text:
For the past decade, scientists at The Ecology Center have been testing car seats for chemicals that could pose a risk to children’s health – like flame retardants, which are added in order to meet the federal fire test standard for vehicle accessories. Their latest study found that while companies are moving away from the most toxic flame retardants, there’s still a great deal more that could be done to make car seats safer (1).
Researchers analyzed 15 infant and toddler car seats purchased in 2016 and found that all 15 contained flame retardants. Also, for the first time in their years of testing, they found that flame retardants were not just in the foam padding – it was found in about a third of the fabrics, as well. Here are more of the study’s findings:
- Most car seats (13 of the 15) still contain brominated flame retardants which are often toxic, persist in our environment and in our bodies, and bioaccumulate as you go up the food chain. Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is currently the most widely used brominated flame retardant, and animal studies have shown its impacts as a hormone disruptor that impacts both thyroid and estrogenic activity, as well as having neurotoxic impacts (2). It is detected in human tissues, can cross the placenta, and has been measured in breast milk samples throughout the world (3-5).
- Manufacturers have stopped using some flame retardants with known hazards, but the effects of the many of the substitutes are unknown.
- For the first time since they started testing in 2006, no lead was detected in any seats.
- In 2017, a car seat marketed as free of flame retardants will be on the market produced by UPPAbaby. (The researchers tested the new product and confirmed the claim.)
With how quickly fires can ignite after collisions, it does seem prudent to use flame retardants to give passengers more time to safely get away. Sadly, when it comes to car seats, the authors of the report state, “analyses of real-world fire scenarios suggest that flame retardant chemicals in car seats are unlikely to keep a child safer in a fire.”
There’s no doubt about it – car seats save lives. Motor vehicle injuries are a leading cause of death among children and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 2014, 34% of children who died were not using a car seat (6). So, the results of this study should not dissuade parents from using car seats.
What should you do?
Follow these recommendations from HealthyStuff.org:
- Contact the car seat companies. Let them know you expect them to manufacture products without toxic chemicals, which threaten the health of our children and natural resources. Car seat companies need to hear from people like you. They need to know we are tired of toxic chemicals being added to our children’s products, and demand safer, healthier options.
- Limit the time your children spend in their car seats. Only use the car seat during travel, not as a place for your child to nap or sit outside of the car.
- Limit direct sunlight on the car seat and high temperatures in your car. Flame retardants and other hazardous chemicals may be released at a higher rate when your car becomes hot. When possible, park in the shade or in covered parking. Window coverings in a car also substantially lower the interior temperature on a warm day.
- Vacuum the car interior and the nooks and crannies of car seats. Chemicals that migrate out, including flame retardants, can cling to dust particles. Open the car windows when possible.
- Shop smart. If you’re looking to purchase a car seat, they suggest you look for companies that have comprehensive chemical policies — ask if you can’t find the information easily — or a system to prioritize reduction and elimination of toxic chemicals in their products. Companies that sell children’s products should publicly disclose these policies.
As UPPAbaby has shown, car seats can indeed be made without the use of toxic flame retardants. Still, it costs more which limits how many children can use them. Every child deserves to have a safer car seat.
As stated in the report, “Policy makers should consider exempting child car seats from the federal flammability standard FMVSS 302. Despite 44 years of this U.S. regulation, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can provide no evidence suggesting that the rule protects children in vehicle fires. FMVSS 302 has resulted in car seat makers adding many thousands of pounds of chemical flame retardants to products that infants and children are in close contact with every day.”
- Children's Car Seat Study 2016 - Report. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2016, from http://www.ecocenter.org/healthy-stuff/pages/childrens-car-seat-study-2016-report
- Diamanti-Kandarakis, D., et al. (2009). Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement. Retreived December 13, 2016, from http://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/proposition-65/comment/bpacomment13a.pdf
- Johnson-Restrepo, B., Adams, D. H., & Kannan, K. (2008). Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and hexabromocyclododecanes (HBCDs) in tissues of humans, dolphins, and sharks from the United States.Chemosphere, 70(11), 1935-1944.
- Kawashiro, Y., Fukata, H., OMORI-INOUE, M., Kubonoya, K., Jotaki, T., TAKIGAM, H., … & Mori, C. (2008). Perinatal exposure to brominated flame retardants and polychlorinated biphenyls in Japan. Endocrine journal, 55(6), 1071-1084.
- Wikoff, D., Thompson, C., Perry, C., White, M., Borghoff, S., Fitzgerald, L., & Haws, L. C. (2015). Development of toxicity values and exposure estimates for tetrabromobisphenol A: application in a margin of exposure assessment.Journal of Applied Toxicology.
- Child Passenger Safety: Get the Facts. (2016, August 19). Retrieved December 13, 2016, from https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/child_passenger_safety/cps-factsheet.html


text:
(Updates share price to close in sixth paragraph)
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Telenor ASA, the Nordic Region’s largest phone company, will seek indemnity and compensation from Unitech Ltd. for the breach of warranties related to the cancellation of licenses by the Supreme Court of India.
“The legality and validity of the licenses was a fundamental term of the share subscription agreement between Telenor Group and Unitech Limited,” Telenor Group General Counsel Paal Wien Espen said in a statement today.
Telenor entered India by buying 67.25 percent of Unitech Wireless, an arm of Unitech, which still owns the remainder. Their Uninor wireless brand opened to customers in December 2009, using licenses secured by Unitech. The Indian government this month canceled 122 wireless licenses, including 22 to Uninor, following a court investigation into their award. Telenor wrote down $721 million on the venture.
Telenor will seek a new partner to develop mobile services in India, it said. The Norwegian company has invested 8.9 billion kroner ($1.54 billion) for its stake in Uninor, and is also fully guaranteeing 8.1 billion kroner of short-term debt, it said.
The operator, based in Fornebu, Norway, is prepared to participate in a new spectrum auction if no alternatives are available, the company’s Asia chief Sigve Brekke said Feb. 6 in New Delhi. The company will look at “all options” before considering an exit from India, he said.
Telenor shares rose as much as 4.3 percent and were up 3.2 percent at 100.8 at the 5:30 p.m. close in Oslo.
--With assistance from Diana ben-Aaron in Helsinki. Editor: Kim McLaughlin
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Treloar in Oslo at email@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at firstname.lastname@example.org

domain: news


text:
National Fish and Chip Day – Friday 27th May 2022 –
The biggest day in the fish and chip calendar is back! National Fish and Chip Day 2022 will return for the seventh year on Friday 27th May!
The event has gone from strength to strength since its launch in 2015 and despite the restrictions, nearly 50 million people would have seen, heard or read about the awareness day last year. National TV, radio and newspapers featured stories as did the regional media. Social media was awash with fish and chip stories with our hashtag #nationalfishandchipday and we were number 1 on Twitter from 8 a.m. and stayed there all day long!
Make National Fish and Chip Day 2022 the best yet as NEODA brings together everyone involved in creating this iconic British dish; from Fish & Chip shops, pub chains, restaurants, and retailers, to the fishermen and farmers who provide the sustainable and natural ingredients needed to create this family favourite. Start tweeting with the hashtag #nationalfishandchipday now!
National Fish and Chip day was set up because back in 2015, one of the finalist businesses of the National Fish & Chip Awards – namely Papa’s Fish & Chips mentioned how a National Awareness Day for fish and chips would be a great addition to the industry calendar. This idea was picked up by a member of the NEODA Board and NEODA decided it was something they could champion, so the first-ever National Fish and Chip Day began with a small programme of creative and attention-grabbing media activity, undertaken to bring the day to life in the mind of UK consumers and support the industry in driving footfall to local fish and chip businesses – including fish and chip shops, restaurants and foodservice establishments across the UK – to support sales. National Fish and Chip Day is about giving fish and chips the recognition it deserves and helping to secure its position in the eyes of both consumers and the media as the nation’s favourite dish.
One thought on “NATIONAL FISH AND CHIP DAY – FRIDAY 27TH MAY 2022…”
Reblogged this on THE VILLAGE KITCHEN.


text:
The world of fashion is filled with eclectic and innovative creations which catch the fancy of style enthusiasts. However, some fashion designers do tend to go overboard with their creativity, thus making them fodder for memes on the internet. Recently, a Twitter user shared images of leaf bags created by French fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier. These purses were shaped to look like they had been made from leaves, and they were part of Gaultier's spring-summer collection in 2010. Take a look:
Jean Paul Gaultier's spring-summer collection in 2010 was inspired by the Aztec emperor Moctezuma, as reported by Vogue. He decided to go completely 'tribal-eco' with his message in the collection. The leaf bags, thus, were part of the same fashion aesthetic with sustainability as the core concern.
However, the bizarre creation did surprise Twitter users when it was recently shared. The tweet shared by user @_gastt received 86k likes and hundreds of comments from users. The leaf bag struck a chord with foodies on the internet, especially those from South Asia, where dishes wrapped in leaves are quite common.
Take a look at the hilarious reactions:
This is not the only bizarre fashion creation to have gone viral. In the recent past, Italian luxury brand Moschino had launched a new Baguette bag shaped like the oblong French bread. Italian fashion house Prada had too launched a new sweater with holes, which Twitter said reminded it of cheese.
What did you think of these interesting statement pieces? Tell us in the comments below.
About Aditi AhujaAditi loves talking to and meeting like-minded foodies (especially the kind who like veg momos). Plus points if you get her bad jokes and sitcom references, or if you recommend a new place to eat at.


