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What keeps both Janet Yellen and Kim Kardashian up at night? If you guessed cryptocurrencies, you are up on your news. While Kim Kardashian was raking in influencer money for promoting Ethereum Max, a popular digital token traded on crypto exchanges, Janet Yellen and other regulators (among others, the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission) have been testifying over the summer before the U.S. House of Representatives, asking for investor protection on crypto exchanges. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), crypto scams are on the rise, with consumers reportedly losing nearly $82 million during the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021 alone. While lawmakers try to get up to speed about this burgeoning and somewhat murky industry, litigators are not waiting for the lawmakers to act.
A full discussion of the technology behind cryptocurrencies is beyond the scope of this Practice Point, but it is worth noting that due to the use of “blockchain” technology by most cryptocurrencies, and related blockchain “mining,” whatever fraud may arise in crypto-related transactions will not likely be at the level of cryptocurrency ownership. The transparent system of continual verification and logging by “miners” in the blockchain system (a digitized, decentralized public ledger of transactions) works to ensure protection against fraudulent transactions by way of its own continuity.
Although cryptocurrency ownership may be relatively secure from claims of fraud, the investment industry that has emerged from the “cryptosphere” has become a potential source of federal and state law fraud actions. There have been a number of recent enforcement actions by the SEC and state regulators relating to securities fraud and alleged unregistered sales of securities backed by cryptocurrencies. There have also been a number of private lawsuits brought by investors against investment companies formed to purchase cryptocurrencies alleging securities fraud, common law fraud and breach of contract. While there have been few reported cases involving cryptocurrencies, a recent Eleventh Circuit opinion gives a flavor of the kinds of the fact patterns one might encounter, as well as a warning that would-be plaintiffs in private securities fraud litigation need to be aware of statutory limitations periods. In Fedance v. Harris, 1 F. 4th 1278 (11th Cir. 2021), the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a trial court ruling dismissing claims by a purchaser of unregistered securities in an initial coin offering of cryptographic tokens promoted by celebrities to fund a movie-streaming platform. The tokens were created specifically by the defendants for purposes of fundraising for the platform, and investors were promised they could “redeem” the tokens after the offshore entity that issued them launched. Fedance, 1 F. 4th at 1282. After positive social media promotion and celebrity endorsement, the tokens began trading on a crypto exchange for several months at promising valuations. The defendants, however, missed deadlines to launch the streaming service, and the value of the tokens ultimately crashed in value to next to nothing. Id. The plaintiff—who had purchased $3,000 in tokens—filed a putative class action claim against the defendants under the Securities Act of 1933, alleging that the defendants had sold unregistered securities in violation of federal law. The trial court dismissed the plaintiff’s complaint, finding that it was filed beyond the one-year limitations period under the act. The Eleventh Circuit court affirmed the trial court’s ruling, reasoning that neither the “discovery rule” nor “equitable tolling” applied to plaintiff’s statutory claims. Fedance, 1 F.4th at 1286–87.
In addition to security-based fraud cases, common themes in recent private litigation relating to cryptocurrencies include allegations that the investment firm defrauded its investors either by failing to purchase cryptocurrencies with the invested funds, or that the firms committed errors in their investment strategies. With an influx of new crypto exchanges on the market, and the increased stakes of capturing market share (cryptocurrencies are gaining traction as accepted forms of payment with large corporations like PayPal, Coca-Cola, and Restaurant Brands International), Sherman Act and related state law fraud and unfair competition suits are likely on the horizon. And, despite the impressive security protocols associated with blockchain mining, one large computer hack at an exchange firm could lead to a whole host of lawsuits involving fraud, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty claims.
Copyright © 2021, American Bar Association. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association. The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the American Bar Association, the Litigation Section, this committee, or the employer(s) of the author(s).


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This year’s Asian Logistics and Maritime Conference, organized by the Hong Kong Trade and Development Council, will be held at the Hong Kong Convention Centre in Wan Chai on 23-24 November 2017. And it’s shaping up to be the biggest yet.
The focus this year is up to the minute, covering three of the most important topics on maritime and logistics including China’s Belt and Road initiative, e-commerce and Big Data.
As in the past the three leading shipping sectors of containers, dry bulk and tankers will be put under the microscope by leading industry participants and analysts.
Other important forums will look at the prospects for supply chain management and logistics, online shipping, and opportunities arising out of the Greater Bay Area project.
For the second year running ALMC will form the flagship event of the Hong Kong Maritime Week.
After the success of the first Hong Kong Maritime Week in 2016, many companies, organizations and individuals have committed to providing more than 50 industry events during the week of 19-26 November 2017.
The HKTDC is offering a 30% discount when delegates register before 13 October. Early booking is highly recommended. For full details of the programme simply click on the link below.

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Leading engineering trade association ECA is set to host a virtual reality experience at their stand during UK Construction Week where visitors can expect to see VR and augmented reality applications within the electrotechnical and engineering services sector
The Building Tech Live Theatre, jointly hosted by ECA and Voltimum, will cover sessions on smart homes, cyber security, fire safety and prevention, and ECA will showcase new examples of the sector’s use of augmented reality, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Voltimum will also be hosting the Smart Solutions Awards within the Building Tech Live arena on Wednesday 10 October.
Eddie Embleton, Managing Director of Voltimum, said: “We have supported UK Construction Week since its launch in 2015, and each year we have grown our seminar programme provision with our partners like Schneider Electric, ABB, Legrand, Dimplex, Vent Axia and Nexans.
“Last year we launched the Smart Solutions Awards from the Hub at the show with Steph McGovern which was very successful, so we are extremely excited about growing these with Steph again on Wednesday 10th October in Building Tech Live.”
In addition, industry experts from ECA will present talks across the three days on the following:
- Government, industry, economics and digital – a transformational trajectory, with Rob Driscoll, Deputy Director of Business Policy and Practice
- What you need to know about the 18th Edition, with Gary Parker, Senior Technical Support Engineer
- The smart home for the electrician, with Darren Smith, Digital Building Solutions Advisor
Paul Reeve, Director of Business at ECA, commented:“ECA is delighted to strengthen our partnership with UK Construction Week, and the establishment of Building Tech Live is a superb development.
“We are looking forward to offering ECA members events benefits such as VIP status, and a new VR experience for all attendees at the ECA stand.”


