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Crossover SUV Surge Signals Changing of the Guard
Have you purchased a new crossover utility vehicle within the past two years? You certainly aren't alone. According to the latest data from IHS Automotive, non-luxury compact SUVs have claimed the largest share of new vehicle registrations at 15.7 percent, through August 2014 in the U.S. light vehicle market.
Previous frontrunners, non-luxury compact and midsize sedans, were eclipsed for the first time earlier this year and now slot in behind these compact utes by a small margin, at just 15.5 percent and 15.4 percent, respectively. Moreover, the data displays the stark 4.4 percent growth of the crossover market over the past five years, up from only 11.3 percent in 2009, while the market share of compact and midsize sedans has remained relatively stagnant.
Buyers want it all
Spurred no doubt by the fall of high gas prices, the growth of the crossover SUV can be related to the notion that today's consumers aren't looking to diversify their garage, but rather consolidate it with a comprehensive one-size-fits-all vehicle, ideal for a range of lifestyles.
"You have the combination of two concepts, the car and the SUV, and that really connects with the consumer," explains Tom Libby, Solutions Consultant in Loyalty Practice at IHS. "Crossovers feature a car-like ride that you get from a unibody construction, but then add the high seating position of an SUV, which is very appealing to people."
Other factors include the allure of optional all-wheel-drive, the higher ground clearance and greater functionality associated with SUVs, as well as the fuel efficiency and size of more compact vehicles.
While still a relatively small segment with a 1.3 percent share of new vehicle registrations, the luxury crossover SUV has become a rapidly growing category. Sales of these vehicles have effectively doubled since 2009, up from just 0.6 percent. Successes such as the BMW X3 and Audi Q5 have catapulted the luxury compact SUV to fourth most popular within the luxury segment, behind midsize sedans, compact sedans, and midsize SUVs.
If current growth rates persist, nearly one in every five vehicles sold domestically by 2020 will be a car-based crossover SUV, however the segment's drastic growth is predicted to taper off over the coming years.
"It's feeding on itself," notes Libby. "Because the market is doing so well, every manufacturer has had to get in, and the market will become saturated. You see companies with obsolete products that weren't in the segment now coming out with competitive products."
In fact, in some cases segment leaders like the Honda CR-V will now have to compete in-house against even smaller SUV newcomers like the upcoming HR-V. This new generation of subcompact vehicles, which also includes the Chevy Trax and Buick Encore, could cannibalize sales of larger compact SUV counterparts.
"At that point, your rate of increase in the segment declines. This segment will not keep going up at the same rate it has been, but it will remain a very strong segment among the leaders."
In terms of overarching body styles, the sedan market maintains a slim lead over the combined crossover and traditional SUV body styles at 36.5 percent to 34.5 percent, respectively. This combined segment has grown 5.6 percent from 2009 compared to sedans, which have dropped 2.5 percent.
SUV pricing up, midsize sedans down
The end result for consumers will be higher prices on crossovers at the dealership. According to the latest KBB data, the average transaction price for compact SUVs and crossovers has risen 3.3 percent over the past year, from $25,972 to $26,819.
Conversely, consumers are paying on average slightly less for midsize cars. The transaction price of traditional midsize sedans has dropped by 0.6 percent to $24,941 over the past year. In 2013, the transaction gap between crossovers and midsize cars was less than $1,000; now the gap has grown closer to $2,000.


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Drake Reveals Custom Chrome Hearts Rolls-Royce
Drake is showing off his one-of-one Rolls-Royce.
Champagne Papi has teamed up with one of his favorite fashion brands, Chrome Hearts, to customize his Rolls-Royce Cullinan. The bespoke vehicle will be on display for the first time at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami for two weeks from May 1 through May 15.
The black Cullinan, which was customized by German luxury car modification firm Mansory, features a triple cross bonnet ornament inspired by the Chrome Hearts logo in place of the Spirit of Ecstasy sculpture. The chrome rims are also shaped like a cross.
Drake even has a Chrome Hearts detailed Rolls-Royce Cullinan..🔍 pic.twitter.com/EfF0VP32XF
— Outlander Magazine (@StreetFashion01) April 28, 2021
Official Drake x Chrome Hearts Rolls Royce Cullinan Coming Soon 👀 pic.twitter.com/QwQPTLOnrE
— HypeNeverDies (@HypeNeverDies) April 28, 2021
An interactive website has been set up for the car, which is soundtracked by Drake’s “What’s Next.” Fans can sign up online for a chance to see Drake’s whip in-person. Viewings are by appointment only with limited capacity.
Additionally, Drake has collaborated with Chrome Hearts on a Certified Lover Boy capsule collection, which features tees, sweatshirts, and sweatpants. Quavo was among the lucky few to receive an early gift package with the CLB-branded merch.

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From Monday 30 March BEVA is dropping membership renewal charges for all veterinary professionals for the next three months to help support vets during the COVID-19 crisis. Those within the profession who aren’t BEVA members will be able to sign up for a free online BEVA membership.
All existing BEVA members will have their membership automatically extended until 30 June 2020. BEVA is also inviting vets and vet nurses who are not currently BEVA members to join as online members free of charge until 30 June 2020.
BEVA President Tim Mair said: “In this extraordinary time of global crisis our profession, as with many industries, is under immense pressure. By offering free membership we are giving equine vets easy access to a wealth of supportive resources and online CPD to help them through these dark times.”
Key benefits a BEVA membership include:
- Online access to BEVA Journals, Equine Veterinary Journal and Equine Veterinary Education
- Free access to our online learning resources which include our monthly webinar series and a range of quick quizzes and activities to help vets and vet nurses top up their CPD requirements
- During the COVID-19 outbreak we will be providing regular updates and advice to the profession through email and SMS to members meaning they get all the information we share first
- The latest news from the industry via our popular eNews newsletter that is sent out every other Friday
BEVA are also looking at further ways to support the profession, which has Included making all BEVA Congress 2019 webinars available to members via the BEVA online learning platform.
BEVA launched free student membership to undergraduate veterinary students in January 2020, meaning BEVA can also provide additional support whilst teaching and placements are disrupted.
To sign up from Monday 30 March 2020 visit BEVA’s website.


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Cameron Motor Group is preparing to bring the full Volvo Retail Experience (VRE) to Perth with a £2 million redevelopment of its Strathmore dealership.
The Perth-based retail group, which also counts Volkswagen and Audi among its manufacturer partners, will start work on the Arran Road facility next months, according to local newspaper, The Courier.
The project has been on hold since original contractor McGill went into administration at the end of February, it reported, adding that Marshall Construction Ltd had now been recruited to continue the work, which is due to be completed in the autumn.
Work on Strathmore Volvo had started last summer and group director, Jamie Cameron, told the Courier that the facility had been “completely stripped out” when McGill went bust and the project ground to a temporary halt.
Cameron added: “McGill going under has added about six months on to the job as there’s been a four-month delay before we can get going again.”
Cameron’s most recent development completes a five-year plan to upgrade its three Perth showrooms.
Five years ago it rebuilt Volkswagen at a cost of £2m and last year it completed a £1.75m investment at Perth Audi.
The third-generation of the family firm now employs more than 160.
Cameron told The Courier that the group was “a good size at the moment”, but added that it was positioned to react quickly if the market changes.
In its full accounts to the year ended May 31, 2018, Cameron Motors Group achieved a turnover of £23.3 million and profit before tax of £467,293.
At the time, the group reported current assets of £2.9m, up from £2.6m a year earlier.
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Combine VW’s current ID design language and the term “3-row SUV” and there is very little in the way of surprises here.
Don’t you just hate it when someone else spoils a surprise? We don’t. But that probably was the reaction earlier this week in Wolfsburg, Germany, when Volkswagen executives discovered that images of the company’s forthcoming large eSUV, the ID.6, had been disclosed by a Chinese government agency. Multiple news sources report that the unofficial ID.6 pictures were discovered on the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website in conjunction with a Volkswagen regulatory filing.
ID.6: VW’s Three-Row eSUV
Based on the ID Roomzz concept vehicle that VW revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show in 2019, the ID.6 will be its three-row eSUV for the Chinese market. While the ID.6 bears a familial resemblance to the other EVs in Volkswagen’s lineup, like the ID.3 and ID.4, the blunt front end and large amounts of flat sheet metal appear in stark contrast to the company’s sleeker, and more attractive, EV stablemates.
Production Specs For ID.6 Remain A Mystery
While VW hasn’t released final production specs for the ID.6, the ID Roomzz concept incorporated an 82 kWh battery reportedly good for a 280-mile range using the easier WLTP (World harmonized Light vehicle test Procedure) test standard. Combined, two-axle horsepower for this concept was reported at 302—a similar promised output as the upcoming AWD version of the compact ID.4 eSUV. The ID.4 is due to begin hitting U.S. roads this spring. The ID Buzz, a reincarnated Microbus in EV form, has been delayed to 2023.
Volkswagen has made no public comments on the release of the ID.6 images or if this eSUV will be available in other markets, including the U.S. But there is little from these images that would indicate any non-starters for the US market.
Source: China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Volkswagen
Supercar Blondie Gives David Guetta A Big Surprise
About The Author


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Amidst a small test group of publishers, as a move to attract more and more content and advertisement revenue, Facebook has currently rolled out video ads. As a perk to get the video creating companies to publish videos directly to Facebook, the company is going to implement revenue sharing in such a way that pitches the social network giant Facebook in direct competition with YouTube, Google’s video partner. The video publishers of Facebook will obtain 55% of the revenue that is earned from ads that run against their videos and this is the same strategy that is used by YouTube for paying their publishers.
This particular test has been rolled out on the iOS app of Facebook among a restrained number of brands like Die, NBA and Fox Sports. There are even plans by mark Zuckerberg to extend the trial over the next couple of months to include Android and desktops. Previously, the only perk video creators had to publish content to Facebook was the chance to let their videos be seen by the massive audience of the social networking site.
Keeping in mind the fact that the views on videos have grown leaps and bounds over the past few years, the company might have gone through the pressure of giving the video creators an added incentive and reward to continue publishing videos in order to maintain the momentum. This has been a part of the Facebook marketing strategy to stand against its only contender, Google’s YouTube.
It goes without mention that till now, Facebook hadn’t been monetizing its videos. As the video ads have been rolled out by Facebook, they will no longer keep missing the potential revenue that may be generated from its 4 billion views per day on videos. The video ads on Facebook will be a bit different from that of YouTube. They will be inserted in between video clips whereas YouTube runs its ads before starting each video. Here, a brand new “suggested videos” screen will appear at the end of a video and the viewers will be presented with some other videos that will be entirely determined by Facebook’s algorithm. After the user goes through the video clips, an advertisement will appear which is similar to the commercials that are shown while watching TV shows.
Among the different Facebook news that is making the rounds, this Facebook marketing attempt is something that is worth noticeable. By all means, this move taken by this social media giant is certainly going to spell trouble for Google and its profitable YouTube ad business.


