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Sport-utilities are in and minivans are out, based on a survey ranking vehicles on resale value after three years of ownership.
Six of the top 10 light trucks were sport-utilities, and no minivans made the top 10.
The study was conducted by ADP Autosource, a division of computer giant Automatic Data Processing Inc. of Hoffman Estates, Ill.
The minivan with the best resale value - the Nissan Quest - ranked 24th among light trucks. It retained 74 percent of its value after three years of ownership.
'The large number of new product entries in this segment and the introduction of more sport-utilities may have affected resale values for older-model vans,' said Corey Wurzner, ADP Autosource's market research director.
The study of resale values is a first for Autosource, which has been collecting data on total loss valuations for insurance companies for 14 years.
The Toyota Land Cruiser holds its value better than any other car or light truck, the survey found. It retained 94.57 percent of its original 1994 price of $35,403 and had an average 1997 resale value of $33,481.
'Cars, both foreign and domestic, ranked lower overall than trucks in the survey,' said Wurzner. 'Trucks are perceived to be more durable and also are less affected by style changes.'
ADP does not disclose the vehicles with the lowest resale values, said Matt Tank, database manager for ADP Autosource. The study ranked more than 250 1994-model cars and light-trucks. It evaluated nearly 1.2 million vehicles, based on advertised prices and the company's own consumer surveys.


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When the Police performed together for the first time in 23 years on this year's Grammy Awards show, the trio announced its world tour. Since then, more than 1.7 million tickets have been sold. It's considered to be the hottest ticket of the year.
The Atlanta date was announced today. The Police, with Fiction Plane opening the show, will perform on Nov. 17 in Philips Arena.
Tickets are $52, $92 and $277.
Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at all Ticketmaster locations, including the Publix grocery stores in Columbus. Tickets will also be sold at the Columbus Civic Center, 400 Fourth St. Go to www.ticketmaster.com or call 706-494-8330 to charge tickets.

domain: news


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The EY joint report released recently in collaboration with Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) shared data projection for investment required in physical digital infrastructure vital for connecting people online by 2025.
"Whether it is health tech, edutech, consumer tech India is leading the way. We will see USD 200 billion e-commerce market, USD 12 billion edutech market," EY emerging markets TMT leader Prashant Singhal said.
According to the EY-DIPA joint report, as many as 330 million people will be using 5G and sectors like e-commerce, education, healthcare will grow their presence online.
EY estimates investments in the range of USD 17-23 billion will be required in the segment by 2025.
This comprises investment in the range of USD 7 billion to USD 9 billion each for macro tower additions and fibre deployments, USD 2-3 billion for outdoor small cells which will be important for 5G roll out, USD 500-800 million in Wi-Fi and in-building solutions, USD 500-700 million in edge data centers and USD 500 million in data centers.


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TOTW 34 can now be used in FIFA 21 Ultimate Team. Which players have entered this week’s team this time? When will TOTW 34 come?
In FIFA 21, TOTS is in full swing. At the same time, the prices of many cards in the transfer market are falling. So many
The strong of FIFA 21 are usually very expensive. But with the current mission, you can find a very dangerous striker in Alexander Isak-and without
The new La Liga TOTS offers 15 heavily upgraded cards that can now be used in FIFA 21. The team looks solid and offers total
EA Sports announced on Twitter what the Premier League would look like this year. Fifteen cards have been officially confirmed. The whole team looks solid.
The new weekly 31 teams are now available. It will be released at 7:00 pm on April 28, 2021, and will remain in FUT 21


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Season 38 of Jeopardy! concluded on Friday, July 29th following a tumultuous start to the year. Now, with the game show having confirmed that both game show champ Ken Jennings and Big Bang Theory star Mayim Bialik will return next year to co-host, when can we expect season 39 to begin?
Well, according to Newsweek, Jeopardy! will air the first episode of its all-new season on Monday, September 12th. As expected, hosting duties will alternate between Jennings and Bialik. Overall, it marks a new tradition for the game show. However, that’s just the beginning.
As per the outlet, the game show decided to move forward with both Jennings and Bialik as hosts because executives plan to create all new editions. In speaking about the decision, executive producer Michael Davies said, “With all of our plans for [the show], which is more Jeopardy!, not less, more versions—we’re going to need multiple hosts to represent the entire audience, to represent the entire country, in order to take this franchise forward.”
As of now, we can say for certain that game show executives plan to bring back Celebrity Jeopardy! So now, not only will Mayim Bialik continue to serve as co-host on the original show, but she will also headline the spinoff Celebrity Jeopardy! Celebrity Jeopardy! is set to begin on Sunday, September 25th. The game show has not yet announced its lineup of celebrity players.
‘Jeopardy!’ Introducing Brand New Podcast
We can’t be certain what other game show spinoffs Jeopardy!‘s producers will launch. But, we do know that in addition to its TV series, we can also look forward to a Jeopardy! podcast. Entitled Inside Jeopardy!, the podcast will air on a weekly basis. Davies will make an appearance on the podcast alongside various guests.
In a statement regarding the new project, the game show executive said, “Hosted by Jeopardy! producers, including me, Inside Jeopardy! will give you all an inside look into everything going on behind the scenes at America’s Favorite Quiz show: everything from gameplay analysis and behind-the-scenes stories, to official announcements, and special interviews.”
Coming up on the brand new podcast, Jeopardy! fans can look forward to an announcement regarding contestants returning for a Second Chance at becoming game show champs. Jeopardy!‘s new podcast is available for streaming on various platforms including Apple and Spotify.
Contestant’s Name Triggers Technical Issues for Amazon Echo Owners
Across more than three decades of Jeopardy!, fans have seen and experienced their fair share of technical issues. However now, given the way technology has advanced since the turn of the century, viewers are experiencing all new problems. During a recent airing of the show, a contestant named Alexa triggered Amazon Echo owners’ systems at home.
On Twitter, one fan said, “One of the contestants on tonight’s Jeopardy is named Alexa, and my Alexa device keeps getting triggered. Her latest response was, ‘I don’t know the answer to that.’ I am in bizzaro world.”


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One large clothing retailer has shut its doors just as another cuts the welcome ribbon at the Burbank Town Center. Loehmann's department store at Burbank Boulevard and San Fernando Road abruptly shut its doors Nov. 8, days before the New York-based...
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Verdugo Mental Health — an agency that provides counseling and mental health services to thousands of people in Burbank and Glendale — has filed for bankruptcy, but the facility’s leaders say a new operator will step in before a single...


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Imran Khan who has been inked twice before , on his neck and arm, recently go a third tattoo, on his chest.
The design this time is a unique one as it features footprints of his 10-month-old daughter, Imara.
The actor got inked during a family holiday in Goa in January, by a tattoo artiste who has designed one of his previous tattoos as well.
Imran wanted to get something special, yet unusual done as soon as Imara was born., but he did not have a particular design in mind.
Imran’s mother had his footprints etched on a piece of paper, which she has treasured all these years.
That’s where the idea originated and Imran eventually decided to get it done.
When contacted, Imran confirmed the story and added, “Imara is my firstborn, and I wanted a tattoo that I would cherish forever.”
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A recent surge in divestitures underscores a tendency among both buyers and sellers in such deals to underplay certain human-capital elements during pre-deal preparation, a new Ernst & Young (E&Y) report suggests.
Many of the most recent notable companies shedding businesses have spun them off into new entities, including Abbot Laboratories (its AddVie specialty biopharmaceuticals unit), Covidien (Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals), McGraw-Hill (its education segment), Pfizer (Zoetis, its animal-health business), Sallie Mae (its consumer-banking unit), Sears (Sears Canada) and Valero Energy (CST Brands, a retailer of transportation fuels and convenience goods).
Starting last year there also have been numerous high-profile carve-outs resulting in sales to new owners: Caterpillar sold its third-party logistics business to Platinum Equity; Cytek Industries sent its coating business to Advent International; Eastman Kodak transferred its health group to Onex; and Health Net Life Insurance sold its Medicare Prescription Drug Plan business to a subsidiary of CVS Caremark.
George Brooks, E&Y’s human capital leader for the Americas, attributes the strong divestiture activity to a perfect storm of factors coming to a head since last year. They include companies buying up low-margin businesses amid industry consolidations, new demand for fast growth in shareholder value, growing interest in shedding debt-heavy businesses because of concerns that interest rates may finally rise, and recent regulatory activity.
Brooks characterizes the human-capital missteps that many parties to deals make as falling into three buckets: things you think will work that don’t, things you overlook, and things you know you should do but still don’t.
The chief thing that doesn’t work as expected has to do with retention. It’s in both parties’ best interests for key personnel to stay with business being divested until after the deal closes, and in the buyer’s case well beyond that. But in its survey of 100 large companies (respondents were a mix of CEOs, CFOs and human-capital leaders), E&Y found that while stay bonuses were the most common retention tactic used, they had the least impact among the five most-used tactics.
Respondents rated their success in retaining employees through deal closing on a zero-to-10 scale, with 10 being the most successful. The average score for companies that used stay bonuses was 7.0. Ahead of that were making managers accountable for retention (7.9), enhanced severance protection during post-close period (7.8), communications on the value proposition of divestment (7.3) and surveys to determine employees’ critical concerns (7.2).
“In these big deals there may be tens of millions of dollars going out the door that may not be worth the expense,” says Brooks. At some companies that have made multiple divestitures, the stay bonus comes to be viewed as an entitlement, and when that happens, it loses most of its retentive value, he notes. “But once you start doing them, how do you stop? How do you tell that next division you’re getting rid of that they’re not going to get the bonuses?”
Another very common element of a divestiture is a transition services agreement (TSA) between the seller and the buyer or new entity, under which the seller provides infrastructural and administrative support for an agreed-upon time period after the deal closes. That may a prudent step for getting a potential buyer (or, in the case of a spinoff, existing shareholders who will get stock in the new company) to sign off on the transaction. But it also may significantly interfere with sellers’ oft-stated wishes to keep deal costs down.
“TSAs are the most costly thing in the world to do, because you have to change your entire company to support an unrelated one that’s not in your core business,” says Brooks. “And deal teams often don’t even realize the effort and cost involved. We have one client that charged a buyer $7 million for TSA services only to find out later that its real cost was $66 million.”
One increasingly popular tactic to cut down on TSA expense is to recast businesses in countries where the buyer currently doesn’t do business as stand-alone entities prior to the deal closing. They create the new legal entities, transfer the employees, set up new bank accounts and satisfy all the requirements to operate in the counties. “That’s better than waiting for the buyer to get all that done or having to rely on costly TSAs,” says Brooks.
But he adds, parties to deals should be aware that when you take employees out of a large company and populate them into a small company, per-person administrative costs will rise and it likely will be tough to get decent terms from vendors of health-benefits, life-insurance and disability policies.
In the “things you overlook” bucket, companies tend to scrutinize the financials of businesses they buy so minutely that they don’t ask enough questions about the people who are coming along with the deal. They may overlook any workforce-analytics studies the seller has done and even give short shrift to the total number of employees that is coming over as well as the number in specific countries.
“The first question a buyer should ask is how many people it’s buying, and how many it’s buying in each country,” says Brooks. Except at manufacturing companies and a few others, people-related costs are usually 60 percent to 67 percent of an enterprise’s overall expense, he notes.
A couple of not-uncommon, pre-closing tactics of selling companies are throwing high-cost, less-desirable employees into the business being sold and pulling high performers out of it. A buyer best practice is to insist on specific, contractual prohibitions of such maneuvers, but the agreements aren’t always made. “It’s amazing what people overlook,” Brooks says.
And there is no excuse for not reviewing workforce analytics. “Companies are always studying things like whether their workforce is too mature and whether they need to change their employee base to get aggregate costs down,” says Brooks. “There are a lot of telltale signs like that, but we’re not seeing a lot of buyers looking into them.”
In the “things you know you should do but still don’t” department, buyers may suffer a critical failure to size up the culture of the business being acquired and determine its fit with its new parent. “People always talk about how important culture is, but almost any time a deal fails, people are blaming the CEO for failing to address the cultural differences,” says Brooks. “You have to think about whether cultural attributes are going to inhibit or delay efforts to attain the synergies you’re looking for.”
A common reason for failure to effectively appraise culture is that “it’s a lot of work and it’s always given to people who still keep their day jobs.” Also, Brooks notes, the culture of an acquired business can easily change quickly if the buyer fires too many people before synergies are realized.


