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Last week, Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk penned a blog posting that essentially updated the master plan for the company that called for a broader product development thrust into hybrid trucks and buses. This places a far broader emphasis on the firm’s supply chain ramp-up challenges, one with the implication that Tesla will, by our view, have to seriously consider adding to existing final assembly production capacity beyond its current Fremont California facility.
The commentary itself not only provides an argument for why the electric car company must merge with SolarCity, but a further expansion of the master plan that includes:
- Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage
- Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments
- Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning
- Enable your car to make money for you when you aren’t using it
New product offerings were described as a new form of pick-up truck, and beyond the consumer vehicles market, an innovative heavy-duty trucks and high passenger density urban transport vehicle. Regarding the latter, Musk envisions a smaller footprint of urban busses with a transition from the role of individual bus driver to one of fleet manager. Both are noted as in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be available for unveiling next year, and will follow the availability of the more affordable Model 3 currently due in 2017.
Supply Chain Matters previously highlighted efforts of truck maker Nicola Motor Company in developing a Class 8, 2000 horsepower electric powered semi-tractor truck that will be named the Nicola One. This manufacturer has to-date booked 7000 reservations, each accompanied by a $1500 deposit, totaling more than $2.3 billion in cash to secure a reservation for this new vehicle, hence the sense of urgency for Tesla to enter such a market.
To state that the latest master plan is audacious or ambitious is an understatement. It places a far more concentrated focus on whether product development and the supply chain can rise to the challenge in such a short timeframe.
As noted, our last Supply Chain Matters commentary on Tesla concluded that the company remains challenged by supply chain ramp-up issues as it strives to meet aggressive short and long-term production and supply chain needs of existing announced vehicles. Musk has literally accelerated by two years, his goal to have the California final assembly facility output 500,000 vehicles per year. In his latest blog post, Musk once again re-iterated that this will be addressed as a function of engineering:
“What really matters to accelerate a sustainable future is being able to scale up production volume as quickly as possible. That is why Tesla engineering has transitioned to focus heavily on designing the machine that makes the machine — turning the factory itself into a product.”
The adding of commercial vehicles with more innovative hardware and software designs implies no choice but to accelerate capacity, strategic commodity and supply chain wide resources. Just today, The Wall Street Journal reports (Paid subscription required) that Tesla’s new $5 billion “gigafactory” near Sparks Nevada to produce the combined company’s battery component needs is currently one-sixth of its planned future footprint. Currently, 1000 construction workers are working two shifts per day, seven days per week to prepare for 2017 needs in the output of lithium-ion cells. Primary battery supplier Panasonic admits to the current challenges of finding qualified production workers, and with the addition of even more models of transport vehicles, the scale of the battery plant’s capability become crucial. But so does final assembly and distribution as well, in an area that is noted for rather expensive real estate and distribution space.
Thus, any experienced or even entry level supply chain and manufacturing professionals that enjoy an environment of fast-paced innovation and creativity in business process and physical supply chain processes best route your resumes to Tesla. We anticipate a razor-like focus that harnesses the fusion of engineering, product development and supply chain management into a kaleidoscope of expansion that will test current norms and thinking.


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All the interesting market movements are here!
Samsung will pay 80 million Yuan to Huawei over patent case
Samsung Electronics's mainland subsidiaries have been ordered by a Chinese court to pay up to 80 million Yuan to Huawei Technologies for patent infringement. That’s a Chinese company’s first victory against Samsung in clashes over intellectual property.
The Quanzhou Intermediary Court has ordered three units of Samsung to pay the sum for infringing a patent officially held by the handset unit of Huawei - Huawei Device Co Limited. That’s what a government-run newspaper, the Quanzhou Evening News informed on Thursday on its website.
The verdict appears to be the first on several lawsuits of Huawei against Samsung. By the way, in May Huawei filed lawsuits against the South Korean giant in Chinese and US courts. In return Samsung countersued the Chinese rival in China for IP infringement.
Huawei’s spokesman told it welcomed the court's verdict. As for Samsung, the South Korean giant told it will decide on the response to the court's verdict after reviewing the ruling.
The European unemployment rate is announced on Wednesday at 12:00 MT time.
EUR/USD, the S&P 500, gold, and oil - everything is here! Jump in!
The Reserve Bank of Australia announces the cash rate on Tuesday at 05:30 MT time.

domain: news


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Consumer spending during the upcoming 2023 holiday shopping season is now expected to be strong — bringing good news for eCommerce retailers that have been preparing for retail’s busiest time of year. Lingering concerns over economic uncertainty, inflation, and the expectation that consumers will rely heavily on discounts and sales has made eCommerce retailers cautious as they prepare for peak. However, recent forecasts paint a more positive picture for holiday sales.
Will holiday sales be stronger than last year? There’s growing speculation that they will.
As summarized in this report by Insider Intelligence, here’s the latest predictions:
- Insider Intelligence predicts that retail sales in November and December will grow 4.5%, making it the sixth-fastest rate in the previous 15 years; eCommerce holiday sales will grow by 11.3%.
- Deloitte expects sales from November to January to increase 3.5% to 4.6%, with eCommerce sales growth at 10.3% to 12.8%.
- Mastercard SpendingPulse believes holiday spending from November 1 through December 24 will grow 3.7%, with ecommerce rising by 6.7%.
Overall, this is positive news for retailers as they carefully plan inventory and staffing for the season. These predictions only cover November through January, and do not account for the consumer trend to begin holiday shopping in October. With those sales numbers added in, it is possible the 2023 holiday season lookback will reveal an even more robust year-over-year gain.
2023 Holiday Season Started in July
As the report points out, it is increasingly difficult to gauge holiday season results when the season begins earlier each year. For example, Target plans to launch their Target Circle Week on October 1 and Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days will take place the following week. Walmart correlates with their Walmart Deals for Days holiday kickoff on Oct 9. These will no doubt push other retailers to compete with similar early holiday deals, offsetting the traditional Black Friday/Cyber Monday holiday sale kickoff.
Consumers have reported that they plan to start their holiday shopping earlier this year, though it’s noteworthy that they stated the same intent for Holiday 2022 and did not follow through. But with major retailers offering mega sales in early October, there will no doubt be a corresponding consumer response to save on budget and take advantage of those deals.
Already this year, 11% of holiday shoppers began shopping in July with Amazon Prime Days and Walmart Deals days. As peak season shifts earlier, many retailers are displaying Christmas and Halloween items during Back-to-School days. It remains to be seen whether shifting the holiday season earlier each year will impact consumer shopping trends over time. However, this year, it appears consumers are in a stronger position with a low unemployment rate, higher wages, and cooling inflation.
Holiday Shopping Predictions Impact on eCommerce Fulfillment
A positive forecast for above-average holiday sales means eCommerce retailers need to ensure that their fulfillment capacity can deliver higher order volumes. It also means they need a well-oiled omnichannel operation that delivers on price, supply chain visibility, product availability, order fulfillment times, shipping rates and timelines, and return policies. Retailers need to be able to scale when order volume spikes, and this means either staffing up or outsourcing.
With low unemployment rates, hiring seasonal staff to handle the uptick in order fulfillment processing may prove tough and costly. Many eCommerce retailers turn to third party logistics partners, like Radial, to shoulder the heavy lifting during peak season.
Benefits of an eCommerce Fulfillment Partner
There are numerous benefits to partnering with an eCommerce fulfillment expert:
- Fulfillment is their specialty. What takes retailers years to build on their own can be gained by simply partnering with a company like Radial that has decades of experience specializing in order fulfillment. Radial invests in the technology, people, processes, automation, real estate, transportation, and expertise to deliver exceptional service to retailers.
- Comprehensive data from a vast network. While not every 3PL does this, Radial draws on anonymized, aggregated data from the breadth of retailers they serve — and uses this data to help clients optimize their eCommerce order fulfillment. On their own, retailers would never be able to access the breadth and depth of decades of this fulfillment data.
- All in one services. Many order fulfillment providers specialize solely in fulfillment. Radial offers comprehensive services to support eCommerce retailers with everything from optimizing last mile delivery, to payments and fraud management, to providing customer care. A comprehensive services approach can lift the weight off retailers to support their budgets, priorities, and free them to focus on innovation and customer experience initiatives.
- Scalability. Order fulfillment providers have the scalability retailers need during the holiday shopping season. Even during the pandemic, Radial was able to provide the human resources and robotic automation to ensure clients were able to meet and exceed their customer expectations during peak and all throughout the year.
- Partner approach. There are vendors and there are partners. Radial takes a partner approach to support management, teams, and store associates in a shared goal: delivering great customer experiences to holiday shoppers. Radial works with retailers, not just for them, and consults on lessons learned each peak season to help clients optimize their next one.
As peak intensifies, and retail sales rise, now is the time to ensure order fulfillment operations are ready to handle an above average 2023 holiday shopping season. Radial is here to help.
Learn how Radial can help you during the holiday season.


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South Africans will be favouring local travel this festive season, spending an average of R1 663 on travel each and heading to Durban as their destination of choice, according to a recent survey.
Cape Town was the second most popular choice.
The survey, conducted by short-term lender Wonga, was conducted among 7 000 South Africans aged between 18 and 65. It found that over the coming festive season alone, South Africans are set to pump R204 billion back into the economy.
Almost 40% of the respondents claimed to have holidays planned this festive season, with the vast majority (75%) journeying to visit family and friends.
Durban appeared to be the destination of choice, with 18% of respondents destined for its shores, with 11% of respondents headed for Cape Town.
"The bad news for those hoping to avoid traffic chaos this year is that the vast majority (57%) plan on travelling by car," Wonga said in a statement.
However, the survey did find that almost a third of South Africans would not be travelling due to rising expenses.
Some 29% of those who wouldn't be leaving home said it was too expensive to travel, while a further 39% said they were tied to work commitments.


