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Trevor Sponagle, a 34-year-old Canadian expat, is folded into the back seat of one of Beijing's ubiquitous little red Xiali taxis. Despite his small, angular frame, his knees bump against the crude metal cage that surrounds the driver as the cab slowly makes its way through early-morning stop-and-go traffic. Although he's a little concerned about being late for a meeting with a customer in the city's northern Chaoyang district, Sponagle has learned to take it in stride. He's called Beijing home for seven years, first as an employee of the Canadian Embassy, and now as product marketing manager for Zi Corp. (TSX: ZIC), a Canadian software company with headquarters in Calgary.
To pass the time, Sponagle eagerly provides running commentary on Beijing's chaotic driving culture. At almost any hour of the day, cars clog even the widest boulevards and the seemingly well-engineered system of concentric ring roads emanating from the city's centre. To get anywhere requires a driver to aggressively win a series of close battles with other cars for precious lane real estate. (In fact, it's not uncommon to see five or six vehicles astride a four-lane road.) There is no deferential politeness or common courtesy here: it's every car for itself. When even a small gap opens up, several cars will rush to fill it. The winner is either bigger, faster or more belligerent with his horn. It's a culture rooted in how the citizens of Beijing have traditionally ridden bicycles — only now they're encased in heavy metal and glass.
The taxi lurches forward. A delivery van suddenly looms on its right and comes within inches of side-swiping a headlight as it cuts in front. The cabbie glowers. “Oh, he lost that time,” says Sponagle. As intimidating as it can be — especially turning left on a rainy night, headlights rushing in broadside — you cannot shy from the challenge or you won't get anywhere.
It's an attitude that also pervades business in China, where opportunities emerge and are either immediately seized or forgotten. Hesitation is defeat. And nowhere is this more evident than in the industry Sponagle and Zi know best: mobile phones, which are the ultimate status symbol of China's emerging consumer class.
Zi's software principally allows text to be entered into cellphones with both traditional and simplified Chinese characters used for both Mandarin and Cantonese, as well as Pinyin (phonetic spellings with roman letters). It has built an impressive expertise in the standardized pattern of strokes that form Chinese characters, and from that foundation the company is now designing predictive text-entry software for 41 different languages, including Japanese, Korean, European languages, even Hindi. But success in China remains crucial: of the roughly 100 handset designers and manufacturers around the world that have licensed Zi's software, more than a third are in China. In fact, the Chinese market accounts for over half the business of Zi, which Paradigm Capital analyst Barry Richards says is on track to post about $22 million in revenue this year — and which for the first time might make a small annual profit.
As the maker of China's leading text-entry software, Zi is in an enviable position to benefit from the largest mobile phone market in the world. More than 320 million people in China — 10 times Canada's total population — use mobile phones, and eight million more buy one each month. According to Sino Market Research in Beijing, domestic manufacturers account for some 45% of mobile phone retail sales. And what happens in the Chinese market will soon affect the global industry. Just as other electronics industries have witnessed, the strength of domestic economics could propel Chinese handset manufacturers like Ningbo Bird, Panda and TCL to international dominance. Engineering houses known as original design manufacturers (ODMs) have also emerged to build handsets to spec; more than 40% of Nokia's global handset sales are models designed in Beijing. And as China's ability grows to produce more mobile phones faster and less expensively, exporting will inevitably follow. Whether the brands are Chinese or not, manufacturers here will influence everything from semiconductor design to screen quality — along with what software is used to enter text.
Zi hopes to hitch a ride on this juggernaut. “Everyone [in China] wants a phone,” says Sponagle. “They will buy one before they invest in running water. It's just a matter of whether they have the cash.” But Zi faces new competition from the global leader in predictive text-entry software, Tegic Communications, and from Motorola's Lexicus division. Zi is counting on a competitive advantage: its inside knowledge of the Chinese market.
How did a small Calgary-based software company find itself in the midst of the most dynamic and important mobile phone market in the world? Part long-term planning, and part good fortune.
Zi started in 1987 as Cancom Ventures, then became known as Multi-Corp., when it owned a small Edmonton secretarial college and an industrial equipment rental business. In 1993, board member Michael Lobsinger acquired control, became its CEO and chairman and sold off those businesses. With the proceeds, he bought, among other assets, the rights to a language translation technology developed in Asia. When efforts to develop a Chinese-English text translation software could not produce accurate enough results, the firm switched gears and began working on a Chinese character input system for personal computers and mobile phones. Licensing deals with manufacturers to bundle the software with computers didn't go very far, so the software was instead shrink-wrapped and sold separately, with limited success. Zi has also sold six technology licences to makers of television set-top boxes, which let consumers access the Internet and input text with a remote control.
But those markets pale in comparison to Zi's opportunity in mobile phones. The company first won licensing deals with high-end handset manufacturers Ericsson and Alcatel in 1998 and 1999, respectively. At the time, about a quarter of the 18 million cellular phones sold in China were made by Ericsson. Since then, the market has expanded exponentially, and so have the number of handset makers (see “Upwardly mobile,” page 36). While popular brand names like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson still dominate the market, Chinese manufacturers can make many models, and take up as much as 50% of retail shelf space.
Linda Wu, who works out of Calgary as Zi's global marketing manager, tells a story about being in Cannes earlier this year for 3GSM World Congress, one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications conferences. She was in Zi's booth on the show floor when a representative from a Chinese handset manufacturer walked up and asked outright for a licensing agreement to sign. “It's now such a fast-moving market,” says Wu. “Everyone is looking to rush phones to market.”
Even so, most Chinese will not do business with just anyone. Zi's prominent local presence has been key to winning new business. “In North America, new customers are a little more trusting that you'll do what you say you're going to do,” says Mike Donnell, who took over as CEO in 2003 from Lobsinger, who remains chairman. “China has a little bit more of a skeptical culture, where being established and having a track record tends to make a big difference.”
But there's another reason Zi needs to be plugged into the local market: to keep tabs on the bureaucracies that govern how the Chinese language is used in electronic media. In a country so vast in size and population, there are many regional dialects and language variations besides the main division between the official Mandarin of Beijing in the north and the predominant Cantonese of the south. But for written Chinese, which consists of more than 50,000 characters (5,000 are commonly used), the government created a standard, simplified system of strokes, regardless of which dialect is spoken. To retain that consistency in the information age, four regulatory bodies now set and enforce a myriad of standards.
Navigating this red tape can be perilous, especially for a small, foreign company. Lobsinger was very active during the late 1990s, building relationships with industry insiders and government officials. (In the process, he recruited former Canadian ambassador to China Howard Balloch to his board of directors.) Zi was an integral part of the consultative process with scholars and industry experts that the language ministries used to set standards, testing methods and certification procedures. Getting certified early on helped Zi win business from foreign companies such as Ericsson and Alcatel. Keeping up with changing certification standards remains a sensitive topic in the industry; if phones aren't up to code, the authorities could yank them off the market.
Even with certified software, you just can't send the customer a CD. The software needs to be integrated into a handset's hardware and operating system, and that requires close and sometimes complex working relationships with Chinese phone manufacturers. That job is left to people like Sponagle and his boss, Ching Kam Wah, Zi's director of marketing development and sales in China. Both joined the company in 1999, just as it was switching from making software for PCs to software for mobile phones. Ching was raised in Hong Kong before moving to Edmonton with his family when he was 15. In 1989, he got a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alberta. He returned to Hong Kong, eventually spending five years with Ericsson and another five with Lucent, mostly in mainland China.
Sponagle, on the other hand, is a world away from where he grew up: Sussex, N.B., population: 4,182. (“Not including the cows,” he says. “That would triple the population.”) After graduating Mount Allison University in Sackville, in 1996, he went to China to pursue language studies and then got a job at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, helping companies do business there. He met Lobsinger and heard Zi needed marketing communications expertise for its fledgling mobile phone software business. “I think his words were, 'Jump on the train,'” says Sponagle, who is now fluent in Mandarin.
Sponagle admits that one benefit of being in China is that he's quite removed from the day-to-day stock watching and other distractions of a public company. Zi has frequently flirted with controversy, including a whiff of scandal with associates of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein back in its Multi-Corp. days, and a patent infringement lawsuit initiated by competitor Tegic Communications. (Zi lost, but the court ruled its subsequent design changes worked around the problem, and the two companies settled out of court in 2002.) More recently, when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission froze the assets of Lancer group, a hedge fund investment management firm that was supposedly a 10% shareholder of Zi, it discovered that Lancer in fact owned 49.1% of Zi's shares, which were trading recently at $3.60. Lancer is now in the hands of a court-appointed receiver while it faces securities fraud allegations, but Zi has let Lancer appoint a board member, which it did in August.
Far away from those goings-on, Sponagle and Ching have their hands full looking after the ultra-hot China market, while jetting off to meet clients in Taiwan, Singapore and Korea. They operate out of a sparsely decorated office in Beijing's Chaoyang district with eight other employees (another eight are in Hong Kong) who spend most of their time staring at computers or meeting customers. Many of those customers in Asia are ODMs — engineering houses that develop products for other firms to stick their brands on. The wave of these companies began in South Korea and Taiwan a few years ago as spinoffs from major manufacturers like Samsung and LG, to sell their expertise to the booming China market. Now there are close to 20 major ODMs and more than 300 smaller design houses. They cater to manufacturers desperate to keep up with the some 400 new models slated for release this year.
The market is awash with different brands and styles; many have only the slightest differences (reverse-engineering is common). Chinese consumers treat handsets more as fashion accessories than appliances, and that is driving demand for increasingly sophisticated features, like multimedia. A model might last six months on the market, and price competition is fierce. ODMs can operate more cheaply and quickly than most manufacturers, adding new features at a brisk pace.
Text input, of course, is one of those features. Zi partners with ODMs to get the software integrated into the handset modules; licensing agreements are structured so Zi gets a royalty for every handset shipped. One such partner, which signed with Zi in early 2003, is NGT China, a division of NewGen Telecom in Korea, which designs phones mostly for Japanese giant NEC. “We have tried to look into a lot of local companies,” says David Yang, NGT's vice-president and general manager, “but we found it is very difficult to get money from local clients.” Indeed, big inventories are rumoured to be a serious problem for many smaller manufacturers.
There is, however, plenty of price competition among ODMs, too; handset designs cost a quarter of what they were two years ago. As margins continue to shrink, consolidation in the sector is inevitable — indeed, some component manufacturers are already bowing out. For now, Ching says Zi has to resist pricing pressure on its own product. “Customers will say, 'We need to lower our bottom line. It has to be cheaper,'” he explains. “There is always some regional player coming out with a product 10 times cheaper than you are, and selling to the same customers.”
The domestic competition is also driving manufacturers to look abroad for growth and profits — something Zi can help them achieve. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., for instance, is a major telecom infrastructure player in China. Huawei began making handsets only last year for the express purpose of supporting its network equipment sales — especially the coming 3G market. Already, foreign sales are about equal to the domestic market and will surpass it next year, on the back of packaging them with infrastructure deals to eastern Europe, Russia, east Asia and Africa. But says Su Liqing, the vice-chief of Huawei's Beijing Research Centre, the next strategy will be to sell handsets, separate from network equipment shipments, under Huawei's brand worldwide.
Zi has been fortunate to learn from the China mobile phone market as it's grown. Even the experience of making the complex Chinese language work on such small devices has influenced its approach to other languages. “There are 20,000 characters and you have 12 keys,” says Sponagle. “You don't want to press too many keys, and you don't want to think too much. So we had to start out that way, and when we transfer that over to other languages, the result is a bit different from our competitors: less key presses, less thinking, and we give you as much as possible — prediction, learning. We did the hard one first and it made us think a bit.”
Back in traffic after Sponagle's meeting in the Chaoyang district, his taxi lurches ahead. A yellow Japanese compact drifts in from the left but abruptly hits its brakes and swerves back out of the way of the red Xiali. “See? He won that time,” says Sponagle, his eyes scanning for the next opening.