text:
Head over to our on-demand library to view sessions from VB Transform 2023. Register Here
For all those students who have had trouble wrapping their heads around a subject — and who hasn’t? — a New York City-based company called Knewton has a free solution.
It will wrap the subject around your head.
The seven-year-old company is today opening up for free its adaptive learning platform. Previously, it was available only via licensing deals that utilized textbook content from over two dozen publishers. Now, any teacher, student, parent, or other learner can learn — at no cost — K-12 math, English, science, and history, with other subjects coming.
If you take a lesson in basic algebra, for instance, the platform — currently in public beta — serves up small pieces of content and accompanying questions, with answers either multiple choice or free text. A new user is initially served base-level content.
As each question is answered correctly or not, the platform immediately scans its repository of content to serve up the next best explainer and assessment, based on “what you know and how you learn best,” as the company says.
It will keep doing so, until it finds a way to teach you the material. You “don’t finish something until you master it,” COO David Liu told me.
Teachers and others can upload unrestricted content in small chunks, which is then “calibrated” — tagged and organized — by the platform and by humans.
This curation, the company says, turns the content into “the best data-rich version of itself.” It can unleash for any student the most accessible explanation of the Pythagorean theorem, Liu said, which might have been languishing on a teacher’s computer and available only to her students.
The company says its public content library currently has over 100,000 pieces of curated content, such as teacher-made videos, university courses, and study guides. Some of it was uploaded by 25,000+ users during the just-completed private beta period.
By opening up the platform, Knewton can increase its content library and boost its database of user learning profiles. But the company has its sights set on a broader goal.
“It’s always been part of our strategy to be a platform that powers the world’s content,” Liu said. “We’re trying to democratize learning.”
Through its work with publishers — including Pearson, Elsevier, Sesame Workshop, and Houghton Mifflin — Knewton says it has helped over ten million students on six continents. The company says only students or their parents control the personalized data, and that it doesn’t sell or share the data.
Arizona State University reports a 56 percent drop in course withdrawal rates for developmental math students using the platform, and a boost of pass rates to 75 percent from 64 percent. A study conducted by Knewton found that students using the platform showed a half-grade improvement in biology, chemistry, physics, and anatomy/physiology.
The company, which has raised $105 million so far, envisions premium versions of the public platform, such as private label implementations for businesses. The platform is only offered in English for now, and there’s no pre-screening of users to see if they are fluent in the language. Support for other languages is on the drawing board.
Describing Knewton as “the best, smartest tutor in the world,” Liu said the most direct competitors are great local tutors.
While many learning platforms boast that they adjust next questions based on previous answers, he said Knewton’s data-driven process is fundamentally different because it offers a hyper-personalized path created on the fly from the best content components on that subject, geared to that user.
By contrast, he said, the other platforms are “choose-your-adventure” decision-tree systems whose paths are pre-defined by a subject matter expert for large groups of users, based on the number of correct answers.
“Decision tree models don’t do calibration,” he said.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings.


text:
FTR has released FTR Player™ 6.5.
The new version ensures compatibility between Windows 10 build 1803, 1809 and 1903 eliminating the need for users to install various patches.
Additionally, it includes other usability enhancements and improvements.
Visit store.fortherecord.com to download the latest version for FREE.
For The Record (FTR) has been awarded the contract to provide courtroom recording and evidence presentation systems for the Judicial Branch of Arizona, Maricopa County, one of the largest legal jurisdictions in the United States.
FTR’s Chief Technology Officer and President –
Americas, Tony Douglass stated the company was proud to partner with the
Judicial Branch of Arizona in Maricopa County... Read More
Courts have had
digital technology in their courtrooms since the mid-1990s.
While the core
concept has stayed the same, the last decade has seen a huge evolution in tools
and processes that are available to a court of record.
Working with two of FTR’s leading courtroom technology specialists, Jeremy Millar and Ben Paterson, we’ve compiled this list of helpful advice for courts.
1. Test recording... Read More
For The Record is aware that some customers may experience an issue with the playback of recordings using FTR Player after upgrading to the latest version of Windows 10, update 1903.
We have resolved this issue in our latest version of FTR Player 6.5 which can be downloaded free from our online store.
Note: If you are using an FTR Suite less... Read More
For the Record (FTR) has recently been awarded the contract to provide courtroom electronic recording equipment, software and services for the Superior Court of California, County of Orange.
The project covering 66 courtrooms will be the Company’s third rollout for the Superior Court of California, after successful installations in 130 courtrooms across Los Angeles and Contra Costa over the past... Read More
FTR recently released its latest version of FTR Gold Annotation Suite featuring dual licensing options, a range of enhancements, and easy installation allowing simplified upgrades from previous versions.
With the new dual licensing feature, customers will be able to activate Annotation Suite using either a site license or a machine license. New machine licenses allow customers to continue using the... Read More
For The Record is aware that some customers may experience an issue with the playback of recordings after upgrading to the latest version of Windows 10, update 1809 or 1803. This may affect customers using FTR Player and FTR Manager.
For The Record has a patch to resolve this issue for both versions which requires two dynamic link libraries (ContentPlayer.dll and... Read More
For The Record is aware that some customers may experience an issue with the playback of recordings after upgrading to the latest version of Windows 10, update 1803. This may affect customers using FTR Player and FTR Manager.
For The Record has created a patch to resolve this issue which requires two dynamic link libraries (ContentPlayer.dll and FTRAACDecoder.dll) to be re-registered... Read More
As courts face unprecedented risks when it comes to digital court recordings, revolutionary new technology provides verified certainty and protection from tampering.
Recent digital media developments are emphatic proof of the need to better safeguard court media files.
In November 2016, Adobe previewed its VoCo project, or “Photoshop for Voice”. The software makes it possible to rapidly change an audio recording... Read More
In a world first, For The Record has today announced that it can now provide authors of court audio the ability to digitally sign their recordings using the immutability of blockchain technology.
The process of verifying a recording starts with the FTR Gold recording software saving the file in a proprietary multi-channel .trm file format every five minutes.
An encrypted digital... Read More


text:
NEW DELHI, November 12 – Bad news is piling up for India\’s economy with exports slumping, car sales tumbling and economists cutting growth forecasts amid job losses as the global financial downturn takes hold.,
Until recently the country was confidently asserting that its mainly inward-looking economy and vast domestic market of 1.1 billion people would allow it to ride out turmoil stemming from the US-bred subprime crisis.
But Asia\’s third-largest economy has joined the ranks of the wounded, with the odds of it emerging comparatively unscathed now significantly reduced as companies worry over their earnings.
"What began as a warning breeze spreading some chill in financial circles is now a full-fledged storm battering the real economy," said T.N. Ninan, editor of the financial daily the Business Standard.
And while this year will be difficult, analysts say 2009 looks worse.
"The larger-than-expected (credit) shock to the financial sector over the past couple of months and its knock-on effects on both domestic and external demand are responsible," said Goldman Sachs economist Tushar Poddar.
Goldman Sachs this week cut its growth forecast for this fiscal year to March 2009 to 6.7 percent — among the lowest so far — and said it expected the economy to expand by just 5.8 percent next year.
Although strong by current Western standards, such growth is far shy of the double-digit levels economists say is needed to rescue hundreds of millions of Indians from poverty.
India\’s economy has grown by at least nine percent for the past three years but this week has seen a slew of ominous numbers.
Domestic car sales slumped by 6.6 percent in October, the fastest decline in more than three years, as tough loan conditions amid a worldwide credit crunch crippled consumers\’ borrowing prospects.
Factory output slowed to its lowest level in three-and-a-half years in October while in the same month, India\’s exports fell 15 percent — the first contraction since 2003.
Key export segments such as textiles, clothing and jewellery "are already reeling," industry body Assocham said.
Other indicators show airline passenger numbers are expected to fall this year — the first drop since 2001. The sector, one of the most vibrant symbols of India\’s economic progress, is returning leased planes and deferring the purchase of new ones.
Corporate profits are down by an average 35 percent while lay-offs are taking place in sectors ranging from textiles to real estate. Hotels are reporting a near 20 percent drop in occupancy.
"The economy is fast decelerating," said Deepak Lalwani, India director of Astaire and Partners, based in London.
The rupee has also weakened sharply as foreign investors have fled, pushing down stocks by more than 50 percent and the currency down 17 percent against the dollar.
Some 850 billion dollars has been wiped off the stock market this year.
The central bank has been cutting interest rates but has been wary about inflation, stubbornly near 11 percent.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has forecast growth of seven to 7.5 percent this year, has vowed "all possible support" to shore up the economy.
But analysts say the government has little room to spend its way out of the downturn with a stimulus package similar to the 586-billion-dollar scheme announced by China focusing on infrastructure and other projects.
India, whose combined federal and state deficits are expected to be over seven percent of GDP this year — among the world\’s highest — will have to rely on already announced spending to jump-start its economy, analysts say.
The Congress-led government, which faces elections by next May, hiked spending sharply in a populist budget earlier this year that contained a loan bailout for poverty-hit farmers and tax perks for the middle class.