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The iPhone Dev-Team (not the Cupertino version) hasn’t wasted anytime in declaring the iPhone 3.0 operating system “jailbreakable.” Just hours after Apple unveiled the latest iPhone OS, a short notice appeared on the Dev Team blog that says jailbroken iPhones will not be left out of the 3.0 party. However, the team warns those users who have the software-based jailbreak, Yellowsn0w, will have to “show some restraint” and wait for the Dev-Team’s updated jailbreak tool.
The reason that YellowSn0w users have to wait is because iPhone 3.0 will modify the baseband radio. That radio is how the iPhone communicates with the network, and YellowSn0w capitalizes on weakness in the baseband radio software in iPhone OS 2.0. The Dev-Team posted its warning in part because some Yellowsn0w users may have access to iPhone 3.0 through the iPhone Developer Program. The general public will get access to iPhone 3.0 this summer.
The Dev-Team doesn’t have a timetable for when they plan to release a new jailbreak tool or how long the project will take. But I wouldn’t be surprised if a jailbreak solution is ready the first day of the iPhone 3.0 release. However, keep in mind that despite the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s efforts, jailbreaking the iPhone is still illegal. Apple hasn’t been able to do much to thwart jailbreaking recently, but that could always change. So proceed with caution, and remember “itchy update fingers and yellowsn0w don’t mix!“


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The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) says it’s in the national interest that both major parties adopt its five policy priorities to achieve a more sustainable and efficient freight and logistics supply chain.
As Queensland works through its current snap lockdown, the Australian Logistics Council (ALC) has welcomed the reapplication of temporary planning measures to keep shelves stocked, but has called for “permanent relaxation” of outdated restrictions.
The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) has renewed calls to make the suspension of delivery curfews permanent Australia-wide. Read more
The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) has called for the adoption of a scorecard system to make each state and territory accountable for their commitments to the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy.


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The Battlefield 1 launch from EA is a big one. PC Gamer called its introductory trailer (below) “bombastic.” And the E3 livestream showed an hour of live Battlefield play, with some star-studded celebrity action. But that action was also reportedly a little smokey. Covering the event, Ben Kuchera at Polygon wrote: “I’m going to put this delicately: It seems as if Zac Efron and Jaime Foxx were very, very high.” Well what do you think?
Snoop Dogg, a blunt dangling, also appeared to be very focused on the game. Maybe everyone just seemed a little blunted because the energy was low at the E3 conference in general. “Wasn’t that the same E3 conference that EA had in 2014? It was all dev diaries and promises of future game because they basically had nothing. Or was that last year?” asked one commenter, who had a lot of company in the disappointment section. Same “lackluster feel” as last year, said another. OldManLight wrote: “Why don’t publishers realize that paying celebrities, who are actually pretty good actors, to show up at these events and can’t muster a sincere looking “yeah I’m excited” is the biggest fucking waste of time and money imaginable?”
— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 12, 2016


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FIRE threatens to destroy the landmark Metro Ayala department store and supermarket, one of the biggest outlets of listed Gaisano-owned Metro Retail Stores Group, Inc. (MRSGI).
As of 3 a.m. Saturday, January 6, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office Chief Nagiel Bañacia said the fourth floor of the store has collapsed and it might take two days to control the fire that erupted at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, January 5.
Read: Official: Metro Ayala fire may last for 2 days
The 8-level store, established in 1994, was the third outlet that MRSGI parent Vicsal Development Corp. opened, after Metro Colon (1982) in Cebu City’s downtown business district and Super Metro (1994) in neighboring Mandaue City.
As one of the anchor stores of Ayala Center Cebu mall within the Cebu Business Park, Metro Ayala marks one of the first steps that Vicsal took towards becoming a world-class organization and expanding its reach by tapping the upscale market.
The store then was touted as Vicsal’s “biggest and best.”
Today, it is one of the 52 stores that MRSGI operates across three retail formats - department store under the brand name “Metro”; supermarket under "Metro Supermarket" and "Metro Fresh N Easy”; and hypermarket under the brand name “Super Metro”.
MRSGI, retail arm of Vicsal, has since broken barriers, becoming the first Gaisano company and the first Cebu-based company in over a decade to list on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Prior to its market debut on November 24, 2015, MRSGI was already the largest department store and hypermarket operator in the Visayas. It also has branches in Central Luzon, Metro Manila and southern Luzon. Going public raised for MRSGI some P3.6 billion for its expansion.
Nationwide, MRSGI ranks fourth among the biggest retailers in the country, after SM, Puregold and Robinsons.
Since 2015, the company has been embarking on an aggressive expansion program that aims to double its footprint and bring its network to more than 100 stores by 2020.
In the first nine months of 2017, MRSGI reported a “solid bottom line” with a net profit of P550 million, double that of the same period of the previous year, and sales of P24.4 billion, a 2.9-percent increase over the previous year.
MRSGI chairman and chief executive officer Frank S. Gaisano, in a statement, had attributed the company’s growth to “merchandising improvements and investments in operational efficiencies.”
The Metro stock, with trading symbol MRSGI, closed at P3.82 on Friday, January 5. (SunStar Philippines)


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Shoppers have reacted to the news of the planned closure of the Stockton High Street branch of Marks & Spencer.
The outlet has been open a its current location since the Second World War and the chain has had a base in the town centre since 1901.
Not only are Stockton shoppers ‘disappointed’ by the planned closure, but many are concerned about the future quality of the high street.
Kate Newman, 55, from Eaglescliffe, who had no idea of it closing down, was ‘gutted because there’s not a lot left in Stockton’.
Robert Hutchinson, 72, from Stockton, said that Stockton ‘in general’ doesn’t have ‘many decent stores left’.
Leanne Oxley, 37, from Middlesbrough, said its closure will have a negative impact on the high street.
She said: “The footfall will decrease and numbers will get less and less that are coming into Stockton.”
No exact date has yet been given for when the store will close. It’s believed that the retailer will try to ensure the 44 staff in the store will be given other roles in nearby stores.
Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham has called for the decision to be reconsidered and said he would be writing to the retailer’s chief executive.
A total of £38m has been invested in town’s High Street and the council has said the money was aimed at developing a centre that “is not just dependent on retail.”


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LONDON/ HELSINKI, Dec 18- Two of Europe's top three remaining telecommunications equipment companies, Nokia Networks and Alcatel-Lucent, have revived talks on a possible merger, Germany's Manager Magazin reported on Thursday, citing company sources. Shares in Alcatel rose 8 percent following the report. Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia have held on-again,...» Read More
The government is grounding a merger between American and U.S Airways. CNBC's Phil Lebeau has the latest details.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau reports on the unexpected news that the Department of Justice is posing a threat to the merger between American Airlines and U.S. Airways. Ray Neidl, Nexa Capital, and Bob Crandall, former Chairman/CEO of AMR Corp.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau has the latest news in air and auto industry.
CNBC's Phil LeBeau has the latest on news of the DOJ grounding plans against a merger between U.S Airways and AMR Corporation. Seth Kaplin, Airline Weekly, weighs in.
After the U.S. filed an anti-trust lawsuit to block an American Airlines, US Airways merger, one airline expert suggests the move may have helped prevent a big price hike.
Robin Bienenstock, senior analyst for European and Latin American telecommunications at Sanford C Bernstein, says Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's bid for KPN is all about Germany.
The New York Times is not for sale, its controlling family and publisher have said, after a week in which both The Boston Globe and The Washington Post were bought out.
Dell's special committee has reached an agreement with the buyout group led by CEO Michael Dell to purchase the company for $13.75 per share.
The deal Michael Dell has been pushing for has officially been approved.
Sick of high U.S. corporate taxes? Here's how some companies are slashing their tax bill by 10%, 20%—or more.
Management consulting firm Accenture is in talks to acquire rival Booz & Co., The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Community Health Systems announced it would buy Health Management Associates in a deal valued at approximately $7.6 billion, including about $3.7 billion in debt.
The combined Publicis Omnicom, if approved, would allow the companies to negotiate better terms in a fast growing digital ad market, reports CNBC's Julia Boorstin.
Maurice Levy, Publicis Groupe chairman and CEO, and John Wren, Omnicom Group president and CEO, discuss the "emotional aspects" and financial advantages of united the global ad agencies.
PPG Industries will sell its majority stake in lens supplier Transitions Optical to Essilor International for about $1.73 billion in cash.
Saks agreed to sell itself to Hudson's Bay Co., the Canadian parent of Lord & Taylor, for about $2.4 billion in a deal that will bring luxury to more North American locales.
CNBC's Julia Boorstin catches up with Liberty Media's John Malone, at a conference in Sun Valley, ID. Malone is pushing for cable industries to consolidate. "Comcast is big enough to be okay, but Time Warner Cable and other companies like Charter, need to merge" says Malone. Media analyst Amy Yong, Macquarie Research, weighs in.
Liberty Media Chairman John Malone is pushing for major consolidation in the cable industry, reports CNBC's Julia Boorstin.
Japan's Softbank received the final approval it needed from U.S. regulators for its $21.6 billion bid to take control of No. 3 US wireless provider Sprint Nextel.
Matthew Toole, Thomson Reuters, and Amanda Levin, Mergermarket editor of the Americas, debate whether to expect a turnaround in dealmaking for the second half of the year.