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|By Business Wire||
|July 23, 2014 02:16 PM EDT||
Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f9v6ft/wearable) has announced the addition of the "Wearable Technology Market Trends through 2018" report to their offering.
Wearable technology is clearly a growing industry, with forecasts predicting that worldwide spending on wearable technology will reach $19 billion by 2018. And by 2020, over 150 million wearable devices will ship worldwide.
With Samsung Gear Live just released, and the long-awaited iWatch eagerly anticipated, the Smartwatch category in the wearables market is poised to be commercialized by the heavy-hitters in mobile technology.
Several factors are converging to facilitate wearable technology integration including:
- Expanded wireless capacity due to pervasive wireless (WiFi, WiMAX, and LTE);
- Cellular market saturation and the need for wireless companies to establish new revenue streams;
- Continuously decreasing cost of data, and the significant backing from huge companies including Google, Apple, and others.
This report discusses the market opportunities in all sectors, and reveals what we believe will be THE most profitable piece of the wearables market in the next 3-5 years.
This report discusses the market potential for various sectors of wearables. We see developments in key technologies such as Augmented Reality, Body Area Networks, Ambient Awareness, and Peer-to-Peer Communications as drivers for evolution in consumer perception of value and willingness to engage in new forms of communications, content, applications, and commerce.
The miniaturization of technology has reached a point where a variety of sensors and other tech can be built into wearable gadgets (many piggy-backing on a smartphone's connectivity, processing power and local storage) that enhance the user's life in some way. Examples are health monitoring and activity tracking, environmental sensing, data monitoring and recording, collaboration, authentication and augmented reality.
Even if your business doesn't manufacture or sell wearable devices, it will interface with wearables in some way:
- Healthcare providers will monitor patients from across significant distances with wearable devices;
- First responders will wear cameras to record their actions, and sensors to track their vital signs;
- Sales people will receive pertinent information through their glasses, which will recognize the faces of potential clients;
- Teachers will control presentations with wearable motion control devices;
- And employees will bring everything from personal fitness trackers to smart clothing into the workplace (and onto your network) just as they do with smartphones today.
- By 2020, well over 150 million wearable devices will ship worldwide, led by the sports and fitness sectors. Advertisers will likely use exercise data and eating to serve up relevant ads and offers;
- Increased attention toward personal health combined with a movement on the part of providers to contain costs, will trigger products and services that promote preventive measures;
- Wearable technologies will also emerge in the huge disability market (such as aids for the deaf, blind, paralyzed and elderly).
- In manufacturing and enterprise markets, wearable computers for hands-free operation will continue their popularity in field service and assembly lines and warehouses.
- Forecasts for global smartwatch shipments will grow from 1 million units in 2013 to 7 million in 2014. Credit Suisse expects the industry to grow from between $3 billion and $5 billion today to $50 billion within five years.
This report is a must-have for professionals interested in creating profit from the wearable computing market.
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f9v6ft/wearable
The goal of Continuous Testing is to shift testing left to find defects earlier and release software faster. This can be achieved by integrating a set of open source functional and performance testing tools in the early stages of your software delivery lifecycle. There is one process that binds all application delivery stages together into one well-orchestrated machine: Continuous Testing. Continuous Testing is the conveyor belt between the Software Factory and production stages. Artifacts are ...
Apr. 26, 2017 07:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,097
DevOps is often described as a combination of technology and culture. Without both, DevOps isn't complete. However, applying the culture to outdated technology is a recipe for disaster; as response times grow and connections between teams are delayed by technology, the culture will die. A Nutanix Enterprise Cloud has many benefits that provide the needed base for a true DevOps paradigm. In his Day 3 Keynote at 20th Cloud Expo, Chris Brown, a Solutions Marketing Manager at Nutanix, will explore t...
Apr. 26, 2017 07:45 AM EDT Reads: 582
Five years ago development was seen as a dead-end career, now it’s anything but – with an explosion in mobile and IoT initiatives increasing the demand for skilled engineers. But apart from having a ready supply of great coders, what constitutes true ‘DevOps Royalty’? It’ll be the ability to craft resilient architectures, supportability, security everywhere across the software lifecycle. In his keynote at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Jeffrey Scheaffer, GM and SVP, Continuous Delivery Busine...
Apr. 26, 2017 07:45 AM EDT Reads: 695
Did you know that you can develop for mainframes in Java? Or that the testing and deployment can be automated across mobile to mainframe? In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 20th Cloud Expo, Vaughn Marshall, Sr. Principal Product Owner at CA Technologies, will discuss and demo how increasingly teams are developing with agile methodologies using modern development environments and automating testing and deployments, mobile to mainframe.
Apr. 26, 2017 07:45 AM EDT Reads: 1,189
NHK, Japan Broadcasting, will feature the upcoming @ThingsExpo Silicon Valley in a special 'Internet of Things' and smart technology documentary that will be filmed on the expo floor between November 3 to 5, 2015, in Santa Clara. NHK is the sole public TV network in Japan equivalent to the BBC in the UK and the largest in Asia with many award-winning science and technology programs. Japanese TV is producing a documentary about IoT and Smart technology and will be covering @ThingsExpo Silicon Val...
Apr. 26, 2017 07:30 AM EDT Reads: 8,797
DevOps is often described as a combination of technology and culture. Without both, DevOps isn't complete. However, applying the culture to outdated technology is a recipe for disaster; as response times grow and connections between teams are delayed by technology, the culture will die. A Nutanix Enterprise Cloud has many benefits that provide the needed base for a true DevOps paradigm.
Apr. 26, 2017 07:00 AM EDT Reads: 739
SYS-CON Events announced today that CollabNet, a global leader in enterprise software development, release automation and DevOps solutions, will be a Bronze Sponsor of SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, taking place from June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. CollabNet offers a broad range of solutions with the mission of helping modern organizations deliver quality software at speed. The company’s latest innovation, the DevOps Lifecycle Manager (DLM), supports Value S...
Apr. 26, 2017 06:00 AM EDT Reads: 718
SYS-CON Events announced today that Hitachi, the leading provider the Internet of Things and Digital Transformation, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., offers an integrated portfolio of services and solutions that enable digital transformation through enhanced data management, governance, mobility and analytics. We help globa...
Apr. 26, 2017 05:30 AM EDT Reads: 1,053
SYS-CON Events announced today that Super Micro Computer, Inc., a global leader in compute, storage and networking technologies, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI), the leading innovator in high-performance, high-efficiency server technology, is a premier provider of advanced server Building Block Solutions® for Data Center, Cloud Computing, Enterprise IT, Hadoop/...
Apr. 26, 2017 04:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,152
Amazon has gradually rolled out parts of its IoT offerings in the last year, but these are just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to optimizing their back-end AWS offerings, Amazon is laying the ground work to be a major force in IoT – especially in the connected home and office. Amazon is extending its reach by building on its dominant Cloud IoT platform, its Dash Button strategy, recently announced Replenishment Services, the Echo/Alexa voice recognition control platform, the 6-7 strategic...
Apr. 26, 2017 04:30 AM EDT Reads: 5,296
@GonzalezCarmen has been ranked the Number One Influencer and @ThingsExpo has been named the Number One Brand in the “M2M 2016: Top 100 Influencers and Brands” by Analytic. Onalytica analyzed tweets over the last 6 months mentioning the keywords M2M OR “Machine to Machine.” They then identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter.
Apr. 26, 2017 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,070
SYS-CON Events announced today that Juniper Networks (NYSE: JNPR), an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 20th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Juniper Networks challenges the status quo with products, solutions and services that transform the economics of networking. The company co-innovates with customers and partners to deliver automated, scalable and secure network...
Apr. 26, 2017 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 1,235
Building a cross-cloud operational model can be a daunting task. Per-cloud silos are not the answer, but neither is a fully generic abstraction plane that strips out capabilities unique to a particular provider. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Chris Wolf, VP & Chief Technology Officer, Global Field & Industry at VMware, will discuss how successful organizations approach cloud operations and management, with insights into where operations should be centralized and when it’s best to decentraliz...
Apr. 26, 2017 04:15 AM EDT Reads: 525
The age of Digital Disruption is evolving into the next era – Digital Cohesion, an age in which applications securely self-assemble and deliver predictive services that continuously adapt to user behavior. Information from devices, sensors and applications around us will drive services seamlessly across mobile and fixed devices/infrastructure. This evolution is happening now in software defined services and secure networking. Four key drivers – Performance, Economics, Interoperability and Trust ...
Apr. 26, 2017 03:45 AM EDT Reads: 532
Data is an unusual currency; it is not restricted by the same transactional limitations as money or people. In fact, the more that you leverage your data across multiple business use cases, the more valuable it becomes to the organization. And the same can be said about the organization’s analytics. In his session at 19th Cloud Expo, Bill Schmarzo, CTO for the Big Data Practice at Dell EMC, introduced a methodology for capturing, enriching and sharing data (and analytics) across the organization...
Apr. 26, 2017 03:15 AM EDT Reads: 6,608


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I Just got back from a week or so in Hong Kong and while following some recent announcements started thinking about the overall state of mobile technology in Japan. Over the years I have had the chance to watch the development of mobile information platforms in this country, from the pokebell to the iPhone, and I have to say I am both disappointed and surprised at the current state and direction.
Throughout the late 80’s and 90’s Japan always seemed to be one step ahead. While cellular devices in the US were still square brick-like devices owned by pompous businessmen and zealous real estate agents, Japanese elementary school students all seemed to carry pagers. The entire Japanese culture seemed to embrace mobile technology. So much, in fact, there were news stories covering fears that people would lose the ability to communicate directly and someday everyone would be locked into technological cocoons.
Ah, those were the days.
So what happened? In the end, it appears that it was just a consumer based fad. A fad that lasted over a decade, but one that in recent years has certainly lost its luster. Cellphones, while now deeply ingrained into the society, have appeared to lose it’s luster and are no longer that interesting. An impartial view of mobile technology will show that innovation has continued in Japan. Camera-phones, wallet phones, GPS phones all debuted into the mass public in Japan. But I am far from impartial. In relative terms, Japan went from being the envy of mobile tech geeks around the globe to a page 3 story when Softbank summons overnight queues for the latest Apple import. It used to be whenever I left Japan, people would crowd to see my latest Docomo cellphone. Now, when I come back to Japan, people crowd to see my latest grey-market acquisition from Mong-kok. Japanese carriers now spit out with sickening regularity the same old thing (but this time is has Swarovski crystals and the color of the season is Puce!), while the rest of the world is truly started to push the envelope.
So who is to blame?
I blame everyone (except myself of course). I blame the carriers for ruthlessly sticking to an outdated procurement model that stifles creativity in manufacturers and pushes an outdated profit model to the expense of the consumer. I blame consumers for continuing to buy into this corrupted model and embracing the old and familiar while still buying new handsets at a mind-numbing pace (Thank God I got puce before it sold out!). I blame government regulators for protecting this antiquated model and stifling competition from abroad, isolating and eventually rendering Japanese manufacturers non-competitive. So now that I have doled out blame for about 1/10th of the problem, here’s my thoughts on what is really wrong in Japan.
In general, the state of Information Technology in Japan is a joke. Not an insightful, edgy quip from Jon Stewart joke, more like a slightly racist/sexist, outdated, and decidedly unfunny joke also by Jon Stewart, when nobody laughs. It’s like being in an elevator when someone farts… and then the power goes out. You are not sure if the tears are from the unfair nature of the situation or just the fumes. Yes. Things are that bad.
Large companies in Japan view IT with something between fear and contempt. Only recently has the acronym IT started to replace the die-hard OA from the office lexicon. OA-Office Appliances implies how Japanese companies have viewed computers and technology. Like something between a copy machine and a tea machine. As if you can order a corporate infrastructure from a Staples catalog. In recent years we have seen scandals in the Japanese news highlighting blunders in corporate IT naiveté. Bank system crashes, stock market freezes, and privacy leaks one could drive an Aegis class cruiser through.
Within Asia, Japan was very early into the technology infrastructure game. But that was over a decade ago, and now IT spending growth in Asia is vastly outpacing Japan’s outdated systems. Taking into account the increased ROI of more modern and efficient systems, The rest of Asia will soon vastly outperform Japan in infrastructure and technology. But how did this effect mobile technology?
In the US and Europe, mobile technology was very much a top-down development. Pagers, cellphones, and eventually SmartPhones all started out as expensive toys no one would buy unless they needed it or were offered one for work. Then as costs started to drop and the image of mobile technology became more fashionable regular consumers wanted to join the game. Nowadays gadget blogs are gaining in popularity and are packed with snapshots of the latest celebrity with their top of the line SmartPhones. But the trend for development was the same. FIrst high end companies invested, paying a huge premium for the best technology and fastest access to information. Then, the whole thing was repackaged for the consumer. In Japan, this approach was largely a failure. Early attempts such as the Sharp Zaurus were largely ignored by corporations. Isolation of the Japanese telecom market reduced competitiveness and innovation keeping the ubiquitous BlackBerry from Japanese shores for nearly a decade. Pitiful investment in software development by corporations pushed all the talent in Japan to video game developers (not that I am complaining about that one). The end result is that not only has Japan finally been surpassed by the global market, it is now in no shape to be a serious contender going forward.
So what does the future hold?
As the saying goes, “It is always darkest before you are halfway between sunset and sunrise.” or something like that. Yes. Things are quite backward and the days of Japanese mobile tech envy are likely behind us for quite a while, but that is not to say that there is no hope. While corporations still seem as clueless as ever, the surge in technology abroad is likely to have some effect in isolationist Japan. Global demand for the iPhone prompted Masayoshi Son to bring the iPhone to Japan, and even the marketing monkeys at DoCoMo were able to launch a BlackBerry (of sorts). Companies like eMobile and Willcom are pushing brilliant new communications products at very reasonable prices that have been quite a hit among small niche markets. But this pace will never see Japan as a leader in technology again. To do that we will need to see a significant shift within Japan Inc.
This is my first post to Mobile in Japan. Sorry that is turned into such a long and boring rant, and I promise future points will be both shorter and more interesting.