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Concordia University launching new online degree programs in Texas
Concordia University Texas will offer three new degrees and certification programs in an online format beginning in January 2013 and in March 2013.
Concordia students from throughout Texas will be able to earn a Master of Education in Advanced Literary Instruction and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management starting in January via its Online Center.
Students will be able to sign up for a Superintendent Certification program, starting in March.
“The new delivery method will offer students the same Concordia experience they would find in the classroom with the convenience of an online setting,” Tammy Stewart, vice president of remote operations for Concordia University Texas, said. “We’re taking what Concordia does best and replicating it in a virtual environment.”
Concordia University Texas operates campuses in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Concordia is a privately held, accredited liberal arts university.
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James Aldridge oversees online content of the newspaper; edits and reports stories for the online edition.
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Although the Sony Xperia x10 Mini Pro and the Xperia Mini never officially made it to the United States it was still a hot little phone. The two small form factor devices were released at last years MWC however after the lackluster performance of the full sized Xperia X10 the X10 mini pro failed to show up here.
There have been rumblings on the internet lately that Sony Ericsson was looking to revive the X10 mini pro line with newer versions this year and judging by the pics they’ve already started.
More after the break
Earlier in the year at MWC 2011, Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg, told reporters that the United States was a much bigger part of their 2011 plans. They made an agreement to release the highly anticipated Sony Xperia Play in the United States on Verizon Wireless. Sony Ericsson has also beefed up their presence in the United States and opened up shop in California.
We are hoping with this renewed commitment to the US we should see the mini line in carrier stores sometime this year. The only big technical detail to point out is that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 minis for this year will come preloaded with Gingerbread. We are hoping that it’s the same implementation of Gingerbread that we saw when we looked at the Xperia Arc at CTIA.
Source: the unofficial SE Blog


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The Google Maps mobile app announced at its annual I/O developer conference in May 2018 is now live for a small number of users, according to one media outlet.
The app, called the AR Visual Positioning System, provides navigation through a layer of augmented reality on a real-time map seen through the user’s camera.
Rachel Inman, the user-experience lead for the augmented reality project at Google, told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) the feature isn’t meant to become a traveler’s primary navigation tool. And that it’s most useful at complicated intersections or finding hidden alley ways.
Without a real estimated time of completion, the WSJreports that the feature will roll out "soon" to a few Local Guides, and it will only become more available when Google developers think it is ready.
Evidently, the app also prevents a person from using the camera too much, so that it doesn’t drain the battery. If the user lowers the phone, the app will flip to the standard map. And if a user holds the phone in front of their face for too long, it will slowly darken the screen.
Maps are only the beginning, however. AR can help people search and learn more about their surroundings.
Years ago, Microsoft and Google tried to create camera technology that allows people to navigate through stores and restaurants.
Today, technologists at Google believe that AR maps combined with Translate tools can even translate every sign someone passes into the language in which they are most familiar.


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Self-publishing has emerged from the peripheries of the publishing industry to become one of the primary contenders in mainstream publishing. According to research released by American marketing research company, Bowker, self publishing has seen triple digit growth in five years.
Recent research from global market intelligence firm, IDC, indicates that Android devices have seen a rapid increase in popularity in 2012 and 2013. According to IDC figures, Android tablets are set to dominate the market in the near future, even surpassing their biggest competitor, the Apple iPad.
I was very excited to hear European tech startup blog Venture Village wanted to feature Liquid State as their Startup of the Week. Many of the Venture Village team are, like us, Australians who love Berlin – so there’ll always be allegations of favouritism.


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Discover more from Token Dispatch
Meta 💔 NFTs. Cathie ❤🩹 Coin. Banks 🆘
Meta is shutting down NFTs. Cathie Wood keeps buying Coinbase stocks. Will banking crises push US crypto firms offshore? Nouns, a movie is in the making. $1 Million offer for information on hackers
Hello y'all. This is The Token Dispatch. Has the financial crises opened up a
bowl, bucket, barrel full of worms? Dispatched watching Maggots v Giant Burger.
Meta is ditching its NFT plans. They will stop minting and selling NFTs on Instagram as well as the ability to share NFTs on Instagram and Facebook 👀
They are looking for new ways to support creators, people, and businesses. Or something like that. Who knows?
Meta's new plan: Building payment rails on its platform and through its messaging apps, monetising Reels and focusing on Meta Pay - their payment platform, which in the future might support crypto if they don't "wind up" the plans. Low priority or wrong strategies?
Maybe ask Starbucks or Reddit how they did it?
Meta's defense: Last year alone, its metaverse-building division Reality Labs recorded largest-ever yearly losses at $13.7 billion. In November, Meta laid off 13% of its workforce -11,000 staff. Now, Meta plans to cut its workforce by another 10,000 people.
Why not sponsor us, eh?
No Stopping Cathie
Banks are collapsing, digital assets are wounded, and stablecoins are acting weird, but none of that comes in the way of Cathie Wood buying. Why would it be if it's sea of green - cryptos are pumping and Coinbase 🆙
Ark now owns 10.355 million Coinbase shares, around $641 million. On March 9, ARK Invest bought the biggest amount of the stock since the start of 2023.
“Regulators have focused investors on the threat that crypto poses to users, but this weekend turned that theory upside down.”
The failure of three large crypto-focused banks further cemented Wood's crypto bullish attitude. She is not surprised by the recent crypto market rebound. Voting for crypto with her wallet, she is walking the talk.
TTD Blockquote 🔊
Brian Quintenz, head of policy at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
"The SEC is completely out of control. They’re going rogue.”
Quintez, a former Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) commissioner reckons that the United States has to make a decision about whether or not it will embrace and support innovators in this country.
US banking crisis to push crypto firms offshore ✈
The ongoing banking crisis in the United States is likely to push cryptocurrency firms offshore, according to industry experts.
"There is a very real risk that more crypto companies will move offshore, particularly with regulatory frameworks being proposed in the UK and the [European Union]." Dave Weisberger, CEO and co-founder of algorithmic trading platform CoinRoutes.
"Global crypto companies will definitely be looking at banking options in Europe, Hong Kong and the Middle East." Sanjay Raghavan, vice president of Web3 initiatives at real estate investment platform Roofstock onChain.
"Many crypto companies already had multiple on and off-shore banking partners. U.S. companies will likely prefer Caribbean and European banks.” Josh Frank, co-founder and CEO of information platform The Tie.
TTD Rumour Has It 🕵🏼♂
Amazon's rumoured NFT platform has generated significant buzz in the NFT community. The company has not yet confirmed or denied about their plans.
“This will be a game-changer in the NFT, digital collectibles space. Having a company like Amazon enter with a marketplace not only helps legitimise NFTs … The only way to grow the web3 gaming and digital collectibles space is to bring the masses in." Dave Broome, CEO, Orange Comet
"We’re excited about the momentum with leaders like Amazon, and look forward to seeing what use cases they focus on. More experimentation to learn what works and can scale, is beneficial to all of us." Shiva Rajaraman chief business officer, OpenSea
“Given [Amazon’s] deep connection with games through Twitch, we could see a big win for web3 gaming." Chris Akhavan, chief gaming officer, Magic Eden
Amazon has 300+ Million active users worldwide. Will they? Will they not?
TTD Number Picker 🔢
After being exploited for $200 Million on March 13, and sending multiple on-chain messages to the attacker in the past 48 hours … the decentralised lending protocol Euler Finance has announced that it will offer a $1 Million reward for information about the attackers.
TTD WTF 🤷🏼♂
$2.2 Billion USDC burnt in a day
The burn was reportedly initiated by Circle, the company behind USDC, as part of its efforts to maintain the its peg to the US dollar. USDC briefly depegged when Circle announced it had exposure to Silicon Valley Bank. Net redemptions of USDC crossed the $4 Billion mark. The move is seen as a positive development for USDC holders, as it helps to ensure the stability and reliability of the cryptocurrency.
TTD Cool Stuff 🧊
Nouns: A Movie
NounsDAO has passed a proposal to create a feature-length animated film featuring its popular NFT characters. The film will be created in multiple story acts that can be pieced together to "form the first feature-length cinematic content introducing Nouns to the world."
TTD Surfer 🏄
The makes-you-think reading list for the day
The US government is bailing out banks. Some people prefer to keep cash under the mattress. Should I keep my money in bitcoin or a bank?
Crypto might one day work with big banks if the industry can mature. For that to happen, crypto must do better to be banked.
The fall of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature has left the crypto banking segment in flux. Where will crypto firms turn?
Markets are hoping that the Fed will be less aggressive with interest rate hikes following the collapse of the banks. Could this end crypto winter?
Most depositor money is at work someplace else, so the possibility of a run is ever present. Banking is always a risky business.
So long. OKAY? ✋
The Token Dispatch is a daily newsletter that takes you on a 4-5 minute drive through the wild west of the Crypto World. Daily in your email inbox @13:00 GMT. Almost always.


