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Netflix has officially closed a deal with Sony for global streaming rights to the iconic “show about nothing”: “Seinfeld.”
The streaming giant announced on Twitter Monday that it will offer all episodes of “Seinfeld” to customers worldwide as soon as the five-year deal starts in 2021.
“Jerry & Elaine & George & Kramer & Netflix. All 180 episodes of the Emmy-Award winning Seinfeld are coming to Netflix — worldwide! — starting in 2021,” Netflix said on Twitter.
"Seinfeld is the television comedy that all television comedy is measured against," Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos told The Hollywood Reporter. "It is as fresh and funny as ever, and will be available to the world in 4K for the first time. We can’t wait to welcome Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer to their new global home on Netflix.“
Netflix acquiring “Seinfeld” is a huge victory for the company following the loss of “Friends” and “The Office,” which users watched roughly 85 billion minutes of, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
FILE - The cast of Seinfeld pictured left to right: Michael Richards, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jerry Seinfeld and Jason Alexander.
Hulu currently holds domestic streaming rights to the show, while Amazon distributes it internationally until Netflix’s exclusive deal kicks in.
While exact numbers of the sale have not been disclosed, the Los Angeles Times reports Netflix is dishing out far more than the $425 million that AT&T’s WarnerMedia paid for “Friends” on its streaming service, HBO Max, and the $500 million NBCUniversal paid for the “The Office.”


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Delta announced it will begin closing its foreign call centers and move all customer service operations to the U.S. The airline cited customer complaints when explaining the move, and said it stopped routing calls to off-shore call centers during the first three months of the year. The call centers were located in India.
This isn’t the first time an airline has closed its Indian-based customer service operations. United shut down its telephone operations entirely, and in the process closed an Indian call center that wasn’t popular with customers.
Unlike United, however, Delta will continue offering a customer service phone line. This is good, because if your opinions are any indication, travelers generally prefer using the phone when contacting an airline.

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Due to a hacking attempt earlier in the day, Stormfiber’s main website, Pakistan’s most dependable fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) internet and television service provider, saw significant anomalies. The Neo-h4ck3r hacker collective from India was identified as the source of the attempt.
With the recent launch of its services in Rawalpindi after making a huge impact with its high-quality service in the rest of the country, StormFiber, Pakistan’s #1 corporate ISP, powered by Cybernet, has seen an increase in business.
The hacking effort can be explained by a variety of factors, including the theft of customer information such as bank or credit card information, CNIC numbers, etc. However, the attempt was effectively thwarted because no data breaches occurred, and Stormfiber alerted its clients of the situation via social media.
They stated, “This morning, foreign hackers targeted our website www.stromfiber.com, changing the front page. Due to the website’s limited public, static content storage, no consumer payment information was compromised.
In any case, before bringing the website back online, we had to sanitise and repair it. Aside from that, our website, which was developed using the most recent infrastructure and technology, will be launched next month. This tragic incidence on our current website happened while it was being tested.
“Our users connect on to use an external internet payment gateway (IPG) to make payments; each time they do so, they are prompted to enter their card information. As we don’t save payment information at the time the payment is processed, we do this. Tokenization is now being enabled so that card numbers can be saved securely; however, the most secure method is to manually enter card information each time. We regret the difficulty and commotion we have created.
The internet has a significant impact on how interconnected our modern world is. India has tried unsuccessfully for more than ten years to breach our websites in an effort to demonstrate to the world its fifth generation cyber warfare capabilities. Such attacks have also been seen against websites belonging to the military and other governmental institutions in an effort to obtain sensitive information, but the Pakistani government has always been successful in thwarting all attempts and will do likewise in the future.


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Toshiba has finally announced the sale of its memory chip unit for $18bn to a consortium led by Bain Capital.
After eight months of bid battling, the chipmaker has now signed a deal to sell its memory chip unit. Rumours of Apple being part of the investment materialised, as well as Dell also being among the technology companies included in the Bain Capital-led consortium.
Other investors in the group include Japanese Hoya, South Korea’s SK Hynix, Kingston Technology Corporation and Seagate Technology.
The consortium buying Toshiba’s Memory Corporation (TMC) will be known as ‘Pangea’, formed and controlled by Bain Capital. Terms and conditions to the sale have been outlined by Toshiba in a share purpose agreement (SPA).
Toshiba’s SPA brings a set of conditions, stating that the Japanese companies among the investors will hold over 50% of the common stock in the ‘special company’, Pangea. In comparison, US investors of the memory chip business will not hold any voter rights or common stock.
Chipmaker Company Toshiba said: “The US investors will not acquire any common stock or voting rights over TMC. In addition, SK Hynix will be firewalled from accessing TMC proprietary information and will not be permitted to own more than 15% of the voting rights for a period of 10 years.”
Following the transfer of shares to Pangea, Bain Capital and Toshiba has said the consortium and TMC management will “lead TMC’s business operations to secure continuous growth”.
Although the deal has already been confirmed, regulatory requirements are still necessary to ensure the agreement doesn’t breach any rules or national security.
Toshiba is still in an on-going legal battle with joint venture Western Digital, who wants to stop the sale due to claims it breaches partnership agreements.
Regarding the legal dispute, Toshiba has said: “The SPA contemplates that the sale of TMC will be consummated even if the Joint Venture interests have not been transferred to TMC prior to the closing, unless the transfer of TMC’s stock itself is blocked by an injunctive order.”
Upon agreement on the terms between Toshiba and Pangea, the memory chip company aims to seal the deal by the end of March 2018.


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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ordered a half-dozen e-cigarette companies to turn over sales and advertising data, the federal regulator said on Thursday, in the first sign of a likely probe of their marketing practices.
The announcement comes the same day the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of confirmed and probable cases of lung illnesses associated with vaping had reached 1,080 in the United States. The CDC also said on Thursday that 18 people have died due to the lung illnesses.
The FTC order was sent to JUUL Labs Inc, RJ Reynolds Vapor Company, Fontem US Inc, Logic Technology Development LLC (LOGQ.PK), Nu Mark LLC and NJOY LLC, the FTC said in a statement.
The FTC is seeking annual sales data and information on giveaways, data on product placement and flavors, as well as information on the companies’ use of celebrities as internet influencers and marketing on college campuses to sell the electronic smoking devices. The first order was sent about a month ago, an FTC official said.
Altria Group Inc (MO.N), which owns Nu Mark and has a 35% stake in Juul, will comply with the FTC request for information on Nu Mark, a company spokesman said. A Juul spokesman said the company will fully cooperate with the FTC.
A Fontem Ventures spokeswoman said the company has been working with the FTC and will meet the request’s deadline. Reynolds American said it is reviewing the request, while Japan Tobacco said it is looking forward to continuing its dialogue with the FTC.
The FTC order comes a week after a U.S. House of Representatives panel asked Fontem Ventures, Reynolds American, NJOY and Japan Tobacco (2914.T), which owns Logic, to stop all advertising of their products in the United States. Juul had said the same day that it would pull its ads.
The CDC has urged people to stop using e-cigarettes or vaping products, including those containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
The Trump administration has announced plans to remove all flavored e-cigarette products from the market in the United States amid concerns that flavors like mint and mango attract children to the products.
Reporting by Susan Heavey, Diane Bartz and Bryan Pietsch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bill Berkrot and Dan Grebler


