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It’s not often that a company with the global mass and financial power of McDonald’s comes to blows with an ex-CEO on the public stage.
The scandal took another twist yesterday when Bloomberg reported that ousted Steve Easterbrook may have covered up misconduct by other employees, citing an executive familiar with the matter. The company’s board is also working alongside outside counsel to examine how its HR department operates.
Former managers told The Wall Street Journal that under Easterbrook, HR heads turned a blind eye to complaints about leaders, and that some employees worried about retaliation if they brought information about executive behavior forward.
“The board will follow the facts wherever they may lead,” McDonald’s told Restaurant Dive in an emailed statement.
Regardless of whether the mega chain can claw back ousted Steve Easterbrook’s severance package — which has grown to a staggering estimated $57.3 million since his firing in October — what matters is what the chain does next, corporate ethics experts say.
“McDonald’s does not tolerate behavior from any employee that does not reflect our values. These actions reflect a continued demonstration of this commitment,” CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a letter to employees about the lawsuit on Aug. 10. “That includes working together to enhance our culture by continuing to do the things we do well while developing solutions for how we can improve.”
McDonald’s lawsuit places the onus on Easterbrook for allegedly failing to disclose the entire scope of his inappropriate behavior. The company claims it uncovered three additional sexual relationships Easterbrook had with female employees before his firing and that he tried to destroy records of this.
“The Board unanimously determined to take action equivalent to effectively terminating him for cause and send a clear signal to shareholders and the broader McDonald’s community that his misconduct, which clearly deviated from McDonald’s values, must not be ignored,” Rick Hernandez, chairman of McDonald’s Corporation, said in an emailed statement.
McDonald’s argues that Easterbrook’s “silence and lies” about these issues were a calculated play to exit the company in a more favorable light and with more money — while Easterbrook’s attorney claims the company’s clawback attempt is baseless because the additional allegations are “not new at all.”
Based on Easterbrook’s claims, it will be an uphill battle for the company to argue that the separation agreement should be undone, Matthew Nielsen, partner at global law firm Bracewell LLP, said.
As this lawsuit shakes out, the mega chain has an opportunity to bolster its corporate governance guidelines and values to make clear what employee behavior won’t be tolerated, Juliette Gust, co-founder of workplace misconduct reporting channel Ethics Suite, said. So far, Gust feels that the fast food giant has failed to give its internal standards teeth as sharp as its lawsuit language.
“There was no call to action in [Kempcinzski’s] letter. It basically said we’re gonna sue the former CEO, we found that there was misconduct that we didn’t have before, and that was it,” Gust said. “Which means they really missed an opportunity to say, ‘If there’s anything else, we want to hear about it and we want to hear about it now.’”
McDonald’s told the WSJ Tuesday that the chain has hired consultants to begin interviewing employees about their experiences at the company starting in September. McDonald’s executives told Restaurant Dive that Global Chief People Officer Heidi Capozzi has initiated surveys and listening sessions with employees to get feedback on blind spots related to company values and review how employee concerns are raised and investigated. The company also revamped its corporate values earlier this month.
Investigating CEO misconduct
Gust and other corporate ethics and legal experts find it strange that the company didn’t uncover dozens of sexually explicit photos and videos of female employees allegedly in Easterbook’s email until an anonymous tip surfaced nine months after the initial investigation.
“I think that makes very clear that their focus there was not in addressing harassment issues or misconduct, or effect on the shareholders or anything like that — their strategy was to make sure their stock recovered quickly,” Gust said.
“They really just completely failed to do a proper investigation, to do additional due diligence, to look into background and [not] to take the statements that the CEO made to them at face value without further investigation,” she added. “It’s really beyond comprehension why they wouldn’t have… been able to connect with their own or outside firm to do data preservation and discovery so they could find deleted emails, deleted pictures, deleted text messages and so on from all of his devices.”
Kempczinski praised the work of Capozzi for supporting stakeholders across the chain in the letter to employees, but did not mention U.S. Chief People Officer Melanie Steinbach. A week later, McDonald’s announced that Steinbach, who was promoted to the role in June, left the company.
“For a variety of reasons, and unfortunately I can’t comment on the specifics, we determined that her separation was really in the best interest of the company,” Capozzi said during an online meeting with employees, WSJ reports.
Pushing out an executive tasked with mediating employee grievances and investigating supervisor-employee disputes amid this tumult doesn’t look good, though McDonald’s has not commented on the impetus behind Steinbach’s departure and whether it is connected to the Easterbrook debacle.
Reports from WSJ today, however, point to greater turmoil in the HR department. Former McDonald’s managers told the publication Capozzi’s predecessor David Fairhurst, who Easterbrook appointed as global chief people officer after becoming CEO, altered performance review processes so that they “allowed for less employee feedback about concerns.” McDonald’s said he was fired with cause following an investigation into inappropriate behavior and favoritism within the HR department, but that his termination wasn’t connected to Easterbrook’s ouster. At the time of Fairhurst’s dismissal in November, McDonald’s simply said he left the company.
With Easterbrook’s termination, McDonald’s was quick to move after learning of his inappropriate relationship with a female subordinate last fall, and this expedient ouster may have caused crucial information to slip through the cracks during the company’s investigation, Nielsen said. However, if this is what occurred, he thinks it would be understandable.
“You’re talking about the chief executive officer of one of the most visible companies in the world… I can see where the company had the desire to, based on what it knew, go ahead and have an exit for the CEO and get new leadership in place,” he said. “When you have allegations against a CEO, it does create conflict for companies because to what extent do they allow that CEO to continue to operate in their position while they are doing an investigation?”
If McDonald’s were to perform a more widespread investigation of Easterbrook’s potential misconduct that he didn’t disclose, it would have taken significantly more time and created internal management issues, Nielsen said.
"When you have allegations against a CEO, it does create conflict for companies because to what extent do they allow that CEO to continue to operate in their position while they are doing an investigation?"
Partner, Bracewell LLP
“Usually what you see [in these situations] is that a company would say, ‘There may be more misconduct that we’re not aware of, but we’ve uncovered enough misconduct to warrant a termination,’” Nielsen said. “The unusual part here is that the company is looking to recoup money based upon similar misconduct that, presumptively, the company made an informed decision not to explore.”
It’s also rare for an executive’s misconduct to be limited to the events that are first reported, Nielsen said.
“[Misconduct] is usually not isolated to what is actually recorded,” Nielsen said. “More often than not we find a pattern of misconduct or the scope of it is more than what we’ve first learned.”
The professional isolation that comes with the C-suite has the power to amplify undesirable personality traits like narcissism and overconfidence, as well as isolation, Professor Robert Foehl, executive in residence for business law and ethics at Ohio University’s College of Business, said. Foehl has developed ethical guidelines for Target, where he served as director of corporate compliance and ethics.
“CEOs have enormous power and often enjoy celebrity-like status within their organizations and sometimes outside of their organizations,” Foehl said. “So they have to be ever vigilant to avoid unethical conduct, and this really requires a healthy amount of self-awareness.”
During Easterbrook’s tenure, he encouraged a party culture among top executives, and rumors of his misconduct swirled in the year prior to McDonald’s initial investigation, WSJ reports.
To minimize this kind of risk, Foehl said major corporations are increasingly separating the roles of chief executive and chairman of the board.
“[This] helps ensure that the CEO doesn’t have an inordinate amount of control over the board that hires the CEO, that adjusts CEO compensation, that essentially has employment power over the CEO,” he said. “The other part is ensuring that the company has… reporting processes to make sure that if CEO conduct is at issue, that those reports aren’t filtered through executive ranks and never make it to the board… and that those processes lead to impartial investigations.”
It’s likely that McDonald’s tried to settle Easterbrook’s alleged breach of his fiduciary duties privately before pushing the situation into the spotlight, Nielsen said.
“[The fact that] McDonald’s has chosen to enter this publicly means that its efforts to resolve it privately probably failed,” Nielsen said. “I would imagine it tried to keep this out of the media… We don’t know what those conversations were, but this is very unusual.”
Foehl thinks that McDonald’s decision to accuse Easterbrook of additional behavioral infractions publicly reflects a trend among major corporations to adopt zero-tolerance policies against these breaches of conduct.
“Increasingly, people are looking at the behavior of corporations and making decisions on whether they're going to [do] business with those corporations based on corporations meeting their ethical obligations to society,” he said. “People are probably looking at [McDonald’s] and saying, is it just [the CEO], or is it [systemic]?”
Training is 'meaningless' without consequences
Sexual harassment has certainly been a pattern at the Golden Arches — the company has been slapped with numerous store-level complaints over the years, as well as a $500 million class-action lawsuit claiming “severe pervasive sexual harassment” of female employees. The same week McDonald’s sued Easterbrook, three Teamster pension funds sued the restaurant for sexual harassment and gender discrimination that allegedly “persisted for at least a decade” at “all corporate levels, including within the company’s highest ranks.”
“McDonald’s suffers from a toxic work culture marked by sexual harassment, bullying, and abuse of the company’s female employees at the hands of their supervisors, co-workers, and customers,” the suit alleges.
In 2019, McDonald’s launched an anonymous sexual harassment hotline and mandatory sexual harrassment training for employees to curb this trend. But this training only applies to corporate-owned stores, which represent less than 5% of McDonald’s store footprint.
“Training is absolutely meaningless unless there’s consequences to violations of the policies that are set forth,” Gust said. “What we don’t see very much are consequences… we see a lot of hand-wringing… we see a lot of excuses.”
To establish tougher policies on sexual harassment and inappropriate work relationships from the C-suite to the store kitchen, McDonald’s needs to take a stronger approach in seeking compliance from franchisees, Gust said.
“[This] is a very unpopular thing to do because of the joint employer liability,” Gust said. “But, if any company has the power to effect some change, it would certainly be McDonald's.”
"Training is absolutely meaningless unless there’s consequences to violations of the policies that are set forth. What we don’t see very much are consequences… we see a lot of hand-wringing… we see a lot of excuses."
Co-founder, Ethics Suite
It’s important to keep in mind, Foehl said, that when a company employs roughly 2 million people across its network, including franchise locations — a population about the size of Houston — that it’s difficult to ensure ethical behavior across the board.
“Companies certainly aren’t perfect, and can’t always prevent ethical lapses from happening,” he said. “What’s important is taking a look at the response and saying, is this response appropriate… If you’re the public face of the company, maybe the consequences should be a little more dramatic than the consequences if you’re just a line worker at McDonald’s.”
McDonald’s response should aim to reduce the chances of a similar ethical lapse from recurring again, and should try to remedy any harm caused by Easterbrook’s unethical behavior, Foehl said.
“It’s important for companies to set the right tone at the top, and it’s important that the leaders of an organization are behaving in a way that comports with the ethics and compliance culture at that company,” Nielsen said.