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According to Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, their latest smartphone platform is slated to receive a whopping 500 new features. 10 am today will bring the announcement of Microsoft's highly touted WP7 update with promises to deliver big news. Along with Verizon's announcement to release WP7 powered smartphones this week, Microsoft will also be listing the deluge of updates including such expected new features as IE9, Office Integration, Multitasking, Twitter support and much more. Will this be the edge that Microsoft needs to cut down Apple and Google?
WP7 Smartphone Update is more like an entire new Operating System
Driven by the need for greater productivity and lower costs, enterprises around the globe are moving their applications to the cloud. This application note describes networking challenges that cloud-enabled enterprises face in today's digital economy, and the top reasons why intelligent optical networks are becoming critical to their success, with a direct impact on productivity and the ability to compete for long-term business success.
On-demand Event Event Date: March 23, 2017
As you adopt the use of cloud services, whether in public/IaaS, SaaS or hybrid environments, the attack surface expands and, if breached, the costs increase exponentially.
This session is designed to help IT and security leaders understand and address the unique challenges that enterprises typically face when they deploy their applications in the public cloud. It summarizes the areas that the public cloud vendors typically take care of and highlights the areas …


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There is a famous story in Silicon Valley about how the initial venture capitalist for Snapchat was introduced to the app because his daughter was always on it on her phone.
The venture capitalist asked his daughter what app she was using. When she told him, he asked if her friends used it as often as she did. Her brother affirmed the app’s popularity among high school-aged kids, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Olive Jamieson did one better.
Olive is the daughter of Stephen Jamieson, head of SAP Leonardo at SAP UK & Ireland. About a year ago, the six-year-old was watching the British docuseries The Blue Planet and became visibly upset after learning how polluted the world’s oceans are becoming because of plastics.
So she went to her father and asked him what he could do.
“She turns to me one night and says, ‘Daddy, you say you work for a massive global company. You keep saying how you are doing amazing things, so how about you fix it?’” Jamieson recalled. “After the usual, ‘Nice idea, darling,’ we thought, ‘Hey, maybe there is something we can do here.’”
What has transpired since is nothing short of incredible.
Jamieson is in charge of innovation in the UK for SAP Leonardo, an approach that helps customers leverage future-facing technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, blockchain, analytics, and Big Data. He and his team started out with a five-week research phase where they monitored 24 consumers from around the UK that represented 81 percent of consumer interests.
“We followed them, but not in a creepy way,” said Jamieson. “We used an app and documented their journey with plastics over this five-week period, which gave us a really interesting data set.”
Jamieson then invited 25 of SAP’s biggest customers, including Coca Cola, Visa, and Unilever, to a three-day workshop in London, where they analyzed the data and brainstormed ways to address the issues they saw.
“We came away with a bunch of concepts that came together as a solution portfolio that we used to challenge the marketplace across the plastics life chain,” Jamieson said. “Because the information was based on consumer research, you are facing the reality of what consumers are doing on an everyday basis. You feel compelled to act. You feel compelled to change.”
One of the issues with recycling in the UK, Jamieson discovered, is that there are too many disposal systems. Not only do consumers not know where to properly dispose of plastics waste, but the waste managers are confused about what to do with the waste they accumulate, making the entire system break down.
Using machine learning from SAP Leonardo, Jamieson’s team created an app that, based on the packaging materials, can tell you where you should be disposing of the waste.
Another app was created to provide a rewards system. Say, for instance, you are in the grocery store and you want to buy a cucumber. One is wrapped in cellophane and one is not. By scanning the cucumber, the app will identify the more environmentally friendly choice and reward you for purchasing the cucumber without the cellophane.
“This where we are at. We are telling the retailers, ‘This is possible with the technology we have today. It is not that hard to conceive so let’s get on this journey together,’” Jamieson said. “This is all coming together in what we call the plastics cloud.”
The challenge with this innovation is similar to the challenge with blockchain technology. You need to get multiple companies from around the world involved to aggregate the data and create something for the greater good. Jamieson’s team is the hub for all those spokes.
“If you look at the supply chain of plastics—producers, manufacturers, retailers—there is a huge appetite for action. They really want to do something about this,” Jamieson said. “They just don’t have the coordination necessary to make it happen.”
“A retailer may speak to its supplier and it may speak to its waste management, but it is a pretty linear process at the moment. And they all recognize the need to sort of circularize the economy. The plastics cloud is a vehicle to help drive the collaboration and innovation needed to get to our circularization.”
And if Jamieson ever gets discouraged by what can seem like an overwhelming challenge, all he has to do is go home after work and see Olive, now seven, greeting him at the front door.
“She holds me to account every single day,” Jamieson said. “I get home from work and before I can even put my bag down, she comes up and I have to give her a sort of scorecard update.”
Frank Hughes is a Silicon Valley-based freelance writer and editor covering the tech industry for SAP.


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Designers based in Dubai’s Design District have come together as part of an initiative put in place by the Arab Fashion Council.
The #AThread4Cause pledges to create 13,000 medical gowns to meet the needs of workers in the healthcare sector, working on the frontline in the fight against COVID-19.
The Arab Fashion Council has partnered with seven designers located in Dubai Design District (d3) who have agreed to use their production facilities to create protective gowns and surgical face masks for frontline medical workers in the region.
The #AThread4Cause initiative was put in place by the Arab fashion Council and it has called on local businesses to support. Seven businesses based in d3, with over 50 tailors and pattern makers, along with a number of other businesses in the UAE, will work to create the much-needed garments.
The designers have partnered with a Dubai-based Saudi Arabian fabric manufacturer who will supply over four tonnes of technical fabric to the participating brands. To facilitate the logistics, d3 is set to create a unified distribution centre to store and deliver the protective wear.
Khadija Al Bastaki, Executive Director of d3, said: “As the fashion capital of the Middle East, d3 is both humbled and delighted to support #AThread4Cause. With seven d3-based designers, we aim to aid the life-saving work of vital medical staff by contributing to the UAE’s stockpile of gowns and facemasks. d3 is well placed to be able to cater to the needs of the local population, as well as export to the rest of the world, heralded by the strong logistics and infrastructure of Dubai.”
Dubai based couture label, Michael Cinco, is among the seven d3 business partners taking part in the initiative. Michael Cinco and his business partner Sayed Ali said in a joint statement: “In exceptional circumstances such as this pandemic, it’s more important than ever to stand together. The future is not bleak and it’s crucial that we provide people with something to believe in. We need to demonstrate the sense of belonging, community spirit and light that only fashion can bring to our world. We are proud to be part of d3’s response to #AThread4Cause and believe it demonstrates the value of fashion and design in Dubai.”
Cinco is joined by couture labels, Maison Yeya, and Amato, brainchild of creative designer Furne One are among the seven. Emirati designer Yara Bin Shakar, Egypt’s Marmar Halim, Arab/American designer Zaid Farouki and women’s clothing retailer Si Fashion make up the seven-strong group.
Companies that want to enrol in the initiative and contribute positively to the UAE’s efforts to curb coronavirus and protect the vital medical professionals across the country can apply through the Arab Fashion Council’s website.


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The family of James McNair, the 62-year-old comedian who was killed when Tracy Morgan's tour bus collided with a Walmart truck last year, has finally gotten some closure following the funnyman's tragic death.
Walmart has reached a settlement with McNair's estate, E! News has confirmed.
"We know there is nothing we can do to change what happened to Mr. McNair but Walmart and his family have worked closely together to reach an agreement," Walmart spokesperson Brooke Buchanan tells E! News. "We will continue to work to conclude all of the remaining issues as a result of the accident and we are committed to doing what is right."