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After years of outfitting four growing kids for the outdoors, Dan Wiesner wants to outfit Loveland with a new store.
The 13-year resident aims to do so with a new consignment shop downtown called The Extra Mile, which will offer outdoor gear and clothing for just about every outdoor activity in Colorado.
Located on the corner of North Garfield Avenue and West Fifth Street, The Extra Mile contains quality-brand skis, snowboards, hiking boots and equipment, camping tents and gear, mountain bikes, rock climbing supplies and everything in between. Wiesner said he hopes to have a soft opening this week or next, with a grand opening some time in April.
"I've been looking at downtown space for years," Wiesner said, noting that he has sold outdoor gear online full time for about seven years. In fact, he thought of his store's name and logo several years before creating a sign to hang outside his new store.
The building used to be Rocky Mountain Cyclery, a full-service bike repair shop owned by Sarah Carroll Tanner. Tanner said she and Wiesner had been friends for years, and eventually they decided to pool ideas. She sold the building to Wiesner and will continue to be the full-service bike technician on site.
"I'm very excited for what's happening," Tanner said.
For the past few weeks, Wiesner has stocked the store with lightly used gear, documenting the process on the store's Instagram account, @theextramileloveland.
As a consignment shop, The Extra Mile will accept a person's used outdoor gear and then sell it in the store, with percentages of the proceeds going toward the original owner and the shop. Wiesner said he also hopes to stock the store with some new items and equipment, including a small selection of new mountain bikes to complement pre-owned models.
He plans to set store hours Tuesday through Saturday for starters, and eventually add Sunday to the schedule.
Wiesner, 42, said outfitting a family with gear can be expensive. He said he would drop hundreds of dollars on gear for his four kids — ages 8 to 16 — just to watch them grow out of it. Meanwhile, the gear still had many miles to go before wearing out.
So he sold the gear online to other families who wanted quality gear for adventures with the kids. Now he has an official storefront where people can see and test used gear at a fraction of the brand-new cost.
"I feel pretty connected with the community," he said, adding that he has coached soccer for Loveland Classical Schools for years, leading them to playoffs recently. He has also participated in the annual ski swap at the Chilson Recreation Center.
He said he's seen a shift in Loveland 's population and demographics in the last decade. Since he moved here in 2006, he said, more and more people want to experience the outdoors, but don't necessarily have the funds to purchase a full stock of brand new equipment.
"We have a lot of young families with kids out here," Wiesner said. "They're developing more trails and bike paths. And we've always been the gateway to the Rockies, which is becoming a big thing."
Hans Peter: 970-635-3630, email@example.com


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One of the easiest ways to get a lot of people interested in your upcoming music streaming service is to court all the popular music artists and sign exclusive deals with them. Of course, that also has the opposite effect of hacking off all the diehard fans(Opens in a new window) who don't want to switch from one service to another just to listen to their favorite songs.
Nevertheless, new reports indicate that Apple is trying to get a number of singers and music groups on board with its to-be-launched music streaming service. And it doesn't just want their songs and albums on its service; it wants exclusive access in the form of limited streaming rights.
If the move sounds familiar, that's kind of the premise behind the recently announced Tidal streaming service. Tidal, which recently launched with the support of musical artists like Madonna, Daft Punk, and Jay Z (who owns it), asks fans to pony up a not-so-insignificant sum of $20 monthly to access lossless streaming music (or just $10 monthly for standard quality tracks). And, of course, it's the only service where one can gain access to exclusive streaming tracks from various artistsat least, until those tracks make it over to good ol' free YouTube(Opens in a new window).
While it sounds like a great deal from the Tidal end, it's not always the best move for fans of said artists. As the Sydney Morning Herald(Opens in a new window) reports, some Rihanna fans are already pretty peeved that the singer's new music video for her "American Oxygen" single is a Tidal exclusive. The same kind of backlash will undoubtedly follow other musical artists when they offer Tidal exclusives.
As for Apple, it's rumored that the company has approached artists(Opens in a new window) like Florence and the Machine and Taylor Swiftthe latter could be a fairly big coup for Apple, given her following and/or general outspokenness on the state of the music streaming at the moment.
Recommended by Our Editors
It remains to be seen just how Apple might split up the streaming fees it plans to charge for the service, currently rumored to be $10/monthly for individual streamers and $15/monthly for a family plan. Though, rumors that Apple might not offer any kind of ad-supported free streaming could sweeten the deal a little bit for artists adverse to the concept.
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As this is being written, it is time to mow again. I just hope the mower has been cured of whatever ailed it. The new ordinance came in response to complaints from some residents about teenagers skating dangerously in streets, and other groups of skateboarders allegedly harassing older residents in subdivision neighborhoods..
A Very Frozen Musicalis a tribute show Sep. 11 at Gateway Theatre featuring a three character cast of the Ice Queen, the Ice Princess, and their lovable friend. Join them in the retelling of this classic story as you sing a long with them cheap nfl jerseys to all your favourite songs.
Bonnie’s name is now well known in this subject area, as Dr. Leveque’s certainly is. Jack wholesale nfl jerseys was loved by millions and he suffered a heart attack just over a year ago at the Hempstalk event in Portland, Oregon. Hahaha. The election process is not rigged. It would be collusion on an unheard of scale, between both Parties and the thousands of polls watchers that Wholesale Jersey will be in place, again from both parties, in the thousands and thousands of polling places, that would had to have been in place for a very long time, in order to even have half a hope of being successful in the rigging of the election.
“If you lower prices enough, you can get products sold not just in the near term, but for the next three to five months,” said Altin Kalo, an analyst at Manchester, New Hampshire based Steiner Consulting Group, an economic and commodity trading adviser. “For two or three years we were in a situation where beef went up and up, and it became difficult to run full promotions. Suddenly, the market switched and allowed more operators to do that.”.
Almost 200 such lawsuits have been filed since 2013, most of them in the last year. Partner. States, consumer demand for such drug paraphernalia is booming, and imitators of the German pipe maker abound. And how are mechanisms for enforcement are completely outdated. They are winning this fight right now. We need to be prepared to compete globally the 21st century.
Business of venture capital, not many know what it is, Hasebroock said. Kicks in right after credit cards and money from friends and family. That when you look for seed capital. 215 13th St, Boulder, 303 449 0404. To close discount jerseys on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, ALL ITEMS ON THE MENU ARE HALF OFF. That’s right, 50 percent off for sandwiches and drinks, and that includes the pitchers.
Steelcase also badmouths mesh seat designs like the Mirra’s. It claims they restrict user movement and cause discomfort when your body touches the hard frame supporting the mesh. “Moreover,” it adds, “the side forces that are felt when you push down on mesh will have a tendency to ‘squeeze’ you into the chair, resulting in uneven pressure distribution.”.