text:
| Oct 23, 2013
| 9:05 AM
Taken a taxi recently? I had the unusual experience recently of traveling to a "sustainable city," Chattanooga, and encountering public transit with so many blind spots (despite a ground-breaking downtown electric shuttle bus) that I ended up taking taxis...
| Sep 22, 2013
| 2:00 PM
I keep forgetting the BMW i3 is a real car.
It's not that my brain can't distinguish between concept and production models, but I was thrown for a loop when I learned this electric car will be on sale in the U.S. in early 2014. After all, we've been...
| Oct 11, 2013
| 10:45 AM
Toyota announced Thursday that it was voluntarily recalling about 10,000 new cars to fix a faulty windshield wiper switch.
The recall affects the 2013 and 2014 Camry and Camry Hybrid, the 2013 Avalon and Avalon Hybrid, and the 2014 Corolla. Due to a...
| Sep 12, 2013
| 8:17 AM
Inch by inch, hybrids and electric cars are gaining ground in the U.S. auto market.
Automakers sold 54,855 hybrids in August, reports Autodata Corp., a sales tracking firm. That is a 32% gain from the same month a year earlier and an industry record...
| Sep 6, 2013
| 12:50 PM
We hear from automakers, industry experts, car sellers and insiders all the time. In Car Stories, we hear from the people that matter most to the auto industry, the drivers. Just like every house has its own smell, every car has its own story. John...
| Oct 18, 2013
| 11:19 AM
Los Angeles billionaire Elon Musk secretly purchased the amphibious sports car that appeared as a movie prop in a 1970s James Bond film with the intention of converting it into the real thing.
Musk, chief executive of electric car company Tesla Motors...
| Oct 17, 2013
| 12:51 PM
Toyota will recall about 803,000 cars, including the Camry, Avalon, and Venza, because of a problem that could inadvertently set off an airbag or shut down the power steering on the vehicles.
All of the cars are from the 2012 and 2013 model years. Even...
| Oct 16, 2013
| 12:26 PM
Cadillac had announced just how much juice you’ll need to buy its upcoming ELR plug-in.
The all-new, two-door coupe will start at $75,995 when it goes on sale in January. The front-wheel-drive model is largely based on the four-door Chevy Volt,...
| Oct 17, 2013
| 8:39 AM
Two German diesel sedans and three Japanese cars are the finalists for the Green Car of the Year Award to be handed out at the Los Angeles Auto Show next month.
The finalists for the Green Car Journal award include the Audi A6 TDI, BMW 328d, Honda...
| Oct 16, 2013
| 10:01 AM
We hear from automakers, industry experts and auto writers all the time. In Car Stories, we want to hear from the people that matter most to the auto industry: The drivers. Just like every house has its own smell, every car has its own story. This week we...
| Oct 10, 2013
| 10:19 AM
If you’ve been eyeing the new plug-in version of Toyota’s popular Prius hybrid, it’s a good thing you waited.
The automaker announced Wednesday it would be slashing the price of the 2014 plug-in Prius by at least $2,000 in an effort to...


text:
Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe is planning an outpost in Johns Creek, according to construction plans reviewed this week by What Now Atlanta.
Opening under the business Taz Atl 3, LLC, the new Taziki’s will be housed at 6975 McGinnis Ferry Road, Suite 200, in a strip center built in 2021, per a Loopnet listing.
It’s unclear if the upcoming Taziki’s will have a franchisee or if it will be corporately-owned but the construction plans list Taziki’s corporate office as the “franchisee-tenant.”
Keith Richards, the chain’s founder and chief development officer, on Thursday did not immediately repsond to a request for comment.
Keith founded the restaurant chain alongside Amy Richards in Birmingham, Alabama. Taziki’s bills itself as “a fresh celebration of the Mediterranean diet with a colorful menu that offers handcrafted, elevated, affordable fare the entire family enjoys.”
This year the brand is celebrating 25 years in business with almost 100 locations in 16 states. In Georgia, the brand has seven locations, according to its website.


text:
Travelport has worked in partnership with Schiphol Travel International since 2000 and provides the company with both on and offline services.
Schiphol Travel International is a travel management company specialising in providing professional services to medium and large multinational companies and is based in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It has been named as one of the fastest growing business chains in the Netherlands over the past three years.
The renewal allows Schiphol Travel International will continue to have access to Travelport’s unsurpassed travel content inventory, which includes fares and now ancillaries from the world’s leading network and low cost carriers and over 600,000 hotel properties (of which 500,000 are independent hotel properties), as well as its industry leading merchandising and desktop technology.
Daan Lenderink, Director at Schiphol Travel International, said: “We are pleased to extend our agreement with Travelport as providers of consistently superior and innovative technology solutions which enable us to deliver an exceptional service to our customers. We feel that in our collaboration with Travelport we more effectively meet the needs of our business.”
Simon Ferguson, Travelport Managing Director, UK & Ireland, said: “We are delighted that Schiphol Travel International has extended its partnership with Travelport. We look forward to continue working together over the coming years, by supporting their evolving needs as a modern travel management company operating in a highly competitive environment.”


text:
Hon Hai (2317) Profit in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the third highest single season, although last year's profit for five years was low, Hon Hai was relatively strong compared to other foundries. Most foreign investors are optimistic about profit growth, while US foreign investment is more conservative, but although the worst situation has passed, profitability in the second half of this year is fluctuating, and a new product replacement cycle is still expected next year. Research on foreign investment also shows that some iPhones will support 5G in 2020.
US foreign investment said it had gone through the worst situation in Hon Hai. With the current stock price estimate, there is support for the next file, but the demand for basic smart machines can still be challenged, coupled with extreme competition in the industry. The recent stock price mostly reflects the fourth quarter results, but the gain in the first half of this year may increase fluctuations.
The US investment side points out that most investors are very excited about the Hon Hai forecast for the fourth quarter last year, and are happy to watch the new iPhone SE in the first half of next year and the 5G iPhone in the second half of the year. However, the US foreign affairs ministry believes that the assembly plant and Shuo (4938), shellfish factory Jabil, Kecheng (2474), BYD and other supply chains will increase pressure on Haya's prices.
US foreign investment notes that Hon Hai may not continue to maintain profitability in the near future. With the new product line in 2020, the 4.7-inch Apple iPhone SE still has only one lens positioned in the initial model, not all Apple iPhones in the second half of 2020. By supporting the 5G network, from the perspective of market trends and news in the supply chain, new product specifications can hardly ignite and strongly alter the machine's demand.
However, the US Department of Foreign Investment feels Hon Hai in fourth quarter performance, and raised Hon Hai's per share by 6% from 2019 to 2020. Although the price is maintained, the target price is raised from 70 to 74 yuan. In the Apple supply chain, it is more popular with Xinpu (6121), optimistic about the variety of products in the data center and electric bike theme.
Do you have anything to say, join the "immediate forum"
Do not accept "other reuse" Dong Ruibin back to school to teach
Six light gas explosion


text:
The Truth About That Cobb Salad
There’s a new online education module available from the Food and Drug Administration to help the foodservice industry, regulators, and consumers to better understand what’s required under menu labeling rules that officially kicked in last May.
This new online tool includes information on compliance and fact sheets on menu labeling. The module is part of FDA’s plan to spend the first year of implementation focusing on education, outreach, and working with establishments to help them comply with the new regulations.
See the new online module at collaboration.fda.gov.