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Digital Subscriber Line and cable Internet access are here to stay, but don't expect to be able to choose your Internet provider.
We explain just who owns what in the new world order.
Broadband internet access has the potential to turn the current e-commerce trickle into a waterfall and open up new worlds of collaborative education, multimedia entertainment, and interactive communications.
That's no secret to anyone, least of all the phone and cable companies that promise to bring fast Web access to your door. But these industries have had monopolies over their local service areas for decades. Does that mean that soon they'll also monopolize your access to the Net?
In the past several years, a record number of acquisitions and mergers has resulted in a shrinking band of companies that dominate Internet delivery.
Telecommunications conglomerates are swallowing cable giants. Long-distance carriers are hooking up with backbone operators and big ISPs. Ma Bell is morphing into Ma Net.
Today's business users and consumers still enjoy low flat-rate pricing and plenty of choices among dial-up Internet access providers. But that could change as the transition toward broadband Net access takes hold. Not only are the costs of implementing fast access higher--and thus out of reach of many small ISPs--but the broadband networks themselves are often off-limits to all but a handful of big cable and telephone companies.
The long-term result? It depends on whom you ask. According to some industry observers and open-access advocates, we can expect spotty reliability, tepid customer service, and higher rates. Others, including the Federal Communications Commission, believe that the intensifying rivalry between cable modem, DSL, and other bandwidth technologies will help jump-start the rollout of broadband access across the country, keeping rates--and service--at least as competitive as they are today.
The Net: Who's in Charge?
You've probably heard the Internet belongs to no one, and in many ways that's still true. In fact, the physical Net--the servers it runs on and the backbones that connect them--is far more diversely "owned" than it was a decade ago when the U.S. government and a handful of universities ran the show.
Nevertheless, the wave of consolidation among cable and telecommunications companies over the past two years threatens to change that picture. Here are some of the major deals so far:
* AT&T acquired cable provider Tele-Communications, Inc. in 1999, renaming it AT&T Broadband and Internet Services. AT&T already owns WorldNet, the third largest dial-up ISP in the nation, and the TCI purchase gave it a controlling interest in Excite@Home, the larger of two major cable modem access providers.
The other large cable modem access provider, Road Runner, is co-owned by MediaOne Group--a company AT&T plans to acquire.
* WorldCom has been on a shopping spree, snapping up rival long-distance provider MCI, plus the two largest Internet backbone providers, UUNet and ANS.
MCI WorldCom has also announced plans to merge with Sprint--a local, long-distance, and Internet backbone provider.
* SBC Communications (the parent company of Southwestern Bell) acquired West Coast-based Pacific Bell in 1997. In 1999, SBC became the largest U.S. local phone company with its $61 billion acquisition of Ameritech, the Midwestern Baby Bell.
As a result of these mergers, AT&T is expected to own the pipeline into over half of all U.S. cable households, though FCC rules will require the firm to reduce its market share to 36.7 percent. And by 2001, we're likely to have only four companies--AT&T, Bell Atlantic, MCI WorldCom, and SBC Communications--controlling 70 percent of the U.S. residential telecommunications market, according to Tele-Trend, a research firm.
The number of players in the traditional Internet backbone market is shrinking, too. Today, the major backbone providers include Cable & Wireless USA, GTE (merging with Bell Atlantic), Intermedia Communications, PSINet, MCI/UUNet, and Sprint. Most of the major network access points, which connect the various backbones, are also owned by communications giants, primarily MCI Worldcom and SBC.
But while Internet backbone ownership is consolidating, the number of alternative backbone providers is growing. Over the last year, the average cost of moving data over domestic or international lines has dropped 25 percent.
This is in large part due to long-haul fiber-optic carriers like Qwest and Global Crossing that provide corporations and ISPs with alternate routes. The sheer quantity of new fiber optic lines, combined with optical switching technology that increases how much data can travel over each line, means the cost of bandwidth is dropping for everyone.
At the same time, there's a widespread corporate movement toward virtual private networks that avoid the bottlenecks of the Internet at large by using dedicated, secure fiber networks among corporate branches and supply-chain customers. Satellite services are beginning to beam streaming content directly between content providers and ISPs. And a nationwide network of data hubs is being built to compete with the existing Internet infrastructure.
Thus, despite the spate of recent mergers and acquisitions, a number of competitive pressures have kept the Net backbone market wide open, preventing the dominance of just one company or industry--for now.
The More ISPs, the Merrier
In the marketplace of ISPs serving business users and consumers, a paradox emerges. The ISP business has been rapidly consolidating, capped off by the recent merger between EarthLink and MindSpring. At the same time, however, the number of ISPs has been rising. Between October 1998 and July 1999, a period that saw dozens of ISP acquisitions, the number of ISPs jumped 36 percent, from 5078 to nearly 7000, according to Boardwatch, a magazine for the ISP community.
While regional ISPs are merging and buying up local ISPs to better compete with the likes of AOL, new competitors are attracted by cheap bandwidth and lower barriers to entry. To be an ISP today, all you need to do is handle billing and customer service--you can outsource the rest to a backbone provider.
One reason smaller dial-up ISPs are thriving is the growing importance of customer service. "[Smaller] ISPs serve some important marketing and service functions that can't be served by large companies," says Andrew Jay Schwartzman, president of the Media Access Project, a public interest law firm.
Smaller ISPs may be better attuned to the needs of niche industries and minorities, and they're usually better at handling the needs of individual consumers.
ISP competition has kept monthly dial-up access rates steady--and in some cases, prices have even dipped slightly (you can still find all-you-can-eat Internet access for as little as $9.95 a month). What's more, smaller ISPs that merged with bigger ones have gained more competitive features such as Web-server hosting. And the unions between larger ISPs such as EarthLink and MindSpring give the combined companies more clout to negotiate better prices for the wholesale bandwidth they buy from UUNet and other backbone providers--all of which is good news for Web surfers.
The Game of Monopoly
Cheap bandwidth, a robust economy, and fast-changing technology have offset most of the negative effects of industry consolidations. But as broadband replaces standard dial-up access, those blue skies may turn gray.
Obtaining broadband Net access isn't a problem for most businesses--as long as they can afford to spend $80 per month or more per DSL line from companies like NorthPoint, which sells top-of-the-line DSL services to corporations.
For home-office users and consumers, however, affordable broadband access is probably available from only one DSL provider, such as a $50-per-month service from the local phone company, or from one cable modem provider (for about $40 per month). A recent FCC ruling that requires regional phone companies to share existing voice lines with third-party firms such as NorthPoint and Covad should make DSL more affordable and more widely available for most consumers. Still, compare that with the multiple ISPs you can choose from in the dial-up realm, and you can see a problem.
What's more, the big local phone companies offering high-speed access have the ability to make things difficult--if not downright impossible--for their potential ISP competitors, according to their critics. Here's a look at the state of affairs among DSL and cable modem service providers:
DSL. According to FCC regulations, regional phone companies can sell DSL access through their affiliated ISP subsidiaries. But they're required to lease out their "last mile," the copper wires that run from their central offices to neighborhood homes. Just as Baby Bells must provide access to these lines to long distance companies, they also must lease them to broadband ISPs. In addition, they must also let third-party DSL providers house equipment installed in the Baby Bell's central offices.
But the phone companies are charging such high fees for that access that only their own affiliated ISPs and very large competitors can afford to take the hit, according to the United States Internet Service Providers Alliance (USISPA), an organization of ISPs lobbying to rein in alleged anticompetitive behavior in the telecommunications industry.
"The pricing is predatory," says Barbara Dooley, director of USISPA. "If ISPs want to stay competitive in the future, they need to provide broadband [access]. If they can't, we're going to see a shrinkage in the ISP market."
USISPA and others also claim that phone companies engage in other anticompetitive tactics, such as filling new orders from independent ISPs much more slowly than orders that come from their affiliated ISPs.
Meanwhile, the House Commerce Committee, headed by chairman Tom Bliley (R-Virginia), has begun an investigation into claims that the big phone companies are trying to shut broadband ISP competitors out in favor of their own affiliates. For instance, Bliley's staff recently obtained an internal SBC Communications e-mail that allegedly ordered employees to destroy records relating to the rollout of SBC's broadband services.
The internal e-mail message was "harmless and had no impact on our competition or their access to our DSL lines," counters Selim Bingol, an SBC spokesperson in San Antonio, Texas. SBC is "giving competitors the same access and treatment we give ourselves," he adds. In addition, SBC has established a separate subsidiary, Advanced Solutions, specifically to ensure that SBC treats all of its ISP customers fairly--a requirement the FCC imposed on SBC as a condition of approving its merger with Ameritech, Bingol says.
Cable. AT&T touts the advantages of customers receiving all their communications and entertainment needs--cable television; local and long distance telephony; broadband Net access; and, in the future, videoconferencing and interactive TV--over a single line. In this scenario, the more services a consumer buys from AT&T, the cheaper those services become.
But critics say Ma Bell is getting too big and is locking potential cable modem competitors out of the market.
Until 2002, AT&T and 19 other cable providers are bound by exclusive contracts with Excite@Home, meaning that Ma Bell and the other companies must offer only Excite@Home's ISP services to their cable modem customers. (Time Warner and MediaOne are bound to similar agreements with the Road Runner service.)These agreements are being attacked on all sides. In October 1999, GTE challenged cable modem exclusivity contracts in an antitrust case against AT&T and Comcast. In Congress, open-access activists are supporting a bill called the Markey Open Access Resolution. This resolution is similar to a recent Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission ruling, which demanded that cable operators sell access to their cable modem infrastructure to third-party ISPs.
Meanwhile, hundreds of service providers have joined a group called the OpenNet Coalition (www.opennetcoalition.org). Led by America Online and backed by three powerful phone companies--GTE, US West, and MCI WorldCom--OpenNet claims AT&T has emerged as a dangerous broadband monopoly. The group is urging the FCC to force AT&T to open its cable pipelines to competitors.
Local governments have also been trying to force cable companies to open their networks. Cable providers won battles in San Francisco and Miami but lost in Broward County, Florida, and in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. At press time, similar disputes loomed in Portland, Oregon, and in St. Louis and Los Angeles.
All these cases are undergoing appeals. But the outcome is unlikely to have a major impact because national rulings supersede local jurisdictions, and the FCC has taken a hands-off approach. "I envision a broadband oasis," FCC Chairman William Kennard told members of the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors in a September 1999 speech, "where anybody who wants to compete in this broadband marketplace and make the investment to deploy should be able to do so in an unregulated or a significantly deregulated environment. That is the fastest way to get broadband out to the American public."
Kennard has also said that AT&T's efforts to bundle local phone service with cable modem access and other services should create some competition in the local phone service market. But the FCC may be overly optimistic. AT&T won't be offering local phone service as a separate service, says Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America. Instead, Ma Bell will "only offer cheaper local service if you also buy their long distance and cable" services, Cooper explains, "and that won't do the average consumer any good."
AT&T argues that sharing access to its cable infrastructure presents considerable technical challenges. The company also claims that it's unfair to demand that it give away the meager fruits of its ongoing, multibillion-dollar investment in cable infrastructure.
Nonetheless, it seems that AT&T isn't completely averse to sharing: At press time, it had struck a deal with MindSpring to give that ISP (currently in the midst of a merger with EarthLink) access to the AT&T cable system, once its exclusive agreement with Excite@Home expires in 2002. Ma Bell says it is willing to hammer out similar agreements with other third-party ISPs. "The Internet should be driven by consumer needs and not regulated by the government," says Mark Siegel, a spokesperson for the company.
Within several years, the closed cable argument is likely to come before the Supreme Court. But by then, the Court could be looking at a much more entrenched infrastructure. There's a danger to the FCC's wait-and-see attitude because, if this cable infrastructure does indeed become more entrenched, it will become more difficult to open up, CFA's Cooper predicts.
The FCC is also working to stimulate broadband access by making DSL expansion a requirement of mergers between phone companies. For instance, the FCC demanded that SBC Communications boost its DSL business as a condition for approving its merger with Ameritech. In October, SBC appeared to go beyond the scope of the FCC's requirements by announcing it would invest $6 billion to make DSL available to 80 percent of its customers by the end of 2002.
The Big Picture
So what exactly will all the cable and telecommunications industry machinations mean to you? It's difficult to say exactly, but a few things are likely:
Eventually, most people will have a broadband service choice. Cable modem service is still limited to selected cities and suburban areas. As the rollout continues, more business and consumer Web surfers will be able to choose between cable modem and DSL. But these technologies have their geographical limitations. In rural areas, for instance, cable networks are impractical (there aren't enough potential customers to offset the high cost of rolling out the service). DSL isn't cost effective in areas with widely scattered populations, either, because technical limitations cause the bandwidth to decrease the farther you are from the central office. But over time, other broadband technologies, such as fixed wireless and two-way satellite services, will expand to bring fast Internet access to more users. (See "Which Broadband Option Is Right For You?" for more on existing broadband alternatives.)Faster access can mean bigger problems--at least initially. For some of the first customers who signed up for cable or DSL access, "always-on" has turned out to be more like "mostly-on." Most cable companies don't exactly have an encouraging customer service record to start with, and if you've got only one company in your area that supplies cable modem access--which is the case in most of the country--you could be in for some headaches. "You're likely to see the same horrible customer service [the cable companies] provide their TV customers," predicts Jeffrey Chester, executive director at the Center for Media Education.
Meanwhile, complaints about disrupted DSL service have also increased. "The telephone industry has a phenomenal reliability record for voice calls," says analyst Gerry Kaufhold of Cahners In-Stat Group. "But when you talk about enhanced services, they don't do as well as they'd like us to think."
Broadband rates won't be cheap, but they won't be astronomical, either.
Arguably, a monthly rate of $40 to $50 for broadband is a bargain, considering the huge bucks AT&T and others are spending to build their infrastructures. But in exchange for taking a bath now on broadband rates, giants such as AT&T can gain customers and shut out the ISPs that can't afford to incur those huge losses. And once the big guns have a lock on their customers, some analysts believe, these behemoths will then be in a better position to control pricing.
But the broadband giants are unlikely to make pricing prohibitive regardless of how little competition there is. Cable providers must compete against DSL providers, and vice versa, so for now there is competition for your broadband bucks. And if prices were set too high, the big companies would never achieve a wide--and therefore profitable--customer base. The real money, after all, will be made in cutting deals with e-commerce vendors, advertisers, and content providers. But to cut those deals, the broadband providers need to supply their partners with a crucial ingredient: a large base of subscribers. You and me, in other words.
When all is said and done, what all the big companies really want is you. It's not who owns the Internet that counts--it's who owns the customer, explains Laurie Falconer, DSL analyst at TeleChoice, a market research firm.
"AT&T wants to own the customer," Falconer says. "They want to own local, long distance, data, and all the applications that run over [the network]."
This kind of service bundling would make it difficult, if not impossible, for other service providers to compete. And the less competition there is in an industry, the more the dominant companies win--and the more you lose.
Eric Brown is a freelance technology writer based in Boston.
"If ISPs want to stay competitive in the future, they need to provide broadband. If they can't, we're going to see a shrinkage in the ISP market."
Barbara Dooley, director, USISPA
Which Broadband Option is Right for You?
Cable modem, satellite, symmetrical vs. asymmetrical DSL: There's more than one way to fly at Concorde speeds on the Net. Here's a guide to your current broadband choices.
Small to midsize businesses. If you own a business in a major metropolitan area and can afford several hundred dollars per month in access fees, you're likely to find a number of DSL providers competing for your broadband needs. Companies such as Flashcom (www.flashcom.com) offer a variety of DSL services--such as symmetrical DSL, which offers transmissions at the same speed (up to 1.5 mbps) in each direction. SDSL service can cost $200 to $500 per month, but it's still cheaper than a T1 line and is a more mature technology than asymmetrical DSL (ADSL) or cable. And frequently the bandwidth can be shared among multiple users in the office.
Another option: fixed-point wireless services, such as Local Multipoint Distribution Service, which can crank bandwidth up to 2 mbps over one- to two-mile distances. With a fixed-point wireless service, voice, video, and data are converted to a microwave signal via a rooftop antenna and beamed to a base station, where the signal is translated back into a digital bitstream. But like microwave technology, LMDS has difficulty penetrating obstructions like buildings and leafy trees. So far, fixed wireless companies like Teligent (www. teligent.com) and Winstar (www.winstar.com) are aiming services at businesses, but expect MCI WorldCom to make a big push into fixed-point wireless for consumers as early as next fall.
Suburban home offices. For broadband access under $100 a month, you typically have only two options: your local cable provider, which usually charges $40 per month for download speeds up to 3 mbps and up to 128 kbps for uploads, or your local telephone company, which charges $50 to $60 per month for the typical 640-kbps (downloads) and 128-kbps (uploads) ADSL service. There are sometimes lower-cost, lower-bandwidth DSL options available for as low as $40 per month.
And if you live close enough to a central phone company office, you may be eligible for high-speed ADSL service of up to 7 mbps--but that service can cost hundreds of dollars per month. If you work primarily during the day, you'll get the most bandwidth for the buck with cable modems. However, after 3 p.m. on most business days, cable performance often slows to sub-ADSL speeds (the more people that get online, the slower everyone's access becomes). Another disadvantage: interactive cable is less secure than a point-to-point DSL connection.
Rural home offices. Out in the country, you're not likely to get cable modem or DSL service for years, and in extremely remote areas you'll never see them. But don't worry: You've got satellites! Hughes Electronics' DirecPC service (www.direcpc.com) offers 400-kbps download speeds--but upload speeds are closer to the 33.6-kbps limit of your old dial-up modem. Installation costs (you'll need a satellite dish) are often pricey: about $200 and up, and monthly service ranges from about $30 to $130. By 2002, Hughes expects to offer broadband service from its Spaceway two-way low-orbit satellite project. Similar services are expected from Alcatel, Lockheed Martin, Loral, and the long-awaited Teledesic. Early services should be capable of cable modem-like speeds, with future satellite networks promising far speedier service.
"I envision a broadband oasis, where anybody who wants to compete...should be able to do so in an unregulated or a significantly deregulated environment."
FCC Chairman William Kennard
"[We are] giving competitors the same access and treatment we give ourselves."
SBC spokesperson Selim Bingol
Getting Up to Speed
Got questions about high-speed Net access? The Web is the place to find answers. These sites can bring you up to speed on DSL, cable modems, and other access technologies--even if you surf at less than 56K.
Get DSL. To find out if you can get DSL service in your area, dial up www.dsl.com/access.htm and plug in your vital information. For reviews of nearly 700 DSL-ready ISPs, as well as a wealth of other helpful information, go to www.dslreports.com.
Get cable. For everything from checking access in your area to tips about sharing a fast Net connection, try www.cablemodeminfo.com. To get the straight FAQs on the topic, visit www.cablemodemhelp.com.
Get smart. The Center for Media Education (www.cme.org) provides thoughtful, consumer-friendly perspectives on electronic media, including high-speed Net access. Another good option: the telecommunications section of the site run by Consumers Union (www.consumersunion.org/telecom/telecom.htm), publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
"AT&T wants to own the customer--local, long distance, data, and all the applications that run over [the network]."
Telecommunications analyst Laurie Falconer"You're likely to see the same horrible customer service [the cable companies] provide their TV customers."
Jeffrey Chester, executive director, Center for Media Education