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Meta is gearing up to release artificial intelligence-powered chatbots across its platforms in a bid to bring younger users back.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which has seen internal emails and reports from the company, the chatbots could be set to launch as early as this week.
There are thought to be “dozens” of these chatbots launching across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. Each will have its own distinct personality and are designed to drive engagement with users, rather than primarily being about providing help or services.
The chatbots will be driven by generative AI technology, similar to that behind other chatbot services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Users input chat prompts and the AI will respond in character to whatever the user requests, in an effort to replicate human dialogue.
One example of these ‘Gen AI Personas’ is a bot called ‘Bob the Robot,’ a “self-described sassmaster general” with “superior intellect, sharp wit, and biting sarcasm.” Bob is ‘inspired’ by the robot character Bender in the cartoon series Futurama and, according to internal Meta conversations, “him being a sassy robot taps into the type of farcical humour that is resonating with young people.”
Meta, which rebranded from Facebook in 2021, has been in a long-running competition with rivals who have been drawing younger demographics away. Copying the offerings of other social media companies has been one method of attempting to keep pace, with varying degrees of success.
The launch of Threads earlier this year was met with much fanfare and headlines about ‘the death of Twitter,’ however, user engagement has plummeted. Threads is essentially a clone of the ailing text-based social media app bought by billionaire Elon Musk last year and rebranded to ‘X’.
TikTok is currently the biggest threat to Meta as that app has now become more popular with teenagers and under-25s. Snapchat also launched an AI chatbot feature in February of this year, which Meta appears to have taken note of.
Meta’s Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said in October 2021 that the company would make “serving young adults their North Star rather than optimising for the larger number of older people.”
However, while AI chatbots are the latest ‘thing’, there appears to be no clear commercial benefit to their use. Snapchat’s MyAI bot has been used by 150 million people since its launch but has caused the company a number of issues by discussing sex and alcohol with its primarily teenage user base.
In addition, older users tend to be more sceptical of AI and believe chatbots can be unhelpful and even risky. Despite the early wave of interest in AI following the launch of ChatGPT in December last year, monthly visits to the OpenAI site have dropped significantly since May.
AI chatbots don’t “exactly scream Gen Z to me, but definitely Gen Z is much more comfortable” with the technology, Meghana Dhar, a former Snap and Instagram executive, told the Wall Street Journal. “Definitely the younger you go, the higher the comfort level is with these bots.”
“Meta’s entire strategy for new products is often built around increased user engagement,” Dhar said. “They just want to keep their users on the platform longer because that provides them with increased opportunity to serve them ads.”
Whether the strategy will work or not remains to be seen.


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Morrisons has announced a price drop on their litre bottles of Baileys.
The Irish Cream usually retails at £20 at the store, but now a litre bottle of the Original flavoured stuff is on offer at just £12.
Customers can save £8 with the offer, which is an absolutle steal.
The offer is available until April online and is currently in-store too.
It comes after Morrisons revealed they were selling pink Easter eggs made with ruby cocoa beans.
The luxury chocolate is called the Ruby Chocolate Jewelled Half Easter Egg and features a rosy tinge.
The egg costs £12 and is studded with roasted pistachios, caramelised hazelnut nibs, candied orange peel and dried raspberries.
At the centre, shoppers can find a mini dark chocolate ganache egg that’s been decorated with gold lustre.
And if Baileys and chocolate isn’t your thing, the supermarket is also offering a frozen meal deal to brighten your weekend.
Customers can get a Dr. Oetker Ristorante pizza, Aunt Bessie’s chips and Viennetta ice cream for just £12.


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NEW YORK (AP) — A bride-to-be looking for a gown online can find dresses with trains and lace for well under $300. Go into a local bridal shop, and the average price will stretch into four figures, taking some shoppers by surprise.
That kind of price disparity puts small businesses at a big disadvantage. Whether they sell to consumers or to other companies, owners struggle with customers' perceptions of what a product or service should cost, even if those expectations are unrealistic. Online competition — not just from Amazon, but from retailers and service providers of all sizes — can force owners to keep absorbing their rising costs rather than pass along the increases to customers. The problem is exacerbated by the Trump administration's 25% tariffs on thousands of imported items. Even wealthy customers balk at the higher prices.
Cut-rate prices on websites that sell wedding dresses direct from China put pressure on Ann Campeau, who owns four bridal shops. She has had customers come in expecting to get a dress at a price similar to what they saw for a low-end gown online.
"They think, if I go to a store with a $500 budget, I can get what I want. That's not even my wholesale cost," says Campeau, whose shops include Strut in Tempe, Arizona, and Long Beach, California, and Garnet & Grace in Whittier and Hayward, California.
Bridal shops sell dresses at the manufacturer's suggested retail price, similar to prices at auto dealerships. And since many gowns are made in China, they're being hit by 25% tariffs.
"I don't think our industry can afford to raise our prices without losing most of our customers to online sales," Campeau says.
A study published last year by Albert Cavallo, a Harvard Business School marketing professor, found that price changes across the U.S. retailing industry have become more frequent over the last decade because of online competition. According to the study, the amount of time merchandise was sold at regular prices, excluding sales and temporary discounts, fell to approximately 3.65 months during 2014-2017 from 6.7 months in 2008-2010. Over that time, online and mail order sales exploded, rising to a 14.5% share of retail sales from 5.5%, according the Commerce Department.
To survive, small businesses need a way to differentiate themselves from competitors who have dramatically low prices; for example, bridal shops can turn buying a wedding gown into a special occasion.
"We provide an experience that some women still value," says Campeau, who's been in business for nine years.
Prospective clients have told Akiva Goldstein that big companies can quote them better rates for information technology services like his, and within minutes. But clients may not be aware of what their IT needs and goals are, and whether they will get the service they want from a big player, says Goldstein, owner of New York-based OnsiteIn60. In such cases, he has to explain in detail why they're better off paying a higher price for his kind of service.
"You can't make a business decision if you haven't been educated properly," he says.
The internet, by making so much information available, has given consumers and business customers more power, says Charles Lindsey, a marketing professor at the University at Buffalo's School of Management, part of the State University of New York.
"It has changed not only the way we shop, but also the way we think about the marketplace and businesses and how consumers interact with businesses," he says. "B2B (business-to-business transactions) is being affected in many cases by the same dynamics."
The shift in power forces business owners to develop new strategies to preserve sales and profits.
"We will often spend weeks crunching numbers to decide if we should adjust our prices by just a few percentage points to keep up with online competition or stay where we are and ultimately lose business," says Will Munroe, director of e-commerce for Rug Studio, a retailer that operates online and at four stores in Texas. He's found that many online shoppers peruse the prices on Google's shopping site and sort the rugs they find by price.
"If we aren't the lowest price, then it is very likely we'll lose that customer," Munroe says.
The retailer has also changed its merchandise mix, offering more rugs that can be used indoors as well as outdoors — while they tend to be cheaper than strictly indoor rugs, their quality has improved in recent years and they attract buyers who want a lower price.
Pricing is an ongoing balancing act, says Nikki Corbett, owner of Precise, an editing and proofreading service based in Climax, North Carolina.
"I am constantly aware of the marketplace and how my pricing matches up to competitors as well as what the market will bear," Corbett says.
But Corbett has also learned that clients who balk at her rates and turn to one of her competitors were likely to be difficult or short-term customers. She finds that despite prospective clients' quest for lower prices, those who are the most loyal are often willing to pay more to get good service.
Customers at Gerald Olesker's lighting company include wealthy homeowners who can afford to pay high prices for lighting systems, but, he says, "they are just as careful with those dollars as any wise consumer." And Olesker, owner of ADG Lighting in Agora Hills, California, has seen those customers become more frugal during this quarter as they see tariffs driving up prices.
"There may be a bit more tolerance for price fluctuation among wealthy consumers but there is a limit and when we reach that limit, it impacts us," he says.
To preserve his profits, Olesker is doing more work for corporations. While he has had a good business with hotels, he's now branching out into lighting for retailers.
"I have to have another revenue stream," he says.


