text:
Keraglass: A Remarkable Journey of Innovation and Growth
Keraglass, a renowned leader in glass industry technology, headquartered in Baiso, Reggio Emilia, Italy, continues to surge forward on an impressive trajectory of growth. This success can be attributed to their unwavering commitment to pioneering technologies and their remarkable ability to craft tailored solutions for their clients.
Maicol Spezzani, Sales Director at Keraglass, expressed his satisfaction with the company’s recent achievements, stating, “We are delighted with the results we have achieved. Our dedication to ongoing research and the pursuit of cutting-edge solutions underscores our commitment to excellence. We cater to diverse industries, including construction, furniture, architecture, automotive, and solar, always prioritizing quality and meeting our customers’ unique needs.”
Expanding Horizons: Two New Facilities
In a testament to their commitment to expansion and innovation, Keraglass inaugurated two new facilities in 2021 and 2023. The first, spanning an impressive 3000 square meters, is dedicated to machinery assembly and houses a state-of-the-art R&D Lab. The second facility, sprawling across 5000 square meters, was strategically established in Roteglia, in the province of Reggio Emilia. These strategic moves have allowed Keraglass to bolster its production capacity by a staggering 100 percent.
Milestones in Glass Tempering Systems
Keraglass achieved significant milestones in 2022 with the successful installation of over 25 glass tempering systems, all delivering exceptional results in terms of product quality and energy efficiency. This feat was made possible through the implementation of bespoke software and high-quality insulating materials. Anticipating further success, Keraglass aspires to conclude the current year with a remarkable 50 percent increase in installations compared to 2022.
Elevating Laminating and Decoration Systems
The company has witnessed substantial growth in laminating systems, particularly with the Deluxe and Combi models. Similarly, their decoration lines, spanning from traditional screen printing to the cutting-edge digital printing, have enjoyed remarkable success. Keraglass is proud to unveil its latest innovation, Vivida, a next-generation model enabling customers to enjoy a highly flexible production line, seamlessly integrated with other machinery, facilitating the replication of any image on large glass sheets and swift size adjustments.
Pioneering Logistics Solutions in 2024
In the near future, specifically in 2024, Keraglass plans to take another substantial leap forward by introducing cutting-edge logistics solutions and automated systems. This revolutionary approach will encompass a fully automated system for interconnection, storage, and handling, streamlining all processing phases to minimize errors and downtime, thus optimizing production.
A Global Presence with Unwavering Dedication
With a formidable global presence, the invaluable support of the Voilàp group, and their unwavering dedication, Keraglass remains poised to maintain its impressive growth trajectory. Their commitment to product quality and exceptional after-sale service ensures that they will continue to be a driving force in the glass industry, setting new benchmarks for excellence. The future for Keraglass is indeed as bright as the glass it works with.
Source: Keraglass with additional information added by Apazone


text:
Google Brings Back Smart Home Unit, Nest
Google is bringing gadget maker Nest back under its control as the search giant battles rival Amazon and Apple in the rapidly expanding smart home market.
The world's largest search engine has staked its future on building Google smarts into devices beyond smartphones.
A big part of the change is it will be easier to add Google's artificial intelligence technology and Assistant -- a digital helper that competes against Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri -- into new Nest products.
On Wednesday, Google said Nest was part of its plans and would no longer operate as a separate division that lived in the outer orbit of parent company Alphabet's "Other Bets" group of projects.
Back in 2014, Google bought Nest — the hardware company behind things like the Nest Cam and the Nest thermostat — for around $3.2 billion. At the time, Google opted to keep Nest running as its own independent operation.
Google’s head of hardware Rick Osterloh announced this afternoon that Nest will “join forces” with Google’s hardware team.
The company said that by bringing Nest back into Google, it can "supercharge Nest's mission." Nest's current CEO, Marwan Fawaz, will now report to Google hardware chief Rick Osterloh, and the merger will mean that Google's artificial intelligence, like its smart assistant, will be better combined with Nest products.
"We've had a head start on collaborating since our teams already work closely together, and today we're excited to make Nest an integral part of Google's big bet on hardware," the company said.
This is just the latest move by Google to beef up its hardware chops by bringing more engineers under one roof. Last week, the company finalized its deal to spend $1.1 billion acquiring a large part of HTC’s hardware operation.
Keep yourself updated about the movements in the stock market and trading through visual help. A Bworld chart gives you the visual aids you need to properly assess market movements. Visit us at bworldcharts.com. Also, register an account now with BWorld and start your investment journey.

domain: news


text:
Combining two popular diets — intermittent fasting and the Mediterranean diet — may be the most effective protocol for reducing one’s risk of developing a large number of health issues, according to new research published by the American College of Cardiology. Both diets have been separately linked to a number of potential health benefits; combining them may reduce inflammation, protect cognition, and more.
Table of Contents
Many diet choices
A number of public health organizations and agencies recommend plant-based and Mediterranean diets to help protect one’s health, particularly when it comes to preventing heart disease. Similarly, past research on intermittent fasting has linked it to certain beneficial effects, including delaying aging and reducing weight.
When it comes to the best overall diet for protecting one’s health, many questions remain. Should one entirely remove animal products from their diet? Just meat? Or is it important to eat some animal products to avoid micronutrient deficiencies?
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology has published a new cumulative review of existing data and found that combining a modified Mediterranean diet called Pesco-Mediterranean with intermittent fasting may be the best way to protect one’s health in the long term.
Modifying the most popular option
A Pesco-Mediterranean diet places a focus on extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) in the place of other fats, including butter. This unrefined olive oil — assuming you get an authentic product — is known to promote health in a number of ways, particularly heart and brain health. As well, this modified diet includes tree nuts for other healthy fat, plus fish and seafood for protein, legumes, olives, vegetables, fruit, and whole grains.
Trickier is the question over eggs and dairy — experts still can’t agree on whether these two food products help or harm health. In this case, the researchers noted that eggs and dairy can be included in the modified diet within reason. Eggs should be limited to no more than five yolks per week; dairy should be limited to low-fat options, while butter and hard cheeses should ideally be avoided.
A dash of fasting
As for intermittent fasting, this diet protocol involves abstaining from food for a certain number of hours, limiting one’s eating window to a specific timeframe.
The new study’s lead author James H. O’Keefe, MD, explained:
Our ancient ancestors did not have access to an unlimited supply of food throughout the year. Nor did they routinely eat three large meals, plus snacks, daily. Focusing on fresh whole foods, along with fish, bestows a range of health benefits, particularly when it comes to cardiovascular health. The Pesco-Mediterranean diet with daily time-restricted eating is an ideal cardioprotective diet.
Combining the Pesco-Mediterranean diet with intermittent fasting may, based on a number of past studies and trials, lower the risk of cognitive decline, heart disease, diabetes, certain cancers, and depression.


text:
Affiliate links on Android Authority may earn us a commission. Learn more.
Google is now rallying troops in Europe to break iMessage exclusivity
- Google and big European telecom companies have reportedly approached the European Commission to make iMessage comply with the Digital Markets Act.
- In a letter to the regulator, the group argues that iMessage should be designated as a gatekeeper service, forcing it to become interoperable with other messaging apps.
Google and some big European carriers have called upon the European Commission to designate iMessage as a “core platform service.” If this happens, Apple will have to make iMessage cross-compatible with other chat apps like WhatsApp and Google Messages.
According to the Financial Times, Google and telecom companies, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Telefónica, and Orange, have sent a letter to the European Commission claiming that iMessage meets the new Digital Markets Act’s core services criteria. Therefore, it should come under the purview of the act. They suggest consumers would ultimately benefit from iMessage becoming interoperable with other messaging apps.
“Through iMessage, business users are only able to send enriched messages to iOS users and must rely on traditional SMS for all the other end users,” says the letter.
The European regulatory authority is already investigating iMessage as a possible contender for the list of core services that must comply with the DMA. It believes that iMessage indirectly contributes to Apple’s revenue because it’s pre-installed on iPhones and is exclusive to Apple users.
Apple has been able to prevent iMessage from being subject to the strict rules of the DMA by claiming that its messaging service is not very popular in Europe. According to the company, iMessage does not fulfill the DMA’s requirement of 45 million monthly active users to qualify as a “gatekeeper” service. Apple has also reportedly argued that iMessage should not comply with the DMA because users don’t pay for it directly and can use iPhones without using the service.
In September, the European Commission designated six gatekeepers under the DMA, including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, and Microsoft. Services provided by these gatekeepers, like the Google Play Store, Google Maps, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and many more, now come under the rules of the DMA to ensure a fairer business environment.
The EU now has until February to decide the fate of iMessage and confirm if it qualifies as a gatekeeper service. If it does, Apple will have until March 2024 to comply with the DMA’s rules and end the green bubble-blue bubble controversy for good.


text:
PETALING JAYA: Naza Automotive Manufacturing (NAM) is exporting its first shipment of cars for the Asean region, estimated to arrive in the Philippines by month-end.
Under the joint-venture agreement between Groupe PSA and Naza Corp Holdings, the first batch of the Peugeot 3008 1.6L Active, awarded “European Car of the Year 2017”, will be exported to the Philippines.
Groupe PSA head of Asean and CEO of Naza Automotive Manufacturing Laurence Noel said the Peugeot 3008 with the Peugeot 5008 1.6 THP are targeted to be available in the Philippines with more than 4,000 units by 2023.
“The Philippines is the first Asean country where our cars manufactured at NAM is being exported to under the Asean Free Trade Area. More cars will be exported to other Asean countries soon,” she said in a statement.
In February 2018, Naza Corp Holdings and Groupe PSA signed a share sale agreement and a joint-venture agreement to officially establish shared operations of NAM’s plant in Gurun, Kedah, as the first manufacturing hub in Asean for Groupe PSA.
This marks the beginning of NAM distributing the brands under Groupe PSA – Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel – to the Asean region.
We're sorry, this article is unavailable at the moment. If you wish to read this article, kindly contact our Customer Service team at 1-300-88-7827. Thank you for your patience - we're bringing you a new and improved experience soon!


