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Since Twitter announced its new lending partnership with Kiva and plans to continue promoting philanthropy, the social media site probably thinks it’s hot stuff on the internet charity circuit. Their announcement is definitely exciting and will give many people the opportunity to give back to local and global communities. But in fact, there are lots of other sites that have beaten Twitter, who only announced its plan on Thursday, to the punch. Here’s a look at three of them:
1. CauseOn. CauseOn is a social media site that applies group-buying to charity. CauseOn is only based in Portland, Oregon for now, but has plans to expand to 45 domestic cities. But even though CauseOn is in the beginning stages, its entire focus (see company name) is on giving back to a cause. Since giving back is the core theme of the site, CauseOn is able to really put hands on work into how to get people involved in philanthropy. For example, the fact that most of the causes they have partnered with in Portland are Portland or Oregon affiliated is a smart idea, giving users hometown causes they can connect with.
2. Endorse for a Cause. As the name suggests, Endorse for a Cause (EFAC) also uses philanthropy as its core principle. On the website, users make purchases that go to a charity of their choosing. EFAC is a social network of its own — users can develop profiles with badges, etc. — but it also ties in with Facebook and Twitter so that users can share their charitable triumphs with their friends and networks. By branching out and emphasizing this access to these social media kings, EFAC is able to get its company name out there and promote causes more efficiently.
3. CauseWorld. CauseWorld is the Foursquare of charitable social media, and it conveniently doubles as a highly useable mobile app. CauseWorld lets you check in when you enter a store, and entering the store or scanning items in it will grant you “karmas” — do-gooder points, essentially. You can then donate the karmas to the charity of your choice and share your good deed on Facebook. Given the popularity of Foursquare, the check in model is a good idea for launching people into the world of giving. The free app is also managing to do something that Twitter isn’t yet: incentivizing people to donate with the fun element of checking in and collecting karmas. Of course, there are many different ways to get people to give back, and incentives are not always appropriate. But CauseWorld goes to show that you can sometimes integrate games and donations quite well.
Why bother pointing out other web sites that were built around a social conscience? Isn’t it impressive that Twitter is promoting charities at all? The answer is yes, Twitter is on the right track. But it is because Twitter is a social media giant, with millions of international users that it has a great chance to make a difference in the world. Almost anything Twitter does will likely have a greater impact than the three web sites above, but that means we have to hold Twitter to a high standard.
How do you think Twitter can seize the opportunity to promote charity?


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Children of the ’90s, Rejoice: Zima is Officially Coming Back
Before there was Smirnoff Ice or Mike’s Hard Lemonade, another oddball refreshment provided the world with a beer alternative: Zima.
But just as many fads fade, Zima sales declined steadily until it was discontinued in 2008. However, MillerCoors has confirmed that “zomething different” is coming back for a limited time this summer after a successful relaunch last year.
Like so many great ’90s products, it was relentlessly peddled with a plethora of ultra-corny commercials throughout its entire existence. Relive some of Zima’s “greatest” hits below:
Despite not being sold in the U.S. for nearly ten years, the internet hasn’t forgotten about Zima. On the contrary, people are really fucking psyched for its imminent return.

domain: news


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Jan. 29, 2013
A Planet Smoothie location in Altamonte Springs, Fla., has added Tasti D-Lite to its center. The store officially opened as a co-brand Jan. 25. A grand introduction event will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 2 with prize giveaways, face painting and a meet and greet with Planet Smoothie's "Cupman" and Tasti D-Lite's "Fillmore Cups" mascots.
Since Tasti D-Lite acquired Planet Smoothie in December 2011, existing franchisees have had the opportunity to add the other brand's products to their locations.
Jason Mann, who owns two Planet Smoothie centers including the one in Altamonte Springs, is the area developer for Central and Southwest Florida. Mann’s growth plans include infusing Tasti D-Lite into existing Planet Smoothie locations and finding franchise owners to open new co-brands throughout the two markets.
"This is a nice marriage between two strong brands with excellent, custom-made products," Mann said. "Having dual-branded locations gives franchisees the best opportunity to be successful and offers more options for our customers. I am encouraging Planet Smoothie owners in my territory to add Tasti D-Lite if it fits in their store and I am seeking entrepreneurs to open new locations with both brands."
Mann and his franchise owners plan to add Tasti D-Lite to the majority of existing Planet Smoothie locations. He expects to open 48 new co-branded centers throughout Central and West Florida.
Read more about franchising and growth.


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Land Rover has long been one of the leaders in the off-road car market, but more recent models like the Defender aren’t exactly brimming with new technology. The company’s recent announcement of their Transparent Bonnet tech was only just the start of changing all that, apparently.
Enter the Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept which will, according to reports, be bringing a host of technological features to the British auto manufacturer’s vehicles. The Vision will reportedly use lasers, have touch screens, be able to see where you are looking and put information there, and will also allow cars to be driven remotely.
The Discovery Vision will be able to display images on every piece of body glass, from the windshield to the panoramic sun roof as well. The technology is called “Smart Glass”, and can display images as if it were being transmitted to a computer screen, with the added perk of it being transparent.
Perhaps the most exciting application of the technology is the Discovery Vision’s ability to combine eye-tracking sensors and navigation information, which means passengers get to see point-of-interest information, which can then be transferred via a swipe on the glass to a seat-mounted 10-inch touchscreens or a tablet.
Hit up the source link for an explanation video of Land Rover’s proposed technology. Like the company’s AR bonnet concept, we’re not expecting these features any time (too) soon.
Source: Digital Trends


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MercadoLibre, Inc. (MELI - Free Report) is gaining momentum as it takes on Amazon in the online shopping wars in Latin America. This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) is expected to see 46% sales growth in 2017.
MercadoLibre is the largest online commerce and payments site in Latin America. It is the eBay/Amazon of the region with websites serving 18 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela and Peru.
It operates MercadoLibre sites in each country as well as its online payment service MercadoPago.
Big Beat as Sales Soar
On May 4, MercadoLibre reported its first quarter results and crushed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 32 cents. Earnings were $1.10 versus the consensus of $0.78.
Revenue soared 73.8% in US dollars and 78.9% on an FX neutral basis on strong growth in Brazil and Mexico, which grew 52.7% and 70.7%, respectively.
Sold items were up 38.6% while payment transactions through MercadoPago spiked 60.1% to 44.1 million.
In Mexico, items shipped rose 220% year-over-year to $2.6 million but gross margins fell 61.1% from 64.8% a year ago due to free Mexican shipping. Amazon recently entered the market in Mexico so the competition, especially with free shipping, is heating up.
Estimates Rise for 2017 and 2018
After the big blow out quarter, the analysts raced to raise full year 2017 and 2018 estimates.
4 estimates were raised over the last 60 days for this year which has pushed up the 2017 Zacks Consensus to $4.67 from $4.31. That's earnings growth of 34% as the company made just $3.48 in 2016.
They are also bullish on 2018 as the Zacks Consensus has jumped to $6.61 from $5.87 during the last 2 months. That's earnings growth of 41%.
Shares At Multi-Year Highs
With those kinds of numbers, is it any surprise that the shares spiked to new highs? Here's what the 5-year chart looks like.
The stock isn't cheap. It has a forward P/E of 61 so clearly you are buying it as a growth stock. However, it actually does pay a dividend, which is currently yielding 0.2%.
The company has solid cash flow as well and had $300 million cash on hand as of March 31, 2017.
Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) and Alibaba (BABA - Free Report) aren't the only games in town in online shopping. There are 650 million possible shoppers in Latin America and MercadoLibre, which was founded in 1999, was first in.
For those investors interested in owning the global leaders in e-commerce, MercadoLibre should be on your short list.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. Click here for the 6 trades >>


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Washington has banned the import of some solar products manufactured using forced labor in Xinjiang, and the Chinese government has been accused of genocide Uyghurs.
According to people familiar with the ban, the Biden government has banned the import of solar products produced by Xinjiang Hesheng Silicon Industry.
People familiar with the matter added that it also added five other companies that make polysilicon, a raw material used in the solar industry, to the Department of Commerce’s “entity list,” which requires U.S. companies to obtain government permits before doing business with them.
The ban is the latest attempt by the Biden government to pressure the Chinese government over the detention of more than 1 million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities in northwestern China. Xinjiang.
Earlier this year, the United States worked with the European Union, Canada, and the United Kingdom to impose sanctions on Chinese officials on the Xinjiang issue.
US international climate negotiator John Kerry told Congress last month that the United States is considering more sanctions, but did not make it clear whether this would involve a ban on solar imports or new measures against Beijing officials.
The Trump administration imposed a similar ban on imports of cotton and tomatoes from Xinjiang last year. From clothing retailers to solar panel manufacturers, companies are facing increasing pressure to ensure that forced labor is not used in their supply chains.
Congress is also considering legislation to require companies to ensure that their supply chains do not rely on forced labor in Xinjiang.
Chinese officials and researchers have described the allegations of forced labor as a strategy by the United States to undermine the international competitiveness of the country’s solar energy industry.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently regarded those who accused of forced labor in the solar supply chain as “black hands” with an anti-China agenda. “Their purpose is to fabricate lies about forced labor to force unemployment and delink from Xinjiang,” it said.
An article published last month by the Beijing-based China Going Global Think Tank argued that the United States is trying to “suppress China’s photovoltaic industry, promote the development of local industries, and effectively win a global leader.”
In an interview with the Financial Times before the finalization of the solar energy ban, John Smirno, a senior manager of the Solar Energy Industry Association, said that his team “has been sounding the alarm since last year” because of concerns that Washington will crack down on imports.
Smirno said that until a year ago, the US solar company’s exposure to Xinjiang was “quite large”, but the company had greatly reduced the proportion of such products in its supply chain.
He said the company realized it was difficult to persuade the customs to allow the import of solar energy from Xinjiang.
“At present, since it is impossible to conduct independent third-party audits of forced labor in Xinjiang, it is almost impossible to convince customs if you have panels or products from this region.”