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Louise McKerchar, spokesperson for the American Peanut Council (APC), told FoodNavigator-USA.com that she hoped the industry was “coming into the recovery phase” and was working very hard to make sure it didn’t happen again.
The nationwide salmonella outbreak was traced to peanut products from a Peanut Corporation of America plant in Georgia in mid-January.
The corporation recently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found it had knowingly shipped peanut products tainted with a salmonella strain that was linked to at least 677 reported illnesses and nine deaths.
Recalled products surpassed 3000 in the US and at least nine varieties of snack bar in Canada. A number of snack bars were also recalled from shelves in the UK.
McKerchar said a lot of work was now being done to improve good manufacturing processes and persuade companies to use peanuts.
She added: “We have to look at every product that was recalled from the FDA and contact the companies and encourage them to continue to use peanuts.”
The APC boasts that USA peanuts have an “excellent food safety record” and are of “consistent high quality” on its promotional literature.
McKerchar said:“The reputation of American peanuts is still quite high and we will be doing a lot to make sure it continues that way.
“It was one rogue company. It is not an industry wide issue, although it has impacted the entire industry.”
Meanwhile other organisations that have been hit by recent food safety scares have been asked for their advice, such as the spinach industry which was linked to the 2006 outbreak of E.coli in the US that killed at least three people and sickened about 200.
McKerchar said: “When an industry is hit with an issue like this, we have to be in touch with other industries and ask how it impacted them and what were the best things they did.”
Food safety regulation
The outbreak also highlighted a wider issue of food safety in the US according to McKerchar, who said: “People are aware it is not peanut specific.
“We see an agency (the FDA) responsible for food safety having to continue with funding being cut all the time.”
Since the outbreak there have been proposals from legislators, consumers’ groups and manufacturers’ trade associations calling for the reform of US food safety legislation, with many suggesting a consolidation and extension of the FDA’s powers, coupled with greater funding.
Meanwhile, representatives of the APC have also been involved in discussions with the FDA, which has issued guidance to food manufacturers intended to minimize potential health risks arising from salmonella contamination in peanut products.
But in terms of the economic impact, McKerchar said: “We just don’t have any idea of what it is going to do and it is particularly difficult when it is coupled with an economic downturn.”