text:
Those renominated include Wendy Vitter, opposed by Democrats for her comments about abortion. Thomas Farr, who never got a final vote when several Republicans broke ranks, was not on the list.
The Japanese firm will move its European headquarters to the Netherlands to avoid customs issues.
The new year is well underway and, before January is out, we polled VCs in Southeast Asia to get their thoughts on what to expect in 2019.
The number of VCs in the region has increased massively in recent years, in no small part due to forecasts of growth in the tech space as internet access continues to shoot up among Southeast Asia’s cumulative population of more than 600 million consumers.
There are other factors, including economic growth and emerging middle classes, but with more than 3.8 million people becoming first-time internet users each month — thanks to smartphones — Southeast Asia’s ‘digital economy’ is tipped to more than triple to reach $240 billion by 2025. That leaves plenty of opportunity for tech and online businesses and, by extension, venture capitalists.
With a VC corpus that now numbers dozens of investment firms, TechCrunch asked the people who write the checks what is on the horizon for 2019.
The only rule was no more than three predictions — below, in no particular order, is what they told us.
Funds will continue to invest aggressively in Southeast Asia in the first half of this year but capital will tighten up by Q4 as funds and companies prepare for a possible recession. I think we will see a lot of companies opportunistically go out to fundraise in Q1/Q2 to take advantage of a bull market.
We will see two to three newly-minted unicorns from the region this year, after a relative lull last year.
This will (finally) be the year that we start to see some consolidation in the e-commerce scene
A significant portion of capital returned by upcoming U.S. IPOs to institutional investors will be directed to growth markets outside of China, with India and Southeast Asia being the likeliest beneficiaries. Alternative assets such as venture and subsets of private equity in emerging markets will enter their golden age.
The withdrawal of Chinese strategic players held back by weakened domestic economy, prudent M&A by local strategics and ongoing caution among Japanese, Korean and global corporates, combined with ongoing valuations exuberance by late-stage investors allocating funds to Southeast Asia, will continue holding back large liquidity events. Save perhaps for a roll-up of a local champion or two into a global IPO. Fundraising will get more troublesome for some of Southeast Asia’s larger unprofitable market leaders. Lack of marquee liquidity events and curtailed access to late-stage capital for some will lead to a few visible failures (our money is on the subsidy-heavy wallets!) and a temporary burst of short-term skepticism around Southeast Asia as an investment destination towards the end of 2019.
The trend towards the emergence of value-chain specific funds and fund managers will continue, as digitalization is reaching ever further into numerous industry sectors and as Southeast Asia hosts an increasing portion of global supply chains. We foresee at least dozen new venture firms and vehicles emerging in 2019 with clear sector-led investment thesis around the place of Southeast Asian economies in the global value chains of fashion industry, agriculture and food; labour, healthcare services; manufacturing, construction tech and so on, with investment teams that have the necessary expertise to unravel this increasing complexity.
Jakarta becomes Southeast Asia’s startup capital surpassing Singapore in terms of the number of deals and investment amount.
As Indonesia’s startup scene heats up, regional seed and series A funds move away from Indonesia and target Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines (in market priority order).
Southeast gets two new unicorns.
North Asian companies will provide well-needed liquidity as they withdraw capital from developed American and European markets due to the Federal Reserve’s actions. The FED raised interest rates and reduced the size of its balance sheet (by not replacing the bonds that were maturing at a rate of $50 billion a month). This has been seen in the recent fundraising exercise by Southeast Asian unicorns. Grab has recently seen an impressive list of North Asian investors such as Mirae, Toyota and Yamaha . A recent stat stated that 85 percent of the funding of Southeast Asia startups have gone to billion dollar unicorn such as Grab and Gojek, bypassing the early stage startups that are more in need for funding, this trend is expected to continue. Therefore, we will see early-stage companies and venture capitalists becoming more focused on generating cash flow from operating operations instead as fundraising activities become more difficult.
A growth in urbanization in Southeast will create new job opportunities in small/medium businesses, as evident in China. Currently, only 12 percent of Asia’s urban population live in megacities, while four percent live in towns of fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. New companies will see the blurred lines between brick and mortar businesses vs pure online businesses. In the past year or so, we have seen more and more offline businesses going online and more online businesses going offline.
Fertility rates in the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam exceed 2.1 births per woman — the level that sustains a population — but rates below 1.5 in Singapore and Thailand mean their populations will decline without immigration. As we see more startup activities coming to Southeast Asian countries, we expect to see more qualified foreign talent moving to the region vs staying in low growth American and European countries.
First Chinese “Seaward” Unicorn in Southeast Asia. In recent years, a growing number of Chinese startups are targeting overseas markets from the get go (known as Chuhai 出海 or “Seaward”). These Chinese entrepreneurs typically bring with them best practices in consumer marketing and product development honed by a hyper-competitive home market, supported by strong, dedicated technical team based out of China and increasingly capitalized by Chinese VCs which have raised billion-dollar funds.
Consolidation among ASEAN Unicorns. While ASEAN now boasts 10 unicorns, they are duplicative in the sense that more than one exists in a particular category, which is unsustainable for winner-takes-all markets. For example, in the ASEAN ride-hailing space, while one unicorn is busy with regional geographic expansion, the other simply co-exists by staying focused on scope expansion within its home market. This will never happen in a single country market like China but now that the ASEAN ride hailing unicorns are finally locking horns, the stage may be set for a Didi-Kuadi like scenario to unfold.
ASEAN jumps on Chinese 5G bandwagon. The tech world in the future will likely bifurcate into American and Chinese-led platforms. As it is, emerging markets are adopting Chinese business models based on bite-sized payment and have embraced Chinese mobile apps often bundled with cheap Chinese smartphones. Looking ahead, 5G will be a game changer as its impact goes beyond smartphones to generic IoT devices, having strategic implications for industries such as autonomous driving. As a result, the US-China Trade War will likely evolve into a Tech War and ASEAN will be forced to choose side.
We are excited by growth in the AI and deep tech sectors. The focus has generally been on consumer-focused tech in Southeast Asia as an emerging market, but we are starting to see proprietary solutions emerge for industries such as medtech and fintech. AI also has great applicability across a wide range of consumer sectors in reducing reliance on manpower and creating cost savings.
Data analytics to uncover organizational efficiencies and customer trends will continue to be even more widely used, but there will also be greater emphasis on securing such data especially confidential information in light of multiple high-profile data breaches in 2018. Tools enabling the collection, storage, safe-keeping and analysis of data will be essential.
We are seeing the emergence of more institutional funds from North Asia. So far it has predominantly been Chinese tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba, now we are starting to see Korean and Japanese institutions placing greater emphasis on investment in the Southeast Asian region.
Even more capital flowing from U.S. and China into Southeast Asia, with VCs from both locations soon to open offices in the region
A fresh wave of Series A investments into Vietnam.
Ten exits over $100 million.
The emergence of a financial services super app, think the Meituan or WeChat but only for financial services: The Southeast Asian millennial is one of the most underserved customer from a financial services perspective whether it is payments, consumer goods loans, personal loans, personal finance management, investments or other financial services. We will see the emergence of digital platforms that will aggregate all these related services and provide a one stop financial services shop for this digitally native consumer.
Digitisation of SMEs will be new fintech: Southeast Asia is home to over 100 million SMEs that are at the cusp of digital transformation. Generational change in ownership, local governments push for digitization and increased globalization have created a perfect storm for these SMEs to adopt cloud and other digital technologies at neck-breaking pace. Startups focussing on this segment will get mainstream attention from the venture community over the next few years as they look for new industries that are getting enabled or disrupted by technology.
Lyft and Uber go public and show the path to profitability for other rideshare businesses. This has positive effect for the regional rideshare players but also puts pressure on them to demonstrate the same economics in ridesharing. Regional rideshare players double down on super-app positioning instead, to demonstrate value in other ways as rideshare business alone may not reach profitability — ever.
The trade war between China and the US reaches a truce, but a general sense of uncertainty lingers. This is now the new norm — things are less certain and companies have to plan for more adverse scenarios. In the short term, Southeast Asia benefits. Companies — Chinese, American etc — see Southeast Asia as the neutral ground. Investment pours in, creating jobs across industries. Acquisition of local champions intensifies as foreign players jostle for the lead positions.
“Solve the problem” – tech companies will become more prominent… tech companies that are real-estate brokers, recruiters, healthcare providers, food suppliers, logistics… why: many industries are very inefficient.
Fight to quality will happen. Fundraising across all stages from seed to Series C and beyond will be challenging if you don’t have the metrics. Investors will want to see a path to profitability, or an ability to turn profitable if the environment becomes worse. This will mean Saas companies with stable cash flows, vertical e-commerce with strong metrics will be attractive investment opportunities.
Investor selection will become critical, as investors take a wait and see approach. Existing or new investors into companies will be judged upon their dry powder in their funds and their ability to fund further rounds
The regulatory risk for fintech lenders will be higher this year, rising compliance cost and uncertainty on licensing, which would lead to consolidation in the market.
Southeast Asia: an intensifying battlefield for tech investments
There has never been so much VC money in Southeast Asia chasing interesting startups, at all life cycle stages. The 10 most active local and regional VCs have raised their second or third funds recently, amassing at least two times more money than a few years ago, probably reaching a total amount close to $1 billion. In addition, international VCs have also doubled down on their allocation into the region, while top Chinese VCs have visibly stated their intent not to miss the dynamic momentum. Several growth funds have recently built a local presence in order to target Southeast Asia tech companies at Series C and beyond. Not counting the amount going to the unicorns, there might be now more than $3-4 billion available for seed to growth stages, which may be 3-4 times the amount of three years ago. There are, of course, many more good startups coming up to invest into. But the most promising startups will be in a very favorable position to negotiate higher valuation and better terms. However, they should not forget that, eventually, what creates value is how they make a difference with their tech capabilities or their business model, how they acquire and retain the best talent, with the funds raised, not only how much money they will be able to raise. Most local and regional corporate VCs are likely to lose in this more intense investment game.
Significant VC money investing into so-called ‘AI-based startups’, but are there really much (deep) Artificial Intelligence capabilities around?
A good portion of the SEA startups claim they have ‘something-AI’. Investors are overwhelmed, if not confused, by the ‘AI claim’ that they find in most startup pitches. While there is no doubt that Southeast Asia will grow its own strong AI-competence pool in the future, unfortunately today most ‘AI-based’ business models from the region would still be just ‘good algorithms or machine learning’ that can process some amount of data to come up with good-enough outcomes, that do not always generate substantial business value to users/customers. The significant budget that some of the very-well-funded Southeast Asia unicorns are putting into their ‘AI-based apps’ or ‘AI platform’ is unlikely to make a real difference for the consumers, for lack of deep AI competences in the region. 2019 may be another year of AI-promise, not realized. Hopefully, public and private research labs, universities and startups will continue to be (much more) strongly supported (especially by governments) to significantly build bigger AI talent pool, which means growing and attracting AI talent into the region.
Bigger Series A and Series B rounds to fuel more convincing growth trajectory, towards growth-stage fundraising.
Although situations vary a lot: typical Series A in Southeast Asia used to be around $5 million, and Series B around $10-15 million. Investors tended to accept that normally companies would raise money after 18 months or so, between A and B, and between B and C. There has been an increasing number of larger raises at A and B recently, and very likely this trend will accelerate. The fact that VCs now have much more money to deploy into each investment will contribute to this trend. However, the required milestones for raising Series C have become much more around: minimum scale and very solid growth (and profit) drivers. Therefore, entrepreneurs will have to look for getting as much funding reserve as possible, irrespective of time between raises, to build growth engines that take their companies past the milestones of the next Series, be it B or C. In the future, we will see more Series A of $10 million and more Series B of well-above $20 million. Compelling businesses will not have too much difficulties for doing so, but most Southeast Asia entrepreneurs would be wise to learn to more effectively master fundraising skills for capturing much bigger amounts than in the past. Of course, this assumes that their businesses are compelling enough in the eyes of investors.
Out-sized valuations will be less commonplace in 2019 as Southeast Asian investors learn from experience and become more sophisticated. Therefore, we do see opportunities at Series A/B for undervalued deals due to lack of early-stage funding while we expect to continue to see the trend of the majority of venture capital investments going into later stage companies (Series C and beyond) due to lower risk appetite and ‘herd’ mentality.
2018 has also seen the rapid emergence of many corporate venture capital funds and innovation programs. But, 2019 will see large corporations cutting back on their allocation towards startup investing which would be the easiest option for them in case of adverse news to the jittery public markets in 2019.
With the growth of AI, the need for API connections and increased thought leadership to embrace tech, Southeast Asia is going to see an upsurge in SaaS startups and existing startups moving to a Saas business model. Hence, we expect increased investments into Saas companies focused on IoT and cybersecurity as hardware data and software are moved onto the cloud.
Southeast Asia VC investment pace has grown steadily and significantly since 2010 where it started from less than $100 million in VC investment in the region. For the first eight months of 2018, the region’s VC investment was over $5.4 billion. For the whole of 2018, it will likely end around $8 billion. For 2019, we expect the VC investment pace to surpass 2018 level and record between $9-10 billion. Southeast Asia will continue to attract more VC investments because:
(1) Governments in Southeast Asia, especially ASEAN, continue their support policy to encourage startups.
(2) young demographics and the fast technology adoption in Southeast Asia give rise to more innovative and disruptive ideas.
(3) global investors looking for a better return and will naturally focus on growing emerging market like Southeast Asia.
The trend towards gig economy will begin to have an impact in the region. In developed economies like the U.S, gig economy is expected to reach over 40 percent by 2020. The young population will look for more freelance opportunities as a way to increase income levels while still maintaining flexibility. This will include white-collar work like computer programming, accounting, customer service, etc. and also blue-collar work like delivery services, ride-sharing, home services, etc. We believe that the gig economy will grow to over 15 percent in Southeast Asia by 2019.
AI-heavy or -driven startups will begin to make inroads into Southeast Asia.
The BIG convergence — there will more integration between industries and sectors. Traveloka went into car rental, Blibli went into travel business and these are only some examples. There is a lot of synergistic value between travel startups and food startups or between property startups and automotive startups. Imagine a future where you travel to a city where you stay in an apartment you rented through a marketplace (like Travelio, my portfolio company), and when you need to book a restaurant you can make the reservation through a platform that is integrated with the property manager, and when you need to move around you go down to the car park to drive a car you rent from an automotive marketplace. There is clear synergy between selective industries and this leads to an overall convergence between companies, between industries.
More channels to raise Series B/C, early-stage companies find fundraising more challenging — We have seen a number of VC funds raising or already raised growth funds, this means that there are now more channels for Series A or B companies to raise growth rounds. As the market matures, there will be more competition for investments amongst growth funds as there is considerably more growth in the number of growth funds than companies that are raising at growth-stage. On the flip side, the feel is that there is a consistent growth in the number of early-stage companies, yet the amount of capital in early-stage funds is not growing as much as more VCs prefer bigger and later stages, due to the maturity of their existing portfolio companies.
Newcomers gaining weight — there will be at least 10 companies that will hit a valuation of at least $100 million. These valuations will not be based on a single market exposure. Companies that raise larger rounds will need to show that they are regional.
Thanks to all the VCs who took part, I certainly felt like the class teacher collecting assignments.
Google has launched its first clean energy project in Asia. The company announced today that it struck a long-term agreement to buy the output of a 10-megawatt solar array in Tainan City, Taiwan, about 100 km south of its data center in the country. Google already has solar and wind projects across North and South America, as well as Europe.
The agreement is a collaboration between Google, several Taiwanese energy companies, and the country’s government, which recently revised Taiwan’s Electricity Act to enable non-utility companies to purchase renewable energy directly. The revisions are part of Taiwan’s new energy policy, aimed at phasing out nuclear energy by 2025 and increasing the share of electricity generated from renewable sources to 20 percent.
Google is the first corporate power buyers to take advantage of the revised law. Its development partners are Diode Ventures, Taiyen Green Energy, J&V Energy, and New Green Power.
The solar array will be connected to the same regional power grid at Google’s Chuanghua County data center, one of two in Asia (the other is in Singapore). The poles supporting the solar panels will be mounted into commercial fishing ponds, an arrangement that Marsden Hanna, Google’s senior lead of energy and infrastructure, said in a blog post will maximize land-use efficiency and respect the local ecology because “fish and solar panels can coexist peacefully.” Fishing pond owners will also be compensated for hosting the panels.
The agreement means Google will get a long-term, fixed electricity price for its operations in Taiwan.
“As the Taiwanese government pursues further measures to remove market barriers and reduce renewable energy costs, we’re hopeful that more companies will purchase renewable energy, driving even larger projects across Taiwan,” said Hanna.
Former F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg wants to bring electric transport to the masses.
Did you blow enough money on Uber to get Diamond status? A lot of users are finding out tonight as Uber rolls out its rider loyalty Rewards program to San Francisco and a slew of other cities. The feature calculates how much you’ve spent on Uber and Uber Eats in the last six months awards you perks like no-fee cancellations if you rebook, guaranteed prices between your two favorite spots, and free car upgrades. Uber confirms to TechCrunch that Rewards will roll out to the entire US soon but now is available in 25 places across the country.
Uber Rewards is still a bit complicated to be easy enough for everyone to quickly understand, but it does a could job of offering powerful perks and a way for everyone to earn $5 rebates. The program could discourage users from checking other ride hailing apps if their Uber’s ETA or price seems too high.
Meanwhile, Lyft’s loyalty program remains unseen. The competitor tried to steal the spotlight by announcing its own rewards system just two days before Uber, yet it seems like that was vaporware as it still hasn’t launched. Uber was far from first here, as Southeast Asia’s Grab has had rewards since 2016. But Uber could flex its deep pockets and cultural cache here by using slick product design to differentiate itself in a crowded market of lookalikes.
Luckily, almost everything in Uber Rewards happens automatically. All you have to do is look out for the invitation to join at the bottom of the home screen and activate it. You’ll then see your tier and the associated perks that you’ll get to keep for the next six months.
The only non-retroactive perk is the $5 credits you get for each 500 points you earn going forward. You get 1 point per dollar spent on UberPool, Express Pool and Uber Eats; 2 points on UberX, Uber XL and Uber Select; and 3 points on Uber Black and Black SUV. The one perk you have to configure yourself is if you’re platinum, you’ll have to choose which route to get price protection for. You probably want to pick your home and your most frequent destination or one of reasonable distance that you often travel to or from during rush hour.
Uber Rewards is now available in Boston, Dallas, Orange County, Houston, New Orleans, Kansas City, Indianapolis, LA, SF, Fort Collins, Rockies, Pittsburgh, Lehigh valley, Gettysburg, Erie, and Western Massachusetts. That’s on top of the launch cities of Miami, Denver, Tampa, New York, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, San Diego, and anywhere in New Jersey. Once Uber has nailed the experience in the US, it plans to roll it out to international locales.
Now, here’s a breakdown of the Uber Rewards tiers, the best perks, and how much Ubering it takes to earn them (from our November post announcing the feature):
Blue: $5 credits
The only Uber perk that doesn’t reset at the end of a period is that you get $5 of Uber Cash for every 500 points earned regardless of membership level. “Even as a semi-frequent Uber Rewards member you’ll get these instant benefits,” Janakiram says. Blue lets you treat Uber like a video game where you’re trying to rack up points to earn an extra life. To earn 500 points, you’d need about 48 UberPool trips, 6 Uber Xs and 6 Uber Eats orders.
Gold: Flexible cancellations
Once you hit 500 points, you join Uber Gold and get flexible cancellations that refund your $5 cancellation fee if you rebook within 15 minutes, plus priority support Gold is for users who occasionally take Uber but stick to its more economical options. “The Gold level is all about being there when things aren’t going exactly right,” Janakiram explains. To earn 500 points in six months, you’d need to take about 2 UberPools per week, one Uber X per month and one Uber Eats order per month.
Platinum: Price protection
At 2,500 points you join Uber Platinum, which gets you the Gold benefits plus price protection on a route between two of your favorite places regardless of traffic or surge. And Platinum members get priority pickups at airports. To earn 2,500 points, you’d need to take UberX 4 times per week and order Uber Eats twice per month. It’s designed for the frequent user who might rely on Uber to get to work or play.
Diamond: Premium support & upgrades
At 7,500 points, you get the Gold and Platinum benefits plus premium support with a dedicated phone line and fast 24/7 responses from top customer service agents. You get complimentary upgrade surprises from UberX to Uber Black and other high-end cars. You’ll be paired with Uber’s highest-rated drivers. And you get no delivery fee on three Uber Eats orders every six months. Reaching 7,500 points would require UberX 8 times per week, Uber Eats once per week and Uber Black to the airport once per month. Diamond is meant usually for business travelers who get to expense their rides, or people who’d ditched car ownership for ridesharing.
Alchemist, which began as an experiment to better promote enterprise entrepreneurs, has morphed into a well-established Silicon Valley accelerator.
To prove it, San Francisco-based Alchemist is announcing a fresh $2.5 million investment ahead of its 20th demo day on Wednesday. Jupiter Networks, a networking and cybersecurity solutions business, has led the round, with participation from Siemens’ venture capital unit Next47.
Launched in 2012 by former Draper Fisher Jurvetson investor Ravi Belani, Alchemist provides participating teams with six months of mentorship and a $36,000 investment. Alchemist admits companies whose revenue stream comes from enterprises, not consumers, with a bent toward technical founders.
According to numbers provided by the accelerator, dubbed the “Y Combinator of Enterprise,” 115 Alchemist portfolio companies have gone on to raise $556 million across several VC deals. Another 25 have been acquired, including S4 Capital’s recent $150 million acquisition of media consultancy MightyHive, Alchemist’s largest exit to date.
Other notable alums include Rigetti Computing, LaunchDarkly, which helps startups soft-launch features and drone startup Matternet.
Alchemist has previously raised venture capital funding, including a $2 million financing in 2017 led by GE and an undisclosed investment from Salesforce.
Nineteen companies will demo products onstage tomorrow. You can live stream Alchemist’s 20th demo day here.