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An Apple store in Shanghai, China. The company made plenty of money in its fiscal third quarter but still disappointed Wall Street.
Is it a lull? That's the easiest way to read Apple's not-unexpected fiscal third-quarter earnings miss, which was announced after markets closed today. For the record, profits were actually up year-over-year — by over a billion dollars — but Wall Street wanted more for one of the most expensive stocks on the entire stock market. Analysts were looking for $10.37 per share, but they got more than a buck less: $9.32 per share.
AAPL was duly pummeled in after-hours trading, dropping by more than 5 percent.
Blame for this just appalling performance (kidding, obviously) goes to some bumpy issues with various products, but really falls squarely in the impending launch of the iPhone 5. Apple is selling more iPads — 17 million in its fiscal Q3 — but the iPhone still accounts for the lion's share of Apple's profits. Consumers eagerly await the iPhone 5, which is technically the sixth generation of the smartphone. The consensus view is that this anticipation, this delayed gratification, is cutting into iPhone 4S sales, which while nothing to sneeze at didn't enable Apple to achieve enough growth to clear that $10.37/share hurdle.
The new Microsoft Surface tablet PC was unveiled today in Hollywood. Should Apple and the iPad be worried?
As expected, Microsoft unveiled its new tablet, called "Surface," in Hollywood today. The device is designed to attack the market-leading iPad's only real weakness: the perception that it's a device for consumption rather than creation — for reading and watching rather than getting things done.
Unlike the iPad, Surface is less a pure tablet than a sort of collapsible PC. It runs Windows 8, the latest version of Microsoft's well-known operating system. There's an integrated stand and two covers that double as full keyboards, one of which provides a more conventional, tactile typing experience. The whole thing weighs in at about a pound and a half. It's sleek and black and has a ultrabook-esque selection of ports. (Covers come in a range of colors.)
A relatively subdued but kind of intense Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, called the tablet "a tool to surface you passions, ideas and creativity." He also stressed that it's all about Windows 8, a piece of software that "deserved its own hardware innovation."
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Coming soon to an Apple Store near you: iTV?
Will they or won't they? That's been the burning debate in tech/Appleology circles over whether Cupertino will roll out a high-end, thoroughly Apple-ized high-def TV. I've been pondering this question pretty regularly, given that I think Apple is at the tail end of an innovation cycle that started with the iPod (reinvented music), then moved on to the iPhone (an iPod with a phone, re-invented mobile), and then brought out the iPad (a big iPod, poised to decimate the low-cost PC market). What's next?
A TV set — versus the current AppleTV box — seems obvious. The reinvention factor will be the delivery of TV content. And therein lies the challenge: Apple has put, in sequence, the music industry, the wireless industry, and the publishing industry at its feet. Will Hollywood and the cable companies agree to play by Apple's terms?
JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Customers test new the IPad at an Apple store. Apple beat quarterly earnings expectations today by a very decent margin.
If you've been hiding in your bomb shelter, you probably missed Apple's precipitous stock-price drop last week and this, bottoming at $560 per share today and giving up, like, $100 billion in market cap. But then the magic of shattered earnings expectations hit and hit HARD. The company made $11.6 billion in its second fiscal quarter and earned $12.30 per share. That killed the expectation of $10.06 per share, according to Business Insider.
More importantly, the "weakness" in iPhone sales didn't materialize — Apple sold 35.1 million, nearly five million more than expected. This was one of the possible negatives driving Apple share price down, as analysts speculated on what remains the core of Apple's business.
There is a hint of bad news amid all this boffo good news, which has pushed Apple right back up to $600 per share in after-hours trading (a whopping 7.35-percent increase). The theoretically revolutionary iPad sold "only" 11.8 million units, below the 13 million that were anticipated.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple product launch event at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on March 7, 2012 in San Francisco, California.
Apple has made its position known in an e-books price-fixing lawsuit that the Department of Justice filed against it and, originally, five big publishers, but now just two (three have already settled). And its position is pretty clear:
The DOJ's accusation of collusion against Apple is simply not true. The launch of the iBookstore in 2010 fostered innovation and competition, breaking Amazon's monopolistic grip on the publishing industry. Since then customers have benefited from ebooks that are more interactive and engaging. Just as we've allowed developers to set prices on the App Store, publishers set prices on the iBookstore.
The DOJ claims that Apple and various publishers colluded to get the industry to switch from retail pricing (where book sellers like Amazon set ebook prices) to the agency model, where the publishers themselves determine ebook prices. The DOJ alleges that the publishers and Apple made the switch in tandem to combat Amazon's dominance and its $9.99 price point for the vast majority of ebooks it sold.