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It has been an on and off effort by Samsung on working toward release of their own version of a smart home assistant device to compete with Google Home, Amazon Echo and the Apple HomePod. In July word first came out that Samsung was working on a device to compete in that market, but progress was slow due to troubles experienced with the Bixby technology that would power the devices. Shortly after that news surfaced, sources indicated Samsung had decided to abandon the effort apparently judging their entry into the market as being too late. While making the rounds in connection with the launch of the Galaxy Note 8 this week, Samsung’s DJ Koh indicates the company is moving forward with plans for a home assistant device.
In an interview with CNBC, Koh noted, “Maybe soon we will announce it. I am already working on it.” Part of the new enthusiasm could be related to Samsung’s efforts to get Bixby working properly for English speaking users. That was of primary importance for the company in terms of the U.S. market. However, the initiative is bearing fruit on a global scale as Samsung recently extended support for English to over 200 countries and territories, a point that even came up during the Note 8 launch event.
As far as possibly being in the market too late, especially compared to Google Home and Amazon Echo devices, all may not be lost for Samsung. The company has one thing going for it the others do not and that is the diversification of its portfolio. Samsung is a conglomerate producing a wide rang of products in almost every category of home appliance or technology. The potential exists to help consumers make the mental connection between their Samsung TVs and refrigerators and a new Samsung Bixby powered device.
Koh did not provide any information regarding a timeline for a device launch. He did indicate the company is “moving quite heavily on it.” Samsung will almost certainly want to capitalize on the upcoming holiday shopping season, so a launch sometime in the next few months seems likely.


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The widespread use of face masks is meant to work on this latter way. As the pandemic progressed folks started making use of face masks as equipment, matching them to their outfits and so on. Early in the pandemic, people and companies from the fashion business responded to official requires assist in overcoming the shortages of protecting personal tools including face masks. These masks were sheerly utilitarian as the one consideration on the time was perform.
Surveys are the best approach to measure mask habits among giant groups of Americans, however they will not be perfectly accurate. Some individuals, in spite of everything, may know they are supposed to put on a mask and exaggerate their adherence when asked. But, given the political divisions about masks-carrying, these numbers no less than give a sense of how many individuals no less than want to declare they use masks.
A Century Of Chinese Language Mask
When each the source and recipient wore masks, eighty four% of particles have been blocked. The quantity elevated to more than ninety five% when both parties were either double masked or used the knot and tuck method. A cloth face mask is worn over the mouth and nose and made of generally available textiles. Masks vary extensively in effectiveness, relying on material, match and seal, number of layers, and other factors.
- But well being experts say the proof is clear that masks may help forestall the spread of COVID-19 and that the more individuals sporting masks, the better.
- Investigations involving infected passengers aboard flights longer than 10 hours strongly suggest that masking prevented in-flight transmissions, as demonstrated by the absence of infection creating in different passengers and crew in the 14 days following publicity.
- For example, when deciding whether or not to attend a concert, the enjoyment of the event should be traded off towards the elevated dangers of contracting the illness.
- The FDA lately permitted a clear pdf icon external iconmedical mask.
“But of the three, the most important thing is carrying a mask,” he said. Compared to wearing a mask, cleaning your iPhone or wiping down your groceries are “just distractors.” There’s little evidence that fomites are a major source of transmission, whereas there may be plenty of evidence of transmission through inhaled droplets, said Chin-Hong. What may have finally satisfied the CDC to change its steerage in favor of masks were rising illness prevalence and a clearer understanding that both pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission are potential – even frequent. Studies have discovered that viral load peaks in the days earlier than signs start and that speaking is sufficient to expel virus-carrying droplets.
U.s.a. Centers For Illness Management And Prevention
Bring additional medical process masks with you in case you have to change out a grimy or wet masks. Medical procedure masks are single-use masks that aren’t made of material and are not designed to be washed or laundered. They are sold online and through giant retail shops. These are not the same as other medical masks. A individual for whom sporting a masks would create a threat to office well being, safety, or job duty as determined by the office risk assessmentexternal icon. It is especially necessary to put on a masks when you’re indoors with people you do not reside with and when you are unable to stay at least 6 toes aside since COVID-19 spreads mainly among people who are in close contactwith one another.
In another case, in late May, two hair stylists in Missouri had shut contact with 140 shoppers whereas sick with COVID-19. Everyone wore a mask and none of the shoppers tested constructive. As states reopen from stay-at-house orders, many, together with California, at the moment are requiring individuals to put on face coverings in most public areas to scale back the spread of COVID-19. Stamoulis explains that masks reduce the strain of the spontaneous meetings that those with social nervousness can dread.
The Republic of China , South Korean, and Japanese governments have also recommended the use of face masks in public. Previously, early within the outbreak, the WHO had solely beneficial medical masks for folks with suspected infection and respiratory symptoms, their caregivers and people sharing living area, and healthcare workers. In a 6 April recommendation, the WHO acknowledged that wearing a medical mask can restrict the unfold of certain respiratory viral ailments together with COVID-19, however believed that the use of a mask alone is not adequate to offer an sufficient degree of protection and that other measures must be adopted. In the scope of the neighborhood setting, the WHO stated that medical masks ought to be reserved for healthcare staff, except for people with signs, claiming that medical masks would create a false sense of safety and neglect of other measures. The WHO recommendation for folks to wear masks only if they had signs was scrutinized, as specialists and researchers have pointed out the asymptomatic transmission of the virus.


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Thanks to DARPA, the ocean itself will be connected to the ever-expanding Internet of Things.
The field of Artificial Intelligence has become so compelling to business and technology professionals that 58% of companies are estimated to be researching AI today. There is a problem though: Only 12% are actually using it.
Blockchain is the latest in a long line of technologies set to disrupt markets across the globe, just as AI and IoT have before it. But what makes Blockchain so buzzworthy?
Alphabet (Google's parent company) alongside X (Alphabet's moonshot factory) has been quietly releasing a retooled Augmented Reality headset for the workplace called Glass Enterprise Edition.
Just how disruptive can ransomware be within a global supply chain? Let's take a look at the recent Maersk cyber-attack to find out.
Learn how eCommerce Leaders are closing the loop between planning and execution to drive a more profitable omni-channel supply chain.
In this article, we'll explore how omni-channel demands are forcing the world’s best eCommerce companies to balance cost and service using a unique set of customer fulfillment optimization capabilities.