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European regulators have opened a formal inquiry into the data that Amazon collects from third-party sellers on its website.
Ford and other companies say the industry overestimated the arrival of autonomous vehicles, which still struggle to anticipate what other drivers and pedestrians will do.
Privacy concerns caused the computerized eyewear to fail with the general public. But researchers believe it could help autistic children learn to recognize emotion and make eye contact.
A gallery of scenes from when the space age was young and extraterrestrial travel looked fun.
A San Francisco company financed by Mr. Musk, Neuralink says it has created a device that could one day wire data links directly to the brain.
A series of hearings on Capitol Hill showed the rising force of the political backlash against the country’s tech giants.
The European Union sees the service as a way to end the bloc’s reliance on GPS, which the American military controls.
Lawmakers raised broad concerns about the company’s Libra effort at a Senate hearing on Tuesday.
With the private sector moving aggressively into space, NASA is no longer the only game in town for would-be space travelers.
As social media expands its cultural dominance, the people who can steer the online conversation will have an upper hand.
How one scientist and his inaccurate chart led to unwarranted fears of wireless technology.
The satellites were finally ready to beam images back to Earth in 1969. And some 600 million people watched the event live.
The discussions were halted after Broadcom dropped its takeover price for the security software company during due diligence, said people briefed on the matter.
DuckDuckGo is trying to attract users with a privacy-focused search engine. But taking on an internet giant isn’t easy.
A Facebook event invited U.F.O. enthusiasts to swarm the secretive Nevada base on Sept. 20. The Air Force warned that would be dangerous.
During his lifetime, the mathematician and computer pioneer’s reputation was overshadowed by a conviction under Britain’s Victorian laws against homosexuality, and his war work remained a secret until decades later.
The emergence of a major discount shopping season in the middle of the summer may cost retailers scrambling to keep up with Amazon.
Every day an entertainment’s who’s who passes through the 4,780-square-foot “creative gateway” — complete with 80-foot video screen — hoping for a piece of the billions Netflix is spending on content.
Conservatives are showing up at largely liberal conferences to call for breaking up Facebook and Google. Liberals are going on conservative TV shows to do the same. It’s awkward.


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According to Canalys research, the smartphone market in Southeast Asia witnessed a 21% year-on-year decline in Q1 2023, reaching 20.9 million units, making it the fifth consecutive quarter of decline as consumers adopted a cautious approach to spending on consumer technology.
The decline in smartphone shipments was observed across key countries in the region, including Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia, as the Techloy chart below shows. Low demand and seasonal factors contributed to the decrease in shipments. Indonesia and the Philippines experienced market size contractions of 21% and 17% respectively, while Thailand saw a 13% decline. Vietnam suffered a significant drop of 40% in smartphone shipments. Data on Malaysia's market performance was not available.


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While past shipping dates for the Nexus 4 have been listed in broad terms, Google is now showing a specific date for the Nexus 4 8GB in the Google Play Store, a much different tactic than it has used in the past with the popular Android smartphone.
Last November, Google introduced the unlocked Nexus 4 through the Google Play Store. The device proved much more popular than anyone imagined and the device sold out within hours of it going on sale. It returned several weeks later but it again sold out completely. Instead of putting up a Sold Out sign though, Google instead starting showing progressively distant shipping times for the device.
Both the 8GB Nexus 4 and 16GB Nexus 4 models saw their shipping times head into the months and at that point, Google pulled the plug and the device was once again listed as sold out.
Earlier this year, the device emerged on the Google Play Store and its shipping times have been listed anywhere from one to two weeks to two to three weeks. In other words, Google has been able to tackle the supply issues that have plagued the device.
Today though, we noticed something strange on the Google Play Store. Rather than list the device with a broad range of shipping times, for example one to two weeks, the Google Play Store now lists the 8GB Nexus 4 as shipping out by March 22nd, the first time that we’ve seen Google offer a specific date for potential customers.
In fact, according to a cached version of the page today, it looks like the change was made at some point in the last few hours.
The 16GB Nexus 4 still sits as shipping out in one to two weeks and hasn’t been treated to same type of specifics as the 8GB model. Whether or not this is a temporary listing or a permanent one remains to be seen. It could be that the 16GB model joins the 8GB Nexus 4 at some point, in listing a specific ship by date, but that remains to be seen.
We’ve reached out to Google about the change but those who may be in the market for a new smartphone in the weeks ahead will likely be hoping that Google keeps this sort of timing as it will make the purchasing process a much easier one to handle.
This article may contain affiliate links. Click here for more details.