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At Strathcom, we make a point of taking our client’s concerns seriously, which means staying up-to-date with the Canadian auto industry that keeps our (and our clients’) bread buttered. Talking to clients in recent months revealed a widespread concern over one issue in particular: the looming prospect of American trade tariffs that may hold serious economic implications for Canada’s automotive sector.
With the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as a target of considerable “gutting”, the big fly-in-the-ointment takes the form of aggressive tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum, effectively stabbing the very heart of our nation’s automotive sector. Taking aim at such a significant economic driver generates huge concern throughout Central and Eastern Canada.
Continue reading “Steel Waiting: What American Tariffs May Mean for Canadian Automotive”
Fact: today’s car shoppers do most of their research online before even stepping foot in a dealership. So the older generation can complain about “those darn millennials being on their smartphones” all they like, but those smartphones are influencing their purchasing decisions. According to Google, the average car shopper visits two dealership websites when researching a new vehicle. That’s why it’s now more important than ever to be highly visible on Google in the competitive and complex car industry. Many dealerships are multi-faceted, offering new and used cars as well as maintenance and repairs. It then only makes sense that their digital marketing strategy should equally be as dynamic—starting with an optimized online presence. And, without further adieu *drumroll*, here’s a few tips to optimize your dealership’s online presence. Continue reading “Optimizing your Dealership’s Online Presence with Google”
We’ve all had it happen to us at one point in our lives; a deal too good to be true, a stranger that was just too nice. And there is a name for those people — scammers! Scammers have been around for a long time, and will continue to operate in their shady ways if there are people and businesses around to scam. Often, if you have an online business, these scammers appear in the form of 3rd party companies claiming to be from Google and claiming they can improve your search ranking (or offer services that Google already provides for free). Not only is this frustrating for small business owners, but Google isn’t too happy about it either. Continue reading “How To Avoid Scammers”
“So long — don’t let the four-doors hit ya on the way out!”
A surge in SUV and truck demand in the U.S. has forced Ford to take the drastic step of removing nearly all cars from its model lineup. Ford fans will be saying goodbye to the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Taurus, and C-MAX.
Ford’s rivals, however, are still committed to maintaining their rank in a segment that continues to account for millions of vehicles sold each year. But Ford has decided to cut their losses, and stick to what they know best: trucks, trucks, a few SUVs, and more trucks. Continue reading “Cutting Their Losses: Ford Says Sayonara to Sedans”
The Edmonton Motorshow has been Edmonton’s premiere automotive event for the last 42 years. With over 750 vehicles on display, there will be a lot to look at this year during The 2018 Edmonton Motorshow! In addition to all the great activities and events, there will be a few noteworthy vehicles you’ll want to check out. Let’s take a closer look at what this event has to offer. Continue reading “A Sneak Peek at the 2018 Edmonton Motorshow…”


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If you’re a Victorian EV driver who had to pay the EV tax that got struck down by the high court recently, there’s some good news on the horizon. You’re going to get your money back – with interest.
Victoria’s controversial EV tax – if you like specifics, it was the The Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance-based Charge Act 2021 (Vic) (ZLEV Act) – charged EV drivers with vehicles registered in the state 2.5c for every kilometre they drove.
Ostensibly a means to generate lost revenue from petrol taxes, because full EVs don’t need petrol, it was challenged in court on the reckoning that the Victorian State Government lacked the authority to impose a road user levy.
The High court agreed, and the levy was struck from the law books last month.
A win for EV-positive lawmaking in most regards, but it left open the question as to what would happen with all the money that had been collected from the Victorian EV Tax since the scheme was implemented. As the ABC reports, Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas has today indicated that refunds will be coming… plus a little extra.
“We’re now going through a process of identifying who it is that we need to rebate and we’ll go through the process of making those rebates,” he said.
“I think we’ve even decided to be sufficiently generous, albeit there isn’t an obligation to pay interest, we’ll pay interest on the retention of those funds.”
The funds raised were reportedly in the region of $7 million, with Pallas noting that it may take “a few months” to arrange repayments to affected drivers.
Victoria had been the first state to actively levy a charge on EV drivers, but the spectre of an EV road user charge still sits over other states, albeit that they are no doubt considering their legislative position in light of the what’s happened in Victoria.
In New South Wales for example, a plan was mooted to to implement a levy from 1 July 2027 or when EVs made up 30 per cent of all new vehicles sold at 2.8c/km for full EVs/Hydrogen vehicles, or 2.24c/km for plug-in hybrid EVs. We’re not quite at those sales figures, however, so it will be interesting to see how that kind of plan actually ends up running – if at all.
Want more Aussie car news? Here’s every EV we’ve reviewed in the last two years, all the EVs we can expect down under soon, and our guide to finding EV chargers across the country. Check out our dedicated Cars tab for more.
The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans
It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.


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Actress Riva Kishan
is in Mumbai during the lockdown. Riva believes that this is the time to explore our inner selves and carry out indoor activities
that we like. Sharing her lockdown routine, she said, “I am spending lots of time with my family these days. Besides, I read my favourite books, follow my fitness routine and play indoor games with my siblings.”
Riva also requested everyone to wear masks while stepping out.
She added, “We all must wear masks while heading out to keep ourselves safe. Besides, we must sanitise our homes on a regular basis with disinfectants. Proper hygiene must be maintained to stay away from any kind ofinfection
. People should also focus on their diet. A healthy diet will boost our immunity to fight against diseases. So, we must consume nutrient-rich foods like fruits, salads, dairy products


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Recently, Rogers announced Unison, a new product which will allow small businesses to use their mobile phone like an office landline. But according to Craig Bentley, Rogers’ senior vice president of small business, the launch of Unison isn’t a one-off effort to cater to SMBs; it’s part of a larger company strategy to reach Canada’s growing startup community.
“Technology is always about timing, and I think if we launched something like this a year or so ago, it wouldn’t be as well received,” said Bentley. “The market is ready for this now, and the more people you talk to, the more they say they don’t know what to do with a landline anyway. I don’t think the technology was there or available for us to bring it to market before now.”
“We want to make a difference. The first and most important step in getting closer to the community is being authentic and trying to add value.”
– Craig Bentley, Rogers SVP of Small Business
Unison, which costs $15 a month, offers features like a fully automated answering system, ‘hunt groups’ that redirect incoming calls between team members, and the ability to appear to have a local presence in multiple regions by adding ‘local’ numbers from multiple regions. The communications and media giant said that a solution like Unison is a first in North America.
“We’ll be launching more products like this,” said Bentley. “It’s a journey to make Rogers the number one tech provider for small businesses over other Telco providers, and the way we want to do that is to provide the right technology.”
Acknowledging the challenge of trying to serve the agile small business community in an effective way, Bentley said that Rogers has made key internal changes to ensure that its strategy goes according to plan. For one, the company created a small business group within its business unit to single out specific needs of the business community, and opened small business centres within its retail stores to better service SMB customers. Before the changes, the needs of small businesses were served alongside the consumer division.
Bentley said that the new focus on small business was a key initiative straight from Rogers CEO Guy Laurence. “The team is bringing in new technologies and the focus to change the Canadian landscape from a Rogers perspective is starting to take hold now. That’s why you see so many products being launched by the business unit at Rogers; it’s all the work that Guy made a strategic priority for businesses, so now all the data efforts are coming to fruition.”
Rogers is also hoping to resonate with the small business community at a grassroots level, with the company launching a speaker series within its business centres addressing topics like building a business brand, and has created an advisory panel of small business owners. “We know we’re in this market for the long haul and we want to make a difference, and we’re trying to find value-add and partners that have a real impact and bring beneficial outcomes to small business,” Bentley said.
“That’s how we’ll all win,” Bentley continued. “I think the first and most important step in getting closer to the community is being authentic and trying to add value.”


