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Generative AI: Legislation or Self-Regulation?
완독 시간: 6 분
Generative AI holds both promise and risk for global brands, to say nothing of the college student looking for homework help. Simply defined, generative AI creates different types of content — such as text, images, and audio — based on machine learning language models capable of consuming large amounts of text. This content can appear to be created by humans.
Generative AI became more accessible because of new tools like ChatGPT, and the latest iterations promise to upend many business sectors. Meanwhile, the specter of regulation hangs over the widespread adoption of AI as governments look toward an “accountability mechanism” for the technology.
Dr. Mukesh Dalal, an AI and machine learning expert who builds business applications using generative AI, joined us on a teleconference, hosted by GLG’s Abhishek Tyagi, to discuss business and regulatory implications of generative AI and his predictions for the future. An edited summary of the discussion follows.
Can you share insights on some of the emerging AI business models?
AI business models are evolving rapidly. There is more data available to AI, while computation costs decrease. That’s leading many businesses to take notice. AI brands and vendors that aren’t typical AI players are enhancing offerings with AI capabilities. Hardware brands like NVIDIA and Qualcomm are creating hardware for AI use cases. Public cloud brands like Amazon and Microsoft are adding AI to current services and creating new AI-based services. Database brands like Microsoft and Snowflake are enhancing data capabilities to support use cases.
New brands are also creating AI-specific offerings. Databricks is creating data services for AI, while Snorkel is allowing people to label AI training sets. Companies like OpenAI are creating general-purpose and pretrained models like GPT, and Siemens is creating industry-specific models.
What are the risks of intellectual property (IP) and plagiarism in generative AI technology?
One of the biggest risks is the music or video or a text article can be so similar to copyrighted material. That’s a clear violation of copyright laws. Another area is where students are fulfilling homework assignments using generative AI systems.
Are there emerging solutions to resolve this, and what are the challenges with watermark AI?
Watermarking can detect whether content was generated by AI. It’s a difficult problem, and most people believe it’s unsolvable. It’s not possible to securely watermark all AI-generated content. Technologies will evolve, and people violating these technologies will also evolve. It’s a cat-and-mouse game without a perfect solution.
Another solution is disclosure. When you use generative AI content, you disclose it. If this becomes required, it could work, but there will always be people who’ll violate this and remain undetected.
Can you talk about some of the current U.S. AI regulations?
The federal government is reluctant to impose regulations that might slow AI innovation or place the U.S. in a weaker position, compared with countries like China. U.S. AI regulations are led by states. California is the leader in regulating generative AI. There are regulations on specific capabilities like facial recognition, and some jurisdictions within the U.S. have banned it.
Another example is ChatGPT, banned in New York City schools, though it’s not clear how long that will continue, because some educators claim ChatGPT can be a powerful tool. Several colleges are actually encouraging the use of ChatGPT.
How do you evaluate the EU Artificial Intelligence Act?
The European Union is creating regulations to apply across EU countries. The act was adopted in December 2022, but countries like Germany want improvements. It isn’t clear how soon this will get implemented. Two European standards organizations are defining the AI Act clearly so it can be applied.
Other applications will be highly regulated. Let’s say a company is using AI to scan job applicants. AI may introduce bias, and certain applicants might be at a disadvantage.
Do you see the AI Act addressing challenges emerging across all the generative AI segments, such as images, text, and artworks?
Generative AI development has sped beyond the way AI Act was designed. It didn’t anticipate ChatGPT. Some risk will not be covered by the AI Act but might be incorporated by the standards body when they’ve drafted details. It’ll need to evolve to handle a range of risks.
Comparing different sectors and applications, what kind of regulation is needed?
This is a controversial topic. Experts are divided. There are several existing regulations around product safety and defamation, which we should apply to AI. Applying existing regulation to AI first is ideal.
There are cases where new harms have been created based on current regulations. Section 230 of the U.S. Communication Act, for example, protects internet platforms from being treated as publishers. If I post something defamatory about someone on Facebook, the legal burden is on me because Facebook is not a publisher. That needs updating.
How do you see the impact of AI technologies on the auditing market?
AI is clearly an enabler and a risk for corporations. As companies adopt AI, risk increases. It will be important to understand how much a company is exposed and how they mitigate that. It suggests there may be growth in the AI audit industry, and not just for AI; it’s also for data. The audit scope will include the data that is used to drive AI applications.
Financial auditors that are already auditing experts will add AI. It may become one of the fastest-growing sectors of their business. Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, already advanced in data use and AI because of their consulting business, may become leaders. Other financial auditors like EY and KPMG will evolve their businesses to focus on AI and data audits.
What is your opinion on the shift in the media and the entertainment industry due to generative AI?
Generative AI will cause tremendous upheaval. Media and entertainment companies rely on generating new content, such as new movies, scripts, and songs. Many professionals have traditionally created that content, and the industry has been paid handsomely. In the past, nonprofessionals also created content, but the quality was low. My home video posted on YouTube isn’t anything like a Spielberg movie.
With generative AI, the quality rapidly improves, and sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish it from professional content. AI tool costs will decrease, and the differentiator might be marketing and promotion. There could be other consequences. There might be fewer professionals and artists employed, but those employed would be paid more. Expect mass upheaval in the next few years.
What are some effective solutions to the threat this technology poses to artists?
Artists will need to find ways to keep their valuation and their jobs. They might focus on different types of content, advertising that content and increasing output. Even if cost per unit goes down, you make it up in volume. Each artist generating 10 content pieces today, 10 videos today, could generate thousands of content assets per year.
What is your outlook on the emerging players?
I expect cloud providers to keep adding AI-based revenue-generating services or adding AI to existing services to generate revenue. Companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft will benefit from AI adoption. They will deploy it on public clouds and have short-term advantages. Other organizations with short-term advantages are companies like OpenAI that provide the tools to create and deploy AI capabilities.
Data companies may use AI and the data cloud, and will compete with the current public cloud vendors. There’s uncertainty in these models. They’ll evolve, but it is unclear who’ll win.
It’s going to be a wild ride. Regulations will grow, and risks will grow. We won’t know how to deal with risk in the short term. When we look back in five years, we’ll marvel at the growth that has occurred because of AI.
About Dr. Mukesh Dalal
Dr. Mukesh Dalal has expertise in AI and machine learning and is currently Founder-CEO at AIDAA, focused on building business applications using GPT-3 and DALL-E-2. Previously, he was Chief AI Officer, leading analytics and automation strategy, at Stanley Black & Decker Inc. He was Global Head of AI & Data and Chief Analytics Officer at Bose Corporation. Before that, he was Principal Scientist at Charles River Analytics Inc., and he led R&D in data science and machine learning as Chief Scientist at BAE Systems. Mukesh was also Chief Executive Officer at Big Data, and Chief Architect and Scientist at Webtrends. Mukesh has a PhD in artificial intelligence.
This technology industry article is adapted from the GLG Teleconference “Regulating Generative AI: Legislative Action or Industry Self-Regulation?” If you would like access to the transcript for this event or would like to speak with technology industry experts like Mukesh Dalal or any of our approximately 1 million industry experts, contact us.
Questions Asked during the Teleconference:
- Can you share insights on some of the emerging AI business models?
- How do you see the medium- to long-term sustainability of these business models?
- What are the risks of IP and plagiarism? Do you see this as a threat to the overall generative AI technology?
- Any emerging solutions that can help resolve such issues? What are the challenges with watermark AI solution?
- Could you talk about some of the current regulations that you see for AI in the U.S.?
- How do you evaluate the EU Artificial Intelligence Act?
- Can the EU AI Act address challenges emerging across all generative AI segments (image, text, artworks, etc.)?
- What are the pros and cons of different approaches ensued by different government entities?
- Comparing different sectors and applications, what kind of regulation is needed — legislative action or industry self-regulation?
- What is the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on the AI auditing market?
- Looking at the landscape and major players in the AI auditing market, what could be a competitive advantage?
- What is your opinion on the shift in the media and entertainment industry that you observe with generative AI?
- What are some of the effective solutions to the threat this technology poses to artists, given the rise in generative images, synthesis, and voice technologies?
- Are businesses prepared for a successful implementation of generative AI with the backdrop of associated risks?
- What is your short- to medium-term outlook on emerging players and the sustainability of business models considering the industry challenges?


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Erdem Teams Up with Universal Standard for Size-Inclusive Collab
The denim-forward collection launches online March 31 in sizes 00 to 40.
What do you get when you combine dreamy florals, crisp denim and the world’s most inclusive size range? The highly covetable new collab from Erdem and Universal Standard.
Launching online on March 31, the eight-piece capsule is a denim-forward collection that brings together the Canadian-British designer’s trademark bold femininity pioneering brand’s commitment to making fashion more accessible to everyone. It also marks the first time Erdem is working with denim in a major way.
Sizes range from 00 to 40. Last year, Erdem revealed plans to extend its own in-house sizes, starting with its pre-Spring 2021 collection.
“There’s a beautiful universality in denim and with careful design you can achieve a wonderful permanence,” says designer Erdem Moralıoğlu in a press release. “Fashion for everyone means designing consciously beyond the boundaries of shape or trend.”
Starting at around $157, the collab includes a wide-legged jean, a high-waisted skinny jean, a floral cotton shirtdress with ruffle trim, a deconstructed denim skirt and a denim boiler suit with contrasting panels.
This isn’t the first time Universal Standard — which launched in 2015 with the mission of “fashion freedom,” crafting elevated essentials for all sizes — has partnered with a bold-name brand for a collection. They’ve previously worked with Adidas, Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop, J.Crew and California fashion house Rodarte.
“We want the industry to keep witnessing that size equality is the only way forward, says Alexandra Waldman, the Canadian co-founder of Universal Standard. “Access for all doesn’t end with US. Together with Erdem, we aim to change the way fashion looks for all of US and the way we look at fashion. This is to the benefit of the industry, the consumer, and the idea of fashion equality.”