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3PAR announced today that it received yet another revised proposal from HP to acquire all of 3PAR’s outstanding common stock at $33 per share for a total of $2.4 billion. As the tug of war between HP and Dell continues, a couple of organizations have filed suit against 3PAR.
Dell is also demanding more cash and conditions – including a multi-year reseller deal – be added to its termination agreement with 3PAR.
There has apparently been a quiet back and forth over the past few days. According to a statement from 3PAR, although the company previously notified Dell of its intention to terminate its merger agreement, the agreement was not terminated and remains in effect. Following 3PAR’s notice of intent to terminate the merger agreement, and prior to receiving HP’s revised proposal, Dell increased its offer price from $27 per share to $32 per share.
In a press release issued today, 3PAR stated that Dell’s revised acquisition proposal also included an increased termination fee of $92 million payable by 3PAR to Dell as a condition to accepting a superior proposal, and a multi-year reseller agreement with Dell, which would by its terms be assumed by an acquirer of, or successor in interest to, 3PAR in the event of a change in control of 3PAR (including the acquisition of 3PAR by HP or another third party), and which contained fixed pricing and other terms that the 3PAR board of directors determined to be unacceptable.
3PAR also stated that the terms of 3PAR’s merger agreement with Dell require the 3PAR board of directors to continue to recommend that 3PAR stockholders accept Dell’s cash tender offer, and tender their 3PAR shares pursuant to Dell’s tender offer, so long as the merger agreement with Dell remains in effect. Accordingly, at this time, since the merger agreement between 3PAR and Dell remains in effect, 3PAR’s board of directors continues to unanimously recommend that 3PAR stockholders accept the cash tender offer made by Dell and tender their shares of 3PAR common stock pursuant to such offer.
The 3PAR ping pong match between Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) began at $1.15 billion and quieted down for a few days after reaching a fever pitch last Friday when HP countered Dell’s $27-per- share offering with a $30-per- share bid, bringing the value of the deal to about $2 billion. Later in the day, 3PAR (NYSE: PAR) announced that the HP bid was a “superior offer” to Dell’s, and 3PAR’s board of directors notified Dell of its intention to terminate the merger agreement and giving Dell three days to up its offer.
There are some organizations out to hamper the acquisition or at least grab a share of the billions of dollars being thrown 3PAR’s way as a pair of lawsuits have been filed against the company in the past 24 hours.
Crossroads Systems filed suit against 3PAR and several other companies yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. The suit alleges that 3PAR, American Megatrends, Chelsio Communications, DataCore Software, D-Link, iStor Networks and Rorke Data, infringed on a patent related to Crossroads’ router technology.
Additionally, the International Business Times reported this morning that the Steamfitters Union Local 449 Pension Fund has filed a lawsuit in California Superior Court of Alameda County, in which the group alleges that 3PAR’s leadership rigged the bidding process to make money at the expense of shareholders.
3PAR would not comment on the pending lawsuits.
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OraSure Technologies finished a third consecutive year in the black in 2017, reporting record revenues and earnings fueled by across-the-board product sales.
The Bethlehem global diagnostic testing and specimen collection company recorded a profit of nearly $31 million last year on sales of $167 million, compared with $19.7 million in net income on $128 million in sales in 2016.
That translated to diluted earnings of 51 cents per share, up from 35 cents in 2016. OraSure also set a quarterly record in sales at $52 million, President and CEO President Douglas A. Michels said.
“The company’s never been in better shape,” Michels said shortly before a late-afternoon conference call with financial analysts. “We just finished a record 2017 that was off a record 2016, so things just continue to improve.”
Michels said international sales of its HIV and hepatitis testing products are driving strong performance in its molecular business, which grew by 51 percent over 2016.
The company said it saw lower domestic sales of the OraQuick HIV self-test product and its cryosurgical product.
Wednesday’s earnings roundup marked the last for by Michels, who announced last month that he is retiring after 14 years. Stephen S. Tang, OraSure’s board chairman, will take over as president and CEO, effective April 1, becoming the fourth CEO since OraSure was founded in 1987 as SolarCare Technologies Corp.
OraSure’s stock closed Wednesday at $20.33, up 17 cents; its shares price more than doubled in the last year.
“I think investors are acknowledging the great results we are delivering,” Michels said. “They see we have more growth opportunities ahead of us.”
To that end, the company issued first-quarter guidance of up to $41 million in net revenues and a net loss per share of 6 cents. The anticipated loss is blamed on anticipated charges of $6.8 million related to one-time noncash transition charges involving the addition of Tang and the departures of Michels and Ronald Spair, OraSure’s chief financial anc chief operating officer.
Based in south Bethlehem, OraSure employs about 350 worldwide, including about 230 locally.
Bethlehem's OraSure Technologies on Wednesday announced its 2017 financial results.
Net income: $30.9 million
2016 net income: $19.7 million
Net revenue: $167 million
Earnings per share: 51 cents


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When I groggily opened today’s Times of India, I was pleasantly surprised to see an ad for the iPhone 3G, from Vodafone.
Archives for June 2008
Advertising folks in the Gulf are celebrating their success at the Cannes 2008 too. Fortune Promoseven won a Gold in the Press category.
On the internet, when people can ‘rate’ anything from a DVD to a car, can CEO-ratings & Company-ratings be far behind? Glassdoor is a website that claims to provide 40,000 ‘worker reviews’ of some 9,800 companies around the world.
Came across this piece in AdAge talking about P&G’s strategy during trying times: scrimp & splurge. The world’s leading advertiser is aware that consumers are likely to tighten their belts during these inflationary times.
If you are a regular at Ads of the World, you may have come across a piece of Ambient work for a soft drink brand called ‘Anything Whatever’.


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A motorized exoskeleton, designed to help paralyzed people walk again, just earned U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. It is the first such device to do so.
The device, called ReWalk, straps on user’s bodies and helps those with certain spinal-cord injuries to sit, stand, and walk. Users have to wear a backpack to carry the ReWalk’s computer and battery. They also have to wear a wrist device with buttons to tell the motorized legs when to stand up, sit down, or start walking. But it’s not like users are punching every step into their wrist controllers–ReWalk legs also respond to movements of the user’s torso, so that leaning forward triggers a step. (Popular Science gave the device an Invention Award in 2009 and a Best of What’s New award in 2011.)
The new FDA approval means ReWalk‘s maker, Argo Medical Technologies, or Argo, can now market its products in the U.S. Over the past few years, Argo and other companies that make similar products have tested their exoskeletons on people. Argo has previously sold ReWalk devices to rehabilitation centers in the U.S. but the FDA approval marks the start of sales of ReWalk devices to Americans for private use. Each device will likely cost $65,000 to $68,000, the Telegram reported in March.
The FDA’s announcement about ReWalk details what it is—and isn’t—cleared for. It’s approved for specific spinal cord injuries, but it’s not recommended for people with other severe neurological injuries. The FDA also says users should undergo training before strapping the ReWalk on, and so should a helper for the user—maybe a spouse or a home health aide. Interestingly, the announcement also says the device isn’t for climbing stairs. This is a departure from some earlier news reports about the ReWalk, which showed users going up stairs in the exoskeleton.
A ReWalk Demonstration
Once Argo starts selling ReWalks, it will have to gather data about problems with the device that crop up and submit that data to the FDA.
The agency reviewed a few studies of the device before offering its approval. The studies included 30 volunteers altogether and assessed how far users could walk using the ReWalk and how they fared in crowded places and on uneven surfaces. In one study of 12 volunteers, all were able to walk 50 to 100 meters without help. Some reported they had an easier time going to the bathroom afterward. The FDA announcement didn’t specify who ran these studies, but normally, they’re paid for by companies themselves.
So, ReWalk is the first company to get FDA approval for its walking exoskeleton. Now a few companies and academic research teams that are working on similar products may soon follow. In the more distant future, companies may advance enough to try with the next generation of exoskeletons–ones that are controlled by people’s thoughts, instead of by tilts of the torso or buttons on a wristband.


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Uber celebrates the cities we serve and one of the best ways to engage with our communities is to encourage riders and drivers to vote. Today is National Voter Registration Day and we are pleased to announce that we are partnering with Google to help Uber riders and drivers register to vote and get to […]
Starting today, you can give the gift of … well, actually you fill in the blank. Whether it’s exploring a new city, a night out with friends, or simply a safe ride home, Uber is ready to help get the special people in your life where they want to go. And treating them to these […]
Today we’ll start expanding Real-Time ID Check, our latest security feature which uses Microsoft Cognitive Services to protect both riders and drivers.
Time to hit the pitch because we’re teaming up with EA SPORTS™ and Xbox to kick off FIFA 17 launch week. Learn how you can get in the action in over 40 cities around the world today.
This year, we’re participating in Parking Day. Join us by transforming your own parking spot, and help make your city more liveable, vibrant, and affordable.
A year and a half ago, Uber set up an Advanced Technologies Center (ATC) in Pittsburgh. Its mission: to make self-driving Ubers a reality. Today, we’re excited to announce that the world’s first Self-Driving Ubers are now on the road in the Steel City.
Uber’s cybersecurity team is joining with top tech companies to launch the first-ever Vendor Security Alliance (VSA), a coalition to enable businesses to streamline their vetting process for vendors’ cybersecurity risks.
I’m excited to announce that Jeff Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at Target, will be joining Uber as President, Ridesharing. Jeff will be responsible for Uber’s operations, marketing and customer support globally. Ryan Graves, who has been with us from the start, will continue to be integrally involved with Uber as our resident entrepreneur and builder. […]
Many commuters are already choosing to share a ride on uberPOOL every day, but those expenses can add up. Beginning today, commuters in New York City who have a WageWorks® Commuter Benefits Account can pay for uberPOOL rides with pre-tax dollars. Learn how to commute smarter today.
We’re introducing Local Offers, a way for riders to get free rides spending at nearby businesses with the Visa credit card on their Uber account. It’s pretty simple. Once you enroll in the spots that interest you, you’ll get 1 Uber point for every $1 you spend there. And 100 points earns you a free ride up to $10.
uberPOOL matches you with riders headed in the same direction, allowing you to share your ride and the cost. But often, when you request uberPOOL, you end up getting more than just an affordable ride. You get a story. Hear from riders around the world about their touching, funny, and surprising uberPOOL stories.