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Vivo is all set to bring the upcoming Vivo X Note as the device is Surfacing online from past few weeks. Moreover, earlier the company reveals teaser of the upcoming device hinting that the launch may be soon. Now, in the latest development, the company Officially reveals the color options of the upcoming Vivo X Note along with its design arriving in China. In addition, the device will arrive in China alongside Vivo pad and Vivo X Fold on April 11. However, the company also expects to bring these devices in India this year. But, the launch dates for India is still underwraps.
Vivo X Note teased color options
The company confirms that the Vivo X Note along with Vivo X Fold and Vivo Pad Will arrive on April 11. Moreover, the device is already surfacing online from past few weeks creating buzz in the market. Now, the company unveils the colour options of the upcoming Vivo X Note. The upcoming device will arrive with three colour options including Blue, Black and Grey. In addition, the device will get vegan leather finish at the back panel. As the launch dates approaches near, more details will unveil regarding the upcoming Vivo X Note.
Moreover, earlier reports suggest that the device will get rectangular block at top of rear panel. The back panel will have circular module housing probably quad camera setup. However, camera details are still under mystery. But, there are reports suggesting that it may have 50MP primary sensor with 48MP Ultrawide lens. Along with, it will get 12MP potrait sensor with 2x Zoom and an 8MP periscope camera with 5x zoom support.


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Tesco to price match customers' baskets with rivals and refund the difference in late challenge to Sainsbury's Brand Match
Tesco is launching a 'price matching' scheme that reimburses customers if their checkout bill is greater than it would have been at its major supermarket rivals.
The Price Promise scheme is a direct response to Sainsbury’s successful Brand Match scheme, which was launched by the supermarket at the end of last year.
Customers must buy at least eight items and vouchers - which can be redeemed against the customer's next shop - are capped at £10.
Copycats: Tesco has copied Sainsbury's by testing a scheme which gives customers vouchers at the checkout if their shopping is more expensive than at rivals.
The voucher scheme is being trialled in 38 stores in Northern Ireland until the end of January, according to a report in trade magazine The Grocer.
A spokesman from Tesco said that a Price Promise comparison has been available on its website since February last year and this is just a trial to see if a different way of delivering the voucher could work for customers.
Sainsbury’s launched its Brand Match scheme at the end of last year. It uses price data to calculate the cost of branded grocery goods in a shopper’s basket, compared with the same shopping at Asda and Tesco.
Discounts: The supermarket says that it has been running its Price Promise scheme since 2011 and this is just a different way of calculating it.
If the total cost of the branded goods is cheaper at either rival, including promotional deals, then shoppers get a voucher for the difference to redeem the next time they shop at the supermarket.
However, the small print says that customers must spend £20 and their basket must include at least one item that is identical at Tesco or Asda - this means the same size or flavour.
Coupons must also be redeemed within two weeks and the maximum customers can get back is £10.
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Do calories count for anything these days?
Not according to Jeff Hamilton, the president of prepared foods at Nestle USA, who has seen sales of Lean Cuisine meals plunge 20 percent in the last two years alone. In a fascinating interview with FoodDive's David Oliver, Hamilton argued that Americans have lost their interest in cutting back on their caloric intake.
"Americans are just simply not dieting anymore," Hamilton told Oliver.
As evidence of this idea, Oliver pointed to NPD Group surveys showing that the share of Americans who say they are dieting has plummeted to 20 percent after hitting a high of 33 percent in 1991.
To be clear, Hamilton does not say that Americans have given up on trying to eat healthily. They've just shifted their focus to standards of healthfulness beyond calorie counting. They care far more about avoiding ingredients that are perceived as "unhealthy" or "unnatural." Nearly a third of all Americans, for example, are trying to avoid gluten, and 57 percent say that they prefer to buy foods free of GMOs. They've also become notably interested in eating more protein.
There are a couple different ways you could look at this trend. On the one hand, yo-yo dieting has been linked to a host of harmful consequences, both physical and psychological. And experts such as Michael Pollan have often warned that focusing on calories can be reductive and self-defeating. They argue that a smarter path to health is to think more holistically about the foods we eat and to emphasize whole, natural foods instead of chemical-laden "diet foods." Including Lean Cuisine frozen meals!
Yet it's not clear that Americans are actually following the advice of people like Pollan. Many Americans, after all, seldom cook food from scratch. And they still eat far less vegetables than they ought.
So if Americans aren't acting on their shifting health preferences by cooking more broccoli, what are they doing? They're asking packaged food companies like Nestle and restaurant chains like Taco Bell to remove artificial ingredients and gluten from their products. They're calling for mandatory labels on foods containing GMOs. They're demanding dairy-free ice creams. They're eating Greek yogurt.
All other things being equal, that's fine. But it can be problematic if Americans equate healthy eating with the avoidance of stigmatized ingredients, because little scientific evidence supports the idea that ingesting GMOs and artificial flavorings is harmful to human health, that gluten is bad for people without celiac disease or gluten intolerance or that we're not eating enough protein -- while a great deal of scientific evidence supports the idea that eating too many calories can make you gain weight, and that being too heavy endangers your health.
CORRECTION: This post originally referred to the author of the FoodDive interview with Jeff Hamilton as David Owens. His name is David Oliver.


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Lincoln and advertising agency Hudson Rouge have recently updated the famous campaign. You are going to be utterly besotted: Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey pulls off a really heroic character in this one.
Lincoln and advertising agency Hudson Rouge have released a new video from the famous campaign. There was so much buzz before the release of the new series that featured Hollywood star Matthew McConaughey. After a few months he is back.
Lincoln and advertising agency Hudson Rouge have released this long-awaited campaign recently. The videos feature Oscar winning Hollywood actor Matthew McConaughey.
Cadillac and advertising agency Hill Holliday/Rouge have released this bizarre video commercial recently. The video features tens of cymbal-banging monkeys sitting around the brand new Cadillac. Suddenly as if by a command they start clapping, creating the weirdest site ever.


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Hyundai launches 'Celebration Edition' of Santro
New Delhi: The country's second-largest car maker Hyundai Motor India Monday introduced a new edition of its compact car Santro, priced at Rs 381,268 (ex showroom Delhi), celebrating 15 years of the company's existence in the country.
The new edition, Santro 'Celebration Edition' would be available in Petrol, LPG and CNG, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) said in a statement.
Santro has been the first flagship model of HMIL since its inception in India. The car was launched in the country in 1998.
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The owner of Guinness has signed a major deal to partner Co-op Live, the new 23,500-capiacity arena being constructed by the Etihad Stadium and backed by the likes of Manchester City Football Group and former One Direction star Harry Styles.
The deal will see Guinness be the official beer partner when the venue opens in 2023 while Diageo’s full portfolio of spirits including Johnnie Walker scotch, Smirnoff vodka, Tanqueray gin and Captain Morgan rum will be Co-op Live’s official drinks partners.
Co-op Live is also backed by Oak View Group and the project is currently being led by BAM Construct UK.
Sam Piccione III, president, OVG International, said: "It was key for us to find a partner in this important category who would work with us to further deliver on making Co-op Live an entertainment and lifestyle destination and in Diageo we found the perfect company.
"The team at Diageo is best in class when it comes to creating experiences and we can’t wait for our fans to enjoy an ice-cold Guinness, iconic spirit, or draught cocktail at their favourite concert.
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"As live events return and we look forward to the future, now is the perfect time to announce this partnership and further evidence of the investment Co-op Live is bringing to Manchester."
Anita Robinson, marketing director, Diageo Great Britain, added: "We’re thrilled to be partnering with Co-op Live to be the official drinks and responsible drinking partner for what is set to be the UK’s biggest arena.
"This is the first sponsorship we have undertaken in Great Britain where our full portfolio of drinks is part of the offer and we look forward to bringing our brands to life through experiences and activations for all occasions, from pre-show drinks to late night celebrations."