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NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Citigroup said Tuesday that its fourth- quarter profit nearly doubled amid strong growth in its credit-card operations and a profit from its in-house investments.
The Manhattan-based financial-services giant
Shares of the Dow Jones Industrials closed off 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $49.29.
Citigroup posted fourth-quarter net income of $4.76 billion, or 91 cents per share, rising from $2.43 billion, or 47 cents, a year ago. Analysts polled by Reuters Research had expected a profit of 90 cents per share.
In the year-ago period, the company took a $1.3 billion charge to set up reserves for regulatory settlements and civil litigation, while the latest quarter's results included a $242 million charge for losses related to the fraud announced last month at Parmalat.
CFO Todd Thompson told listeners on a conference call that the company has additional exposure to the bankrupt Italian food company.
"This quarter we wrote off or reserved for $351 million and then on the trading side we had a mark-to-market net loss of $21 million, so that leaves us with about $300 million of secured exposure, or $300 million of mostly secured exposure and about $15 million of trading exposure remaining," Thompson said.
Citigroup's revenue rose 13 percent to $20.2 billion. "Customer volumes remain strong, as they were throughout 2003," the bank said.
Also Tuesday, Citigroup executives stressed that the company, overshadowed in recent months by a pair of huge banking industry mergers, continues to aggressively seek growth through acquisitions.
"We made a targeted acquisition in consumer finance from Washington Mutual," CEO Charles Prince said on the conference call, adding that any future deals will be designed to "extend the franchise," especially internationally. See full story.
Citigroup's global consumer business profits grew 14 percent to $2.66 billion, rising 6 percent versus the third quarter. Revenue from its global consumer operation rose 11 percent from year-ago levels.
"Cards income increased 23 percent to $1.14 billion, a record quarter, and now serves over 145 million accounts with $163 billion in receivables globally," Citigroup said in a press release.
The consumer business growth from gains in credit-card operations reflected the acquisition of Sears Roebuck's card business during the quarter.
Citigroup also made a $107 million profit on the sale and mark-to-market gains on its proprietary investment portfolio. "Assets declined by over $900 million from the prior year and $550 million from the prior quarter, reflecting the continued reduction of assets in the private equity portfolio," Citigroup said.
"Consumer finance income declined 17 percent, to $468 million, reflecting continued difficult business conditions in Japan," the company said in a press release announcing the earnings.
Meanwhile, Citigroup's retail banking operation earned $1.07 billion in the fourth quarter, a 24 percent jump from year-ago levels, in a reflection of "strong performance across most regions."
Citigroup's investment banking business posted a net fourth-quarter profit of $1.28 billion, compared to a loss of $326 million a year earlier.
Reflecting improving performance in the capital markets, the unit's expenses "increased 32 percent, resulting from a 38 percent increase in compensation and benefits compared to the prior year quarter, when the company recorded unusually low compensation accruals," Citi said.
Profits at the company's private client services business rose 39 percent from year-ago levels, to $237 million. The gains mainly reflect higher asset values in fee-based accounts and higher transaction volumes.


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Street vending legalized in Los Angeles, but with limitations
The Los Angeles City Council voted to legalize street vending Tuesday. (Sydney Coneeny/Daily Bruin)
April 19, 2018 12:26 a.m.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to legalize street vendors within city limits, five years after council members first considered legalization.
The council also approved a motion put forward by councilmembers Joe Buscaino, Curren Price and Jose Huizar to not give brick-and-mortar businesses, such as restaurants, the ability to deny street vendors access to sidewalks in their immediate area.
The proposal, which sought to relax rules for where street vendors can set up, prohibits street vendors from selling within 500 feet of crowded venues, bans or restricts sales that have health or safety concerns, limits the number of vendors allowed on streets in commercial and business areas, and allows vendors in residential areas for limited periods of time.
The decision follows the council’s vote in February 2017 to decriminalize the practice, allowing street vendors to be cited and fined but not criminally convicted. Before decriminalization, individuals selling goods and service on the sidewalk could face misdemeanor charges.
Local activists have pushed to legalize street vending in response to President Donald Trump’s decision in 2017 to deport immigrants with minor crimes. Under previous laws in which street vendors were subject to misdemeanor charges, immigrants were at greater risk of deportation.
The council members have 60 days to draft an ordinance to plan for street vendor legalization.


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PARIS — Retailers embraced the wave of femininity that swept through the men’s shows in Paris. Fluid suits, silky shirts, a profusion of pastels — think pink! — floral prints and individual expression were the names of the game this season.
“The most important new direction we are looking for in Paris is the genderless look,” said Federica Montelli, head of fashion at La Rinascente.
Emmanuel de Bayser, co-owner of The Corner, pushed the idea a bit further:
“The classic, traditional men’s look for us is completely gone. Easy, fresh and bold are the keywords,” he said.
Dior topped the favorite collections, with Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten as runners-up. The next tier was crowded: Jil Sander, Loewe, Celine, Valentino and Off-White, reflecting diversity in opinions.
In the hot-new-talent department, Casablanca and Nanushka caught notice. And the best venue went to Louis Vuitton — the Paris streets never fail to charm. Lanvin’s poolside runway and Dior’s futuristic set were also popular.
While snarled traffic and hot sticky weather did not go unnoticed, the fashion, it seems, will be remembered the most.
Here, a roundup of the Paris spring collections in the eyes of the retailers.
Casablanca Men’s Spring Summer 2020
Fiona Firth, buying director, Mr Porter


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Samooha, a startup developing a “cross-cloud” data collaboration platform, today announced it has raised $12.5 million in a funding tranche backed by Altimeter Capital, Snowflake Ventures and others. CEO Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan said Samooha’s first infusion of cash will go to product development and hiring. The plan is to grow the startup’s team from his 14 developers to around 20 by the end of the year.
So what exactly does Samooha do, you might be wondering? Simply put, the platform enables businesses to securely share, collaborate, and gain insights from their data and their partners, regardless of the underlying cloud or data stack.
It’s not a new concept. “Data clean rooms” are touted by both tech giants and start-ups as the ideal solution for sharing sensitive data across computing environments. Just a few years ago, Harbr raised $38.5 million for technology that helps companies securely exchange and share large amounts of big data. InfoSum and Decentriq also offer secure data sharing tools, but Amazon Web Services recently launched a new data clean room product (properly called Clean Rooms) aimed at organizations that regularly share data with external partners. ) was launched.
Samooha’s differentiation relies heavily on the Snowflake ecosystem. This is not at all surprising given Snowflake’s involvement in funding the startup. Snowflake’s native app, Samooha, provides a no-code UI that customers can use to access and build clean room apps. The underlying trust boundary of Snowflake’s native app framework provides a secure computing environment, Sivaramakrishnan explained in his TechCrunch interview. Eliminate the need for data migration.
“Security guarantees are technically enforced through both encrypted multi-party computing technology and user-defined policies such as approved query templates. and secure analysis,” she added. “Think of highly intuitive collaborative product experiences like Slack. You are learning, sharing, and collaborating on data that you and your partner own in that channel or room.
Samooha intends to target sectors it believes to be particularly underserved, including healthcare, financial services, advertising, retail and entertainment. Especially the media can be profitable. Gartner predicts that by 2023, 80% of advertisers with $1 billion or more in media budgets will use data cleanrooms.
Sivaramakrishnan claims Samooha already has Fortune 500 customers, but did not name them. The pandemic, she said, made the pitch easier because it revealed the need for her to collaborate on data in a safe and secure way across industries.
It probably depends on your industry — an August 2022 survey by Hub found that over half of marketing professionals have never used a data clean room. However, Samooha’s early traction suggests that there is some truth to Sivaramakrishnan’s claims.
“Broadly speaking, leveraging customer, consumer and enterprise data is a reality for every industry and use case. sir,” said Shivaramakrishnan. “The pandemic has highlighted the need for data collaboration in a safe and secure manner across multiple industries including healthcare, manufacturing, supply chain and logistics. Combined with our commercial model, it gives us confidence that we are uniquely solving critical enterprise data functions and that we have the potential to withstand the headwinds.”


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Law firm that helped Proview to $60m iPad China settlement hasn't been paid
In a strangely humorous case of "what goes around comes around", the law firm that helped Chinese manufacturer Proview win a US$60 million settlement against Apple for use of the trademark "iPad" in China is now suing Proview to get back at least $2.4 million in legal fees that have been left unpaid.
The Grandall Law Firm was looking forward to a payday equivalent to 4 percent of Apple's settlement. Proview founder Yang Rongshan has apparently said that the law firm's actions are "nonsense," and that the company isn't obligated to pay the firm right now since it isn't operating under normal conditions.
Yang has promised that the company won't "pass the buck." Best of luck to the Grandall Law Firm on recovering the fees.
In a strangely humorous case of "what goes around comes around", the law firm that helped Chinese manufacturer Proview win a US$60...
Deals of the Daymore deals
Software Updatesmore updates
- Poser 10 and Poser Pro 2014 available, bringing new characters, physics and more
- Agile Partners releases Lick of the Day 2.0
- Google announces new Hangout app to hit iOS today
- Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Update 14.3.4
- Pixelmator 2.2 available with over 100 new features and improvements
- DabKick for iPhone lets you share photos, watch videos and now listen to music in real-time


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Nordstrom announced plans to build on their supply chain optimization initiatives, including boosting radio-frequency identification (RFID) initiatives while continuing to enhance inventory productivity and returns processing.
The supply chain optimization focus ties into the company's three key priorities, including improved performance within Nordstrom Rack and increasing inventory productivity, which the company feels will improve profitability while positioning them better for the second half.
This emphasis on supply chain optimization has allowed the retailer to enhance the customer experience, including faster delivery at a lower cost, which was crucial during Nordstrom’s yearly Anniversary sale.
“For the fourth consecutive quarter, variable supply chain costs fell by over 100 basis points as a rate of sales versus the prior year, helping to mitigate overall SG&A deleverage on lower sales,” said CEO Erik Nordstrom on a recent earnings call.
Due to the continued productivity enhancements within their supply chain, the retailer felt they were “better prepared” to start the Anniversary sale this year.
“Total Anniversary event sales were 5% lower compared to last year, in line with overall trends given the ongoing softness in customer spending,” said Pete Nordstrom, co-president for Nordstrom. “This includes the eight days that fell in the third quarter this year, whereas one day was included in last year's Q3 results.”
Nordstrom began their supply chain optimization focus in early 2022 and, since then, has improved operational efficiencies while delivering significant customer benefits.
“Compared to the first quarter of 2022, supply chain cost per unit in the second quarter of this year were 5% lower against an inflationary backdrop of about 7% over that time,” commented Erik Nordstrom.
The retailer plans to look for additional efficiencies in flow and improved productivity through inventory management initiatives.
Nordstrom joins a growing list of retailers taking a more cautious tone about the second half of the year, warning of credit losses due to consumer defaults and further consumer impact from inflation. The retailer experienced decreased revenue of $3.66 billion, down 8.3%.