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A Cook County judge has ordered the House of Brides to vacate its store at 15180 S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park by Sept. 1 because the business owes $232,428 in back rent.
Judge Maureen P. Feerick issued an order for possession to Inland Real Estate Corp. on Thursday. A court date has been scheduled for Aug. 30 to discuss attorney fees and any damages that HOB Holding Corp. will owe.
Lawyers at Thursday’s hearing estimated the total amount due could surpass $400,000.
Feerick was not receptive to pleas for an extension by House of Brides owners Dale and Eve Buziecki.
The case began on March 1 when a joint action complaint was filed at the Cook County Courthouse in Bridgeview. At that time, House of Brides was $208,620 in arrears.
A call to the House of Brides store in Orland Park on Friday was not returned.
Inland spokeswoman Nicole Spreck declined to speak about the court decision citing company policy.
A company site plan for Ravinia Plaza has for weeks listed the House of Brides location as “coming available.”
House of Brides Inc. has 10 locations in the Chicago area.
For a look at the court record, click here.


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Flavored Disposable Vaping Devices Account for One-third of U.S. E-cigarette Sales.
Since 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has sought to crack down on fruity, sweet-flavored e-cigarettes that hook teenagers on nicotine.
But at least 20 brands continue to sell China-made disposable devices with kid-friendly flavors such as “peach blueberry candy” and “pineapple strawnana” at liquor stores, smoke shops and convenience stores in the United States, Reuters has found.
Flavored disposable vaping devices account for one-third of U.S. e-cigarette sales, up from less than 2% three years ago, according to a Reuters review of retail sales data. Their surge raises questions about the public health agency’s failure to rein in the booming flavored e-cigarette market and its ability to enforce its own rules, some critics say. Read more here.
Vaping Becomes ‘Public Health Catastrophe’ in UK Children
Despite it being illegal to sell the devices to under-18s, research indicates a steep rise in underage vaping over the last five years, with the proportion of 16- to 18-year-olds who say they use e-cigarettes doubling in the past 12 months alone, according to Action on Smoking and Health .
Now child respiratory doctors have criticised the government for failing to heed warnings about the risks of allowing e-cigarettes to be sold in child-friendly packaging containing the names of popular sweet treats – including banana milkshake and jelly babies, both of which products contain 2% nicotine, the highest concentration allowed in the UK. Read more here.
Vitamin Vapes Grow in Popularity
So-called wellness vapes are growing in popularity. Unlike regular vapes (e-cigarettes) that contain nicotine, these products contain vitamins, hormones or essential oils. But they have caught the attention of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because of the unproven health claims made by many of the companies that sell them.
Wellness vapes – also known as “nutritional supplement diffusers” – cover a range of products that find a common origin in e-cigarettes. E-cigarettes deliver nicotine to the lungs without the need for combustion or tobacco. This removes some harmful components, such as tobacco tar. Instead of combustion, e-cigarettes use energy from a battery to heat e-liquid, which forms a vapour that can be inhaled.
A new wave of products aims to use this same inhaled delivery system for a wide range of non-nicotine products, including vitamins (B12 and C are particularly popular), milk thistle, melatonin (a hormone), green tea and a variety of essential oils. Wellness vape companies make claims that different combinations of these additives can help you focus better, promote sleep and even help you lose weight. Read more here.


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Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has warned the private power distribution companies to perform up to the expectations of the consumers or else her government would be forced to take any action it deemed fit.
During a meeting with residents’ welfare association over the weekend on the issue of inflated power bills, she was told that consumers were unable to digest the high amounts reflected in their bills as it was not as per the consumption trend recorded in their earlier bills.
At a high-level meeting later, which was attended by Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) chairman, Public Grievances Committee chairman, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, State Power Secretary and the Chief Executive Officers of the discoms, Ms. Dikshit expressed displeasure over the performance of the discoms, particularly BSES.
Mr. Dikshit directed BSES to extend time till this month end to consumers to pay their bills raised in August. She also told BSES not to penalise or harass consumers who were not paying their bills on the presumption that they are inflated. She also asked the discoms to ensure responsiveness of their customer care centres.
Directing BSES to handle this situation in a prompt and humane manner, the Chief Minister she asked DERC to efficiently safeguard the interests of consumers to ensure their utmost satisfaction.
DERC chairman, Berjinder Singh, told the Chief Minister that a committee would be constituted to check all power-related data and billing software of the discoms within a month. The committee would submit its report with suggestions within 15 days. He also informed that the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) of the Union Information Technology Ministry was being engaged to check the billing software and other related IT software of the discoms.
The PGC chairman, Justice R. C. Chopra, informed that complaints of inflated bills were increasing by the day. He also underlined the importance of redress of grievances in the shortest possible time.


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- News tagged "geforce experience"
Thursday, 20 Aug 2015
New features are on their way to GeForce Experience, in the form of an in-game overlay that allows gamers to do things like share gameplay footage online and play collaboratively with a friend.
Wednesday, 9 Apr 2014
NVIDIA has announced GeForce 337.50 Beta drivers that promise to deliver performance boosts to DirectX 11-based game titles, as well as the expansion of the game optimization technology, GeForce Experience 2.0 to support over 150 games!
Tuesday, 29 Oct 2013
NVIDIA has rolled out the ShadowPlay feature in its latest GeForce Experience update. ShadowPlay was announced last month at NVIDIA's Montreal 2013 event. It promises to let gamers record their gameplay without affecting their gaming experience.
Monday, 7 Jan 2013
We first heard about GeForce Experience a month ago and today, NVIDIA's CEO has demoed it at a press conference with further emphasis of creating a better PC gaming experience for anyone without worry of game settings or driver details.
Friday, 7 Dec 2012
NVIDIA's GeForce Experience is a PC application that optimizes game settings and keeps graphics card drivers up-to-date. This service is released in beta version and is limited to the first 10,000 users who register on a first-come, first-served basis.


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Yulon Group's efforts to establish its brand name in the Chinese auto market have gradually paid off, according to local media reports.
Kenneth Yen, CEO of Yulon Group, was cited as having said recently that the group's auto sales, revenues and profits from China exceeded those from Taiwan for the first time in the January-March quarter this year.
Dongfeng Yulon Motor Co., a joint venture founded by Yulon and Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corp. to produce Yulon-developed autos in China, has increased the number of its sales footholds from 30 last year to 90 so far this year and will expand the figure to 200 by the end of the year, Yen said.
Dongfeng Yulon began to sell Yulon-developed Luxgen cars in China last year and sales volume is expected to reach 45,000 units this year, Yen said, adding that the venture will also begin to turn a profit this year.
In the past couple of years, Yen said, Yulon has also export Luxgen sedans to Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Marshall Islands and several Middle East countries as part of its global branding efforts.
Yulon, Taiwan's largest automaker, is now seeking cooperation partners in Russia and expects to start auto sales there next year, Yen said.
The following are excerpts from the local media coverage of Yulon Group's global branding and business expansion plan:
Economic Daily News:
Yen said in a recent interview with this paper that the recent global economic slowdown has affected Taiwan's auto sales.
Early this year, Yen said he forecast the annual domestic car sales at 400,000 units.
"But I have become less confident of the market prospects," Yen said, adding that he has reduced his forecast to about 360,000 units, down 10,000 units from last year's volume.
Fortunately, Yen said, Yulon has established footholds in China and Taiwan is only part of its markets.
Yulon Nissan Motor Co., a joint venture between Yulon and Japan's Nissan Motor Co., scored only a quarter of its Q1 profits from Taiwan and three-fourths of the quarterly earnings came from China, Yen said.
He said Dongfeng Yulon in China has added a new model -- the Luxgen CEO executive multi-purpose van (MPV) -- in the Chinese market.
"We need to develop more innovations and new technologies to win Chinese consumers' attention amid ever increasing competition," Yen said.
Yulon Group's annual sales could surge to NT$350 billion this year, marking a 25 percent growth from the 2011 record, with earnings forecast at NT$20 billion.
As President Ma Ying-jeou was just sworn in for a second term in office, Yen said he hopes the government will resolve public grievances over electricity and fuel prices hikes and should take a second thought on introduction of capital gains tax at this moment of global economic uncertainty (May 21, 2012).
United Evening News:
Yulon Group shares rallied Monday on the Taiwan Stock Exchange amid optimistic reports about the group's business prospects.
The group also led other auto industry stocks to stage a rebound in morning trade. (May 21, 2012).
(By Sofia Wu)


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Shop owners say they could soon be forced to start charging customers to use cash machines or remove them altogether as a result of changes to the way they are taxed.
In 2013, the Valuation Office Agency ruled that any ATM situated on the front wall of a store should incur a separate rates bill.
It identified around 10,500 such cash machines.
The agency also decided to backdate this charge to 2010, leaving some shop owners facing one-off bills running into the tens of thousands of pounds.
As a result of these initial costs and the ongoing, higher charges now levied, many free ATMs have become financially unviable.
The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the Government calling on it to remove the charge on free ATMs.