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Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival
The birthplace of the Jeep is Butler, Pennsylvania, where once again, the town will host the Bantam Jeep Heritage Festival on June 14-16. This tribute event, celebrating all models of Jeeps, their history and the people who created them, is one of the fastest-growing events in the country. In 2012, close to 1,500 Jeeps from 25 different states were on display during this three- day all-Jeep extravaganza. Besides the show, there are insightful seminars given by renowned Jeep experts and historians. For more details, go to www.bantamjeepfestival.com
Grand Forks Gathering
Escape the summer's heat and head up to cool Grand Forks, North Dakota, from July 25-27 for the Antique Automobile Club of America's Central Fall Meet. Featuring several hundred original-spec collector cars on display, the big show takes place on Friday, July 26. For more details, check out www.aaca.org
Pontiac Clubs Unite
For only the second time, the Pontiac-Oakland Club International and the GTO Association of America will come together and hold their annual conventions as one. As in 2009, the grounds of the Wright State University-Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio, will be the host site. This all-Pontiac bash, which will see close to 1,000 Pontiacs of all years and models come together, takes place over five days, from July 9-13. There will also be two special classes to celebrate special occasions for both Pontiac and GMC cars and trucks: the 75th anniversary of the 1938 models and the 50th anniversary of the 1963 models. For more information on how to take part in this incredible Ponchofest, go to www.poci.org
From July 11-14, the streets of Springfield, Illinois, will be swarming with Thunderbirds as the Vintage Thunderbird Club International comes to town.
Besides a concours and swap meet for all Thunderbird models, there will be side trips to the Lincoln Presidential Museum and Lincoln Tomb, a pizza party and more. To register your classic Thunderbird, visit the club's website, www.vintagethunderbirdclub.net
Three Lincoln Meets
The Lincoln Continental Owners Club has three very special National Meets coming your way soon. The Eastern meet takes place on June 12-16 in Dover, Delaware; the Mid-America meet takes place from September 3-8 in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and the Western meet heads to Phoenix, Arizona, on October 23-27. Each meet is filled with numerous activities, a concours and a swap meet. For more details, go to the club's website, www.lcoc.org
Send details of upcoming events, or photographs and a few paragraphs about recent events to: Tom Comerro, Club News, c/o Hemmings Classic Car, P.O. Box 196, Bennington, Vermont 05201. Email: email@example.com
This article originally appeared in the July, 2013 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.
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According to the survey by LocalCircles, only 65 per cent of consumers could find MRP information on e-com sites
Many online sellers on various e-commerce platforms have not been able to comply with the Legal Metrology Packaged Commodity Rules 2017 (PCR 2017) amendment and display ‘best before date’ for products and in some cases even the maximum retail price (MRP), according to community-led social media engagement platform LocalCircles.
It said the new rules brought by the government for these sellers to display ‘country of origin’ will not happen, and if it does, it will not be accurate.
“Hence, the government should look at mandating — for all packaged products — display of image of the ‘principal display panel’. It must give e-commerce platforms and sellers six months to comply,” said Sachin Taparia, founder and chairman, LocalCircles. “Such a move will not only make compliance easier, from a consumer standpoint, but also bring the online buying experience closer to buying at a retail store where all this information is available,” Taparia said.
The ‘principal display panel’ (PDP) is part of a product label that carries all the information about the item, including country of origin and net contents.
According to the LocalCircles survey, only 65 per cent consumers could find MRP information on e-commerce sites. Also, only 31 per cent could find ‘best before date’ data for human consumption products.
The department of consumer affairs implemented the PCR 2017 on January 1, 2018, and mandated the display of MRP for every packaged product on e-commerce sites operating in India. It also mandated display of the ‘best before date’ for human consumption items being sold across e-commerce sites to help consumers make informed decisions. Also, PCR 2017 amendment applies legal metrology rules to e-commerce. It requires sellers to display MRP for all packaged products. This includes human consumption products such as grocery, medicines and cosmetics that have to show best before date.
Two-and-a-half years after PCR 2017 came into force, LocalCircles conducted its 30th month survey to check what has been the compliance status in the past three months.
This was done especially after the government mandated display of ‘country of origin’ on e-commerce sites. The survey received over 16,000 responses from consumers based in 228 districts of India.
Consumers were asked if most e-commerce sites that they have shopped at in the last three months are now disclosing MRP information on their site or app. In response, 65 per cent said ‘yes’ while 35 per cent said ‘no’.
However, LocalCircles said sellers on most large e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal
are now compliant on the MRP display rule. Also, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, came into effect from July 20, 2020. With this, the Consumer Protection (e-commerce) Rules 2020 were enforced from July 23. According to the notification, these rules would cover all goods and services bought or sold over digital or electronic networks.
This includes e-commerce entities like AliExpress, which are not established in India, but offer goods or services to consumers in India.
However, according to the LocalCircles survey, 69 per cent consumers could not find the best before date information on human consumption products on e-commerce sites.
Only 31 per cent said they were easily able to find it. The e-commerce Rules 2020 also clearly state that sellers on e-commerce platforms are mandated to provide the expiry date of the goods offered for sale, wherever applicable. According to the survey, the percentage of consumers who were not able to find this information in last year’s survey stood at 54 per cent while it has increased to 69 per cent this year.


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STABILIZED AT ABOUT 4% OF THE U.S. BEER MARKET, THE ICE BEER SEGMENT IS SOLIDIFYING ITS POSITION.PHOTO: COBI, PRODUCTIONS NYC
The ice beer phenomenon hit the U.S. a few years ago with the suddenness and fierceness of an Arctic Express out of Canada. When sales slowed, and even declined, many expected that the ice beer category, like the polar ice caps, would melt from the global warming of industry competition.
Within a year of the introduction of ice beers in the U.S., there were more than 45 beer brands with “ice” in the name. While there was tremendous initial trial, consumers soon became confused by the number of brands and what clear benefits they offered. Sales that had spiked during the category’s honeymoon leveled off and even retreated a bit.
But ice beer has proved resilient, and though future growth may be at a glacial pace, the category is in no immediate danger of evaporating. In fact, several brands have posted significant growth so far in 1998, keeping the category as a whole on an even keel. Some of the brands posting the biggest gains, not surprisingly, aren’t brands that helped establish the category. What is a surprise is the strong performance of popular-priced ice beers at a time when sub-premium beers in general haven’t fared that well.
Over time, the most successful ice beer brands have carved out both a geographic and marketing niche, and now are fine-tuning their marketing strategies to defend their turf. That turf, however, is constantly shifting, posing challenges for some and opportunities for others.
The two brands that started it all, Labatt and Molson, initially pursued somewhat dissimilar strategies. Molson introduced Molson Ice with a lot of fanfare and strong support in an effort to take the brand — and the Molson name — mainstream quickly. Though Labatt claims to have invented, and patented, ice brewing technology, the introduction of Labatt Ice was a little quieter and relegated to Labatt’s core markets.
With strong sampling, Molson Ice came out of nowhere and jumped into third place on the list of best-selling imported beers behind Heineken and Corona. By the end of its first year in U.S. distribution, sales of Molson Ice also were nearly triple those of Molson Golden, accounting for the lion’s share of the brand’s volume. When competition grew tougher and ice beer sales declined in subsequent years, Molson Ice took a hard hit. But the brand has changed its strategy and said that 1997 was a turnaround year. The sales decline for Molson Ice slowed dramatically last year, and as a result of repositioning this year sales are stabilizing. And the brand is still ranked third among imported beer brands. The repositioning includes new packaging that more effectively ties Molson Ice to the rest of the brand family (with the graphic use of a red maple leaf), and advertising support from the McKenzie Brothers, who also are pitching Molson Golden and Molson Canadian. The idea, according to the brand’s marketing team, is to shift the brand’s image from a stand-alone ice beer to that of a Canadian import, giving it broader appeal.
All of Molson’s advertising ties the brand more closely to its Canadian roots, using the McKenzie Brothers to add humor. Molson Ice, however, is positioned as “an adventure in every beer,” while Molson Golden gets a more laid back image. Instead of its own “Polar Beach Party” promotion, which ran for several years, Molson Ice will participate in the two-phase Molson family promotion this summer, “Camp Molson.” During the first half of the summer, consumers get a shot at sweepstakes prizes that include Canadian vacations or adventures. In the latter half, consumers will have a chance to win a tricked-out Winnebago RV that will also be used by Bob and Doug McKenzie in ad spots.
Labatt has kept Labatt Ice a little closer to home over the years, which has helped the brand franchise in two ways. Labatt Ice has carved out business in some key geographic markets, and it has raised consumer awareness of the rest of the Labatt family.
“If you go back and look at the development of the Labatt family, what Ice did was bring a number of new drinkers to the family, so as ice declined somewhat, our other brands picked up,” said David van Wees, director of Canadian brands at Labatt USA. “Ice is still a pretty important part of our portfolio — it’s about 20% of our volume — but it’s strongest in key markets.”
As a result, Labatt Ice has a lot of support, but only in a tight geographic area. Television advertising in western New York, for example, features edgy black-and-white images with a contemporary music track that revolves around the theme, “It’s your night.” The brand is taking a whole entertainment package, including live music and dancers, sidewalk chalk artists and other entertainers, to key on-premise accounts. “It’s a huge sampling vehicle that we hope will translate to off-premise sales, too,” van Wees said. The brand also is sponsoring a “Break the Ice” program that offers both men and women pick-up lines to help break the ice in bars.
Labatt Ice also still is a significant player in the brand’s successful “Canadian Outfitters” program. The summer promotion gives consumers a chance to purchase and win camping, hiking and outdoor equipment.
After a couple years of “stealth” marketing, Icehouse from Miller’s Plank Road unit cranked up the volume with television advertising and more recently, big promotions. The brand grew at double-digit rates last year and has seen sales expand beyond its traditional market in the Southeast.
The Plank Road gang continues advertising forays into new territories outside the brewery. New spots introduced this spring show the guys telling tall fish tales, and giving advice over the phone to the lovelorn. As usual, they know more about brewing than they do about the situations in which they find themselves.
The brand has underwritten its first sports sponsorship this year with a NASCAR tie-in. The Icehouse name will appear on Bobby Ray Hull’s NASCAR truck, and the brand will offer a year-long program with the theme “Makin’ a Beer Run.” The brand’s big news is its summer promotion. Following last year’s truck drop, the brand has come up with a new idea that’s equally outrageous. The brand has created a 35-foot tall Icehouse “Keg-a-pult,” a wooden catapult capable of flinging beer kegs about 150 yards. Later this year, 20 sweepstakes winners will get to travel to Key West, FL, to heave kegs of Icehouse at a target truck with the Keg-a-pult. The 10 closest tosses will win new trucks; runners-up get Icehouse refrigerators. An 18-foot tall “mini” version of the catapult will travel to key accounts in the South throughout the summer to raise awareness for the promotion. Support also comes in the form of television spots and point-of-sale materials.
One of the reasons Icehouse has grown has been aggressive pricing in the past year. Bud Ice, which has seen its share erode in the past couple of years, is now matching that pricing on bottles, and saw sales increase 9% in the first quarter of 1998.
Bud Ice continues its association with professional hockey through sponsorship deals with the NHL, IHL, AHL and East Coast Hockey League. “Hockey allows us to do a lot of things tailored to local geography,” said Tim Murphy, Bud Ice brand manager at Anheuser-Busch. “We’ve taken it out of the rink.”
The brand also continues to use the nefarious penguin in its ad campaign and overall strategy. The penguin has been directly linked to hockey — even making off with the NHL’s Stanley Cup trophy in an ad last year — but serves the brand well in markets that don’t have hockey and in the off-season. A new “thermal chromatic” label on the ice chunk bottle, for example, reveals the penguin and the words “Ice Time At Game Time” when the bottle gets cold enough, supporting the hockey tie-in. Bud Ice will air television spots featuring the penguin in prime time and late night programming throughout the summer, though, when hockey is on sabbatical.
Popular Price Ice
The aggressive pricing of both Icehouse and Bud Ice is truly indicative of where the category is headed. Brands that have posted the biggest percentage gains in volume are below-premium priced brands like Natural Ice and Busch Ice Draft.
Natural Ice was rolled nationally last year, and has experienced strong double-digit growth, despite the fact that the brand offers only limited p-o-s materials and no other marketing programs to speak of. Busch Ice Draft, too, is seeing double-digit growth, but is still in limited distribution. The brand is available in 12 states in the Northwest, Midwest and South.
“Great brand parents are why Busch Ice and Natural Ice have done so well without much support,” said Bob Francischelli, senior brand manager for the Busch and Natural brand families. “Busch Ice is a quality beer at an affordable price with the Busch image. Natural Ice has a good name, but also benefits from a great price. And synergy from being displayed with a family is a real benefit to both brands.” Marketing support for the entire Busch family, in fact, was cut dramatically this year to fund a bigger push behind A-B’s flagship Bud. But Busch still has a NASCAR sponsorship and fairly extensive outdoor support, which has positive rub-off on Busch Ice Draft. And both brands have attractive packaging and excellent distribution.
“You have to know your customer and your brand,” said Francischelli. “We don’t need to get too fancy. They’re quality brands at a great price. But we monitor how often we have to feed the image bank more heavily.”
As to why popular-priced ice beers like Busch and Natural are doing so well, Francischelli postulated that they were pulling from a variety of areas, “some price beers and malt liquors, and to a degree from ‘all others.'”
A-B brands aren’t the only ones benefiting from the trend. Milwaukee’s Best Ice has made significant contributions to the recent turnaround of the Milwaukee’s Best franchise, according to Miller Brewing. And Stroh is taking another shot at the category by sprucing up Old Milwaukee Ice with a new label and developing regional promotions for the brand which will break later this summer.
Popular priced brands, in fact, are projected to account for about 50% of the category’s volume this year.
While there are still a tremendous number of beer brands with ice in their name, the category has seen several dominant brands emerge in the past few years as sales have stabilized. As consumers continue to narrow their focus on brands based on product attributes or price, competition may weed out the category.
“I think consumers were confused by all the brands that came out with ice in the name,” van Wees said. “My hope is that there will be a shakeout and people come back to the one or two originals.”
It’s not likely the category will be reduced to one or two players. With the category holding a fairly steady 4% of the beer market, there’s plenty of ice to keep everyone cool this summer.
Explaining Ice Beer
What ice beer is depends on whom you ask. Authentic Canadian-style ice beer is brewed at cooler temperatures, then chilled to below freezing to form ice crystals. The ice crystals are filtered out of the brew, resulting in a beer that is slightly higher in alcohol content than regular beer (approximately 5.5% by volume instead of about 5%).
Labatt’s ice brewing technology uses rotating screens to filter out the ice crystals. The company says that it believes bitter-tasting proteins are removed with the ice crystals, resulting in a smoother-tasting beer.
Molson Ice is brewed to nearly 6% alcohol, then chilled, filtered and diluted with pure Canadian water to lower the alcohol content back to 5.6%.
Several domestic brands chill their beers long enough to form ice crystals, but don’t filter them, so the alcohol content remains the same as regular beer.
The Canadians actually borrowed the idea of ice brewing from the Germans. When refrigeration techniques began being applied to the brewing industry, German brewers experimented with freezing beer and eventually produced what was called “eisbock.” But those German eisbocks bear little resemblance to the ice beers now made by Canadian and domestic brewers.