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Comcast and Netflix have become unlikely business partners, as the cable company has announced plans to bring the popular streaming service to its X1 cable box platform, according to Recode.
The added functionality will make the X1 box similar to many other boxes that allow Netflix streaming. Comcast will install an app on the platform that allows Netflix subscribers to log in and view content through the device. The deal will allow the cable company to stay competitive in the streaming world with companies like Verizon and Dish, both of which currently offer apps for streaming-based video services like Hulu and Netflix.
Cable customers with Netflix subscriptions will be happy to hear the news, as they now won’t have to use third-party devices like Google Chromecast, Roku, or Apple TV to access the company’s video content on their big screen.
“Comcast and Netflix have reached an agreement to incorporate Netflix into X1, providing seamless access to the great content offered by both companies,” said the companies in a statement to Recode, “We have much work to do before the service will be available to consumers later this year. We’ll provide more details at that time.”
The agreement is the biggest deal Netflix has reached thus far with a pay-TV operator, and will likely mean a noticeable uptick in users who had passed over Netflix in favor of more traditional cable packages.
The move marks an interesting shift in the relationship between streaming services and pay-TV providers. Where cable and satellite companies were once fighting tooth and nail to rid the world of Netflix and similar businesses, they have now been forced to embrace them to appease their customer base. In adding Netflix to its portfolio, Comcast puts the streaming company on the same footing as it does for premium cable channels like Showtime, Starz, and HBO.
Though the announcement does not include a date for the planned addition of the Netflix app to Comcast boxes, the change will likely come as an update to the cable company’s devices later this year.
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23 November 2021 - Millennium Chelsea Harbour Hotel,
9 December 2021, Virtual
February 2022, Virtual
BCD Travel has added its new BCD Alert mobile app to its
suite of traveller security solutions, providing travel and security managers
with a tool to monitor and respond to risks remotely.
The app tracks caution, warning and emergency-level alerts
against traveller bookings, delivering alerts via push notification to the home
screen of the travel or security manager’s mobile device and prompting a list
of impacted employees. Managers can contact affected travellers directly from
the app via SMS, email, or a click-to-call function. Clients who have enabled
emergency response capabilities in the TripSource traveller app can also see
who has checked in as safe so they can focus on any remaining travellers.


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After BJP Workers' Kim Jong-Un Goof-Up, Protesters Wrongly Use USA's Map In Boycott China Rally
Calls to boycott China are being heard all over the country, ever since the Galwan Valley clashes. People have been using apps to uninstall Chinese software and some others are busy forwarding lists of Chinese products that should no longer be used.
A family in Surat threw their TV out of the balcony and a bunch of shop owners in Siliguri's popular Hong Kong market decided to change its name and stop selling Chinese products in the entire market. These are some of the leading examples of the anti-China sentiment, sweeping the country.
But, perhaps, a somewhat disappointing part about the anti-China protests are the goof-ups of epic proportions. We got a taste of it a few days ago when a BJP worker from Asansol very confidently led an anti-China rally by burning Kim Jong-Un's effigies, instead of what we're assuming were to be Xi Jinping's
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣— Lavanya Ballal | ಲಾವಣ್ಯ ಬಲ್ಲಾಳ್ (@LavanyaBallal) June 18, 2020
Now again, another viral picture shows people protesting against China with a map of the United States. The picture turned into the butt of all jokes online and many couldn't help but point out just how ignorant some people are:
While the map is wrong, but the philosophical significance is not lost on me, as I realise that perhaps the protestor mean to say that China has taken over USA as well. Well done. pic.twitter.com/ByAks9GTCT— Sandeep Manudhane (@sandeep_PT) June 23, 2020
Real nationalists are boycotting China with US map.. 😂 pic.twitter.com/eomMFjjnas— Abdy (@ImAbdy) June 22, 2020
Icing on th cake of burning of the effigy of Kim Jong-Un. Do we still need any more proof to ignore these jokers?— raah911950 (@RafiAhm89808445) June 23, 2020
This reveals how much they know about China and the world.— Ujwal Jha (@UjwalJha1) June 23, 2020
Wouldn't be surprised if it turns out that these guys are sponsored by war mongers.
There seems to be a serious lack of knowledge in this whole clamour against Chinese products, What many still don't know or are in denial of, is that India is still heavily dependent on China.
As reported by Vivek Kaul in Business Insider, “India’s imports from China form around 3% of China’s overall exports. Hence, any attempt to stop import of Chinese goods is not going to monetarily hit China much. Over the years, the country has diversified its trade. On the slip side China’s imports from India make up 4.4% of India’s exports. So as a country, India is slightly more dependent on China than vice versa.”
According to a Crisil study, key commodities imported on the India-China trade lane include: electronics, consumer durables, auto components, pharma bulk drugs intermediaries, etc. That apart, 70 per cent of India’s pharma intermediaries are imported from China. China is one of the leading trade partners of India, constituting 9 percent of India's total exports and 18 percent of total merchandise imports, reports Money Control.
The clash in Galwan Valley between the Indian and Chinese troops on June 15 has been the biggest confrontation between the two militaries after their 1967 clashes in Nathu La when India lost around 80 soldiers, while over 300 Chinese army personnel were killed. Monday's clash resulted in the deaths of over 20 Indian soldiers.
The standoff has stirred anti-China sentiments in India, with protesters and some trade bodies like CAIT calling for a boycott of Chinese products. Hashtags like #BoycottChina, #BoycottMadeinChina and #BoycottChineseProducts have been trending on social media.


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The new Hero MotoCorp facility in Andhra Pradesh will create thousands of new jobs, and will cost the company an investment of Rs 1,600 crore.
Hero MotoCorp currently has five manufacturing units within India, with two more abroad, and the company has now announced plans for yet another plant in Andhra Pradesh’s Chitoor district. Hero MotoCorp plan to directly employ 2,000 at the new facility, and expect to create over 12,000 new jobs in the region, boosting socio-economic growth in the state as the company establishes a manufacturing ecosystem of vendors and suppliers. Hero MotoCorp’s current production capacity is 9.2 million units per annum, the highest in the country, and once the new facility is running this figure will go up to 11 million.
N. Chandrababu Naidu the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh had this to say, “I am personally very glad that Hero MotoCorp, the world’s largest two-wheeler company, is setting-up a manufacturing facility in our state, the company’s first such manufacturing unit in southern India. People of our state are going to benefit immensely from this venture.


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What new trends will emerge in the next several years with the potential for explosive growth?
We’ll probably get answers at the ‘Top 10 Tech Trends Debate‘ who takes place this week in Santa Clara, in the center of Silicon Valley.
But you don’t need to travel half way around the world to get a glimpse of the future. I just returned from a large start-up event in Poland; and in Romania, ‘Techsylvania 2016‘ kicks off today in Cluj (more info here).
In Poland, I met lot of start up’s promoting their ideas to potential investors. Many projects are indeed promising and – if financially backed – will deepen the digital disruption in Europe.
Don’t think of ‘digital disruption’ as a change that affects the technology- sector only. It affects the whole economy and it affects you as a customer and as an employee.
Web retailers have disrupted department stores and will do the same with all those fancy shopping malls built in Romania in recent years. Amazon will surpass Macy’s as the top clothing store in the US next year. Airbnb, Netflix or Uber have disrupted decade old structures in the tourism- television- or taxi-industry and ‘fintech’ is on its way to disrupt retail-banking. The list goes on and on, but I guess you’ve got the point.
From the Silicon Valley to tech-events in Central/Eastern Europe, the discussion – and promises made to potential investors – is mainly focused on the topic of positive effects new technologies and business models have in terms of the value proposition. That is the benefit a customer will receive by purchasing this particular ‘new’ digital-backed product/service instead of existing ‘old school’ offers.
What is rarely discussed is the fact that in the footsteps of the digital disruption, a new model of employment is following – it’s called the ‘gig-economy’.
The term is taken from musicians looking for a ‘gig’. If they got one, they were paid for the concert and let go to look for themselves finding the next ‘gig’.
In the ‘gig’-economy, cloud-based platforms are making it easier for freelancers to advertise their skills and easier for firms to find the people they need on a short-time basis.
It has never been easier to be your own boss. And the ‘gig’-economy is here to stay, it will continue to evolve, adapt and disrupt. More than 20% of Americans provide ‘gig’-services and 42% have been a patron of on-demand service. The sector is growing everyday and Deloitte Consulting forecasts corporations will “increase” or “significantly increase” their use of contingent workers over the next 3 to 5 years. And this trend – as it happened with so many US trends before – will have an impact in Europe as well.
Brave new world? Well, not so fast. The virtues of flexibility, independence and creativity offered by ‘gig’-work might be true for some, namely for people with vocational skills that are in high demand and a passion for building long-term, self-sustaining career.
But for many others, the ‘gig’-economy is simply the next step in a losing effort to build some economic security, since in today’s business priorities, sustaining the employer/worker-relationship ranks far below building a devoted customer base and delivering value to investors.
Corporations have shed their role as direct employers of the people responsible for their products, in favor of outsourcing work to small companies or contractors that compete fiercely with one another. The result has been declining wages or benefits, inadequate health and safety conditions, and ever-widening income inequality.
Recently released ‘gig’-platforms to park your car (Luxe), buy and deliver your groceries (Instacart) and get you your drinks (Drizly) contain the risk we might devolve into a ‘on-demand’-society in which many end up and compete in serving the privileged few.
It doesn’t require an economic degree to foresee in which direction the compensation for freelancing contractors will turn. But there is more: A new report from the J.P. Morgan Chase Institute suggest that many Americans take part in the ‘gig economy’ not because of a desire to be their one boss, but out of desperation.
Critics should be taken seriously. The juicy promises sent out by tech-events in the Silicon Valley, Poland and Romania and the harsh realities of everyday people have indeed the potential to be disruptive. Not for the economy only, but for society too.
Some say, the rise of Donald Trump has much to do with the desperation created by the ‘gig-economy’.
The ‘gig economy’ is taking over. Enabled by technology platforms that connect freelancers to clients – from highly specialized professionals to flexible people in need of an extra income.