domain: news


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Rumors are rampant that Amazon, Google’s Motorola Mobility and Hewlett Packard could each launch a new smartphone or software for the holiday selling season. If so, they will enter a highly competitive market dominated by premium players Apple and Samsung, who also could unveil new phones, like the widely-expected iPhone 5, maybe called the New iPhone.
Former smartphone leaders Research in Motion and Nokia have lost their footing, giving newcomers an entry point. Theirs is a cautionary tale pointing to potential bankruptcy as the fallout of missteps. Newcomers may be planning to take on the Asian suppliers on their own turf. The new frontier of smartphones is the fast-growing and evolving Asian market.
The smartphone market has compressed production cycles, complex industrial designs, manical supply chain management, media partnerhips and billions in investment. Dominance in PCs or tablets may be necessary but not sufficient for success with these tiny low-powered computers that connect the world. Tech giants Hewlett Packard and Microsoft have stumbled. HP shut down Palm after the multi-billion dollar acquisition faltered. And Microsoft’s Windows for Mobile has disappointed garnering only 5% market share after almost a year.
New entrants may add turbulence to a volatile sector that not only faces price erosion but demands high investment. Component and manufacturing costs are on the upswing while a worldwide slowdown crimps demand.
Amazon Smartphone (Part 1 of 3 Part Series)
This is the first of a three-part series on smarphone plans for Amazon, Google’ Motorola Mobility and Hewlett Packard. The series analyzes strategies, financials and prospects for new smartphone models.
Part 1 is the Amazon Smartphone. Excerpts are taken from Steven Cherry’s "Amazon Smartphone" article in IEEE Spectrum’s, Techwise Conversations that was published on August 13, 2012. Cherry interviews Carl Howe, VP of Research the Yankee Group on the prospects for the Amazon phone. The two review the pros and cons of options for operating systems, contract manufacturers, strategies and pricing. (BTW, smart minds think the processor is Texas Instruments.)
Operating System? Amazon has a lot options for operating systems, like Research in Motions's Blackberry, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, HP, Apple's iOS or Google’s Android. Amazon would not develop a new operating system since it is cheaper to buy or rent one off the shelf. One problem, according to Forbes reader Paulo Santos, is Amazon's mobile-commerce initiatives compete with media stores (iTunes, Google Play, soon Microsoft) integrated into the Operating Systems. Let's disregard that for now and review the options for suppliers of operating systems:
- RIM? Not likely. RIM wants to populate its platform, but it's optimized for enterprises, not m-commerce for consumers. Amazon could buy RIM, but the enterprise business is far from its core.
- Microsoft? Not likely. Microsoft has Nokia and Samsung, and Amazon won’t play second fiddle.
- HP? Not likely. HP bought Palm but dissed OS updates then wrote down the Palm acquisition.
- Apple? I don't think so. Apple doesn't share.
- Google? Bingo! Amazon uses Android to power its tablet, the Kindle Fire. The Android OS is open and Google is committed to updating. It’s the easiest platform to use and Amazon will likely build a proprietary user interface on top it, as they did the Kindle, making it unique rather than generic.
Contract Manufacturer. Amazon may go straight to a contract manufacturer, like Foxconn, rather than try to private label a phone from Motorola, Samsung or HTC. Amazon designs the Kindle and has it integrated by an Asian contract manufacturer. Amazon has come a long way in the last five years in making devices with the Amazon’s name stamped on.
Strategy. Amazon may want the phone for mobile shopping, perhaps in-store price comparisons. The web giant has a loss-leader strategy for the Kindle, where the device is unprofitable, but e-book and media sales more than offset.
Amazon could leverage the Kindle to minimize the smartphone's incremental cost. Amazon could take advantage of scale with the Kindle's design team, manufacturer and components. It could expand digital rights for books and movies to all electronic devices. E-commerce are not transferrable to m-commerce, as Facebook has demonstrated.
Price: Costs are mid-range $175 for the device, fees or revenue-sharing for the carrier, and license fees for the media ecosystem… all to get users on the Amazon app. Is that overkill? Maybe Amazon opts for its app on the iPhone.
Amazon wouldn’t enter the premier market with a $400 – 600 model. Instead, Amazon could offer a value phone, with manufacturing costs of $150 - 200. It may be priced at $200, in-line with starter smartphones and could be distributed outside the US. Amazon may target the international market to expand its brand globally.
Amazon revolutionized internet commerce, its unclear it can successfully do the same in m-commerce.


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Samsung has been kept busy lately with the release of all the latest flagship smartphones from the company. Samsung has recently launched the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ and the company is preparing to launch the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 which will be the latest smartphone in the Note series after the Note 7 from last year. However, Samsung is also releasing the latest version of Android to all of their smartphones as well as tablets. We have known that almost all the Samsung phones have got the Android Nougat update. Now, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 has also been updated to Android Nougat on the Sprint network.
It was known that the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 has already got the update to Android Nougat but Sprint network in the US was left out to receive the update. Now, it is time for Sprint Galaxy Tab S2 users to experience Nougat. Yep! It’s here. The update, which arrives as Build number T817PVPU2CQE7 brings Android Nougat 7.0. The Android Nougat update for the Galaxy Tab S2 brings the usual Nougat features such as Google’s own split-screen mode, Doze on the Go for improved battery life, Notification Direct Reply and Bundled Notifications. Besides that, the Android 7.0 Nougat provides new UX and various new features to the Galaxy Tab S2.
As with every update, It is advisable to connect to a good Wi-Fi network before downloading the update and since the update weighs around 1GB, make sure you have enough free storage. Further, keep your Tab charged as high as 50 percent while installing the update. And, if you haven’t received the update yet, you can check for it manually via the device settings. Go to Settings – About – Software updates. Also, you will get the update on your phone soon so make sure to install the update


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- The consolidation of digital media accelerated in 2021.
- European publishing giants Axel Springer and Future have been very buying in recent months.
- Insider asked experts which European digital media companies could be bought out next.
The digital media mergers and acquisitions market has been booming with activity in 2021.
While the European media sector has not seen the same wave of deals as in the United States, media powerhouse players like Future and Insider parent company Axel Springer have been very buying.
The volume of private equity deals in the European media and news services sector is also trending towards a record annual pace this year – 143 European PE-media deals closed in the third quarter alone – according to Pitchbook. And as American players like BuzzFeed and Forbes go public and accept new funding, they may well be looking across the Atlantic as they seek to expand their audiences.
Nico Lumma, managing partner of Hamburg-based NMA Venture Capital, said he believes large pan-European content startups have a great opportunity, but it is difficult to convince investors to pledge for the millions of people. dollars in financing required – which could make these businesses attractive to potential buyers.
“Content has limits, mostly territorial or language barriers,” Lumma said. But, he added: “I think there is so much potential for startups that scale a little faster than the old print publishers.”
Insider spoke to eight experts – a mix of bankers, media insiders, analysts, consultants, venture capitalists, and M&A advisers – who identified six European digital media companies that are preferred acquisition targets, which we have classified in alphabetical order. (To be clear, they didn’t say the companies were involved in ongoing sales talks.)
The companies declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment for this story, unless otherwise noted.
Funding raised: $ 127 million
Effective : 250
Founded in Paris four years ago, Brut produces short-lived news and entertainment video content for young audiences in five different languages and various social media platforms. The company also recently launched a subscription at 4.99 euros per month.
service called BrutX in France this year.
“They do a really phenomenal job with the video, which is really in your face and attracts thousands of comments, ”said Nico Lumma, Managing Partner and NMA Venture Capital, a Hamburg-based startup accelerator.
This summer, Brut raised $ 75 million in Series C from leading investors, including James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, Artémis Group, Tikehau Capital, Orange Ventures. The company said it would use the funds to accelerate its expansion in the United States, India and Africa and to expand its content offering around cultural and social issues.
“I can see Brut fitting easily into a broadcast network or publishing company,” said Bernard Urban, CEO of Branded Content Strategic Investments.
Originally founded in 2010 as a collaboration between several specialist French publishers, Izneo offers an online catalog of comics and graphic novels on its app and the Nintendo Switch for $ 7.99 per month. Since 2016, the company has also been jointly owned by the French distribution chain Fnac.
The company’s CEO, Luc Bourcier, has a background in video games and launched the Sega brand in France in 1988.
While the service is similar to Comixology operated by Amazon, which offers comics from Marvel and DC, Izneo offers more international rates and could be a compliment to a big American player in the space.
Thierry Baujard, the Berlin founder of European investment firm Media Deals, said Izneo was “growing strongly” and was “the leading provider” in Europe for webtoon content.
Total funding: $ 4.3 million, according to Crunchbase
Effective : 164
Konbini is a French news media and pop culture brand that produces articles and videos for its site and various social media platforms.
Konbini’s main Snapchat and Instagram accounts have around 2 million followers each, while his Facebook account has amassed over 4 million likes.
The 13-year-old is also home to an advertising agency that creates content for brands.
Abeed Janmohamed, founding partner of growing consulting firm Volando Global, said Konbini may generate interest because of its mobile-first and millennial focus.
“They’re more of a news house than just a publisher and quite interesting because they picked an audience and surrounded that audience with everything,” from brand-focused content to sports and the arts, he added.
Total funding: Approximately $ 7.6 million
Workforce: Around 30
Just two years after co-founding the German member-funded Krautreporter news site, Sebastian Esser and Philipp Schwörbel launched Steady in 2016.
The Berlin-based tech company offers tools such as a content management system, podcast hosting platform, and technology to integrate paywalls and membership programs to other publishers. Steady takes a 10% fee from publishers’ gross monthly revenues.
Partner editors have included Gay Times, The Quietus, and Gal-dem. The company said it reached the milestone of 100,000 members paying over € 10 million to 1,000 publishers last year.
“I think they’re on to something good, but haven’t got the scale yet,” Lumma said.
Steady closed on Monday a € 2.5 million ($ 2.9 million) round of funding led by Trafo Investment, Gaingels and its existing investor Müller Medien.
“Although the designer industry is very dynamic at the moment, we believe that the best is yet to come in our home market, Europe; we see enormous potential for growth, ”said a spokesperson for the company. “We are therefore not currently pursuing acquisitions.
Telegraph media group
Acquired: For £ 665million ($ 919million at today’s exchange rate) by the Barclay brothers in 2004
Effective : 1148 to 3 January 2021
Founded in the 1800s, the owner of British newspaper The Daily Telegraph is unlike the other European “startups” on our list.
But experts including Ian Whittaker, an independent media analyst, said The Telegraph has marked strong digital growth in recent years and growing profitability. Moreover, he would have been in the block for a long time, he added.
The Telegraph said it reached 500,000 digital paid subscribers in October, up 30% from the start of 2021. Its website saw 38 million visits in August, according to Similarweb.
A person close to the company said the Telegraph’s cost-cutting campaign over the past two years could indicate it is gearing up for a sale. The news headline recently outsourced its print ad sales to Mail Metro Media and shut down its Spark-branded content division last year.
Lifted: £ 600,000 ($ 828,000) from Kickstarter, plus initial working capital from seed investors
Effective : 60
“Slower, wiser news” is the motto of Tortoise Media, a British member-funded investigative journalism operation launched in 2019.
Tortoise offers a range of membership plans – from £ 100 per year to £ 450 per year – which provide access to ad-free articles, newsletters, podcasts and its interactive “ThinkIns” live events with its journalists and guests specials. The company now has 130,000 members, a mix of paying, those funded through its outreach program and experimenters, according to a spokesperson.
The company has a trio of prominent founders: James Harding, the former director of BBC News and before that the editor of The Times of London, is the editor of the site; Katie Vanneck-Smith, former president of the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones, is the publisher of Tortoise; and the former US ambassador to Sweden and the UK, Matthew Barzun, is the chairman.
Rob Ristagno, founder of consultancy firm Sterling Woods, said Tortoise was “ripe for choice” for a bigger publisher who hasn’t yet figured out how to add non-ad revenue streams.
“Tortoise burned the boats by never accepting publicity and therefore only thinks about how to support the business with public revenue,” said Ristagno. “Their ThinkIns are a new format for consumers to engage and feel like part of a community – and community building is another trend traditional publishers are striving to improve. “