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Is currently the time to get shares of Chinese electrical automobile manufacturer Nio (NYSE: NIO)?
Is NIO a Good Stock to Buy?: It’s a concern a great deal of capitalists– and also analysts– are asking after NIO stock struck a new 52-week low of $22.53 yesterday amidst recurring market volatility. Now down 60% over the last twelve month, many analysts are claiming shares are a shrieking buy, especially after Nio introduced a record-breaking 25,034 distributions in the 4th quarter of in 2014. It additionally reported a record 91,429 supplied for all of 2021, which was a 109% rise from 2020.
Among 25 experts who cover Nio, the mean price target on the beaten-down stock is presently $58.65, which is 166% greater than the current share cost. Here is a consider what particular analysts need to claim regarding the stock and also their cost predictions for NIO shares.
Why It Issues
Wall Street clearly assumes that NIO stock is oversold as well as undervalued at its present cost, particularly offered the company’s big distribution numbers and also existing European growth strategies.
The expansion as well as document delivery numbers led Nio revenues to grow 117% to $1.52 billion in the third quarter, while its car margins hit 18%, up from 14.5% a year earlier.
What’s Next for NIO Stock
Nio stock can remain to fall in the close to term along with other Chinese and also electrical car stocks. American rival Tesla (TSLA) has actually also reported strong numbers but its stock is down 22% year to date at $937.41 a share. Nevertheless, long-term, NIO is set up for a huge rally from its existing midsts, according to the projections of expert experts.
Why Nio Stock Dropped Today
The head of state of Chinese electric automobile (EV) maker Nio (NIO -6.11%) spoke at a media event this week, providing financiers some information regarding the firm’s growth plans. Some of that news had the stock moving greater earlier in the week. But after an analyst price-target cut the other day, financiers are selling today. Since 2:12 p.m. ET, Nio’s American depositary shares were trading down 2.6%.
Yesterday, Barron’s shared that expert Soobin Park with Eastern financial investment team CLSA cut her price target on the stock from $60 to $35 however left her score as a buy. That buy rating would certainly appear to make sense as the brand-new price target still stands for a 37% increase over the other day’s closing share rate. But after the stock jumped on some company-related news previously this week, investors seem to be taking a look at the adverse connotation of the expert cost cut.
Barron’s surmises that the rate cut was a lot more a result of the stock’s evaluation reset, as opposed to a forecast of one, based upon the brand-new target. That’s most likely precise. Shares have dropped more than 20% so far in 2022, yet the market cap is still around $40 billion for a company that is just generating regarding 10,000 vehicles each month. Nio reported income of concerning $1.5 billion in the third quarter however hasn’t yet shown a revenue.
The business is anticipating proceeded growth, nonetheless. Business President Qin Lihong stated this week that it will certainly soon reveal a 3rd brand-new automobile to be introduced in 2022. The new ES7 SUV is expected to join two new cars that are already set up to begin distribution this year. Qin also stated the company will certainly continue purchasing its charging as well as battery swapping terminal framework till the EV billing experience competitors refueling fossil fuel-powered automobiles in ease. The stock will likely continue to be unstable as the business remains to become its evaluation, which appears to be reflected with today’s step.


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Penmex MD Kirsty Pennal reveals massive expansion plans for Q4
Rumours have been circulating for some time now and this week Edinburgh-based event-marketing specialists Penmex revealed their extensive expansion plans for the last financial quarter. Managing Director, Kirsty Pennal, has released a statement confirming the firm’s intentions as they approach Q4.
Since launching the company in Scotland’s capital in 2014, Ms Pennal has had her sights set on dominating the industry, aiming to establish Penmex as the leading direct marketing company in the UK.
In Q1 this year, Penmex expanded their services into Glasgow. The growth continued in Q2 when the event-marketing experts acquired a new client to their portfolio, beginning a partnership with one of the UK’s fastest growing financial providers. With Q4 fast approaching, Ms Pennal has confirmed the firm will be undergoing epic expansion in the next few weeks.
In the statement, the award-winning entrepreneur and director revealed that in the next six weeks, Penmex will be launching a new project in Edinburgh, opening a second location in Glasgow and expanding their market reach into Newcastle. The triple expansion has resulted in a huge buzz of excitement as the firm’s staff and contractors recognise the massive potential these recent company enterprises will mean for their own career progression.
Speaking on the subject, Ms Pennal said; “We laid some solid foundations in the first half of the year and the fruits of our labour are now paying off, as we prepare for huge expansion in the coming six weeks.”
Penmex have revealed how 2017 is on course to be a record-breaker for the entire company; “The blood, sweat, and tears we have put in over the last nine months are all starting to pay off,” said the Managing Director.
In the next 18 months, Penmex’s objectives including expanding their market reach in multiple cities throughout the UK including Liverpool, Birmingham, Belfast, Manchester, and London. Looking ahead to 2018, the event-marketing specialists are turning their attention to the international market with the US and Australia being two countries on their radar.
“This year we have experienced tremendous growth, and I believe that’s because we are currently working with a group of ambitious and talented individuals who share our passion for growth,” concluded Ms Pennal.
Penmex is an Edinburgh-based event-marketing firm. They personalise the consumer buying experience by developing face-to-face marketing campaigns for their client’s marketing requirements. The firm is committed to assisting their staff and contractors to learn, grow and develop and that simultaneously keeps the business moving forward.


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Blue Box Game Studios’ Hasan Kahraman has revealed during an interview with Gamer.nl that the studio will most likely fully unveil its upcoming survival horror title Abandoned at E3 2021, which as previously reported will be a digital-only event.
Kahraman dropped the tidbit while discussing what gave the studio the idea for a horror game set in a forest, with Resident Evil mentioned as a possible influence.
A lot of folks think of Resident Evil when talking about Abandoned. That is a shame, because its such a different game. Abandoned has elements of horror, for example you’re constantly being hunted by a religious sect, but we want to focus on the realistic gameplay.
We will show that in a gameplayvideo which we’ll release in the future. We’ll probably show it during the virtual E3. It will obviously appear on the PlayStation YouTube channel.
In a separte interview, Blue Box Game Studios also said that it is planning to release a ‘small teaser’ for the survival horror title at some point.
In case you missed it, there were a lot of conspiracy theories around Abandoned following its release this week that suggested Hideo Kojima was behind the game. However, Blue Box addressed these rumors directly, insisting the studio is in no way involved with the Metal Gear creator.


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SAP On Cloud HR: Q&A With Mike Ettling
SAP has combined SuccessFactors and on-premises HR apps into a single business. Unit president Mike Ettling talks Workday, Oracle, and the "journey" to cloud HR.
5 Reasons Tech Vendors Exaggerate
From overeager marketing to the need for differentiation, vendors often overstate a productís capabilities. Vendors and buyers alike need to be more honest with each other -- and themselves.
Cloud SLAs: Improvements Still Needed
There's been a slight improvement in cloud SLAs as leading service providers like HP, Amazon, and Google guarantee 99.95% uptime by the month, not year. But performance issues remain.
Apple Is Not Charlie
Apple seems blind to the irony of selling an app that supports free speech when it does not do the same.
Amazon Echo: My First 10 Days
Amazon Echo crosses Siri with Sonos to create a "smart" speaker that can summon information as well as music. It's promising, but here's where it falls short.


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The Voyager Weekly Round up
If Satoshi Nakamoto and Alexander Hamilton were alive at the same time, what would they say to each other? Tech entrepreneur and investor Reid Hoffman staged an epic rap battle between the first Secretary of the Treasury and the elusive inventor of Bitcoin to find out.
EpicLLOYD takes on the role of Hamilton and Timothy DeLaGhetto as Nakamoto in a six-minute Hamilton the Musical inspired debate on fiat currency, central banking, and decentralized currency.
Donning a powdered wig, Hamilton delivered blows to Nakamoto, calling Bitcoin “unsupported money” and a “get broke quick scheme.” He poetically presented his case for a powerful government-backed monetary system that can assume liability when things go wrong.
Not to be outdone, Nakamoto punched back, painting a vivid picture of an economic revolution that gives the power to the people. His verses knocked banks for high-interest rates and their role in creating economic turmoil across the globe. The crowd went crazy when Nakamoto said, “The banks serve Wall Street, crypto serves all streets.”
A Conversation Starter
Hoffman credits Lin-Manual Miranda as the inspiration for the music video but said his ultimate goal was to ignite a conversation about crypto and its evolving role in global commerce.
At the end of the rap battle, the host Gift of Gab opened the debate to the audience. Viewers left comments for both Hamilton and Nakamoto, but my favorite came from a user who didn’t pick a side. They wrote, “The winner is us, the people because now we have a CHOICE!” And for that, I thank whoever Satoshi Nakamoto is.
Who do you think won the rap battle? Click here to cast your vote on Twitter!
Paxos, the New York-based stablecoin issuer, just launched a gold-backed crypto asset called Pax Gold (PAXG), with each ethereum-based token encapsulating the legal title to a physical bar of gold stored in the Brink’s London vault. Pax Gold has been approved by the New York Department of Financial Services. Read more.
CME Group, the Chicago-based exchange giant, is gearing up to add another product to its family of bitcoin derivatives, according to sources familiar with the situation. Read more.
As digital payments evolve, where might Apple head next? Jennifer Bailey, vice president at Apple Pay, said the company is “watching” cryptocurrencies, though consumers shouldn’t expect anything soon. Read more.
The crypto whiz kid who paid $4.6 million to have lunch with Warren Buffett, only to postpone at the last minute, is working to reschedule the charity meal. Read more.
Data from aggregator Statista accessed on Sept. 5 showed that despite more computing power being dedicated to Bitcoin mining, less electricity is required to fuel it. Read more.
A Bitcoin Treasure Hunt Is Coming to College Campuses This Fall
The game is operated by a small, mysterious company based on a tropical island (figuring out more about the game itself is part of the appeal) and is sponsored by Primitive Ventures and other prominent investors. Eventually, there will be hundreds of cryptographic keys around the world, shrouded in puzzles and riddles, and the first team to compile 400 of the key fragments will be able to claim the prize. Read more.
Dash is now accepted at an additional 1,000 merchants and 250+ ATMs worldwide, the eponymous company behind the cryptocurrency announced today. Read more.
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter and longtime Bitcoin supporter, is choosing not to jump on the Libra bandwagon. He toldThe Sydney Morning Herald that Bitcoin is still the internet’s “best bet” for a native currency—rather than a commercial alternative. Read more.
If you don’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you think about Dogecoin, you probably have a heart of stone. The truth is, though, that the developers of the world’s cutest cryptocurrency want it to be more than just a Bitcoin-like token featuring the Shiba Inu mascot. Dogecoin’s devs want it to be more than just a meme. Read more.