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Dell Q3 Sales Surge Across The Board, Earnings Jump7:12 PM EST Thu. Nov. 18, 2010
Dell on Thursday reported solid quarterly revenue growth, with nearly 150 percent growth in earnings, thanks to strong global demand for its entire commercial portfolio of products and services as well as solid supply-chain execution.
For its 2011 third fiscal third quarter, which ended October 29, Dell reported revenue of $15.4 billion, up about 19 percent from the $12.9 billion the company reported for its 2010 third fiscal quarter.
Dell also reported income of $822 million, or 42 cents per share, up over 140 percent compared to last year's $377 million, or 17 cents per share.
Dell's server and networking business rose by 20 percent over last year to $1.8 billion. Its storage revenue was up 7 percent to $543 million, software and peripherals up 8 percent to $2.6 billion, mobility products up 16 percent to $4.9 million, and desktop PC business up 21 percent to $3.6 billion.
Dell also reported services revenue as up by 55 percent to $1.9 billion. However, that growth ignored the third quarter 2009 revenue of Perot Systems, which Dell acquired in the fourth quarter of 2009. If Perot's third quarter 2009 revenue was included, total services revenue growth this year would have been a much more modest 3 percent.
Dell's large enterprise business revenue rose 27 percent compared to last year to reach $4.3 billion. That included a 25-percent increase in enterprise solutions and services revenue over last year.
The company's public revenue, the vast majority of which came from the U.S., rose 20 percent to $4.4 billion, while small and medium business revenue rose 24 percent to $3.7 billion and consumer revenue rose a modest 4 percent to $3 billion.
Growth in the SMB part of its business came in part because of the continuing strength of Dell's direct sales model, said Stephen Felice, president of Dell's consumer and small and medium business.
"Our direct model gives us an advantage in the midmarket, and our clients regard us as a trusted advisor," Felice said.
A combination of direct and partner sales is helping propel Dell's growth in the enterprise market, said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO of the company which bears his name.
"Our PC and solutions portfolio continues to grow, as does our field and partner ability to deliver these solutions around the world," Dell said. "We believe we're well positioned to profitably grow."
Next: Storage Continues To Be A Highlight
Dell's EqualLogic storage business grew 66 percent over last year, and currently has a run rate of over $800 million, Dell said.
He declined to directly address a financial analyst's question about Dell's reaction to losing its 3PAR acquisition bid to HP or about how EMC's proposed acquisition of Isilon might impact his company. He did say that Dell continues to invest in the storage business, citing as examples its recent acquisitions of Exanet for CIFS and NFS storage technology and of Ocarina.
Dell also said that his company's 10-year relationship with EMC continues to evolve.
"We're focused on continuing to grow our storage business," he said. "For us, the measure of success is profitability, and we're working to grow (it)."
When asked about how virtual desktop or tablet PC trends might impact Dell's PC business during the current customer refresh cycle, Dell said the company is working hard to make virtual desktops a viable alternative to PCs, but is not seeing widespread adoption yet. "We'd like to," he said.
As for tablet PCs, Dell said his company is seeing enthusiasm from customers about the products. "We're coming out with tablets next year that will address commercial and consumer needs," he said.
Dell also said that his company is solidly focused on profitability, and not on gaining market share with low-margin products. A big part of that is continuing to emphasize solutions, he said.
"There will be shifts within the business as we index to more profitable businesses," he said.
Dell the company has leveraged its supply chain to cut the cost of doing business thanks to falling component costs and other savings.
For instance, Felice said, Dell has done much in terms of shortening delivery time of products from overseas by an average of a week even as it depends more on sea freight for its consumer business. Dell also cut costs in the third quarter by consolidating its consumer business into three brands: Inspiron, XPS, and Alienware.
Looking forward, Dell the company expects to see growth from the PC refresh cycle at large corporate accounts and from an increase in sales of enterprise products and services. As a result, the company expects full-year revenue to be somewhere around the midpoint of its previously-discussed growth of between 14 percent and 19 percent, while full-year non-GAAP operating income is expected to grow by between 28 percent and 32 percent.


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Electric car maker Tesla will seek shareholder approval for a stock split, according to an SEC filing Monday, driving shares up as it vies to join tech giants like Amazon and Alphabet in splitting stock after massive growth during the pandemic.
Tesla said it will ask its shareholders to approve plans to increase the number of shares of common stock “in order to enable a stock split” at an upcoming annual meeting.
The company’s board has already approved management’s plans to increase the amount of stock, but any split is subject to the board’s final approval, according to the filing.
Tesla shares were up nearly 6% in pre-market trading on Monday morning after the announcement.
Tesla’s proposal follows similar moves from Amazon and Google parent Alphabet in recent months. Stock splits increase the total number of shares while decreasing the individual value of each, with investors receiving additional shares for each they hold. This means the market value of the company remains the same but shares are more accessible to retail investors and more easily traded. Stock splits can also boost trader optimism, driving share prices up. Tesla has soared in value over the last few years and the company announced a 5-for-1 (if you have one share you would receive four more after the split) split in mid-2020. Since then, Tesla stock has more than doubled in value.
Tesla is the fastest-growing U.S. automaker and a leading seller of electric vehicles. It reported record deliveries in the final quarter of 2021 and opened a sprawling “Gigafactory” in Germany last week after lengthy delays, which should help the company’s growth in Europe and reduce its reliance on its Chinese plant. Tesla has reportedly suspended production at its Shanghai factory for four days due to a staggered Covid-19 lockdown in the city, according to Reuters. The company’s chief executive, billionaire Elon Musk, said he has “supposedly” contracted the virus for a second time.
Tesla Says It Delivered Record 936,172 Electric Vehicles In 2021 (Forbes)
Alphabet’s Historic Stock Split Means More Investors Can Buy Shares—But Here’s What Analysts Say (Forbes)


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The nation’s largest independent ISP, iiNet, has been forced to pay $204,000 to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for its advertising of its naked broadband plans.
Victoria-based ISP, Connexus, has introduced a hybrid broadband product allowing users to customise router configurations and at both ends – their core network and the customer premises.
With nearly $100 million in new funding, Internet2, the faster, better Internet reserved for research and education, has embarked on an upgrade that will boost backbone capacity to a staggering 8.8Tbps and expand services to hundreds of thousands of libraries, schools and medical centers.
Despite increasing amounts of criticism of the National Broadband Network (NBN) by industry figures, public opinion of the $36 billion remains high, according to Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.
Telstra has announced the launch of a new mobile Wi-Fi modem that is capable of theoretical maximum download speeds of 21 Megabits per second (Mbps).
Internode boss Simon Hackett has delivered a heavy critique of the costing model proposed for the National Broadband Network (NBN), stating that small ISPs will be all but wiped out under the current NBN arrangements.
Shadow communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has warned the National Broadband Network (NBN) legislation will lead to complexity for future governments and prevent competition.
NBN Co intends to clarify the speeds attainable via satellite under the National Broadband Network (NBN) once the interim solution goes live in July this year.
Vividwireless chief executive, Martin Mercer, has rubbished the ability of Telstra's announced Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, claiming the telco's plans to operate the network in the 1800mHz spectrum band will result in network speeds matching only that of vividwireless' WiMax network.
Can you bring your iPad to work? Or will you get in big trouble? With a nod to David Letterman's Top Ten list Signs You've Purchased a Bad iPhone, here are our signs that grease the wheels for iPads to roll into the enterprise.
Kansas City is the lucky winner of a 1Gbit-per-second broadband network that Google plans to build.
LG-Ericsson has recently introduced a variety of Ethernet switches specifically designed for small to medium businesses (SMBs).
The chief executive of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) said today that any transfer of IPv4 addresses from one organization to another will need to be compliant with established ARIN policy.
Something like this has happened to all of us lately: You shop for a watch for a friend's birthday and for a week afterwards every site you visit features ads for watches. It seems like everyone from Google on down is tracking where we go and what we do on the web and using that information to send us targeted advertisements.
Telcos must welcome the development of the National Broadband Network (NBN) as a chance to innovate, or face unpopularity, a member of TM Forum said.
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Money Laundering on Best Online Gambling Websites
Casinos and sports books are often the center of attention for law enforcement personnel who making the effort to nab on the immeasurable campaigns mafia and criminals utilize to launder money. The dawn of internet wagering earlier this decade was thought to have created a threat free environment for the government because of power to oversee transactions making use of technology.
Some of the best online wagering sites were of the belief that it is lot better to mitigate money laundering activities due to its online nature, enabling government bodies and wagering websites to keep track of every transaction made.
But much in contrast to this belief, criminals and wagering online marketers eventually have found their way around the strong rules of online wagering transaction by disguising billions of dollars in form of wagering payments and online store purchases for items such as jewelry, gold baseballs and flowers.
Last month, the You. S Government shut down operations of three of the best online wagering sites accusing them of illegal wagering, bank fraud and money laundering คาสิโนออนไลน์. The government gripped the website names of best online wagering sites such as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker, thus putting a stop to any form of wagering transaction using these sites. In addition to this, 76 company owned bank accounts have been gripped by the FBI for further investigation.
Technically, online wagering was deemed illegal in the united states in 2006, when wire geneva chamonix transfers payment system instruments and credit cards were banned from being used on online wagering websites. This did not stop even the best online wagering sites to set up ocean going operations and continue running as usual. Such operations violate the united states law, 20 USC Section 1084, 1952 and 1955. Most of these websites eventually gained popularity enough to start advertising on sport channels and sponsor players in World Series of Poker.
Also in the past, the united states Attorney's office in Saint. Louis agreed to a civil settlement with PayPal, where PayPal agreed to pay 10 million dollars to the government to settle the allegations that the company aided in illegal ocean going and online wagering activities.
It was in June 2003, that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering acknowledged the increasing issues asked by internet wagering and revised its anti-money laundering recommendations by including recommendations that affect casinos with a special traction on online casinos.