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3 min read.Updated: 27 Jun 2019, 09:43 AM ISTBloomberg
The Hector, launching formally in India on Thursday, marks the first Chinese entrant in a difficult market
In India, SAIC will be up against the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co
Benedict Cumberbatch walks to a shiny red SUV, greets the vehicle and instructs it to play his favorite music, turn on the air conditioner and open the sunroof. “It’s a human thing," says the award-winning actor as he drives what’s being touted as India’s first internet car.
That’s the latest television ad for the MG Hector from the iconic brand Morris Garages, now owned by Chinese giant SAIC Motor Corp. The Hector, launching formally in India on Thursday, marks the first Chinese entrant in a notoriously difficult market where the likes of General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. have struggled.
As car sales in China plummet, its manufacturers are expanding abroad. In India, SAIC will be up against the local unit of Suzuki Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. Together, they control two-thirds of the world’s fourth-biggest market where 3.4 million passenger vehicles were sold in the year through March. Adding to SAIC’s challenges, auto sales in India have also been shrinking for several months.
“They have a long-term view of entering and staying in the market -- they won’t mind whatever temporary slowdown is there in the country," said Bharat Gianani, an analyst at brokerage Sharekhan Ltd. in Mumbai. “To succeed, you need volumes and high localization. You need to have a proper pipeline of new launches with lots of segment-first features."
SAIC is betting on exactly that. The Cumberbatch commercial focuses on new features such as voice assistance and remote vehicle control, some of them unheard of in India except in luxury models. Gianani said that using the British marque MG will also help SAIC avert any local perceptions about Chinese products’ inferior quality -- hence it’s also tapped Cumberbatch, a Brit, as a brand ambassador.
Even then, SAIC has its work cut out to challenge the incumbents’ cheap, fuel-efficient cars that have fended off global competition. Even after trying to tailor their cars to local tastes, the likes of GM and Ford failed to match the appeal and prices of the market leaders.
GM was forced to scrap a $1 billion investment in India in 2017 and halt sales of its Chevrolet models. The company’s market share was just 1%. Ford, among the first global automakers to enter India in 1995, also hasn’t seen meaningful success and is now co-developing vehicles with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
Still, the Chinese may have a better understanding of what Indian shoppers want as “the two countries are at the same development stage," said Xu Haidong, an assistant Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. SAIC’s models are “quite close" to Hyundai in competitiveness and capable of rivaling Suzuki, he said.
The potential size of the Indian market does leave room for newcomers and Chinese-built affordable cars to compete with local and foreign brands, said Steve Man, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence in Hong Kong. Still, a key precondition for success is a strong network of dealers and service centers, something SAIC has yet to build, he said.
Such networks are a primary reason why Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Hyundai have managed to corner the bulk of the market, according to Sharekhan’s Gianani. While SAIC’s focus on SUVs, a premium category, may hold back volumes initially, further launches down the road will help it take on the established players, he said.
Among SAIC’s planned products is one of India’s first locally built electric cars for the mass market. China is a front-runner in new-energy vehicles, potentially giving SAIC and its peers an edge as markets around the world shift toward greener autos.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.
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Nintendo have have uploaded a new video to their YouTube Channel. Mia, the host of Nintendo Sneak Peek went to Wisconsin to the Wilmot Mountain Ski Resort to interview some skiiers at the resort to see what they think of the Nintendo Switch.
You can check out the video for yourself below:
Tags: Gaming, Mia, Miketendo64, Nintendo, Nintendo Sneak Peak, Nintendo Switch, videogames
This post was written by Mike Scorpio


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The Chicago Fire are expected to debut their 2014 adidas home kit during Sunday’s MLS meeting with the Portland Timbers at Providence Park. Now available at World Soccer Shop, the new shirt was launched as part of MLS’ Jersey Week 2014.
According to the Chicago Fire website: In conjunction with adidas, the Fire designed a jersey that embodies the spirit of Chicago, drawing inspiration from the city’s flag and most iconic emblems. The front of the jersey is highlighted by the light blue color from the flag, while the back features the six-pointed stars on the Fire’s lenticular crest and the neck tape.
“What we wanted to do with this design was honor the Club’s past and its distinctive ties to the city, but also embrace the Fire’s forward movement with new, exciting features that represent the future and the progressive direction of the organization,” said Atul Khosla, chief operating officer for the Chicago Fire Soccer Club.
In keeping with tradition, the Club and adidas included one of the city’s most iconic attributes in the 2014 kit.
“This year’s look is inspired by the fire trucks of City of Chicago,” said Mike Walker, global product manager at adidas North America. “They have a distinctive look with a dark top, a band and red throughout the bottom half.
Not only does this give a nod to the Chicago Fire Department, but it’s also a very iconic element of the city itself. We also thought it was so compelling to see the light blue color of the Chicago flag represented so powerfully across the front band of the kit.”
Photo Credits: Chicago Fire


