yet another bank has launched a structured deposit product, and warns consumers to think hard about this inflation-linked account before they decide to tie their money up.
How does Kent Reliance’s inflation-linked cash Isa work?
The account opens on 1 June 2011 and matures on 31 May 2016, and will pay 100% growth of the Retail Prices Index plus 2%.
Therefore, if the Index increases by 15% between 2011 and 2016, you’ll receive 17% after five years.
What are the issues with this inflation-linked Isa?
Kent Reliance’s inflation-linked cash Isa is a type of structured deposit. This means that the interest rates paid out by the product are linked some kind of index.
Which? has criticised these types of savings accounts in the past, as we believe that they are too complex for savers and have historically delivered poor returns.
The Kent Reliance cash Isa pays out returns on maturity. At the moment inflation might be high, but it is difficult to forecast where inflation will be in five years time – even the Bank of England only generates inflation forecasts for three years in advance. Therefore, it’s difficult to know whether or not putting your money away for such a long period is going to benefit you.
If the Retail Prices Index falls or remains the same, you’ll only get 2% – a measly 0.39% annual growth – after five years of saving.
Concerns with the marketing material
We believe that Kent Reliance’s marketing material for its inflation-linked cash Isa could be potentially misleading to consumers. It cites three examples of how the index might grow over the next five years – 32% growth (leading to a £3,200 gain on a £10,000 investment), 0% growth (leading to just a £200 gain) and a 30% fall in the index (again, paying just £200).
However, when we analysed RPI from 1987 onwards, we found that the average five year growth of the index was 17.2%. In fact, the last time that the index grew by 32% was in 1993. Since 1987, it has never fallen over five years, let alone by 30%.
The Financial Services Authority has recently raised concerns about the marketing of structured deposits and we would like to see providers putting more realistic projections in their marketing material. Otherwise, consumers are at risk of being misled or investing in a product because of the publication of a high hypothetical headline rate.
We’re also concerned that the product is marketed as a cash Isa, yet the projections are based upon a £10,000 investment. This means that only £5,340 of a customer’s savings would be sheltered from tax on maturity.
Which? can help you find the cash Isas paying the top rates, and help you switch to a Best Rate deal with our unique Savings Rate Booster tool.
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Funny how sometimes companies need to re-learn their own lessons. As I ponder the massive popularity of FROZEN, I can’t help but shake my head and wonder “What took Disney so long?” Back in 1989, Disney Animation was moribund. The 1980s had not been kind to the studio, which had only …more
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As noted by the Seattle Times, Pike Place Market is setting up a new satellite Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays at the Microsoft Commons starting in mid-June. The Microsoft Farmers Market, which will include everything from organic vegetables to flowers, will operate every Tuesday until October. I can’t wait!
The New York Times Dialect Survey was the site’s most popular post of 2013. The data behind it is based on the extensive research of Scott Golder and his team in the early 2000s, and Scott discusses how things have changed in the ten years since he conducted his research—including …more
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Original article published here. A small, covert team of engineers at Microsoft cast aside suggestions that the company spend US$60 million to turn its 500-acre headquarters into a smart campus to achieve energy savings and other efficiency gains. Instead, applying an “Internet of Things meets Big Data” approach, the team …more
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