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holiday sales - All posts tagged holiday sales
Sep 29, 2014
3:20 PM ET
With retailers engaged in market share battle to vie for consumers’ discerning money, hiring and training the right employees who best represent a brand is growing in importance as a differentiator for retailers. For this holiday, 18% of retailers said finding holiday seasonal staff who align with their brand culture is a gorwing focus, compared to 4% of them in 2013, consulting firm Hay Group’s survey of retailers with total sales of $183 billion showed.
Sep 24, 2014
10:26 AM ET
Thanksgiving could turn into a full shopping day this year, as retailers debate moving up their openings and doorbuster events.
While retailers aren’t expected to announce any special Thanksgiving hours until the second half of October or into November, “it’s inevitable to see them open all day or even earlier than last year,” said Joel Bines, managing director and co-leader of consulting firm AlixPartners’ retail practice, in an interview.
Sep 10, 2014
3:20 PM ET
Christmas is still more than three months away, but the game is already on in the toy aisle with both Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us publishing some of their holiday toy lists Wednesday.
Winning the game for Toys “R” Us is not just about picking the hit product, it’s also about proving there’s viable room for it to exist and win as a specialty toy retailer, as other specialty chains from Best Buy /quotes/zigman/219712/delayed /quotes/zigman/219712/lastsale BBY to Barnes & Noble /quotes/zigman/132169/delayed /quotes/zigman/132169/lastsale BKS also guard their respective foothold against rivals from Wal-Mart /quotes/zigman/245476/delayed /quotes/zigman/245476/lastsale WMT to Amazon /quotes/zigman/63011/delayed /quotes/zigman/63011/lastsale AMZN .
Jul 23, 2014
3:40 PM ET
U.S. consumers, in the words of Container Store CEO /quotes/zigman/22608280/delayed /quotes/nls/tcs TCS Kip Tindell, spent the first half in a “retail funk.” Can they snap out of it?
Feb 4, 2014
11:46 AM ETCan this company get anything right? Briefly Tuesday, the answer seemed to be a resounding “yes.”
Hard on the heels of its bizzarre #TweetingWithMittens” Super Bowl experiment, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. /quotes/zigman/237947/delayed /quotes/nls/jcp JCP tossed investors something they might actually applaud: its first positive quarterly sales since 2011.
The retailer issued a preliminary report before the opening bell Tuesday stating its fiscal fourth-quarter comparable-store sales rose 3.1% during the all-important nine-week holidays shopping season. For its fiscal fourth quarter, the company said same-stores sales (sales at stores open at least a year) rose 2%.
Jan 23, 2014
3:43 PM ET
The common thread between Target Corp. and Neiman Marcus’s data breaches wasn’t just a malware attack on the point-of-sale systems in their stores. Both retailers also said the attacks did not affect their online customers. That raises the question: Is it safer to shop online?
The answer, industry watchers say, is “no”.
Jan 23, 2014
10:43 AM ET
American Eagle Outfitters Inc.’s release late Wednesday to announce the departure of its CEO Robert Hanson has been described as anything from a “stunner” to “wow, that was a surprise.”
Jan 22, 2014
10:37 AM ET
Coach Inc.’s new Chief Executive Victor Luis, in his first conference call at the helm, described Coach as in the “third chapter.” It seems like there’s plenty of skepticism on where the page is turning.
Jan 21, 2014
11:15 AM ET
Gap Inc. may have had a tough six-month streak, but things may be looking brighter for the largest U.S. specialty clothing chain.
Jan 16, 2014
2:42 PM ET
Best Buy Co. Inc.bonds slid Thursday after the retailer surprised markets with a drop in holiday sales and warning on profit margins, which sent the stock down 28%.
Prices on the electronics chain’s 10-year bonds maturing in 2020 fell Thursday, sending the yield to 5.66%, or 281 basis points above comparable Treasurys, according to trading platform MarketAxess. The bonds had traded at a yield of 5.34% on Wednesday, or 246 basis points above comparable Treasurys.
- « Previously in holiday sales
- Next in holiday sales »
Behind the Storefront is a blog about all things retail. It’s aimed at investors, shoppers and anyone else with a passion for learning about what drives consumer behavior. Hosted by Andria Cheng, Behind the Storefront will cover the business, brands and shopping behavior that’s behind some of the biggest companies, and largest employers, in the world. You can reach Andria at Acheng@marketwatch.com.
Follow Andria on Twitter: Follow @andriacheng


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Rob Orr, UK managing director at BlackBerry, said the company was engaging with lifestyle publications to ensure "more people understand who we are, what we are about and what we are building".
In order to reach a different audience, BlackBerry launched the Q10 phone exclusively with upmarket retailer Selfridges before rolling it out to other retailers across the coming week.
The phone is being aimed at the premium market with the handset currently costing £580, while Vodafone is offering it on pre-order for £37 a month with unlimited calls and texts and 1GB of data.
Orr said: "There is obviously going to be a part of the market that can’t afford to spend £580 on a phone or £37 a month [but] consumer behaviour is changing and people are spending more of their disposable income on consumer electronic gadgets.
"I look at the numbers on a daily basis and the number of phones sold in the £500 plus segment is growing very fast."
BlackBerry believes the premium end of the smartphone market is changing with the shift being exemplified by the changing nature of contracts being offered by operators.
Orr describes O2 Refresh, which allows consumers to swap mobile phones mid-contract, as a "cracking innovation" that gives greater "transparency to the handset price".
He added that people "want to have the latest phone as soon as they come out rather than having to wait until month 21 [of their contract]".
BlackBerry is launching its Q10 phone at the same time as the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4, which rolled out in the UK this weekend.
As a result, Orr was reluctant to detail marketing plans for the Q10 to avoid giving away any secrets due to the "insane level" of competition.
However, he did confirm the overall marketing push will fit into the brand’s over-arching "keep moving" marketing strategy, which it launched in January for the BlackBerry 10 operating system.
Orr argued that he "absolutely believes" there is a unique place in the market for the Q10 in the face of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch because of its physical qwerty keyboard.
He concluded: "There is a big space out there for a physical keyboard and the market is not going to go away – it is here to stay."


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Debenhams has confirmed the closing date for two of its stores in Yorkshire, with 27 branches in total shutting up shop across England next month.
After lockdown, the retailer reopened 97 stores for a final closing down sale with up to 80 per cent off fashion and home products, the Mirror reports.
The 242-year-old company collapsed last year and a number of stores will now close permanently from May 2.
Once stock clearance has been completed, the remaining branches are expected to close by May 15.
The retailer has now confirmed the closing dates for 27 stores in England and Wales. Two of these store are in Yorkshire.
To get the latest email updates from Yorkshire Live, click here .
Debenhams will operate online-only when stores permanently close their doors after being bought by Boohoo in January this year in a deal worth £55million.
The purchase only included the Debenhams name and website, but not its physical stores.
The deal also put 12,000 jobs at the company at risk, although it is not clear at this stage how many of these roles have been saved by Boohoo.
Debenhams had 118 stores when the Boohoo deal was confirmed, although it had already confirmed the closure of six branches including its flagship Oxford Street store.
JD Sports was previously tipped to save the retail giant, but it pulled out of rescue talks after news of Arcadia's collapse broke.
For its final closing down sale, Debenhams said its stores have been made Covid-secure, with hygiene and social distancing measures in place.
Its shops had been shut for the last three months, alongside all non-essential retail, due to the third national lockdown, although they could still offer online shopping.
A spokesperson for Debenhams said: “With such great bargains on offer, it’s no wonder our stock is selling out incredibly fast.
“Time is running out for shoppers to take advantage of the incredible discounts being offered at these 27 stores.”
Debenhams has not confirmed exact closing dates for the rest of its stores, but they are expected to be shut permanently by May 15. The Sheffield store has already closed its doors for good.
The stores are reopening as part of Debenhams’ final stock liquidation process and will continue to trade until stock is fully cleared.
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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Nov. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Making safe, conscious decisions for your family shouldn't end with cleaning products. Committed to protecting the environment and your well-being, Restore Naturals offers environmentally-friendly cleaning products for the entire household.
Made in the USA from plant-based ingredients, Restore Naturals offer all-natural products that are safer, greener, and just as powerful. Unlike other brands that use harmful chemicals, theirs are renewable and biodegradable. Restore Naturals' packaging is recyclable, which means less plastic in landfills, helping protect the planet one bottle at a time.
"Restore Naturals helps you keep your home clean naturally," says Nicole Fadden, Director of Sales for Restore Naturals. "We care about making a difference for the environment, which is why we designed our cleaning products to not only perform well, but also keep the planet safe. We're pleased to be working with AsSeenOnTV.pro and help others do the same."
"Restore Naturals products are extremely effective," says Lisa Vrancken, Executive Vice President of AsSeenOnTV.pro. "Since they're eco-friendly, they'll have a positive impact on our environment, helping out our children and grandchildren in the long run."
As part of its DRTV campaign with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Restore Naturals has appeared in 60 second spots nationwide, featuring the original Shark himself, Kevin Harrington. AsSeenOnTV.pro is comprised of an award-winning team of producers, writers, videographers, and editors as well as industry veterans dedicated to finding the latest, most innovative products and ideas, and putting them on the DRTV map.
Headquartered in South Florida, AsSeenOnTV.pro is a full-service production, branding, and marketing company that specializes in direct response television, short- and long-form commercials, and brand building. Based out of a 25,000+ sq ft, state-of-the-art studio, the company's creative team handles every aspect of production from script to screen to airing. For nearly two decades, AsSeenOnTV.pro's veteran staff of writers, producers, videographers, and editors has amassed more than 50 Telly Awards, thousands of prestigious clients, and over $20 million in television placements.
About Kevin Harrington
As the inventor of the infomercial, founder of As Seen on TV, and one of the original Sharks on Shark Tank, Kevin Harrington has worked with some of the world's biggest celebrities and launched some of the best-selling DRTV campaigns in history. Since producing his first 30-minute infomercial in 1984, Harrington has been involved in over 500 product launches that have resulted in over $5 billion in sales. Now, in his latest venture with AsSeenOnTV.pro, Harrington is on the hunt for the best new products and ideas, bringing them to homes everywhere through personalized DRTV campaigns featuring the Shark.
For more information on Restore Naturals, please visit http://www.restorenaturals.com.
Lisa Vrancken, Fortune Media Group Inc, +1 954-461-2020 Ext: 4395, [email protected]
Lisa Vrancken, Fortune Media Group Inc., 954-461-2020 4395, [email protected]