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Sheikh Hamdan of Dubai showed up at Keeneland Sept. 10, and he and his entourage were busy in the barn area, which excited consignors with young horses entered in the September yearling sale.
In the name of his Shadwell Estate Co., Sheikh Hamdan was the September auction’s biggest spender in 2010, paying $8,230,000 for 22 horses. He also led the way in the select sessions, spending $5,110,000 to acquire 12 yearlings.
We didn’t get a comment from Sheikh Hamdan about the prospects for the largest sale of its kind in the world, which begins Sept. 11 in Lexington. But here is what some other people had to say:
Bill Farish, Lane’s End: “I feel pretty optimistic about the sale. While I don’t think anybody is expecting any huge gains, I don’t think it’s going to be down very much either. I think it’s going to be pretty solid. It seems like there are quite a few people here. We’re showing horses like crazy, and we hope that will continue.”
Samantha Siegel, Jay Em Ess Stable: “I think it’s going to be tough to buy as usual. Good horses are always hard to buy. With the (Fasig-Tipton) Saratoga (select) sale and the Ocala sale being strong, people might be getting a little bullish again. Unfortunately, when the foal crop gets smaller, it’s not just the bad ones that disappear. The good ones disappear, too. But it’s always a battle for the nice ones.”
Mark Toothaker, Pauls Mill: “Traffic has been good; we’ve stayed busy. We’ve just got one horse in this first book (of the sale catalog). He is a half brother to Malibu Moon and he’s been popular. Just looking around at the other consignors, it’s been very busy. The way other sales have gone so far, everything has kind of held its own. I’m looking for kind of the same thing here.”
Randy Hartley, Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds: “There are good horses here, and I think this is going to be a good sale for the good horses. People just love buying quality and right now in this market, I think that’s where it’s going to be happening at. It’s going to be very tough for us to buy. To come away from here in the first two books with two colts and two fillies would be nice. Chances are we’ll get one colt and one filly, if we’re lucky.”
Jody Huckabay, Elm Tree Farm: “As always, I think if you have the right horse— if you’ve got the pedigree, you’ve got the physical, and you pass the vet—there is plenty of money out there and available. But you have to check all the boxes. The average horse anymore is a hard sell. You have to have that special individual to get the big dollars. There’s still a big supply compared to the amount of buyers that we have and everyone wants that special horse.”
Meg Levy, Bluewater Sales: “I was pleased with the way it went in Saratoga, and I think we are going to see more of the same here. I’m hoping that supply will meet demand like it did in Saratoga. The best horses are going to sell well. I’m hoping the economic issues in Europe haven’t affected the buyers from there too much. We’ve seen a lot of Japanese buyers. I’m happy with the traffic so far. I’ve seen more Europeans and Japanese than I have Americans looking at horses in Book One (of the sale catalog).”
Eddie Woods, Florida pinhooker: “We’ve done well out of the first book (of the sale catalog) when we’ve gotten something bought because you get a lot of pedigree and a lot of bang for your buck. But it’s hard to get one and it’s supposed to be. The sales have been good so far; there’s no reason to think this one would be any different. Things are pretty steady now.”
Matt Lyons, Woodford Thoroughbreds: “I’m very hopeful because we’ve done well at every sale we’ve gone to so far. There has been a lot of traffic here. Every horse we had was shown 55-plus times yesterday (Sept. 9). Mostly we’re seeing the same people, but they’re here and they’re busy and they’re looking hard.”
Reiley McDonald, Eaton Sales: “I think the sale will be much like last year. I don’t see anything here on the grounds that would influence (it to be) a different market than we saw in 2010.”
Michael Hernon, Gainesway: “Based on viewing (by shoppers), this will be a very solid sale for the right article. The quality horses that vet are finding favor and again, the bar is raised high. You’ve got to have the pedigree, you’ve got to have the physical horse, they have to show well, and then of course, they have to vet. There is a strong international group of buyers represented. The U.S. dollar is currently quite favorable on the exchanges so that gives foreign buyers a good advantage, and we expect good reception for several of the horses that appeal to the overseas market. We’ve had Japanese groups by here. I think we’re going to kick off with a strong, deep sale.”
Alfred H. Nuckols Jr., Hurstland Farm: “I think the first two books of the sale are going to be a lot of fun. The right people are here and there is a lot of activity. I think the sale will be good and solid. You probably won’t have the real breakout horses like you used to, but I think the top end is going to be pretty strong. I wish it was a New York-bred sale; that would be really fun.”
Pat Costello, Paramount Sales: “I’m quietly optimistic. All the sales so far have been good—Saratoga, Doncaster, Deauville, OBS. I’m not sure how much it is going to be up, but I think it will be a good sale.”
Tom VanMeter, VanMeter Sales: “I am cautiously optimistic, really. There is a good mood around the campus here and with fewer horses, I think the average will be up. Everybody kind of wants to make the connection between the global world and us, but I really think a lot of times we’re insulated.”


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Contact: Ben Kolada
Depending on which way the bidding goes for systems management vendor Quest Software, Smarsh’s future could change considerably. The compliance-focused archiving startup announced in February that it sold a majority of its equity to Quest, just three weeks before its newfound parent became the center of an ongoing bidding war. But one side’s plans for Quest post-close may not include Smarsh.
After the closing bell Tuesday, Vector Capital joined Insight Venture Partners and Quest’s management in announcing that they had increased their offer for Quest to $25.75 per share, for a total deal value of about $2.24bn by our calculations. The revised bid tops a competing offer from an unidentified suitor – widely believed to be Dell – that was announced last week.
While all eyes are on Quest at the moment, the continued bidding casts a shadow over who will ultimately own Smarsh. Right now, the company is seen as more of a Quest investment rather than an operating business unit.
If Insight and the rest ultimately win Quest, Smarsh could be considered just another portfolio company for the private equity firms. However, if that unidentified bidder is Dell, and Dell ultimately wins, Smarsh could soon be cast off, since Dell already offers archiving products competitive to Smarsh. In 2008, Dell acquired MessageOne – a direct rival to Smarsh – for a whopping $155m. Dell also has its own archive storage system, the DX platform, based on software OEMed from Caringo. (However, we’d note that neither of these initiatives seems to have gone too far yet.)
Rather than worry about would could happen in the future, Smarsh is keeping itself busy in the present. The company has announced two acquisitions in the past month. In May, Smarsh bought Web content-archiving vendor Perpetually.com and on Tuesday it announced the purchase of compliance-focused website hoster AdvisorSquare, which targets the finance vertical. The deals should ramp up the company’s growth rate for 2012 and 2013. We estimate that Smarsh generated $20m in revenue last year, or about 30% year-over-year top-line growth.
Source: The 451 M&A KnowledgeBase
For more real-time information on tech M&A, follow us on Twitter @MAKnowledgebase.


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Innovative partnerships have been piling up already in 2022 for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Today, FedEx has announced a new program designed “to build a pipeline of logistics and supply chain professionals.” CNBC reports that the company will be partnering with eight HBCUs for the program, which is an extension of its ongoing commitment that was established in 2021. “Our relationship with HBCUs began more than 20 years ago, and we are continuously working to develop initiatives and opportunities that create positive outcomes for students and faculty. The Student Ambassador Program is yet another way we are continuing to invest in these historical institutions as we build a better future, together,” FedEx President and Chief Operating Officer Raj Subramaniam told CNBC.
Feb 1, 2022
Since Twiga Foods’ launch in 2014, the startup has been using technology to build more efficient supply chains in food and retail distribution in Kenya. With the announcement of their latest funding, the company aims to take their mission across the African continent. Twiga Foods raised $50 million on Nov. 1 in a Series C round, TechCrunch reports. The round was led by private equity firm Creadev and majority of the participants from their previous Series B round invested in Twiga. New investors included OP Finnfund Global and Endeavor Catalyst Fund. “We are deeply convinced in Twiga’s potential to revolutionize informal retail across Sub-Saharan Africa, ” said Pierre Fauvet, Africa director at Creadev, in a statement. “Tapping into a $77 billion urban market on the continent, Twiga has gained significant traction since inception, leveraging on technology to optimize the food supply chain in African cities and constantly innovating to better tackle logistics, commercial, social and...
Nov 1, 2021


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It was not only about taking the donkeys into custody, the Assistant Commissioner has also ordered the Forest Department to produce the donkeys in the court. According to the news of Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, the interesting thing is that the donkeys were very intelligent as they used to smuggle the girls on their own and transport them from one place to another. Earlier in September, a forest department employee was arrested for smuggling wood, which has now been suspended.
Loss of lakhs due to smuggling of wood
Due to indiscriminate smuggling of wood, the forests are not only facing the problem of deforestation but the department is also facing a loss of lakhs of rupees. Donkey is a very important animal for Pakistan. In fact, a large section of Pakistan is economically dependent on animal husbandry. More than 80 lakh rural households are engaged in animal husbandry and get about 35-40 per cent of their income from this sector.
China is also interested in Pakistani donkeys
Donkeys are an important source of income in Pakistan and also contribute to GDP. China is also interested in importing Pakistani donkeys. Donkey skin is widely used in China. Gelatin extracted from donkey skin is used to make many expensive medicines. Pakistan also earns its income by selling donkeys. According to the news, Pakistan gets 18 to 20 thousand rupees for a donkey.