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Home Tags Online booking
Tag: online booking
Following the proven success of its high-profile partnerships with Google’s Hotel Finder and Room Key, hotel central reservation system (CRS) vendor, Trust International, is looking out for similar
As part of its Tourism Month activities the Johannesburg Tourism Company (JTC) looks forward to unveiling its annual spring campaign to media and tourism industry stakeholders on Thursday, September 1
ROCHELLE PARK, New Jersey – GlobalStar Travel Management and CCRA Travel Solutions officially unveiled GlobalStar’s new, branded hotel online booking portal, “HotelStar,” during the Global Bus
SINGAPORE – Agoda.com, Asia’s global hotel booking site and part of Nasdaq-listed Priceline Group (Nasdaq: PCLN), is going mobile, allowing travelers to book the latest hotel deals on their iPhone
(eTN) - Many of us have become our own bank tellers, gas station attendants and grocery clerks. And since about half of all travel purchases are made online now, it's safe to say quite a few of us have become our own travel agents as well.


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California Regulators Have Seized $1 Billion in Illicit Cannabis Over the Past Year
California’s cannabis regulator has seized over a billion dollars’ worth of illicit cannabis over the last thirteen months.
In a press announcement on August 25, the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) said its law enforcement team has led and assisted other agencies in the service of 232 search warrants, which helped seize more than half a million pounds of illegal product and eradicated over 1.4 million cannabis plants.
The combined effort has reportedly removed more than $1 billion’s worth of unregulated and untested cannabis products from the market. Around 120 illegal firearms were also obtained during the searches of criminal enterprises.
The DCC say these enforcement activities are crucial to help eliminate unfair competition in the state.
Beyond raiding illicit cannabis enterprises, the agency says it is also supporting legitimate companies with new schemes, such as a recent allocation of $20 million help grant cities and counties fund the cannabis retailers in areas that currently prohibit the drug.
California’s illicit cannabis market is considered the main challenge to the state’s legal businesses, even four years into legal sales.
“The biggest problem that we’re experiencing California is the black market,” Aaron Riley, former president of CannaSafe, a Los Angeles-based cannabis testing lab – that has since closed its doors – told Analytical Cannabis in 2020.
In 2019, it was estimated that $8.7 billion of the total $12 billion made in California cannabis sales went to the illegal market.


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Great Britain has rejected the European Commission’s preliminary stance that hemp flower-derived CBD should regulated as a narcotic, a key food safety regulator in the UK says.Read More
A subsidiary of Nestlé, the world’s largest food and beverage company, has started producing and selling CBD softgels in Europe.Read More
Brazil has fast-tracked a draft law that would legalize the cultivation of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp, and the stakes are high. South America’s largest economy leads the world in several commodities markets, and some politicians say its farmers are keen to expand into hemp. Several other Latin American countries – Uruguay and Paraguay in […]Read More
A German CBD extractor has secured funding of an undisclosed amount from an independent investor in Hamburg who valued the company at 5 million euros ($5.9 million). Signature Products GmbH did not disclose the size of the investment but said in a statement that the investor’s appraisal makes it the youngest cannabis startup with the […]Read More
Looking to educate and innovate without in-person events, hemp and marijuana companies are turning to virtual platforms for everything from trade conferences and product launches to consumer education and staff training. Spaces that facilitate an exchange of ideas, opportunities for networking and customer engagement remain in demand, even as the world navigates the tumultuous conditions […]Read More
A California CBD company is being sued by a British investment firm that argues it was duped into offering a nearly $1 million loan that the company has so far failed to pay back.Read More
A company in Paraguay says it has shipped organic hempseed products to the United States, claiming to be the first Paraguayan and Latin American company to export foods derived from hemp to North America.Read More
Regulators at Australia’s Ministry of Health are one step closer to allowing over-the-counter sales of cannabidiol products.Read More
Europe’s main hemp lobby group says industrial cannabis could play a starring role in the European Union’s plan for a carbon-neutral economy by 2050.Read More
Eleven hemp groups from around the world have published a position paper to reiterate their stance that cannabis grown for industrial purposes does not fall under the scope of the U.N. narcotics conventions. The paper argues that the cultivation of hemp for industrial purposes does not fall under the purview of the Single Convention on […]Read More
Pakistan’s government has approved domestic hemp cultivation for the first time, the country’s minister for science and technology said on Tuesday.Read More
Hempro International, a producer and wholesaler of hemp-derived food, clothing, accessories and cosmetics in western Germany, has filed suit against the city of Düsseldorf for its ban on the sale of hemp-derived CBD food products. The city of Düsseldorf published an announcement in July in its official gazette prohibiting the sale of cannabidiol-containing foods anywhere […]Read More
- January 12, 2021December 23, 2020December 17, 2020December 14, 2020
- November 9, 2020September 29, 2020
- REM Technologies Introduces Breakthrough THC Remediation Solution – the D970L and D915L remediation systems – where THC removal has never been more clean, fast, and reliable.September 15, 2020
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January Update: Kristen Nichols Interviews HIA Executive Director Jody McGinnessKristen Nichols gets a January update from HIA executive director, Jody McGinness.
December Update: Kristen Nichols Interviews HIA Executive Director Jody McGinnessHIA executive director Jody McGinness joins Hemp Industry Daily editor Kristen Nichols for a December update!
November Update: Kristen Nichols Interviews HIA Executive Director Jody McGinnessHemp Industry Daily editor, Kristen Nichols, interviews Jody McGinness, Director at the Hemp Industries Association, on how they changed their board to give fiber and grain producers more of a say.


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Someday, shadows and light could team up to provide power.
A new device exploits the contrast between bright spots and shade to create a current that can power small electronics. “We can harvest energy anywhere on Earth, not just open spaces,” says Swee Ching Tan, a materials scientist at the National University of Singapore.
Tan and his team created the device, called a shadow-effect energy generator, by placing a superthin coating of gold on silicon, a typical solar cell material. Like in a solar cell, light shining on silicon energizes its electrons. With the gold layer, the shadow-effect energy generator produces an electric current when part of the device lies in shadow.To read more, click here.


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All Saints dress sparks massive waiting list
A new dress by All Saints has proved a sell-out hit, before even making it into stores.
The parachute dress, new for AW08, has already established a waiting list of over 200 customers, a full month before it is due to hit the shelves.
An amazing statement piece, the dress is constructed from 10 metres of fabric, and takes a whopping 75.5 man-hours to produce. It was initially developed using a parachute, and has now been recreated in vintage-style washed black cotton.
Perhaps the best thing about this innovative style is that it can look unique for each customer. By gathering, tying or twisting the fabric, the wearer is able to create an individual silhouette that could change every time they wear it.
We spotted it at the All Saints press day, and it really does look amazing on. But get your name down fast, as it is unlikely to stick around in stores for long.


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Gauri Karan and Nayanika KaranLook out for that cop in the front row of India Fashion Week (IFW) this time. Gauri, 25, and Nainika Karan, 24, daughters of Vijay Karan, former CBI director, are among the new designers who made it to the new IFW list.
Daddy will surely attend the show in April. The Karan kids, who go by the label Magnetic Rag, will be the first sister act at IFW. "Dad always insisted we complete our studies," says Nainika.
So after college, a stint at NIFT followed. Don't know about the clothes, but they are a good looking addition to the fashion week.


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Just after special edition vinyls were released for Black Friday shoppers, Jack White opened a Third Man Records store, studio and vinyl pressing plant in Detroit, Michigan.
Melissa Parrott, who works at Grooves Records in London, says the addition is great for the music rich city. However, it’s not the first of its kind in that location. Archer Record Pressing has called Detroit home since 1965.
“Having an additional pressing plant is amazing,” she says, “Right now, the wait times for artists to get vinyl press are really long.”
She explains it can take between a couple of months to a year for the wait, because there aren’t enough vinyl pressing shops.
“In the 80s, many of these plants shut down, the equipment was either thrown out, sold or just separated. Now we’re just at this point in time trying to build that back up again.”
Parrott adds one of her musician friends in London has opened a record company called Snap Crackle Pops Records where they cut their own vinyl records.
She says Black Friday drew lots of customers at the local record shop, and is happy to serve a new generation of vinyl lovers. “One of my favourite things of the shop is selling young kids their first turntables. They’ll come in with their parents and want to buy a turntable and it’s always really thrilling for me and for them.”


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Hello Games has teamed up with Bandai Namco to distribute and publish No Man's Sky on Nintendo Switch, and also confirmed some surprising metrics for the space sim.
No Man's Sky is one of the biggest comeback stories in all of gaming. Since 2016, gamers have spent over half a billion hours in Hello Games' constantly-evolving sci-fi exploration indie. This includes all platforms and updates from release to present--all 25 free expansions, tweaks, and content drops that have significantly evolved and changed the game over time.
"The No Man's Sky community is one of the largest and most welcoming in all of gaming. For many it is their 'forever game', with over half a billion hours played, across millions of players,"reads a press release from Bandai Namco.
No Man's Sky on Nintendo Switch will come with access to all expansions and releases to date, including the new Leviathan update that adds interstellar space whales and a unique roguelite survival shooter mode.
"I think folks are going to be blown away when they finally get to play this game on such a tiny device," said Sean Murray, founder of Hello Games, a development team based in the United Kingdom. "It really is an entire universe in the palm of your hand. It has been a huge undertaking, but a very rewarding one for our small team, and I'm really proud of the result."
The press release also says that No Man's Sky is a live service game that will continue expanding with more content. Hello Games has said their next game, which is believed to be even more ambitious than No Man's Sky, is in active development.
The game will drop on Nintendo Switch on October 7, and Sony Interactive Entertainment is also publishing a PlayStation 5 re-release of the game on the same day (all PS4 versions of No Man's Sky can be upgraded to PS5 for no cost).
- > NEXT STORY: SEGA is going all out with its new Mega Drive Mini 2 microconsole
- < PREVIOUS STORY: $5 games you NEED to buy on the Steam Summer Sale