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JAKARTA – Entering 2019 Customs continues to create various innovations and strategies in order to respond to the rapid development of industry that has entered the industrial stage 4.0. Strategic steps are taken by perfecting business processes in all lines and innovation and modernization following the development of the global economy in the digital era.
Related to that, the Directorate General of Customs (DJBC) implements the third generation manifest to facilitate service users while reducing logistics costs. This is one of the Customs steps to be able to increase the ease of business in Indonesia and the smooth flow of goods.
“The third generation Manifest is the latest version that prioritizes the principles of automation and simplification in line with the Customs and Excise Reform program agenda in order to build smart customs and excise systems to create business processes that are easy, inexpensive, fast, transparent, effective and efficient,” said the Director General of Customs and Excise Heru Pambudi in Jakarta, Monday (1/7/2019). Continue reading “Manifest Generation III, Customs Accelerates the Flow of Goods”
JAKARTA – Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association urged the exemption of the imposition of the progressive cost of the accumulation of imported containers at Tanjung Priok Port during the Idul Fitri holiday period this year.
Chairman of Jakarta ALFI DPW Widijanto said that due to Idul Fitri holiday and the absence of trucking serving importing export during the Lebaran holiday restriction period, contained imported containers accumulate an average of more than 7 to 10 days in the port of Priok.
“This condition is due to inability to deliver because many of the holiday manufacturers and trucking fleets are not operating. It is conditional that we urge the accumulation of containers during Idul Fitri period in Priok is not burdened with progressive tariffs of 300% to 900%.” ALFI asks to be freed from progressive storage at the container terminal, “he told Bisnis on Sunday (6/24/2018). Continue reading “ALFI Urges Progressive Package Fee Exemption in Priok During Lebaran Holiday”
JAKARTA-The Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) proposes that the movement of imported or overbrengen containers from first-line container terminals to temporary hoarding stations (TPS) in the Tanjung Priok customs territory shall be conducted at night or after 18.00 WIB.
Chairman of ALFI DKI Jakarta, Widijanto said that the overbrengen of imported containers passing the time limit of the congestion at the port of Priok if carried out at night will reduce the level of congestion on the distribution line from and to the port of Priok.
“If the night is done overbrengen imported containers, can be faster considering the roads around the port of Priok is not too crowded,” said Widijanto to Bisnis, Monday (21/05/2018).
He also proposed that the overbrengen of imported containers at the port of Priok be done only at night has been delivered in the audience of Jakarta DPF ALFI board with the Head of Customs and Excise Service Office of Tanjung Priok Port today (21/5/2018). Continue reading “ALFI: Overbrengen Container Preferably Night”
JAKARTA – Secretary General of Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) Akbar Djohan said that ALFI is ready to take an active role in international logistics to welcome the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.
It was submitted when signing a memorandum of understanding between the ASEAN Federation of Forwarders Associations (AFFA) and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) under the authority of GuangXi Provincial Government of China on April 27, 2018.
He said the memorandum of understanding is an effort to realize Asean and Asia-Europe connectivity within the framework of OBOR.
JAKARTA – The Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) has responded positively to the ease of logistics business processes in relation to the recognition of forwarder companies as contractual or non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC) carriers.
With this recognition, the forwarder company can directly deliver the manifest or submit the import-export document as a contractual carrier to the Directorate General of Customs and Excise.
Chairman of Jakarta Special Capital Region (DPF) ALFI, Widijanto said the ease of forwarder business process in connection with the enactment of Regulation of the Minister of Finance No: 158 / PMK.04 / 2017 and Regulation of the Director General of Customs and Excise No. PER-38 / BC / 2017 at Tanjung Priok Port at 23 May 2018 and at Soekarno Hatta Airport on July 25, 2018. Continue reading “Forwarder Is Recognized As Contractual Carrier, ALFI Relief”
JAKARTA – Logistics business actors urged the revision of a number of government regulations that are considered to inhibit the growth and development of national logistics business amid the tight competition of global and digital-based services today.
Chairman of DPW Indonesian Logistics and Forwarders Association (ALFI) of DKI Jakarta, Widijanto said there are at least five government policies that are considered to inhibit the national logistics business continuity.
JAKARTA – Indonesian logistics and forwarder association (ALFI) is partnering with PT Indonesia Logistik Community Services (ILCS) – a subsidiary of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II – in operating an online logistics service known as smart port.
The online services are packaged and accessible through the portal www.ilfa.or.id, to facilitate logistics businessmen in transacting their activities related to warehousing, trucking, shipping instruction ordering system, monitoring of vessel movement and goods in ports connected to 130 countries in this world.
Jakarta – The Jakarta logistics and forwarder association (ALFI) collects all forwarder companies in DKI Jakarta to discuss five government regulations and policies related to national logistics activities.
Chairman of DPW ALFI DKI Jakarta, Widijanto said that currently some policies are still difficult to implement because it has not been siding with the national logistics business continuity.
“As a result, in the baseball field is running maximally, even many forwarder and logistics companies are harmed by some of the regulations, so the regulations that hinder the continuity of national business should be evaluated only,” Widijanto said when speaking at the Government Regulation Socialization event which was attended by around 700 companies member of ALFI DKI Jakarta, Wednesday (18/4/2018). Continue reading “ALFI Collect Forwaders Discuss Obstacles 5 This Regulation”
JAKARTA – Indonesian logistics and forwarder association (ALFI) urged Finance Minister Sri Mulyani to revise the Minister of Finance No.229 / PMK.04 / 2017 because the beleid is considered to kill forwarding, transportation and customs clearance (PPJK) and medium or SMEs.
Permenkeu 229/2017 regulates the procedures for imposition of import duty on imported goods based on international agreements or agreements.
Chairman of the DPW ALFI DKI Jakarta, Widijanto said due to the enactment of Permenkeu 229/2017 that many PPJK members of ALFI DKI Jakarta which became an extension of importers at the port of Tanjung Priok must bear the duty of goods. Whereas according to the rules are not subject to import duty as the Asean free trade agreement.


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Arrival, the global technology company creating electric vehicles using its game-changing technologies, is partnering with Uber to develop an affordable, purpose-built electric vehicle (EV) for ride-hailing drivers. The Arrival Car is expected to enter production in Q3 2023.
The Arrival Car will address the global need to shift ride-hailing and car sharing services, with over 30 million estimated drivers across the ride-hailing sector, to electric to reduce emissions and improve air quality in cities. Uber has committed to becoming a fully electric mobility platform in London by 2025 and by 2030 across North America and Europe.
As a typical ride-hailing vehicle will on average drive 45-50,000km a year, versus 12,000km for a typical vehicle, Arrival Car will prioritise driver comfort, safety, and convenience, while ensuring the passengers enjoy a premium experience. With this in mind, Arrival will collaborate with Uber drivers in the design process over the coming months to ensure the Arrival Car reflects the needs of professional drivers and their passengers, with the final vehicle design expected to be revealed before the end of 2021.
Following the launch of Uber’s Clean Air Plan in London two years ago, more than £135m has been raised to support drivers with the cost of switching to a fully electric vehicle. Uber’s focus is now to encourage drivers to apply for EV Assistance under the Clean Air Plan. This will help clean up urban transport and drive a mass market for EVs.
The Arrival Car will join Arrival’s previously announced commercial products, the Bus and Van, to provide cities with a multi-modal zero-emission transportation ecosystem that they require in order to meet their sustainability goals over the coming years. This integrated transportation ecosystem will create cleaner, more equitable mobility solutions for people living in cities that Arrival believes will have a radical impact on their health and opportunities.
Ride-hailing plays a key role in creating accessible and efficient multi-modal transportation systems reducing both total numbers of vehicles in cities, as well as emissions, which is expected to have an oversized impact on real world pollution globally. Arrival’s revolutionary Microfactories will enable decentralised production in cities around the world, producing vehicles close to areas of demand, using local talent and paying local taxes. This strategy also enables the production of vehicles specific for the region to service the many markets seeing rapid growth in ride hailing and car sharing.
Tom Elvidge, SVP Arrival Mobility UK said: “We are confident that electrifying ride-hailing vehicles will have an outsized impact on cities, and we are keen to support drivers as they manage this transition. Arrival Car will be designed around drivers’ needs to create a vehicle that is affordable, durable and desirable. We have a great partnership with UPS to create a best-in-class electric delivery vehicle, and we hope to replicate that success with Uber as we develop the best possible product for ride hailing that elevates the experience of the passenger and improves drivers’ health, safety and finances.”
Jamie Heywood, Uber’s Regional General Manager for Northern and Eastern Europe said: “As our cities open up we have an opportunity to make sure that urban transport is cleaner than ever before. Uber is committed to helping every driver in London upgrade to an EV by 2025, and thanks to our Clean Air Plan more than £135m has been raised to support this ambition. Our focus is now on encouraging drivers to use this money to help them upgrade to an electric vehicle, and our partnership with Arrival will help us achieve this goal.”
Uber Green recently launched in London, giving passengers the ability to select a fully electric vehicle at no extra cost, while drivers pay a lower service fee.
So far in London, more than 3.5 million trips have taken place in fully electric vehicles, helping to reduce emissions and improve air quality in the capital. Uber is committing to double the number of drivers in EVs by the end of this year as part of the roadmap for all cars on the app to be fully electric by 2025.
Arrival went public on 25th March 2021 and the Arrival Car is the realization of the Small Vehicle Platform referenced in the company’s Investor Deck. It is expected to go into production in Q3 2023.