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- Mobile users 'more likely to be struck by lightning' than infected by malware
- Government-private sector collaboration vital for cyber security: Brandis
- Talking ’bout my generation – the next wave of infosec
- Australia's online ads less fraudulent but lower quality than elsewhere
- Project Fi will help Google amass even more data about you
hardware systems - News, Features, and Slideshows
Although Apple on Tuesday unveiled redesigned iMac desktop computers, it has none to sell, nor is it taking pre-orders for the slimmer, higher-priced all-in-one.
The name Foxconn has become shorthand for the human costs of building the iPhone in China, linking Apple to bad publicity about worker suicides, deaths from a plant explosion and rioting factory workers.
The text on Amazon's newest Kindle reads top-to-bottom and right-to-left.
Along with the long-rumored iPad Mini, Apple yesterday also refreshed its two best-selling Macs, the 13-in. MacBook Pro and the iMac.
The #appleevent, #ipadmini and other hashtags were out in full force, as Apple enthusiasts and others took to Twitter to ooh, aah and zzzzz in reaction to the latest "gorgeous," "amazing" and "magical" iPads -- both the widely anticipated iPad Mini and the surprise iPad fourth-generation models.
Apple made a point of doing a side-by-side comparison of its new iPad Mini with Google's Nexus 7 at the launch event Tuesday in San Jose, highlighting the mini tablet's thinness, larger viewable screen area and custom app compatibility.
Apple today unveiled the iPad Mini, a smaller tablet starting at $329 that features a 7.9-in. 1024-x-768-pixel display and can run all existing iPad software without modification.
The new 7.9-in. iPad mini will be a huge hit with business users as well as consumers, according to several industry analysts.
If some of the top 10 strategic technology trends going into 2013 look familiar it's because quite a few -- like cloud computing and mobile trends -- have been around for awhile but are now either morphing or changing in ways that will continue to impact IT in the next year.
Apple will expand its iPad line next month and for the first time launch a version of the hit tablet with a 7-inch screen, the company said Tuesday.
Microsoft will not sell Windows 8 as a physical boxed product in China and instead will only distribute the OS through downloads and pre-installs on devices, in a move that could help the company drive consumers away from pirated copies of its products.
AMD has announced that processors based on its much-anticipated Piledriver architecture are now available to the public, in a move that marks the company's competitive return to the world of high-end desktop PCs.
Intel researchers envision a future of driverless smart cars that can be updated at any time with the latest technology and apps.
Apple will webcast its event this morning, where most expect the company to unveil a smaller iPad.
A workers' rights group has slammed what it called the "iPad mini manufacturer" for maintaining poor working conditions at a factory in China.
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Good Day, Bad Day
Centralized comedy, Apple hijacks
OOD DAY FOR: Centralized comedy, as Viacom is opening its archives of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show With Jon Stewart to Internet viewers, offering all 13,000 clips on a new, free Web site. The ad-supported site is a change of course for Viacom, which is suing YouTube for $1 billion for, among other things, allowing clips of The Daily Show to be aired online. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)
BAD DAY FOR: Apple hijacks, as Apple said it will open its iPhone to third-party developers starting in February. Apple has experienced growing pains with the locked iPhone—some customers who “unlocked” the iPhone loudly complained that they ended up with dead “iBricks” when they tried to update the smart phone. (The New York Times, free registration required)
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Last year we reported on
San Francisco-based startup Boosted Boards' eponymous debut product, an electric skateboard that can lay credible claim to being the world’s lightest electric vehicle. The skateboard was the subject of a successful Kickstarter campaign, and having survived the perils of moving from pitch to product, is now available for wider pre-order.
If you've seen a skateboard, you've probably seen grip tape, the typically black, sandpaper-like covering that adheres to the top of the board. As its name reveals, grip tape helps to provide more traction for staying stable on the board. Australian skating outfit Ramshackel believes that the grip tape market is in need of an update, which it provides with a woven hemp kit.
Though looking street-worn, beaten and abused can actually be a rather favorable look for a skateboard deck, there comes a time when stylish scuff gives way to unsightly eyesore and it's time to break in a new board. Rather than simply throw away all that quality wood, offbeat Argentinian luthier Ezequiel Galasso and pro skateboarder Gianfranco de Gennaro Gilmour have teamed up to repurpose old boards into "born to shred" guitars.
Walking the floor of the recent ISPO Munich sports show, there were a few things that were almost impossible to miss – the automated polar bear walking the corridors, for instance (see the gallery
). Outside of that oversized white teddy bear, and maybe a scantily clad promo girl or two, the Dropboards Carve Motor 50cc spun my head faster than anything. This burly, all-terrain motor board looks more like a go-kart than a skateboard.
Those looking procure their own DTV Shredder
are in luck. The DTV (Dual Tracked Vehicle) that first crossed our
desks in 2010 is now available for purchase via the BPG Werks website
and through various international distributors. And the price of being
able to tear it up over practically any terrain (with the exception of
public roads)? Between US$5,000 and $5,500.
Danish architecture firm CEBRA is working with the travel company Danski on a proposal for a huge alpine style ski dome to be situated in the city of Randers, Denmark. The ski park will provide over 3 km (1.86 miles) of indoor and outdoor slopes under its snowflake-inspired arches and if built it will take over from SkiDubai as the largest indoor ski park in the world at 100,000 square meters (1,076,000 sq.ft).
With the increasing focus on sustainable urban transport comes an increasing call for proper safety infrastructure and products. We've recently seen LED bicycle helmets
, and now a company called Light Bohrd has developed LED helmets and skateboards for commuters that use their feet for pushing rather than pedaling.
With the current surging popularity of electric bicycles, it only makes sense that we’re seeing an increase in something else getting motorized – the skateboard. Just in the past couple of years, Gizmag has featured electric boards such as the Fiik
, and the Boosted Board
. While all of those come as complete skateboards, Florida-based RedRock Boardshop is offering something a little different – the powered LaGrange L1 truck, that turns any board into an electric vehicle.
San Francisco-based startup Boosted Boards has produced an eponymous electric skateboard prototype capable of providing a push-free ride for up to 6 miles. While an electric skateboard isn't anything new in itself, this particular longboard is declared by its makers to be the world's lightest electric vehicle.
When we first took a look at the Gnarboards Trail Rider electric skateboard
a couple of months ago, we likened it to a “Ferrari for your feet” due to it boasting a power-to-weight ratio that would put many cars to shame. But rather than a Ferrari, Gnarboards creator Joshua Tulberg has pitted his invention against another vehicle to demonstrate its power and speed – a C5 Corvette.


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For the second year, consumers say articles that include brand information is the type of online advertising they’re most likely to read and act upon, compared to banner ads, pop-up ads, email offers or sponsored links.
Article-based advertising was preferred by 53 percent of respondents who said they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to read and act upon the material, compared to 51 percent a year ago. Coveted demographic groups are even more likely to express a preference for articles. According to the survey, 66 percent of people between the ages of 25 and 34, and 60 percent of those making at least $75,000 per year, say they are “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to read and act upon article-based advertising. Pop-up ads were least likely to be read or acted upon.
In the national study of 1,053 adults conducted in March 2010, survey respondents rated their likelihood to read and act upon five types of online advertising: banner ads, pop-up ads, e-mail offers, articles that include brand information, and sponsored search engine links. Respondents said they were “very likely” or “somewhat likely” to read and respond to:
- Articles that include brand information: 53 percent compared to 51 percent a year ago
- Email offers: 51 percent compared to 47 percent last year
- Sponsored search engine links: 40 percent compared to last year’s 39 percent
- Banner ads: 28 percent compared to 25 percent in 2009
- Pop-up ads: 19 percent compared to 13 percent last year
Further, when asked how frequently they conduct Internet searches for products or services they read about in online articles, the results were eye-popping. Frequency increased from about 50 percent a year ago saying they initiate a search “very frequently” or “somewhat frequently,” to 57 percent this year. Younger and high-income people showed a considerable propensity to conduct a search after reading online articles. Seventy-two percent of 25-to-34-year-olds said they were likely to conduct a search for products or services based on an article, up from 66 percent a year ago. And 70 percent of those making more than $75,000 per year expressed their likelihood to perform a search – 13 points higher than last year’s 57 percent.
According to ARAnet president Scott Severson, year-two of the online advertising study revealed three critical areas of data for marketers.
“First, we’re seeing that all these areas of online advertising are being received favorably by consumers, which means they are tuning in to marketers’ online messages. Secondly, we continue to see a growing and healthy preference for article-based advertising. And a third key is that coveted younger and more affluent audiences are receptive to all types of online advertising, and article-based advertising in particular,” Severson says.
Severson says the data revealed that other high-potential demographic segments said they frequently conduct searches for products or services after reading about them in online articles, including: 65 percent of respondents with household size of three or more; 72 percent of households with children in the 13-17 age group; and 63 percent of college educated respondents – compared to 57 percent of the general population.
“We’re seeing that article-based advertising rates highest with these important and discerning audiences. Compared to other online advertising options, consumers prefer reading an article, evaluating it, and then deciding to click through for more information,” says Severson


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Still, several RH diners, all of them customers of the store, said they came not for the food, but for the aesthetics.
“It is not, like, Wolfgang Puck,” said Christy Clarey, 55, of Newport Beach, Calif., who was visiting the RH Rooftop Restaurant at RH New York, located around the corner from the Dining Room at RH Guesthouse. “That is his brand. He is the chef. This just has to be good-basic.”
Anuja Beauchamp, 45, a customer at RH Rooftop Restaurant at RH Dallas, returned to the restaurant “to see if they are going to trade out the chandeliers” in the dining room . She said she didn’t have high expectations of the food, but it was better than she anticipated.
Faith Wilde, 25, another guest in Dallas, said that these days, she is more interested in a restaurant’s appearance. “If it doesn’t look like this, we probably won’t even go,” she said.
RH opened its first restaurant in 2015, in the courtyard of a historic building in the wealthy Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago. Most locations share roughly the same furnishings (chandeliers, olive trees, a fountain) and menu (burgers, rotisserie chickens, Caesar salads). And more restaurants are on the way, with plans to open in Paris, London, Palo Alto, Calif., and Aspen, Colo.