text:
As far as we can remember, the release of Windows 8 (and of course, Windows 8.1 after that) has seen requests made by Slingbox customers for an app which will also be able to play nice on Windows 8 devices, and those will include a plethora of tablets, convertibles, laptops and desktop machines. Well, I suppose the gods of tech have heard you, since Sling Media recently announced that the […]
The good people over at Mozilla are currently working on the latest version of the Metro/Modern user interface port, and right now, it seems to be on track for a release later in January next year. As of now, however, the online meeting notes for the Mozilla team members do show a rather interesting screenshot – that of a new start screen user interface for Firefox for Windows 8. This […]
HP launched the EliteBook Revolve G1 hybrid PC last year and today, the company announced its successor, the HP EliteBook Revolve G2. The second generation features the exact same chassis and gets a hardware update with the 4th generation of Intel Core i3/i5/i7 ULT processors. The new features include an improved pen experience with an improved palm rejection technology. The hand writing solution is provided by Atmel.Since it is the […]
When Microsoft first introduced Windows 8, it thought it could do away with the beloved “Start” button, which apparently they were wrong as Windows customers showed just how much they missed the button through feedback of the software. Windows 8.1 brought back the Start button, but it still doesn’t offer the traditional Windows Start button experience we’ve all become accustomed to. It looks like Windows 8.2 may finally give us […]
Good news Windows 8 users, if you were looking forward to the Window 8 Metro version of the media player, you’re in luck because it seems that the app is close to being released. According to the team at VLC who posted on their Kickstarter page, the app had been submitted to the Windows Store, but apparently due to an audio crash, they failed to receive certification. While they’re working […]
We’re sure many of you Facebook users have been enjoying how simple it is to log into several applications with nothing more than a simple press of the Facebook one-click login feature. Sure – the app could potentially end up ruining your feed with notifications, but the price of convenience is pretty expensive these days. For now, only Android and iOS users have been able to enjoy the one-click login […]
We heard a dedicated Facebook app for Windows 8 was currently in the works just a few months ago, although we haven’t heard much of the application since its confirmation. Wonder now more about the Windows 8 dedicated Facebook application as its currently available on the Windows Store.
It was earlier this summer when Microsoft officially unveiled what it would be improving in Windows 8.1, which included the often rumored Boot to Desktop option, the return of the Start button as well as a number of other improvements. Shortly after the unveiling, Microsoft announced it planned to release Windows 8.1 as a free upgrade for current Windows 8 users starting October 17. As you could probably assume by today’s date and […]
Nintendo has had quite the rocky start for its Wii U, although its Nintendo 3DS handheld is certainly at its prime now that Pokemon X and Pokemon Y have been released. Nintendo has always been a pioneer in its first-party published games as they have such iconic characters as Mario, Link and Pikachu, which is why it isn’t completely surprising to learn the Windows 8 app store is currently littered with […]
Windows 8.1 is expected to be released on October 17, and Microsoft has already started ramping up the hype train for its upcoming release. Those who already own Windows 8 will automatically be able to upgrade their machines when Microsoft flips the switch on October 17, although if you plan on making the jump from Windows 7, the company has opened up pre-orders for Windows 8.1.
It was reported earlier this month that the release of Firefox for Windows 8 tablets has been delayed to January, 2014. Up till now the browser has been in the nightly development channel, from which it has now graduated. Mozilla today announced the launch of Firefox for Windows 8 tablets preview, it runs in Windows 8’s Metro UI mode as it has been coded from the ground up particularly for […]
Earlier this year in February, it was reported that a programmer who prefers to be known as “bigmuscle” announced that he came up with the first version of a program that is called Aero Glass for Win8. Seasoned Windows users would know where this particular program is headed – the name itself implies that Windows 8 looks set to receive the cool aero glass transparent look, which was removed in […]
While the Windows platform in general is obviously a more popular operating system than Apple’s OS X and other platforms, the numbers might vary when looking at individual versions, such as Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 8, and etc. Well the good news for Microsoft is that while Windows 8 might not have taken off the way that the company had envisioned, unlike Windows XP and Windows 7 […]
When it comes to social networking apps, you could say that one of the most famous among them would be Foursquare, but that is also not to say that it is the most popular. Having already appeared on Windows Phone 8, here we are with word that it has finally made its way to the Windows 8 platform, which means Foursquare can now run on the Windows 8 PC and […]


text:
Few gaming franchises can hold a candle to the Tekken series. It has lasted several consoles and stretched across four decades. However, with so many installments and storylines across this franchise, many avid fans wonder what to expect from the next chapter, which will be released in 2024. It’ll have been nearly a decade since Tekken 7 when Tekken 8 hits our screens. There have been startling innovations and growth within this period. This doesn’t just apply to console gaming like Tekken but gaming across the board, where players can go online and head-to-head in tournaments.
Tekken 8 will feature heavily in many eSports tournaments upon its release. It is immensely popular and one of the best one-to-one games you can play in terms of pure competition. As poker fans, for example, have the ability to check out the upcoming tournaments with just one click, the same way eSports brings interconnectivity to the gaming community.
The Origin of Tekken
Namco first penciled up the idea of Tekken in 1994. Astonishingly, Tekken 8 will signal the thirtieth anniversary of the incredible fighting game. It has seen many changes and shipped tens of millions of units, making it one of the top-selling games ever. Not many games have the longevity or mass appeal of Tekken. Although the first installment was well received, the second and third installments became highly acclaimed, breaking the gaming series into the mainstream. Gamers who preferred other genres were purchasing Tekken to find out what all the hype was about, and they were not disappointed.
With 25 years passing since Tekken 2, the fact that the game has remained so popular is a testament to how well the games are constructed. Given the hype around Tekken 8, we imagine this will be yet another incredibly successful chapter.
Tekken 8 – A Landmark Release
As discussed in our last section, it’ll be 30 years since Tekken first hit the shelves of gaming stores worldwide. Unreal Engine is one of the most innovative companies anywhere in gaming, so much so that it has expanded across film and television. Unreal Engine 5 came out in 2020 to widespread acclaim. With such incredible, lifelike graphics, many gaming companies are desperate to have Unreal Engine design their game. Tekken 8 will be the first fighting game that utilizes Unreal Engine 5, and this is a cause for serious excitement.
It is set for release across several gaming consoles, notably the PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series X. Tekken has traveled a long way since the early days of Namco. However, the core of the game and the story have remained linear and consistent. Characters like Jack and King, Paul Phoenix, Kazuya Mishima, and Nina Williams are constants throughout the Tekken franchise, which remains the same for Tekken 8. However, given the incredible advances in computer graphics and gaming design, expect enhancements in the character’s appearance and movement.
Is Hype Justified?
We would say so, yes. When an established, highly reputable, and revered gaming company has another franchise installment lined up after an almost ten-year layoff, this is a cause for excitement. The utilization of Unreal Engine’s latest technology, combined with the original characters and an exciting storyline that will see updated and revamped versions of Tekken stalwarts like Jack, has plenty of reason to be excited. However, if you don’t believe us, look at the recently released trailer, which provides a scintillating taste of what is to come.
Although there has been limited news about what new characters to expect or what the online battleground will look like since eSports is a multi-billion-dollar sector and has expanded massively since Tekken 7, the game has a key focus on online battlegrounds and eSports tournaments. Before we see snippets or teasers of more advanced gameplay, there’s still a long way to go, and these huge games take time to perfect. Namco will be working hard to keep this under wraps, given that the recent Grand Theft Auto leak caused so much damage to the brand and has set the project back immeasurably.
Perhaps a similar leak wouldn’t damage the Tekken brand too much, as we know what we are getting and how the game generally works. However, Namco will be very keen to avoid this eventuality regardless.
With so many big games projected for release in 2024, it can be easy to lose track of the smaller ones on the horizon. However, Tekken 8 falls outside that category. Instead, it is a franchise that is so dominant in the gaming industry that people worldwide will keep a close eye on any news. As we get closer to the release date, the anticipation of one of the greatest fighting games of all time finally returning to our screens will be news that will begin to gain momentum.


text:
Britons have been forced fed a bitter diet of rising prices for far too long. The fact that we are seeing some easing in food inflation is really important for households.
Businesses have benefitted from a reduced cost burden from lower gas and electricity prices which is feeding into lower food inflation. Recent weeks has seen supermarkets cut the price of basics.
Myron Jobson, Senior Personal Finance Analyst, interactive investor, says: “But we’re not out of the woods yet. We are still paying a lot more to put food on tables than last year. The soaring cost of food has brought about a stark shift in shopping behaviours. Baskets have gotten smaller and more of us are ditching premium brands for cheaper alternatives.
“Customers are also increasingly taking a stand against what they deem as unfair prices amid fears that food retailers and producers are profiteering from rising prices. We’ve already seen a large number of shoppers jumping ship to German discount retailers to lower the cost of their grocery shop. Even so, food prices remain uncomfortably high for many, especially for those on a low-income who spend a greater share of their money on food.
“Regardless of the state of food inflation, practicing responsible financial management is always beneficial. While food price inflation is cooling, other expenses such as housing is still going through the roof. It therefore remains important to allocate funds appropriately. Budgeting helps individuals develop good financial habits, understand their spending patterns, identify areas of potential savings, and make informed decisions about their money.”