text:
Renee Cordes is The Deal’s correspondent in Brussels, covering competition and other areas of EU regulation as well as corporate news. Her company beats range from banks to beer, as well as food and fashion retail for The Deal and The Street. She also does regular studio interviews and video reports posted on both sites. A Chicago native, Cordes has worked as a business journalist in Europe for more than 15 years at media organizations such as the European Voice in Brussels, Bloomberg News in Frankfurt, and startup business publications in post-Communist Hungary and Poland. She is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
Recent Articles By The Author
SABMiller Pauses AB InBev Deal Integration After Increased Offer
The companies had started convergence planning months ago to ensure a smooth transition from day one of the deal nicknamed 'megabrew.'
Diageo First-Half Results Show Rebound in Six Global Brands, U.S. Spirits
The British drink giant predicts a near-$490 million profit boost this year from exchange-rate movements.
Danone First-Half Results Top Expectations
The rosy report comes weeks after the French food group agreed to buy Silk maker WhiteWave.
LVMH Shares Rise Amid Strong Demand for Wines and Spirits
First-half profit is in line with expectations, while sales grow more than expected in the same period.
Airbus Confirms 2016 Guidance After Second-Quarter Charges
The company stands by a production target despite problems with new projects.
Verizon Tops Profit Estimates as Revenue Slips
The telco giant says it expects 2016 adjusted earnings to be comparable to 2015.
AB InBev Raises Tab for SABMiller
The new offer values the U.K. target at $103.3 billion and comes as the Belgian suitor bows to pressure from activist investors.
Philips Second-Quarter Profit Beats Expectations as 2016 Outlook Unchanged
CEO Frans van Houten said the company is sticking to its outlook for the year amid volatility in a number of markets.
Global Week Ahead: Report Card Time for European Banks, BOJ Monetary Policy Meeting
Expect a barrage of key indicators and earnings from companies including Deutsche Bank, LVMH, Diageo and AB InBev.
Mylan Gets EC Clearance for Meda Purchase
The buyer agrees to asset sales to allay the antitrust concerns of Brussels regulators.