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The new numbers helped tamp down concerns that the sequester might already be having an impact on the job market after initial claims soared to 388,000 two weeks ago. That spike now appears to have been a temporary happenstance caused by difficulties in seasonal adjustments associated with Easter and spring break.
In all unemployment benefit programs, state and federal emergency extensions, the total number of people making claims for the week ending March 30 fell to 5,152,655. For the comparable week of 2012, there were 6,765,119 persons claiming benefits in all programs. The drop comes from a combination of some people finding jobs and others leaving the labor force or exhausting their benefits.
As has been the case for some time, data continue to be mixed, offering a murky picture of where the economy, in general, and job growth, in particular, are headed. Residential construction, a major driver of recovery in previous recessions, has finally showed some signs of robustness. But while manufacturing is still expanding, it is moving forward at a slower pace. Both the Philly Federal Reserve's index of business conditions and the April Empire State Manufacturing Index slipped, although they remained in positive territory.
Retail sales in the United States fell in March by 0.4 percent, according to the Commerce Department, the worst showing since June 2012.
Then, too, there is confusion regarding consumer sentiment. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index consumer sentiment fell to a nine-month low last week. But the Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index rose to a five-year high.


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Fuze Tea, a new iced tea brand, has launched ‘Calm the Commute’ – a series of unexpected moments for Londoners on their commute home over the next few weeks.
Owned by The Coca-Cola Company, the new brand helps busy people enjoy a ‘me-time’ moment thanks to its ingredients which include chamomile and hibiscus. As such, Fuze Tea is calling on the British public to take some time out of their day to enjoy some much-needed relaxation on their journey home.
To launch the campaign actor Joanna Lumley hopped on board Great Western Railway’s busy commuter line from Paddington to Swindon and encouraged passengers to switch off by treating them to an impromptu book reading.
The campaign is supported by an OOH advertising campaign as well as VOD, mobile advertising and digital and social content across Facebook and Instagram. These elements will focus on the unique fusion of ingredients and how consumers can enhance their ‘me-time’ with Fuze Tea.
The OOH will be concentrated around commuter hubs such as key rail stations and bus stops via 6 sheets, transvision screens, ticket gateways and bus T-sides, and there will be mobile geo-targeting to target commuters on their journey home. Furthermore, geo-targeting digital OOH at commuter hubs will ensure reaching the target audience at the right time.
To amplify the activity, experiential sampling will also be taking place across the country to encourage the public to take a little more ‘me-time’. The experiential activation will see 0.4million samples shared at congested commuting hotspots such as Waterloo and Brighton stations. To further support office workers, Fuze Tea is dropping samples to businesses through Gems at Work, including money off coupons for their next Fuze Tea.
Christina Lecky, Senior Brand Manager at Coca-Cola GB: “Fuze Tea brings something new and different and, most importantly delicious, to busy Brits. Our research found that 44% of Brits feel they rarely get any me-time but if they do, it’s most likely to be at 17:05. We are encouraging people to switch off as they commute home and there’s nobody better than national treasure, Joanna Lumley, to surprise and help relax those commuting home with a book reading of her favourite novel. This however, is just the start, so keep an eye out while you commute home as we have more exciting things to come.”
A national poll from Fuze Tea has revealed that four in ten (44%) Brits feel they rarely get any me-time with moments lasting for a maximum of 55 minutes, the least amount of time throughout Europe.
Some of the factors found to put pressure and decrease the amount of me-time Brits get included the pressures of modern life (46%), life admin and queuing. The research revealed Brits spend a whopping 34 minutes a day queuing; that’s approximately 16 hours a month.


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UMIDIGI has announced the Mercury Silver color variant of the UMIDIGI S2 Pro smartphone. The highlight of Mercury Silver color variant of UMIDIGI S2 Pro is the integration of 6GB RAM coupled with 128GB internal storage. Moreover, the display features a 5.99-inch display with 18:9 edge-to-edge display.
According to UMIDIGI, the S2 Pro is capable of delivering two full days of backup with the powerful 5100mAh battery. The handset is designed with durability and toughness in mind because of the addition of the full-metal unibody. UMIDIGI S2 Pro features a 13MP dual lens sensor coupled with the powerful Helio P25 processor running at a clock speed of 2.6Ghz. The company added that the phone offers 25% enhanced power efficiency than other competing handsets.
The premium nature of the phone with Mercury Silver color is made possible by making use of a metallic refining process named anodic oxidation treatment. Dubbed as anodizing, a hard layer of oxide film alongside a layer of protective film can be easily generated on the aluminum surface of the handset.
Even though Apple iPhone 7 has adopted the same approach, UMIDIGI has gone one step further and improved the finishing process in the S2 Pro handset. The company has effectively used Electrophoresis Method, which is not only used to improve the quality of the silver but also make it glossy.
The company has opened the subscription system and you have to provide the email address. The team will automatically notify upon the availability of the stock.
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Business Travel Tech Talk London, 16 October,
Business Travel Awards Europe, 30 October, JW
3rd Annual Business Travel Intelligence Summit
In a bid to better tap into the UK MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) business, American Express has teamed up with events and marketing firm WRG.
The agreement sees the two companies offering manage all aspects of event organisation and marketing, from venue sourcing and contract negotiations to content development.
According to Peter Manning, UK director of Amex Meetings and Events, there is plenty of opportunity for corporates to gain a greater control over their event spend.
“Corporate spending globally on meetings and events is estimated to be $140 billion annually,” he said.
“We know that corporations are facing challenges with increased scrutiny over their meetings budgets and need to understand and meet new regulations while not compromising on the ultimate design and creativity of their meetings and events.”
Manning argues the “end-to-end integrated solution” that WRG and Amex can provide will help companies to "consolidate" their spend.
The two companies have often worked together in the past on events for large corporates, making WRG a logical choice for Amex to go into business with.
The launch of a joint offering is similar to that announced at the Association of Corporate Travel Executives’ Global Education Conference in Paris.
Amex has teamed up with French company Le Public Systéme, to offer an integrated events service to French businesses.
Like WRG, Le Public Systéme offers both events management and marketing expertise.


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SF State study suggests consumer motivation affects happiness gained from experiential purchases.
Spending money on activities and events, such as concert tickets or exotic vacations, won’t make you happier if you’re doing it to impress others, according to findings published in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
Research has shown that consumers gain greater happiness from buying life experiences rather than material possessions, but only if they choose experiences for the right reasons says the new study.
“Why you buy is just as important as what you buy,” said Ryan Howell, assistant professor of psychology at San Francisco State University. “When people buy life experiences to impress others, it wipes out the well-being they receive from the purchase. That extrinsic motivation appears to undermine how the experiential purchase meets their key psychological needs.”
The study builds on Howell’s previous findings, which suggest that people who buy life experiences are happier because experiential purchasing helps fulfill psychological needs that are vital for human growth and well-being. These include the need to feel competent, autonomous — or self-directed — and connected to others.


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Ingenious, a media investment and advisory business, has launched two new live entertainment Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs), Ingenious Live VCT 1 and 2, which are jointly targeted to raise up to £50 million to be invested in companies producing and promoting new and established live events.
Patrick McKenna, chairman of Ingenious, says: ‘The demand for live entertainment, in all forms, has increased significantly in recent years as consumers look for new and unique entertainment experiences.
‘This consumer led growth in live revenues has been fuelled by brands wishing to sponsor and advertise around major events of both an entertainment and sporting nature.’
Ingenious states the investee companies backed by the VCTs can expect to work with experienced promoters and will secure ‘significant downside protection through performance warranties or similar contractual arrangements which will generate revenues equivalent to at least 70 per cent of each VCT’s investment’.
According to Ingenious, the live events market is thriving: in 2004 to 2005, annual UK household spending on theatre, concerts and shows increased to an estimated £1.46 billion, up 50 per cent on the previous year .
The VCTs will be managed by Ingenious Ventures, the private equity arm of the company.


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The Ford E-Transit has proved to be more popular than the company thought, and the automaker is currently scrambling to increase production of the full-size electric van. As Ford Authority previously reported, it was the best-selling electric van in the United States for 2022. That popularity extends overseas as well, it was the best-selling EV van in Europe from January through May 2023, according to a report from Automotive News.
The Ford E-Transit moved 4,849 units in the first five months of the year, snapping up 9.7 percent of all electric van sales in Europe out of a total 49,512 units sold in the segment. The next-best seller in the same time period was the VW ID Buzz, which sold 4,331 units, and the Opel/Vauhxall Vivaro-e brought up third with 4,059 sales.
Overall, EV van sales soared 74 percent from January through May. This can be attributed to an increase in demand for zero-emissions vehicles for home delivery services, such as DHL, La Poste and Royal Mail, as well as other service industries, like British Gas.
France proved to be the largest market for EV van sales, with 10,568 total units sold in the country. It was followed by the UK, where 8,355 units found their new homes, and Germany was third, with 6,691 sales.
However, despite the increase in EV van sales, the segment still only accounted for seven percent of total vehicle registrations in Europe. Comparatively, electric cars accounted for 14 percent registration share.
Ford’s position as the leading seller of fully electric vans in Europe will likely continue to increase, considering that the E-Transit Custom is on the way. This model will fill out FoMoCo’s midsize electric van portfolio, catering to customers in search of a powerful, capable van with a manageable wheelbase. In fact, this model is capable of towing up to 2,425 pounds, with an available 100 kW or 160 kW (133 or 214 horsepower) driveline, though each is rated at 415 Nm (306 pound-feet) of torque.