text:
- With a theme of “Aligning Priorities to Drive Intelligent Growth,” the 2017 Summit boasted over 3,000 attendees!
- Amazing networking events, 100 case studies, Jewel, Daymond John and so much more made this an unforgettable event for delegates and sponsors alike
- #SDSummit trended nationwide and the new Demand Unit Waterfall was top regional trend on Twitter
With a theme of “Aligning Priorities to Drive Intelligent Growth,” Summit 2017, the premier event for B2B sales, marketing and product leaders, kicked off this year with a high-energy opening dance sequence that literally brought attendees to their feet.
From there, the intensity continued with a deeply inspirational opening day keynote speech from Jewel where she spoke (and sang!) to a crowd of absolutely spellbound Summit attendees. The show-stopping events continued with the debut of cutting-edge research and top-notch networking opportunities and hit a crescendo at the Green Tie Gala with the Counting Crows, and the Titanium Celebration at the Brooklyn Bowl. We wrapped things up with an often hilarious, determined and personal journey courtesy of closing keynote speaker Daymond John. With an impressive showing of 99 sponsors and over 3,000 attendees, plus an agenda packed with more than 100 practitioner case studies – Summit 2017 truly was like no other Summit before.
And not only that – Summit 2017 was a social media force to be reckoned with! #SDSummit was trending nationwide and the new Demand Unit Waterfall (thanks to Terry Flaherty and Kerry Cunningham) was a top regional trend on Twitter. Excited to learn more about this year’s event? Read on for our recaps from the absolutely inspiring presentations from Summit 2017:
We can’t wait to see you at Summit 2018 that will take place at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Please contact us today for more information!