text:
Rising costs, along with the struggle to attract and retain labor, are hastening the automation of a wide range of restaurant tasks. While up to now, most kitchen automation has been supported by human intervention, newcomers to the market are blurring the lines between quick-service/fast-casual restaurants and sophisticated vending machines that can serve warm food and drink. In the process, they are gaining the ability to keep costs low for customers. Newly launched Mezli, for one, has been called the world’s first fully autonomous robotic restaurant. It serves up a full hot menu of healthy grain bowls, sides and drinks without any human intervention — and their bowls start at $6.99.
If there was one predominant theme to emerge from this year’s National Restaurant Association show, it might be that robots’ time has finally arrived. The labor crunch has made the need for new solutions all the more pressing and the recent show presented solutions including robots that can complete such tasks as bartending, cleaning and even climbing stairs to deliver orders. In the months leading up to the show, robots have taken on more of the monotonous, repetitive or dangerous tasks in restaurants, such as serving as fry cooks, with increasing frequency. Servi, a server robot that is being leased by a growing number of independent and national brands in recent months, costs approximately $1,000 per month. For many operators struggling to find staff, being able to count on an extra set of hands to complete tasks has been worth the cost.
If you can automate food preparation as much as possible, you will reduce waste and grow your margins. While small operators might believe having a kitchen robot is an impossible expense, the pandemic may be changing that. The growth of virtual restaurants – and the creative approaches to challenges that operators have found during the pandemic – have increased the number of offsite options that can bring automation within reach for smaller operators. If you have food preparation tasks that could benefit from automation, consider other businesses in your area that likely have the same needs. At a time when so much food preparation is being done away from a restaurant’s public-facing location, you may be able to share the expense of a robotic machine based in an offsite kitchen that can churn out precisely chopped ingredients on a larger scale for multiple businesses.
Make way for automation
The pandemic has triggered what many journalists have dubbed the Great Resignation – an exodus of employees from the restaurant industry (and well beyond it) who are demanding better pay and more flexibility in response to the challenges of the times. In the short term, restaurant operators desperate for help in serving guests may bend to some of these pressures. But with the long-term sustainability of offering such benefits in question, restaurant brands have accelerated their investments in automation. To be sure, the human element is still an important aspect of service for many restaurants, but amid the current labor shortages, high employee turnover and increased concerns over safety and working conditions, why wouldn’t an operator be tempted to bring in a robot that never needs a break, complains, gets sick or asks for a raise? While quick-service restaurants are a natural place for this to begin, the automation trend won’t stop with them. What’s more, the lessons quick-service brands learn (and the degree of profitability they generate) as a result are likely to motivate restaurants across the board to incorporate automation in new ways. A recent Forbes report pointed to automation efforts already well underway at McDonald’s (AI-powered drive-thrus), White Castle (robotic fry cooks), Domino’s (robotic delivery through Nuro) and Taco Bell (fast touch-screen ordering and pickup with minimal interaction with staff), to name just a few. The accelerated adoption of automation could also accelerate its financial accessibility to industry segments beyond quick service. Where might your business most benefit from automation? Look for more opportunities to adopt it in the New Year.
At a time when labor challenges in the restaurant industry persist, could now finally be the moment when robotic servers go mainstream? The idea doesn’t seem so far-fetched now that Chili’s has announced the introduction of robotic waitstaff in 10 of its locations in the U.S. The robot the brand is using, which is a version of the Bear Robotics Servi robot platform, could prove to be an important case study in to what extent automated waitstaff can ease labor woes, how well they manage tasks once handled solely by servers, and how feasible they could be financially for the standard American restaurant.
Amid ongoing labor challenges, automation is something many restaurant operators are willing to try. According to the foodservice technology firm Lightspeed, half of restaurant operators in the U.S. are planning to incorporate automation to fill labor gaps in the next two to three years. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics research from August, the quit rate among hospitality workers is 6.8 percent – more than double the national average – and full-service restaurants are operating with 6.2 percent fewer kitchen employees than they were in 2019. While larger brands are taking on labor challenges by offering enticements ranging from educational benefits to higher pay to even iphones, providing these incentives to potential hires may not be sustainable or even possible for everyone. So how feasible is it for the average restaurant to automate tasks normally delegated to an employee? While the idea of automation may conjure ideas of big-ticket robotic chefs and servers, there are a number of ways to ease labor pressures through automation with far lower barriers to entry. Start there to make sure you are already automating what you can. That could mean automating your bookings, social media posts, online (or even in-person) orders and post-visit marketing so those tasks require less involvement from your staff. Assess your back-of-house procedures as well to weed out any manual processes you use to pay invoices, schedule staff, track inventory, manage food safety and monitor the functioning of equipment.
Could today’s labor challenges turn the tide for robots in the kitchen? That’s what Gary Stibel, founder and CEO of New England Consulting Group, predicts in the recent “Restaurant of the (Near) Future” report in Nation’s Restaurant News. He said while robots will be more common in kitchens in the near future for labor and novelty reasons, they will also offer substantial value when it comes to micro-personalization. He says: “You’ll be able to more easily select exactly what you want and instead of a bunch of people running around the kitchen, a robot will do precisely what the customer asks.” If you look a few years into the future, how might your ability to offer micro-personalization to guests elevate your business? Could automation help take you there?
If you’re unable to fill staff openings – and unwilling to raise prices to make it possible to raise your hourly wage – technology is quickly becoming the alternative restaurant operators choose to manage business. In a recent article in the New York Times, Shana Gonzales, a Checkers franchisee, said she could fully staff her restaurants if she offered $14-$15 an hour, but that would mean increasing prices so much that her customers would be driven away. So instead, she has introduced voice-recognition technology in her drive-thrus that can take orders, accommodate special requests and modifications, and send that information directly to the kitchen and cashier. At the moment, this technology isn’t replacing staff – at least not on a one-to-one basis – but is serving as a support, allowing employees more time for face-to-face customer service. But it’s safe to say that operators who find ways to incorporate automation can operate more smoothly with a slimmed-down number of total staff. What repetitive tasks in your restaurant could be ones to automate?
Robotic chefs may still sound futuristic – but they already have a place in restaurant kitchens. That’s particularly true for restaurants struggling to hire and retain staff, and those eager to get a better handle on food waste (so in other words, everyone). While Spyce claims to be the first restaurant with a kitchen run entirely by robots that can prepare complex recipes, a rapidly increasing number of brands are offloading repetitive kitchen tasks to robotic assistants. And as more venture into this territory, look for prices for this technology to fall. A sign of things to come: This year’s Consumer Electronics Show featured a kitchen robot from Moley Robotics that can prepare thousands of dishes, avoid allergens when requested, or simply guide a person through the steps of a recipe as they prepare it. While the price tag is steep at $340,000, it’s likely to challenge other companies in the space to accomplish similar tasks less expensively in the not-so-distant future.
What’s the best way for you to get take-away food to your customers? As operators adjust to new, late-pandemic conditions – including a lack of available labor and an increase in potential vendors and tech-driven solutions to provide support – they are making changes to how they handle delivery. Panera, long held up as an example of how a non-pizza restaurant can accommodate in-house delivery, recently announced it would be switching to third-party delivery – at least for now. In the meantime, the food delivery robot is becoming a far less futuristic concept than it ever was, with companies including Nuro, Kiwibot, Tortoise and Starship Technologies rolling out options for last-mile delivery. Those robots also happen to relieve some of restaurants’ labor, food safety, marketing and profitability pressures, so they could make the delivery landscape look a whole lot different in the coming months and years.