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Hampton — As the desire to purchase local and fresh grows among Connecticut consumers, a new app makes it easier for shoppers to find the produce they are looking for.
Fresh Please, developed by Pomfret resident Chris DeCarli and two of his friends, launched recently and is available for free in the android and Apple app stores.
DeCarli grew up in the quiet corner, went to college at RIT in upstate New York, lived and worked in south central Connecticut and Rhode Island for a few years, and finally settled back down in the quiet corner with his wife, Kate, and his son, Eoin.
“I have long been obsessed with food... One of the things I was always spoiled with as a child was fresh native produce in the summer,” said DeCarli.
Growing up on a diet of fresh-picked strawberries, blueberries, peaches, apples, corn, tomatoes, and more gave DeCarli a taste for locally-grown produce, and he feels that non-native imports can’t compare.
“I have been so spoiled by the bounty of local farms throughout my life, that many of these items I do not buy or eat when not in season locally and purchased locally, because the flavor just isn’t the same to me,” said DeCarli.
It was this love of local seasonal produce that resulted in the idea for the app.
Stopping at the grocery store on the way home from work, DeCarli would find himself in front of firm, flavorless tomatoes imported from across the country.
“I would find myself wishing I knew whether or not any of the farm stands I would pass by on my way home had [tomatoes], if they would have them when I got there, and how late they would be open,” he said.
While on vacation, it was equally difficult to find local produce.
Having worked in IT his entire life, DeCarli was missing the specific knowledge needed to develop an app.
“So when I had the idea for Fresh Please, I needed to find someone with the right skill set to get it done,” he said.
Seneca Yearwood is a friend DeCarli met through a work basketball league in Rhode Island almost 10 years ago.
“He works in mobile app development, so we got to talking and decided to give it a shot,” said DeCarli.
The pair reached out to Chris Andrews, DeCarli’s current co-worker, for more assistance.
“The three of us have spent untold hours working night and weekends after our day jobs to get to this point,” said DeCarli.
When DeCarli first spoke to one of the local farms about the app it was three years ago, and he hoped it would be up and running within a few months.
As they entered 2020, “We knew we were finally in the home stretch, but it felt like we couldn’t get there quickly enough,” said DeCarli.
It was tough for the trio to watch through the COVID-19 pandemic, as the breakdowns in the supply chain impacted consumers and farmers alike.
“There was a mad scramble to find ways to help people locate and connect with local growers/producers... and we knew we had the answer but it wasn’t quite ready yet,” said DeCarli.
But the app was ready in time for the peak of the growing season.
“Pandemic or no pandemic, there are so many great local dairies and meat producers that I think we could all make more regular parts of our grocery shopping,” said DeCarli.
DeCarli said it has been refreshing to work on a project that is small, but has such a potential to impact people and their communities in a meaningful way. At present, the Fresh Please marketing team consists of DeCarli, driving around to local farms to introduce them to the app. He said it has been a rewarding experience.
“I have found some farms who were starting out and who wanted some sort of online presence/marketing, but didn’t know where to begin, and they loved that the app made it so easy,” he said.
DeCarli said that more established farms are excited about the potential the app has to open up the local food market.
DeCarli wants consumers to know that the app is more than just a list of farms.
“It is also an index of the current inventory for the farms,” he said. “That means shoppers can find what they need when they need it, and have confidence that the farm will have it.”
Fresh Please is designed for farmers from large, year-round operations to houses with “eggs for sale signs” by the road. It takes only seconds for participating farmers to daily update inventory using a built-in product list. The app presents users with a map showing farms in their area, and the icon color on the map tells users at a glance how recently their inventory was updated. Users can search to find a farm that currently has whatever they are looking for.
DeCarli and his friends are hopeful that this up-to-date and searchable information about farm inventory will be a game-changer, and allow more people to make farm stands a more predictable part of their shopping routine.
The app is free for users and free for farmers. Anyone, anywhere, can download it in the android or Apple app stores. Farmers create an account right in the app, and click “register a farm.” If a farm wants to get started and wants help telling its customers about the app, there are materials that DeCarli can provide for them.
And if people have a specific farm they want to see in the app, they can let the team know, and they will get the farm some information. Any farmers with questions can reach out to DeCarli at email@example.com, or contact the team through Facebook, at www.facebook.com/FreshPleaseApp.