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Last night, rumors began spreading that John Wookey, the former head of applications development at Oracle, has accepted a new post at Oracle archrival SAP. Today, SAP confirmed the news. Wookey, who left Oracle 13 months ago for reasons that the company has never disclosed, is now Executive Vice President of Large Enterprise On Demand at SAP. In his new position, Wookey will play a critical role in crafting the software as a service (SaaS) capabilities of SAP’s flagship products. That, by extension, will affect how SAP competes with Oracle for enterprise accounts.
According to an SAP spokesman, Wookey began work at the German software giant this Monday. He is reporting to Jim Hagemann Snabe, a member of the company’s executive board who is responsible for development of its SAP Business Suite applications and NetWeaver middleware products. In a statement issued today, SAP said that “Wookey will work with several of our large enterprise on-demand solution offerings (including SAP CRM on-demand solutions) and develop more relevant on-demand offerings. It is our aim to unite these offerings with a singular strategy for increased innovation and enhancement under Wookey’s leadership.”
As this quote indicates, SAP intends to get much more serious about creating a compelling SaaS strategy for large enterprises over the next several years. Does this mean that SAP will unveil a comprehensive hosted product for enterprises similar to its Business ByDesign for mid-sized companies? I sincerely doubt it, as the scope and complexity of such a product would make it ill suited for delivery via a 100% SaaS model. What is more likely is that SAP will, over time, move Business Suite to a hybrid “software plus services” model in which new capabilities are delivered via the Internet cloud. This model, which is similar to the one that SAP ally Microsoft is pursuing, could make it easier for Business Suite users to deploy new functionality.
As Wookey shapes the SaaS contours of SAP’s enterprise products, he could provide the company with some competitive differentiation from his previous employer. While Oracle is no slouch when it comes to hosting its on-premises applications for customers, it is skeptical about the ability of any vendor to make money from products that are “SaaS only”. That does not mean that Ellison and his crew aren’t funding SaaS projects, as they are running several of them. It does mean that SAP could, with Wookey’s help, distinguish its approach from Oracle’s in this space.
In short, Wookey’s new post at SAP creates the possibility for one more showdown between the two behemoths of the ERP market. Is Oracle right about SaaS being a useful software design concept, but a questionable model for selling applications? Or will SAP prove that it can make money on SaaS and, in the process, get a leg up on its most bitter competitor? It will be interesting to see if Wookey, who is considered one of the world’s brightest software designers and development managers, gets a chance to answer that question.


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Enterprises are buying more replication, backup and archiving storage software, according to market analyst IDC in its most recent quarterly storage software report.
In the fourth quarter of 2005, the storage replication software market grew 21.7 per cent, representing the largest storage software segment growth, IDC said.
Businesses increasingly need to protect and secure the information they collected and that demand was driving the growth in the replication, backup and archiving segments of the storage software market, IDC said. The growing volume of software sales in those segments wais also being driven by demand from businesses to protect their data throughout the business cycle, it said.
Sales in those segments helped drive the overall worldwide storage software market to grow by 12.6 per cent in 2005, with revenue reaching $US8.9 billion for the year, IDC found. For the fourth quarter, the market grew 11.2 per cent, marking the ninth consecutive quarter of double-digit year-over-year growth in storage software sales, IDC said.
EMC held on to the number one spot with 29.7 per cent market share in 2005, down fractionally from 30.1 per cent in 2004. Symantec came in second (20.3 per cent) and IBM third (10.5) for 2005.
Network Appliance had the biggest growth, with revenue up 45.4 per cent in 2005 compared to 2004, bringing its market share up to 6.6 per cent. IBM reported 26.8 per cent growth for the year.


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the key to survival is through dealership expansion. Last year a number of dealers increased the number of dealerships they own. More dealerships can mean across the board reductions in supplies, savings in advertising budgets, less duplication, and a bigger profit margin.
Both Cornelius Martin of Martin Automotive Group (No. 3 on the BE AUTO DEALER 100 with $353.1 million in sales) and Harrell bought dealerships last year and say the purchases made their companies stronger. NAMAD also wants to see more dealerships awarded to African Americans.
“We want 15% of the dealer body to be entirely minority,” says Harrell, chairman of The Harrell Co. “Right now it’s less than 5%. We are having ongoing discussions with the manufacturers, trying to come up with ways to increase those numbers.”
To bolster their strength, NAMAD officials are also spending more time trying to build coalitions with other ethnic minorities. “We need to form more effective coalitions,” explains Vaden-Williams. “We should not be fighting over the crumbs. We should be fighting for a bigger share of the pie.” To facilitate coalition building, NAMAD has increased the number of seats on its board of directors to include other minorities.
THE FIGHT FOR IMPORTS CONTINUES
The most difficult challenge for minority dealers, says NAMAD, is tearing down the barriers to buying import dealerships. Those dealerships that sell imports fare much better in times of economic distress, the group says. But some African Americans say those dealerships are still out of reach. “We would like to own some import stores,” says Martin. “But in the past they have always eluded us. It’s a whole different ball game. The import manufacturers are not as aggressive as the Big Three with trying to recruit qualified minorities, especi
ally African Americans.”
Martin says he has tried several times to purchase import stores but has been unsuccessful. “It’s still the good old boys network. They want to pair you with a white partner who is already in the system but I want to stand alone based on my record.”
While it is difficult to get import dealerships, a number of African Americans are making some strides in that area. In January 2002 David Stephens opened a new $4 million Honda dealership in Baytown, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Stephens, who also owns Millennium Motor Cars in Plano, Texas, was last year’s BE auto dealer of the Year.
Stephens, president and owner of Stephens Automotive Group in Plano, Texas (No. 46 on the BE AUTO DEALER 100 list with $63.8 million in sales) began talks with Honda in November 1998 and admits it took a while to clinch the deal. He received his letter of intent in October 1999 and construction of his 35,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility began last June. “Our first full month of business was pretty good,” he says. “We expect to sell more than 1,000 units this year.”
Winston R. Pittman Sr. is another dealer who has built his success on import brands. Pittman, who owns Winston Pittman Enterprises based in Louisville, Kentucky, has


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Texas Venture Labs (TVL) has accepted 10 new portfolio companies for the spring semester. The accepted companies are equally divided into one of two stages — early development stage, with a business plan, executive team and need for capital, and funded stage, which comprises companies that have a product, have had an early round of funding and possibly have revenue-generating customers.
TVL taps the academic resources of The University of Texas at Austin to help entrepreneurs progress through company formation, venture backing and successful acquisition. Portfolio companies are chosen through an application screening process, and are assisted through partnerships with Austin Technology Incubator, the Office of Technology Commercialization and the Central Texas Angel Network.
A group of TVL students from multiple graduate programs across the university works side-by-side with a startup’s founding executives to address various challenges and tasks common for startups. TVL students come from across campus, including the McCombs School of Business, the Cockrell School of Engineering, the School of Law and the College of Natural Sciences.
“Our TVL team is currently reviewing pricing models, a warning label and go-to-market strategies for us,” said Frank Gordon, CEO of Terra Pave International, one of the funded-stage deals accepted by TVL this spring. “It is early enough for the students to have an enormous impact on our business.”
TVL has also entered a unique partnership with GE this year, in which TVL students will work on a new GE new product that is scheduled to launch this year. GE decided to partner with TVL after GE Chief Marketing Officer Beth Comstock visited last fall. Comstock observed that while GE has no problem producing technological innovations, the company could apply TVL’s attention and discipline regarding market validation.
With TVL starting to emerge from its infancy and establish itself as a hub for technology commercialization and entrepreneurship, companies such as GE are reaching out to build relationships and get ideas on how to better model their internal innovation centers.
“While GE is far from a startup, new product development is very entrepreneurial and the thought process is the same,” said TVL Accenture Venture Partner Aaron Lyons. “This will be a good experiment to see if we can apply our approach to new product offerings from one of the largest companies in the world.”
Early development-stage deals include:
- CLEAR Technology Systems has developed the first sustainable process for recycling batteries at half the current cost, and eliminating the associated toxic waste.
- Datical creates database schema automation software for the $22 billion IT Systems Management market.
- Game Time Arena (GTA) provides gamers a platform allowing them to interact, communicate and meet up with other gamers to arrange and setup competitive matches for cash with friends or any other gamer within the community.
- V-Chain Solutions is a value chain solutions provider that enables companies to create a seamless supply chain across multiple software applications.
- Vecturalux has technology allowing 10G communication up to 40 km over multimode fiber.
Funded-stage deals include:
- AgileLaw develops mobile applications for lawyers, allowing them to focus on their cases without being encumbered by administrative tasks.
- Enerlyte’s nGAUGE program is fundamentally designed to bring a “miles-per gallon”-like understanding to household energy use.
- GE’s Wattstation enables fast Level 2 charging at home and on the road.
- Physicians Angels provides an affordable virtual work force that allows healthcare providers to focus more on patient care, not paper care.
- Terra Pave International Inc. offers soil control technology to customers and aims to supply the market with high quality road improvement products as well as viable replacement for prime coats.
- Titralyte’s Water Lens is a patented system for real-time chemical analysis of water that can be performed at the well site.