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DSSRC Administrative Closure #107
The Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (“DSSRC”) contacted a direct selling company (“Company”) regarding a Facebook video post disseminated by a Company salesforce member. The video came to DSSRC’s attention pursuant to its routine monitoring of social media posts in the direct selling industry and it was determined that the video implied that the direct selling business opportunity offered by the Company could typically result in salesforce members earning and/or replacing career level income.
The approximately seven-minute Facebook video was posted in April 2019 and featured several unqualified testimonials from Company salesforce members who indicated the possibility of earning significant income that could be considered career-level. As noted by DSSRC in section 6 of its Earnings Claim Guidance for the Direct Selling Industry, some words and phrases commonly used in earnings claims can carry a particularly high risk of being misleading to consumers. Such words and phrases include claims such as “financial freedom,” “full-time income,” “replacement income,” “residual income,” and “career-level income.”
Shortly after receipt of the self-regulatory inquiry, the Company contacted the salesforce member responsible for the post and had the video removed within 24 hours.
Based upon the Company’s actions to promptly disable the concerning video, DSSRC administratively closed its inquiry.
(closed on 11/23/2020)


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June 25, 2023 -The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has sought to assure the producers of honey in Guyana that their concerns about the exportation of their products are not being ignored.
This is according to the Director of External Trade at CARICOM’s Secretariat’s Directorate of the Caribbean Single Market and Trade, Dr. Chantal Ononaiwu.
Ononaiwu was speaking at a breakfast seminar titled “The Original Jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice and the Private Sector”.
Guyanese honey producers say they are facing substantial difficulties exporting locally-made honey into the Caribbean because of laws in Trinidad and Tobago that block trans-shipment.
Ononaiwu was responding to concerns from the Vice Chairman of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Rafeek Khan, and GMSA Adviser Ramesh Dookhoo who both pointed to the need for Trinidad and Tobago to remove the prohibition of transportation of honey from the 88-year old Beekeeping and Bee Products Act.
Ononaiwu also admitted that honey has been a “longstanding issue on the agenda” of CARICOM’s ministerial Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) that would remain there until it’s resolved.
Trinidad and Tobago’s honey, bees and bee products are guided by the island’s age-old Food and Drug Act of 1960 and Beekeeping and Bee Products Act of 1935.
And as per the country’s Beekeeping and Bee Products Act, only honey originating from the Windward and Leeward Islands can be transshipped to the twin-island republic.
The country initially restricted the importation of honey from Grenada and other Caribbean countries over concerns about a potentially disastrous disease of honeybees, the American Foulbrood disease.
However, Grenada took the issue to COTED in 2013 and the Council decided that Trinidad’s denial of market access was in violation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, CARICOM’s central treaty.
The twin island republic was then directed to lift the prohibition on the import and trans-shipment of honey.


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Usually, the holidays are a time to give, but after a camera update earlier this fall, users recently discovered that Google has removed the ability to use Astrophotography mode with the ultra-wide cameras on Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G.
When Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G was first released, Google’s Astrophotography Mode (which was introduced last year along with Pixel 4) was available for use on both the phone’s primary and ultra-wide cameras. Unfortunately, it seems that after squeezing out version 8.1 of Google Camera app which added a handful of features to older Pixel phones, the newer Pixel 5 and 4a 5G also lost the ability to use Astrophotography mode with their ultra wide angle lenses.
While Google has not provided an official explanation for this change, Google has since updated it support page to note that “On Pixel 4a (5G) and Pixel 5, astrophotography only works at zoom settings equal to or greater than 1x.”
It is currently unclear what caused Google to disable Astrophotography mode from working with ultra-wide cameras. If you look at some examples from the Pixel support community, a possible explanation can be some poor results.
IN a thread on the Pixel support page, a number of users published side-by-side comparisons taken before the update showing Astrophotography images taken by an ultra-wide Pixel lens that look noticeably grainy or have lower quality (often with a strong green tint) than images taken by the phone’s primary camera.
Because it was possible to take Astrophotography photos with a Pixel’s ultra-wide lens before the update, after reports of less than amazing results, Google may have decided to temporarily disable the feature while investigating the issue and potentially working on a solution. Gizmodo has contacted Google for more information and we will provide an update if we hear back.
Given the time it took before this change was noticed, the loss of support for Astrophotography mode on Pixel 5 and 4a 5G’s ultra-wide cameras is probably not a big deal for most people, but it’s a somewhat disappointing change anyway, so here’s hope Google may squeeze out a solution sometime soon.


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Best Buy to Air First-Ever Super Bowl Ad
Best Buy Company, Inc., on Wednesday unveiled the cast to be featured in its inaugural Super Bowl commercial: pop sensation Justin Bieber and rock icon Ozzy Osbourne.
The spot is scheduled to air during the third quarter of the Packers-Steelers showdown on February 6. The advertisement was created by Miami-based ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky and was shot at Universal Studios earlier this month.
Advertising Age broke the news last month that Best Buy plans to air a 30-second commercial during the big game. The article said that Best Buy plans to unveil through the advertisement “really big news that will revolutionize retailing,” although the company declined to reveal further details.
According to Minneapolis-based media and marketing firm Haberman, Super Bowl ads cost $100,000 per second-which would put Best Buy's spot at a hefty $3 million, although the exact price has not been disclosed. Media reports concur that a 30-second ad this year carries a price tag of roughly $3 million. (Haberman recently implored businesses to redirect 5 percent of their spending on advertising to aid social issues.)
Advertising Age also reported that consumer spending related to the big game-including sales of team apparel and flat-screen TVs sold by electronics retailers like Best Buy-is expected to hit $10 billion this year.
Best Buy is Minnesota's third-largest public company based on revenue, which totaled $49.7 billion in its most recently completed fiscal year.


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The Biggest 2020 Trend in the Tech Industry is the People that Power It
The tech industry trend analyses are teeming with speculation on what the next year—or even the next decade—will bring with it. And you’ve probably read your fair share of hot takes on the future of automation, the influence of big data, and the prospects for AI and business intelligence—not to mention the ethics of it all. These undoubtedly important trends will have a lasting influence on the tech industry and beyond. Big data, in particular, seems primed to fuel some of the biggest trends we’ll see this year, and the influence it could have on business strategies could be tremendous.
But from my vantage point, these trends are only a piece of what will define tech this year. More important than the strategies that enable continued growth in the tech industry are the people that imagine and execute that work, and in 2020, the tech companies that will lead the pack will be those that understand how to identify, attract, retain and engage the teams that power their workforce.
Attracting and retaining talent in the tech industry
As a Recruiter, I meet with tech leaders across the country and work to fill pivotal roles in their teams, and there are a lot of similarities in the talent they’re trying to find. Often, they’re looking for data-literate individual contributors or holistic thinking leaders, and it seems clear to all of us that there is more demand than supply in many pockets of the tech world.
And while you’re on the hunt for talent to scale or sustain your business, retaining the talent you already have is no small feat. The tech industry has a higher turnover rate than other industries at 13%, with companies like Google and Amazon having a reported median tenure of just one year. Chances are your employees get phone calls or LinkedIn messages from outside Recruiters weekly.
Between the fight to find the right talent and keep the talent you have, the tech companies that will reign supreme in 2020 will be those that create an employer brand and a people strategy that their workforce believes in and outsiders covet.
Redefining what it means to be an employer of choice in tech
When it comes to creating an employer brand that people covet, the rules of the game have seen a major overhaul in the last few years. Strong total compensation packages and perk-heavy office experiences used to be the perfect equation for a standout employer. It’s how Google and Facebook first attracted powerhouse workforces, offering everything from nap pods, rock climbing walls and game rooms to free, gourmet food and onsite laundry services. But throughout 2019, there was no shortage of signs that tech employees are looking for companies that offer more than flashy amenities and leading compensation packages, and they’re not afraid to speak out if they think their employer’s ethos has strayed.
The employee lawsuits and walkouts that rocked Google, the employee-led petitions from Facebook, the employees who spoke out about Away’s toxic work culture, and WeWork’s wounded workforce were some of the biggest stories to break in tech last year, and as tech companies continue to innovate on what it means to be an employer of choice, it seems like a foregone conclusion that large tech companies will have to grapple with what it means to be an ethical employer brand that inspires its people to stay and do their best work.
Tech companies should be asking themselves: What is our story? How are we compellingly differentiating ourselves in the hiring market? And you should be honest with yourself about what things your workforce might value even over a hefty paycheck. After all, if differentiation comes back to compensation as the sole driver, we’ll all find ourselves in an unsustainable arms race to pay at the top of the market.
Understanding the strategy behind soft skills
I realize things like people strategies and ethical employer brands can sound a little fluffy when your company is blitzscaling, but we all know about the lost productivity turnover or vacant roles can cause. Further, people do better work when they’re motivated, so those tech companies that crack the code of who they want to hire and what inspires their talent pool to do their best work for a sustained period are the ones that will be able to run smoother sprints and stand up better products.
But you’ll notice even these softer skills need a strategy. And if you find you’re chasing the feedback of every disgruntled employee in the name of retention, let me be the one to tell you: You’ve veered off track. Working with your HR and People leaders, though, to define your ideal talent pool and then understand what drives that talent in the market is a powerful first step in tackling the engagement and retention opportunities in your company.
And don’t forget resource planning
All of this work will take time. In fact, people strategies and talent pools are constantly evolving, and no matter how solid your culture or employer brand, you’re still going to have vacant roles and some level of turnover. So how you resource plan to fill gaps in your workforce is another important step. For example, from the time a role is posted to the day its filled, on average, is about 60 days. So are you ready with a resource plan that will bridge that gap? It might be contractors or a job share program, but in an industry where first to market still carries a lot of weight, no one in tech has much time to waste.
Ultimately, the tech trends of 2020 you’re reading about elsewhere are important. Automation and AI, for example, have the potential to transform even how work gets done within the four walls of your company. But in the case of automation or any other trend, you’ll still need people to stand up and maintain these systems, and the companies that are making strong efforts to understand, attract, engage and retain the talent they want will easily have the edge on their competitors.