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CATL released its 2021 annual report on the evening of 21st April 2022.
- CATL’s revenue was RMB130.4 billion (~USD20 billion), a 159% y-o-y increase from 2020. The net profit rose by 185% y-o-y to RMB15.9 billion (~USD2.45 billion).
- CATL’s sales to Tesla were RMB13 billion (~USD2 billion), accounting for 10% of CATL’s total revenue in 2021.
- The gross profit for EV battery, energy storage battery, and battery material are 22%, 28.5%, and 25.1%, respectively.
- CATL has 170GWh capacity in operation and 140GWh capacity under construction as of 31st December 2021. And the capacity utilization rate was 95% in 2021.
The full article is available to Rho Motion Members on the Membership Platform. If you are not a Member and would like to find out more, click here.
Image credit: Adobe Stock


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Fashion One, the international channel for fashion, entertainment and lifestyle, is now available live for the first time across the Middle East and North Africa on the YahLive television platform in true 1080i native High Definition.
The international television network caters to the audience in the region with content covering the very latest in fashion, entertainment, luxury brands and lifestyle news, while profiling A-list celebrities, holiday destinations and red carpet events. Fashion One also delivers a strong line-up of original programming from reality shows, documentaries to beauty tips and street styling.
The channel will debut with two original programmes, ‘Design Genius’ and ‘Fashion Frontline’. Design Genius is a fashion-packed reality series where designers from around the world are provided with unconventional materials from which they have to make haute couture garments within a strict time frame. Fashion Frontline is a fashion news series delivering the most current and relevant news related to fashion. Viewers will also be able to enjoy an on-going lifestyle series Beauty Fix and Yoga, Health and Well-being.
Mohamed Youssif, CEO of YahLive, said: “When Fashion One goes live on our YahLive, celebrities, fashion and brands are brought to life in the best-in-class high definition. As the home of HD, YahLive is delighted to have Fashion One HD be a part of our growing channel bouquet and the latest addition to the region’s exclusive HD hotspot.”
Ashley Jordan, CEO of Fashion One, added: “We are excited to launch Fashion One HD to our fans in the Middle East and North Africa and also to YahLive viewers who have a passion for fashion. The latest trends and fashion from all aspects of life will be revealed on the channel, which will be broadcasted in crystal clear high definition for sophisticated and fashion-forward audiences in the region.”


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Greenlight Launches Radio Hour Podcasts
Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore has launched the podcast series Greenlight Bookstore Radio Hour. Episodes, which are being posted twice a month, will focus on author events, book reviews, and news of upcoming releases.
The podcasts, created in partnership with multimedia production company CitizenRacecar, will be available for free download and subscription via popular services such as iTunes and Stitcher.
“It’s been a dream of ours to somehow preserve the amazing conversations between authors that happen here at the store,” said Jessica Stockton-Bagnulo, Greenlight co-owner and events coordinator. “These incredible moments with brilliant people just disappear into the past, and we wanted a way to hang on to them and share them, even with people who couldn’t be there on one particular night. We’re so delighted to be working with David to capture those moments and make them available in this wonderful new way. “
Books mentioned in each episode, including event books and staff recommendations, will be included on a dedicated show notes page linked in each episode. Each podcast will also include a discount code for 15 percent off one purchase on greenlightbookstore.com.
The first podcast, available now, is Colum McCann in conversation with Phil Klay. Upcoming episodes include an evening of debut authors hosted by One Story Magazine; Khaled Hosseini in conversation with Anand Giridharadas; and Elizabeth Gilbert in conversation with Rebecca Mead.
Left Bank Hosts Writing Institute, Celebrates 45 Years
Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Missouri, which will be celebrating its 45th birthday this weekend, recently hosted a group of high-school creative writing students from Washington University’s Summer Writing Institute. The students visited Left Bank on July 2 to experience an independent bookstore, shop, and take part in a writing exercise based on the bookstore setting. Afterwards, they posed with the T.S. Eliot statute in front of the store, and Left Bank gave the future authors this piece of advice: “Don’t ever let anyone tell you books are dead.”
To celebrate its birthday, Left Bank has created a window display featuring a collection of memorabilia from the past 45 years, including photos of former staff, visiting authors, and its three famous store cats; posters and fliers from the store’s previous location; artwork created exclusively for Left Bank Books by Mary Engelbreit; merchandise; and more.
Left Bank is also hosting two special events: a sale for the Friends of Left Bank Books Literary Society and a Writers Under Glass event on July 11.
“Left Bank Books, at 45, is a survivor,” said co-owner Kris Kleindienst in an interview with Kirkus Reviews in April. “I think what indie bookstores can be is flexible and elastic, responding quickly to our communities’ interests...there is always something new to look forward to.”
Books Inc. Staff Member and YA Author Sara Farizan Wins Lammy
Congratulations to Books Inc. staff member Sara Farizan, whose YA debut, If You Could Be Mine (Algonquin), won a 2014 Lambda Literary Award for Best Young Adult Novel in June. If You Could Be Mine was a featured title in the Fall 2013 Indies Introduce promotion, and last November Farizan talked to BTW about her debut novel.
Readers can catch Farizan at Books Inc. Laurel Village, where they can get their books signed by the award-winning author. Farizan’s next novel, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, is due out this September.
Nightbird Books Holding Weeklong Fundraiser
Eight-year-old Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas, is in the midst of a weeklong fundraiser to bring together its community for seven days of events and entertainment. Attendees can pay by the event, or can purchase a $75 pass for admission to all events, which began July 7 and run through July 12.
The Feed the Bird Celebration will offer attendees opportunities to participate in fundraising events, including the jailing in a birdcage of local celebrities, who will need to be bailed out; a community sing-along; a cocktail presentation and quiz show; local food samples and talks; author readings; live music; a middle grade writing workshop; and family craft projects, story times, and book discussions.
See the full schedule on Nightbird’s calendar.