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The UK’s antitrust regulator, the Competitors and Markets Authority, has announced it’s going to block Microsoft’s eye-popping buy of Activision Blizzard. In a press release, the physique stated the deal dangers harming the nascent cloud-gaming market by making a monopoly participant. It added that, if the deal concluded, Microsoft would have a market share of between 60 and 70 p.c, “incentive to withhold [Activision Blizzard] video games from rivals and considerably weaken competitors on this essential rising market.”
The character of the UK’s investigation initially centered each on cloud points but in addition the broader console gaming market. However in March of this yr, stated that the console market could be much less of a difficulty than it had initially suspected. It conclusion was, broadly talking, that whereas Microsoft might block high-profile Activision Blizzard titles, like Name of Obligation, from rival platforms, it didn’t make a lot enterprise sense to go away all of these gross sales on the desk. Consequently, the investigation refocused on the cloud gaming market, which is the place it discovered better trigger for concern.
In its report (.PDF), the CMA says that Microsoft’s strengths as a model and as an infrastructure supplier wanted to be considered. And that, if it was mixed with Activision Blizzard’s portfolio of gaming titles, might be extra readily weaponized within the cloud gaming sphere. And even when they weren’t used as a cudgel in opposition to Sony and Nintendo, in addition to different cloud gaming firms, there was nonetheless a danger of the extra basic ills of a monopoly supplier. For example, it stated the deal would “standardize the phrases and circumstances on which video games can be found, versus them being decided by the dynamism and creativity of competitors out there.”
By comparability, regulators believed that with out the merger, Activision Blizzard “would begin proving video games through cloud platforms within the foreseeable future.” And that when it does, customers could have a wider selection of service suppliers than if all of that content material was locked inside Microsoft’s ecosystem, or on the very least made obtainable to customers at extra preferential phrases (.PDF). This, officers felt, would represent a “vital lessening of competitors,” which was sufficient to place the hammer down.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has revealed a word (through Substack) saying that whereas the information isn’t what he wished, “it’s removed from the ultimate phrase on this deal.” He added that Microsoft will contest the choice, saying that blocking the deal will “stifle funding, competitors and job creation all through the UK gaming business.” Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith has additionally revealed a word on Twitter, saying that the choice “seems to mirror a flawed understanding of this market and the way in which the related cloud know-how really works.”
This breaking information story is creating, please refresh for extra info.


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NATIONAL REPORT — Tobacco legislation and regulation is constantly under review at the local, state and federal levels. In this monthly roundup, Convenience Store News highlights the latest proposals and approved changes happening across the United States.
Goodyear — The Goodyear City Council voted unanimously to raise the legal minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. Goodyear is the first city in Maricopa County to pass a Tobacco 21 ordinance.
The new rules also amend a city ordinance in regards to smoking locations and restrictions, adding vaping to the list. With the move, vaping is not allowed in city buildings or vehicles, parks and trails, and enclosed public places including the workplace. The ordinance also mirrors state law which prohibits vaping or smoking at schools or school events.
Fremont — City officials are one vote away from implementing a ban on the sale of all flavored tobacco products. The ban would include menthol cigarettes. If the Fremont City Council approves the proposed legislation in October, the ban will go into effect in November.
Livermore — With a unanimous tally, the Livermore City Council voted to place a measure to repeal the city's ban on the sale of flavored tobacco products on the March 3, 2020 ballot. The move came after the council certified a referendum that challenges the ban.
Los Angeles — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the first vote for a proposed ordinance to ban flavored tobacco products. The ban includes menthol cigarettes and flavored vapor products. A second vote is needed to implement the measure.
Fort Lauderdale — The Fort Lauderdale City Commission approved a measure raising the legal minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. The move makes Fort Lauderdale the second city in Florida to adopt a Tobacco 21 ordinance. The change goes into effect in March.
Newton — The Newton City Commission adopted a Tobacco 21 ordinance. The new legal minimum age to buy tobacco products goes into effect on Jan. 1. In addition, tobacco retailers will be required to have an annual license for each sales location, with a yearly fee of $400.
Paola — The Paola City Council approved a Tobacco 21 measure on Sept. 10. The measure makes it unlawful for anyone under the age of 21 to purchase or attempt to purchase tobacco products. It is still lawful for anyone 18 years old or older to possess cigarettes or tobacco products.
The ordinance also makes it a crime to sell, give or furnish cigarettes or tobacco products to people under the age of 21. The measure sets the minimum fine for violation at $200.
Owatonna — The Owatonna City Council adopted a Tobacco 21 measure, raising the legal minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. The change goes into effect in early October.
Winona — The Winona City Council banned the sale of tobacco products to anyone under 21. The city is also sending a letter of support to the Winona County Commissioners.
Columbus — State Rep. Tom Patton (R-Strongsville) introduced two vaping-related bills. House Bill 346 would prohibit the sale of flavored electronic smoking devices and flavored vapor products in Ohio. House Bill 347 prohibit vapor products from being openly displayed at retail and ban anyone under 21 from entering a vaping establishment.
Harrisburg — The state Senate passed proposed legislation to hike the legal minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21. The bill now moves to the state House of Representatives for consideration. Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to sign the measure law if it reaches his desk.


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Ever since Sony dropped bombs during their Playstation 4 announcement last week, everyone has been wondering when is Microsoft going to give some details on their upcoming system. Well a new domain registration suggests that they might be preparing an event of their own to presumably announce their new system.
The domain XboxEvent.com was registered yesterday by U.S. Techs. While that tidbit of knowledge in and of itself might seem insignificant at first glance since anyone could register a domain, the fact that U.S. Techs was the company behind the registration of XboxE312.com, which was the event site used to sign up for Microsoft’s press briefing for last year’s E3, suggests that this could be legit.
Naturally this is all just speculation at this point, but it would appear that Microsoft could be gearing up for their own major announcement much like Sony’s February 20th event or perhaps they are just getting ready for their E3 press conference. What do you think Microsoft is up to? Drop a comment and let us know.


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The Chinese government has launched a campaign to enforce curfews at Internet cafÃ©s before schools let students out on summer vacation, local media, quoted by an Associated Press report, said.
The focus of the weeklong crackdown "is to prevent the entry of kids under the age of 18," said a Culture Ministry official quoted by the China Daily newspaper.
It said violators could face penalties ranging from being shut down for 15 days to losing their license to operate.
Internet cafÃ©s are required to limit the hours that underage customers can spend online and only allow in a few minors at a time.
China has the world's second-biggest population of Internet users after the US, with 110 million people online, but tries to regulate what Web surfers can see online.
Rules on children in Internet cafes were imposed after Chinese officials warned that students were spending too much time playing online games and were getting access to violent and obscene material, the Associated Press report said.