text:
Billionaires play an outsized role in shaping the global economy, politics, and philanthropy. Forbes puts the number of billionaires in the world at 2,668 in 2022. The most powerful among them is (TSLA) co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Elon Musk, who became the richest man in the world in 2022. The individuals on this list belong to an even more exclusive club and wield still more power. Many of them are founders of technology giants, with much of their wealth still invested in the companies they started.
These billionaires can, however, still borrow against that wealth to avoid selling stock, deferring (or eliminating for heirs) taxes on unrealized capital gains in the process. Multi-billionaires can also take advantage of a panoply of tax deductions to offset reported income, leaving some on this list paying no income tax in recent years.
With so much of their wealth in publicly traded stocks, the net worth of the richest can fluctuate with market valuations. For example, Musk saw his net worth surge in 2021 thanks to the increase in the share price of Tesla Tesla shares rose nearly 50% in 2021. He currently owns 16% of the company. His net worth as of September 2022 was $241 billion.
In contrast, Meta Platforms (META) founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg fell out of the top 10 in February 2022, when the company's share price plunged after a disappointing earnings report. Zuckerberg's net worth was reported to be $36.1 billion in November 2022.
Below are the 10 wealthiest people on the planet as of the same date, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. All figures are current as of Nov. 1, 2022, unless otherwise stated.
- Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, is the richest person and the richest man in the world with a net worth of $203 billion.
- Behind Musk is the LVMH chair and CEO Bernard Arnault.
- Other billionaires with some of the largest net worths include India's Gautam Adani, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft's Bill Gates.
- Billionaires with the largest increases in their wealth in 2022 included Musk and LVMH Chair and CEO Bernard Arnault.
- Six of the top 10 billionaires made their fortunes in technology, with Arnault, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, and Reliance Industry's Mukesh Ambani being the exceptions.
- Meta's Mark Zuckerberg dropped off the top 10 list in February 2022.
1. Elon Musk
- Age: 51
- Residence: Texas
- Co-founder and CEO: Tesla
- Net Worth: $203 billion
- Tesla Ownership Stake: 15% ($90.6 billion)
- Other Assets: Space Exploration Technologies ($46.9 billion private asset), The Boring Company ($3.33 billion private asset), Twitter ($16.2 billion public asset)
Elon Musk is the richest man in the world. He was born in South Africa and attended a university in Canada before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned bachelor's degrees in physics and economics. Two days after enrolling in a graduate physics program at Stanford University, Musk deferred attendance to launch Zip2, one of the earliest online navigation services. He reinvested a portion of the proceeds from this startup to create X.com, the online payment system that was sold to eBay (EBAY) and ultimately became PayPal Holdings (PYPL).
In 2004, Musk became a major funder of Tesla Motors (now Tesla), which led to his current position as CEO of the electric vehicle company. In addition to its line of electric automobiles, Tesla produces energy storage devices, automobile accessories, and, through its acquisition of SolarCity in 2016, solar power systems. Musk is also CEO and chief engineer of Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a developer of space launch rockets.
In 2020, Tesla shares soared 740% to propel Musk up the wealth rankings. In December 2020, Tesla joined the , becoming the largest company added. In January 2021, Musk became the richest person in the world—a title he's held since then.
Musk asked his Twitter (TWTR) audience on Nov. 6, 2021, whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock, framing the issue as a response to criticism of unrealized capital gains as a means of avoiding taxes. He proceeded to sell shares worth $16.4 billion over the remainder of 2021.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, cited a media report that Musk paid no income tax for 2018 to argue for the adoption of a wealth tax. "And if you opened your eyes for two seconds, you would realize I will pay more taxes than any American in history this year," Musk responded on Twitter.
Thanks to the surge in Tesla shares in 2021 and private transactions boosting the reported valuation of SpaceX, Musk's lead in the global wealth rankings has continued to grow. His net worth hit a high of $340 billion in November 2021.
In April 2022, Musk began a campaign to take Twitter private, which culminated in a $44 billion buyout. Musk planned to fund the deal with $21 billion of his own capital. In the run-up to the buyout announcement, Musk sold 9.6 million shares of Tesla, valued at roughly $8.5 billion.
In July 2022, Musk decided to back out of the Twitter buyout. Twitter filed a lawsuit against Musk to force the buyout to go through. Musk countersued the company but then reversed course and declared he was willing to buy Twitter after all. The deal officially closed in October 2022, giving him an almost 80% stake in the company.
2. Bernard Arnault
- Age: 73
- Residence: Paris
- CEO and Chair: LVMH (LVMUY)
- Net Worth: $138 billion
- Christian Dior Ownership Stake: 97.5% ($109 billion total)
- Other Assets: Moelis & Company equity ($20.9 billion public asset), Hermès equity (undisclosed stake), and $8.85 billion in cash
French nationalBernard Arnaultis the chair and CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company. LVMH brands includeLouis Vuitton, Hennessey, Marc Jacobs, and Sephora.
Most of Arnault's wealth comes from his massive stake in Christian Dior SE, the holding company that controls 41.2% of LVMH. His shares in Christian Dior SE, plus an additional 6.2% in LVMH, are held through his family-owned holding company, Groupe Familial Arnault.
An engineer by training, Arnault first showed his business acumen while working for his father’s construction firm, Ferret-Savinel, taking charge of the company in 1971. He converted Ferret-Savinel to a real estate company named Férinel Inc. in 1979.
Arnaultremained Férinel's chair for another six years, until he acquired and reorganized luxury goods maker Financière Agachein 1984, eventually selling all its holdings other than Christian Dior and Le BonMarché.He was invited to invest in LVMH in 1987 and became the majority shareholder, chair of the board, and CEO of the company two years later.
3. Gautam Adani
- Age: 60
- Residence: Gurgaon, India
- Founder and Chair: Adani Group
- Net Worth: $125 billion
- Adani Enterprises, Power. and Transmissions Ownership Stakes: 75% each ($72.24 billion)
- Other Assets: 65% of Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone ($12.1 billion public asset), 61% of Adani Green Energy ($23.8 billion public asset), 37% of Adani Total Gas ($17.9 billion public asset)
Gautam Adani, the founder of Adani Group, surpassed Mukesh Ambani in March 2022 as the richest person in Asia. Through his ownership of the Adani Group, Adani owns major stakes in six key Indian companies, including a 75% stake in Adani Enterprises, Adani Power, and Adani Transmissions, as well as a 65% stake in Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone, 61% stake in Adani Green Energy, and 37% stake in Adani Total Gas.
The combined market capitalization of companies owned by the Adani Group is $246.8 billion (as of Nov. 1, 2022). Adani entered the power generation market in 2009 with Adani Power. Adani created Adani Enterprises in 1988 to import and export commodities. In 1994, his company was granted approval to develop a harbor facility at Mundra Port, which is now the largest private port in India.
Adani dropped out of college and previously worked in the diamond trade. Adani now has the largest port operator, closely-held thermal coal producer, and coal trader in India. In 2020, he purchased a 74% stake in Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, India's second-busiest airport.
The billionaire was kidnapped and held for ransom in 1997. Adani was also in Mumbai’s Taj hotel during the 2008 terrorist attack.
4. Jeff Bezos
- Age: 58
- Residence: Washington
- Founder and Executive Chair: Amazon (AMZN)
- Net Worth: $126 billion
- Amazon Ownership Stake: 10% ($102 billion)
- Other Assets: Blue Origin ($9.15 billion private asset), The Washington Post ($250 million private asset), and $14.1 billion in cash
In 1994,Jeff BezosfoundedAmazon.com in a garage in Seattle, shortly after he resigned from the hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw. He had originally pitched the idea of an online bookstoreto his former boss David E. Shaw, who wasn’t interested.
Though Amazonoriginally started out selling books, it has since morphed into a one-stop shop for everything under the sun andis expected to overtake Walmart as the world’s largest retailer by 2024. Amazon's pattern of constant diversification is evident in some of itsunexpected expansions, which include acquiring Whole Foodsin 2017 and entering the pharmacy business the same year.
Bezos owned as much as 16% of Amazon in 2019 before transferring 4% to his former wife MacKenzie Scott as part of their divorce proceedings. In 2020, Amazon’s share price jumped 76% on the heightened demand for online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 5, 2021, Bezos stepped down as CEO of the e-commerce giant, becoming its executive chair.
Bezosoriginally took Amazon public in 1997 and went on to become the first man since Bill Gates in 1999 to achieve a net worth of more than $100 billion. Bezos’ other projects include aerospace company Blue Origin, The Washington Post (which he purchased in 2013), and the 10,000-year clock—also known as the Long Now.
On July 20, 2021, Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, and Dutch student Oliver Daemen completed Blue Origin's first successful crewed flight, reaching an altitude of more than 66 miles before landing safely. Bezos' wealth peaked at $211 billion in the same month.
5. Bill Gates
- Age: 67
- Residence: Washington
- Co-founder: Microsoft (MSFT)
- Net Worth: $111billion
- Microsoft Ownership Stake: 1.3% ($23.9 billion)
- Other Assets: Cascade Investment LLC ($51.66 billion public assets), $54 billion in cash
While attending Harvard University in 1975, Bill Gates went to work alongside his childhood friend Paul Allen to develop new software for the original microcomputers. Following this project’s success, Gates dropped out of Harvard during his junior year and founded Microsoft with Allen.
The largest software company in the world, Microsoft also produces a line of personal computers, provides email services through its Exchange server, and sells video game systems and associated game devices. It has recently invested heavily in cloud services.
Gates shifted from the company's CEO to the role of board chair in 2008. He joined Berkshire Hathaway’s board in 2004. He stepped down from both boards on March 13, 2020.
Bill Gates has much of his net worth in Cascade Investment LLC. Cascade is a privately-held investment vehicle that owns a variety of stocks including Canadian National Railway (CNR), Deere (DE), and Republic Services (RSG), as well as private investments in real estate and energy.
In 2000, Gates' two philanthropic organizations—the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation—merged to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, still co-chaired by Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates. Through the foundation, they have spent billions to fight polio and malaria. The foundation pledged $50 million in 2014 to help fight Ebola. As of 2021, the foundation had spent more than $1.9 billion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2010, alongside Warren Buffett, Bill Gates launched the Giving Pledge, a campaign encouraging the wealthy to commit to donating most of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Bill and Melinda French Gates divorced on Aug. 2, 2021. With the divorce, roughly $5 billion in equities was transferred to French Gates.
Bill Gates is the largest private owner of farmland in the U.S. with over 268,000 acres.
6. Warren Buffett
- Age: 92
- Residence: Nebraska
- CEO: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A)
- Net Worth: $103 billion
- Berkshire Hathaway Ownership Stake: 16% ($102 billion)
- Other Assets: $1.05 billion in cash
The most famous living value investor, Warren Buffett filed his first tax return in 1944 at age 14, declaring earnings from his boyhood paper route. He first bought shares in a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway in 1962, becoming the majority shareholder by 1965. Buffett expanded the company's holdings to insurance and other investments in 1967.
Berkshire Hathaway is now a $657 billion-dollar market cap company, with a single share of stock (Class A shares) trading at more than $443,841 as of Nov. 1, 2022.
Widely known as the Oracle of Omaha, Buffett is a buy-and-hold investor who built his fortune by acquiring undervalued companies. More recently, Berkshire Hathaway has invested in large, well-known companies. Its portfolio of wholly owned subsidiaries includes interests in insurance, energy distribution, and railroads as well as consumer products.
Buffett is a notable Bitcoin skeptic.
Buffett has dedicated much of his wealth to philanthropy. Between 2006 and 2020, he gave away $41 billion—mostly to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and his children’s charities. Buffett launched the Giving Pledge alongside Bill Gates in 2010.
Now 92 years old, Buffett still serves as CEO, but in 2021 he hinted that his successor might be Gregory Abel, head of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations.
7. Larry Ellison
- Age: 78
- Residence: Hawaii
- Co-founder, Chair, and CTO: Oracle (ORCL)
- Net Worth: $93.7 billion
- Oracle Ownership Stake: 40%+ ($65.6 billion)
- Other Assets: Tesla equity ($10.2 billion public asset), $17.2 billion in cash and real estate
Larry Ellison was born in New York City to a 19-year-old single mother. After dropping out of the University of Chicago in 1966, Ellison moved to California and worked as a computer programmer. In 1973, he joined the electronics company Ampex, where he met future partners Ed Oates and Bob Miner. Three years later, Ellison moved to Precision Instruments, serving as the company’s vice president of research and development.
In 1977, Ellison founded Software Development Laboratories alongside Oates and Miner. Two years later, the company released Oracle, the first commercial relational database program to use Structured Query Language. The database program proved so popular that SDL would change its name to Oracle Systems Corporation in 1982. Ellison gave up the CEO role at Oracle in 2014 after 37 years. He joined Tesla's board in December 2018 and stepped down in June 2022.
Oracle is the world's second-largest software company, providing a wide variety of cloud computing programs as well as Java and Linux code and the Oracle Exadata computing platform.
Oracle has acquired numerous large companies, including human resources management systems provider PeopleSoft in 2005, customer relationship management applications provider Siebel in 2006, enterprise infrastructure software provider BEA Systems in 2008, and hardware-and-software developer Sun Microsystems in 2009. In December 2021, Oracle agreed to buy medical records software provider Cerner (CERN) for $28.3 billion in cash.
Long known for extravagant spending, Ellison has invested heavily in luxury real estate over the last decade. Perhaps his single most impressive acquisition was the $300 million purchase of nearly the entire Hawaiian island of Lanai in 2012, where the billionaire has lived since 2020. Ellison has built a hydroponics farm and a luxury spa on the island.
Ellison has focused his philanthropy on medical research. In 2016, he gave $200 million to the University of Southern California for a new cancer research center. Ellison backed the Oracle Team USA sailing team, which won the America's Cup racing series in 2010 and 2013.
8. Larry Page
- Age: 49
- Residence: California
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
- Net Worth: $87.8 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($73.7 billion total)
- Other Assets: $14.1 billion in cash
Like several of the tech billionaires on this list, Larry Page embarked on his path to fame and fortune in a college dorm room. While attending Stanford University in 1995, Page and his friend Sergey Brin came up with the idea ofimprovinginternet data extraction. The duo devised a new search engine technology they dubbed Backrub after its ability to assess links to a page.
From there, Page and Brin went on to found Google in 1998, with Page serving as CEO of the company until 2001, and again between 2011 and 2019.
Google is the world's dominant internet search engine, accounting for more than 92% of global search requests. In 2006, the company purchased YouTube, the top platform for user-submitted videos.
After acquiring Android in 2005, Google released the Android mobile phone operating system in 2008. Google reorganized in 2015, becoming a subsidiary of Alphabet, a holding company.
Page was among early investors in Planetary Resources, a space exploration and asteroid-mining company. Established in 2009, the company was acquired by blockchain firm ConsenSys in 2018 amid funding problems. He has also shown an interest in flying car companies, investing in both Kitty Hawk and Opener.
Shares of Google soared almost 50% in 2021, moving Page and Brin up the billionaire list. Page's net worth went from just below $52 billion in March 2020 to the current $87.8 billion.
9. Mukesh Ambani
- Age: 65
- Residence: Mumbai, India
- Owner: Reliance Industries
- Net Worth: $87.6 billion
- Reliance Ownership Stake: 42% ($84.2 billion total)
- Other Assets: $410 million in real estate
Mukesh Ambaniis the chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, the world's largest oil refiner and one of the world's most valuable companies.
The conglomerate was founded by Ambani's father, Dhirubhai Ambani in 1966 as a textiles company and is now one of the leading segments of India's economy. Reliance's operations include oil and gas, petrochemicals, refining, retail, and media.
About half of Ambani's wealth is derived from his stake in Reliance, which amounts to 42% of the public company. He owns Antilia, a real estate complex in Mumbai that's worth $410 million. Ambani also owns the Mumbai Indians, a professional cricket team.
In 2016, Ambani launched a 4G phone network across India, netting more than 420 millionsubscribers, and is planning to launch 5G services.
10. Sergey Brin
- Age: 49
- Residence: California
- Co-founder and Board Member: Alphabet (GOOG)
- Net Worth: $84 billion
- Alphabet Ownership Stake: 6% ($69.9 billion total)
- Other Assets: $14.1 billion in cash
Sergey Brin was born in Moscow, Russia, moving to the U.S. with his family when he was six in 1979. After co-founding Google with Larry Page in 1998, Brin became Google's president of technology when Eric Schmidt took over as CEO in 2001. He held the same post at the Alphabet holding company after it was established in 2015, stepping down in 2019 when Sundar Pichai took over as CEO.
In addition to its dominant internet search engine, Google offers a suite of online tools and services known as Google Workspace, which includes Gmail, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Google Chat, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, and more. Google also offers a variety of electronic devices, including Pixel smartphones, computers, and tablets, Nest smart home devices, and Stadia gaming platform.
Brin spent much of 2019 focusing on X, Alphabet’s research laboratory responsible for innovative technologies like Waymo self-driving cars and Google Glass smart glasses.
He has donated millions of dollars to Parkinson’s disease research, partnering with The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
The Bottom Line
If you want to get a little closer to making the richest billionaires rankings, you mightneed to become a technological innovator or luxury retail mastermind. Or you could keep it simple and focus on value investing.
It also wouldn’t hurt to have been born to wealth. However, the greatest fortunes on this list started as good ideas that people with creativity, drive, and connections used to build some of the world's largest companies.