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The resident experts from Cointelegraph discuss what to anticipate from the cryptocurrency market in 2019 in this week's episode of The Market Report.
The resident experts at Cointelegraph discuss what investors might anticipate from the cryptocurrency industry in 2023 this week on The Market Report. Will the current bear market continue, or will a bull market start to emerge? What initiatives may cause a stir in 2023 is another topic up for debate?
This week's episode kicks off with the most recent market news:
Beware of these 4 "Growing Narratives" in cryptocurrency: a trading business
Steven Goulden, a senior research analyst at the cryptocurrency trading business Cumberland, has identified numerous "green shoots" that might emerge in the cryptocurrency market in 2023, despite an eventful year full of crypto crashes and price declines. Be sure to pay attention as our experts discuss the industries that might see growth in 2023.
Christmas market thoughts expressed by the cryptocurrency community: "No Santa rally."
The markets turned out to be stable as many people spent the holidays, disappointing traders who were hoping for a rebound around Christmas. A member of the community raised the possibility that the controversy surrounding centralized exchanges was to blame for the lack of progress. Were you, like many others, hoping for a Santa rally?
As people forget, withdrawals from bitcoin exchanges reach a 7-month low.
This Christmas, according to research, Bitcoin exchange customers have completely forgotten about the FTX debacle. Glassnode, a company that does on-chain monitoring, reports that exchange outflows have now reached their lowest levels in more than six months. BTC withdrawals from exchange wallets have completely reversed the climb, which started roughly six weeks ago, after seeing an extraordinary surge in the wake of the FTX crisis. Are individuals once again holding their money on exchanges because they feel too comfortable doing so? Really, should everyone switch to offline storage?
Disclaimer: Neither FAMEEX's official viewpoint nor any investment advice are represented by the content in this section.


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Recently, Li Biao, the owner of Kangnian Seafood Restaurant, the last sizeable Chinese restaurant in Chinatown in San Francisco, announced that the restaurant was closed. “Kangnian Seafood Restaurant” is one of the few restaurants in Chinatown that can hold large-scale banquets. It is also a fixed venue for overseas Chinese groups and community event banquets.
Lin Biao said that although he was reluctant to give up, the monthly rent, insurance, and other rigid expenses made Kangnian, hit by the epidemic, overwhelmed and had to close the school. At present, catering practitioners in many countries are faced with problems such as difficulty in dine-in, shortened business hours, shrinking passenger flow, declining revenue, and racial discrimination. Under the superposition of many issues, some restaurants are closed, and the remaining people can help themselves?
Here’s the real story about them:
01 Catering industry, suffering from rent difficulties
The traditional catering industry has always said: “three highs and one low”: high rent, high labor costs, high food prices, and low-profit margins. The three expenses of rent, workforce, and ingredients account for 70-75% of the total cost. After deducting taxes, depreciation of fixed assets, and other losses, the profit margin is usually only 5-10%. Under the epidemic, affected by inflation, rents in many countries increased instead of falling, which became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
According to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. rents rose 0.5% last month, the most significant increase since May 2001. Under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the trend of closure of Hong Kong’s catering industry is accelerating.
In early February, Daoxiang Group, a leading local catering company and a listed company in Hong Kong, announced that five branches would be closed. Some of them would no longer be serving dinner time. While about 20 restaurants under Felicity Group were temporarily closed, 2,000 front-line employees were given no pay for three days. Fake. In March, “Xu Liushan,” known as “the dessert memory of a generation of Hong Kong people,” was brought to the court by the landlord due to arrears in rent, demanding more than HK$190,000 in rent and requiring the repossession of the shop. At the same time, some creditors also filed a lawsuit with the Hong Kong High Court. Apply for the liquidation of “Xu Liu Shan.”
“Xu Liushan” publicly pointed out in January this year that the turmoil of the amendment bill significantly impacted the company’s business, and the number of tourists to Hong Kong decreased sharply. Resulting in a decrease of 60-70% of its store business in traditional tourist areas, and it fell into operational difficulties. To relieve people’s hardship and ensure employment. The Hong Kong SAR government announced the establishment of an “anti-epidemic and anti-epidemic” fund of more than 30 billion Hong Kong dollars in February after the Hong Kong SAR government announced measures of 19.1 billion Hong Kong dollars last year.
Among them, support for the catering industry is included. Large restaurants, large restaurants, and factory canteens can receive HK$200,000 in support, while snack shops, small restaurants, and food manufacturers can also receive a subsidy of HK$80,000. However, industry insiders pointed out that the donation is only “a drop in the bucket,” and the monthly rent is the most significant financial pressure. It is hoped that the government can promote the MTR, the Housing Authority, the Housing Society, and other shops to take the lead in reducing rent and exempting rent so that private owners can follow suit.
The domestic catering industry has ushered in good news recently. According to the executive meeting of the State Council, the government will increase support for industries with particular difficulties such as catering, retail, tourism, transportation, and passenger transportation, in terms of phased tax reductions and exemptions, and delayed payment of some social security premiums. In particular, for small and microservice enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households in the service industry that lease state-owned houses. The rent is reduced for six months in high-risk areas in the epidemic and three months in other locations. All localities can assist small and micro enterprises in the service industry and individual industrial and commercial households that rent non-state-owned houses. For the owners of dwellings whose rent is reduced or exempted, this year’s property tax and urban land use tax are reduced or exempted according to regulations.
In addition to the country’s practical actions to help the industry recover after the outbreak of pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus infection in China in early 2020. many commercial real estate operators immediately followed up and launched preferential activities such as donations and rent-free to help small and medium-sized businesses fight the epidemic. According to incomplete statistics, a total of 79 commercial real estate operators have implemented preferential policies for a rent reduction and exemption, involving nearly 600 department stores and shopping centers. In terms of the rent reduction, it can be as short as one week or as long as two months. Over 70% of operators have adopted half of the rent, and some have waived rent altogether. Among them, Wanda and China Resources have both issued rent waiver notices, and it is estimated that the total profit of this act of charity is close to 10 billion.
02 Turning to takeaway, traditional catering starts a self-help battle
In the face of enormous survival pressure, overseas catering companies are actively adapting to find a way out. Those restaurants that originally only operated dine-in have developed an online business, and now they are trying to order food online and take out food delivery. At the same time, a series of new service models such as ordering through code scanning, online payment, robot food delivery, and setting up isolated seats are used. Make the indoor dining environment safer and more secure.
Wei Zhao, chairman of the China-Britain Federation of Industry and Commerce in London, introduced the United Kingdom’s recently passed third “city closure” order. Chinese food practitioners generally report that although there are many takeout orders. due to the high commissions of overseas takeout platforms and insufficient capacity, “some restaurants can only stop taking orders during dinner hours, and many bosses even have to go out to deliver takeout in person.”
Online takeout has become a common choice for Chinese and foreign catering industries under the epidemic.
According to the “2021 Annual Report on China’s Catering Industry” jointly released by the China Hotel Association and Xinhuanet, under the epidemic, due to the stagnation or reduction of offline business, some catering companies that did not sell online before started takeaways. Some catering companies tried Retailing semi-finished products, finished products, and ingredients. Some catering companies have opened online ordering and telephone reservation platforms, developed dishes suitable for Internet sales, and launched online booking, online order, store pickup, and home delivery services.
Pure dine-in or takeout, these two types are rare among catering companies, and more companies adopt the “dual home” model. From the perspective of the input-output ratio, this is already a challenge for the catering industry to confront uncertainty—the most pragmatic path to sex. The development of the takeaway business does not increase rigid costs such as additional rent and workforce but only adds two flexible expenses such as packaging materials and takeaway commissions.
Stores that focus on the takeaway from the beginning can reduce the area of the store under the same sales volume and can significantly reduce the rent, and 10-15% of the rent cost can be converted into profit space, that is, the Profit margins increased to 20-25%.
Of course, the development of takeaway business also has an additional cost for restaurant owners, that is, the technical service fee paid to third-party platforms, commonly known as “takeaway commissions.” For the overseas catering industry, the new difficulties in the takeaway business model are the first and foremost commissions that are not cheap on foreign takeaway platforms. Last year, a restaurant owner in Illinois, the United States, posted a screenshot of Grubhub charges online, which went viral on social media overseas, causing the public to pay close attention to the commission policy of the takeaway platform.
The screenshot shows that Grubhub took nearly 70% of the 46 takeaway orders totaling more than $1,000 in the month, including commissions, delivery commissions (delivery fees), platform processing fees, and marketing fees. That is to say, in the third-party delivery scenario, the cost of delivery fee + packaging fee accounts for half of the total cost of a single meal. At this time, the average profit of the merchant is more than half of the average yield of dine-in.
Although some catering companies and public opinion believe that domestic and foreign sales also have the problem of high commissions, in comparison, the commissions of domestic and foreign sales platforms are far lower than international ones and far quieter than other domestic Internet formats. Judging from various data of domestic and foreign sales platforms, the actual rate of domestic and foreign sales commissions is only single digits, which is not only the lowest in the world but also the lowest in the Internet industry.
Compared with other Internet models, taking live streaming as an example, if a merchant wants to invite an anchor to sell goods for their products, they have to pay a 20-30% commission and pay a pet fee according to different levels of star anchors. The combined cost of the two will be higher. Taking travel as an example, data released by Didi shows that the actual commission ratio of the online car-hailing business in 2020 is 15%-25%. In the more mature e-commerce industry, the general technical service fee is around 5%, but this is only one of several charges. In addition, there are other significant expenses such as annual technical fees, deposits, and online marketing (traffic costs).
Such a cost structure of food delivery has led to the realization rate of transaction volume, gross profit margin, and profit margin of domestic and foreign food delivery platforms are significantly lower than those of overseas counterparts. It is also a takeaway. Overseas catering businesses are complaining, and the high cost is passed on to the user’s end. This is why overseas Chinese send out the emotion that “you only know when you go abroad, domestic and foreign sales are too delicious.” In addition, the operation of food delivery in overseas areas is not as popular as in China. The current situation facing overseas practitioners was 20 years ago when clothing stores entered the online store model from physical stores. They also need to spend time and energy researching and adapting to the food delivery period—interaction and service model.
According to media reports, the Sino-British Federation of Industry and Commerce is in London, England. Has carried out many trains on the production and packaging improvement of takeaway dishes to help them improve their takeaway business to solve the problem of Chinese restaurant operators’ lack of experience in takeaway operations. The fast-changing catering industry has never lacked latecomers. In the new ecology built under the epidemic, the coexistence of shuffling and opportunities has also become a new test that the Chinese and foreign catering industries must face.