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Small shops seek more independence from holding companies
Rarely does a week go by that an advertising holding company doesn't announce they're buying a stake in an independent agency. Now, the pendulum might be swinging the other way around.
In just the last few weeks, a number of shops—including Johannes Leonardo, O'Keefe Reinhard & Paul and Richard Attias & Associates—have made that move. WPP-backed shop Johannes Leonardo quietly reduced the world's largest holding company's stake in the agency from 49 percent to 25 percent at the end of last year, according to people familiar with the matter. Last week, WPP said it agreed to sell its 49 percent stake in global communication advisory firm Richard Attias & Associates. And similarly without fanfare, Chicago-based OKRP late last year regained its independence from Interpublic Group of Cos., which had held a minority stake in the shop.
At a time when holding companies are struggling to meet the financial demands of shareholders, indies seem to be having a moment. Wieden & Kennedy has been sweeping award shows and topped Ad Age's Agency A-List last year. Speculation has raged that 72andSunny and Anomaly, both owned by MDC Partners, which is in financial disarray and under fire from a dissident shareholder, might consider buying themselves back. (72andSunny didn't respond to a request for comment Tuesday, while Anomaly founding partner Jason DeLand said the agency is not considering that route: "We've never felt the need to be interventionalist, because we see MDC as a partner, not an owner—that's just the way it's been. There's no truth whatsoever that we were considering buying ourselves back ... we have not entertained that. We don't see the need.")
There seems to be no single reason why buybacks are occurring now, though they are coming at a time when more holding companies are drawing more individual shops into holding company "solutions" for marketers.
Johannes Leonardo declined to comment on buying back more of its stake from WPP, which took a minority share in 2007 at the time of the shop's founding by former Saatchi & Saatchi Executive Creative Directors Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico. At the time, Jacobs told Ad Age "It was very important to us that we're in control of its direction, because we have beliefs we want to put out there." WPP also declined to comment.
For OKRP, it was mainly a matter of the fact that the agency is now seeing healthy growth, thanks to the financial boost and access to resources and a global network that IPG offered it as a startup. President Nick Paul said it was the right time on both sides. "I feel like the risk profile that you can take as an independent is something that matches what we want today, versus being part of a holding company," he says. He said the relationship with IPG gave the shop a leg up in new business pitches and was crucial when it came to connections and other advice.
That doesn't mean, though, that the shop wouldn't consider another relationship in the future. Paul said if IPG came knocking on its door someday with a similar leadership structure, the shop would be all-ears. "Could something take place in the future? Absolutely," he says. But for now, "We're newly 100 percent independent, and we're going to enjoy that and probably learn from it as well."
"OKRP has been a terrific partner to us and our shared clients for the last few years. We'll continue to work together and are proud of the small part we had to play in their success," says IPG's Philippe Krakowsky, its chief strategy and talent officer and chairman and CEO of IPG Mediabrands.
As for Richard Attias, WPP's statement said the sale was "in line with its stated objective of simplifying its offering and focusing on its core business." CEO Mark Read has not been shy in recent months about simplifying a holding company that has become "too unwieldy, with too much duplication."
Yet for all the buzz around indies, a recent joint survey by SoDa: The Digital Society and Forrester Research, finds them declining in popularity with marketers—at least in the digital arena. The survey, conducted in 2018 and 2019 with 400 global marketing leaders and agency executives, found that in 2017, 61 percent of marketers said they worked with independent agencies for digital marketing initiatives. In 2018, that figure dropped to 39 percent.
"It used to be that independent was code for creative—they make their own decisions, they're much more autonomous and they're free to make the business decisions and creative decisions that are in the best interests of their clients and the work they produce," says Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall. "That's the old world, and today I feel like that's a little bit different. I don't think independent is code for creative anymore, and in fact you could argue that it's a situation where there are fewer resources, certainly compared to technology capabilities, tech stacks, data capabilities you find in the larger agencies."
Pattisall says it's difficult, then, to define the benefit of independent agencies.
"We're more autonomous and free to make better decisions for our clients' is a biased argument; it's just as biased as the holding company agencies saying [independent shops] are too small and they have absolutely no sway in the marketplace," Pattisall says. "It's really not a black-and-white situation. In the past I think the proof was in the work, in the quality of the creative. But today, marketers needs are so set on execution and executional capabilities, that the quality in the creative often gets lost."


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T-Mobile USA to offer unlimited data service option
NEW YORK (Reuters) - T-Mobile USA, the No. 4 U.S. mobile provider, will sell a new unlimited data service option to its customers for a monthly fee in a direct challenge to its bigger rival Sprint Nextel, the only other big U.S. provider selling unlimited services.
The offer may also help T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, stand out from the biggest U.S. operators Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc, which have both set caps on their customers' monthly data usage.
Today T-Mobile USA, which has been losing customers to bigger and smaller rivals, limits its customers' data speeds after they have downloaded a certain amount of data each month.
But under the new plan, which is being launched on September 5, T-Mobile USA will allow customers unlimited data usage without any curb on their service speeds.
The T-Mobile USA announcement came a day after smaller rival MetroPCS Communications announced a promotional offer under which it will also offer unlimited data usage without throttling back speeds.
Customers opting for T-Mobile USA's unlimited data usage will add a $20 payment on top of their existing $49.99 a month fee, which covers unlimited phone calls and texts.
This compares with the company's existing $74.99 plan, which comes with unlimited talking and texting and a limit of 5 gigabytes of data.
(Deletes reference to limited data in describing $49.99 plan in 6th paragraph)
- White House reverses, says Obama met uncle and lived with him during law school
- Flights delayed as air pollution hits record in Shanghai
- South Africa mourns Mandela, will bury him on December 15 |
- RPT-UPDATE 1-Ford leans on global Mustang to burnish overseas image
- Analysis: Boeing bidders dangle goodies to win 777X jetliner
Nelson Mandela: 1918 - 2013
Reuters looks at the life and times of Nelson Mandela, an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world. Video


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Latest News Of IPO Tag
Business 1 August 2019
Crypto miner maker Canaan Creative reportedly files for IPO in US
Canaan Creative has reportedly filed a confidential application for initial public offering (IPO) in the United States.
Business 11 July 2019
Blockchain firm Diginex reportedly listing on Nasdaq ‘soon’
Diginex is about to announce a merger with Nasdaq-listed 8i Enterprises Acquisition Corp., according to reports.
Business 8 July 2019
Bitmain offers stock options to staff to keep them around for IPO
Bitmain has finished distributing stock options to staff, who might need the incentive to stay on the ship.
Business 24 June 2019
Bitmain rumored to be considering another IPO
Bitmain is rumored to be considering a new IPO, a move that can only mean they are desperate for money.
Business 2 April 2019
Bitmain could face lawsuit over failed IPO
A group of investors is putting together a class-action lawsuit against Bitmain, looking to recover investments that were made in view of the failed IPO.
Business 28 March 2019
Crypto miner maker Canaan Creative plans fresh attempt at IPO: report
The firm behind the Avalon processor, Canaan Creative is said to be discussing the matter with shareholders in light of a plan to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to reports.
Business 26 March 2019
Bitmain IPO fizzles and expires
As of March 25, the official deadline for introducing Bitmain's initial public offering (IPO) filing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) has expired.
Business 19 February 2019
Bitmain continues to post revenue losses
Cryptocurrency mining equipment manufacturer Bitmain is still grasping to hope that it will be able to pull off its initial public offering.
Business 13 February 2019
Canaan Creative co-founder leaves crypto miner maker: report
Internal disagreements have reportedly sent Xiangfu Liu, one of the three founders of Bitmain’s crypto mining rival Canaan Creative, packing.
Editorial 30 January 2019
An exclusive look inside BitPay
Bitpay hasn’t publicly discussed any kind of IPO but according to documents exclusively obtained by CoinGeek, it is suffering from some of the same problems as Bitmain.
Business 25 January 2019
OKCoin founder buys Hong Kong-listed public company
The founder of crypto exchange OKCoin, Star Xu, has acquired a controlling share in a Hong Kong-listed public company, leading to speculation the firm could be gearing up for a reverse IPO.
Business 25 January 2019
HK stock exchange chief takes a swipe at Bitmain’s IPO attempt
SEHK CEO Charles Li Xiaojia responded to media questions about the status of initial public offering (IPO) applications of three cryptocurrency mining hardware manufacturers—Bitmain Technology, Canaan Creative, and Ebang International Holdings.


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Investors received moderately good news about employment last week, although it wasn’t a cause to be overjoyed. Payroll processor ADP reported that 217,000 new jobs were created in February, which was closely matched by the official government nonfarm payrolls report on Friday that showed a net gain of 192,000 jobs (222,000 when considering only the private sector, which would be almost dead even with ADP’s estimate). Also encouraging was that initial jobless claims dropped to 368,000, a level not seen since May 2008. However, investors were perhaps expecting more of a blockbuster report, and the markets sank on Friday.
For the week, the S&P 500 was flat. Gold and oil futures, however, continued their upward march, with gold finishing the week at $1,428.60 an ounce and light sweet crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange settling at $104.42 a barrel.
Good news during the week came in the form of higher retail sales in February and a very strong showing for manufacturing in February, with the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rising to 61.4 (the ISM services index rose to 59.7, also a healthy rate of expansion). The Fed’s Beige Book, meanwhile, an anecdotal summary of the economic standing of each of the Fed’s 12 districts, showed that all 12 experienced moderate growth. And Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in his semiannual testimony to Congress that U.S. gross domestic product will expand by 3.5% to 4% in 2011, half of a percentage point higher than estimates in November.
This week is a bit quieter, although Friday has some economic releases of note. The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index rose more than expected in February to 77.5. With higher gas prices recently, it should be interesting to see if the index can maintain that level or if consumers start to worry about emptying their wallets at the pump. Also on Friday are the retail sales figures for February, released by the Department of Commerce. Dismal weather was a drag on January’s retail sales, which came in only 0.3% higher. We’ve had indications that personal income has risen, but also that consumer spending has been lackluster, so retail sales this Friday might be proof one way or the other of what consumers are really up to.
We’re well outside the busiest time of earnings season, but notable earning reports this week include The Boston Beer Co. and Dick’s Sporting Goods on Tuesday and The Bon-Ton Stores Inc. and H&R Block Inc. on Wednesday.


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The Queensland government has called for expressions of interest in building an EV solar powered fast charge highway throughout the state. Initially this would incorporate an existing petrol service station with fast charge facilties for EVs that would employ solar panels as the energy source. It would eventually result in a series of solar powered
Australia has not been marked out as a country that embraces electric vehicles. VW won't come here as they don't see any enthusiasm for the technology and there are no incentives for zero emission vehicles. Having said that EV Fast Charge stations are being built around the country - one in Western Australia thanks to
Elon Musk casually announced Tesla's official entry into home battery storage. Since the announcement of the Gigafactory there has been a deal of speculation that Tesla would move to home storage systems as it makes perfect sense for the company to enter the energy market. He stated the home battery packs could be in production in
The recent announcement by Elon Musk of a 'gigafactory' battery manufacturing facility not only has meant a surge in Tesla stock (now up 634% year-over-year) but also brings the death spiral for electricity utilities that much closer. The death spiral is customer defection from the grid to run their households/businesses on solar panels plus battery storage.