text:
Hype for the Sony PS5 has now reached fever pitch, with PlayStation gamers worldwide desperate to get their hands on the next-gen console.
But, while we know a lot now about the console and the games we can expect at launch, the one thing we don't still have a handle on is pricing, with the PS5, PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and PS5 games remaining largely unknown in terms of cost.
- Breaking! PS5 pre-orders: You can reserve a PlayStation 5 at THESE retailers
- Xbox Series X U-TURN! Microsoft breaks promise to gamers 😞
- OnePlus Nord boss throws shade at Galaxy S20 Ultra
That, though, has just changed dramatically, with gaming software giant Ubisoft confirming the price of its PS5 games this year in a recent earnings call. As reported by The Verge:
"Ubisoft has publicly committed to keeping prices for new games released on next-gen consoles this fall at $60, the company said in an earnings call on Wednesday."
For the record, Ubisoft will be launching Assassin's Creed Valhalla and Watch Dogs Legion on PS5 this year. This means both of those games will not cost a penny more than their PlayStation 4 equivalents.
Here at T3 we think this is great news, as history has shown that games for new consoles, specifically during its launch window, tend to be jacked up in price. Indeed, you only have to look at the news that Take-Two Interactive and 2K Games intend to charge an extra $10 for its next-gen games to see that the practice still exists.
So, while it seems like pricing for PS5 games across the board remains unfixed, it looks like at least Ubisoft's titles will remain at a more affordable level this year, which is welcome news in our mind here at T3, as after shelling probably around $500 for a new PlayStation 5 console, most gamers will want to save as much money as possible when picking up new games to play.
What PS5 games are we looking forward to the most here at T3? Well, Horizon Forbidden West looks awesome – we really can't wait to get stuck back into some robo-dino slaying action.
Ghostwire: Tokyo also looks super spooky and Returnal's gameplay mechanic whereby the world changes every time you die is intriguing. Deathloop also looks like one hell of an adrenaline rush.
At the lighter end of the gaming spectrum, Bugsnax looks super cute, and we're pleased to see Sackboy is back once more in his Big Adventure.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart also looks buckets of fun and really seems to be making the most of that rapid new SSD in the PS5.
And, while we're talking about exclusives, who couldn't be enthused by Project Athia, an exclusive JRPG from Final Fantasy makers Square Enix.
The graphics on Gran Turismo 7 are also just jaw-dropping and we're super happy to be throwing webs so soon again in Spider-Man Miles Morales.
Hopefully we will see even more from these games soon, and hopefully get confirmation that each one will be retailing at $60 or less.


text:
U.S. farmers have been devastated by erratic weather patterns and an ongoing trade war with China, one of the largest U.S. agriculture importers in the world. The federal government is putting together an aid program to help farmers. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced Thursday (July 25) details of the $16 billion package aimed at supporting American agricultural producers while President Donald Trump’s administration continues to negotiate.
In May, Trump directed Secretary Perdue to craft a relief strategy in line with the estimated impacts of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods and other trade disruptions. The Market Facilitation Program (MFP), Food Purchase and Distribution Program (FPDP) and Agricultural Trade Promotion Program (ATP) will assist agricultural producers while President Trump works to address long-standing market access barriers.
“China and other nations have not played by the rules for a long time, and President Trump is the first President to stand up to them and send a clear message that the United States will no longer tolerate unfair trade practices,” Secretary Perdue said. “The details we announced today ensure farmers will not stand alone in facing unjustified retaliatory tariffs while President Trump continues working to solidify better and stronger trade deals around the globe.”
MFP signup at local FSA offices will begin Monday (July 29) and end December 6, 2019.
Payments will be made by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) under the authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act to producers of alfalfa hay, barley, canola, corn, crambe, dried beans, dry peas, extra-long staple cotton, flaxseed, lentils, long grain and medium grain rice, millet, mustard seed, oats, peanuts, rapeseed, rye, safflower, sesame seed, small and large chickpeas, sorghum, soybeans, sunflower seed, temperate japonica rice, triticale, upland cotton, and wheat. MFP assistance for those non-specialty crops is based on a single county payment rate multiplied by a farm’s total plantings of MFP-eligible crops in aggregate in 2019.
The per-acre payments are not dependent on which crops are planted in 2019. A producer’s total payment-eligible plantings cannot exceed total 2018 plantings. County payment rates range from $15 to $150 per acre, depending on the impact of unjustified trade retaliation in that county.
Dairy producers who were in business as of June 1, 2019, will receive a per hundredweight payment on production history, and hog producers will receive a payment based on the number of live hogs owned on a day selected by the producer between April 1 and May 15, 2019.
MFP payments will also be made to producers of almonds, cranberries, cultivated ginseng, fresh grapes, fresh sweet cherries, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pistachios, and walnuts. Each specialty crop will receive a payment based on 2019 acres of fruit or nut-bearing plants, or in the case of ginseng, based on harvested acres in 2019.
The acreage of non-specialty crops and cover crops must be planted by August 1, 2019, to be considered eligible for MFP payments.
The MFP rule and a related Notice of Funding Availability will be published in the Federal Register on July 29, 2019, when signup begins at local FSA offices. Per-acre non-specialty crop county payment rates, specialty crop payment rates, and livestock payment rates are all currently available on farmers.gov.
MFP payments will be made in up-to three tranches, with the second and third tranches evaluated as market conditions and trade opportunities dictate. If conditions warrant, the second and third tranches will be made in November and early January, respectively. The first tranche will be comprised of the higher of either 50% of a producer’s calculated payment or $15 per acre, which may reduce potential payments to be made in tranches two or three. USDA will begin making first tranche payments in mid-to-late August.
MFP payments are limited to a combined $250,000 for non-specialty crops per person or legal entity. MFP payments are also limited to a combined $250,000 for dairy and hog producers and a combined $250,000 for specialty crop producers. However, no applicant can receive more than $500,000. Eligible applicants must also have an average adjusted gross income (AGI) for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 of less than $900,000 or, 75% of the person’s or legal entity’s average AGI for tax years 2014, 2015, and 2016 must have been derived from farming and ranching. Applicants must also comply with the provisions of the Highly Erodible Land and Wetland Conservation regulations.
Many producers were affected by natural disasters this spring, such as flooding that kept them out of the field for extended periods of time. Producers who filed a prevented planting claim and planted an FSA-certified cover crop, with the potential to be harvested qualify for a $15 per acre payment. Acres that were never planted in 2019 are not eligible.