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STAMFORD, Conn.— Purdue Pharma announced on Sunday that it has filed for bankruptcy protection under the new agreement the company reached in principle on a framework for settling the U.S. opioid litigation facing the company with 24 state attorneys general, analogous officials from 5 U.S. territories, the Plaintiffs’ executive committee in the multidistrict litigation (MDL),
STAMFORD, Conn. — Craig Landau has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of Purdue Pharma L.P. With the move, Landau — who retains his duties as president and CEO of Purdue’s Canadian operations — takes the chief executive reins from Mark Timney, who the company said is leaving to pursue other career opportunities.
WASHINGTON — Purdue Pharma L.P. has become a member of health policy research group The National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC). NPC said Dr. Tracy Mayne, head of medical affairs strategic research at Purdue Pharma, will serve as the pharmaceutical company’s representative on the NPC board of directors. “NPC’s research and activities are helping to drive the discussion
BALTIMORE — Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc., the U.S. arm of India-based Lupin Ltd., has launched the first product from its Gavis pipeline, zolpidem sublingual tablets 1.75 mg and 3.5 mg, an insomnia drug. Lupin said its product is a generic version of Intermezzo sublingual tablets (1.75 mg and 3.5 mg) from Purdue Pharma. The Lupin generic received


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A new document from an online gateway covering European Union law has revealed that Microsoft will acquire Bethesda under a new subsidiary which is being created called ‘Vault’ and that Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, will be merged into Vault, rather than directly through Microsoft.
The document, which can be fully viewed online is a notification prior to the EU allowing the ZeniMax and Microsoft merger and states that Microsoft will have “sole control” of the whole of ZeniMax. The concentration of these two companies will take place through “a merger pursuant to which a newly created Microsoft subsidiary (“Vault”) will be merged with and into ZeniMax.”
In short, this means that Bethesda and ZeniMax will legally be classified under a new company known as Vault, rather than being directly connected to Microsoft. This is similar to how Take-Two Interactive operates the publishing efforts of Private Divison, which are a subsidiary of the publisher.
Vault will still be fully controlled by Microsoft, as it will be a “wholly-owned subsidiary” and puts the future of Bethesda releases on PS5 still largely up in the air. Microsoft could very easily just publish these Bethesda games on Xbox and PC platforms, integrating ZeniMax into the Xbox Games Studios lineup. But they could also just as easily release them on other platforms, such as PS5, Nintendo Switch, and Google Stadia, due to this company acting as a middleman between Microsoft and Bethesda, not fully integrating with Microsoft and acting as a wall of separation between the two.
For example, we might see these games come to PS5 with a Vault or even an Xbox Games Studios logo, similar to how the PlayStation Studios logo appears on the Xbox Series S/X and Xbox One retail box for MLB The Show 21.
As Microsoft is actually buying a number of companies with their purchase of Zenimax, Vault is a way of keeping them under one umbrella. We will see this Summer, once the acquisition has been finalised, whether that results in Microsoft releasing Bethesda’s games elsewhere or keeping them to themselves.
Source – [EUR-Lex]


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Why 2016 is important: Firm aims to integrate more than 100 restaurants it acquired in 2015.
Restaurant chain First Watch is aggressively trying to grow nationwide, with a plan to open between 20 and 25 new restaurants per year.
That number was inflated in 2015, when First Watch, with a corporate headquarters in east Manatee County, acquired 114 The Egg and I restaurants. First Watch had 153 total locations at the time of the acquisition of Centennial, Colo.-based The Egg and I. It now has about 280, says Chris Tomasso, who was recently named president of the firm. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.
First Watch's business plan revolves around being a daytime cafe — restaurants that serve breakfast, brunch and lunch and close at 2:30 p.m. The Egg and I restaurants use a similar scheduling strategy.
“Prior to the acquisition, we were competing in the same space,” Tomasso says. “We each knew a lot about each other.”
The acquisition also gave First Watch an immediate presence in two states it had not previously penetrated: Colorado and Texas. It has since opened a new location in Denver, Tomasso says.
First Watch now has to integrate the two chains into one smoothly run operation. First Watch officials didn't make any significant changes the first 90 days after the acquisition because they wanted to understand The Egg and I's operations, people and overall approach to business before switching things up, Tomasso says.
“One of the great outcomes for us has been realizing how similar the cultures really were,” Tomasso says. “We have a 'you first' philosophy; they have 'serving our friends daily.'”
During the integration process, First Watch's goal was to avoid any alterations to the customer experience, Tomasso says. Most of the challenges were behind the scenes, he says, such as how the accounting system is managed or how to train and prepare new employees.
To avoid any surprises for customers, First Watch initially delayed menu changes following the acquisition. But the chain recently implemented its fresh juice program into The Egg and I locations “with great success,” Tomasso says.
The daytime cafe is also starting to implement design changes. Tomasso says the current wood-type floor in First Watch restaurants will be installed in The Egg and I locations that need carpet replacements.
The biggest advantage for First Watch in acquiring The Egg & I will come from simply being bigger. The deal, for one, bolsters First Watch's impact as a national player, Tomasso says, because “it's easier to open new locations near areas you've already entered.”
There's also newfound industry influence.
“The scope and scale of 280 restaurants versus 150 has been tremendous,” Tomasso says. “With an acquisition like this, you get to integrate a whole new team of people into the organization. It gives us a greater scale with purchasing ability and our leverage.”
Follow Steven Benna on Twitter @steve_benna


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Click-stream data from customers of Dell and two other major brands show that while social media affected their purchase decisions, the companies’ Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts factored little. Only 1 percent of consumers visited those social media presences as they zeroed in on buying a product, according to the brands’ social media marketing agency M80.
“Consumers are not going to Facebook.com/superglue or whatever,” said Jeff Semones, president of the Los Angeles-based company, while speaking at the Social Upfront conference in New York yesterday. “They are getting that information from their friends and other consumers in the marketplace…That’s why brands need to be actively engaging with their audiences, so brand messages show up in the consumers’ feeds.”
Semones didn’t divulge brand names during his presentation, but later told ClickZ News that Dell was one of the clients involved in the research. He said a major CPG brand and telecom made up the other two companies participating in the study, which concluded in February.
And while his comments focused on potential social media marketing benefits, they also highlighted the power of search. Semones said the click-stream study – spearheaded by fellow WPP subsidiary GroupM Search – showed that 51 percent of purchasers leaned on sites like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to perform product research. Forty-eight percent combined social media and search sites before deciding on what to buy.
During a joint appearance, Semones and Kontera SVP of Sales Chris Karl also discussed consumer survey data about the impact of social media on purchasing habits. Two intriguing data-points: 74 percent of respondents said they preferred to learn about brands on Facebook, while 53 percent stated that social media changed their opinion about a product/brand.
President Trump's digital savvy isn't limited to social media. As it turns out, the Trump Organization owns thousands of domain names, possibly even more than 10,000.
Social media has developed into an effective component of digital strategy, but measuring its performance is still a challenge. How will analytics affect social media in 2017?
I didn’t vote for him last November. There was no way this registered Democrat from the blue state of Massachusetts would check that box. But I have to give him props for his tweets.
On Thursday, Twitter reported its earnings for Q4 2016, and the results have raised questions about the company's long-term future.


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The distribution of poll cards of the Local Government election will also take place tomorrow. Post Master General M.K.B. Dissanayake said that officials will be deployed for the distribution considering tomorrow Sunday, as a special day.
The Post Master General R.D.P. Gamini said tomorrow has been declared a special day for the distribution of poll cards on the instructions of the Elections Commissioner. The distribution of poll cards will end on the 10th of this month. Those who had not received them by this day can obtain them from the Post Office of the area consolidating their identity.