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- Internet Retailer reports that shoppers who viewed video on Stacks and Stacks product pages were 144% more likely to add to cart than other shoppers. (Internet Retailer, March 2011).
- Online retailer Living Direct found that videos boosted conversion as well as increasing time on site by 9%. (Internet Retailer, October 2010).
- Visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not. (Internet Retailer, April 2010)
- Retail site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchasethan other site visitors. (Comscore, August 2010)
- In tests merchants such as Archie McPhee experienced conversion rate increases averaging 30%, with a range from 12% to 115%. (Practical Ecommerce, November 2008)
- Shoeline.com saw a 44% increase in online sales conversions by using videos to showcase their products. “With such positive results on our existing videos, the goal right now is to add video to as many of our products as possible,” says Frank Malsbenden, VP and GM of Vision Retailing Inc., the parent company of Shoeline.com. (Internet Retailer, January 2009)
- Zappos reports a 6% to 30% increase in sales for products with video. (ReelSEO, December 2009)
- Retail sites with video increase conversion by 30% and boost average ticket by 13%. (L2 Specialty Retail Report, September 2010)
- Discovery Channel increased video streams 123% by properly implementing video sitemaps
- 20% of all males surveyed cited online video as a significant influence in recent purchases of jewelry and watches. (Ad-ology Media Influence on Consumer Choice survey, September 2008)
- Ice.com found that viewers who chose to view video converted at a 400% increaseover those who did not. Ice.com also credits video with decreasing returns by 25%. (Internet Retailer, December 2009)
- Simple video merchandising best practices can nearly double the impact of eCommerce video (Invodo research, February 2010)
- Shoppers who view video at Onlineshoes.com convert at a 45% higher rate than other shoppers, and the site has seen a 359% year-over-year increase in video views. Product pages with video have higher conversion rates than product pages without video. (Internet Retailer, February 2010)
- A recent Cisco survey of US and UK consumers finds that shoppers prefer to research products online prior to making in-store purchases and recommends making video content available in-store by kiosk, touchscreen and smartphone integrations. (Internet Retailer, January 2011)
- With proper optimization, video increases the chance of a front-page Google result by 53x. (Forrester, January 2010)
- Video in email marketing has been shown to increase click-through rates by over 96%. In response, the number of marketers planning to use video in email campaigns has increased 5x since the beginning of 2009. (Implix 2010 Email Marketing Trends Survey)
- Consumer packaged goods firm Reckitt Benckiser found that online video delivered a 6% increase in in-store sales. (Reckitt Benckiser / Nielsen, May 2010)
- Rich media ads containing video increase purchase intent by 1.16% and drive success more than four times that of Flash animation. In addition to the increase in purchase intent, video ads appear to increase consumer brand loyalty. Viewers favored a brand 2.30% more when exposed to rich media with a video ad opposed the tiny 0.15% increase simple Flash animation experienced. (DoubleClick, The Brand Value of Rich Media Ads, June 2009)
Consumers Use and Trust Online Video
- Frequent online shoppers value video more heavily than other shoppers. 46% of frequent online shoppersprefer shopping on sites with video, compared with 30% of infrequent online shoppers. (Internet Retailer, November 2010)
- In December of 2010, 88.6 million people watched online video on an average day in, up 32 percent from December 2009. The average American spent more than 14 hours watching online video in December, up 12 percent over the previous year and streamed a record 201 videos, an 8 percent increase.(Comscore, February 2011)
- Over 90% of shoppers surveyed found video useful in making purchase decisions, according to a study of Swimwear Boutique customers. (Internet Retailer, October 2010)
- From July 2009 through July 2010, the number of US video viewers on retail sites grew 40%, outpacing 17% growth in the number of total US online video viewers. 96% of online shoppers also watch online video. (Comscore, August 2010)
- According to Cisco, video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic to 90% of Internet traffic by 2013. (Cisco, 2010)
- Video views doubled from 14.8 billion to 33.2 billion between January 2009 and December 2009. 86.5% of all US Internet users watched online video during the month. The average viewer watched 187 videos and 12.7 hours of online video during the month. (Comscore, February 2010)
- A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words according to Dr. James McQuivey of Forrester Research. (Forrester, January 2009)
Online Retailers are Implementing eCommerce Video
- The eTailing Group found that 73% of online retailers used video on product pages in 2010, up from 55% in 2009 (eMarketer, February 2011)
- 33% of online retailers plan to add video to their sites in 2010, making it a higher priority than any other advanced feature. (eMarketer, March 2010)
- Leading online retailers added video to their sites in 2009 to increase online sales. PetsUnited, the owner of 10 eCommerce sites, saw a 50% jump in average sales when shoppers made a purchase after viewing a video. (eMarketer, January 2009)
- eCommerce video success can be clearly measured. Conversion rate, cart abandons, increased traffic and View Rate (VR) are key to demonstrating success. (Practical Ecommerce, March 2010)
- eMarketer senior analyst Jeffrey Grau characterizes the benefits of video as including “…a lower number of abandoned shopping carts, reduced return rates, and higher sales.” (eMarketer, January 2009)
- Search engine optimization (SEO) and online video were the two top priorities for online retailers in 2009. Online shoppers who viewed video had a larger shopping ticket than those who viewed traditional rich media such as flash animations. (Internet Retailer, January 2009)
FINDitKC.com accelerates Kansas City businesses to the next level by creating and advertising a unique personalized video of each business. Whether you are a corporation looking to grow your audience or a consumer looking to find the right business, FINDItKC.com is the future of bringing the Kansas City Community together.
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News & Reviews: Huawei Mate 9 specs
Jan 23, 2017
Today, as the 13th annual Hurun Luxury Summit, Huawei was awarded the “Smartphone Best New Arrival” for the Mate 9 for its innovative features and outstanding user experience, which includes the Kirin 960 processor, SuperCharge technology and the new UX.
Jan 17, 2017
According to reliable sources, EMU 5.0, Huawei and Honor's Android-based operating system will be coming soon. One of the major features it will apparently be bringing to compatible Huawei and Honor devices is machine-learning to avoid your device from "aging". Previously launched with the Huawei Mate 9, our source says that that particular feature will be available to devices from the Huawei P9 and Honor 8 onwards.
Jan 11, 2017
Huawei certainly wowed the media at the CES 2017 event last week, as several top global technology media outlets have given multiple awards for the company's Mate 9 for its power, performance, design and dual-lens camera feature. In total, the Mate 9 received eight awards and the Huawei Matebook also got a CES Innovation Award 2017 Honoree for its design and performance.
Dec 21, 2016
When the Huawei Mate 9 was revealed in Germany by CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, Mr Richard Yu, he emphasised a lot on the tagline "Born Fast Stays Fast" and mentioned how the Mate 9 was designed to tackle the top 3 problems of what an average Android user faces - aging performance, a lack of long-lasting battery life and an average camera. So this begs the question, does the device really solve the 3 problems? Well, we're here to tell you. Read below to find out!
Trade-in your smartphone for a Huawei Flagship device with their Trade-Up Campaign for as low as RM499 + free 32GB MicroSDDec 15, 2016
Huawei Malaysia's Trade-Up Campaign just made it a lot easier for you to purchase the new Huawei Mate 9, P9, P9 Plus or the MediaPad M3. Valid up until 31 January 2016, you can now trade-in your smartphone for an RM100 to RM1600 discount. Just bring in your working smartphone (must be one of those listed below) to an authorized Huawei dealer to be assessed based on your old device's condition and specifications. Huawei will also throw in a free 32GB microSD card!
Dec 14, 2016
You all heard of it, and you all know it. The Mate 9 is Huawei's latest flagship designed to impress combined with the second generation Leica dual-lens camera with Hybrid Zoom, featuring a 12MP RGB sensor and a 20MP monochrome sensor. Also, it's sporting the company's latest Kirin 960 chipset, EMUI 5.0, and a 4000 mAh battery that can lasts up to two days, along with a super charging technology. Check out to see how the Mate 9 looks like in our unboxing and hands-on video!
Dec 08, 2016
Most Android smartphone users have been through it before, the previously fast and powerful smartphone you bought last year, has now "aged", becoming slow and unwieldy. What used to take microseconds now takes almost a minute… or 3. Here are the top 3 reasons why your phone ages or slows down over time.
Dec 19, 2016
Nowadays, in this modern 21st century, smartphones have become a major part of our lives bringing it with us everywhere. But according to smartphone users in a video that was shown at the Huawei conference in Germany, the top 3 problems that they have with smartphones are aging performance, a lack of long-lasting battery life and an average camera.
Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group wowed the media by unveiling the Huawei Mate 9 with the tagline "Born Fast Stays Fast." Obviously, it's pointing out the speed, but just how fast is it? We take a look at some of the Mate 9 aspects, and how it solves the top 3 points of an average Android smartphone user in the global market.
Dec 01, 2016
With the recent release of the Huawei Mate 9 in Malaysia, we know it comes with the latest EMUI 5.0 OS which is based on Android 7.0 Nougat. Fans were wondering if EMUI 5.0 will also be available for other devices, well, wonder no more because Huawei now has an official statement about it. Below is the official list of devices that will receive the new OS update:
Nov 16, 2016
We know that the Huawei Mate 9 is coming to Malaysia on the 22nd of November through Lazada – but a new report seen online is saying that Malaysia is also getting the other two variants of the Mate 9 – the Huawei Mate 9 Pro and Porsche Design Huawei Mate 9 – on the same date!