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The stock of Alcoa (AA -6.07%) has become unstoppable. Shares of the aluminum giant surged this week and hit a 52-week high just this morning. As of 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday, the stock was already up 17.4% through the week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. With global events hugely favoring Alcoa right now, investors aren't shying from placing big bets on the aluminum stock.
While the Russia-Ukraine conflict has affected nearly every sector, the commodity shock is unmissable. From oil and gas to metals, prices have shot through the roof on supply chain disruptions as sanctions hit Russia, and Ukraine was forced to shutter manufacturing activity.
On March 21, Australia announced a ban on all export of alumina and aluminum ores like bauxite to Russia in a bid to cripple the nation's aluminum production. Russia is the world's second-largest aluminum supplier, and Australia the world's largest exporter of alumina.
On the same day, the International Aluminium Institute reported a 2% year-over-year drop in global production of primary aluminum for the month of February.
Aluminum stocks shot up right after these two news updates as investors bet on higher aluminum prices driven by a potential supply crunch even as demand continues to rise. Aluminum isn't just used in electricals and packaging anymore. The transportation sector is now one of the largest consumers of the metal thanks to aluminum's use in body panels, other parts, and batteries of lightweight hybrid and electric vehicles, the demand for which is growing exponentially.
Aluminum prices hit all-time highs earlier in March, and industry experts believe prices could hit those levels again after Australia's ban. It's a win-win for Alcoa, which doesn't just produce aluminum and finished products but is also one of the world's largest bauxite miners and operators of alumina refineries.
Alcoa could become a money machine as aluminum prices rise. The stock has already received several upgrades this week, including one this morning from Goldman Sachs analyst Emily Chieng, who raised Alcoa's price target to $115 a share from $88.
Earlier in the week, Morgan Stanley analyst Carlos De Alba raised Alcoa's price target from $78 a share to $100, while Argus gave the stock a price target of $95 a share.
If you think Alcoa stock is already pricey, consider this: The company ended 2021 with its highest-ever net income and earnings per share. With aluminum prices skyrocketing since, it's anyone's guess how much money Alcoa could make in 2022.


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Back in October, PhishMe® reported a Netflix email scam appearing in office in-boxes. Now our 2017 Phishing Resiliency and Defense Report confirms the danger: based on millions of simulated phishes across PhishMe customers, the study shows the most tempting workplace scams have a consumer flavor.
The top “emotional motivators,” or buttons to push, in workplace phishing are:
ENTERTAINMENT – 19.5%
Nearly 1 in 5 employees bit on entertainment-themed emails. Examples: holiday e-card alerts and college basketball gambling.
SOCIAL MEDIA – 16%
One reason: the rise in subscription-based news and social feeds. Bogus Thanksgiving recipes and funny office pictures are leading culprits.
REWARD/RECOGNITION – 13.8%
Many of these emails triggered both personal and professional reactions. “Free Coffee” worked well, as did “New Rewards Program.”
As Internet behavior changes, so do cyberattacks.
In previous reports, PhishMe noted that fear, urgency and curiosity were the top emotional motivators behind successful phishes. Now they’re closer to the bottom. Their themes tend to focus on work versus having fun. For example: fake notices from state bar associations and “Mold Found in Your Office.”
It’s possible that mature anti-phishing programs have conditioned employees to spot work-related scams. Since consumer scams at work are a new trend, they haven’t appeared as often in phishing simulations.
Employees will always take a break to do personal business online, so expect work and home email to continue blurring. Personal devices in the workplace often have multiple email accounts—the source of an email may not be clear.
However, to maintain morale, communication and collaboration, most companies won’t restrict BYOD or access to social media, news and entertainment sites.
The core issue is how people get their news and interact.
Many news and social feeds are now subscription based; they’re common in email and mobile device alerts. This explains the rise in phishing attacks via social media links and fake news sites. Because they’re accustomed to them, people think it’s safe to click.
The best way to combat a knee-jerk response: teach your people to be aware of their emotional reactions to emails and see them as phishing triggers. You can be sure attackers are paying attention.
A few more tips:
- Understand the dynamics of entertainment or social phishing (think uncritical social acceptance and shortened URLs).
- Stress vigilance when it comes to emails promising rewards. If its sounds too good to be true…well, you know the rest.
- Take note of internal reward programs in danger of being mimicked. If you know how legitimate emails look and read and who they ought to come from, you stand a better chance of catching counterfeits.
Last but not least, when creating simulations add some consumer themes. Remember that users’ personal lives don’t stop when they get to work.
For a deeper look at phishing, view our 2017 Phishing Resiliency and Defense Report.


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If there's one constant about the United States, it is that not knowing the facts never stopped the government from recommending "strong action." That is proven again this Monday as Senators Orrin Hatch and Herb Kohl argue that due to Google's dominant Internet advertising presence, they shouldn't be allowed to move forward with the proposed merger with DoubleClick.
In a letter to the FTC, they both stated that the deal could significantly harm competition on the Web. While in fact it is possible that these two Senators could be right, the letter to the FTC does not name the "experts consulted" on the matter, nor what specific findings they revealed that could end up being harmful to the industry as a whole. They didn't even bother to include any pertinent data regarding exactly how much estimated marketshare a DoubleClick-Google merger would end up being.
In essence, the two senators simply stated "this might be a problem, therefore we must interfere in the market."
One can expect government interference in the marketplace from liberal Democrats, but someone like Orrin Hatch who claims to be pro-business and comes from the party of free market capitalism is showing a surprising lack of scruples on this matter.
The Senators tried to tie the issue back into the Do Not Track movement raised earlier this month by a number of industry watchdogs: "...we believe that this deal raises fundamental consumer privacy concerns worthy of serious scrutiny."
Google responded to the letter today, stating that they had "already discussed the privacy and market share questions with the FTC," and that they "remain confident that the FTC will conclude that this deal is good for consumers, advertisers, and Web site publishers."


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For the first time, AICP Show spotlights integrated branding.
Branding as entertainment, entertainment as branding. As the line gets increasingly blurred, the New York-based Association of Independent Commercial Producers today holds its first-ever integrated branding honors. The AICP Show will spotlight examples of the content-commerce blend and feature clients including James McDowell, vp of marketing for BMW of North America, which created the BMW Films series with Fallon in Minneapolis. Traditional ads look more than ever like content, a trend seen in this year's entrants, says AICP president and CEO Matt Miller. "Entertaining messages in commercials are becoming imperative," he says. "Commercials have become more and more entertaining, which is truly needed to sell. It's tougher to keep someone's attention." Tonight, a separate show will honor excellence in 22 technical and artistic categories.


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It does not seems like the PC version will have a ton of graphical parameters to play with.
The minimum requirements for the PC version of Dark Souls 3 have been revealed just a few days after we got our first look at the gameplay courtesy of the SXSW festival. It’s no coincidence that we’re getting more information about From Software’s latest. After all, Dark Souls 3 is going to be launching in just a few weeks.
Neogaf user Bl@de is the one who has provided these minimum requirements after translating from a German website who were among the first to get their hands on the information. Among the tidbits that are now out there is that the game is set to run at 60fps, though that appears to be as good as it’s going to get, even with in-game tweaks. The developers have said a computer with a Dual Core CPU will be able to start the game just fine, though From Software has not said what that CPU will be able to do in the long run when it comes to performance. There are also no specific settings for HBAO+/MSAA/SMAA. SSAO ranges from Low to High and AA is simply ON and Off. According to the report, a GTX 770 is more than enough to run the game at 60fps at its highest settings. However take this with a grain of salt.
Dark Souls 3 is built on the Bloodborne engine, which makes sense since that was the last game the developers released. For those who want to get a look at what the game is going to look like with different min and max settings, you can check out the video below. Dark Souls 3 is due to launch on the PS4, PC and Xbox One on April 12, 2016.


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Attendees navigate the tables of books at the 2019 Savannah Book Festival. CONNECT SAVANNAH
Jan 12, 2022
By Staff Reports The Savannah Book Festival (SBF), which runs from February 17-20, 2022, has announced its ticket sale dates and closing headliner authors. Presale tickets for the SBF’s LITERATI members are available starting January 20 and general public tickets go on sale January 27. Festival Saturday, on February 19, is free and open to the public.
The SBF’s Closing Address on Sunday, February 20 features Friends & Fiction. “We are thrilled to add Friends and Fiction to our headliner lineup. Authors are anxious to return, face-to-face, with their readers and, although some things may be a little different this year, we are working hard to make this Festival a safe and enjoyable experience,” says SBF Board President, Rachel Young Fields.