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Digital payments increased by 57% a year of after year in the last fiscal with mobile wallets more than doubling and card payment which was increased by 44%, helped by government push particularly after the demonetization which happen last year.
According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) which claims that “The Aadhar-linked payment systems and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) a government backed payment system, have also helped to boost to digital transactions in 2016-17, when the total number of such transactions crossed 8.8 billion.”
NPCI, Managing Director, AP Hota said “We are witnessing a huge leap in transactions on RuPay cards which are executed on both in trading terminals and on the Internet, along with significant growth on the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) platform, which we hope will be more effective next year and help us to achieve the goal of 25 billion transactions every year.
Armed with numerous of options like Bharat QR – a QR code network for making a payment with any card which will help to increase a digital payments at point of sales. BHIM (Bharat interface money) mobile payment app for UPI transactions, and several payment systems, NPCI is confident on popularizing of digital payments even for small transactions.
Hota added “This year, we have received over 1 lakh BharatQR codes which have distributed among the outlets, and by next year we have a plan to generate 93,000 QR codes.”
Despite the fact that UPI and AEPS are the latest modes of transactions the government insists on, mobile wallet and plastic cards have also helped digital payments to show a significant growth.
Mobile wallets rose to 1.1 billion transactions from 603 million transactions last year, and payments on cards reached to 2.8 billion transactions against 1.9 billion transaction last year.
Hota said that RuPay, an internal network of payment cards, has reached a 361 million internal cards in circulation and about 15 million international cards. The company added the ATM market is about 33% and in PoS terminal it is about 17% only.
“By this year, we saw that over 195 million transactions of RuPay cards on PoS terminals band about 87.5 million transactions for online transactions,” He added. “Currently only 7-8 banks issues all their incremental cards in RuPay networks.”
New ways of digital payments, for which special attentions of the central government, are strategically sponsored by banks and payment companies to bring the rural poor in digital form. “UPI, including BHIM transaction which reached to 16.7 million transactions in 2016-17 and that of 335 million transactions were achieved for AEPS in general,” Hota said.
While these new modes have only just begun, Hota hopes that the initiatives like ATM-based digital transactions at a fair-price stores and coordinated push in business correspondent-level activities through digital modes will increase the adoption of AEPS in Rural areas.


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Google Maps now offers embeddable videos from YouTube, giving local businesses a new way to show off their goods. Companies listed in Google’s Local Business Center can upload a video to YouTube and have it associated with their expanded listing in Google Maps.
Now, local businesses can offer virtual tours of their facilities, post product demos, or as TechCrunch’s Erick Schonfeld put it, any small company can essentially put up its own TV commercial.
Google Earth added YouTube video last year, so this expansion to maps is no surprise.
But the big winner from this announcement is TurnHere, a company that creates custom videos for its clients. Not only is this another reason for local businesses to make enticing, professional-looking video, but the example used by the Google Maps blog is a listing for I Dream of Cake, featuring a video created by TurnHere.


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The technology news DiariesElephone S8 requirements in depth, goes on pre-sale in the USThe Elephone S8 doesn’t actually have a speaker grille or sensors on leading. On the again, the smartphone has an HTC U Extremely-like glossy design with an individual digital camera for the centre together with an LED flash.
Tech providers carry on attempts to banish extremist accounts Tech businesses continue initiatives to banish extremist accounts
The notion is parodied on Television, but a true enterprise is featuring transfusions of teen’s plasma to reinvigorate older individuals. At $eight,000, it’s a little a bloodsucker
The vulnerability and conservation value of sub-tropical reefs south of The nice Barrier Reef - viewed as local weather modify refuges – has long been highlighted in a fresh study.
With a true threat of antitrust and privacy regulation to the horizon, Google is on course to become this 12 months’s top rated corporate lobbying spender from the US
Fb use during the US will gradual as teenagers and younger adults choose smartphone graphic-sharing expert services Instagram and Snapchat, In keeping with an eMarketer forecast produced on Tuesday.
China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday criticized a U.S. conclusion to start a trade probe of Beijing's technology coverage as an assault on the global buying and selling procedure and mentioned click here it is going to "resolutely protect" Chinese providers.
SpaceX is intending to launch humans into orbit on board its Dragon capsule, and has made new Room fits for its passengers to use Space23 August 2017
Eclipse science: From galloping giraffes to photo voltaic wisps From zoo website visitors to Expert astronomers, people today throughout The us gathered science from overall solar eclipse
STRAY pet dogs in a small Indian town are turning blue — and there’s a tragic reason driving the Bizarre phenomenon.
When a nuclear assault by North Korea might be horrific, there are still issues unexpected emergency responders can to perform prepare for this kind of an celebration. Go through Additional
Numerous solutions featured on This page had been editorially picked out. Well-known Science may get economic compensation for products and solutions acquired through this site.
Security units to stop autos from drifting into An additional lane or that warn motorists of motor vehicles within their blind spots are starting to Reside up to their opportunity to significantly decrease crashes, As outlined by two studies launched ...
In the present major stories, Samsung unveils its hottest Notice, which didn't attribute numerous surprises. Also, you might soon be capable of store from Walmart using your Google Property smart speaker.


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CNET Update levels up:
The Razer Edge isn't your typical tablet. This Windows 8 PC gaming tablet is a unique hybrid device thanks to its various accessories. But for a high price, not every feature is high-end. Get a taste in the video above, or dive into the full review here.
Also in the tech news roundup:
- Google Maps updates with live transit data in NYC, D.C. and Salt Lake City.
- The Google Play Movies and TV app on Android shows actor info from videos you're watching. (Amazon is doing the same with its X-Ray feature.)
- Google tests same-day delivery service for online shopping. San Francisco residents can test it for free for six months.
- The Tamagotchi is reborn on iOS in the Tamagotchi L.i.f.e. app. The app was first released on Android in February and has more than 600,000 downloads.
Watch CNET Update in the video above, and subscribe to the podcast via the links below.
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First-run movies and craft beer on menu at Flix Brewhouse coming to El Paso
Flix Brewhouse, an Austin-area based company that bills itself as the world's only first-run movie theater with a microbrewery, will open in El Paso by early 2019.
The cinema eatery will be the anchor of the West Towne Marketplace, a new 500,000-square-foot retail, dining and entertainment center in Northwest El Paso, by Interstate 10 and Paseo del Norte. The shopping center is an open-air retail center on 63 acres of land.
The cinema, one of several planned for Texas, will have nine auditoriums with state-of-the-art digital audio and video.
But for those looking for more out of their cinema experience, the theater promises to have a menu tailored to El Paso tastes and a dozen signature Flix beers brewed on the premises.
It will host Pro-Am homebrew competitions, dinners and on-site Beer 101 brewing and tasting seminars, as well as themed film experiences.
The first Flix opened in Round Rock, Texas, in 2011 and the company now has four locations, with new venues under construction in Little Elm, Texas, Madison, Wis., and Chandler, Ariz.
María Cortés González may be reached at 546-6150; email@example.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.


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In September we wrote that Samsung will not update current generation Windows Phones from WP7.5 to WP7.8. This info was based on a chart posted to Facebook by Samsung Sweden. The chart clearly showed that the Samsung Omnia W will not go beyond build 7.10.8107.7 (original post can be found here). Turns out Samsung Sweden was wrong. Samsung Italy has now told that current generation Windows Phones from the company that run Windows Phone 7.5 will get updated to Windows Phone 7.8. This means that the Samsung Omnia M and Omnia W will both get updated to WP7.8!
Windows Phone Italy received the following statement from Samsung Italy:
We can confirm that our products carrying the Windows Phone version 7.5 , are updated the [version] 7.8 but will be made ??available with terms decided by Microsoft.