text:
It’s happening, the Aston Martin DBX will be their first crossover
Aston Martins’s in the midst of reworking their entire lineup to move their brand into the next generation of cars, and there’s a lot of pressure riding on their shoulders.
This is because Aston is more or less fending for themselves, despite gaining some new investors recently. That said, with rather limited resources, even after striking a small deal with Daimler for parts and resource sharing, Aston was destined to figure out a way to produce a car, allowing them to widen their profit margins. And the current best way to do that is to make a crossover–it’s hard to deny, they’re a hot commodity.
That said, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Aston apparently confirmed to be producing its DBX Crossover Concept, as part of its new £200 million capital investment increase.
Aston didn’t have much more to say about the crossover, but all we need to know for now is that it’s actually happening.
ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA ISSUES £200 MILLION FUNDING FOR PRODUCT EXPANSION
- Investindustrial and Tejara Capital led a further £200 million in investment capital in the form of preference shares
- Enables production of DBX luxury crossover, building on range of iconic luxury sports cars
- FY 2014 revenues of £468 million and adjusted EBITDA of £66 million announced
30 April 2015, Gaydon: Aston Martin Lagonda today announced that with the leadership of its major shareholders, it has arranged additional committed funding of £200 million, enabling the 102-year old luxury sports car manufacturer to develop significant new luxury models that will drive the future of the company under its strategic business plan.
The additional capital investment comes in the form of £200 million of preference shares; £100 million of which were issued on 29 April 2015 with the remaining £100 million – already subscribed for – to be issued in the next twelve months, and will further expand the previously announced investment plan.
This major investment in new luxury models is at the core of Aston Martin’s strategic vision. Under the plan, the company will expand into the luxury GT crossover market with the introduction of a new vehicle based on the DBX concept shown at the recent Geneva and Shanghai motor shows. With the addition of new model lines, the company’s strategy will help drive future growth, always ensuring that Aston Martin builds the world’s most beautiful cars that deliver true sporting ability with passion and refined luxury.
Aston Martin Lagonda CEO Dr Andy Palmer commented: “This additional long-term funding, will enable us to add extra model lines and broaden our presence in the luxury market segment by the end of the decade. The DBX concept, has generated interest far beyond our expectations. The additional investment announced today will allow us to realise the DBX and other new luxury vehicles that will form the strongest and most diverse portfolio in our history.”
“Our shareholders have shown their strong commitment and confidence in the management team to execute the strategic plan,” continued Palmer.
Separately, Aston Martin Holdings (UK) Limited today announces results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2014. In 2014 the company delivered full year revenues of £468 million and adjusted EBITDA of £66 million whilst simultaneously increasing its product development spend by 45%. In 2015, the company expects global demand for its luxury sports cars to remain high, whilst it continues to develop and expand its current range starting with first customer deliveries of the limited edition track-only Aston Martin Vulcan and the race inspired, Vantage GT12.


text:
New Delhi: American online payments portal PayPal will levy GST charges on its services starting November 1, 2017, in tune with Goods and Services Tax rules and regulations in India.
PayPal users in India have been prompted to update their GSTIN details on the website at the earliest.
Based on the GST registration details submitted by the user, PayPal will issue tax invoices, an Indian Express report said. Users will also be able to claim input tax credit provided correct GSTIN details are updated on the website.
An 18 per cent tax will be imposed on PayPal services, which is only applicable to the fees charged by the payment gateway, and not the entire amount of purchase price.
Financial and Banking services in India such as debit card, fund transfer, ATM withdrawal, locker rentals, issuance of chequebooks, cash handling charges currently face a higher tax of 18 per cent as compared to the earlier 15 per cent.
Founded in 1998, listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 2002 and turned into a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay Inc. in 2015, PayPal operates a payment system that supports online money transfers and serves as an alternative to paper transaction methods like checks and money orders.
Architects of India's future will define the agenda for growth in this Golden Decade, at the Times Network India Economic Conclave - 25, 26 March | New Delhi. Watch LIVE coverage from the ground on Times Network News channels and www.indiaeconomicconclave.com.


text:
Bethesda confirmed the upcoming global release ofÂ Fallout 4, the next generation of open-world gaming.
The world premiere of the game will take place during Bethesdaâs E3 Showcase being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 14thÂ beginning at 7.00pm PST, and streamed live around the world viaÂ TwitchÂ andÂ YouTube.
Fallout 4Â is being developed for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 computer entertainment system and PC by award-winning Bethesda Game Studios under the direction of Todd Howard.Â This eagerly-awaited game is the follow up to the 2008 âGame of the Yearâ,Â Fallout 3,Â and the first title from the world-renowned studio since the release of their global phenomenon and 2011 âGame of the Yearâ, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.Â
âWe know what this game means to everyone,â said Game Director, Todd Howard, âThe time and technology have allowed us to be more ambitious than ever. Weâve never been more excited about a game, and we canât wait to share it.âÂ


text:
Apollo Tyres Ltd. (APTY), India’s second-biggest tiremaker by market value, yesterday agreed to acquire Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. (CTB) for about $2.5 billion for greater access to the U.S. automotive market.
Apollo Tyres, based in Gurgaon, India, said it will pay $35 a share to Cooper Tire shareholders. That’s 43 percent higher than the June 11 closing price of $24.56. Cooper Tire shares rose 41 percent yesterday to $34.66 at the close in New York.
Apollo Tyres, which last month agreed to sell most of its South African operations to Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd. (5110)for $60 million, is looking to offset slower automobile demand in India and Europe amid weaker economic expansion. The company, which has said it wants to be among the top 10 tiremakers by 2016, would enter the U.S., the second-biggest auto market, where deliveries are on pace for the best year since 2007.
“These kinds of cross-border transactions, suppliers from different countries investing in each other’s markets, is always good for the industry,” Sanjeev Varma, managing director of Stellar Alliance Group LLC, a Troy, Michigan-based automotive industry consultant, said in an interview yesterday.
The deal would be the biggest takeover of an auto-parts maker since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The acquisition will provide “scale and geographical presence including the American and European market, that’s a mature market, and India and China that’s a growing market,” Neeraj Kanwar, vice chairman of Apollo Tyres, told reporters at a briefing yesterday in Gurgaon. The companies expect the deal to close in the second half of the year.
Apollo Tyres and Findlay, Ohio-based Cooper Tire will borrow money from four banks, Apollo Tyres Chief Financial Officer Sunam Sarkar said at the briefing. The two companies will jointly raise $2.5 billion from the sale of bonds with maturity of as long as eight years, he said.
Apollo Tyres’s exposure to new debt will be be about $450 million, Sarkar said. The companies will also raise some funds with asset-backed loans, he said.
“This is a highly leveraged transaction which seems a bit risky,” Stellar Alliance’s Varma said.
The four banks that will help arrange the funds are Standard Chartered Plc, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to a joint statement issued by the two companies.
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co. served as legal advisers to Apollo Tyres. BofA Merrill Lynch served as financial adviser and Jones Day served as legal adviser to Cooper Tire, according to the statement. Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank also served as financial advisers to Apollo Tyres.
Shares of Apollo Tyres rose 2.7 percent to close at 91.95 rupees yesterday in Mumbai, before the announcement. They have advanced 3.3 percent this year, compared with a 2 percent drop in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Cooper Tire has gained 37 percent this year, compared with a 14 percent increase for the Russell 2000 Index.


text:
Being Elmo, the Sundance prize-winning documentary about the creator of the Sesame Street puppet and his behind-the-scenes beginnings on the iconic PBS children’s show, has landed multiple deals at the Cannes market, where it is being sold by Submarine Entertainment. The Constance Marks film, which will be released theatrically this year by Submarine to qualify for Oscar consideration, has been sold to New Video for DVD and digital rights (via its Docurama Films label) and ITVS & Independent Lens for the first TV window. Mongrel Media will release in Canada, and Madman Entertainment has sold to Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
CANNES: Submarine Scores 'Being Elmo'
For all of Deadline’s headlines, follow us @Deadline on Twitter
Sign up for Newsletters
Trending Now on Deadline
More From Team
- Ellen DeGeneres Clocks Biggest Opening Week Yet For Her Daytime Talk Show
- J.J. Abrams To Receive VES Society's Visionary Award
- Elisabeth Moss Joins Cast Of 'Truth', Pic Based On Rathergate Scandal
- Broad Green Finds 'Eden', Music Box Jams With 'Mekons'
- Riley Keough To Topline Steven Soderbergh's 'The Girlfriend Experience' On Starz
- 'Fishing Without Nets' Trailer: Somali Pirate Drama


text:
Russia-Ukraine Conflict is getting worse, and has already influenced the world much. Our ceramic tile business also will have some changes in near future. According to reports, because of the conflict, Russia cut down the gas supplying to the European countries, most of the manufacturers have to reduce their production or even stopped lines. Capability of supplying to the market will lower much, and prices will rise much at the same time.
So for Chinese quality ceramic tiles exporters, it will be a chance to meet the needs from the markets who imported from the EU manufacturers before, esp. after COVID-19 situation getting better, and shipping rate back to normal. So if you imported from the EU mainly before, it’s time for you to consider Chinese tiles now.
Actually since the Chinese government paid more attention to environment protection years ago, cost of Chinese tiles rised much, esp. recent years, many new factories appear in different countries, and the Chinese tiles lost advantages on prices. So the Chinese manufacturers were pushed to pay attention to quality instead of cheap prices. And now most of the Chinese tiles are very good quality, and stand well while compete with European tiles. That’s why almost all top tile importing countries issued anti-dumping policy against the Chinese.
Anyway, we people love peace. And hope both the conflict and Covid will be finished soon.


text:
Procter & Gamble Co. is being honored for its innovation outsourcing.
The award comes for P&G’s work on “key front office services” with consulting firm Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
Accenture is managing digital marketing campaigns, e-retailer content and virtual reality centers for P&G (NYSE: PG).
The companies won the Outsourcing Excellence Award in the “Most Innovative” category by Outsourcing Center, an industry trade publication.
The program is helping P&G to “meet its changing business needs more effectively, drive improved productivity and innovation, accelerate the start-up of new services and realize lower IT costs,” said Marco Ziegler, a managing director in Accenture’s Consumer Goods & Services practice.
Along with other work, Accenture managed the Internet sites, applications and home page features across more than 30 markets for P&G’s popular “Thank You, Mom” campaign during the Summer Olympics.
“Accenture understands our business,” said Andy Walter, vice-president of P&G’s Global Business Services unit, “and is willing to jointly invest in business areas that hold key strategic value to us.”
Accenture delivers the services from Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Shanghai, Warsaw and client locations.