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Nokia and T-Mobile unveiled the U.S. variant of the Lumia 710 at a press event on Wednesday evening.
The Lumia 710 will be made available on January 11 priced at $49 for U.S. T-Mobile customers. The device appears to be identical to the European version. Nokia will support the device by offering a special concierge service. The support will allow Nokia Lumia 710 customers to contact support reps directly.
Rumors of T-Mobile’s Nokia Lumia 710 kicked off last week after device manuals leaked. The device passed through FCC testing on the T-Mobile-unique 3G 1700 band, as well as 850 and 1900 GSM bands. The Nokia Lumia 710 includes the following specifications:
- 3.7-inch LCD ClearBlack Display
- 1.4 GHz single-core processor
- Exchangeable back covers
- 5 MP camera, auto-focus, LED flash


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Global car sales fell sharply amid the COVID-19 pandemic as people retreated to their homes, where they spent most of their time under lockdown mandates with nary a thought for automobile purchasing. With the gradual economic recovery, however, companies in the sector are witnessing increase in demand. In fact, in March, the U.S. vehicle market witnessed a strong recovery and saw its first quarter 2021 sales rebound to pre-pandemic levels.
Governments worldwide are pushing for increased use of electric vehicles (EVs) to transition their countries to a clean energy future. The demand for conventional, internal combustion cars is also expected to increase with an anticipated decline in crude oil prices this year. Investors’ interest in the automotive space is evident in the First Trust NASDAQ Global Auto Index Fund’s (CARZ) 41% returns over the past six months compared to the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust’s (SPY) 23.5% gains over the same period.
While many automotive players are trading at lofty valuations, Oshkosh Corporation (OSK), AutoNation, Inc. (AN), and Isuzu Motors Limited (ISUZY) still look undervalued at their current price levels given their near-term growth prospects. So, we think it could be beneficial to bet on them now.
Oshkosh Corporation (OSK)
Formerly known as Oshkosh Truck Corporation, OSK designs, manufactures, and markets specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies worldwide. It also has a long and successful history in developing EVs also, and its technology reduces energy consumption and emissions. The company operates through four segments mainly—Access equipment, Defense, Fire & Emergency, and Commercial.
OSK’s defense segment’s operating income has increased 70.3% year-over-year to $52.80 million for its fiscal year 2021 first quarter, ended December 31, 2020. The company’s non-GAAP net income has increased 2.9% year-over-year to $77.90 million. Also, its adjusted EPS increased 2.7% year-over-year to $1.13.
For the quarter ending June 30, 2021, analysts expect OSK’s EPS to be $1.87, which represents a 45% year-over-year increase. It also surpassed consensus EPS estimates in three of the trailing four quarters. The company’s revenue is expected to increase 5.6% year-over-year to $7.24 billion in fiscal 2021.
In terms of forward EV/Sales, OSK is currently trading at 1.18x, which is 41% lower than the 2x industry average. Its 1.17x forward Price/Sales is 26.9% lower than the 1.60x industry average.
In February, OSK partnered with ALLETE Clean Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of ALLETE, Inc. (ALE), on a renewable energy sale agreement to develop a wind energy site that is currently under construction in Caddo County in Oklahoma. It is the first virtual power purchase agreement the company has made and the first offsite purchase of renewable energy. The move represents a step forward in OSK’s clean air vision, which is expected to generate positive returns soon. The stock has gained 84.7% over the past year and closed yesterday’s trading session at $123.39.
It’s no surprise that OSK has an overall B rating, which equates to BUY in our POWR Ratings system. The POWR Ratings assess stocks by 118 different factors, each with its own weighting.
The stock has an A grade for Value, and a B grade for Sentiment. Click here to see OSK’s rating for Momentum, Stability, Growth, and Quality.
OSK is ranked #19 of 53 stocks in the B-rated Auto and Vehicles Manufacturers industry.
AutoNation, Inc. (AN)
AN offers a range of automotive products and services, including new and used vehicles, and parts and services such as automotive repair and maintenance, and wholesale parts and collision services. It operates primarily through three segments—Domestic, Import, and Premium Luxury. The company owns and operates 74 AutoNation-branded collision centers, five AutoNation USA used vehicle stores, four AutoNation-branded automotive auction operations, and three parts distribution centers.
For its fiscal year 2021 first quarter, ended March 31, AN’s total revenues came in at $5.90 billion, indicating 26.5% growth year-over-year. Its gross profit for the quarter increased 27% year-over-year to $1.03 billion. The company’s operating income was $336.90 million, up 253.6% year-over-year. Its net income came in at $239.50 million, up 203.1% year-over-year, and its adjusted EPS increased 206.6% year-over-year to $2.79.
The company’s EPS is expected to increase 79.4% year-over-year to $2.53 for the current quarter, ending June 30, 2021. AN surpassed consensus EPS estimates in each of the trailing four quarters. Also, for the quarter ending September 30, 2021, AN’s revenue is expected to be $5.97 billion, which represents a 10.6% year-over-year increase.
In terms of forward EV/Sales, AN is currently trading at 0.52x, which is 70.1% lower than the 1.74x industry average. Its 0.35x forward Price/Sales is 75.2% lower than the 1.41x industry average.
In February, AN launched its enhanced AutoNation Express experience. It is an integrated retailing solution that provides consumers with a seamless and intuitive omnichannel vehicle shopping and purchase experience. It is is expected to take the company’s service delivery to new heights and attract more. consumers. The stock has rallied 183.3% over the past year and closed yesterday’s trading session at $101.40.
AN’s POWR Ratings reflect this promising outlook. The stock has an overall B rating, which equates to Buy in our POWR Ratings system. It has an A grade for Value and Momentum, and a B grade for Sentiment and Quality. Click here see the additional ratings of AN (Stability and Growth).
AN is ranked #2 of 25 stocks in the B-rated Auto Dealer & Rentals industry.
Isuzu Motors Limited (ISUZY)
Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, ISUZY manufactures and sells commercial vehicles, light commercial vehicles, and diesel engines and components in Japan, Thailand, and internationally. The company’s products include heavy- and medium-duty trucks and buses, and light-duty trucks, pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles, and marine and industrial engines.
ISUZY’s ¥515.30 billion in total revenue for its fiscal year 2021 third quarter (ended December 31, 2020) represents a 3.4% year-over-year rise. The company’s operating Income has increased 9.2% year-over-year to ¥46.20 billion. Its net income has increased 9.4% year-over-year to ¥30.20 billion.
Analysts expect ISUZY’s revenue to increase 49.4% year-over-year to $4.63 billion for the quarter ending June 30, 2021. In terms of forward EV/Sales, the stock is currently trading at 0.51x, which is 70.7% lower than the 1.74x industry average. Its 0.43x forward Price/Sales is 69.5% lower than the 1.41x industry average.
This month, ISUZY acquired UD Trucks from the Volvo AB (VLVLY) as part of its strategic alliance with VLVLY. The alliance, which is agreed to run at least for 20 years, includes forming a technology partnership, among elements. The alliance is expected to maximize value and benefits for customers and generate significant returns for the company in the long-term. The stock has gained 46.3% over the past year to close yesterday’s trading session at $10.20.
ISUZY’s strong fundamentals are reflected in its POWR Ratings. The stock has an overall A rating, which equates to Strong Buy in our proprietary rating system. It has an A grade for Value, and a B grade for Stability. Click here to see the additional POWR Ratings for ISUZY (Momentum, Quality, Growth, and Sentiment).
ISUZY is ranked #4 in the Auto and Vehicles Manufacturers industry.
Want More Great Investing Ideas?
OSK shares were trading at $128.60 per share on Wednesday morning, up $5.21 (+4.22%). Year-to-date, OSK has gained 49.92%, versus a 11.98% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
About the Author: Ananyo Guha Niyogi
Ananyo’s ardent interest in capital markets, wealth management, and financial regulatory issues, led him to a career as an investment analyst. His goal is to educate individual investors by making complex financial issues easy to understand. More...
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|ISUZY||Get Rating||Get Rating||Get Rating|