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We have been hearing rumors about Apple working on a new set of AirPods, but the question is when will it launch? According to the latest rumors, which comes in the form of a tweet by user Luke Miani, it seems that the device could be launching on the 18th of May alongside a rumored new Apple Music HiFi streaming option.
While we can’t say for sure if this is true, AppleTrack claims to have also heard privately that a new set of AirPods is coming soon, so whether or not it will be on the 18th of May remains to be seen. We have heard multiple rumors dating back to 2020 that the third-gen AirPods will launch in 2021, so while we can’t confirm the 18th of May date, it is plausible.
— Luke Miani (@LukeMiani) May 13, 2021
As for the Apple Music HiFi rumors, we actually heard about this potential service earlier in May which was further corroborated by an APK teardown of the Apple Music app for Android which hinted at a lossless streaming option. Apple Music’s current streaming quality is decent but not necessarily audiophile worthy, so the option for a lossless stream could convince more discerning users to hop on board the Apple Music bandwagon, but until we get the official word, don’t read too much into these reports for now.
Filed in AirPods, Apple Music, Entertainment, Headphones and Music. Source: appletrack. Read more about


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Fed changes tune as inflation here to stay
New inflation data released this week has confirmed U.S. consumer prices rose by seven per cent and core prices rose by 5.5% in 2021, upending several economic outlooks that downplayed inflationary risks last year.
According to Brian Nick, Chief Investment Strategist at global investment manager Nuveen, inflation in 2021 was caused mostly by the positive demand shock from several fiscal stimulus measures and policies introduced in the first half of the year, as well as the ongoing supply chain bottlenecks impacting industries worldwide.
The U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) has also shifted their mindset regarding inflation management, with Fed Chair Jay Powell referring to inflation as a “severe risk” in his confirmation hearing last week despite discussing “transitory” inflation only four months prior.
“Supply chain issues aren’t going away fast enough, and durable goods prices continue to rise when the Fed and others likely expected them to be correcting by now,” Nick said, as an explanation for the Fed’s pivot.
“The unemployment rate has dropped really far, really fast and the recovery in labour force participation has been disappointing.”
“The Fed is worried about a high inflation mentality settling into the economy. Goods prices are still high and rising, while sharply increasing wages in some areas are pressuring profit margins and, potentially, prices.”
Nick also warned that the Fed’s reformed outlook on inflation may lead to a rate hike earlier than originally expected as soon as March and to qualitative tightening (QT) as soon as the second half of the year.
“QT occurs as the Fed allows maturing securities to roll off its balance sheet without replacing them, draining liquidity from the financial system and tightening overall conditions,” he said.
“The magnitude of this potential tightening remains unclear, because the Fed has not said how fast it will allow securities to roll off or what the terminal size of its balance sheet should be.
Nick also confirmed that this change in the Fed’s communication has not altered Nuveen’s outlook for broader markets in 2022, with expectations still on strong economic growth and benign disinflation to drive real interest rates higher and help underperforming segments to outperform.
“The Omicron variant remains a wild card for economic growth,” Nick said.
“Countries that attempt to contain the virus via strict mitigation measures could suffer economically in the first quarter as COVID waves ripple through the globe.
“Omicron and concerns about policy tightening add to our conviction that 2022 will be ‘slower’ than 2021 ‘…but still pretty fast’.”


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The global gaming industry continued to prosper in 2016 and PC gaming was one of the major contributors to this lucrative entertainment business. A recent report by SuperData (via MCV UK), says that the gaming market generated $91bn in 2016 (figures up to and including November). The biggest contributor to that headline figure is the mobile gaming market, worth $41bn, but PC gaming shone brightly too, earning $34bn.
Mobile gaming grew impressively during 2016. The $41bn earned in this segment represented a year-on-year growth of over 18 per cent. Asia is the biggest contributor to mobile gaming coffers, spending nearly $25bn on this segment, North Americans spent just shy of $7bn, and in Europe $5.7bn was spent on mobile games in 2016 so far. The greatest sums were generated by titles such as Monster Strike, Pokémon GO and Clash Royale.
Moving onto PC gaming, the second strongest segment of the market overall, $35.8bn has been raked in during 2016. This result represents 6.7 per cent year-on-year growth. Figures include revenue from social, free-to-play, subscription and premium PC games with excellent revenue performance from titles such as Overwatch and League of Legends being notable.
Ka-ching! Overwatch was a big earner in multiple segments.
Breaking down the PC gaming totals by sub-segment and by region Asia spent big on F2P, splashing out $12.5bn, with Europe trailing in second place at $2.8bn. For premium games however, Europe was number one, spending $2.7bn, with the US second at $1.8bn and Asia last at jusy $0.2bn.
Some predicted 2016 to be the breakthrough year of VR. However, supply constraints and high prices meant that the Oculus Rift only generated $355,000, with HTC Vive doing a little better at $420,000 this year. Those figures are small potatoes considering the investments, media coverage, and amounts companies such as Facebook and HTC are used to dealing in. The console-based Sony PlayStation VR system generated $745,000 sales in sales.
Console users spent nearly 15 per cent more this year than last. The PC-born trend of downloads beating physical sales was realised in this market during 2016. Overwatch was a big winner again on consoles. Overall the console market was worth $6.6bn in 2016.


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News tagged: Meizu
To minimize cost, many companies have developed their own chipsets, including Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi and more. There are still many companies that have yet to develop their own chipsets and until then, they have to use ones from MediaTek or Qualcomm.
Meizu is preparing for a launch of its new flagship smartphone. After settling with Qualcomm over recent patent battles, the Chinese smartphone maker Meizu will apparently launch two new Qualcomm-powered smartphones this year, and one of them is powered by Snapdragon 835.
A well-knownChinese manufacturer Meizu unveiled its latest innovative charging technology at the Mobile World Congress 2017. Called Super mCharge, the new technology fully charges a smartphone in around 20 minutes, and the biggest question was when can we expect to see first
As promised, Meizu has unveiled its next-generation charging technology at Mobile World Congress 2017. Dubbed the Super mCharge, the new fast charging technology fully charges a smartphone with 3,000 mAh battery from zero to 100% in just 20 minutes while using a 11V/5A charger.
Meizu might not have a new smartphone announcement at Mobile World Congrees 2017, which we don't rule out yet, the company will certainly announce something new and interesting. According to AndroidPure, the company plans to introduce an improved version of its own fast charging
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Meizu officially announced the M5s in China. The company hopes the phone will live up to its expectations as a very affordable mid-range smartphone. The Meizu M5s is expected to go on sale later this month in China priced at only $120.
A couple of leaked images suggest that Meizu is preparing to launch a new version of its Pro 6 Plus smartphone. At the moment, the handset is only available in Gold, Silver and Gray, but a fourth option might launch around the Mobile World Congress 2017 trade show.
Meizu recently sent out invites for an event scheduled for February 15 and while the invite doesn't specifically reveal the name of the phone, we know that the Chinese company will announce the M5s. The device already received various certifications and has been spotted in
AnTuTu recently posted a list of top 10 performance smartphones and the best Android smartphone was the OnePlus 3T. However, according to XDA Developers' editor-in-chief, both OnePlus and Meizu have been cheating on benchmarking tests. He learned that CPU's clock speed is boosted
Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been dominating the market lately. Although they still have some work to do before taking the top spot, the number of shipped smartphones in 2016 is impressive. The Director of IHS Technology, Wang Yang, published a list of top
A day after Qualcomm signed patent license agreement with Meizu, the company did the same with another Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Gionee. The new 3G and 4G patent license agreement grant Gionee to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA , CDMA2000 and 4G LTE complete devices
Back in October, Qualcomm sued Meizu over alleged patent infringement in several countries, including the US, France, and Germany. Meizu allegedly used patented 3G/4G technologies without the necessary licensing, but both companies have now reached a world-wide patent-licensing
Thanks to a new leak from China, we now have Meizu's smartphone launch roadmap for next year. The image of an internal document reveals which devices will be launched, along with the month of its introduction and the chipset used. According to the roadmap, at least six
Thanks to some sketches and specs details, we have learned more about Meizu's upcoming flagship smartphone. Dubbed Legent, the smartphone is expected to have some unique design paired with high-end specifications, while pricing and availability are not yet known.
According to TENNA listing, Meizu is about to release a new mid-range smartphone called M5S. The same smartphone has been spotted under two different listings - M6123M and M612Q, but both have almost the same specifications and should be the rumoured M5S.
There is barely a smartphone company that isn't working on a bezel-less smartphone, a trend that Xiaomi started with the Mi Mix. Meizu's chairman, Jack Wong/Huáng Zhāng said that the company is not in a rush to release a curved-screen phone, but they didn't say anything
A month after the announcement of M5 smartphone, Meizu has unveiled a bigger model called M5 Note. The successor to the M3 Note was unveiled today at an event in China. It is expected to go on sale on December 8, starting at 899 Yuan or $130 for the base model.
Meizu is offering practically the same features as a Fitbit in its new $35 Band fitness tracker. The Meizu Band counts steps and calories, and it'll track your sleep to give you some insight into how well you're resting. It includes tracking that's specific to certain activities.
Besides announcing new high-end Pro 6 Plus smartphone, Meizu has announced the M3X handset during the same event. The smartphone is aimed at people that do not want to spend too much on a phone, but still wants to have a decent, mid-range smartphone.
A new flagship has been introduced by Meizu, the Pro 6 Plus. It's an upgraded version of the Pro 6 from earlier in 2016. Included with the phone, whose specs match recent Samsung phones in some cases, is a superior display, a different processor, and a larger battery.