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Even 5 years back no one would’ve imagined an electric vehicle reaching anywhere near the world’s tallest peak Mount Everest (Mount Qomolangma in Chinese).
But the ever-expanding network of Tesla Superchargers has made it possible. A Model X and a Model Y have reached the Mount Everest Base Camp. The incredible journey was filmed, compiled, and released on YouTube by Tesla’s official channel from Greater China earlier this week.
Chinese bridge designer and vlogger 春森同学Trensen instantly decided to go on this adventure as soon as he knew that Tesla has completed its Supercharger network 318 on this route.
When Mr. Trensen told his peers about his intentions to go to Mount Everest in his Tesla — everyone thought he has lost his mind. However, he started his super long journey from Chongqing to the Everest Base Camp in China.
Of course, EVs experience a range loss when climbing steep mountainous roads but internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles also use more fuel — don’t they?
Tesla’s Supercharger network along this difficult route was there to support this adventure and it truly made it possible. Other electric vehicle manufacturers lack such a widespread charging network, therefore, Tesla is enjoying the lead globally.
One interesting feature in Tesla vehicles is the Camp Mode. You can set a temperature inside the car, lock it, and go to sleep without the fear of carbon monoxide gas entering the cabin like in the ICE vehicles — because there is no engine producing such gases.
As much as you get closer to the high mountains, the climate gets colder and colder, and this is where Tesla’s climate control features become the most useful, just like Camp Mode we discussed above. Also, being able to remotely set the cabin’s temperature and melt the snow on the windshield and the glass roof has its significance in cold weather conditions.
Tesla vehicle features like these made this journey more enjoyable and easy for Trensen and his team.
- Cybertruck’s range figures disappoint Tesla customers, even the range extender doesn’t fulfill expectations
- Watch how Tesla Cybertruck performs in a crash safety test against ICE pickup trucks
- Tesla Cybertruck starts at $60,990 — the AWD variant might qualify for the Federal Tax Credit
- Cybertruck Delivery Event live updates, Watch the live-stream recording, more
- Tesla releases Cybertruck Delivery Event details, entry will require QR code scanning, TSLA stock price surges, more
- Watch the Tesla Cybertruck drive through the salty sea water like a boss
- Canada’s lone Cybertruck attracts massive crowds waiting in line to get a first look, more Tesla showrooms get it in the US
- Elon Musk’s iPhone wallpaper of Starship’s 2nd launch tells us a bit about his phone preferences


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Applebee’s And IHOP Restaurants Closing Across The USA
The parent company of Applebee's and IHOP announced that several hundred locations will be closing across the country in the coming months. There were already rumblings that DineEquity Inc had plans to shutter between 30 and 60 Applebee's but that confirmed number was increased in a report from the company issued Thursday.
The plan according to the release from DineEquity Inc was that 105 to 135 Applebee's locations would be closing and 20 to 25 IHOP locations would be closing as well. The company did not say which locations had been targeted for closing but did state that "franchisee profitability, operational results, and meeting brand quality standards" would be the criteria used to determine the locations that would be shuttered.
The company also noted that while closings at some locations in the United States were imminent there were plans to add an additional 20 to 30 Applebee's and 80 to 95 IHOPs globally. Those locations had not been announced.


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Bangalore-based startup Tarnea brings digital technology to brick-and-mortar stores
The e-commerce boom has sent a sudden wave of digitisation across the country. It has not only intensified the competition, but also brought in awareness of how technology plays a huge role in simplifying our day to day lives, not only of users but also sellers.
Bangalore-based Tarnea is one such startup that aims at bringing digitisation to bricks and mortar stores. It brings real-time tracking of stocks and sales to these sellers with its SmartMile platform, putting an end to hassled end-of-the-day manual bills sorting. It helps offer visibility of the stock and empower the unorganised stores with a platform that is handy and simple to use. Tarnea has also served more than 1 million consumers and its platform has witnessed over 1.6 million transactions.
Tarnea’s proprietary platform SmartMile connects sellers with vendors and suppliers to help them come at par with some of the big retailers, when it comes to tech platform for handling visibility of stocks. The platform provides automation aimed at faster velocity of sales, more control over the inventory, avoid lost sales, make better decisions and better customer service.
“It also connects the retailers to e-commerce and e-marketplaces to buy from a larger number of suppliers also increasse their sales turnover by selling online through our SmartMile platform. Anyone with basic literacy can start using it in less than 30 minutes”, co-founder Suresh Satyamurthy tells us.
In fact, remembering his experience at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in the early 90s, Satyamurthy says that visibility to stocks and sales at the retail shelf was the single biggest problem then, even though the company had one of the best infrastructure for material handling, logistics and a state-of-the-art ERP. He realised that not much has changed even after decades and that is what led to the formation of Tarnea in 2013 by the trio – Satyamurthy along with Madhav Sitaraman and Senthil Rajagopalan.
“We did an extensive first-hand research of the Indian market by traveling across India – including rural areas in markets like UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu . We could sense that the purchasing power the Indian retailer has gone up tremendously over the last two decades, but the usage of technology to run their operations was still very minimal,” Satyamurthy adds.
The trio has managed the smooth sailing of the company on their own so far, but have started looking for funding. They also also shortlisted for Microsoft Accelerator for its six-weeks program. The revenue model is subscription based on its users and also the success fee per transaction. The company is also looking to expand their presence in new markets and is in talks for some significant partnerships.


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Why retailing is not dead yet
Some shop owners have stopped complaining and started innovating. That may yet save our high street.
It has been a long time since anyone could make any money from owning a shop. From Woolworths to Comet, a whole string of them have gone bust in the past decade. Customers have switched to buying everything online. Business rates have risen relentlessly higher, squeezing profits. Staff have become more and more expensive as the minimum wage keeps on going up. And property developers through the 1990s and 2000s built too many shopping centres and out-of-town retail parks.
But perhaps the real problem in retailing was not the competition or punishing taxes. It might be that there just hasn’t been enough innovation – and that shop owners are themselves responsible for the decline of their industry. There are a few signs that a few retailers at least are starting to get that – and instead of just complaining are trying out new ways of selling things.
In the US, Amazon has just launched its first full-scale cashier-less grocery store. You don’t even have to check out. You just walk in, pick up the stuff you need and go (it uses your phone to debit your account automatically). Whether this works out or not remains to be seen. But it is something new and different, and a lot more convenient if you are in a hurry.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s technology rival, Apple, is pushing forward with a retail chain that already has more than 500 outlets worldwide. As anyone who has ever stepped into one will know, its stores are lavishly fitted out and expensive to run, and yet they hardly appear to be interested in selling you anything. They don’t even feel like a shop – and yet they have one of the highest turnovers per square foot of any chain in the world. Again, it is a very different approach to retailing.
Ikea, too, has started developing plans for renting rather than buying furniture. It has partly done that to address climate change, but it may also be a better model for a world in which home ownership is in decline (and where many people prefer to “stream” products rather than own them). Others are trying out membership schemes, partly modelled on the success of Amazon Prime. Tesco has revamped its Clubcard as a membership scheme and Walmart is planning something similar in the US.
Suits you, sir. Add to basket?
There are new technologies that are starting to emerge too. Virtual changing rooms that use artificial intelligence (AI) to let you see how clothes will look on you are moving into the mainstream. They will free-up floor space and may well encourage people to buy more things in new and different ways. Facial-recognition software is making cashier-less stores possible and making it easier to crack down on shoplifting, which reduces costs and will allow chains to reduce prices. As AI gets more mainstream and robotics improve there will no doubt be lots of new ways shops can be run.
Most of the retail formats we are familiar with on the high street were tired and stale. The department store was an Edwardian invention. Huge buildings with lots of different concessions might have been exciting in 1910, but it is a long time since they set any pulses racing. The supermarket was more or less perfected by the 1960s: they have got slightly bigger in the 50 years since then, but otherwise have hardly changed at all. Bookshops, clothes shops, toy shops and pharmacies – all look much the same as they did 100 years ago.
But with new ideas and new formats, there is nothing inevitable about retail’s demise. Amazon is investing billions in retailing, but doing it in new ways. Apple is opening more and more stores, but bringing some flair and imagination to them. There is a vast space starting to emerge for retailing entrepreneurs who can work out how to integrate artificial intelligence and virtual reality into a physical format and offer something different. In truth, the real problem in the retail industry was that it had become too conservative and dull, with too many shops that all looked much the same and very few new ideas. Retailing may surprise us yet by staging a revival.


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Truck Scale Solutions for Transportation and Logistics Management
Published: Monday, 18 April 2016 20:30
By Kevin Hill
Trucks are very efficient and convenient in the transportation of stone but unfortunately there are those pesky regulations. Strict roads and highways regulations concerning the total weight that a particular truck is allowed to carry are there for a reason. Overloading trucks can be hazardous in the worst case scenario, where accidents such as overturned trucks and failed brakes cause serious damage and even loss of life.
Read more: Truck Scale Solutions for Transportation and Logistics Management
Uniroyal Unveils Six Commercial Tires
Published: Thursday, 10 March 2016 14:18
The Uniroyal brand announced the launch of six commercial truck tires in the U.S. market. The new line provides an affordable offer for every tire position and application – from long-haul to regional to on-/off- road, including dry van, flat bed, construction, and pick-up and delivery vocations. Two of the tires, Uniroyal RS20 and LS24, are SmartWay verified and meet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for outstanding fuel efficiency.
Read more: Uniroyal Unveils Six Commercial Tires


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The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), will release their anticipated Americas Alternative Finance Survey at an event hosted by CME Group on May 25. The data is anticipated to definitively reveal the status and growth of new forms of finance within the United States and all of the Americas.
This event is part of UChicago Innovation Fest, a month-long celebration of entrepreneurship and discovery around the University of Chicago. There are over 40 events scheduled across Chicago and in other key cities around the world.
At the event, entitled “The Evolving State of Alternative Finance,” many well-known names from the world of both traditional and alternative finance will be in attendance.
Several prominent names from alternative finance include:
- Doug Ellenoff of Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP
- Youngro Lee, Founder and CEO, NextSeed
- Tania Ziegler, Senior Research Manager, Cambridge Centre on Alternative Finance at Judge Business School
- E.J. Reedy, Director, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The event includes a local Startup Showcase and Networking Lunch to meet local Fintech startups.
In past years, the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance has partnered with the University of Chicago in publishing its benchmarking survey in the Americas. CCAF is globally recognized as the leading research entity regarding innovative finance including; crowdfunding, online lending, blockchain, cryptocurrencies and other forms of Fintech. Policymakers around the world have utilized the benchmarking survey as a reference point to help craft policies and regulations to foster a robust Fintech ecosystem. CCAF publishes reports annually on the UK, Europe, Americas, Asia, the Middle East and more.