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“The goal will be churning out more than 60,000 bikes a year,” Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali said in an interview with MotoSprint yesterday. “To do this we need to increase our sales in Brazil and India, therefore we will build two factories, one in Brazil and one in Thailand.” Sound familiar? It should. KTM is doing something similar with the 125 Duke and other future models and that’...
“The goal will be churning out more than 60,000 bikes a year,” Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali said in an interview with MotoSprint yesterday. “To do this we need to increase our sales in Brazil and India, therefore we will build two factories, one in Brazil and one in Thailand.”
Sound familiar? It should. KTM is doing something similar with the 125 Duke and other future models and that’s exactly what Honda’s doing with the CBR250R too. You’re witnessing the future of motorcycle production — smaller capacities, products targeted at developing markets and manufacturing in countries with cheap labor.
Look at the KTM 125 Duke and you don’t see a the budget lash up the €3,500 price suggests. Instead it looks like a high-spec, full-size, exotic streetfighter. Components like the Brembo radial brake caliper, USD forks, steel-trellis frame, and the swingarm with its exposed webbing look just like the same parts on the KTM 690 Duke. The little Duke is meant to launch KTM into the youth street market while making strong overtures about the benefits of continuing with the brand to its teenage riders.
KTM’s able to do that because it leveraged its partnership with Bajaj to manufacture the 125 Duke in India with Indian-sourced components. That Brembo caliper? It’s made by an Indian subsidiary of the Italian brake giant called BYBRE. KTM’s trick is ensuring that the Duke meets Western standards of quality, design and performance at an Asian price.
The Honda CBR250R pulls off a similar trick. Look at it in person next to the visually similar VFR1200 and it’s the smaller bike that looks better. Less bulbous proportions pull off that trick, but it’s remarkable that none of the components on the $3,999 CBR250R fail to meet expectations next to the $15,999 VFR.
Again, that’s because Honda decided to manufacture the bike away from its traditional first world facilities. It’s a brand new motorcycle, yet it’s priced the same as the Kawasaki Ninja 250, which has been in production (in Japan) largely unaltered for 25 years. Kawasaki no longer needs to pay off the tooling or R&D costs on the littlest Ninja, yet it can’t sell it cheaper than the Thai-made CBR.
Honda is also going after the youth European market with the CBR250R, where the similarly Thai CBR125R has been a top seller since its release in 2004, but it also plans to sell the bike worldwide in markets as diverse as the US and its native Thailand. The same bike that’s considered a budget beginner machine here is thought of as a large, fast, fancy motorcycle in the country where it’s made.
That the same motorcycle, a motorcycle of a capacity and spec widely considered inferior in the west, can achieve significant sales not just in the US, not just in Asia, not just in South America, not just to European teenagers, but worldwide, is what makes all this so important.
That gargantuan Japanese manufacturers like Honda sell tons of small-capacity motorcycles overseas is nothing new. In 2010, Honda sold 18 million motorcycles worldwide while the entirety of the American motorcycle market accounted for just 439,000 total sales for all manufacturers last year. What’s new is niche manufacturers of premium products who formerly relied on selling expensive motorcycles in North America and Europe for all their sales are now starting to look elsewhere.
Ducati embodies that shift. No other maker, with the exception of Harley-Davidson, has better perfected the art of selling $15,000 motorcycles no one needs to Americans buying them on credit. Sure, they continue to make the big, fancy bikes, but if Claudio’s growth predictions are going to come true, bikes like the Diavel and Multistrada 1200 are increasingly going to represent a drop in a bucket full of smaller motorcycles. Compare the 8,000 Diavels and 8,000 Multistradas Ducati plans to make per-year to 60,000 overall sales and you can see the disconnect.
What’s this mean for you, the consumer? Well, we’ve probably seen the end of top-end performance bikes dominating product portfolios and burning up R&D budgets with major updates or even all-new models every two years. We’ve been spoiled for the last couple of decades with a plethora of unprecedentedly fast, technologically advanced motorcycles. With an average product development cycle taking 36 months from inception to retail, the bikes we’re getting now, the S1000RR, the ZX-10R, the RSV4, Ducati’s new superbike that’s coming this fall were all intended for 2007’s booming market. They also likely represent a golden age for the performance bike, the likes of which we won’t see again, at least in terms of choice. We’re not saying bikes like the RSV4 are going to go away, we’re saying don’t expect an RSV5 in 2012.
But instead of tons of brand new superbikes, we’re going to get more affordable, small to mid-capacity bikes of the kind in the examples used above. The kind of bikes that can be just as appealing to young riders in America as they are to mature riders in Thailand.
Look to KTM, Honda and, soon, Ducati for an example of how well this can work. Just like Cleveland CycleWerks is doing on a smaller scale, the large manufacturers are learning to control the quality at sources of cheap manufacturing and the savings are passed along to you, the end customer.
That also marks a fundamental shift at a manufacturer level away from focusing on sales to the Boomer generation and towards people in their teens and twenties.
“In my opinion, this the biggest single challenge for today's motorcycle manufacturers,” KTM’s Stefan Pierer told Alan Cathcart. “How can we direct our future products towards a younger customer? Because our average customer at KTM gets around seven months older each year, Harley's is already on the way to the retirement home, and BMW's average customer was getting on for 60.”
If the increasing number of appealing, affordable small- to mid-capacity bikes can continue to increase at a time when western economies continue to operate in austerity and fuel prices continue to increase, we could see the genesis of a entirely new motorcycle culture. One rooted in mean transportation and social club membership instead of masculine image and status statement.
The big news in 2011 isn’t bikes like the ZX-10R or Diavel, it’s the rise of the small, appealing, affordable motorcycle.


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- What is Chick Fil A worth?
- Is Popeyes black owned?
- Why is Chick Fil A so good?
- Why is Popeyes sandwich sold out?
- How many sandwiches did Popeyes sell?
- What makes Popeyes Chicken sandwich so good?
- What does Popeyes fry their fries in?
- How did Popeyes Chicken sandwich go viral?
- How bad is Popeyes for you?
- Is Popeyes Chicken sandwich fresh or frozen?
- Is Popeyes better than Chick Fil A?
- Is Popeyes still selling chicken sandwich 2020?
- Is the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich real chicken?
- What is KFC net worth?
What is Chick Fil A worth?
Chick-fil-A worth $4.5 billion, report says..
Is Popeyes black owned?
For decades, Popeyes, which is owned by Restaurant Brands International, has cooked “cajun” food inspired by black culture, presented racially representative marketing, and offered practical rungs to entrepreneurship. … In the 80s, more than a fifth of the restaurant’s franchises were owned by black entrepreneurs.
Why is Chick Fil A so good?
Chick-fil-A thrives because customers value the pleasant dining experience they have come to count on from the restaurant, an experience that likely results from the top-down corporate culture of the company. The fact that their food consistently receives high marks for taste doesn’t hurt, though.
Why is Popeyes sandwich sold out?
The company released a statement on Tuesday that “extraordinary demand” for the sandwich led the company to be sold out in just two weeks since its nationwide debut on August 12. Popeyes projected inventory would last till the end of September but the craze, fueled by social media, caused demand to exceed supply.
How many sandwiches did Popeyes sell?
Popeyes sold an estimated 1,000 chicken sandwiches a day, doubling store traffic.
What makes Popeyes Chicken sandwich so good?
Now, we know that Chick-fil-A has been America’s favorite fast-food chain for years and has been leading the fast-food chicken sandwich game for decades, but the Popeyes chicken sandwich still manages to stand out with its buttery brioche buns encasing crispy chicken, and customers are enjoying the sweeter flavor.
What does Popeyes fry their fries in?
They will now top their biscuits with a trans free fat and do the same with their french fries. In Louisiana, it is said that they fry only in lard.
How did Popeyes Chicken sandwich go viral?
Popeyes’ chicken sandwich went viral this fall thanks to a combination of luck and taste, according to the boss of the fried-chicken chain’s parent company. “A really fortuitous moment of social media interaction” between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A fueled the hype, Restaurant Brands CEO José Cil said this week.
How bad is Popeyes for you?
Popeyes chicken is definitely unhealthy But when it comes to Popeyes, there’s bad news for fans — it’s particularly bad. … One of Popeyes’ new and insanely popular sandwiches comes with a shocking 690 calories, 42 grams of fat, and 1,443 mg of sodium. That just sounds terrible, and it is.
Is Popeyes Chicken sandwich fresh or frozen?
Most of the chicken Popeyes serves has never been frozen The bone-in chicken arrives at each restaurant fresh, then the staff brines, batters and fries the bird in-house.
Is Popeyes better than Chick Fil A?
Very basic. The Popeyes chicken is much thicker, with a craggly breaded crust that really sets it apart. Chick-Fil-A might win the sauce game—you can’t top the classic Chick-Fil-A sauce—but when it comes to chicken, Popeyes wins.
Is Popeyes still selling chicken sandwich 2020?
Popeyes chicken sandwich: The food fight of 2019 won’t end in 2020.
Is the Popeyes Chicken Sandwich real chicken?
On August 12, Popeyes, a beloved Louisiana fried chicken chain now headquartered in Miami, debuted its new fried chicken sandwich. The sandwich features a slab of crunchy fried chicken breast on brioche with pickles and mayonnaise.
What is KFC net worth?
KFC has been an American fried chicken staple since Colonel Sanders took his signature spices and fried goodness to the masses in the 1950s. According to Forbes, the brand is valued at $8.5 billion and places 86th on their World’s Most Valuable Brands 2019 list.


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Intel will kill off legacy BIOS support in favor of UEFI by 2020Tuesday, 28 Nov 2017
Intel has announced that it will stop supporting the PC BIOS by 2020.
Sapphire Releases Exclusive BIOS Update for R9 290 Graphics Card (Updated)Saturday, 23 Nov 2013
Sapphire has just release a BIOS update for its Radeon R9 290 graphics card. With the new BIOS, the card is touted to perform better.
EVGA Announces Double BIOS Graphics CardsMonday, 19 Aug 2013
EVGA has announced its Double BIOS feature for a select range of its NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700 series graphics cards. With this feature, the graphics card is able to support a secondary BIOS, for performance tweaking or as a backup for the card's primary BIOS.
AMI BIOS Source Code and UEFI Signing Key Found on Public FTP ServerTuesday, 9 Apr 2013
The source code of different versions of AMI firmware and a unique UEFI signing test key were found on an unsecured FTP server. As such, such a security leak may have grave implications for desktop systems that feature motherboards that operate on the AMI UEFI BIOS.
MSI Updates Z68 and H61 Motherboard Series to Support Intel Ivy Bridge CPUFriday, 24 Feb 2012
MSI has announced BIOS updates for its Intel Express Z68 and H61 motherboard series to support Intel Ivy Bridge processors. These updates will be released progressively on the official website of MSI. The new 22nm Ivy Bridge processors are expected to be launched in April.
Gigabyte Issues BIOS Update for X79 Motherboards Prone to Overheating when OverclockedThursday, 29 Dec 2011
Gigabyte has issued a crucial BIOS update for three of its X79 motherboards which are the GA-X79-UD3, GA-X79-UD5 and G1.Assassin 2. The company has admitted these boards may overheat and burn when they are overclocked.
BIOS Dead in Three Years?Wednesday, 9 Jun 2010
According to an anonymous source, MSI is planning to ditch the BIOS and adopt UEFI by the end of this year, starting with its Sandy Bridge motherboards.