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The deal will see HTI produce a range of prams and pushchairs for children’s dolls, based on the best-selling brand.
The range includes a number of replica prams which look just like the real thing, including the Joie Jr Litetrax pushchair, Joie JR Chrome 3-in-1 Pram, and the Junior Pact. HTI continues to increase its market share, and the Joie deal will further strengthen its growing portfolio of doll prams and pushchairs across leading nursery brands, licensed and own brand ranges.
Alison Downie, global licensing and brand director for HTI Group, said: “We are thrilled to be partnering with a leading nursery brand such as Joie; this is a brand we have watched grow rapidly over the past couple of years so it’s an honour to be able to bring a range of replica dolls prams and pushchairs to the toy market. Joie will form an integral part of our dolls prams and pushchairs range with some strong innovative products launching at retail for autumn/winter 2019, with each product matching the nursery models including the iconic Pact frame.”
David Welsh, managing director at Joie, added: “It’s great to see our award winning products be recreated in a small, friendly format for children across the world to play with. HTI was a natural partner for us, with its industry experience and ability to create quality products, it made the whole process very easy. We’re excited to see how things grow over the next three years and can’t wait to see children across the country interacting with the products.”


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Android Pay achieved a broad and rather sudden rollout in Canada this week when the nation’s domestic debit network, Interac, announced its support for the mobile payment service days after Google officially launched Android Pay there.
The company behind Android Pay is giving more tools to developers and inking more partnerships in the payments industry. Here are some of the biggest developments surrounding this year's Google I/O event.
An upcoming release of Android Pay may have a biometric facial recognition component named “Visual ID," according to a recent teardown of the app. This functionality could open up numerous possibilities for merchants.
PayPal Holdings Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google deepened their relationship with a new agreement that enables payments through the tap of a phone from PayPal accounts at thousands of new retail locations.


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Oracle took a step back in what is usually a strong fiscal Q4, as EPS and sales missed views amid flat software license revenue and decelerating hardware growth.
The business software giant's results late Thursday sent its stock falling more than 5% after hours. Oracle stock is up 11% for the year.
The company's EPS forecast for the current quarter was in line, but revenue was light.
Oracle's Larry Ellison, speaking at last year's Oracle Open World conference, hopes his company will be No. 1 after its transition to the cloud. View Enlarged Image
Oracle's (NYSE:ORCL) Q4 stumble included flat year-over-year growth in software license revenue, at $3.76 billion, and only 2% growth in its hardware systems products, at $870 million. The license revenue — a measure of growth ahead — had risen 4% in Q3 after also being flat in Q2. Hardware systems products revenue had risen 8% in Q3, the unit's first growth since Oracle bought server maker Sun Microsystems in early 2010 for $7.4 billion.
The company reported 25% growth in its cloud Software-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service revenue, but those units accounted for just 3% of total revenue.
The results show that Oracle still has a lot of work ahead to catch up with faster-growing, smaller cloud rivals such as Workday (NYSE:WDAY) and Tableau Software (NYSE:DATA), Daniel Ives, an analyst for FBR Capital Markets & Co., told IBD.
"They are still a major player in the technology food chain, but you have to balance that with some company-specific issues that have been headwinds to growth," Ives said. "They have been behind the eight-ball in the cloud."
Oracle intends to be the No. 1 cloud provider, CEO Larry Ellison said on a conference call with analysts, that can "effectively compete against this whole new array of competitors like Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) and Workday." He said Oracle will make more money over time via cloud subscriptions than typical upfront software licenses.
Analysts say Oracle's turnaround will also depend on the rate of customer adoption of its 12c database software, released this month.
Oracle's stock is up this year mainly because it's a bellwether, says Steve Koenig, an analyst for Wedbush Securities.
A Rotation To Safety Stocks
"The primary reason is the massive rotation out of growth stocks and into safety stocks, and investors had a little more comfort going into (fiscal) Q4 than another quarter," Koenig told IBD.
Oracle directors declared the usual a 12 cent per-share quarterly dividend.
For the quarter ended May 31, Oracle reported earnings per share minus items of 92 cents, up 6% from the year-earlier period but 3 cents shy of the consensus view of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.


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Apple has begun rolling out HDR 4K content on iTunes and upgrading old purchases
In anticipation of the launch of pre-orders for the iPhone 8, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K (which occurs tonight at 3AM (EST) (or 12AM PST), Apple has already begun rolling out new content with support for 4K resolution and HDR video with higher dynamic range.
In addition, Apple is upgrading iTunes customers’ previous purchases of video to 4K HDR format, which is has promised to do so, free of charge. All the new iPhones announced this week support HDR video, and the new Apple TV 4K supports both the higher resolution and HDR video, along with Dolby Vision support.
You likely won’t see all your favorite shows and movies flip to 4K HDR just yet, Apple is gradually doing this well ahead of the new phones’ release date of September 22.
Who is up late for iPhone/Watch/TV pre-orders? What did you order?
1080 display is good enough and saving energy, even 2k display is still way better, 4K display is overkill because people won't watching 4K display too close, people won't see the difference and details with naked eye why making 4K display? Oh! ...
- 16 Sep 2017
Why is it such a problem for you to understand that this move was meant for Apple TV 4K? Lol you're not representing your groups IQ very well I can tell you that. On top of that, Apple has announced that 4K content will cost the same as previous cont...
- 15 Sep 2017
Dude Im in India and I have 2Mbps speed(download speed 200kbps, upload 0.15kbps) and it costs me monthly 24USD...Can you believe that? You are so lucky to be born in those countries...
- 15 Sep 2017


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Recently the website HowLongToBeat has published a list of platforms that will host the most gaming experience in 2021.
According to the list published by the official Twitter page HowLongToBeat, the PC platform in 2021 will host the most gaming experience. PCs topped the list, behind the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch consoles, respectively.
You can see the list below:
The highlight of this list is the presence of the seventh generation PlayStation 3 console above the Xbox X Series and Xbox S Series, which shows that the Sony classic console still has its own fans and users.
What is your opinion on this? Share your thoughts about this list with us and other GGROLER users.
#Top #platforms #terms #gaming #experience


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Wilmington, Mass. -- Parterre Flooring Systems recently announced the promotion of Chris Easler, from his current position as Parterre’s East Coast regional vice president to senior vice president of national accounts. In his new role, Easler will focus on securing and expanding new national account business for the brand.
"Parterre has over a 20-year history of working with national accounts, which are essential to Parterre’s growth,” said Ralph Grogan, CEO, Parterre Flooring Systems. “Chris has the drive and talent to continue establishing these new relationships. He not only has the experience from past roles to support national account growth, but Parterre also has the right level of representation to provide the follow up needed on the local level.”
Having more than 30 years of experience in the flooring industry, Easler previously worked in similar roles at notable flooring brands Armstrong World Industries and Mohawk Industries.
For more information, visit parterreflooring.com.


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Payments association Apacs is teaming with the UK Petroleum Industry Association to launch a national card fraud prevention campaign. The move follows a spate of card cloning cases involving petrol stations across the country.
It emerged in April this year that UK banks had lost millions of pounds to an international card cloning gang operating out of petrol stations across the country. About 200 of the UK's 9500 petrol stations were thought to have been hit by the scam.
Furthermore last year fraudsters stole more than £1 million from customers by implanting skimming devices in retailer PIN pads at Shell petrol stations. In May 2006 tampered card readers were discovered at three Shell forecourts, forcing the oil company to temporarily suspended all chip and PIN payments at its network of outlets across the UK.
Apacs is now teaming with the petroleum industry to launch a week long card fraud prevention campaign. The initiative, which kicks off on 5 November, will see 14 million advice cards distributed to customers at petrol stations throughout the UK. The cards offer consumer tips on how to keep card and PIN details safe.
Commenting on the campaign, Chris Hunt, director general of the UK Petroleum Industry Association, says: "The fight against fraud is a shared responsibility. During this campaign they will be issuing advice cards to customers reminding them to keep their card details safe and secure at all times."
Apacs says its figures show that the introduction of chip and PIN has resulted in a 67% decrease in card fraud during the last three years. But fraudsters continue to try and copy magnetic stripe details to create fake cards that can be used overseas, in countries that do not have chip and PIN.
"Chip and PIN has been hugely successful in reducing card fraud in the UK but that does not mean that we can lower our guard. Tackling card fraud requires a multi-layered approach," says Sandra Quinn, director of communications at Apacs. "Consumers can also play their part and we urge them to follow the advice provided on these cards. Simple measures such as shielding your PIN with your free hand whenever you enter it into a keypad will significantly reduce your chances of becoming a victim of fraud."
Separate figures released by the European ATM Security Team (East) show that ATM fraud has been cut in European countries that have adopted chip and PIN technology.
Compared with the last six months of 2006, the value of domestic ATM fraud losses for card issuers is down by 55% due to chip and PIN technology. International losses have remained static.
East says criminals are now actively seeking out ATMs without chip card readers and are sending skimmed data to countries with ATM networks that are not yet fully EMV chip compliant. Out of an estimated European total of nearly 359,000 ATMs, 68% use EMV, up from 63% in 2006.
Cash machine fraud is still dominated by card skimming, with 2317 cases reported, compared to 167 incidents of "card trapping" and 53 cases involving other attacks, such "cash trapping". Losses due to card skimming decreased by 25% in value compared with the equivalent period last year, primarily due to the installation of anti-skimming devices at ATMs.
However direct physical attacks against ATMs have increased by 60%, says East, with 1810 attacks reported in the first six months of the year.
Attacks range from ram raids to vandalism, with robberies during cash replenishment showing the largest increase, says East. There has also been an increase in the use of explosives and gas. In total EUR15 million were lost through attacks on ATMs.