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Doodles Floor Price Up Following Announcements
The Doodles floor price is back up to 14.68 ETH this morning after the team announced that Pharrell will be joining Doodles as chief brand advisor. During the project's NFT NYC event, the audience was shown a video recorded by Pharrell where the rapper/producer said, "I'm a big fan of the brand. We're going to build from the core community outward and bring Doodles to new heights, new levels." After the event, Pharrell tweeted out the "link" emoji to @doodles and @burnttoast from his Twitter account, which has over 10M followers.
The team made several other announcements at the event, including:
- A fundraise that was led by Alexis Ohanian, a notable investor in the space and the co-founder of Reddit.
- An upcoming album called "Doodle Records: Volume 1."
- "Doodles 2": an upcoming PFP collection that will include millions of NFTs.
The collection's floor price rose by over 1 ETH following the announcements and has steadied above 14 ETH after bottoming out under 8 ETH on June 13. Dooplicators have seen a similar appreciation, settling in at a floor price of 3.6 ETH after dropping to 1 ETH last week as the collection approaches its reveal date. Doodles currently leads all projects in secondary trading volume on OpenSea over the past 24 hours at 1,834 ETH.


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With sales of its Leaf electric vehicle (EV) falling well short of target, Nissan Motor Co. is redoubling efforts to spur demand with a new, lower-cost version of the zero-emission vehicle that also has a significantly further driving range.
Nearly two years after its debut in December 2010, Nissan is rolling out the new “S” class version of the battery-powered hatchback in Japan. With a lowest price of around ¥3.35 million ($41,256), it is 11% cheaper than the Leaf’s previous lowest price–something Nissan says it achieved by stripping down the navigation and power-saving heating systems. Customers are also eligible for up to ¥780,000 in government grants for purchases of the new model.
The new version is designed to address some fundamental challenges to electric vehicles winning mass-market success, namely, short operating ranges and high prices, which along with a scarcity of battery charging stations, have been the chief barriers to widespread demand.
The new Leaf’s driving range has been extended by 14% to 228 kilometers on a single charge. The weight has been reduced by 5% by integrating the motor, charger and other key power train devices, and the efficiency of the brake system has been improved.
The company hopes this will help sales, which have been slower than anticipated. The company sold 14,815 Leaf EVs worldwide in the April-October period. While that was a 19% rise from the same seven months last year, it was less than half the 40,000 goal for the current fiscal year through March. Nissan sold 23,000 Leafs globally in the last fiscal year.
Sales in Japan haven’t been the main problem. They nearly doubled to 5,506 in the fiscal first half from the same period last year, according to Nissan Senior Vice President Masaaki Nishizawa.
However, sales in the U.S., the Leaf’s second-biggest market, were down 15.6% in January-October from the same period last year.
Nissan hopes U.S. sales will get a lift when its starts producing the vehicle there by the end of next month. The company will announce its plans for the partially redesigned Leaf in the U.S. by the end of March, Mr. Nishizawa said.


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Futures and the law of averages may be working in Wall Street's favor today, following five straight down days for the major averages.» Read More
CNBC's Bob Pisani checks on emerging markets and health care.
At this hour, Hillary Clinton is calling climate change one of the most urgent threats of our time, and rescue crews are expanding their search for 14-year olds Perry Cohen and Austin Stephanos, reports CNBC's Sue Herera.
China's stock market selloff is unlikely to slow the Fed's path to rate hikes, unless it creates an economic slowdown that slams the global economy.
Jan Kniffen, retail analyst, discusses how retailers are positioning themselves during the back to school season.
CNBC's Krystina Gustafson hones in on back to school retail and analyses what parents could end up spending this Fall season.
Matt Tuttle, Tuttle Tactical Management, and Neil Hennessy, Hennessy Funds, discuss China's impact on global markets.
CNBC's Steve Liesman reports China's effect on the Fed.
Rochester has been chosen as the national headquarters for a photonics hub; French farmers are blocking highways that lead into Grance to stop foreign produce from entering the country; and Nature's variety is recalling dog food for safety reasons, reports CNBC's Sue Herera.
Discussing China's economy and the impact it has on global markets with Peter Navarro, Professor of economics & public policy at University of California, Irvine, and David Riedel, Riedel Research Group, president & founder.
CNBC's Bob Pisani discusses the latest market action and China ETFs as stocks remain down for a 5 day losing streak.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh declares he won't sign any document that puts one dollar of taxpayer's money on the line for cost overruns when it comes to the city's efforts to host to 2024 Olympics, reports CNBC's Sue Herera.
Is crowdfunding the new startup incubator? Slava Rubin, Indiegogo CEO, discusses the trend of venture capital funding through sites like Indiegogo. Indiegogo is like the new YouTube for artists but instead for entrepreneurs, says Rubin.
CNBC's Josh Lipton reports Google's statement regarding the security of Android users.
CNBC's Rick Santelli discusses the latest headlines regarding China and the stock market.
Discussing big names in social, Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray Internet analyst, says Facebook could give Google some competition.
Turkey has called for a NATO meeting to discuss threats to its security; Iraqi forces have recaptured Anbar from ISIS; and Mitsubishi will end production at its auto plant in Illinois, reports CNBC's Sue Herera.
CNBC's Julia Boorstin takes a look at Twitter and Facebook amid their earnings which are set to release later this week.
Reports say China will increase state buying of stocks. CNBC's Dominic Chu reports.
Gil Luria, Wedbush Securities, discusses growth and consumption of Alibaba and the Chinese market.
A major deal in the pharma space, Teva says it will buy Allergan's generics business in a deal worth a little over 40 billion dollars. CNBC's Meg Tirrell reports the details.


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That is what is reported in this story in MyStateline.com:
McHenry County Fair says ticket sales for Ted Nugent concert ‘unprecedented’MyStateline.comWOODSTOCK, Ill. (WTVO) – Despite backlash from vocal critics online, the McHenry County Fair has seen “unprecedented” early ticket sales for rocker …
The web site reports the following:
[Jeff] Kleinschmidt says the venue capacity is about 7,000, and he says 2,500 tickets have been sold as of Friday afternoon.
“Ticket sales have been steady,” he said. “There was a huge surge at first and they will continue to trickle in. We are over 100 days out [from the event.] To have this many presales this early is unprecedented.”


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Infographics; eco-fashion; cottages: this week’s features
Earlier on today, we published our Guide to Sustainable Banking 2012 – a rundown of the best, ethical, sustainable and responsible banking options in the UK. But much, much more has happened in the world of Blue & Green Tomorrow this week. Here’s a summary of all the features from the last seven days.
On Monday, Joanna Keeton wrote a feature about eco-fashion and how, as we look ahead to 2013, it’s very much a concept at the forefront of many people’s minds.
Joanna quoted Anupama Pasricha, a member of Educators for Socially Responsible Apparel Business (ESRAB), who said, “If [the people in the fashion industry] do their part and make a conscious decision on what they purchase, they’re telling the retailers that this is important, and that’s where the whole change will come from.”
We’ll be revisiting that story next week, when Eco Fashion Week takes place in Vancouver, Canada, from October 16-19.
One of things we often get complemented on is our infographics. With that in mind, we sat down with our resident data visualisation guru, Ben Willers, to quiz him on his love of infographics.
“They can place a new perspective on things and sometimes reveal things we weren’t even looking for“, he said.
“Of course sometimes they just look really cool!”
This morning saw the sixth instalment of our cottages4you series, and this time, we looked at The Pump House, a serene property located just outside of Cumbria.
Remember, we’re still crowdfunding for our next three reports – on sustainable investment, ethical shopping and responsible media – and passed the £1,000 mark this week. We truly appreciate all your support, but if you could watch our video, read our pitch, pass it on to others via email, Twitter and Facebook, and if you can, please donate something, then we’d be forever grateful.


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Tucked away in a back alley, up a crumbling staircase, is Abu Mohamed’s workshop, where he carves and sells illegal ivory goods in the heart of Cairo’s historic bazaar.
“It’s the best quality from Kenya,” he said, brandishing an elephant tusk intricately inscribed with Quranic verses. Behind him, dusty glass cabinets are bursting with ivory figurines, bracelets and walking sticks.
Abu Mohamed inherited the business from his father and has a factory where many other sellers also sculpt larger items that they sell to tourists.
“The biggest piece we ever had was two metres long,” he said, pointing to a photo of the enormous tusk that he had stuck up on the wall.
Despite a ban on ivory trading, Egypt is one of Africa’s largest markets for the illegal trade, according to Traffic, a wildlife trade monitoring network.
The main sales hub is Khan al-Khalili, a bustling Cairo souk and popular destination for tours in Egypt, where vendors sell the illegal wares alongside resin sphinxes and plastic pyramids. Luxor, another tourist town, is also a sales hub.
Last year, global ivory seizures hit a record high, with the majority occurring in east Africa. Hundreds of elephants have been slaughtered by organised crime networks to keep the business going.
As a result, the African elephant population has dropped from five million to only 400,000 in the past century, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
On Tuesday, Interpol launched an environmental crime unit, based in Nairobi, to combat the trade. Its focus will be Egypt.
Despite mounting pressure from environmental groups, there have been only nine police seizures of ivory shipments in Egypt in the past two years, and retail outlets have been largely left alone.
The vendors at Khan al-Khalili say the security forces never check their shops, although inspections are meant to be carried out every three months. There are thought to be more than 8,000 ivory items for sale in Cairo, described by Traffic as the “carving centre of the country”, but nobody has inspected a single stall.
Most of the ivory is transported from Kenya, Tanzania and Ivory Coast via Sudan, over land or by air.
“We just slip a bit of money to the police when the raw material is brought through the airport,” Abu Mohamed said. Sometimes the tusks are painted to look like wood. Prices range from £125 to just under £400 per kilo. However, the finished product can fetch thousands of dollars.
The biggest buyers are the Chinese, who see possession of elephant ivory as a status symbol.
Abu Mohamed even sells his goods online to customers across the world.
None of the vendors was worried about Interpol’s new efforts, explaining that the Egyptian police had bigger problems to worry about than the illegal ivory trade.
“If the authorities were ever to come here we’d tell them it’s camel bone,” said a seller called Amr. “They are too stupid to know the difference.”