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The COVID-19 pandemic has brought uncertainty, fear, and anxiety to our workplaces, especially for small business owners and their employees. How do you lead your business through these uncertain times? How can you be empathetic to your employees’ concerns while also empowering them to do their best work? Here are our top tips for leading.
The current COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of uncertainty to our economy, with many businesses temporarily shuttered and millions of people facing unemployment. If you are a business owner, now is the time to prepare for recession. Read on to learn our best tips for recession-proofing your business so you can weather any economic.


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Vietnam Expo 2018 to be held in Hanoi
The opening of a national booth of Cuba at Vietnam Expo 2018, to be held in Hanoi from April 11-14, will be a good chance for Vietnamese and Cuban businesses to facilitate their partnership and tap into the economic cooperation potential between the two countries.
Visitors at the Vietnam Expo 2017. Photo: vietnamexpo.com.vn
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam is among the top 10 trade partners of Cuba, and the second most important Asian partner of the Caribbean country.
Vietnam’s most popular product in Cuba include farm produce, garment, consumer goods and telecommunication products, while Cuba’s strengths include education, health care and construction.
Last year, trade revenue between Vietnam and Cuba reached 224.3 million USD, with Vietnam’s exports valued at 217 million USD and imports 7.3 million USD. The two sides are striving for the target of 500 million USD in trade in 2022.
Cuba is the gateway for Vietnam to access the Latin American market, while Vietnam offers the path for Cuban firms to approach Asian countries.
Cuba is now a promising market for Vietnamese firms in tourism, agriculture, telecommunications, consumer goods, footwear and garment-textile.
During the recent visit to Cuba of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam’s Viglacera Corporation received a licence to develop an industrial park in Cuba’s Mariel Special Economic Management Zone.
In recent years, Cuban businesses have become more active in Vietnam thanks to dynamic and open foreign policies of Vietnam.
- Hanoi: Hang Luoc Flower market opened
- US hails Hanoi’s push for eco-friendly public transports
- Vietnam’s largest waste-to-power plant to begin operation from Jan. 20
- Hanoi plans to build 44 million square meters of housing in 2021-2025
- Hanoi's housing market set to heat up in 2022
- Hanoi's students may return to school after Tet holiday
- Hanoi allocates 1,200 hectares for 5 new industrial parks in 2021-2025
- Hanoi requests to vacate six degraded condominiums
- Hanoi’s first metro line offcially inaugurated
- Hanoi promotes vaccination for homebound vulnerable people
US hails Hanoi’s push for eco-friendly public transports
Smoother transactions at Vietnam-China border, Hanoi says
Vietnam's tourism to be fully restored by April 30
Hanoi: Hang Luoc Flower market opened
Vietnam expected to be ASEAN’s fastest-growing economy in 2022: ADB
Face-to-face schooling resumption urged in the new normal
Funeral of Vietnamese peacekeeper die on duty
Grand old peach trees grace Hanoi’s streets
Culinary film festival to open virtually in Vietnam


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The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has partnered with Queensland, Australia-based TravelbyBit to facilitate cryptocurrency payments at airports around the world. Binance has reportedly invested $2.5 million into the crypto payments startup to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies by the mainstream.
Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao announced that Binance, in partnership TravelbyBit, intends to do their part to bolster the adoption of cryptocurrencies. The goal of the initiative is to establish point-of-sale (PoS) systems that accept digital currencies at airports around the world.
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 3, 2018
Now travelers can pay for airline tickets as well as goods and services throughout airport shops using cryptocurrencies. For now, the PoS technology will support bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Binance Coin (BNB). Zhao pointed out that the airport is perfect for promoting the adoption of cryptos:
“Let’s start with airports and go from there. Look for TravelByBit and put your coins (hopefully the Binance Coin or BNB) to use.”
Australia and Crypto
TravelbyBit boasts a strong presence in Australia, where its PoS devices already enable payments with cryptocurrencies. Participating merchants can choose whether they want to keep the payments received crypto or convert the sales into the local currency.
TravelbyBit CEO Caleb Yeoh stated:
“Imagine traveling with multiple stopovers and only needing a single currency. We’re working with the most innovative airports and retailers who want to offer their consumers non-traditional payment options and a chance to experience cutting-edge technology.”
The Queensland Government recognizes great potential in TravelbyBit and its impact on tourism, and the company has received a $100,000 grant to further develop the technology and expand its services. The region has clearly proven itself to be crypto-friendly and innovative in comparison to other jurisdictions.


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"The negative outlook reflects the risk of a deterioration in the credit profile of Adani Ports and Adani Electricity Mumbai due to governance risks and funding challenges for the larger Adani Group," it said.
The California-based firm has been aiming to accelerate Chinese sales that have been hit hard by the impact of Sino-U.S. trade tensions. It has adjusted prices of its U.S.-made cars in China to make them affordable.
Tesla said in a statement that it held a delivery event in Beijing on Friday which "marked a significant milestone for the market". The firm had said in January that Model 3 deliveries in China would begin in March.
The magazine's decision to withdraw its endorsement, less than nine months after recommending the electric sedan, raised questions about quality that Tesla has faced since the Model 3's difficult launch.
Tesla currently imports all the cars it sells in China but is in the process of building a factory in Shanghai that will manufacture Model 3 cars in the initial phase.
The company said in October that its China sales had been hammered after Beijing raised tariffs on imports of U.S. autos to 40 percent in July amid the trade tensions.
China has since temporarily suspended the additional 25 percent tariff, reducing it to the 15 percent level.


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Also, Ikea builds its own new smart-home biz, euNetworks deploys in Milan and Madrid, IoT's impact on security systems and Hernando County, Fla., gets wired for speed.
In an ex parte filing with the Federal Communication Commission on Thursday, Huawei argued the US government is unfairly treating ZTE and Huawei while ignoring "numerous telecommunications companies [that] have connections with China that are equally or, in many cases, more significant than those of Huawei." Some of these are "state-owned entities," while others have major manufacturing or other business interests in China, the vendor wrote in its 252-page submission (which included the letter and supporting documents such as competitors' earnings reports, industry analysis and research firms' data). Connections with China result from globalization and are not a proxy for national security threats, Huawei said. That's why the Commission has not -- and should not -- target Nokia, despite the Finnish vendor's joint venture with the Chinese government, Huawei said. As the FCC and other US government agencies finalize funding rules for fixed- and wireless access for rural broadband, 5G and urban infrastructure, the timing is critical for Huawei and operators -- especially smaller providers that represent many of its customers. (See Trump Is Losing the European War Against Huawei and Huawei Defies US Ban With 23% Lift in H1 Revenue.)
Powerful Allies in the Future of Infrastructure
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (right) is one of several administrative officials giving input to President Trump on Huawei's future role (or continued absence) in US infrastructure -- both fixed and 5G. (Photo source: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
Swedish retail giant Ikea could "rocket" its way up the smart-home market, predicted Ovum Senior Practice Leader for Consumer Services Michael Philpott, in post today. Although Ikea, famous (or infamous) for its DIY furniture kits -- and those meatballs, of course -- has only modestly invested in this market since 2012, it's already become a "relatively important player in the ecosystem, especially around lighting" he said. The retailer plans to form a separate business, called Ikea Home Smart, and will significantly invest in this area. Add that to the company's reputation for affordable and clever products, its solid branding and large stores located in many urban areas, and Ikea could help smart home gain traction among a new set of consumers, Philpott wrote. (See BBWN Bites: TiVo Goes Halvsies, Senators Seek Better Broadband Map.)
Bandwidth infrastructure provider euNetworks deployed new duct-based, high-fiber networks in Milan and Madrid, it announced on Sept. 19. Both are designed to meet the ever-growing bandwidth demands in financial districts, high-tech startup sectors and data centers, euNetworks said. In fact, a key strategy is for euNetworks to connect data centers between and within European cities, both via its 17 deep-fiber networks across the continent and using its long-haul network that spans Europe. The provider also continues to invest in its infrastructure, adding unique routes and paths, extending into major hyperscale data center sites and clusters, and expanding network aggregation points, it said.
By 2023, more than 15% of UK broadband households will have "professionally installed or non-traditional residential security systems," according to Parks Associates. Across the English Channel, 10% of Spanish broadband households and 9% of French broadband households will have these systems in-place within four years, the research firm predicted. Non-traditional security systems include professionally installed systems that don't subscribe to professionally monitored services or installed systems that don't comply with "full professional industry standards" because, in some cases, homeowners self-installed.
WANRack deployed more than 60 miles of fiber-optic infrastructure throughout Hernando County, Fla., to support high-speed broadband for area businesses, data centers, healthcare and education facilities, government sites and cell towers. Based on the WANRack fiber-optic WAN, the network gives customers unlimited bandwidth as demand grows from 1 Gbps to 100 Gbps and beyond, according to the provider of dark and lit fiber.
With WiFi 6, service providers are equipped to give subscribers high-quality support without the overhead associated with truck rolls or technician visits, writes Greg Owens, senior director of product marketing at Calix.
The ongoing debate around GPON vs EPON can get as heated as discussions around politics and religion, but both technologies offer some advantages over the other depending on the needs your network is servicing.
In this webinar, we will focus on the facts around the GPON vs EPON debate and how that technological decision is almost always made based on factors outside the technology itself.
In this insightful Light Reading radio show, Kurt Raaflaub, Head of Strategic Solutions Marketing, will outline the key service provider challenges, deployment considerations, next-gen Gigabit technologies, and service models to win market share in the rapidly growing MDU market.