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More Cross Border Travel to Happen During Christmas and New Year Season
City checkpoints will be seeing more than 8 million cross border trips for the upcoming Christmas and New Year season as more residents are planning trips outside of Shenzhen for vacation or shopping trips. More than 4.7 million cross border trips is expected from December 20 to 26 with travel peak to happen on Saturday where more than 730,000 cross border travel is expected to happen on that day. Cross border trips will reach 3.15 million by the New Year holiday which is December 28 until January 1. To help deal with the increase in the number of travelers, more staff will be added to the checkpoints to assist in the exit and entry inspections especially during rush hours.
Futian checkpoint is planning to add more lanes for outbound travelers to avoid large crowds from gathering. While Luohu Checkpoint will allow individual travelers and group travels to be inspected in separate floors in the terminals. Eligible travelers holding multi entry permits to Hong Kong are advised to use the e-channels that only take less than 30 seconds.
Since Christmas is just around the corner and local checkpoints are seeing an increase in the number of cross border travelers to Hong Kong to do shopping and sightseeing. These checkpoints in he city saw a daily average of more than 600,000 cross border trips and officials say is 20,000 more travelers than last year.


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Member News: Nautical Ventures Receives Dealer-of-the-Year Awards
By: MIASF Staff
Date posted: Jun 02, 2022 Thu
Retailer and dealership Nautical Ventures announced that it received dealer-of-the-year awards from Axopar Boats, Flite electric hydrofoil boards and NautiBuoy Marine.
Axopar recognized Nautical Ventures at its annual dealer meeting in Mallorca, Spain. “Nautical Ventures has been the eyes and ears for Axopar in America for over six years, and we’re proud that our contribution has helped the brand be what they are today,” Nautical Ventures CEO Roger Moore said in a statement. “We’ve sold almost 500 Axopars since their introduction to the U.S. in 2016, and we’re very proud of the relationship we’ve forged with them.”
Flite founder and CEO David Trewern traveled to Florida from Australia to deliver the dealer of the year award in person. Nautical Ventures said it has sold more than 200 Fliteboards in the last 15 months and has an additional 200 on order.


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The bitcoin price will rocket over the next three years, and cryptocurrency valuations will spike accordingly, says Jeremy Allaire, the co-founder and CEO of Circle, a peer-to-peer payments technology company backed by Goldman Sachs.
While Allaire was reticent to set a specific bitcoin price target, he predicts that its value will unquestionably be a lot higher in three years than it is now.
“I don’t make significant price predictions,” Allaire told CNBC on Dec. 14 (video below). “But it’s certainly going to be worth a great deal more than it’s worth today. I am long in the market.”
When asked what will bring people who lost money in the current bear market back to the table, Allaire said it’s because the fundamentals of cryptocurrencies haven’t changed simply because their prices cratered.
Regardless of its daily price, Allaire said bitcoin has a “very significant role” to play as a non-sovereign store of value.
“The key thing with bitcoin is that it is unique in its security and its scale,” Allaire explained. “As an idea that we need a scarce, non-sovereign store of value that individuals can hold in a protected fashion — that’s attractive all around the world.”
While naysayers have gleefully proclaimed the death of bitcoin, Allaire said it would survive over the long haul, and so will other cryptocurrencies.
Allaire said some virtual currencies would die off in an overcrowded market due to competitive forces, but it’s not a zero-sum game where the success of one digital currency means the death of all the others.
“I do not think it’s going to be a winner-take-all [scenario],” Allaire said. “We have a phrase: the Tokenization of Everything. We think cryptographic tokens are going to represent every form of financial asset in the world. There will be millions of them in years.”
As CCN.com reported, Mike Novogratz — the founder of crypto investment bank Galaxy Digital — extolled the tokenization of real estate, saying asset tokenization is an emerging trend.
Novogratz said several companies are tokenizing luxury condos in the tony real estate markets of New York and Aspen, Colorado.
“You’re going to see more and more of that,” he vowed. “It’s a part of this broader movement of tokenization, digitalization in blockchain. The blockchain makes a lot possible.”
When asked when regulation will happen in the crypto industry, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said digital assets have actually been regulated for some time.
“Just to be clear, the US has more regulatory clarity than almost any other market in the world,” he said. “The exchange of digital currency with the banking system has been regulated for over five years.”
Allaire also noted that Circle and Coinbase — the crypto exchange and brokerage giant — are already regulated and have been pushing for sensible, targeted regulation.
“Companies like Circle and Coinbase are regulated under the Bank Secrecy Act and money-transmission laws,” he explained. “That’s very significant from a consumer protection and financial-crimes perspective.”
Allaire added: “We [at Circle] are advocating for [regulation]. We have been very active with Congress, with policymakers, with agencies. There’s a lot of engagement.”
As CCN.com reported, the regulatory wheels are already in motion.
Last week, two US representatives introduced legislation to bolster the United States’ position as a leader in the industry, citing the “profound potential” of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to fuel the next economic boom.
Congressmen Darren Soto and Ted Budd urged lawmakers to ensure that the US stay competitive as these new technologies start inching toward mainstream adoption.
“Virtual currencies and the underlying blockchain technology has a profound potential to be a driver of economic growth,” the congressmen said. “That’s why we must ensure that the United States is at the forefront.”
Featured Image from World Economic Forum/YouTube


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Japan crisis spurs iodide demand in U.S. and Canada
By Laura Myers
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Fears of transpacific nuclear fallout from Japan's reactor crisis have sent consumers scrambling for radiation antidotes across the ocean on the west coast of the United States and Canada.
But health authorities said on Tuesday that fears are unwarranted and warned that people will expose themselves to other medical problems by needlessly taking potassium iodide that they hope will protect them from cancer.
Adding to the confusion were mixed messages from top U.S. federal government officials over the use of iodide.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu told reporters he didn't see a necessity for buying tablets but added "it's a free country", while U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin didn't dismiss it.
"It's a precaution. You mean stocking up here? I haven't heard that. But, I mean, it's a precaution," Benjamin told reporters during a tour of the San Francisco area.
Drug stores and holistic clinics from California to British Columbia have seen a sharp increase in demand for potassium iodide and other potential antidotes to radiation since the Japanese reactor crisis began.
"People are scared and fearful and worried they don't know what's going on," said Leah Adangfry, store manager and herbalist at Seattle's Rainbow Natural Remedies, which is compiling a waiting list.
Potassium iodide is a common form of salt, similar to table salt. It can protect the thyroid gland from radiation and cancer caused by radioactive iodine. Known chemically as KI, it saturates the gland with non-radioactive iodine, reducing how much dangerous radioactive iodine it can absorb. Continued...


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- Tesla released a beta version of its “full self driving” software to some customers this month.
- Within days, videos on the internet showed cars easily navigating roads and intersections.
- However, plenty of others showed situations where a momentary lapse of attention by the driver could have spelled disaster.
- Despite its name, no car currently for sale is actually self-driving, the US government says, and Tesla has been criticised over its driver assistance features — and their branding — before.
There’s still no such thing as a self-driving car, but you wouldn’t know that from hearing Elon Musk or Tesla talk about their latest software.
Earlier this month, the company began to release a beta version of the driver-assistance program it calls “full self driving.” Despite word from Musk that the rollout would be “extremely slow & cautious, as it should,” videos of the software encountering situations where it clearly was not up to the task without driver intervention quickly surfaced online.
In one video posted to YouTube Monday, a Model 3 successfully navigates one stop sign, before another left turn almost sends it straight into a parked car: “A good example of how this is still beta,” the driver says.
https://91baccc247a394fa935c50d3bb68dc92.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html Over the course of 8 minutes, the drone video shows a handful of occasions where the driver has to take control back from the car’s computer to avoid a crash or breaking road rules.
A plethora of other recordings uploaded to YouTube, Twitter, and elsewhere in the week since FSD was released show just how misleading the name is, even as its predecessor, Autopilot, was criticized by industry experts for the same exact reason. In some cases, the mistakes are simple and easily avoided, like missing a median or using the wrong blinker and struggling with a traffic circle (and let’s face it, many American humans struggle sometimes in roundabouts).
After the software was released, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said bluntly: “no vehicle available for purchase today is capable of driving itself.” The agency is investigating Autopilot’s role in at least 13 crashes in the past four years. At least three of those have resulted in deaths, while countless other instances of users misusing the product have been caught on video.
It’s not clear when a wider rollout of FSD may move beyond beta-testing.
As for the criticisms of its name and imperfect status, Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Musk has regularly pushed back against critics of the software.
“It’s not like, ‘If you just introduced a different name, I would have really treated it differently,'” he said in August. “If something goes wrong with Autopilot, it’s because someone is misusing it and using it directly contrary to how we’ve said it should be used.”
Article Credit to Business Insider South Africa.