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If Amazon has its way, cities around the US will have vertical drone centers shaped like giant beehives in the middle of downtown districts, allowing the online retailer to coordinate speedy deliveries by unmanned aircrafts.
The company has filed for a patent for “multi-level fulfillment centers” that would accommodate the landing and takeoff of drones in dense urban settings, the latest example of Amazon’s futuristic vision of reshaping the way people receive packages.
The application filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office, which was written in 2015 and published last week, included a number of drawings of drones flying in and out of tall cylinder-shaped buildings that Amazon wants to locate in central metropolitan areas.
The centers would allow Amazon to shift away from the traditional model of large single-story warehouses that temporarily store packages before they are shipped to customers. Those buildings are typically located on the outskirts of urban areas and are not convenient for deliveries into cities where populations continue to swell, the company noted.
“By locating the fulfillment centers within the cities, items may be more quickly delivered to the growing population of people that live in the cities, as well as the large population of people who work in the cities,” the application said.
The centers could be used to fulfill hundreds of thousands of orders a day, in part relying on a large volume of drones that continually pick up deliveries and can recharge their batteries at the site. The drone centers could also have a “central command” to control flight operations, which would be similar to a flight controller at an airport, Amazon said.
The buildings would also allow for traditional vehicle deliveries and could possibly include a self-service location for customers to pick up items in person.
If Amazon moves forward with its vision of urban drone centers outlined in the patent application, the Seattle-based corporation could also likely face a range of obstacles in the regulation of the nascent industry of commercial drones – including attempts to control their movement and local zoning and development laws.
Amazon announced last year that it would partner with the British government to run tests exploring the viability of delivering small parcels by drone, launching the first testing of its kind in the UK. The company said it successfully tested its Prime Air drone service in Cambridge in December when its unmanned aircrafts delivered a bag of popcorn and TV streaming stick to a customer’s garden.
The company also made headlines last year with a patent for flying warehouses, called “airborne fulfillment centers”, that could be located above metropolitan areas, functioning like giant airships coordinating drone deliveries. Amazon has also filed a patent for the parachute-aided delivery of packages, meaning drones could release parcels from above, deployed with parachutes that allow them to safely land to customers.
Some skeptics have argued that the flurry of drone-related patents is as much about garnering free publicity as it is about innovation.
News of the patent for urban drone centers comes on the heels of Amazon’s move into traditional retailing with the purchase of Whole Foods Market.
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Apple will hold its fiscal year 2019 third quarter earnings conference call Tuesday, July 30, 2019 at 2pm PT/5pm ET, the company confirmed on its Investor Relations page.
As always, we will bring you the results as soon as they are made available – just check our home page right around 4:30pm EDT on July 30th. We’ll also cover Apple’s conference call with live notes, as usual. That link will appear on our home page around 4:45pm EDT.
Apple will stream the event as an audio webcast which will be made available here www.apple.com/investor/earnings-call/.
The webcast be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter. The stream is best experienced on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch using Safari on iOS 10 or later; a Mac using Safari on macOS Sierra 10.12 or later; or a PC using Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge.
MacDailyNews Take: Investors will be watching Apple’s results closely for signals reflecting the state of the smartphone market. On April 30, Apple provided the following guidance for its fiscal 2019 third quarter:
- Revenue between $52.5 billion and $54.5 billion.
- Gross margin between 37 percent and 38 percent.
- Operating expenses between $8.7 billion and $8.8 billion.
- Other income/(expense) of $250 million.
- Tax rate of approximately 16.5 percent.
Apple warns U.S. tariffs would result in a reduction of company’s U.S. economic contribution, weigh on global competitiveness – June 20, 2019
KeyBanc analyst: Apple iPhone demand has ‘potential for ongoing weakness’ – June 18, 2019
Citi lowers Apple price target, claiming trade war will likely cut China sales in half – May 28, 2019
Wedbush: Apple selloff is overdone, company faces ‘low likelihood’ that iPhones will be subject to tariffs – May 24, 2019
Gene Munster: China tariffs on Apple products unlikely – May 23, 2019
President Trump’s Huawei ban could end Android as we know it and possibly have a lasting effect on Apple – May 20, 2019
Trump administration blacklists Huawei putting Apple at risk of retaliation from China – May 16, 2019


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Indian Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma occupied a spot on the list of trends on Sunday after she featured on the Fortune India's top 50 list of Most Powerful Women of 2019.
The list states the names of India's most powerful women in business, who are making an impact by virtue of their business acumen and cultural influence.
Apart from being an actress and producer, Anushka Sharma also owns her clothing line Nush. She is also the face of several other brands such as Myntra, Lavie, Nivea and Elle 18.
Fortune India also wrote the actress has also a production house ‘Clean Slate Films’.
Clean Slate Films, which Sharma set up when she was 25, has produced three small-budget Hindi films - NH10, Phillauri, and Pari.
They made around Rs. 40 crore each at the box office. Moving beyond Bollywood, Clean Slate Films has tied up with Netflix to produce a feature film titled Bulbul and a web-series called Mai. It is also developing and producing a web-series for Amazon Prime Video."


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Consumer Confidence Rises More Than Expected
New York, NY, Feb. 26, 2013 -- Consumer confidence accelerated more strongly than expected in February, according to the Conference Board.
The industry group said its index of consumer attitudes rose to 69.6, from a downwardly revised 58.4 in January to the highest level since November.
January was originally reported as 58.6, the lowest level in more than a year.
"The shock effect caused by the fiscal cliff uncertainty and payroll tax cuts appears to have abated," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a press release.
The expectations index rose to 73.8, from 59.9.


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VR is set to change everything, from gaming to entertainment and everything in between. But a recent survey reveals that not everyone is particularly excited about slapping on a headset, and despite having better hardware options, PC gamers aren't as hyped as their console brethren.
According to a survey held by Gamesindustrybiz, 63% of European console gamers are interested in VR, whereas only 51% of PC players are hyped for the platform. The info also shows that a whopping 72% of Xbox One and PS4 gamers are hyped for virtual reality, which is corroborated by the reports that Sony's PlayStation VR became the #1 best seller on Amazon.
Looking at some of the survey results, we see that 35% of gamers are simply just not interested in VR in any shape or form. The final answers show that 58% of gamers have no plans to buy into VR. That's a pretty big chunk of the gaming crowd who sees VR as a passing gimmick--after all, VR is something you have to experience to believe in. Accessibility is the biggest roadblock for VR, so Sony/Oculus/HTC will have to do their part to convince gamers to adopt VR.
Interestingly enough, PC gamers stand to benefit the most from virtual reality. The PC platform has options for high-performance hardware that can push VR to new heights, whereas Sony's PlayStation VR is limited to the power of a PS4 console. Despite this, PC gamers are more skeptical about the medium, and rightly so: hardly anyone has actually tried the $599 Oculus Rift or the $799 HTC Vive, so it's only natural to fee reservations about shelling that much on VR headsets alone.
In any case, the Oculus Rift is slated to release later this month with the HTC Vive coming in April, so PC gamers will have a lot more time to experiment with VR than console gamers. The PlayStation VR is scheduled to start shipping in October, but pre-orders have been sold out for quite some time.
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Sales of George Orwell’s ’1984′ skyrocket on Amazon
June 10, 2013
that staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, According to Amazon sales of George Orwell’s “1984″ are up 69 percent .
George Orwell’s ’1984′ marked its 60th anniversary on June 6 amid a
flurry of real-world news stories on secret government domestic
Amazon lists the paperback version of the sci-fi classic as the 19th
biggest book on its Movers and Shakers list. The current sales rank is
The list identifies the biggest gainers in sales rank compared to 24 hours ago.


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News: Just Announced
Friday, 27 Nov 2015
New firmware updates for the Nikon D750 and D4s DSLR cameras has been released by Nikon, bringing new features and some fixes.
If you've been wanting the get your hands on the OnePlus X for some time now, you'll be glad to know that the phone is now available for pre-order via Lazada.
ASRock's added a new feature on its Intel H170, H110, and B150 motherboards that lets you overclock compatible DDR4 memory sticks!
Thursday, 26 Nov 2015
First unveiled at IFA 2015 earlier this year, Samsung’s brand new circular wearable, the Tizen-powered Gear S2, has finally arrived on our shores.
The latest lineup of hard drives from WD focuses on its strong points, without forgoing the identity that made it unique.
Wednesday, 25 Nov 2015
With over five years of experience with lamp-free projector technology, Casio believes that the future of projectors is greener, more affordable, and hassle free.
Photographers, VSCO has just dropped the price of all their Film packs down to US$59. They used to sell at US$119, so that’s a halving in price. Details and links inside.
AMD will no longer be developing new drivers for GPUs that do not use its Graphics Core Next architecture.
Tuesday, 24 Nov 2015
AMD’s new Radeon Software Crimson Edition drivers are now officially available, and Catalyst Control Center is no more. What sort of new features and improvements does this new Radeon driver provide? Click the link to find out.
Rife from launching the P1 and P1m Android smartphones just last week, Lenovo has today kept their momentum rolling by following up with a string of new desktops, notebooks, tablets, and gaming peripherals.


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College converting Best Buy space near Crossroads
Denver-based Heritage College is converting a big-box space that used to house a Best Buy store into its new campus near Crossroads Mall.
Already a paid subscriber but not registered for online access yet? For instructions on how to get premium web access,
« Court says abortion laws unconstitutional
» Oklahoma drought losses top $426M


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Atera said it would use the funds to drive global expansion and develop new products for its cloud-based platform
IT management company Atera has announced its latest round of funding.
The company focuses on enabling remote work, with its platform combining a remote monitoring and management solution with helpdesk, reporting, and operations management in a single location. That in turn helps IT teams to act proactively rather than reactively to user issues.
The company’s latest $77mn Series B round was led by General Atlantic, with participation from K1 Investment Management, and valued the company at $500mn. That brings the company’s total funding to date to over $100mn.
Atera said it would use the funds to drive global expansion and develop new products for its cloud-based platform, having experienced rapid growth in the past year with the acquisition of a total 7,000 customers worldwide.
“The global ecosystem has changed, and the need for the fast and easy deployment of IT services is more critical than ever to keep businesses running smoothly,” said Gil Pekelman, CEO and Founder of Atera.
“To meet this new reality, we are investing even more into our research, development, and innovation efforts to enhance and accelerate the product offerings and features our customers need most. We are dedicated to upgrading our platform both to better serve our customers but to likewise provide them with the ability to seamlessly scale their business and IT management offerings, friction-free.”
The company attributed its success in part to the shifting business landscape caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the pivot to remote working it has engendered.
“Atera has developed a compelling all-in-one platform that provides immense value for its customer base, and we are thrilled to be supporting the company in this important moment of its growth trajectory,” said Alex Crisses, Managing Director, Global Head of New Investment Sourcing and Co-Head of Emerging Growth at General Atlantic.
“We are excited to work with a category-defining Israeli company, extending General Atlantic’s presence in the country’s cutting-edge technology sector and marking our fifth investment in the region. We look forward to partnering with Gil, Oshri (CTO and Co-Founder), and the Atera team to help the company realise its vision.”