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In the wake of lackluster earnings, Lenovo said it is working towards pumping out products faster from its newly acquired Motorola Mobility division.
When Google announced on Monday that it would create a new holding company called Alphabet, of which Google Inc. will be just one part, Larry Page said the new structure would allow the company to get more ambitious things done. But there was still a...
Google may be best known for its ubiquitous search engine, but it has long been associated with seemingly whimsical ventures into areas as diverse as self-driving cars, drones and human aging. On Monday, it took a step toward making those "side" vent...
As part of a corporate reshuffle announced Monday, Sundar Pichai has been named the CEO of Google as it becomes a subsidiary of a new company called Alphabet. It's yet another step up for the 43-year-old executive who has been on a meteoric rise thro...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella just unveiled the latest of the "tough choices" Microsoft is making to streamline its business, and it's a doozy: the company is significantly cutting back its smartphone ambitions almost two years after announcing it woul...
It's been two months since Steve Ballmer unfurled his plan to restructure Microsoft's operations, and inquiring minds would like to know what stage the process is at.
Steve Ballmer's grand plan to reinvent Microsoft has garnered mixed reviews from industry analysts, ranging from enthusiastic endorsements to frowning skepticism.
Microsoft's sweeping company reorganization may have some insiders feeling jittery about the future, but it's doubtful that the vendor's Dynamics business applications division or its customers need to worry.
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The supply of planters has dropped nearly 20% at auctions in 2021, according to our Tractor Zoom data analysis. While they’ve typically been pretty easy to find at auctions in the past, that seems to be a thing of the past. As harvest wraps up and farmers begin preparing for 2022, the lack of planters at auction might mean we’re in for a bumpy ride over the next month or two. Buckle up, folks.
In Figure 1 below you see the percent annual change of planter volume at auctions was essentially flat between 2018-2020. For perspective, I also included changes for midsize tractors and combines. If you’re interested, Dan Bahe (one of my colleagues) and I will break down those markets in our webinar this Tuesday, November 23rd.
With 2021’s planter shortage, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect a corresponding leap in price. That’s not the case with planter values.
Not yet. It’s coming, though.
We haven’t seen the busiest part of the Q4 yet. It’s around the corner, though. The market is volatile, thanks to setbacks that nobody could’ve planned for as well. You won’t find new planters parked at the dealership these days, and that’ll drive auction prices up. More than ever before, farmers need to be checking trends against most the recent data in a market like this one.
Auction values on planters have increased in 2021, even though the trend line looks like it’s moving downward. Q4 2020 planter values jumped over 29%, and they really haven’t gone down much over 2021. Now, as we come up on the end of year auctions, we’re predicting that Q4 numbers are on the way up – likely a fair bit higher, too. You can see this by quarters in Figure 2 below.
Planters typically have a seasonal sales pattern. Winter and early spring are the seasons where we see planters move the most. These seasons typically set the reference price for quality used planters.
That is, unless there is a shortage.
In this case, demand may not have been satisfied by springtime. Or more likely, farmers were buying early, anticipating a shortage (a la the toilet paper crisis of 2020). This can create an even more frenzied market. Furthermore, with commodity prices still sitting fairly high, these next couple of months could be a shelf-emptying rush for planter sales.


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Justin Duino / Evaluate Geek
Synthetic Intelligence was all the fashion in 2022. AI-generated artwork apps like Lensa, textual content turbines like Article Forge, and even chatbots like ChatGPT, made massive splashes within the tech world final 12 months. And so they acquired Google’s consideration and refocused its dedication to AI, the New York Instances experiences.
In line with the Instances, Google founders Larry Web page and Sergey Brin held a number of closed-door conferences with firm executives in December to develop methods to reassert the corporate’s dominance within the AI house. The founders departed their every day duties with the search big and its mother or father firm, Alphabet, in 2019. So, their presence in these conferences underscores how severely Google views new developments in AI expertise.
The Instances additionally experiences that it has seen an inside Google slide present with greater than 20 new AI merchandise the corporate intends to demo “at Google’s firm convention in Could” (presumably Google I/O 2023). Among the many merchandise is Picture Technology Studio, a picture generator and editor; a brand new model of A.I. Check Kitchen, an app that runs digital experiments for product prototypes; Purchasing Attempt-on, a YouTube function for including backgrounds to movies; Maya, an app for visualizing 3D sneakers; in addition to two unnamed apps, one for producing wallpapers for Pixel telephones, in addition to a service that summarizes movies by creating a brand new video.
Moreover, Google intends to supply AI companies to software program corporations with merchandise aimed toward picture era, internet browser creation, and app coding. The slew of AI merchandise comes after Google’s already present LaMDA chat AI program, which the corporate has already distributed to a small variety of customers, in keeping with the Instances.
If the Instances report is correct, any notions that Google will take a again seat to startup corporations within the AI house must be completely squashed when the corporate presents these merchandise in Could.
Supply: The New York Instances


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Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market Report – EU Internal Market Sub-CommitteeApril 20, 2016
The EU Internal Market Sub-Committee has been investigating whether large online platforms, such as Google, Amazon, Uber and Airbnb, which act as gateways to some markets, operate above the law. Its report, Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market, sets out its findings which cover regulation, e-commerce, consumer protection, and competition.
The report recognises that online platforms have accelerated e-commerce across Europe, and that the UK is at the forefront of business creation, with 17 of Europe’s 40 so-called ‘unicorns’ (tech start-ups valued at $1bn) based in the UK. However the report also highlights areas where current regulation isn’t working.


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Salesforce.com gets chatty
With the recent release of Chatter a cloud-based enterprise social-collaboration platform, Salesforce.com is pushing for enterprises to get vocal. Chatter is a solution that creates openings for developers to build and resell apps (which contain the platform). Similar to Facebook and Twitter, Chatter uses familiar social networking features. This includes the use of profiles, status updates, and real-time feeds. Additionally, Chatter allows businesses to collaborate on documents, and also gives the option to “follow” people, businesses, and applications.
Salesforce’s Chatter has only one main goal, and that is to increase business intelligence by initiating up to date insights on programs, projects, people, customers, cases, documents, and business data. Chatter can open up the lines of communication for businesses better that any other platform in the past. Companies can now find a new level of collaboration with Chatter.
Chatter specifically is a Cloud 2 application, which is the second generation of cloud computing (social, mobile, and real-time). Chatter is the first Could 2 application that is a collaboration application. It uses a secure platform that facilitates continuous cooperation within a company.
Currently, Salesforce is trying to gain the attention of developers to potentially construct new original applications based on Chatter. Also created is a rather large opportunity for Independent Software Vendors to produce software that utilizes platforms like Salesforce’s Chatter.
Salesforce’s latest moves are making way for the company and its partners to create solutions that go beyond CRM.


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Quiz reports strong revenue recovery and return to profitability
Omni-channel fashion brand Quiz has reported group revenue increased 97% year on year to £78.4 million in the year ending 31 March 2022.
Quiz argued that the increase in group revenues can be "attributed to the removal of social restrictions", which led to an "increased demand" for its product offering as well as a "reduction in the amount of time that stores and concessions were closed".
- Higher levels of full price sales resulted in an increase to the gross margin at 60.3%, consistent with the gross margin generated in the year prior to the pandemic, from 53.4% in FY 2021.
- The rise in operating costs, being distribution and administrative costs, was restricted to 22% as the increased revenues leveraged off the group’s existing infrastructure.
- Underlying and reported EBITDA of £5.1 million, compared to an underlying loss of £4.9 million and reported profit of £10.7 million in 2021.
- Strong online growth, with a 66% increase in sales through QUIZ’s own website. Active customers also increased 74% compared to the prior financial year.
The company also saw a recovery in International revenues with a 96% increase year on year. Quiz's store estate comprised 62 stores in the United Kingdom and five in the Republic of Ireland at the end of the year, with one new store opening in FY22.
Tarak Ramzan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, commented: “The Group delivered a very encouraging FY 2022 performance with very strong revenue growth and a return to profitability. This outcome reflects increased demand for QUIZ’s product offering and was supported by the decisive actions we have taken in recent years to transform the business and successfully leverage the Group’s omni-channel model and infrastructure.
“We are very pleased with the strong uplift in active customers and sales growth through our own website, which is now supported by a flexible and profitable portfolio of stores and concessions. Despite the well-documented challenges across the retail sector, we remain encouraged by customer demand for the QUIZ brand, with sales up by 62% in the year to date. Whilst there are significant levels of uncertainty impacting the consumer right now, we are confident that QUIZ is well positioned to continue to deliver against its strategy and drive long-term, sustainable and profitable growth.”
Looking ahead, Quiz said that revenues increased 62% in the three months to 30 June 2022 compared to the prior year and were consistent with the levels generated prior to the COVID-19 disruption on a like-for-like basis. Potential for sales later in the year however are "likely to be impacted by the effect of the inflationary environment" and increases in the cost of living on consumer confidence.