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Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly has an idea for saving the brand: buy up smaller electronics companies so that customers can't get the products anywhere else.
Examples of well-known brand names Best Buy could buy or license might include Hitachi and JVC, Joly told Chris Burritt at Bloomberg.
Buying the companies would ensure that Best Buy could offer something exclusive and get some customers back. Best Buy's sales have slid every quarter for two years because of competition from Amazon and discount chains like Walmart and Target.
"Best Buy has lost a little bit of this," he said. "We need to reinvent our brand identity."
For now, Best Buy is making e-commerce its "number one priority," according to Joly.


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The white Galaxy S II has been available for quite sometime via T-Mobile’s site, but unfortunately these pale devices were sold exclusively online only. Well, today, TMoNews caught wind that brick and mortar stores had begun receiving shipments of the white GSII, and that they will officially go on sale tomorrow. So, if for some reason you like to do your shopping the old fashioned way, you cruise into your local T-Mobile store and pick up the white Hercules for $230 with a 2-year agreement, upgrade and/or new line.
stars Popular this Weeklaunch
more_vertGalaxy S8 leaks show multiple angles
In case you haven’t gotten enough of the Galaxy S8, here’s another set of photos to get you excited for next week’s unveiling.
A new series of images show off various interface aspects of the Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. The images also show a brief size comparison to the LG V20.
Roland Quandt of WinFuture was able to get his hands on an array of new press images of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus, while also sharing details we have yet to see leaked.
A series of new actions have been added to Google Assistant, making it easy to do things such as control your Roomba or keep track of expiration dates for your food.
more_vertQualcomm blocked Samsung
The Exynos chips have been made exclusively for Samsung phones, but apparently, Samsung tried to sell them to other manufacturers. A new report claims Qualcomm prevented that from happening.
Fossil-owned fashion brand Michael Kors has announced 2 new Access smartwatches for launch this year. They’ll be donning Android Wear 2.0 and have some significant improvements.
Google has introduced a new “Free App of the Week” section on the Play Store, which takes a paid app or game and offers it for free for a whole week.
A number of high quality images have leaked showing official Galaxy S8 accessories. Check out the post for a look at Samsung’s DeX Station and a handful of different cases Samsung will be offering, but they wont come cheap.


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Chinese bicycle sharing giant Ofo launches service in seven Indian cities. Chinese bicycle sharing service Ofo has launched its service in seven... ...http://www.rediff.com/money/report/chinas-ola-of-bicycles-pedals-into-india/20180116.htm
'If not, we can become frighteningly chaotic, more chaotic than what we are today.''In today's environment in the country, we still have a window... ...http://www.rediff.com/news/interview/if-we-make-proper-choices-well-be-a-great-nation/20180107.htm
NIFT graduates Praween KR and Sindhuja K set up Young Trendz in 2015 to target fashion-conscious 20-somethings. Their bootstrapped brand sold... ...http://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/achievers-this-duo-made-rs-20-crore-selling-t-shirts-online/20171227.htm
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the Nokia facility at Sriperumbudur near here, was left like an "orphaned child" and the Centre was... ...http://www.deccanherald.com/content/649904/nokia-plant-tn-left-orphaned.html
ICT Academy, in association with Autodesk, has recently (on 11th & 12th Dec 2017) conducted India Design Week 2017 competition in the city.... ...http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/city-students-win-india-design-week-2017-for-e-waste-recycler-design-117121600188_1.html
Maharaja Institute of Technology...


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Vivo Apex 2019, futuristic 5G smartphone showcased in Nepal
Vivo showed its concept smartphone Vivo Apex 2019 back in January to the world and this device has been now showcased in Nepal.
Vivo Apex 2019 shows us what could be the future of smartphones. Its design is as minimal as possible, featuring a curved glass construction. Its front panel consists almost entirely of screen, eliminating any space for notches or camera hole of any kind – in fact, this smartphone does not even come with a front selfie camera.
On the other hand, with regard to its specifications, this smartphone concept represents itself as the company’s flagship device.
Vivo has launched several concept smartphones in the past which includes – Vivo Nex, Vivo Nex 2, Vivo Apex and the current Vivo Apex 2019 stands fourth in line to project what future smartphones designs may evolve into.
Much of today’s Vivo flagships are derived from the original Vivo Nex smartphone which for the first time came with a near bezel less OLED display, motorized pop-up selfie camera and in-display fingerprint scanner. Other manufacturers like Huawei and Xiaomi’s Redmi are today ready to cash in on this concept with the launch of new smartphones in 2019 for which the market has responded positively. Huawei has recently launched the P Smart Z and Redmi’s upcoming flagship K20 Pro is almost ready for launch in next couple of days.
Coming back to the Apex 2019, the concept design is somewhat unusual because it doesn’t come with any physical buttons on the side frames nor does it come with a front selfie camera. All the ports and holes from the body has been eleminated and replaced by a technogies that are not available or seen in even flagship devices launched by other companies.
Vivo’s APEX 2019 is also the company’s first 5G smartphone that offers an ultra-simple and uniquely recognisable design with Curved-Surface Waterdrop Glass and no openings, seams or bezels for a simpler user experience. Packed with cutting-edge technologies and features, the APEX 2019 showcases a brand-new minimalist concept that takes smartphone design to a whole new level.
With the goal of enhanced usability and simplicity at the core, APEX 2019 offers consumers a glimpse into the future of smartphone design and development. The Super Unibody design and Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology, among several other breakthrough features, make APEX 2019 a truly exceptional smartphone that demonstrates Vivo’s continuous exploration and pursuit of exceptional innovation for consumers.
Super Unibody Design
The APEX 2019 introduces a sleek and truly FullViewTM design that renders the bezel extinct. The device successfully delivers an unconventional smartphone experience by completely removing physical buttons – instead adopting Touch Sense technology, which brings together capacitive touch and pressure-sensing. With carefully designed programming logic and software, the pressure sensors can tell if a user is pressing the frame and the capacitive touch can determine its position, providing extra-sensitive accuracy.
USB ports are replaced by a MagPort, a magnetic power connector which enables both charging and data transfer. This allows for a more streamlined user experience, as well as making the body more compact.
The APEX 2019 also turns its display into a speaker by using Body SoundCasting technology, transforming the entire APEX 2019 display into a speaker via the screen vibration function, avoiding the need for a speaker grill.
Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning
The APEX 2019 comes equipped with Full-Display Fingerprint Scanning technology, with a sensor covering almost the entire display. This enables users to touch almost anywhere on the screen to unlock the device seamlessly, supported by Vivo’s cutting-edge Fingerprint Light function – when the user’s finger is close to the display, the pixels around the touch point will automatically light up as an additional light source to help obtain a clear fingerprint image.
A larger sensor also enables more features to bolster security for using apps. When users wake their device from an inactive screen and press on the corresponding app icon to scan their finger, they can unlock and gain direct access to the app so that the experience is faster and more efficient than before.
Vivo’s first Snapdragon 855 powered 5G phone
Vivo’s first 5G smartphone runs on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 platform with 12GB RAM, a super-large memory of 512GB, and is equipped with Jovi AI Assistant, along with many other smart functions.
5G Smartphone for Variety of User Scenarios
The APEX 2019’s 5G mobile network capability enables an enhanced experience for video viewing, cloud gaming and a variety of other user scenarios.
The APEX 2019 has also solved the challenge of limited motherboard space by using a Duplex PCB Design which has increased the available space by 20% to minimize the overall stacking space. This is Vivo’s solution to free up space for the 5G modules, making the phone a true unibody 5G phone.
Vivo is pioneering 5G technology standardization empowered by a fusion of technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality and virtual reality. In the future, the deep integration of 5G and AI will become key to the development of the 5G smartphone era. Vivo will continue to explore the future of the smartphone as part of its commitment to provide users with a futuristic mobile user experience.
Vivo Apex 2019 Price in Nepal
Well, considering it is a concept phone, the device won’t be available to the consumers – not in Nepal, not anywhere else globally. In fact, just like last year we may see Vivo using some of the technologies from the APEX 2019 in its upcoming phones later this year.
Last year Vivo adapted the pop-up selfie camera and in-display fingerprint sensor technology and used them in Vivo NEX, and later in the Vivo V15 Pro and V11 Pro, respectively. The same can happen this year too, however, there is no official word from Vivo on this yet.


text: ATLANTA, Oct. 7, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HSW International, Inc. (Nasdaq:HSWI), a developer and operator of popular websites featuring high quality information in the U.S., Brazil and China, and a leading provider of next-generation web publishing platforms that support traditional web publishing combined with social media, today announced the launch of Sharecare.com, an innovative platform that provides a simple, easy way for consumers to get high quality answers to the questions of health, provided by trusted experts. HSW International joined in founding Sharecare with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Harpo Productions, Discovery Communications (Nasdaq:DISCA) (Nasdaq:DISCB) (Nasdaq:DISCK), Sony Pictures Television and Jeff Arnold. HSWI provided the technology development services for Sharecare through its Web Platform Services division, helping create a Web 3.0 platform featuring interactive question & answer based content. "We are pleased to be a founding partner in Sharecare and view the launch as a significant milestone in our business, which seeks to redefine the web experience by combining expert content and social media to enable the efficient and intuitive consumption of trusted content by information seekers across a spectrum of industry verticals – the first of which is health," said Greg Swayne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of HSW International. For further details about Sharecare.com, please refer to the attached press release. About HSW International HSW International, Inc. (Nasdaq:HSWI) develops and operates Internet businesses focused on providing consumers with locally relevant, high quality information, and provides web platform services that support traditional web publishing combined with social media. The Company's leading brands BoWenWang (bowenwang.com.cn) and ComoTudoFunciona (hsw.com.br) provide readers in China and Brazil with thousands of articles about how the world around them works, serving as destinations for credible, easy-to-understand reference information. HSW International is the exclusive licensee in China and Brazil for the publication of translated content from HowStuffWorks.com, a subsidiary of Discovery Communications. HSW International is also a co-founder and developer of Sharecare, a highly searchable social Q&A healthcare platform organizing and answering the questions of health. The Company is headquartered in Atlanta.