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International money transfer startup Azimo in integrating its service into Facebook Messenger to allow senders and receivers to connect through the social network of 1.65bn users.
The global cyber insurance market is expected to be worth around $28.6bn by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 24.9% from 2019, according to a study from Allied Market Research.
Trustly, a European provider of cross-border payments, has partnered with Latvian national airline airBaltic.
Public investment platform for the space industry Spaced Ventures is said to have picked up a pre-seed round.
J O Hambro Capital Management has selected FactSet as its investment risk management and reporting solution.
The coronavirus has resulted in high demand for online services and some businesses have struggled to meet this shift. However, iptiQ by Swiss Re is putting its four years of experience to practice and is helping its partners to quickly add new products.
Yoti, a digital identity app, said it will be working within the Financial Conduct Authority sandbox with Worry+Peace, an InsurTech startup.
Banks and financial services firms are driving the growth of the FinTech market towards being worth $305bn by 2025, according to new research.
Insurance broker NFP is launching a new venture fund to invest in InsurTech, FinTech and HR Tech companies.
Revolut has added American Express to its open banking feature, which means UK retail customers can connect their American Express and other banks accounts to the neobank.


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WE Are Think Ahead
Adyah Eco Products is a small step towards a sustainable future. We are manufacturer of Eco friendly alternatives for plastic items associated with food industry such as Paper Straw, Paper Platesand Paper Cups.
As of 2018 world is producing 380 Million Tons of plastic every year. Plastic decomposition may take up to 600 years. In a study done in year 2017, it was found that 83% of the tap water was contaminated with plastic pollutants. As per an estimation US consumes 390 Million plastic straws per day which is an alarming situation.
Having known the affliction related to plastic pollutions on land and ocean, State Government of 4 states in India has banned single use plastic, it is expected that it will soon be banned in other states also. At the same time, it’s pertinent that these alternatives of plastic products are easily available to industries and consumers. Its our mission to make these alternatives easily available to industries and consumers. Thus, Adyah Eco Products is a small step making a big difference.


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One of the chief concerns for those looking forward to Sony's upcoming handheld was that the device might have been sacrificing RAM size in order to keep costs down. Considering the type of games the system is being marketed for -- with it's versatile control options allowing proper first person shooters on a handheld for the first time -- scrimping in the memory department could have been a deal-breaker for many developers trying to trim down their big-screen games for some Vita action.
So it's surprising then that when Sony finally confirmed the memory specifications of the PlayStation Vita, that they didn't make a bigger deal about it. In a press release about Social Networking, an updated spec sheet now confirms that the PlayStation Vita will pack 512MB of Main memory and 128MB of VRAM. For those counting, this is actually more memory than the PlayStation 3, a point which Sony President of Worldwide Studios Shu Yoshida made to Eurogamer
"It has been very funny," he said. "There were some rumours for the last few months. Some developer mentioned the RAM was halved. We never announced the amount of RAM, and we never changed it.
"We've been making games, right, and we've been showing the games, like Uncharted, since January. If RAM gets cut in the middle of development, there's no way we can complete the games. So I was like, what's going on?
"I got lots of Tweets saying, Sony made a huge mistake by reducing the amount of RAM. We never talked about the amount of RAM and we never cut it.
"So going into Gamescom we agreed there was no reason we should hide it, so we just added it to the specifications. We always had 512MB of main RAM and 128MB of V-RAM. Actually when you add them together, PS Vita has more RAM than PS3 [the PS3 has 256MB of XDR DRAM main memory and 256MB of GDDR3 video memory]."
With smartphones and tablets devouring a large share of mobile gaming, it remains to be seen if a tailored gaming device can still be a winner in today's market, but with the high specs and control versatility of the Vita, Sony looks to be giving it their best shot. Now we just need to find out what the battery life is like.
Check out all the Vita-related trailers fresh out of GamesCom 2011:
Following a 2011 Japanese launch, the PlayStation Vita is expected in early 2012 in other region. Australian pricing has still yet to be confirmed, perhaps due to currency volitility, however retailer EB Games is currently anticipating AUD$348 for the Wifi only model and AUD$408 for 3G.


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In just a week since its release on the 4th of November, NIKKE: Goddess of Victory has announced that they have reached over 10 million downloads globally.
All players will be getting a total of 10 Advanced Recruit Vouchers as thank you gifts just by login into the game starting today.
You can use this recruit vouchers on the Special Recruit banner for the featured characters with the current one being the SSR Attacker Helm.
Don’t be afraid to use them as Nikke also just recently added a pity system to the game which will guarantee you the SSR you want so go ahead and pull.
【10 Million Downloads Reached!】
GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE has reached 10 million downloads globally!
To thank everyone, we are gifting「Advanced Recruit Voucher」*10!
Please redeem them via in-game mailbox!
— GODDESS OF VICTORY: NIKKE (@NIKKE_en) November 10, 2022
The game not only did well in terms of download but also in terms of revenue. According to Appmagic, NIKKE has made over 20 million USD spanning over 45 countries with Japan being their biggest contributor.
NIKKE: Goddess of Victory is a sci-fi RPG shooter game by Level Infinite where you command beautiful maidens called Nikke to reclaim humanity’s future and is currently sitting at over 10 million downloads.
The game is available for iOS and Android and is currently having their first ever event called [No Caller ID] along with the addition of a new NIKKE, SSR Attacker, Helm.
Check out our guide on Helm if you want to find out more about the Aegis Squad Leader.


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Gasoline prices at the pump are at more than a year’s low, but this may change in the coming months, according to the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, Patrick DeHaan, as quoted by MarketWatch.
DeHaan said that right now, the average price per gallon of gasoline in the United States was at the lowest for the start of a year since 2016, when the metric was also falling sharply to end up at a low of US$1.66 per gallon. “Americans are spending $260 million less on gasoline today than they did some 80 days ago,” the analyst said.
This won’t last, however, if DeHaan is correct. “While the bargain basement gas prices we’ve been seeing in areas across the country have been terrific and most welcomed, the party at the pump will likely wrap up in the next month or two, and prices will begin to rally as OPEC production cuts and a strong U.S. economy push gas prices back up.”
When it comes to prices at the pump, the situation is often the most basic example of how fundamentals work: demand improves with low prices and these start climbing back up, especially if there is support from the larger economy that stimulates more consumer spending. Then, when prices get to be too high, demand starts slowing and prices begin falling.
As a result of the interplay among these factors, GasBuddy expects the average price of gasoline for 2019 to be US$2.70 per gallon. That’s up from an average of US$2.23. However, the company also expects price ranges reaching a high of US$3.22 per gallon in May and August.
GasBuddy also estimated the average household spending on gasoline to decline to US$1,991 this year from US$2,016 in 2018. This, however, will be higher than the average US$1,765 annual gas bill per household in 2017.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
- Oil Prices Rise As Saudi Oil Exports Plummet
- Why 2019 Could Start With An Oil Rally
- The Next Big Step In Oil And Gas Tech


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Albert Heijn lost around 35 to 45 million euros in turnover due to strikes in its five distribution centres. Data agency Hiiper calculated this at the request of NOS. The agency compared supermarket sales in the last seven days of the strikes to those in the previous week.
Based on average days examined, Hiiper has seen Albert Heijn’s market share decline. Fewer people shopped there last week, and they also spent less money. Joep Smeets of Hiiper: “It’s usually around €19 per basket, you see that amount go down in those seven days.”
“Now every week it’s not the same in terms of turnover, especially in an unusual week because of King’s Day, but the drop in turnover is related to the competition. And the average supermarket fluctuations aren’t that big on a weekly basis. With those kinds of amounts, that has Significant impact “.
The largest customer drop is in the Northeast
According to the agency, Albert Hagen has an average turnover of €350 million per week. “We see 12 percent of that is down in the last seven days.” Not every day has the same turnover: Smeets notes that sales volume over the weekend is much greater than it was during the week.
Distribution center employees have been on strike since Sunday 23 April. For ten days, fewer or no products were brought to stores and that was noticeable across the country. Employees went on strike following a call from trade unions FNV and CNV, after negotiations over a new collective labor agreement stalled.
A few days later, it was found that the supermarket shortage in the northeast and southwest of the country was the largest. This can also be seen in the numbers, Smits says: “In the Northeast counties, the number of clients decreased by 10 percent in the period under review.” Albert Heijn brought in 7 percent fewer customers nationwide last week.
The data analysis agency sees customers behaving differently than usual because of the often empty shelves. “People have to get their food somewhere, so it makes sense to think they went to a different supermarket.”
According to Hiiper, in general, all other supermarkets seem to benefit from this, “but at first glance, service supermarkets like Plus and Coop seem to benefit the most.”
According to market researcher NielsenIQ, Albert Heijn has a market share in the Netherlands of more than 35 percent. Number two, Jumbo, is at 21.5 percent. Parent company Ahold Delhaize had a turnover of €87 billion last year.
A spokesperson for Albert Heijn says “don’t make any statements about such matters”. Albert Heijn and the unions will discuss the new collective labor agreement again next week.
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The youngest ever central bank manager has to get Türkiye out of the monetary quagmire
Against the shortage: the Cabinet wants dental training from 6 to 5 years
EU member states reach breakthrough in asylum policy after years of stagnation | Policy


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Udon Gets More Videogame Artbooks, Game-Based Manga
posted on by Mikhail Koulikov
Onimusha, Devil Kings manga & artbooks for Okami, Megaman, more
Udon Entertainment, which held the final industry panel of this year's New York Anime Festival, announced that it will be publishing Onimusha: Twilight of Desire and a manga adaptation of CAPCOM's Devil Kings (Sengoku Basara) videogame in North America. Udon also plans to launch three new original comic series based in the Street Fighter universe, and will be translating and releasing artbooks for the videogames Okami, Megaman Zero and Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams, as well as the Darkstalkers Graphic File book.