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Shares of Matterport (NASDAQ:MTTR) have started 2022 with a very negative performance. MTTR stock has already lost over 40% year to date, closing at $12.89 on Jan. 19. Such a big loss in such a short time — less than a month — signals negative momentum for the technology company.
Back in December 2021, my first article on MTTR stock, “Don’t Buy Matterport Stock Until It Turns Potential Into Profit,” concluded that “Matterport needs to deliver results before it’s a good investment. Keep an eye on this spatial data company, but simply ask this. If the market potential is as big as the company claims, then revenue growth and profitability will arrive soon.”
I stated my thesis on the company from the first moment, stating “Matterport’s ‘digital twins’ are exciting but wait for profits before jumping in.” Now, one and a half months later, has anything material changed to make me consider the selloff a buying opportunity? I do not think so. Earnings will be a catalyst, but we don’t expect them until early March.
So what could make investors stop the selling pressure in this spatial data company?
To start, an analysis of key highlights from its Analyst Meeting back in mid-2021 can shed more light on the business plan and economic moat of the firm.
Matterport: Transforming Digital Twin into Business
What is a digital twin? According to Matterport it’s a “digital copy of a real-world place or object.” These digital counterparts leverage modern technology including advances in machine learning and AI to make “dimensionally accurate 3D digital models that can be updated quickly to reflect changes with its physical counterpart.”
The real place can be anything — a building or even an outdoor space. The disruption of several industries such as real estate, hospitality, construction and insurance is made by allowing for better communication between businesses and their customers and vendors.
The use of AI and deep learning not only makes use of sophisticated and advanced technology but can add practicality in the era of coronavirus. Need to visit an apartment you’re thinking about buying but you are worried about traveling in person amid the Omicron variant? No problem. The seller can send you the details for a 3D virtual tour to have a look. This adds a lot of utility to the Matterport platform.
Online shopping and retail businesses can also benefit from adapting to consumers’ habits by creating a 3D store. A new way for customers to shop online as the metaverse looms on the horizon.
MTTR Stock Marketing Highlights
The company faces a $240 billion global total addressable market opportunity as properties go online. If MTTR manages 1% penetration of this huge market, it could mean annual recurring revenue of $2.4 billion. At 5% penetration, annual recurring revenue could grow to $12 billion. The projections get even better at subscriptions of $5 per month, which would turn 20 billion spaces with either 1% or 5% penetration to annual recurring revenue of $12 billion or $60 billion respectively.
The total addressable market of the top 10 markets is a 10 billion space opportunity to explore and monetize. This market includes countries such as the U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, China and India.
Multiple channels can support continued growth, from the SaaS business model generating revenue from subscriptions on smartphones, to scaling enterprise applications, pursuing an international expansion, and developing an active 3rd party application marketplace.
Matterport reported that less than 10% of its total revenue was derived from top 10 customers, which is important. You don’t want to have a business built based on only a few material clients. That makes the business model too dependent on them and too risky.
The financial performance of Matterport is very weak as the company is unprofitable and burning cash. Upcoming earnings should be important, and could signal either a rebound of the stock price or a continuation of the slide.
The potential for MTTR stock exists and is huge. But my previous article’s conclusion remains valid. Wait for improved key metrics to show traction in the business and that the digital twin concept has momentum. Now it is too risky and mostly unjustified to jump in trying to catch the bottoming of the stock price.
On the date of publication, Stavros Georgiadis, CFA did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
Stavros Georgiadis is a CFA charter holder, an Equity Research Analyst, and an Economist. He focuses on U.S. stocks and has his own stock market blog at thestockmarketontheinternet.com/. He has written in the past various articles for other publications and can be reached on Twitter and on LinkedIn.


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Xiaomi has announced that it sold over 70 million smartphones over the course of the entire 2015 fiscal year. The company didn’t state exactly how many smartphones were sold, but it has improved on its 2014 total by around 10 million units. It’s not all positive for Xiaomi though, it missed its own 80 million projection set for 2015 which itself was reduced from an original target of 100 million…
In years previous, Xiaomi went virtually unchallenged in China as one of the only manufacturers building cheap smartphones with high end specifications. Over the past couple of years, the number of competitors has risen drastically, leaving the once-king of Chinese smartphone sales struggling to grow. Recently, for instance, its status as the #1 smartphone maker in China was taken by Huawei, a competitor which is also making strides internationally.
In order to continue competing and challenging its rival, Xiaomi’s next critical moves will be to expand its global reach, starting with UAE (United Arab Emirates) and Saudi Arabia.
Dubai-based distributor, Task FZCO has confirmed to the Saudi Gazette that it has signed a deal with carrier, Etisalat, to bring Xiaomi’s smartphones to the UAE market. The carrier will sell the Redmi Note 2 Pro, Redmi Note 2, Mi 4i and Mi Note initially.
“We are truly excited to bring Xiaomi’s range of mobile devices to the UAE. With the core value proposition of high quality smartphones packed with features well above their price point, we hope to become a significant player in the market,” said Givemore Gurira, Chief Operating Officer, TASK FZCO
Pricing for the three models will run as follows:
- Redmi Note 2 Pro – AED 449 (approx $122)
- Redmi Note 2 – AED 719 (approx $196)
- Mi 4i – AED 899 (approx $245)
- Mi Note – AED 1699 (approx $463)
Following the launch in UAE, Task FZCO is planning to launch Xiaomi smartphones in Saudi Arabia towards the end of the month, with a more widespread launch to neighboring nations within the next few months.
While a rollout in East Asia is a good thing for Xiaomi, it’s still yet to properly launch its devices in more established markets. It doesn’t yet have an official presence in central Europe, the UK or the US. But there have been rumors for some time that it will officially enter the US market, although those rumors are yet to materialize.
For now, I can’t help but feel that its focus on emerging markets is a smart move. But eventually, as those markets mature, Xiaomi will have to spread to existing, competitive markets at some point. With the likes of Huawei and OnePlus gaining traction in those areas, Xiaomi should seek to challenge as soon as possible if it wants to start growing significantly again.
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Despite what you may think about Uber’s often awful approach to public relations, there’s no denying that the ride sharing company has disrupted an entire industry.
Driving analytics company Zendrive has found that taxi drivers are 46 percent more likely to speed and than Uber and Lyft drivers. Rideshare drivers were less likely to violate traffic laws and less likely to practice “unsafe speeding” than taxi drivers.
Taxi drivers were also more likely to use their phones in the study.
While the product (i.e. legions of citizen drivers) may continue to get rave reviews, Uber is still “a company that is fighting fires. It is reacting to events rather than driving them,” according to Business Insider’s Jim Edwards. He continues: “Uber is on-boarding so many new drivers that it’s bound to get in a few psychos along the way.” The company’s pricing practices are still under fire, too. Uber drew headlines Monday for charging as much as $100 (Australian) per ride as a hostage crisis raged in Sydney. The company started offering free rides soon after complaints started bubbling up.


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Pandora Seals A Licensing Deal With Warner Music Group
September 16, 2016 at 3:46 AM (PT)
PANDORA has reached a direct licensing agreement for recorded music with WARNER MUSIC GROUP. This comes on the heels of similar deals with MERLIN NETWORK, SONY MUSIC and UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP (NET NEWS, 9/13). The agreement applies to PANDORA’s business in the U.S.
“WARNER has been a tremendous partner to PANDORA and we’re thrilled to expand the relationship in a way that truly supports both of our businesses and the artists we serve,” PANDORA Founder/CEO TIM WESTERGREN said. “With this agreement, we’re on a path to launch the world’s most personal and complete music experience that our listeners will love.”
“PANDORA has built a huge audience with a compelling product and we’re looking forward to new and enhanced subscription services for music fans and improved monetization for our artists,” WARNER MUSIC GROUP Executive Counsel for Business Affairs, Strategic and Digital Initiatives RON WILCOX said.


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Acer to bring Android handsets later this year with Android netbooks to match
At the beginning of the year, Acer announced they had no plans for Android handsets at their first mobile launch largely because their accompanying laptops run on Windows. It makes sense. So, one day after the Dell-abee PC giant announced they’d have an Android handset in the marketplace by Q4 this year, it’s perhaps of little surpise that we now find out they’ll have a netbook to back it up.
In a speech at Computex, the company’s global head of IT, Jim Wong said:
“Today’s netbooks are not close to perfection at all. In two years, it will all be very different. If we do not continue to change our mobile Internet devices, consumers may not choose then any more.”
The company will continue to sell Windows based mini-systems but as much as analysts say the move could cause a serious blow to Microsoft in the PC department, it’s more the mobile field where I believe the Ballmer Inc. will suffer. If there are Android computers to synch up your phones with, then why would anyone bother with Windows Mobile at all?
Acer M900 preview:
Comments are closed.
I am also sick of paying the Microsoft Tax. Lets hope Google levels the playing field and knocks some sense into Microsoft
Android could be the start of the undoing of Microsoft on all platforms with Google taking up the reins as the leading platform company integrating everywhere. With cloud capacity, platform and apps working seamlessly. I hope so. I am sick to death of Microsoft and it’s greed and will be glad to see it fall.