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Monday, November 6, 2000
Aclara BioSciences Inc. may have taken blows in its trade secret
litigation and separate patent infringement suit with Caliper Technologies Corp. But
regardless of the eventual outcome of the litigation, ACLA believes it will not be left
without a business.
Last week, a California Superior Court jury awarded $52.6 million to
CALP in a 1999 lawsuit in which the company charged that its trade secrets had been used
by ACLA to apply for U.S. Patent No. 5,750,015 covering methods and devices for moving
molecules via the application of electric fields (see BioCentury Extra, Monday Oct.


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Another day and there is another Target checkout outage. A lot of people took up social media to complain against the checkouts at the retail giant’s server went down for the second consecutive day. This ended up stores taking only gift cards and cash as the form of payment. Target is suffering through a point of sale machine outage from Saturday. The Checkout servers were down for more than two hours.
Target said in a statement yesterday that it could:
“confirm that this was not a data breach or security-related issue” and “no guest information was compromised at any time.” Instead, the company blamed the outage on an “internal technology issue” without disclosing specifics.
Target was forced to pay a total of $162 million in expenses because of the data breach in the year 2013. Target does not want something like that to be repeated now.
Jenna Rech, who is a spokesperson from Target said in a statement:
“Like many other companies, Target uses NCR as a vendor to help accept payments, and on Sunday afternoon NCR experienced an issue at one of their data centers. While this was not an issue within Target’s technology system, Target was unable to process select card payments at some stores for about 90 minutes. The issue is now resolved and payments are going through normally. Additionally, we can confirm that this was not a security-related issue and no payment information was compromised at any time. Although this was unrelated to Saturday’s issue, we know many guests had a frustrating shopping experience in our stores this weekend. For that, we are truly sorry. We never want to disappoint any guests and we’re working tirelessly to ensure these issues don’t happen again.”
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IBIL and EROSKI install charge points for electric vehicles in a supermarket car park in Salburua (Vitoria-Gasteiz)
The cooperative is the first distribution company to make electric vehicles part of its fleet for home-delivery services
The five vans will help EROSKI reduce its CO2 emissions by 36,066 kg, the equivalent of planting 3,607 trees. Through IBIL, the company that manages its charging infrastructure, EROSKI has installed charge points in two parking spaces in its supermarket car park in Salburua for the free use of its customers. Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian are the first three cities to have taken steps to support this mode of transport. Today, EROSKI and IBIL officially opened charge points for electric vehicles in a supermarket cark park in Salburua (Vitoria-Gasteiz). EROSKI's Director of Logistics Alberto Madariaga was joined by Deputy Minister for Industry Xabier Garmendia and Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz Patxi Lazcoz for the inauguration event.
EROSKI has set aside 10 preferential areas in five car parks in its commercial network for the installation of charge points, which will be installed by IBIL S.A., a company that specialises in the management of charging facilities for electric vehicles and in which EVE and Repsol hold shares. The charge points will provide power for the Mercedes E-Cell electric vehicles belonging to EROSKI's distribution fleet and for any customers that use electric vehicles.
EROSKI customers who have electric cars can charge them for free in the two charge point-equipped parking spaces that IBIL has installed in the supermarket in Vitoria, using a special card giving them access to the service.
EROSKI and IBIL are working together to promote the use of electric vehicles in the Basque Country. In doing so, they are demonstrating their commitment to a policy of sustainable mobility and respect for the environment as a way of reducing pollution in cities. Electric vehicles do not produce noise pollution or emissions at their point of use and also boast fewer mechanical failures, improved energy performance, lower maintenance costs and lower overall costs per kilometre than conventional vehicles.
By signing an agreement with EVE and acquiring five electric vans in February, EROSKI will save 13,358 litres of fuel and reduce its CO2 emissions by 36,066 kg (spread across the five vans), the equivalent of planting 3,607 trees. The new vehicles will cover approximately 146,217 km per year, an average of 96.51 km per day for each vehicle.
Initially, the ten charge points will be installed in supermarkets in Indautxu and Bolueta in Bilbao, Barakaldo BEC, Salburua in Vitoria-Gasteiz and ARCCO Amara in San Sebastian. EROSKI plans to continue the process by commissioning IBIL to install more charge points throughout the Basque Country in the car parks owned by EROSKI.
In addition to electric vehicles, in November EROSKI began to deliver its internet shopping and home deliveries using environmentally friendly pedal vehicles. Thanks to this initiative, services to EROSKI's customers have improved and they have given even more of their custom to EROSKI as a result, as orders have increased by 25.5%.
EROSKI and respect for the environment
This agreement regarding the promotion of electric-vehicle use is part of a framework of environmental policies developed by EROSKI, a company that has been firmly committed to respecting the environment since its creation and that constantly seeks new ways of minimising the environmental impact of industrial activity.
Reducing waste in its stores, minimising the polluting emissions of its transport infrastructure, the environment-aware management of its suppliers' production processes, recycling, the move to using environmentally friendly packaging, the specific training given to its staff and the awareness-raising campaigns directed towards its customers (reusing bags, ways to save on electricity in the home, etc.) are just some of EROSKI's activities geared towards respecting the environment.
Moreover, the fleet of lorries used by EROSKI to distribute its goods uses a route optimiser to reduce the environmental impact and carbon emissions of its vehicles. The optimiser is a tool that plans, monitors and optimises every process involved in transportation, including departure times, routes, timetables and distance covered. The use of this innovative technology has enabled EROSKI to introduce elements of eco-management into its logistics processes and as a result the company has managed to reduce the distance travelled by its fleet by an average of almost 5%, save over 5 million litres of fuel and prevent the emission of 14,400 tonnes of CO2 per year. The fleet also uses biofuels, which are less harmful to the environment than fossil fuels.
In addition, EROSKI was recently recognised by the European Union as an official partner in the Sustainable Energy Europe campaign, an EU initiative started in 2005 and which represents the biggest effort to date of the Member States to promote sustainable-energy policies. The campaign complements EU energy legislation and aims to stimulate and increase private investment in sustainable-energy technologies, recognise good practice and promote alliances between global leaders in the field of energy in order to generate new ideas and activities.
The program that received recognition from the EU was the EROSKI 360º Energy Efficiency initiative, which has both an internal and external focus. Internally, the company has implemented an entire series of eco-efficient measures in its stores that not only help save energy, but also make it possible to use energy supplied from renewable and environmentally sustainable sources.
The implementation of eco-efficient measures in stores has manifested itself in places such as the supermarket in the neighbourhood of Gros, San Sebastian, which reopened in July after the installation of energy-saving systems and facilities enabling the use of energy supplied from sustainable sources. EROSKI invested a total of €1,800,000 in adapting its Gros store, which now consumes 50% less energy than a conventional store and emits 200 fewer tonnes of CO2 per year.
Externally, the program aims to promote sustainable energy consumption among the company's customers and to provide them with advice on how to reduce their energy bills. EROSKI's Save Energy campaign consists of a range of different actions such as the creation of a website where visitors can calculate the monetary savings that can be made in the different areas of energy consumption (i.e. heating, electricity, gas, transport, etc.), find out about the amount of CO2 emitted by an average citizen, and discover recommendations on how to save energy. So far, 150,000 people have accessed the site to monitor their energy use. Another example is EROSKI's Consumer Schools and their message of Switch Off Consumption, Switch On Saving, which have been held in all of the company's hypermarkets and have been attended by hundreds of customers throughout Spain.
The consumer-training program began in February 2009 and was designed to raise consumers' awareness regarding the value of energy, provide them with a tool they could use to measure their own domestic energy use and offer advice on how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.
EROSKI's commercial network consists of around 2,300 different establishments including EROSKI hypermarkets, EROSKI/center, Caprabo and EROSKI/city supermarkets, EROSKI/viajes travel agencies, petrol stations, Forum Sport sports shops, IF perfume shops, Abac shops specialising in leisure and cultural activities, and 25 other platforms. The company also boasts 482 franchised self-service outlets, while outside Spain it has 39 establishments in France including hypermarkets, supermarkets and petrol stations and 4 IF perfume shops in Andorra.
For the past 42 years, 10% of EROSKI's profits have been channelled into charitable initiatives that benefit society. A significant proportion of these monies being reinvested in society is used by the EROSKI Foundation in initiatives that meet three key needs of the community: informing and training consumers, protecting the environment, and solidarity.
IBIL is a company that specialises in the management of charging facilities for electric vehicles and was created in order to establish a charging infrastructure in the Basque Country, thus aiding the development of sustainable, environmentally friendly vehicles.
IBIL aims to become the Basque Country's leading company in the provision of electric-mobility services and in terms of the number of charge points available to the public, as well as becoming a technological benchmark.