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President Biden is refusing to take credit for the recent explosions in gas prices, inflation, and grocery store supply.
In the meantime, he’s doing all he can to make sure that these problems persist.
As Joe Biden makes it more and more difficult for companies to produce oil domestically, he then blames other parts of the world for our rising costs at the pump.
That’s not how it works, Joe.
It would seem as if he definitely has not learned his lesson though, as he’s recently been exposed in a conspiracy that would result in America becoming almost totally dependent on Chinese solar panels.
Republican Senators Marco Rubio and Rob Portman sent a scathing letter to Biden calling him out for yet another blunder:
“Already the United States is over-reliant on China for solar power. Currently, 80 percent of our solar panels come from China or Chinese companies, and this reliance is not market-based. China has used a variety of anti-free market practices, such as industrial subsidies, to come to dominate the solar sector. This is why the United States imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) orders on unfairly traded solar panel imports from China as early as 2012. It is also why the Department of Commerce is actively investigating circumvention of those AD/CVD orders by solar panel producers and exporters in Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The unprecedented and sweeping tariff moratorium prioritizes foreign solar panels over those made in the United States. We cannot afford to trade dependence on Russian energy for that of Chinese solar panels. It is counter to the national interest to rely on our adversaries for our energy needs.
The tariff moratorium also rewards unfair trade practices which costs U.S. jobs. Fundamentally, the ongoing anti-circumvention investigation is about upholding U.S. law. The Department of Commerce is engaged in a serious, quasi-judicial process to determine whether U.S. law has been violated. To disfigure that process as the result of outside political pressure and climate activism signals to China that our laws are malleable for the right price. The fact that it was considered necessary to preempt the results of the Commerce investigation — which may reach a preliminary determination as soon as August 30, 2022 — suggests that the facts of this investigation favor the domestic solar manufacturing industry and not the Chinese companies alleged to have circumvented U.S. law. Our duty is to workers making products in America. A giveaway like this only serves to undermine jobs here in the United States while giving a pass to those using forced Uyghur labor to make these products.”
To read more about this story, click here.


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Can it fly? No, but the LG Wing is looking pretty slick.
We got an exclusive first look at the new LG Wing, a typical looking modern smartphone until you flip out the second display, or maybe you flip out the main display to reveal the half-sized second display underneath, we’re still unclear on that. Regardless the action, LG seems to understand that we often need more than just one display, but maybe don’t need two full displays, the LG Wing could be a fantastic solution.
Personally, I wonder if this is not an entirely new one-piece phone, but maybe an attachment that will clamp onto future LG devices? I can’t but think of Moto Mods and LG Friends, just as a display and extra speaker this time.
In other news, it’s been about a fortnight since Fortnite announced it’s intent to split ways from Apple and then split ways


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One analyst issued a bullish forecast for AMD on Thursday, but that was overshadowed by a disappointing earnings report from Micron Technology that weighed on semiconductor stocks toward the end of the week.
Micron is a leading supplier of memory and storage chips and announced a record quarter. However, the company said it would pull back on expanding capacity to account for the declining demand trends in the consumer PC market.
AMD has been doing well in the enterprise market, taking market share away from Intel in server chips. But investors are selling ahead of the expectation that the economy is heading into a recession. However, this is sending AMD stock down to a bargain valuation relative to its long-term growth opportunities.
In its last earnings report, issued in May, AMD said it expects full-year revenue to grow approximately 60% year over year. This is partly driven by the additional revenue from the Xilinx acquisition completed in the first quarter, which positions AMD for growth in new markets, such as connected devices, artificial intelligence applications, and robotics.
Analyst Gus Richard at Northland Capital Markets issued a positive note on AMD on Thursday, noting that the company is well positioned to have a relatively good year in 2023 due to its competitive position in the server market.
Fears of slowing growth in the near term give investors a great buying opportunity. AMD shares now trade at an attractive valuation of 16.7 times this year's earnings estimates. This is a big discount compared to the level the shares were at a year ago, when investors were thinking about the company's long-term prospects instead of worrying about the near-term economic trends.


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This personal assistant platform offers services ranging from buying medicine to having someone take you for a health check-up, from shopping to ordering groceries, sending a courier, to drivers on demand, and much more.
Recently, Rishika Malhotra was travelling by metro from Noida to a party in Delhi’s Connaught Place, an upmarket area, when her heels gave way. But instead of cursing her bad luck, she fished out her mobile phone, opened the Done Thing app and ordered a fresh pair of heels to be delivered to the Rajiv Chowk metro station in Connaught Place in the next 30 minutes. By the time her 40-minute ride ended, she had a new pair of heels to sport. From there on it was a party that lasted all night.
Starting life as Qlivery, DoneThing was begun by Sonal Saraogi, Karan Saharan, Chetan Agarwal, and Rohit Pansari in June 2015 and has since grown steadily in the Delhi region.
The idea for the platform struck when Rohit, one of the co-founders, forgot his office files at home one day and had to go back home from office to get them, wasting a few hours in the process. He discussed it with his friend Karan and they concluded that there was a need for a personal assistant platform that could help people go about their daily chores smoothly.
Rohit and Karan shared the idea with their common friends Sonal and Chetan who joined them immediately. Karan and Rohit had earlier worked together at consulting firm Ernst & Young, Sonal at ICICI Bank while Chetan had been a consultant.
From buying medicine to having someone take you for a health check-up, from shopping to ordering groceries, sending a courier, to drivers on demand, this app offers it all. The company gets about 1,000 requests per day and it charges customers between Rs 40 and Rs 100 depending on the service. Says Sonal,
“We are focused on the unit economics. All our pricing is designed to make money and not make a loss on the transaction.”
The founders rebranded from Qlivery to DoneThing in under a year. “We had to rebuild the trust of the customers and our goodwill. Most of our efforts were around building a strong team,” says Rohit.
The team has so far invested Rs 80 lakh. The platform has also raised a seed round of $250,000. In two years, they have tied up with over 5,000 merchants and have a hybrid model to deliver services. They have 75 of their own people covering Delhi and also use the services of third-party logistics and courier service providers.
Their competitors are Dunzo and Urban, which are leading the segment of concierge-based services. These companies are building chat bot platforms to assist their clients too. There are companies like Magic and Spot Help fighting the game too.
Since these businesses use feet on the street strategy and need to market their services, money becomes important. In the end, those who scale up the fastest across the country and build revenue with the lowest burn will survive. Otherwise, these companies will shut shop or consolidate.
But the founders of DoneThing say that they will go slow and make every city profitable without chasing mindless expansion. “The operations are breaking even in Delhi because we are making money on each transaction,” says Rohit.
The team intends to work more on improving the product, focus on UI/UX and introduce Artificial Intelligence to make the process faster, reduce errors, and improve the user experience. In addition, it wants to use technology interface to improve their customer service.
The founders want to make sure that cash remains a mode of payment for those who cannot use mobile forms for payment. “Services like these need to scale up quickly. But the technology and data are very valuable if they can get users to come on the platform without spending a lot of money,” says V. Balakrishnan, Founder of Exfinity Ventures.
The business model also involves a percentage of the net value of the bill value collected from the customer and paid to the merchant. This apart, the concierge service itself is based on a model where the salaries of the delivery person are taken into consideration along with the fuel costs and a margin is included for the company.
As for revenue, the company refused to divulge financial information, but said that it hopes to make it bigger this year by expanding to Bengaluru. It has already been scouting for merchant partners and is expected to begin operations by the second quarter of 2017-2018.
The four founders are confident that their unit economics approach is going to make the concierge services industry gain some respect. Only time will tell if that is possible, For now, they are getting things done for needy customers in Delhi.


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Apple CEO Tim Cook is in China this weekend and on Sunday he gave a speech at an event organized by the China Cybersecurity Administration. The latter is a regulatory agency that manages Internet regulation in the country. During his talk, Cook mentioned that 1.8 million developers in China are writing applications for iOS. So far, since the launch of App Store, they have earned 112 billion yuan, equivalent to $ 16.93 billion.
The executive said earlier this year that Apple paid developers $ 70 billion worldwide for their share in application sales since the App Store opened in 2008. The portion of that total paid to developers Chinese accounts for almost 25% of the total, indicating that they are responsible for almost $ 1 of every $ 4 that Apple pays developers for their share of the revenue derived from paid applications.
China is Apple's third largest market for total company sales, although the trend has been low. Domestic manufacturers such as Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi have been taking away business and market share from the iPhone by selling models with high-end specifications at more affordable prices. The US company hopes to gain ground with strong sales in China of Apple iPhone 8, Apple iPhone 8 Plus and Apple iPhone X.
During the quarter that ended last September, Apple sent 11 million iPhone units in China, a 38 % more than the 8 million delivered during the same quarter last year. The increase in shipments helped Apple break a streak of 6 consecutive quarters with lower iPhone deliveries year after year.


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Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
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Apparel/Garments | On 27th Mar 2017


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Consumer Reports investigation finds smart TV security flaw
Could your TV be controlled by hackers? A new investigation by Consumer Reports found millions of smart TVs don't do enough to protect your security.
Consumer Reports has found millions of smart TVs from major manufacturers can be controlled by hackers exploiting easy to-find security vulnerabilities.
The problems affect Samsung televisions along with TV models made by TCL and other brands that use the Roku TV platform.
While evaluating smart TVs for data privacy and security, CR came across a vulnerability in some smart TVs that can be exploited by a hacker, who could write code to control the TV without the user’s permission.
CR was able to demonstrate how a hacker could potentially take over your TV- change channels, play offensive content, or turn the volume up to full blast- all without your control.
This happens because many smart TVs have a programming interface, called an API, that lets you use your smartphone or tablet as a remote control over WiFi. In some cases, CR found that this API was not properly secured and that could let a hacker control your TV.
This investigation marks Consumer Reports' first tests using the Digital Standard, which was developed to evaluate the privacy and security of products and services.
When CR reached out to Samsung and Roku, both companies said they take privacy and security seriously. TCL referred to Roku's response.
The Consumer Reports investigation includes information to help you protect your personal privacy and limit the amount of data your smart TV is collecting about you.
KOMO news reached out to the manufacturers independently, and got the following responses by email:
From TCL :
"Thanks for reaching out. Our customer’s privacy and security are always a top priority for TCL so we work closely with Roku on this. They have issued a statement and posted it to their blog .
"Roku takes security very seriously. There is no security risk to our customers’ accounts or to the Roku platform as stated by Consumer Reports.
Roku enables third party developers to create remote control applications that consumers can use to control their Roku devices. These applications are only accessible to those on a customer’s Wi-Fi which we recommend consumers lock.
If customers prefer, they can, turn off this feature by going to Settings>System>Advanced System Settings>External Control>Disabled.
Any characterization of this feature as a vulnerability is inaccurate."
“Protecting consumer data is one of our top priorities. Samsung’s privacy practices are specifically designed to keep the personal information of consumers secure. Our Smart TVs include a number of features that combine data security with the best possible user experience. Before collecting any information from consumers, we always ask for their consent, and we make every effort to ensure that data is handled with the utmost care.
We have been in contact with Consumer Reports regarding the evaluation of our Smart TV and are looking into the specific points made. To ensure the security of any device, we continue to evaluate the feedback we receive on all of our connected products.”