text:
The start of March brings the start of Dine Around Seattle. Now in its tenth year, Dine Around Seattle fetes the best of the Seattle dining scene for a whole month. Featuring $15 lunches and $30 dinners, more than 40 restaurants are proudly participating in what has become a Seattle tradition. Organizer Lissa Gruman shared her advice and reflections on Dine Around Seattle and this landmark anniversary.
What was the impetus for starting Dine Around Seattle 10 years ago?
It was right after 9-11 — March 2002 — to be exact, which meant the restaurants were really hurting, but, really, it was Richard Malia of Ponti Seafood Grill that wanted to do this, his vision, based on New York Restaurant Week. He wanted to bring restaurants together for a collaborative event, but we had tons of resistance, at first. That is why we started as 25 for $25. We could only convince 25 restaurants to participate, but it took off like mad once we launched. We always felt that one week alone would not be enough time to make an impression in this market.
How has Dine Around Seattle evolved since its inception?
I think Dine Around Seattle has built a brand that consumers know, trust, and anticipate. We have held to high standards over the years to deliver a fantastic experience, and the dining public believes our commitment to the promise.
The Seattle dining scene, like that of many other cities that aren’t New York, has really come into its own. What do you see as qualities that embody your city’s food culture?
Chef-driven menus, steadfast use of local and seasonal products, and a competitive scene in which chefs still remain supportive and collaborative with each other.
Do you have any restaurants that are new to the fold — and any that have been with you for all 10 years?
What’s your overarching mission each year — for diners and for restaurants?
We work to have restaurants use Dine Around Seattle as an opportunity to win over new guests and make the very most of their visit to your restaurant. You’ll never get a second chance to make a first impression, and this is a great way to make a great impression. For diners, it’s our hope that they’re not shy about talking to their server about the menu, what makes it special, and why you should choose the Dine Around Seattle menu over the regular offerings.
Any tips for diners seeking to make the most of this month-long celebration?


text:
SBJ: Manfred to unite baseball’s business SBD: Woods Fires Back At Jenkins, Golf Digest SBD: Sources: Manfred To Merge MLB's Business SBG: Firm Near New Spurs Stadium Burned SBJ: DirecTV is staying in RSN biz SBD: Executive Transactions SBD: Executive Transactions SBD: Players' Tribune Has Mixed Reviews To Date SBD: Executive Transactions SBD: Randy Moss Doc Draws Strong Audience
John Cena on WWE's evolution
October 4, 2012 11:00 AM
|John Cena said he's proud to have the WWE involved in the fight against breast cancer.
Of the WWE’s early years, Cena said: “If you ask me about our product in 2000, it was a college frat party. It really was. And it was geared toward that coveted 18-35-year-old demographic. Nowadays, 40% of our audience is women. And a lot of the 100 million dollars of retail is kids. I’m a star of a kids show. I’m really proud to say that.”
Cena came dressed in his standard uniform, which makes a statement in a fight against breast cancer. He stuck around for a networking reception and had his photo taken with dozens of Sports Marketing Symposium attendees.


text:
Expand Your Reach On Instagram: Another New Instagram Feature
Calling all marketers, we’re back with another Instagram feature change. Instagram has announced the development of language translation for stories. Automatically translating text in stories when detecting a foreign language. It has been reported that this feature will be available globally and support over 90 languages.
What does this mean, marketers?
Sharing content to an international audience is easier.
Improving your reach.
Improved user experience and accessibility.
Connecting people and brands in a way like never before.
This change creates parity between Instagram stories and standard posting. In 2016, Instagram developed a feature of automatically translating comments, captions and user bios. But now, Instagram has decided to connect the world by making it easier to understand foreign languages across the platform altogether.
As per this change, Instagram will include a “See translation” option on a story post if a new language has been detected. Once clicked, the translation will appear within the story.
Instagram might not stop at text translation. The future possibility of detecting and translating audio hasn’t yet been ruled out by Instagram. Should we expect to see this feature next?
This development brings about a significant change for millions of Instagram users, enabling brands to reach mass audiences, connecting and communicating across 90 different languages.
Instagram is making some huge changes this year, that’s for sure.


text:
Everything to know about meal prep businessRead more...
Programmatic ad buying is becoming more common with advertisers, a new report shows
Video advertising can be a tricky thing to pull off. Unlike banners ads, videos force users to interact with them in some way, mostly because they also contain some sort of sound, like music and dialogue on top of the video.
What this does is make it much harder to ignore them and, therefore, can make them more intrusive. This is especially true on mobile, where an ad can take up an entire screen and stop whatever the person is doing in their tracks. Advertisers, of course, know this is true and that it's not a good business model. If people dislike the ads, or they aren't relevant, then they're not effective and rather annoying.
But now advertisers are able to tackle these problems through a way of buying space for their video ads, known as programmatic ad buying, which gives them more control over how, and what, they are purchasing.
Adap.tv, the company that was purchased by AOL for $405 million in August, has put out its semi-annual "State of Video Industry" report for the US market, which underscores why advertisers are flocking to companies that offer this type of service.
The study found that 60% of both brands and agencies plan to apply programmatic buying to their cross-screen planning and buying, including both mobile and linear TV, in the next year.
First, I should explain what programmatic video buying is: it allows advertisers to use software to buy and sell digital media, giving them much more control.
"They can approach the buy from audience, or contextual, point of view," Brett Wilson, CEO of programmatic video advertising platform TubeMogul, explained to me. "It allows them to pick and choose a set of sites of contextual correlation."
For example, he said, if an advertiser wants to reach males 18-34, they can pick a site that they figure will appeal to that demographic, such as sports websites. But they can also have more control over where it appears; if they only have stores in California, or in the South East, they can eliminate other areas. Or they can choose to not advertise on sites that have content about alcohol. They can also control how many times a specific person sees the ads, and set their own budget and goals.
Through these tools they can see how many unique impressions they can expect, and quickly change around the setting to see tradeoffs how to best reach the audience.
Programmatic buying has challenged the old model, in which advertisers would go to vendors, tell them the goals they would like to achieve, and have the vendors put together a plan for them, which they had no control over, nor did they really know what was in it before buying it.
By going to programmatic route, Wilson said that advertisers can save 40% to 50% of what they would have spent.
Given the choice between these two ways of doing things, it's very easy to see why advertisers would prefer the programmatic model, and it has been quickly catching on.
"In just the past two years, brand patronage of programmatic video channels such as exchanges and DSPs has roughly doubled, as direct to publisher purchases have declined by 15 percent," the study found. "However, with the rise of private marketplaces, additional opportunities are becoming more prominent for buyers looking to source directly from publishers through automated processes."
This has coincided with a major increase in video spending across the board.
Buyers increased their spending for the fourth year in a row, with more than 90% of agencies reporting some level of increased video ad spending. The average increase was 28%. Meanwhile, brand advertisers also had a big increase, spending 65% more than they did in 2012.
"Right now, 10 to 15% of out campaigns are mobile. Ayear ago it was only 1 to 2%," Wilson told me. "It is exploding. I think it will be 50% of our business in a couple of years."
Mobile video spending
Spending is especially going up on mobile, where seven out of 10 agency buyers said they’re buying mobile video today. Compare that to 2010, when only 30% were buying video ads on the iPad, and only 45% were buying them on smartphones.
For brands, 43% are now buying mobile video. Three years ago, only a quarter would even buy them on smartphones, and only 17% on the iPad.
Clearly, advertisers are seeing the benefits of putting their videos ads on mobile.
But, as much as programmatic buying is helping advertisers feel more comfortable about buying up video advertising, we should not pretend that everything is sunshine and roses. There are still some big problems out there that have not been addressed, especially on mobile
One of those is how the audience is measured. A full 40% of brands said that they did not have confidence in measurement methodologies, while 34% of brands said the same thing.
"Buyers complaining of the inadequacy of standards are about equally divided on why they find them lacking. Slightly more agencies say they lack confidence in audience measurement methodologies generally. Brands are more likely to cite cross-screen audience measurement," according to the report.
"The deeper in they go, the more brands want to go beyond age and gender in characterizing the audience they reach with online video, and yearn for the industry to coalesce behind a consistent measurement methodology."
This is the same thing that Simon Khalaf, CEO of Flurry, told me when I spoke to him about the space.
"Nielsen was the currency for television advertising. For desktop, there was very little currency adopted, and for mobile they are still working on a way to measure video advertising," he said.
Ultimately, though, to Khalaf, the fact that video on mobile and on a television are so different is the real problem that has yet to be solved. According to him, "there is a conflict between the ad unit and the medium."
"The length of a TV commercial is 15 or 30 seconds. A sitcom is 22 minutes, versus 8 minutes of commercials. The average length of time someone stays on tablet is in 5 to 6 minutes, and on a smart phones it is 2.2 minutes. That is one tenth of that of tv, so, in reality, ad units should be 1.5 seconds," he said.
While video is one of the fastest growing ad units, but it still has a long way to go, he said.
"I believe that the killer ad unit has not been discovered yet," Khalaf told me. "Video is growing and growing fast, with more than 100% growth year to year already. But there is a still a lot of room for improvement to discover native mobile ad units."
(Image source: https://blog.inner-active.com)
Support VatorNews by Donating
Read more from our "Trends and news" series
Pivot solves the tobacco addiction crisis that has been overlooked and underserved for decadesRead more...
Cerebral raised $300M, Odyssey Therapeutics secured $218M, Exai Bio landed $67.5MRead more...
Related Companies, Investors, and Entrepreneurs
Joined Vator on
Founded in 2006 by online video buffs who met while in graduate school and won the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, TubeMogul's objective from the start has been to empower online video producers, advertisers and the online video industry by providing publishing tools and insightful, easy to interpret analytics.
With TubeMogul, users upload videos once and TubeMogul deploys them to as many of the top video sharing sites the producer chooses. TubeMogul's integrated analytics then provide a single source of metrics on where, when, and how often the videos are viewed. TubeMogul's free beta service has been live since November of 2006. In January 2008, TubeMogul announced the launch of its Premium Products, which include a host of new professional features.
Joined Vator on
Adap.tv: Leadership and Innovation for the New World of Online Video Advertising
Adap.tv helps publishers capitalize on the soaring popularity of online video among viewers and advertisers. Our flagship offering, Adap.tv OneSource, provides a single point of control to serve and manage ads from in-house and third party sources, in all major video formats, using your existing display ad server. OneSource streamlines ad operations, supporting efficient scalability for any online video business, from startups to major media companies.
As the first open and universal video ad sourcing and management platform, the powerful yet simple to use OneSource system has already gained broad industry support. More than 300 publishers in 71 countries use OneSource to monetize hundreds of millions of video streams each month. Whether an already established leader in video publishing—or a publisher determined to become one—Adap.tv provides the tools they need to achieve their online video goals.