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Narrow your search
The chipmaking giant also appoints the head of its software business, Renee James, as president.
The world's biggest PC-chipmaker and Luxottica, the world's biggest eyewear maker, join forces to make new wearables.
The reorganization comes as the lines dividing consumer electronics devices blur, the chip giant says.
Chairman Andy Bryant says the company is making progress in the area, despite continued hefty losses.
Imagine the profile pictures you could snap with a wearable camera that's also drone. CNET's Sumi Das has more on Nixie, a device that wowed judges at Intel's "Make It Wearable" contest.
The world's largest chipmaker by sales continued to post stronger numbers in its PC and data-center businesses, but its mobile unit posted just $1 million in revenue and another huge loss.
CEO Brian Krzanich reveals origin of the charging bowl for smartphones and electronics but is mum on an expected price.
The next wave of consumer electronics could come from the maker movement and indie developers. Intel's Edward Ross wants to make the company's chips a key part of that trend.
Despite a rocky start in mobile, the chipmaker forged ahead with its second major mobile partnership in China this year.
Intel is confident wearables are the next frontier. But the chipmaker's approach to developing the gadgets is the polar opposite of that taken by the industry's biggest contenders.


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KAMPALA — StarTimes has won yet another award as the best Pay TV Service provider 2020/2021 in the Consumer Choice awards 5th Edition, that were held on Wednesday evening at Golf Course Hotel.
The Chief Guest who is the minister of Trade, Amelia Kyambade handed awards to 65 Companies that won last evening from different categories of Foods and beverages, Pay TV, Health, Education, Manufacturing, Electrical, Poultry, Agriculture, among others.
During her speech, The Minister of Trade and Cooperatives, Hon. Amelia Kyambadde noted that local content is very important under Buy Uganda, Build Uganda (BUBU) initiative where Ugandans consume locally produced content. Producer and consumer policy was put together to ensure that they not only they protect the consumers but also protect small companies.
The CEO of Consumer Awards, Bari Salim appreciated the different companies for the innovations they came up with to ensure that they stay afloat in the new normal. It is for this reason that we have gathered here to appreciate individuals and companies that maneuvered through the wave of COVID 19, he stated
Your dedication to superior services through keeping consumer service delivery, added Salim.
The best way to evaluate service excellence in through customer feedback, so as StarTimes we are very happy to receive feedback in such humbling way. We pledge to keep improving and most importantly giving Ugandans more innovations, Convenient and most affordable services said The Brand and Marketing Director StarTimes Mr. Lule Isma.
Every year, Consumer Guide Magazine collects information from 1000s of consumers to ensure that they identify those companies that provide exceptional services. The winners are not selected by the panel of judges but the consumers countrywide.


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PHUKET: The Asean Business Advisory Council (ABAC) has announced that this year’s Asean Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) will be held in Yangon, beginning November 11.
The three-day conference, now in its 11th year, will see representatives from both the private and public sectors addressing ways Asean can better leverage its cultural bonds, history and infrastructure growth
to promote the region’s potential.
“ABIS brings together private and public sector organizations, government representatives and captains of industry from within and outside Asean for effective dialogue to advance industry and business in the region,” said U Moe Kyaw, managing director of Myanmar Marketing Research and Development.
The 8th Asean Business Awards will also be held in conjunction with ABIS and will recognize Asean companies for their contributions to regional and economic growth.


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AUSTIN (KXAN) — The days of all you can eat wings have been put on hold as the nation is facing a chicken wing shortage.
“Every time there is a big game or sporting event we always anticipate a whole lot of to-go traffic or dine-in traffic,” said Paul Blackstone, the manager of Wingzup, a locally-owned restaurant that specializes in wings.
The pandemic initially slowed business at Wingzup, but now more people are showing up. The problem is getting wings is not as easy as it was before the pandemic.
“We have had trouble getting wings every week,” Blackstone said.
Why is this happening?
“Last year they started cutting back on (chicken) production a little bit simply because they weren’t making any money,” said Dr. David Anderson, AgriLife Extension economist with Texas A&M.
There are other factors contributing to the shortage as well, from high feed prices to the winter storms that shut down some chicken farms.
“If we have growing demand and a tighter supply, then prices go up, which is the market’s signal for, ‘Hey, let’s make some more chicken,’ but that takes time to get it done,” Anderson said.
How much do wings cost compared to last year?
“Wholesale wings were $ 3 a pound,” said Anderson. “The same week the year before was about $ 1.23.”
Chicken breast prices were up, too. Last week, the wholesale price was $ 1.92 per pound, up almost a full $ 1 when they were $ 0.93 per pound at this time last year.
“It is going to take some months to get through,” Anderson said.
“I think we will see some rollout of some boneless wings that instead of being the chicken breast, it is the thighs, I think we will see a bunch of changes.”
Those changes could mean different cuts of chicken in the grocery stores. In fact, chicken prices across the board are higher than in years past, Anderson said.
“Some of the dark meat, the legs and leg quarters are starting to increase in price as well,” Anderson said. “The ones that have gone up the most are the breasts and wings, but the legs are coming up. In fact, they are now higher in price than they were a year ago as well. So we are really starting to see it spill over into everything.”
Anderson says prices usually rise during the Super Bowl but this year they just kept going up. He does expect things to get back to normal as the economy continues to open up and chicken production continues to increase.
“We are all just hoping things get back to normal,” Blackstone said.
Author: Nabil Remadna
This post originally appeared on KXAN Austin


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Jan 22nd - EarlyBird – News for Android brings you ALL of the Android news you crave and lets users decide what matters. Here are the 10 Top Android for the week of January 22nd
Jan 20th - A new leak has shared the details for the Xiaomi Mi 6 lineup. There will be three different variants with the mid-range and flagship devices featuring the Snapdragon 835 processor.
Jan 20th - Samsung’s findings in the Galaxy Note 7 investigation have been obtained by The Wall Street Journal and claim that the device featured irregularly sized batteries.
Jan 20th - Meitu, a new selfie application, has come under scrutiny for security claims which suggest the app collects personal information including your IMEI, phone numbers, and GPS coordinates.
Jan 20th - A new Moto Mod looks to add more functionality to your Moto Z device with action shortcuts, as well as a touchpad surface that will interact with your smartphone.
Jan 20th - T-Mobile has announced it will be opening the ability to share the free T-Mobile Tuesday gifts with other users, regardless of which carrier they are currently subscribed to.
Jan 20th - According to AnTuTu Benchmark results, an upcoming Sony device will feature the MediaTek Helio P20 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 23MP main camera.
Jan 20th - New renders from a case maker for the Galaxy S8 reveal a 4th hardware button which may be used to activate the new Samsung Bixby AI personal assistant.
Jan 20th - New renders provided by Ghostek show off the LG G6 and some of the new design features that will be included once the device is launched at MWC 2017.
Jan 19th - Samsung has announced it will be holding a press conference on Sunday, January 22nd at 8PM EST to reveal the findings of the Galaxy Note 7 investigation.
Jan 19th - Best Buy and Verizon are offering the Moto Z Droid for free when signing up for monthly installments, while the Moto Z Force Droid is on sale for $15 per month.
Jan 19th - Tag Heuer’s new CES, Jean-Claude Biver sat down in a series of interviews and confirmed a new smartwatch will be coming in May and will feature Intel’s processors along with NFC for mobile payments.
Jan 19th - 6 former Huawei employees have been detained by local authorities after the company claimed the employees provided information to their new employer, LeEco and Coolpad.
Jan 19th - The EMUI 5.0 update roadmap has been leaked for Huawei devices and reveals when the beta software will launch and when Android Nougat will come to other devices.
Jan 19th - The Moto G5 Plus has leaked in new images and shows us what the device will include. The G5 Plus will feature a 5.5-inch FHD display, 4GB of RAM, and a 3,100mAh battery while being priced at $300.


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TAL launches revamped income protection line-up
Australia’s largest life insurer, TAL has come to market with its revamped product range.
The company announced today that it is offering two TAL is offering two long-term options which will provide benefits to age 65 – Income Protection Enhance is TAL’s most affordable long-term cover, while Income Protection Assist features additional support at the start of the claim through an Early Support Booster for the first six months.
The company said that also available is a short-term benefit option, Income Protection Focus, which applies an ‘own occupation’ definition for the entire 1, 2 or 5 year benefit period, removing any uncertainty around ongoing eligibility for benefits over those shorter benefit periods.
Commenting on the launch of the products, TAL Group executive, Brett Clark said they reflected the company’s commitment to its advises and customers.
“Income Protection insurance is a critical tool used by Australians to protect their most important asset – their ability to earn an income – and it is essential that, as an industry, we get these products right for them,” he said in announcement.
“This is an important piece of work for the entire industry, and we must persist in our goal of designing sustainable and fair products that work well for all customers, including those customers who need to make a claim, as well as those customers who may not claim.”
TAL’s Income Protection products will be available from 24 September 2021.


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Foursquare has announced it will charge businesses a fee of $10 to instantly verify their page online. In the past, restaurants, bars, and shops have had to mail in their application and wait for approval. The process typically took weeks to complete.
While the development won't likely create a huge windfall of revenue for New York-based Foursquare, it should entice merchants that want to get started running specials right away. They will also be able to immediately use the platform's analytics dashboard by paying the rather small fee.
Anything the geo-social company does to create more business- and user-level scale should probably be seen as a positive. Two weeks ago, Foursquare announced it had cleared the 20 million user threshold, while attracting 750,000 busineses to its platform.
This article was originally published on ClickZ.
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