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The secrets of the Faton Vegetable and Fruit Store in southeast Moscow had been safe until Nikolai S. Plotnikov arrived with two assistants and a writ from City Hall. Until then, the store looked like many others in the city -- masses of disgruntled shoppers waiting in yet another line to buy basic foods.
Nothing seemed awry. If anything, the store was better stocked than most, with tomato and apple juice, beets, carrots, even grapefruits and Bulgarian marinated apples.
But Mr. Plotnikov came armed with a certificate from the Moscow City Council authorizing him to check out the store's storage rooms and freezers. He is the leader of one of the consumer watchdog groups officially encouraged by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev in a recent decree aimed at counteracting economic sabotage and the growing black market that he blames for the country's precipitous consumer shortages. The shelves of Soviet stores are so bare this winter that people are panicking, prompting the Government to ask for and receive billions of dollars in food aid from foreign governments. Hidden Treasure Trove
The Faton store was a veritable delicatessen of apparently pilfered or misappropriated food, exactly the kind of trove sought by the consumer vigilantes, as some have dubbed the inspectors -- goods that will never appear on store shelves but instead will be distributed in illegal sales and barters.
In one walk-in refrigerator there were crates of Turkish lemons, and about 50 pounds of pomegranates. In another, there were 1,053 cans of corn, five cases of vegetable meat soup, 144 cans of mango juice and 96 jars of imported cherry jam. And still another storeroom held 45 sacks of flour weighing more than two tons.Continue reading the main story
"This is nothing," said Mr. Plotnikov, a 60-year-old disabled man who hobbles from store to store in his neighborhood as one of thousands of volunteer civilian inspectors nationwide authorized to trace the country's disappearing goods. "One time, I found 13,000 tins of black caviar that they managed to, shall we say, slip away before I could get the proper authorities involved."
Buying and peddling food and other hard-to-find goods illegally through friends and influence is a longtime fact of life here, as common as the lines and shortages that go with the practice. But only recently have the work and authority of the consumer vigilantes been given a major boost, by Mr. Gorbachev's recent decree and by heightened public concern over severe winter food shortages. Limits on Effectiveness
The inspectors have no power to weed out the poor production methods, antiquated factories and the central planning that still chokes the country's economy, according to Western and Soviet experts. And many of the volunteers themselves doubt their own ability to stem the hemorrhaging of goods from the marketplace by policing local stores.
So far, inspectors in Moscow and several other cities say that dozens of official complaints have been filed, detailing irregularities and hidden stashes of goods in stores.
The penalties for such crimes include jail terms and severe fines, but the inspectors said they do not yet know of a single successful prosecution of a case initiated by a volunteer consumer police force. 'Making a Dent'
"But if a few extra cans of this or that get out to the right people, then at least we are making a dent," said Lyubov I. Lisitsyna, a pensioner who joined Mr. Plotnikov in his raid on the Faton store.
The workers there seemed insulted that Mr. Plotnikov had chosen to investigate their store. They said that all the backroom goodies were for special orders for invalids.
But Mr. Plotnikov said he chose to check out this store specifically because local invalids complained to him that their special-order baskets were hardly special at all. Himself disabled, Mr. Plotnikov said he knew they were right.
The store director, Galina Vasilyeva, was able to produce documents verifying that the hidden food was properly obtained. According to the accounts, even more of these rare items were delivered. But she and her assistants could not prove where everything went and where the remaining food was headed.
"Why are you looking here?" said Marina Sviridenko, the store's bookkeeper, as Mr. Plotnikov and his colleagues poked through cartons and leafed through papers. "Why don't you check out the freezers and the warehouses of Gorbachev and the party? If you don't clean house from top to bottom, these small gestures won't change anything."
The store workers were not half as indignant as customers who were told what lay beyond the locked doors.
"I've never even seen soup in cans," said Valentina Fadeyeva, a local engineer, buying onions and beets during her lunch break. "Imagine how convenient when you come home from work to be able to just open a can and heat it up. No wonder they won't put it out on the shelves for us. They're all such thieves. They can all go to hell."
"Lemons?" said another shocked customer. "You're kidding me. There hasn't been a lemon in the store here in years. Are you certain they were lemons and not misshapen oranges?"
The entire production and distribution system is like a sieve, leaking foodstuffs, clothes, furniture, almost anything, at various points from the farm or the factory to the store. Most people get at least some groceries or household goods through "acquaintances," or other improper means.
The other day, Mr. Plotnikov and his colleagues came upon a man in a side street selling beer off the back of a truck.
"He sells it for four, five times the state price," Mr. Plotnikov said. "Then he brings the store that ordered the beer the state price equivalent in cash, gives a little extra to the manager, and everybody is happy -- except the people who now can't buy beer at the store." Official Corruption Rife
To the surprise of no Soviet citizen, even the authorities charged with investigating commercial criminal violations are often part of the "black market," or "shadow economy" that bedevils the Soviet Union, bringing threats by Mr. Gorbachev of ever more severe punishment that have yet to crimp the quickly blossoming backdoor channels of buying and selling, here and in other Soviet cities.
One Moscow woman recently gave a fiend a large, beautiful box of chocolates as a birthday present and confided that she had bought the precious candies through a childhood friend who works for the very agency charged with investigating criminal siphoning of goods.
"I get my eggs, my canned goods, frozen food and meats through a friend who's the director of a large grocery store," the woman said. "Other meat comes from a friend whose brother runs the state butcher shop. In return, I get them clothes for their children, which I get through other acquaintances. I suppose it's all technically illegal, but almost everybody I know gets a lot of their foods through these kind of deals."
The other day, she said, she went to her friend's store to pick up an order of meat and had to wait in line in the basement behind several officers from the local anti-embezzlement squad. Out front, the store was selling mostly bones and fat.
Some people have fewer such connections than others. And other people, mainly older, retired people, the poor and the handicapped, have no unofficial access to goods.
Mr. Plotnikov's wife, Lyudmila, said she waited the other day for 2 1/2 hours to buy two pounds of rice, and another 3 1/2 hours to buy 20 eggs. "We don't have connections," she said. "We wait, which is why we decided to become inspectors. If it's not on the shelves, my husband and I will never get it."
When the investigation was completed at the Faton store and the official complaint was drawn up, Mrs. Vasilyeva accompanied her visitors out of the store and inspectors and director alike began to commiserate over their country's bad state.
"In a way, you are paying for the sins of our leaders," Mrs. Lisitsyna told her.Continue reading the main story


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View the article online at http://citywire.co.uk/new-model-adviser/article/a653461
SimplyBiz sees 2% drop in membership in run-up to RDR
by Michelle Abrego on Jan 24, 2013 at 15:15
Support services provider SimplyBiz has seen a less than 2% drop in membership from January 2012 to January 2013, despite concerns that the retail distribution review (RDR) would force advisers to exit the profession.
Since January 2012 SimplyBiz has seen around 35 firms walk away leaving its overall membership at 2,189 firms in January 2013.
However, it said around half of the firms that had left the support services provider had been purchased by another SimplyBiz member.
The company said it had also recently invested £1 million in its Vision initiative to support and guide advisers in the RDR world.
Chairman of SimplyBiz, Ken Davy said: ‘I have always maintained that the firms we serve are the most professional and adaptable in the sector and these figures demonstrate that the quality of advisers we serve is second to none.
‘I am also delighted that all the work and the millions of pounds we have invested in strengthening our offering in the run up to the RDR has proved valuable. We have funded advisers to take exams, cut the cost of our services when the credit crunch first hit and launched a not-for-profit academy to help with qualifications and business transition support.’
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As the UK coalition government strives to rebalance the national economy, so called 'reshoring' looks set to play an increasingly important role in economic recovery.
Today's top headlines
Alastair Mundy met Citywire's Daniel Grote at the London Stock Exchange Studios for a detailed interview about the Investec Cautious Managed fund.


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Manufacturing sales in Canada rose 1.4 percent over month earlier to CAD 53.8 billion in September of 2020, rebounding from a downwardly revised 1.4 percent drop in the previous month and matching market expectations. Still, sales were 3.6 percent below their pre-pandemic levels in February. Sales increased in 13 of 21 manufacturing industries led by wood (9.6 percent to a record high of CAD 3.3 billion) in particular sawmills and wood preservation; chemicals (6.7 percent to CAD 4.5 billion) driven by pharmaceutical and medicine; and food (1.3 percent to CAD 9.2 billion) namely fruit & vegetables and seafood. Manufacturing sales increased in nine provinces, with Alberta posting the largest gain, followed by Ontario and New Brunswick. Considering the third quarter as a whole, sales jumped 26.6 percent, following four consecutive quarterly declines. source: Statistics Canada
Manufacturing Sales in Canada averaged 0.30 percent from 1981 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 23.10 percent in June of 2020 and a record low of -27.90 percent in April of 2020. This page provides - Canada Manufacturing Sales MoM- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Canada Manufacturing Sales MoM - data, historical chart, forecasts and calendar of releases - was last updated on December of 2020.
Manufacturing Sales in Canada is expected to be 0.60 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Manufacturing Sales in Canada to stand at 2.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Canada Manufacturing Sales MoM is projected to trend around 1.50 percent in 2021 and 2.00 percent in 2022, according to our econometric models.