text:
When Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced plans this year to boost store workers’ minimum wage, he said the move was intended to improve morale and retain employees.
Yet for some of the hundreds of thousands of workers getting no raise, the policy is having the opposite effect.
In interviews and in hundreds of comments on Facebook, Walmart employees are calling the move unfair to senior workers who got no increase and now make the same or close to what newer, less experienced colleagues earn.
New workers started making a minimum of $9 an hour in April and will get at least $10 an hour in February.
“It is pitting people against each other,” said Charmaine Givens-Thomas, a 10-year veteran who makes $12 an hour at a store near Chicago and belongs to OUR Walmart, a union-backed group that has lobbied for better working conditions. “It hurts morale when people feel like they aren’t being appreciated.”
Some workers also said they suspect their hours are being cut and annual raises reduced to cover the cost of the wage increase for newer workers.
Walmart denies that and says it’s taking steps to ensure all employees have an opportunity to move into higher-paying jobs.
Along with bumping up the minimum wage, it increased the amount workers receive when promoted, boosted pay for some managers and raised the maximum pay for all hourly positions.
Several U.S. retailers have raised the minimum wage for their workers in recent months, among them Gap, TJX and Target. The moves were widely hailed amid calls to combat wage inequality.
However, if Walmart and other retailers don’t also adjust pay for veteran hourly workers, they could face rising dissent, said David Cooper, an economic analyst at the Economic Policy Institute.


text:
On the other hand, the South African wing of Konica Minolta has recently launched four new wireless printers, namely AirPrint, Android Printing Framework, Google Cloud Print, and Mopria Print Service, in a bid to expand its wireless capabilities and meet the expectations of mobile users.
According to the company, the demand for mobile printers has reported a continual rise since 2012. The rising demand for reliable printing and flexible job submission from the mobile workforce, mobile printing applications, and professional cloud services has propelled the market for mobile printers in Africa significantly. The company expects an expansion of its regular business from this move.
Laser Printers to Lead Africa Printer Market
The market for printers in Africa has been steadily showing exceptional growth. Inkjet, laser, and dot matrix are the major types of printers available in this market. In 2012, the laser printers market was the biggest revenue generator in the region. Apart from these, the dot matrix printers market is also experiencing a sturdy growth in demand on account of the low cost of printing dot matrix printers offer.
South Africa, Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Madagascar, Namibia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and the Rest of Africa are the key regional markets for printers in Africa. South Africa, among these, has surfaced as the largest printer market in Africa in 2012, accounting for a share of 20.8% in the overall market. The rising demand for managed print services as well as multi-function printers (MFP) and large format printers have stimulated the market for printers in South Africa. Botswana is also witnessing an exponential rise in the printer market, owing to the rapid growth of the BFSI and telecom industries.
On the whole, the market for printers in Africa looks to be thriving. The increasing need for building a novel printing structure, replacing the older one, has fueled the demand for MFP as well as MPS, resulting in immense growth of the Africa printer market. According to a report published by Transparency, Market Research (TMR), the printing market in Africa stood at US$2.3 bn in 2012. Analysts project this market to expand at a CAGR of 8.80% over the period from 2013 to 2019 and reach a value of US$4.2 bn by the end of 2019.


text:
Bitcoin peaks above $5,000 for first time - World News ReactorThey not only serve consumers but also professionals in the Bitcoin industry and their.It is an all-star roster of industry experts at a grand location on.
star wars – CRYPTO POP!Actions of A Bully Child or Dying Empire: Sanctions and Threats.
Photo: Getty The initial coin offering party is over in China.Locals attend the opening of the first bitcoin retail store in Hong Kong in 2014.Prince Left Behind 67 Hefty Gold Bars. at the time of his death, and according to the Star Tribune, NPG.
Star Wars once had a rich, painstakingly produced canon beyond its three original movies.
Get Bitcoin – Star! Buy Modafinil & Armodafinil Online
Bitcoin ATM in Bakersfield - Star Tobacco
New 'Star Wars: Battlefront 2' Character Confirmed ByMr. G.B. shared this with me, and when he did, I found myself shaking my head in disbelief, for it confirmed my suspicions about bitcoin.Bitcoin Star Autumn Radtke Found Dead: Suicide Suspected As Cause Of Death For 28-Year-Old CEO Of First Meta Bitcoin Exchange.On Quantum Computing, Bitcoin and That Economist Magazine Cover.
How Bitcoin Will Destroy Banks - Cathy ReisenwitzAlthough it is not a galactic superweapon, it is a strain that.Update, 1:30 p.m., March 14: After saying that it will no longer accept Bitcoin in the Windows Store, Microsoft has reversed course.
First Images Of Syrian Army Crossing The Euphrates River In Deir Ezzor September 18, 2017 Add our Feed to Your Site Original Works Live Gold and Silver Commodities are powered by Investing.com.After the feds seized and shuttered Silk Road, an online marketplace for illegal drugs, earlier this month, some technology experts started sounding the death knell.
He is the author of the following books in the field of alternative research.
What is bitcoin, what is its price in pound sterling andBehind the life and death of a star money manager accused of insider trading. But his death has forced people.A tiny committee of five core developers that control the Bitcoin codebase has become the Star Chamber that guides the future.God Bless 4 months ago captainobviou3 57 in bitcoin The deathstar needs quite a bit of work.
AP Explains: Why HBO hackers demanded payment in bitcoin
Sound Money Weekly Update: Gold, Silver, Bitcoin, EthereumHealthy Living Solutions and Innovative preparedness strategies.Quote. Bitcoin is one of the most important inventions in all of human history.Bitcoin could have been the instrument that prevented the rise of the Empire and the creation of the Death Star.
Bitsler - Dice Game BitcoinBuy Bitcoins with Credit Card. CEX.io is a heavyweight among Bitcoin companies.Latest Bitcoin Price Live News from Daily Express (express.co.uk) in UK.The Battle of Yavin where the first Death Star was destroyed. They leverage the same technology Bitcoin uses —a distributed digital ledger—to coordinate.
Bitcoin split into Two - Financial Buzz
Buy 2017 1 oz Niue Silver Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi Coins l
Bitcoin, hailed in some quarters as the future of currency, is having a rough week, with a flurry of rumors that China will shut down exchanges and the head of a.Stay current with sports, business, entertainment news and more from the Toronto Star.


text:
Abbott Labs fined $1.6 Billion but, as usual, no individuals will be charged.Submitted by go213mph on Sat, 05/12/2012 - 17:20
Get caught selling medical marijuana and it's hole time for you! Be part of the Government's drug gang and they just move some money around which the consumer will end up paying for anyway. NEVER are real people held responsible when you are a member of the elite, so there is no incentive for them to not just do the same thing again. It's a game of chance just like the financial markets but in their world of legalized corruption...losing just means a call to the FED or a price hike on a product.
"Pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay $1.6 billion to settle accusations that it illegally marketed the anti-seizure medication Depakote for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
As part of the settlement, Abbott will plead guilty to one misdemeanor violation of federal law for misbranding Depakote. The company will be on probation for five years, but, as usual, no individuals will be charged. Miles W. White has been CEO and chairman of the board of Abbott since 1999."


text:
Trade ministry targets 6-8% export growth in 2022
Assuming Vietnam keeps the current pace of trading growth, the turnover could set a new record and exceed the $700-billion mark in 2022.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) expected the country’s exports to expand by 6-8% in 2022 and a positive trade balance to ensure the GDP growth stays in the range of 6-6.5%.
|Cargos handling for export at Dinh Vu port, Haiphong. Photo: Pham Hung|
Statistics from the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) revealed the country’s trade turnover in 2021 reached US$668.55 billion, representing a staggering increase of over $100 billion from a record $545 billion in 2020.
Upon breaking down, the country’s exports were estimated at over $336.3 billion, rising 19% year-on-year, and imports of $332.2 billion, going up by 26.5%. This resulted in a trade surplus of more than $4 billion for 2021, marking Vietnam’s sixth consecutive year of trade surplus.
With trading activities being seen as a key growth driver for Vietnam in 2022, Deputy Director of the MoIT’s Import and Export Department Tran Thanh Hai noted the necessity for Vietnam to take better advantage of major free trade agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam is a part of, including the EVFTA, CPTPP, and RCEP.
“Vietnam should further diversify export markets and products via digital platforms to ensure trade sustainability,” Hai said as he referred to recent trade congestion at Vietnam-China border gates while calling for local firms to pay more attention to environmental standards, product quality, and rules of origin in different markets.
Sharing Hai’s view, Nguyen Cam Trang from the Import and Export Department attributed Vietnam’s strong trading performance to the impacts of new generation trade deals.
According to Trang, Vietnam’s exports to the UK rose by 15.4% in 2021 when the UKVFTA kicked in, while the figures with Mexico and Canada, two markets with which Vietnam did not have a shared trade deal before the CPTPP, also witnessed double-digit growth last year.
After one year since the EVFTA came into effect, Vietnam's export turnover to the EU market reached US$39.75 billion as of August 1, 2021, up 6.2% against the same period In 2020.
In return, the total import volume of goods from EU markets into Vietnam reached $16.51 billion, up 24% year on year.
“Assuming Vietnam keeps the current pace of trading growth, the turnover could set a new record and exceed the $700-billion mark in 2022,” Trang said.
Director-General of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department under the MoIT Luong Hoang Thai expected the RCEP which became effective in early 2022 would be one of the key driving forces for Vietnamese businesses to recover and thrive in the post-pandemic period.
Thai added Vietnam’s exports performance continues to rely on global GDP growth, referring to a recent study that in case the world’s GDP expands by one percentage point, Vietnam’s exports would grow by 5%.
“If major economies post an average growth of 4% in 2022, Vietnam’s exports may easily reach a growth rate of 16-20%,” he added.
Positive outlook in 2022
A recent report from the MoIT suggested a positive outlook for Vietnam’s exports in 2022 thanks to growing global demands.
“The fact that countries around the world are pushing for the administration of vaccine boosters and reopening the economies would lead to higher demand for Vietnam’s key export products such as textile, footwear, wooden, and electronics products,” noted the ministry.
Meanwhile, many economies continue to carry out stimulus programs, including direct financial support for the public, for which the MoIT said is a major boost for consumer goods produced in Vietnam.
The MoIT, however, acknowledged concerns about global trade, especially from uncertainties surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, rising protectionism, trade tension, and anti-globalization movement, that are set to persist in years to come.
“The pandemic would continue to stay even beyond 2022 and exert major impacts on Vietnam’s socio-economic activities. The most important task at the moment is to adapt to the pandemic safely and flexibly, to avoid possible disruption to economic activities,” it concluded.
Hanoi's export turnover up
Despite severe Covid-19 impacts, export remained a highlight of Hanoi’s economy in 2021 with a turnover of $16 billion, up 0.9% year-on-year.
In 2022, the local Department of Industry and Trade aims to realize the export growth target of 5% by pushing for the city’s 2021-2025 global integration plan, including steps to effectively utilize new generation FTA such as the CPTPP and EVFTA.
Under the plan, Hanoi would focus on enhancing local businesses’ competitiveness for greater adaptation to a new context; promoting IT application for ongoing administrative reform efforts; attracting investment for the development of trade infrastructure systems.
Hanoi plans to relocate more universities
Vietnam news in brief - December 4
Vietnam’s e-commerce market set to hit US$20.5 billion
Diwali vividly celebrated in Hanoi
AI to help Hanoi accelerate smart city development
Data mining drives smart city building: vice chairman
Planning essential to promote smart city development
Amended Capital Law to develop Hanoi’s cultural industries
Vietnam advised to use cultural heritage as material for creative industries


text:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
For practitioners of WIC EBT, UPCs are important because they form the UPC databases that make WIC EBT possible.
But now comes word that retailers are re-looking at the number of items they carry in a store in an effort to "skinny up" their SKUs.
Walmart was the first retailer to act on this, with its "Win/Place/Show" strategy, aimed at reducing the number of items it carries by 18%.
Now smaller format stores are getting into the act, employing "SKU rationalization" to cut down the number of product lines they carry. Fewer products means lower costs.
According to one report, the number of food product lines that could be reduced across the industry does not yet include anything that would affect the WIC program.
But those of us involved in WIC EBT would be wise to monitor this retail trend, less WIC consumers show up at the store one day and not find their favorite brand of cereal or prescribed type of milk.
* * * * *
For more information on issues involving retailers and WIC register today for EBT The Next Generation, Nov. 8-10 in New Orleans. This is the only national conference devoted entirely to EBT issues with several sessions that deal with retailers and WIC. For more information or to register, click here.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
- District of Columbia
These nine states will soon embark on an exciting journey-determining the feasibility of WIC EBT for their individual states, determining what type of technology works best for them, gathering information from WIC retail vendors, local WIC agencies and others on the business processes to be incorporated in the new system, and working with the Food and Nutrition Service to develop RFPs for planning and, hopefully, for implementation.
As they walk down this road, they are walking in the footsteps of many other WIC agencies who have gone before them. States like Wyoming, one of the earliest converts to the WIC EBT concept and a proud participant in the groundbreaking Health Passport concept.
And Michigan, the state that incubated the first successful statewide online WIC EBT project. And Texas, which proved the viability of its "commercial" cost model in rolling out an offline EBT project across that vast state.
These nine states, along with the handful that are currently operating WIC EBT statewide, and the few that are in planning now, will comprise about 20% of the WIC states, territories and tribal organizations. Now WIC EBT is starting to look like something.
2010 may be the year that WIC EBT passes from an interesting concept to a battle-tested delivery system capable of nationwide deployment.
* * * * *
For more information on the current state of WIC EBT, including the search for national standards, interfacing with legacy systems, and evaluating online and offline technology, make plans to attend EBT The Next Generation Nov. 8-10 in New Orleans. For more information, or to register for the conference, click here.
Monday, September 28, 2009
According to the survey:
- Over half of the farmers (52.9%) sell at more than one market each week
- Most farmers are experienced marketers--57% of those responding to the survey said they have been selling for a decade or more
- Of the markets surveyed 82% have been in business for more than 3 years, with 37% operating for more than a decade
9% of the markets are supported in some way by a state agency
Farmers markets are a local affair: 46% of them serve 500 or fewer customers
Nearly 30 percent of farmers say they make between $150 and $300 at each farmers market. About 14% say they make over $600 per day.
And nearly 20% of respondents say that farmers markets account for over 90% of their total revenue.
There is no doubt that trends like nutrition education and outreach are making farmers markets more and more popular in sourcing supplies for the family table. And because of this farmers markets are becoming more and more important in EBT.
Image courtesy of the Iowa Department of Human Services
* * * * *
EBT The Next Generation offers a special bonus session on Farmers Markets, Monday October 9 at 5:15 p.m. To register for the conference, or for more information click here.
To see the results of the Farmers Markets Today survey, click here.
Monday, September 21, 2009
- Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance
- Michigan Department of Human Services
- Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services
- Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare
- Wisconsin Department of Health Services
- Washington Department of Social and Health Services
Congratulations to the agencies. They will be using to money to increase education and outreach about the program to various at-risk populations. The announcement demonstrates how much the SNAP program has changed in 20 years. We've seen it move from paper coupons to plastic cards. From a queue up at the welfare office to a smooth in-lane process at the grocery store. From a "welfare" program to a supplemental nutrition program. From an afterthought to the tip of the spear in disaster recovery.
These changes reflect the changes in the country over the past two decades such as greater emphasis on targeted programs. They also reflect a re-shaping of thought on nutrition education, beginning with the new food pyramid, and including the new WIC food package and the increasingly important role that farmers markets play in nutrition.
But many of these changes would not have been possible without the role that technology has played. This includes disaster food plans that are effective in hours, not days, and the ability for states in disparate regions to "buddy up" when one is subject to a disaster. It includes faster and more robust point of sale equipment, and the ability to issue true multi-application payment cards.
These technologies are not administrative spending gone to waste. The provide a way for states to make positive changes in the lives of people in ever increasing ways.
Posted by Bob September 21, 2009
* * * * *
For more information on how technology is helping change the face of SNAP, WIC and other programs, attend EBT The Next Generation-the only education and training conference devoted exclusively to EBT. For more information, click here.
Friday, September 18, 2009
In the private sector we know when we've been successful. We know what we've invested in a project. We know the income that we've netted from that project. So we can pretty easily determine the return on that investment.
But how do we measure success in public sector investment? In other words, with a significant investment in WIC technology, how with the federal government know if it has achieved a meaningful return on that investment?
Jeff Rowe, editor of Healthcare IT News, poses that same question about the similar investment in healthcare technology that ARRA is making. He says the answers may be in a recently released report by INPUT, a Virginia-based research firm. The report, which deals with the healthcare segment, may have some clues for us on measuring the effectiveness of the investment in WIC technology.
Accurate metrics demonstrate the true value of programs like WIC. Developing an assessment methodology that demonstrates positive ROI can also make it easier to to justify increased spending in the future.
At this year's NextGeneration conference, Roundtable 2 will provide a forum for the EBT community to discuss Current Topics in WIC EBT. The topic of measuring success in WIC EBT would certainly fit into that discussion.
posted by Bob September 18 8:36 a.m.
* * * * *
EBT The Next Generation will be held November 8-10 at the Inter Continental Hotel in New Orleans. To register, click here.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Over in Oklahoma, the Muscogee Phoenix reports on the implementation of the new food package, set for October 1. Should have happened years ago, says one Oklahoma official.
The San Antonio Express-News calls it WIC's "own version of healthcare reform, in reporting on the new food package this past Sunday.
"Kudos to the USDA for designing health-boosting packages that leave little room for error," the Express-News reports. The article even details the bonus benefits for breastfeeding.
It's great to see WIC garnering well earned media attention. Especially for an effort that took so long and was labored over by so many. The proof of the success of the new package will be in the implementation by all WIC agencies. We wish them well.
Posted by Bob September 16, 2009 6:44 pm
* * * * *
For more information on the implementation of the new food package, check out Breakout Session 7, "Case Study: Implementing the New WIC Food Package (Horror Stories vs. Success Stories), Tuesday, November 10, 10:15 at the EBT The NextGeneration Education and Training Conference in New Orleans. For more information, or to register, click here.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Eric Gioia is another such champion. The New York City councilman from the borough of Queens sports an orange tie. Orange is the color of hunger awareness, he says. Councilman Gioia is a hunger awareness advocate. It was his issue even when his political advisors told him to not bother, that among political issues that could energize voters, hunger was a loser.
Gioia was a supporter of simplifying the food stamp application process. He also helped lead the charge to convince Costco to accept EBT at its warehouse stores.
Eric Gioia is running for Public Advocate in this fall's election. Win or lose he is the type of official that can champion many of the technology innovations that make the delivery of benefits and services easier, faster, safer and more convenient.
As we look to implement WIC EBT in more and more states, we need more champions like Eric Gioia.
Posted by Bob September 10 12:45 p.m.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Ten years or so ago, retailers were engaged in efforts to define transaction message sets and UPC databases for WIC EBT. That work helped aggregate information from several disparate WIC EBT pilots, and start us down the path of a common framework for WIC EBT, very similar to what we have today for SNAP EBT.
Today the retail community is actively and positively involved in helping shape the business rules for WIC EBT. The Food Marketing Institute, the trade association representing supermarkets and other food industry companies, provides an enormous amount of information on SNAP and WIC EBT on its website. This information, publicly available, helps inform the discussion about EBT.
But the issue remains: What do retailers really expect from WIC EBT? In trying to answer that question (only a retailer can answer it for sure), I go back to a discussion I had more than 15 years ago with Jim Rogers, president and CEO of what is now the Food Industry Alliance of New York State.
Retailers are wary of the supermarket becoming "the dumping ground of society's ills," he said. If our playgrounds and parks are littered with broken bottles, pass a bottle bill and make the retailers collect all of the old sticky bottles. Little Johnny can't add two plus two? No problem. Pass a unit pricing law and make retailers change the way they price merchandise because the schools didn't do their job. Can't eat fish because of high mercury content? Pass a battery bill and place the burden of compliance on the retailer.
Jim's point was that retailers are the ones who end up doing the heavy lifting on programs like bottle bills, SNAP and WIC. And retailers want a legitimate say in how those programs operate--before the UPS guy drops off a bunch of terminals.
Any EBT program worth its salt involves retailers from end-to-end in the program. This goes beyond a cursory meeting as the project is getting ready to launch. It involves sitting down with retailers before the RFP goes out, seeking retail input during system design and taking retailer concerns into consideration for system operations. It might even involve having retailers help evaluate the retail management solutions in vendor EBT proposals. Programs that involve retailers from the beginning tend to have the fewest problems.
There are many stakeholder groups whose concerns must be addressed in an EBT project. They include, without limitation, consumers, retailers, federal staff, the state agency, and the EBT processor, its vendors and subcontractors. All should be involved in the development of the project. But the difference between retailers and their customers on one hand, and the rest of us, on the other, is best explained by the old "ham and eggs" theory. When it comes to making a plate of ham and eggs, there's no doubt that the chicken is involved. But it's the pig that's really committed.
So it is with EBT. We're all involved, but it's the retailer's store, his customer, and ultimately his livelihood that makes him really committed to the project.
* * * * *
For a deeper discussion of what retailers expect out of WIC EBT catch "Retailer Expectations with WIC," Monday, 2:15-3:30 pm at EBT The Next Generation. This session features Jennifer Smith, senior manager for regulatory compliance for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
To register or for more information, click here.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
For SNAP shoppers as well as Garden State farmers the North Ward Center market will be a blessing. Unfortunately WIC shoppers and those same farmers continue to be vexed by paper. For those of us in the EBT community, it is frustrating to watch that, knowing that the technology exists today to change that WIC shopping experience in to something faster, more convenient and more dignified.
All of the stakeholders involved in EBT are committed to making this happen. The private sector certainly has the technology and ability to develop the solutions. More and more states are becoming interested in making the transition from paper to plastic. The Food and Nutrition Service has been working on the infrastructure and operating principles that must underlie any technology solution. Food retailers favor EBT, and WIC EBT shoppers are effusive in their praise of the new system.
But there are numerous obstacles that remain before we see WIC EBT have the bandwidth that the Food Stamp program enjoyed within as little as 7 years after Reading. One of these obstacles is the legacy systems that many states use to operate their WIC programs. Many of these are old and out of date. States continue to transfer systems from one to another in hopes of modernizing their WIC MIS; however, many questions remain. Chief among these is should a state wait to bring up a new WIC EBT system until it installs a new WIC MIS, or can they bring up EBT on their existing system.
This is just one of the many WIC EBT challenges we'll tackle head-on at this year's conference. We're at the point where there is a growing body of experience out there. What we need now is to pull it together in some sort of best practices for state's looking to go EBT.
We'll try to get that started when we meeting in New Orleans in November.
We've started this blog as another way to communicate with our delegates--to show you what we've got planned this year and into the future, to hear what's on your mind, and to provide a "public square" for the honest and open exchange of information.
If you've never blogged, you may enjoy this. Blogging is a web-based chronologically of a person, event or thing. In this case, the subject is the EBT community's annual conference, EBT The Next Generation. Here you'll be able to read about updates on the conference, EBT news and information you may not already have access to, and other information that can be useful to you in your daily EBT position. The way it works is that we'll post information--short stories or articles--for you to read, and hopefully, comment on. We'll create on "online community" focused on EBT. This blog will be the public square where we'll gather.
So to further the practice of EBT, take a minute to sign up as a follower. It's easy, it's fast, and it makes you a participant in the blog. If you can access Google in your office you can access this blog. You can also sign up to receive email alerts when there is a new post.
When you're done signing up to follow NextGen, take a minute to email the link to someone else who could benefit from our electronic public square. The more people who follow the blog, post comments and agree or disagree with the contents, the better the quality will be.
We've come a long way since the beginning of EBT. We've got a long way to go. Together, we'll get there.
Welcome to the Next Generation.