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Netflix has announced the first (of possibly many) shows with interactive elements. Viewers are able to decide what happens in the show they’re watching.
Apple has introduced some Today at Apple sessions, which focused on getting kids to learn how to code and showing off their creative side.
OnePlus has officially unveiled their latest flagship smartphone with the OnePlus 5.
Motorola has announced that the Z2 Play will be coming to Canada starting July 5th.
Disney has announced a premiere date and the new theme song for the upcoming DuckTales reboot that is coming to Disney XD.
Essential and Telus announced that the Essential Phone (also known as the Essential PH-1) will be bringing the device as a Telus exclusive.
Nintendo made a couple of announcements at E3 2017 including a release date for Super Mario Odyssey, a new Metroid game, a new Yoshi game and more.
Sony made a couple of announcements at their E3 2017 press conference including Skyrim for PSVR, SpiderMan, God of War and more.
Ubisoft made a couple of announcements at their E3 2017 press conference including details about Assassin’s Creed Origins, Far Cry 5, The Crew 2 and more.
Bethesda made a few announcements at their E3 2017 showcase. This year’s showcase may not have been as exciting as the last two but it was still enjoyable.
In case you missed it, here’s the on-demand version of the showcase (it’s only about 40 mins long, so skip to the 3-hour mark):


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Selling the Washington Post and Saving its Soul
The announcement last week that Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post for $250 million dollars was at first shocking. Questions swirled in the media. How could the Graham family ever give up control of this great institution they guided with such courage since 1933? What does a Silicon Valley wizard have in mind for a legendary media company? As I started to listen to news interviews, I calmed down.
Bob Woodward was optimistic that Bezos was a smart choice to bail out the Post. Former editor Len Downey, a friend of my late husband Tim Robinson (a Washington Post reporter and editor in the Watergate era), predicted Bezos was an innovator who would apply his creativity to the issues facing newspapers. I first heard Downey and Woodward on NPR radio. This weekend Downey was on “Face the Nation” and told Bob Schieffer he was cautiously optimistic because Bezos bought the Post as a private company, so doesn’t have the restraints placed on a public company. He could tolerate losses to invest in change and slowly make it profitable, similar to the long, slow development of Amazon into today’s goliath.
Yes, the handwriting has been on the wall for a long time – print journalism is in upheaval and the rise of the internet has forever changed its fate. The New York Times seems to have the sad distinction of being the last great family dynasty surviving in a shrinking landscape. What is the future? I’ve found some links that hold clues to the answer as this story continues to unfold (copied below). I’m rooting that this merging of journalistic tradition and Silicon Valley invention will gell and make the Washington Post even greater, just the way Amazon slowly changed the face of retail on the web. We need that tradition of tough reporters questioning power and keeping it honest in a written format as well as electronic media, but we clearly need to find a new economic model for print. Let’s hope Jeff Bezos will have the answers without killing the soul of a great newspaper.


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For more than a year Ford has said its ability to get auto parts for its operations in Venezuela have been hampered by the valuation of the Venezuelan bolivar, and made the accounting change effective Dec. 31. General Motors Co, Clorox, Procter& Gamble, Baker Hughes and Brink's have also taken hits to their respective bottom lines in the past year because of the...» Read More
Sept 9- Auto parts maker Delphi Automotive Plc said Chief Executive Officer Rodney O'Neal would retire in March and that Chief Financial Officer Kevin Clark would succeed him. Delphi also said Praxair Inc executive Mark Murphy would join the company in October, succeeding Clark as CFO.
FRANKFURT/ SHANGHAI, Aug 25- Three German car parts suppliers have been told by China they can no longer manage their Chinese units independently but need to form partnerships with local peers, the chief executive of auto parts maker ElringKlinger told a German newspaper.
NAGOYA, Japan/ TOKYO, Aug 24- When a Japanese carmaker issued a tender for shock absorbers a few years ago for a model it planned to sell in Indonesia, two suppliers came back with bids that were "so obviously coordinated," said an executive at the automaker.
Aug 22- American Securities LLC- backed auto parts maker Metaldyne Performance Group Inc filed with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering of its common shares. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner& Smith, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc are the lead underwriters for the offering, the company said.
Aug 22- American Securities LLC- backed auto parts maker Metaldyne Performance Group Inc filed with U.S. regulators on Friday to raise up to $150 million in an initial public offering of common stock. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner& Smith, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc are the lead underwriters for the offering.
FRANKFURT, Aug 21- For German car parts maker ZF Friedrichshafen its attempt to buy U.S. rival TRW will take the company to the front of the grid as the race to make cars ever more intelligent and connected splits the industry into those making commoditised components and system providers which put the driver in the back seat.
WASHINGTON, Aug 19- NGK Spark Plug Co has agreed to plead guilty and pay a $52.1 million criminal fine over its role in a conspiracy to fix prices and rig bids for spark plugs and other automotive parts, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday.
NEW YORK, Aug 19- Hitachi Metals Ltd, a producer of specialty steel and automotive parts, said on Tuesday it would acquire Waupaca Foundry Inc, the world's largest iron castings provider, from buyout firm KPS Capital Partners LP for $1.3 billion in cash. Hitachi Metals, which is listed in Tokyo, has a market capitalization of $7.3 billion.
Aug 18- Weak demand for alternative fuel vehicles and increasing competition in Europe are hurting Fuel Systems Solutions Inc at a time when its peers are riding a recovery in the U.S. auto industry.
Aug 18- Weak demand for alternative fuel vehicles and increasing competition in Europe are weighing on Fuel Systems Solutions Inc at a time when its peers are riding a recovery in the U.S. auto industry.
WASHINGTON, Aug 15- U.S. industrial production edged higher in July, as production of auto parts and motor vehicles jumped 10.1 percent, according to data released by the Federal Reserve on Friday. Industrial production rose 0.4 percent, which was unchanged from June. The June increase was previously reported at 0.2 percent.
China's recent anti-monopoly law enforcement may be less about targeting foreign companies than combating another potential threat: income inequality.
Aug 8- Canadian auto parts maker Magna International Inc reported a higher-than-expected rise in quarterly profit and raised its full-year sales forecast, helped by strong demand in North America and a continued recovery in Europe.
Aug 8- Magna International Inc, one of the world's largest auto parts makers, reported a higher second-quarter profit bolstered by robust demand in North America and continued recovery in Europe. Net income attributable to the company rose $510 million, or $2.32 per share, in the quarter ended June 30, from $415 million, or $1.78 per share, from a year earlier.
TOKYO, Aug 7- Auto parts maker Takata Corp said it expects a record net loss of 24 billion yen in the year to March 2015, hit by one of the biggest series of recalls in automotive history due to potentially explosive air bag inflators.
SHANGHAI/ BEIJING, Aug 7- China has suspended work at more than 200 factories in an eastern province for safety checks as part of a nationwide review following an explosion at an auto parts plant that killed 75 people, government officials and state media said.
Aug 6- Auto parts maker Visteon Corp reported an 11 percent rise in quarterly revenue and raised its full-year profit forecast as higher vehicle production boosts. The company raised its full-year earnings forecast to $2.98- $3.62 per share from $2.21- $3.09.
Aug 6- Auto parts maker Visteon Corp reported a 11 percent rise in quarterly revenue as higher vehicle production boosted sales of its climate control products. Visteon said $258 million of sales in its interiors business were reclassified as discontinued operations since it is divesting a majority of the business.
BEIJING, Aug 6- China has shut 214 factories for safety risks in a city where an explosion at an auto parts factory last week killed 75 people, state media said on Wednesday. Based about an hour's drive from Shanghai, Kunshan Zhongrong polishes wheel hubs for automakers including General Motors Co The blast is China's worst industrial accident in a year.
Emerging market currencies are likely to remain weak for the long term, and that's spurring a strategy shift, General Motors said.


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September 22, 2016
The integrated circuit, also known as the semiconductor chip, celebrates its 50th birthday this month, and now chip makers are looking to integrate even more functionality into a single chip.
The integrated chip holds all the components of a circuit in a single slab.
It was invented by American engineer Jack Kirby in 1958.
His invention paved the way for the Internet, home PCs and mobile phones, by making intelligent electronic devices small and affordable.
Now, the big challenge is to reduce the power consumption of microchips, whilst increasing their capabilities.
With mobile handset and laptop sizes getting smaller, pressure is rising to reduce the space taken up by the chips that power the devices.
Apple’s wireless technology products include a chip that integrates Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality, designed by Broadcom.
Meanwhile, other telecoms companies such as Atheros Communications, CSR, NXP Semiconductors, Texas Instruments, and Infineon Technologies have introduced other integrated solutions, including Wi-Fi-GPS chips, Bluetooth-FM chips, Bluetooth-GPS and Bluetooth Audio.
Integrated chips reduce power consumption, helping to cut back the carbon footprint of mobile devices and increasing handset life.


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Guinness World Records has launched a new iPad App on the iTunes Store. “This is our first paid-for app and most exciting (we think!) is that this is the first time that people can attempt and break real Guinness World Records direct from an app,” a spokesman told Absolute Gadget.
There are three new challenges on the Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips app, which are only accessible and breakable via the iPad app. In each case someone will be named the world record holder in each challenge and have their name included in the new world records book.
The three record challenges are:
* Fastest 100m on an iPad – take on the world’s fastest man as your fingers go tip-to-toe with Usain ‘Lighting’ Bolt and attempt to break his 9.58-second record
* Fastest alphabet backwards – speed typing the alphabet forwards is one thing, but typing backwards will need a quick mind and even quicker fingers!
* Longest sequence memorised – a memory endurance test where the noises are inspired by real human sounds.
Leader boards will be hosted on the Guinness World Records website and the company will announce the world’s best score for each challenge on 1 May 2011.
Guinness World Records has also raided its record-breaking database, picture archive and TV vault to build “a multi-layered app bursting with record content, full screen video and brilliant colour photography”.
Guinness World Records: At Your Fingertips is available from Thursday 16th December for £2.99 at the iTunes Store.