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Vietnam is 80 years behind developed countries in approving a 40-hour work week law, which is needed to ensure workers’ quality of life, lawmakers say.
Agricultural businesses are facing increasing international competition and must use science, technology and innovation to improve their productivity and competitiveness, experts said at a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on September 27.
GDP growth based on high productivity is the way forward for Vietnam to maintain rapid and sustainable economic growth, said head of Vietnam’s General Statistics Office.
The productivity and competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises remain low, according to a report on the manufacturing and processing industries which was publicized on April 26 by the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) offers Vietnam an opportunity to modernise its labour laws and improve labour quality and productivity, heard a workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on December 4.
Minimising costs and maximising productivity are what companies often look for when conducting their business, both of which are goals that can be fulfilled through the adoption of advanced technology like cloud computing.
Investing in science-technology is one of key solutions to improving Vietnam’s poor productivity, experts told a conference on in HCM City on June 6.
VOV.VN - A salary reform project is high on the agenda of the ongoing session of the Party Central Committee. The project is intended to improve the productivity, attract talents to state agencies, and prevent corruption.
As technology takes over in effectively supporting organizational operations, more and more businesses are deciding to apply digital tools and approaches to drive human resource (HR) innovations that support business transformation and outcomes.
VOV.VN - Southern Ca Mau Province is focusing on trade promotion to satisfy its yearly target of US$1.1 billion revenue from shrimp exports, according to a provincial official.
VOV.VN - Coffee exports dropped 20.5% in volume in the first nine months of this year, but the value still inched up 1.3% to US$2.55 billion as export prices were on the increase, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong has called for greater efforts to address the shortage of raw materials faced by the domestic cashew processing industry, saying that remains the biggest challenge for the sector’s development.
Well-designed, sustainable and resilient infrastructure will enhance economic growth, boost productivity and provide significant positive flow-on effectives, heard a meeting of the APEC Committee on Trade and Investment (CTI) in Ho Chi Minh City on August 19.
After watching the staff working hard to transport materials and products to and from a coffee processing company, Vu Quang Tho asked them why they didn’t think of a way to save time and effort.
VOV.VN - Clothing manufacturers must move away from the traditional manual operations that rely on human skills to more mechanized processes to achieve higher productivity, says the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology.
VOV.VN - The miners’ workplace is described as hell because it can be hundreds of meters deep underground with numerous hardships. In May, a month which honors workers, Truong Giang reports on how he experienced a day with miners.
VOV.VN - Vietnam worker productivity jumped at an annual growth rate of 5% for calendar year 2016 rising by US$193 to US$3,853 per worker aged 15 and over, per figures from the General Statistical Office.
The restructuring of agriculture sector towards high technology was a highlight of the National Assembly’s debate on November 2.
VOV.VN -The engineering industry in Vietnam is driving productivity with benefits across the economy, says the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT).
VOV.VN -Productivity and working conditions is becoming more important than ever as Vietnam is entering a new era of deeper global integration.


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Update: The decision has been made in favor of Google. This means that Google will have to only delete the search results when requested in Europe alone, the global search results will not be affected. You may read the story below to understand the context.Unquestionably, Google is the best search engine out there. In addition to its usefulness, it also happens to be one of the biggest portals to list […]
Google has now introduced the inclusion of Tweets to its search results on the mobile platform, and this is made available through the official Android and iOS Google apps. Of course, the good news train does not stop here, since similar Tweets inclusion will also be part of the search results on desktop and mobile browsers, too. These search results happen to be triggered by “Twitter” keyboard searches when it […]
Nothing lasts forever, not even diamonds, so do not buy into that particular argument the next time you happen to chance upon a jewelry store salesperson while perusing through the mall. So too, the same applies to business empires – digital or otherwise. Mozilla made an announcement not too long ago that they would use Yahoo! as their default search provider rather than Google, and the question was inevitably raised […]
We published about Sher.pa when it launched its US version last year, and at that time, we saw a side by side demo with Siri in which Sherpa got better results. (Watch video in the previous article).Today the company launched its new software, Sherpa Next, which adds search and predictive capabilities to the smart personal assistant feature that its one million users already know.With Sherpa Next, CEO Xabier Uribe-Etxberria wants […]
When you perform a search, say on Google, chances are what you are looking for is usually in the first page or two, and anything beyond that is simply not worth perusing. However what if sometimes what you are looking for are on pages that aren’t popular, simply because its owner does not know about SEO? Well that’s where experimental search engine, Million Short, comes in. The website, instead of […]
If one were to remain where they are without any progression, it is unavoidable that your competitors would eventually catch up with you if they were to be behind in the first place, before overtaking you. Twitter knows this basic principle as well, which is why they have introduced updates to their service from time to time, and this has definitely helped them remain in business, so to speak, for […]
Bing introduces a licensing filter in their image search function.
Facebook has rolled out support for hashtags on its mobile site and will now offer related searches.
Google, the maestros of search, has certainly done their bit to further enhance the Google search experience on your email, where it will soon be made possible for everyone living in the US to be able to perform an instant search on relevant emails, Google Drive files, and Calendar events among others each time you decide to perform a search in Gmail. Of course, this particular feature did not come […]
Google rolled out an update for its Chrome web browser to include conversational search.
A large chunk of Google’s Keynote was about search, and Google used this rather provocative title above to get our attention. Google as already said in the past that it will go towards “answers” and away from “search”, so this should not come as a shocker. The end-game is that you should be able to ask anything to Google, and it should provide an answer, whether it is from a […]
GIFs are very popular on the internet. They have been around for over two decades and don’t seem to be going anywhere any time soon. They’re short and often hilarious animations used by an insane amount of people. Many actually have their own GIF collection that they’re very proud of. Google announced today that it has now added the Animated filter in image search. This will allow users to filter […]
At GTC 2013, NVIDIA has demonstrated their version of Image Search, which was powered by their massively parallel processors. The goal of computer vision is to be able to recognize and understand what things are – not merely “seeing” them. This is a very intricate problem since computers are fast but fairly dumb (out of the box). They have no notion of “concepts”, unlike humans who can be shown one […]
Google is not a company that is averse to making the tough decisions, and most recently, we were “treated” to news that Google Reader will be persona non grata when July 1st rolls around on your calendar. The thing is, we have yet another bit of news concerning Google (other than having Andy Rubin step down from his position as head of the Android division) as well, in addition to […]


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Here's how to cash in on the Bitcoin craze by mining on your Mac. But beware, it's neither simple nor cheap.
Latest from Jason D. O'Grady
Asteroid is a Bitcoin and Litecoin mining client for OS X that uses cgminer and a full suite of OS X technologies. While Bitcoin isn't cost-effective to mine without expensive hardware, Litecoin is easily to mine on your Mac. Here's how.
A steady stream of iOS 8 tidbits are starting to leak out ahead of developer's summer pilgrimage to San Francisco where the company traditionally shows off its next mobile OS. Here's the latest.
Last week fellow ZDNet blogger Dancho Danchev posted a piece about a new email worm that has been discovered for Mac OS X called OSX/Tored-A.Most of the examples of Mac malware that have surfaced recently (like OSX.
I got my first Mac in 1984, but paid $4,400 for the privilege. What was your first Mac?
A number of MacBook owners are receiving battery warnings and reduced run times after upgrading to OS X Mavericks.
A free iOS app turns any iDevice into a free, wireless security camera that records and streams video via the cloud and allows you watch it remotely in real-time.
New MacBook Air owners have noticed that it takes a long time to wake their machines from sleep. This terminal command will fix what ails you.
Smokers beware: Apple has begun denying warranty coverage on Macs that have been exposed to smoke. Even those covered under Apple's expensive extended warranty program.
Mac Pro owners, listen up. A french newspaper Liberation.