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Nordstrom Rack is looking to expand north, south, east and west.
The openings are part of parent Nordstrom Inc.’s goal of having over 230 Racks in operation by 2016, a number it could reach even earlier than that. There currently are 127 Racks, with plans to open 24 this year and another 30 in 2014.
Hermès is launching a Laundromat pop-up shop in NYC - dubbed Hermèsmatic - where customers can bring their old scarves to be dip-dyed by an expert. Get all the details on WWD.com. #wwdnews (📷: @donstahl)


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UK: "Dump the pump" campaign mixed
Motorists gave "Dump the Pump" - the UK campaign to boycott petrol stations until prices are lowered – a mixed reception across the UK, reports local media (2/8/00). The protest, on the 1st August, accounted for a drop of sales of around 50% in the North East and Yorkshire. Across the rest of the UK however, traders said business went on as usual.
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Media technology startup Zette announced that it was opening a private beta onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on October 20, 2022. Select beta testers now have access to the Zette browser extension, where they can access paywalled articles across a wide range of premium publishers—all while sharing revenue with newsrooms.
Since the start of its private beta in October, hundreds of users have been pre-approved to sign up for Zette’s browser extension. Zette offered its beta users three months of free membership to trial the service, where they can access over 100+ premium publishers. Beta testers have generously given product feedback and feature requests to the team.
“Early user feedback will be instrumental in shaping our product roadmap,” says Zhu. “This ensures we’ll be in good shape for when we launch to the public in January 2023.”
The majority of readers today do not pay for premium journalism due to cost, inconvenience or subscription fatigue. Zette empowers publishers to activate new revenue and audience opportunities by enabling today’s digital-first consumer to easily read and pay for the stories they crave.
Zette is a venture-backed startup founded by CEO Yehong Zhu, a 27-year-old former Forbes journalist, Twitter product manager and Harvard alumni, who credits the idea behind Zette to her time working in the Forbes newsroom.
Ahead of its anticipated public launch, the startup encourages curious readers to join their waitlist to stay informed about upcoming products, news, and promotions.


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With the global pandemic forcing many physical businesses to close and people to remain indoors, the commerce landscape has been severely impacted. Consumers are often unable or unwilling to shop in physical stores, and traditional payment methods such as paper money are increasingly viewed as potential mediums to transmit the deadly COVID-19 virus. Retailers have responded by changing the way they operate, communicate with customers, and support transactions.
For many retailers, these changes revolve around reimaging their digital footprints and digital outreach strategies. These merchants are focusing on aligning their enterprise around the end-to-end experiences that drive customer satisfaction. Such efforts include modernizing existing systems, focusing on increasing authorization rates, and reducing declines.
To better understand how merchants are responding to COVID-19, PaymentsJournal sat down with Peggy Alford, EVP of Global Sales at PayPal, and Ted Iacobuzio, Vice President and Managing Director of Research at Mercator Advisory Group. During the conversation, Alford and Iacobuzio discussed how merchants are now interacting with their customers, what opportunities and challenges exist, and how PayPal is helping companies navigate this new reality.
How COVID-19 has impacted the way merchants and consumers interact
The most salient trend in the retail world brought on by the pandemic has been the accelerated shift from physical to digital. A digital transformation that was expected to take two years has instead been compressed into just the past two months.
In April, for example, PayPal added about 7.4 million new active accounts to its platform, a monthly record for the company. Pre-COVID-19, PayPal would typically see about 100,000 net new users on its platform each day. Now, this number has shot up to almost 300,000 net new users a day.
The uptick in new accounts has been accompanied by an uptick in volume. May 1, 2020 marked the largest single day of transactions in PayPal’s history, eclipsing both Cyber Monday and Black Friday—two of the biggest commercial days of the year. The rise in new users and transaction volume reflect the fact that there is substantial demand for digital payment solutions.
“What that’s indicating is the companies we serve are really looking to continue operations and grow their business by shifting to digital,” said Alford. With consumer behavior changing, this shift toward digital is more or less a requirement; companies that fail to respond will lose out to those that do.
What consumers want in this changing world
While adjusting to the new retail world imposed by COVID-19, companies need to respond to consumer behavior and expectations. One central desire of consumers is that of choice; they want to be able to transact and manage their money through different methods, whether in person or online. Therefore, companies that support different payment methods, ranging from Venmo to Google Pay, are best positioned to stay competitive.
Consumers also want purchasing power and flexible finance options. Businesses can provide this relatively quickly and without making huge upgrades to existing payment infrastructure. Relatedly, consumers are looking to save money. While this has always been true, the economic insecurity caused by the pandemic has made the desire more pronounced. “It’s helpful to support consumers in finding items at prices they can afford through shopping and promotion tools,” said Alford.
Safety is another primary concern of consumers. Part of the concern is over physical safety. Many consumers want to avoid cash or key pads because these physical entities could contain pathogens. QR Code-enabled payments and other contactless payment options are therefore a safer alternative.
Consumer concern for safety also extends to their personal information and money. People want to transact with companies they trust. When consumers trust a company, they are more willing to shop there. PayPal’s market research indicates that “there’s a 50% lift in consumer willingness to buy when PayPal is present at checkout, whether or not they ultimately use PayPal,” explained Alford.
Merchants can meet consumer expectations
In order to meet the consumer expectations discussed above, merchants need to shift their focus from physical processes to digital ones. “Businesses and merchants used to think of physical first and digital second,” noted Alford. “That mindset has had to shift in order for businesses to survive.” As PayPal’s volume data shows, that shift is well underway.
Merchants have had to change their strategies to reach consumers. For example, restaurants have embraced carry-out and delivery options, while retailers have turned towards e-commerce and in-store pick-up options.
Alford pointed out that simply offering digital shopping and payment methods is not enough. Companies need to also make these digital methods simple and intuitive; consumers want excellent user interfaces that are easy to use.
The challenges retailers face in shifting digital
Since a lot of merchants have been primarily focused on the physical side of retail, they may be under-invested in digital. For many companies, they may not currently have infrastructure in place to accommodate e-commerce.
“In fact, in a study that PayPal conducted late last year, we found that across all age groups, nearly 80% of the consumers surveyed have shopped via smartphone, yet only 63% of businesses are optimized to accept mobile payment,” said Alford. The nearly 15% gap underscores the work some merchants need to do to keep up.
How PayPal is helping retailers pivot to digital
“A full suite of simple solutions, many of which businesses can start using in minutes, can be found on the PayPal homepage by clicking get support for your small business, including how to create QR Codes for contactless payments, selling on social or creating an online store,” said Alford.
In addition to this resource page, PayPal has multiple products that can help merchants.
“We recently announced the rollout of an in-app QR Code feature that allows customers and businesses to conduct in-person transactions at a safe distance and touch-free using their PayPal wallet,” added Alford. Another example is PayPal’s Honey, an application that helps consumers find the best price for an item. Companies that offer consumers this functionality will benefit as a result. PayPal also supports a wide range of payment options, including Google Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, and the traditional payment methods. Therefore, a company that partners with PayPal can support the many payment choices consumers want in the shifting commercial landscape.


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When Wu Feng looks at an iPad, he sees something more than a great way to play Fruit Ninja. To him, Apple’s sleek device looks more like a compute node on a supercomputer of the future: 1.5 gigaflops of computer power just waiting to be harnessed.
Feng — an associate professor of computer science at Virginia Tech University — hopes to one day bring the supercomputer to an entirely new audience. Today, supercomputers are used by research laboratories, oil companies, and big financial firms, but Feng wants to put them in small businesses and doctor’s offices. And he plans to do it using existing consumer hardware.
He’s known for building very small supercomputers. Nine years ago, before anyone cared about power consumption, he helped build a 240-node supercomputer that used as much power as two hair dryers. Now, he and his fellow researchers are assembling the software and know-how that will help make supercomputing technology something that just about anyone can use. Their test bed is a 209-node computer called HokieSpeed.
By today’s standards, HokieSpeed is not exactly an elite supercomputer. It cost just $1.4 million to build, and last month, it was ranked 96 on a list of the world’s fastest supercomputers.
But Feng and his fellow researchers developing techniques and software to allow HokieSpeed take maximum advantage of its 2,500 Xeon central processing units and its 185,000 Nvidia graphics chips. These are the same chips that ship with any desktop computer, and Feng thinks that if his team gets the development tools right, desktops could soon be used as supercomputers. “You can imagine that HokieSpeed in the next seven years will literally be inside someone’s personal computer,” he says.
Once built only with the kind of high-end computer processors seen in expensive servers, supercomputers are now commonly built with the same type of Intel processors that you find on a desktop computer. And in recent years, scientists have figured out new ways of using the graphics chips you find on desktops, too. It turns out that these graphics processors are remarkably good at certain types of mathematical operations.
Think of it this way: in 1993, the most powerful computer on the planet was a 60 gigaflop Thinking Machines supercomputer operated by Los Alamos National Laboratory. A gigaflop is one billion calculations per second. At 1.5 gigaflops, a single iPad 2 would have ranked around number 177 on that list.
“A lot of the capability, right now, of personal computers is just latent,” Feng says. “It’s just waiting to be exposed and extracted.”
Feng likens the Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) to race cars. They burn through fields of data, performing simple instructions at a blazingly fast rate. The Xeon central processing units are more like an SUV. They’re slower, but they can follow really complicated instructions, venturing into territory that would gum up the GPUs.
The Virginia Tech team is figuring out how to best to farm out computing jobs so that the GPUs and CPUs do what they do best, without ever going idle, and without spending too much time communicating with one another.
It’s not easy, but they’re using HokieSpeed to build tools for designing and compiling software so that it can be tweaked to run fast on these systems. They’ve also built what they call an “automated runtime system,” which works with the supercomputer’s operating system to speed things up even further.
What might a small-business supercomputer look like? It might be a cheap desktop system that does complex design and simulation work, so that companies don’t have to build as many real-world prototypes of their new products. Or it might be a number-crunching medical device that helps a doctor deliver lab results while the patient is still being examined.
Just as the Internet and cheap servers gave small companies a way to compete on the web, Feng hopes that the Virginia Tech technology can help out anywhere there’s number-crunching. “I think computing, likewise, is something that if small businesses can leverage in the appropriate way, they can level the playing field against their bigger brethren.”