text:
In another fan-friendly event stemming from his partnership with Under Armour, Tom Brady will answer questions from fans tonight during a commercial shoot for the athletic apparel brand.
You can submit questions via the Under Armour Facebook page. Video of Brady’s answers will be posted on the page after the commercial shoot.
Brady will also be taking questions that fans would like to have him ask Carolina Panthers’ draft pick Cam Newton, also a UA athlete.
In April, Brady did a meet-and-greet with a select group of fans in New York City during NFL Draft weekend. The quarterback signed an endorsement deal with Under Armour last year, and as part of his contract with the rapidly-growing company, he received an undisclosed stake in UA.


text:
Explore the newest product updates delivered by the Aidbox team at the dawn of 2024.
Explore the exciting November 2023 updates delivered by the Aidbox team.
Check out the fantastic updates the Aidbox team brings in October 2023.
Explore the exciting September 2023 updates delivered by the Aidbox team.
Check out the fantastic updates the Aidbox team brings in August 2023.
Here are the new features and updates released by the Aidbox team in July 2023.
Aidbox team brings you exciting new features and enhancements this June.
Here are the new features launched by the Aidbox team this May.
Today we’re releasing some new features and improvements for Aidbox.
All the latest features, enhancements and updates our team released in November!
Stay up to date with Aidbox's new features and product improvements our team released in December!
Aidbox marks a new step forward in API capabilities, security and built-in modules! Here are the updates delivered by our team in January!
The latest Aidbox update is loaded with awesome new features and improvements. See what's new in February 2023 and give it a try!
The Aidbox March 2023 release went live today! It brings new features and improvements to the Aidbox FHIR platform.
Get in touch with us today!


text:
In a Zhuhai convenience store, I was buying a bottle of mineral water. Behind me in the queue were two students. "Can you believe this?" said one. "This foreigner is paying in cash. How backward can he be?"
The mainland is leading the world in abandoning cash as payment and replacing it with the use of mobile phones. According to figures from the People's Bank of China, mainlanders made transactions totalling 157 trillion yuan on mobile devices last year, more than 200 times that in the United States during the same period. The amount is expected to rise by 50 per cent this year and next, the bank said.
In per capita terms, China is the world's biggest user of mobiles for payment. The vast majority of customers are people under 50, especially the young who have grown up in the age of internet devices.
Mobile payment users in small towns and the countryside account for half of the total in China, with the percentage of users in the countryside even higher than in provincial capitals, said the Payment and Clearing Association of China. These people never had credit cards - they have jumped over that stage of financial development.
"I take a little cash with me when I go out," said Huang Mei-qi, a lady student in Zhuhai. "I can use the mobile to pay for almost everything - coffee shop, restaurant, shopping, buses and taxis. Then I do most of my e-shopping on my mobile."
As from Aug. 14, travelers on the 274 subway stations in Beijing can use a mobile to pay, provided they have one of 160 Android phone models and have downloaded the compatible app.
"Mobile payment companies were worried about their future just four years ago, but the spread of technology has exceeded the imagination of almost everyone," said Li Gang, a professor at the Tencent Research Institute.
This boom has been a bonanza for the companies that provide the payment platforms, especially Alibaba and Tencent. Last Thursday Alibaba reported an increase in revenue of 56 per cent to 50.2 billion yuan in the quarter that ended June 30. A total of 529 million use its Taobao shopping app on their smartphones every month, up 4.3 per cent from March, it said.
Even beggars in Beijing and Jinan, capital of Shandong province, use printouts of QR codes to show customers; they can donate money through apps such as Alipay and WeChat Wallet.
In Hong Kong, however, it is a different story. People use a variety of ways to pay for what they buy - cash, Octopus, credit card and cheque. The use of mobile phones to pay is limited. Shops that cater to mainland visitors have introduced this payment form to make it more convenient to them.
"My friends who come here from the mainland complain how backward is Hong Kong in this respect," said Edward Leung, who runs an e-commerce business in the city. "They have to bring 3,000-5,000 yuan in cash because they cannot use their mobiles in many places."
A study by an affiliated branch of the Junior Chamber International Hong Kong ranked the use of e-payments in different places on a scale of one to 10. Singapore scored 7.5, followed by Zhongshan with 6.9, Hong Kong and Taiwan with 6.4, Macau with 6.3 and Japan with 5.8.
"Backward" is a relative term. HK people have not embraced mobile payments mainly because they do not need to. It is a small city where shopping is convenient, not like the sprawling metropolises of the mainland where people buy on line to avoid long journeys to the shops. The other payment systems here are well developed and convenient.
In addition, the mainland has a vast army of cheap and willing men who travel by motorcycles and trucks to deliver goods to customers in all weather; while they receive a basic wage, the larger part of their salary is calculated by the number of deliveries they make. So they are under great pressure to put the parcel in the hand of the recipient.
The cost of labour in Hong Kong is significantly higher. Personalised delivery adds a substantial fee to the payment.
Leung said that HK lags the mainland in part because its people were not demanding such mobile payments. "Another factor is the quality of the political and financial leaders here. Do they really understand how these technologies work? I do not think so. That makes it hard for them to innovate.
"All the same, e-commerce in Hong Kong will develop. More and more small shops will close. How can they compete with the prices offered on Taobao which has entered the Hong Kong market?" he said.