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JAN 22, 2019 | JAPAN | EUROPEAN UNION
BSA | The Software Alliance Applauds Entry Into Force of Japan-EU Data Transfer Agreement
Tokyo & Brussels, 23 Jan 2019 – Today is a milestone day for Japan-EU digital economic relations. After several months of negotiations, the Japan-EU data transfer agreement comes into force. Data transfers are key to the development of AI, data analytics, and other cloud solutions, which in turn leads to economic success in all industry sectors. Recognizing the adequacy of each jurisdiction’s systems for protecting personal information and for facilitating international data transfers between the two markets is a significant step forward for both economies and all consumers.
“BSA congratulates Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission and the European Commission on the successful implementation of this agreement. By preserving the flexibilities that exist in Japan’s distinct privacy law, the arrangement effectively promotes personal data protection and data transfers between these two globally important markets. We applaud both governments for their hard work on this negotiation and we are confident that agreements like this will spur economic growth and job creation in Japan, Europe, and around the world,” said Jared Ragland, Senior Director, Policy — APAC.
“We congratulate both the European Commission and Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission on the successful implementation of this agreement. Confidence in the legal basis for transferring data internationally, while ensuring the effective protection of personal information, is critical to our 21st century economy,” said Thomas Boué, Director General, Policy — EMEA, BSA | The Software Alliance.
BSA |“软件联盟”(www.bsa.org) 是全球软件行业的主要倡导者，旨在代表该行业，向政府和国际市场发声。其成员包括全球最具创新力的公司，这些公司制定的软件解决方案，不但能够刺激经济，还能提升现代生活的品质。
BSA 的总部位于华盛顿特区，其营运机构遍布 30 多个国家。BSA 凭借这些机构，率先涉足合规项目，以期促进使用合法软件、倡导制定公共政策，并以此培养技术创新能力，以及推动发展数字经济。


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American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE: AEO) stock lost over 7.9% in the 5th March, 2020 (Source: Google finance) on poor fourth quarter of FY 19 as net income, fell to $4.8 million from $76.2 million, a year earlier. Same-store sales grew 2% in the fourth-quarter of 2019, edging past estimates of a 0.15% increase, due to a 26% increase at Aerie. By brand, American Eagle comps fell 3% compared to a 3% increase last year. Positive comps in digital were offset by fall in the number of in stores. Aerie comps rose 26% after a 23% increase in the prior year with significant strength across channels. AEO forecast first-quarter profit to be in the range of 20 cents and 22 cents per share, which is in line with market estimates of 21 cents per share. The company also projects comparable sales to rise in the low single digits, while analysts were projecting a 1.07% increase.
The company took a pre-tax charge of $76 million, related to impairment of 20 stores and costs, including severance. The company has opened 65 new stores in 2019 and closed five, bringing the total for the year to 332. The company is seeing very strong returns from the investments in new and remodeled stores as well, including exceptional growth trends in newer markets like Dallas, Houston and Denver.
Moreover, the company has expanded Aerie’s reach, increased the number of customers across both digital and stores. The company has posted ongoing growth in its signature jeans and bottoms categories where the company continues to gain meaningful market share and achieve record revenue. In tops, the company is planning inventories cautiously to strengthen pricing power and rebuild margins. In women’s, the company expects to see improvements through strong key item bear tops and Ts and to benefit from year-round fleece business. AEO in the fourth quarter of FY 19 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 37 cents, while adjusted revenue growth of 5.6 percent to $1.31 billion in the fourth quarter of FY 19.


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The 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA configurator has gone live, and the little car isn't quite as cheap as you might expect.
Read This Article
The 2013 Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG 4Matic: Whatever subtle is, this is the opposite of that.
Dubai has become a veritable buffet of exotic sports cars, the kind that go really, really fast. What's law enforcement to do?
The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class earns top safety marks from the IIHS.


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Search For "playstation"
Updated : 2 years ago IST
Tokyo [Japan], March 3 (ANI): Sony has officially ended the production of its PlayStation Vita gaming console. The company indicated the end of production on the console’s last two models through Vita’s product page.
Updated : 2 years, 1 month ago IST
California [United States], Jan 20 (ANI): Google has plenty of hidden Easter eggs to help you kill time on the internet. Now, Redditors have unearthed a new Easter egg, which is actually a Corgi, hidden in YouTube.
Washington [United States], January 11 (ANI): Amazon is reportedly looking at grabbing a share of the gaming market with its own service.
Updated : 2 years, 6 months ago IST
Washington DC, [USA] Aug 19 (ANI): Hollywood actress, singer Teyana Taylor tumbled off the stage while performing at New York City' Playstation Theatre during her 'Later that Night Tour'.
Updated : 2 years, 8 months ago IST
New Delhi [India], June 10 (ANI): Twitterverse are in frenzy as the third installment of 'Kingdom Hearts 3' has got a released date which is in early 2019.
Updated : 2 years, 11 months ago IST
New Delhi [India], Apr. 05 (ANI): Twitter has gone wild as Insomniac has released the launch date for its new game, based on Spider-Man.
London [U.K.], Mar. 17 (ANI): Twitter is losing its calm over the introduction of two new characters in the 'Sonic Mania' reboot, a 2D platform game published by Sega, named 'Sonic Mania Plus'.
Updated : 3 years, 1 month ago IST
New Delhi [India], Jan 24 (ANI): As online gaming gains more precedence, gamers are frequently leaving their online accounts vulnerable to hacking attempts, putting their valuable progress, personal data, and income at risk, as per Kaspersky Lab's latest report.
Updated : 3 years, 3 months ago IST
London [UK], Nov 5 (ANI): Japan's tech giant, Sony is all set to become profitable again under CEO Kaz Hirai.
Updated : 3 years, 4 months ago IST
Tokyo [Japan], Oct. 26 (ANI): The mega `Tokyo Game Show' has attracted many Asian companies with their innovative game content.


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[Editor’s note: The COVID-19 global pandemic has urged companies around the world to focus their attention on providing for the health and safety of their employees and preparing their organizations for a period of disruption. On top of our regular articles examining the longer-term issues and trends impacting organizations, The One Brief will also bring our readers insights into the current situation.]
This content originally appeared as an Aon-sponsored article for Wall Street Journal Custom Content.
Intangible assets – which include intellectual property (IP) such as brands, trade secrets, patents, trademarks and copyrights – can represent a significant amount of a company’s market value. However, as companies approach an initial public offering (IPO) or a merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction, they often don’t have an IP strategy in place that both protects these critical products and services and maximizes enterprise value.
When it comes to IPOs, too often the due diligence begins and ends with making sure the patents and other IP assets are owned and have no encumbrances, according to Lewis Lee, CEO of Aon Intellectual Property Solutions.
“What’s not being done and what should be done is more of a strategic look at the company’s IP position prior to an event, whether an IPO or M&A transaction,” Lee says. “If you’re investing in this company, you likely agree with the vision and innovation road map. Well-formed IP assets that align with this vision add a protective covering for future products and services and their associated revenue streams.”
In Lee’s view, the right IP portfolio should be “the third magic pillar” in an IPO road show – the meetings that executives have with current and potential investors as well as the company’s future products and services and the technology capabilities to implement those products and services.
Getting An Early Start
A company’s research and development spend should be coupled with a plan for converting that work into trade secrets, patents, copyrights and trademarks. “You should start planning your IP strategy from day one,” Lee says. “It should be interwoven with your business strategy.”
If there were no budgetary limitations, companies would file for IP protection around the entire world. Since that often isn’t possible, when implementing an IP strategy, “it’s critical for companies to properly select jurisdictions where they might make or sell their products or expand into new lines,” according to Steven Gursky, a partner with Olshan Frome Wolosky in New York City. “It is important they are filing the proper marks in the proper countries and in the proper classes.”
According to Gursky, company executives should stress to investors the untapped opportunity in the licensing of a trademark for other products and assure them that future opportunities have been adequately protected. For example, an apparel firm could logically anticipate it might expand into the fragrance business at some point, and therefore it should make sure its IP portfolio safeguards that future market.
“It is a sign of sloppiness in the operation of a business if your company is materially involved in the ownership of IP and you haven’t properly managed it,” Gursky says. “It is not a small detail. To me, it would be an indication of naivete.”
And that naivete can be costly. “You might lose the market opportunity,” Lee says.
Placing Value On Intellectual Property
A key element of an IP strategy is putting a specific dollar amount on the untapped value of IP, especially in future uses. Brian Cochrane, chief commercial officer of Aon’s New Ventures Group, says that has been difficult in the past.
The investment banking world focuses on multiples in making valuations, such as revenue multiples and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) multiples. That can undervalue IP-heavy companies, according to Cochrane. He says the issue is that IP is forward-looking, and traditional comps are backward-looking.
“There’s an evangelical and educational process for this, so people can understand they can create significant enterprise value by how well they are converting innovation into IP assets,” Lee adds.
Aon has developed a platform, fueled by artificial intelligence, that helps more accurately assess the value of IP by using big data sets. The results are then vetted by the firm’s IP experts.
Having a clear understanding of the value of a company’s IP – and being able to make a strong case for it – has numerous benefits. One is being able to tell a convincing story to investors. For example, a company trying to demonstrate a pivot from older, traditional products to newer, innovative solutions with greater revenue potential can articulate this value proposition through its IP portfolio.
Another benefit is lowering the cost of capital. “Being able to accurately value IP assets unlocks their use to support many additional ways to fund the business,” Lee says.
A strategic analysis of the IP portfolio can also reduce the cost of insurance coverage to protect against legal challenges to a firm’s IP from competitors or so-called patent trolls, which is a common occurrence, especially around IPOs. In fact, one study by a technology law journal found that nearly half of 50 firms encountered this challenge right before their IPO or within a year of it happening. “If you can’t value something, you can’t insure it,” Cochrane says.
Cochrane compares a company protecting its IP to providing sufficient cyber security. The latter didn’t come on to the radar of corporate boards until there were major data breaches. With the growing value of IP, this important asset could become susceptible to seismic events, like highly publicized lawsuits, that could make executives realize the perils of not having a strong IP strategy. “Eighty-five percent of the value of the S&P is intangible,” he says. “For those companies where it’s not a board-level issue, they’re going to get bitten – and it’s going to hurt.”
Read the original article on Wall Street Journal Custom Content.
The post The Right IP Strategy Can Maximize Value: IPO, M&A, Enterprise appeared first on The One Brief.