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The pioneer Japan's sports travel industry KNT has over 75 years of history.
Björk & Boström Finland proudly announces to be the Official Travel Partner for ISU World Figure Skating Championships 2017 Helsinki (29 March -2 April).
JacTravel, has been awarded the Queen’s Enterprise Award for international trade on account of its export growth. Overseas sales have nearly tripled in the six years to 2015, rising to over 80% of the business.
The Mediterranean Games are a multisport competition that is organized within the Olympic movement, with the recognition of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).


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Czech Republic: Economic sentiment drops for the second consecutive month in December
The economic sentiment indicator, a composite confidence indicator published by the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), dipped from 99.3 points in November to 98.6 in December, the lowest reading since July 2017. As a result, the indicator moved further below the 100-point mark that separates optimism from pessimism in the Czech economy.
The business confidence index declined from 97.8 in November to 96.4 in December, the weakest reading in five months. The print reflected weaker sentiment in the industry and services sectors, which more than offset improvements in construction and trade.
In contrast, consumers turned more optimistic in December, with the consumer confidence index increasing to 109.2 points from 106.9 in November. The increase was mainly due to consumers’ being less worried about their financial situation. Consumer confidence remains well above the historical average.


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Axios What's Next
August 27, 2021
All you need is a picnic-table-sized clearing in your backyard or driveway and you can get 3 pounds worth of stuff — rotisserie chicken, sushi, coffee, bread — delivered by drone (as long as you live in Logan, Australia).
- Also below: The winner of today's What's Next photo competition. Let's feature your photo sometime!
- How to get into the newsletter: Send us a picture you took, and 'splain what it says about What's Next in our world: [email protected].
Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,070 words ... 4 minutes.
1 big thing: The drone delivery capital of the world
Drone delivery still seems exotic to most of us, but people in Logan, Australia, near Brisbane, routinely get food and other items delivered from the sky, Joann Muller writes.
Why it matters: On-demand delivery is growing alongside an explosion in e-commerce, fueled by changes in consumer behavior during the pandemic. With roadways ever more congested, airborne delivery could sometimes be a faster option.
What's happening: This weekend, Google's drone delivery service, Wing, expects to hit 100,000 deliveries in Logan, two years after starting operations there.
- More than 50,000 deliveries were made in the past eight months, including a record 4,500 in the first week of August.
- That includes more than 10,000 cups of coffee, 2,700 sushi rolls, 1,000 loaves of bread and 1,200 hot chooks (Australian slang for rotisserie chickens).
- Wing started in two Logan neighborhoods and now serves 19 suburbs with a combined population of more than 110,000 people.
Of note: The Google delivery milestone comes a few weeks after Wired reported that Amazon's drone delivery program in the U.K. was "collapsing."
State of play: There are various commercial drone trials in the U.S., but the Federal Aviation Administration is still writing safety and navigational rules.
- For now, drones can't fly beyond the line of sight of the operator, which limits any kind of regular delivery service.
- Wing has an FAA waiver to test drone deliveries in a portion of Christiansburg, Virginia.
How it works: Wing's operation in Logan is a live, automated, on-demand service.
- Customers use the Wing app to place orders from one of 11 participating vendors operating out of one of Wing's "nests," or operations centers.
- Available items include coffee, food, hardware, clothing, pet supplies and beauty products — up to 3 pounds.
- The vendor secures the order inside the package and attaches the box with a clip to the underside of the drone, which itself weighs just 10 pounds.
- Wing's software chooses the optimal route to the destination, which can be as small as a picnic-table-sized clearing in someone's backyard, driveway or a nearby park.
When the drone arrives, it descends and hovers while the package is dropped down on a line. When it reaches the ground, the clip automatically releases the package, and the line recoils inside the drone.
- Customers never interact with the drone itself.
By the numbers: The 3-pound weight cap would seem to be a limiting factor, but Wing says 90% of last-mile deliveries weigh less than 5 pounds.
- We checked: The average rotisserie chicken — er, hot chook — is about 2 pounds, per Betty Crocker.
Be smart: Drone deliveries could be a novel service, but the real opportunity for drones is industrial. They can be used to survey and inspect buildings, pipelines and bridges, for example, keeping workers safely on the ground.
Go deeper: Fly me a pizza (or two)
2. Where the people are
Immigrati0n, affordability and access to good jobs are fueling population growth in places one might not necessarily expect, Jennifer A. Kingson writes.
Why it matters: The data from the U.S. Census Bureau, released this month, will be used for congressional redistricting.
- And the rapid expansion of these exurbs hints at what America might look like down the road — less white, less urban and more culturally diverse.
Where it stands: Formerly sleepy places are being reshaped by rapidly swelling populations, influencing everything from politics and development to the local employment and retail scenes.
- Buckeye, Arizona, in Maricopa County, grew the fastest.
- New Braunfels, Texas — between San Antonio and Austin — "grew a whopping 56 percent over the last decade" and its expansion "is the story of a changing America," per the New York Times.
- "The Anglo population has dipped below 60 percent for the first time in recent decades, with Latinos accounting for about 35 percent of residents."
- Irvine — the only place in California to make the cut — grew 45% between 2010 and 2020, to 307,670 people, according to LAist. "Much of the growth was fueled by incoming Asian American and immigrant residents, estimated at more than 40% of the city."
The bottom line: Per the U.S. Census Bureau: "All 10 of the fastest-growing cities grew by at least 44 percent, and the fastest-growing one, Buckeye, Arizona, a western suburb of Phoenix, was up nearly 80 percent this decade to reach over 91,000 in population."
Go deeper: A shake-up in the ranks of powerhouse cities
3. First Drive: The 2022 Lucid Air
The Tesla-fighting Lucid Air is "an absolute mic drop," writes Motor Trend's Jonny Lieberman, who had the distinction of being the first journalist to test-drive Lucid Motors' buzzy debut model, Joann Muller writes.
Why it matters: Everybody's aiming for Tesla, which dominates the global market for electric cars. And in Motor Trend's opinion, at least, the bar has been raised. Lucid is "absolutely a threat to Tesla and other luxury carmakers," the magazine writes.
Details: Motor Trend's review focuses mostly on the Air's surprisingly nimble driving dynamics, and the 500-mile range of its massive 113-kilowatt-hour battery.
- Lieberman drove the 933-horsepower Air Dream Edition R from Los Angeles to San Francisco — 409 miles — without recharging, and still had plenty of juice left.
And unlike Tesla, the Lucid has a proper interior, Motor Trend writes.
- "Whereas every Tesla since day one has seemingly shipped without a finished interior, Lucid not only crafted a perfectly wonderful luxury-car cabin, but it also smartly avoided the screens über alles aesthetic that plagues cars like the Mercedes EQS.
- "This isn't just a great interior for an electric vehicle — it's one of the nicest interiors in the car world."
Yes, but: What would you expect for $169,000?
My thought bubble: Jealous.
4. We're still not back in the office
This tweet from Michael Hendrix, director of state and local policy at the Manhattan Institute, encapsulates the ongoing WFH limbo that so many of us are experiencing.
- It references a new survey by the Partnership for New York City that found — among other things — that "58% of companies that disclosed their vaccination policy plan to require that all employees are vaccinated for COVID-19 (with appropriate exemptions)."
- 44% plan to require that all office guests are vaccinated.
What's Next: Smoky skies as a fact of life in the West
Stefan Jon Silverman writes: "Summer 2020: Stitched-together panorama shot from the San Francisco Brannan St. Wharf of the orange skies caused by wildfires to the north.
"Just waiting for more as our dystopian fire season rolls on this year. ..."
Thanks for reading! Please send photos, comments and suggestions to [email protected].
And tell your friends to sign up for What's Next! Subscribe here.


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DPD’s Predict delivery service has won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category. The award was given to Predict because of its role in what was described as DPD’s recent transformation and “dramatic” growth over the last five years, as well as the quality of the service itself. Predict gives parcel recipients an hour-long delivery slot as well as the ability to communicate with the handler of their parcel while it’s out for delivery. Since its launch in […]
A trailblazer apprenticeship standard for managers in the parcel courier sector has been submitted to BIS by the Institute of Couriers (Ioc) in light of the e-retail boom and upcoming apprenticeship levy.
FedEx Express is now offering customers sending parcels to and from the UK access to its Priority Alert service. Priority Alert and Priority Alert Plus were launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) yesterday [10 October]. The service identifies time-critical, valuable and temperature-sensitive parcels by the use of bright pink tape to ensure they are delivered quickly. Both priority services allow customers to monitor and track their parcel. “Our customers expect agility, speed and reliability for their global […]


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Internet hackers could spy on children through baby monitors, experts have warned.
Cybercriminals are able to access them through household networks.
There have even been cases where they transmitted noises through the devices to scare children.
Other youngsters are at risk from hackers simply by playing with ‘smart’ toys which are internet-connected or on games on their phones.
Research from a web security firm suggests one in five children could be spied on or become the victim of hackers in their own homes.
One in ten British households could be spied on through a web cam, the company’s research found.
Three million homes – 28 per cent of UK households – own as many as ten gadgets which hackers or even corporations could access online and gather data about their families.
Burglars can also snoop on webcams, energy meters and wearable devices in order to detect a potential victim's location, monitor peak times of use or even deactivate it without them noticing.
They also use laptops, smart phones and routers to obtain personal information, like passwords and bank details, in order to commit fraud, blackmail or identity theft.
Indeed, internet safety experts have said corporate companies monitor, track and even sell personal data created by internet-connected devices, such as smart meters or fridges.
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