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The following is a Viewpoint by Jeff Hamel, Director of Global Energy and Enterprise Partnerships at Google.
Conscientious energy consumption isn't just about turning off the lights, or even replacing incandescent bulbs with more efficient LEDs. It's about consumers better understanding their own home's energy use, seeking opportunities to conserve, and contributing to more efficient, reliable energy systems.
Utilities have an opportunity today to more actively engage with customers. By communicating more directly with consumers through intuitive voice platforms, utilities can earn their way to being more than just a company that sends a bill every month while cultivating greater customer engagement.
There are plenty of examples of how the "utility of the future" is already here: forward-thinking energy providers are leveraging familiar in-home devices like smart thermostats to encourage participation in energy-saving programs. The industry — technology companies and utilities alike — now need to start asking, what will help take customer engagement to the next level?
From where I sit, it's clear that offering a central home energy platform with device control and interoperability will expand the engagement trend and deliver even better efficiency results.
Energy innovation and utility customer engagement is happening now
There is a lot of energy innovation taking place, especially with wind, solar and storage technologies. These relatively new renewable resources are essential for reducing carbon emissions, yet many new innovations can take a very long time to achieve results and are not currently accessible to all consumers.
Meanwhile, policies that have played important roles in promoting clean energy at the state and national levels face uncertain futures, despite dire predictions for the consequences of taking a business-as-usual approach.
One of the simplest solutions for reducing energy use and emissions is to increase utility-customer communications and understanding in order to boost voluntary conservation and efficiency measures.
Utilities are incentivized to actively engage with consumers because it adds flexibility to the grid, reduces emissions and increases customer satisfaction. This isn't to say that it comes easy — energy use, demand response, and whole-home energy management are incredibly complex undertakings for utilities to manage. They can also be difficult for customers to understand, which is a barrier to taking action to save energy in the residential sector.
In reality, customers often don't think about a utility's offerings until they receive a monthly bill, or something goes wrong with service.
That said, there are already plenty of examples of how energy providers are engaging with customers to form mutually beneficial relationships.
Xcel Energy is working with industry leaders like Panasonic to increase reliability for customers through battery storage, and both Reliant/NRG and Xcel are delivering voice activation services in Texas and Minnesota, pairing electricity plans with smart technologies. Indiana Michigan Power also recently announced a partnership with Tendril and Google to provide customers access to voice-activated energy information.”
The HPC Smart Home Report also highlights how Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) and ConEdison are offering eligible Missouri and New York customers a free smart thermostat device and free installation with enrollment in DR programs. And with the successes of these mutually-beneficial relationships, utilities around the country are again looking to smart technology to deliver the next-generation of customer engagement.
Building on these early successes by giving customers what they want
So far, offering customers simple and effective technology resources has successfully increased participation in our energy systems. During last year's total eclipse, hundreds of thousands of Nest customers across the country heeded a call from Nest and its utility partners and activated their smart thermostats to counteract the loss of solar power.
Now it's time to think about how to take this type of engagement to the next level, and it is clear customers trust utility recommendations for what that looks like. A recent Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative survey found that 78% of consumers are more likely to participate in a program or purchase the product if their utility endorses it.
All utility customers are consumers; therefore, energy providers need to be conscious of consumer trends and what services and devices they are looking for.
At the beginning of 2018, Bloomberg noted that consumer demand for smart thermostats will steadily increase over the next five years, so we know the devices that have already been effective aren't going anywhere. The voice assistant industry is anticipated to generate revenues worth $7.8 billion by 2023, and according to Parks Associates, 75% of consumers who are planning to buy smart home devices value interoperability with other products.
These market predictions indicate that consumers would embrace a device they can easily communicate with and that automates or controls a wide range of actions and home devices from a central point of control.
If hundreds of household energy-saving actions can be made from a single interface, and those capabilities are distributed across thousands of homes, the benefits would be profound and lasting — compounding the positive impacts we've already seen with the connectivity that smart thermostats offer to utilities and customers.
Greater interoperability will see the trend expand
So where do we go from here?
In the near future, utilities will be able to provide a richer, more personalized energy management experience to consumers — from alerts about storms and outages to reminders to pay a bill and easy ways to further save energy — to offer a more holistic view of home energy use. This is the level of transparency and engagement consumers are craving.
Utility services can no longer be siloed, and interoperability of home devices is key for maximizing energy management and consumer engagement. Identifying new opportunities to connect customers with energy-saving opportunities that are immediately accessible, intuitive and easy to integrate into daily life are key to improving the efficiency and reducing the emissions of homes across the country.


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Of the top 5 handset manufacturers in the U.S., only Apple has shown growth since June
The survey, conducted by analytics firm comScore, addressed more than 30,000 mobile subscribers aged 13 or higher and found that on average 234 million Americans used mobile devices in Q3 with 87.4 million of them using smartphones. That is a 12% gain year-over-year. Among smartphone users, the number one platform is Android as 44.8% of mobile users turn to the green robot to drive their smartphone, a 4.6% gain from the prior quarter. Apple's iOS was number two, gaining .8% to control 27.4% of the U.S. smartphone market. Number three was RIM with 18.9% followed by Microsoft and Symbian with 5.6% and 1.8% of the U.S. market respectively.
don't touch the browser on their phone. Those downloading apps had the biggest increase in function, rising 3% to 42.5%.
So what are cell phone users doing with all that computing and communication power in the palm of their hand? Well, 71.1% of them are using their handset for texting, an increase of 1.5% from the quarter that ended in June. It seems that a large number of Americans are buying a phone with features that they don't need. For many of those who own a smartphone, a simple featurephone would apparently have all of the things they do need in a handset, like a physical QWERTY keyboard.
source: comScore via AppleInsider


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(FOX NEWS) — A couple has sued the owner of a San Diego, Calif., apartment rented via Airbnb after claiming it had cameras hidden throughout the converted garage unit. An unidentified couple booked an Airbnb in the city’s Clairemont neighborhood back in November 2018. Three days into their stay, the pair claim they discovered three…
The post Airbnb guests sue homeowner after finding 3 hidden cameras appeared first on WND.
for complete story click “Go to Source” below:
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By Anen Nicole Saullo
You read the title correctly readers. It appears that Disney wants most or even all of its shows removed off of Netflix.
You read the title correctly readers. It appears that Disney wants most or even all of its shows removed off of Netflix. Disney is planning to start its own streaming service in 2019. So all of your favorite movies that are on Netflix will be removed in 2019, but don’t worry because Netflix will stream Star Wars VIII, Toy Story 4, and the Han Solo Movie and other films that are to be released by Disney as stated by TIME. But all in all these movies will be removed in 2019. The only shows that Disney will keep up on Netflix are Marvel movies and shows.
Now, will Disney really be able to do this? They already have started taking there shows off Netflix so it is possible. Kickin’ it, Mighty Med, and many other Disney shows and movies have been taken off of Netflix. How will people who have Netflix and enjoy watching Disney shows or movies on there react? Leila Pozzi when asked states her opinion on what she feels about the matter at hand, “It makes me sad because what happens if we have to pay like how we pay for Netflix”
So will Netflix will be affected by this drastically or not that much? “It arguably reduces the consumer value of Netflix, which remains the biggest strategic challenge to linear networks in the expanded basic bundle long term,” Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh wrote in a report, as stated on The Hollywood Reporter.
What do you readers think about this? Do you think that Disney will really create its own streaming site?
Editor Board, 2017-2018
Editor in Chief:


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Moreno Evelyn V Has $579,000 Stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (PYPL)
Moreno Evelyn V decreased its stake in PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL) by 84.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,790 shares of the credit services provider’s stock after selling 60,240 shares during the period. Moreno Evelyn V’s holdings in PayPal Holdings were worth $579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal Holdings by 2,792.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,103,922 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,585,670,000 after buying an additional 58,026,239 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of PayPal Holdings by 28.2% in the first quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,453,931 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $2,600,728,000 after buying an additional 13,296,056 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. acquired a new position in shares of PayPal Holdings during the first quarter valued at about $116,856,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of PayPal Holdings by 3.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,643,714 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $3,254,192,000 after buying an additional 2,549,683 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of PayPal Holdings by 117.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 4,169,635 shares of the credit services provider’s stock valued at $179,378,000 after buying an additional 2,254,074 shares during the period. 81.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Shares of PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ PYPL) traded up 0.76% on Monday, reaching $59.31. 2,099,464 shares of the company were exchanged. The company has a market capitalization of $71.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.83 and a beta of 0.99. PayPal Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.28 and a 52-week high of $61.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.57 and a 200-day moving average of $47.60.
PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ:PYPL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 26th. The credit services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.43 by $0.03. PayPal Holdings had a net margin of 12.82% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The business had revenue of $3.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.09 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that PayPal Holdings, Inc. will post $1.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.
PayPal Holdings announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, April 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the credit services provider to reacquire up to 9.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.
COPYRIGHT VIOLATION WARNING: This news story was first published by Daily Political and is the property of of Daily Political. If you are viewing this news story on another publication, it was illegally copied and reposted in violation of United States and international copyright and trademark law. The legal version of this news story can be viewed at https://www.dailypolitical.com/2017/08/07/moreno-evelyn-v-has-579000-stake-in-paypal-holdings-inc-pypl.html.
Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Investment Research lowered PayPal Holdings from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $70.00 target price on shares of PayPal Holdings in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Piper Jaffray Companies restated a “hold” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of PayPal Holdings in a research report on Friday, July 28th. Loop Capital restated a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 target price (up previously from $49.00) on shares of PayPal Holdings in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus restated a “hold” rating and set a $61.00 target price (up previously from $51.00) on shares of PayPal Holdings in a research report on Thursday, July 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. PayPal Holdings currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $59.49.
In related news, EVP Gary J. Marino sold 1,350 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.48, for a total transaction of $70,848.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 37,491 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,967,527.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO William J. Ready sold 90,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.25, for a total transaction of $5,332,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 29,252 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,733,181. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 95,852 shares of company stock worth $5,653,198. Company insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.
About PayPal Holdings
PayPal Holdings, Inc is a technology platform and digital payments company that enables digital and mobile payments on behalf of consumers and merchants. The Company’s combined payment solutions, including its PayPal, PayPal Credit, Braintree, Venmo, Xoom and Paydiant products, compose its Payments Platform.
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We’ll see a lot of haggling over the next few weeks, and a deal may well be done. In the background, however, are well-informed reports of Brussels officials making plans for a full-scale trade war. Certainly, these are clearly designed to put pressure on the Johnson government.
There may be an element of bluster involved. Even so, preparations are clearly underway. If article 16 is triggered and the protocol is unilaterally removed, we should inevitably expect some form of retaliation.
And we’re already starting to get a pretty good idea of what that will look like. The EU’s draft plan has three elements. It would cut the submarine cables and pipes that supply the UK with 10% of its electricity and 12% of its gas.
It will impose tariffs on British exports to the EU, up to levels allowed by WTO rules, which could reach 10% on products such as cars.
He’ll confuse cross-border traffic with paperwork, meticulously check every truck and send everyone home for using the wrong colored ballpoint pen or other minor rule violation. And he will suspend the free trade agreement with Britain, imposing a series of tariffs and quotas.
The intention is clear. The EU wants to force the UK to accept its terms. With goodwill on both sides, even if it is sorely lacking right now, it will not happen at this point and a compromise can be found. In a trade war, however, companies are the infantry, and trucks, customs forms, and export services are the primary weapons.


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Microsoft has increased its support lifecycle from 18 months to 36 months for Windows Phone devices, and announced the release of an "enterprise pack" which will include VPN.
Early next year the company will release an "enterprise feature pack" which will introduce improved mobile device management policies to lockdown apps, S/MIME to sign and encrypt email and "app aware, auto-triggered VPN" to access corporate resources behind the firewall.
"This feature pack will provide IT departments with more control over Windows Phones and give their employees a fuller productivity experience," the company said in a statement.
Additionally, updates will kick off with Windows Phone 8 which will have incremental security updates for 36 months.
But distribution of the updates will be at the mercy of phone operators and manufacturers which could slow the process.
Users commenting on the news vented frustration at tardy carriers which had not released existing updates.
"Agreeing to push out updates does little good if AT&T and Verizon choose not to push the updates to our devices," user Typoon87 said.
"Tis a pity that the carriers continue to be the logjam of progress," user dalydose said.
Microsoft Windows Phone vice president Tony Mestres said the updates were designed to appease enterprise security concerns.


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Reality star Kylie Jenner has seen her efforts to trademark her daughter's name blocked by a clothing company.
The 22-year-old reality TV star has applied to secure a series of Stormi Webster-related trademarks, including Stormi World - but her efforts have faced fierce opposition from a New Orleans-based clothing company.
Business Moves Consulting - which trademarked Stormi Couture shortly after Kylie's daughter was born two years ago - has filed an opposition to the make-up mogul's application, saying the move could confuse their customers.
The clothing company also claims that Kylie has "no bona fide intent to use mark in commerce for identified goods or services", according to the New York Post newspaper's Page Six column.
Meanwhile, Kylie and Travis Scott - who is the father of her child - are reportedly "working on getting back together".
The reality TV star and the "Sicko Mode" hitmaker split in October last year, but they have remained close for the sake of their daughter and are now believed to be working through their differences in the hopes of one day rekindling their romance.
A source said: "Everyone around Kylie and Travis is rallying for these two. They are co-parenting and hanging out more and more, working on getting back together."
The celebrity duo - who started dating back in 2017 - are currently focusing on co-parenting their daughter, and have been keeping their relationship status "low-key and to themselves" for the time being.
A second insider added: "Kylie and Travis co-parent great together and those close to them are hopeful that they officially get back together, but Kylie and Travis are doing their thing and trying to keep their current relationship status low-key and to themselves at the moment."


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Internationally accredited advertising agency, TBWA, announced in a press statement today, a change in its creative team in their Dubai headquarters, which according to them, will be working at full potential immediately. The new creative structure is being led by Executive Creative Director Manuel Bordé, who will be responsible for all creative output.
The team also consists of award-winning talents such as Alberto Triana and Fredrico Mariani, who have been appointed as Associate Creative Director. Both have collaborated and held integral roles in major iconic campaigns such as Nissan’s “#SheDrives” and have worked with the agency’s top-tier brands.
“I am more than confident in their capacity to take on new responsibilities and drive their teams forward and wish them both the best of luck in their new exciting journeys,” said ECD Manuel Bordé in the press statement.
Walid Kanaan, Chief Creative Officer at TBWA\RAAD said in the statement, “I am proud of the solid structure we have established, and I believe that, under Manuel’s leadership, the entire team has the opportunity to contribute to great achievements, working together as one family towards a shared vision.”
App analytics and market data company, App Annie, have released a new report that sheds light on Gen Z’s mobile behavior, in order to help marketers develop effective strategies to reach them. 98% of Gen Z report owning a smartphone, on average receiving their first at the age of 10. They are also part of […]
Experticity, the world’s largest community of influential category experts have released a new study that sheds new light on the importance of micro-influencers on the average consumer. The study was conducted with online interviews of more than 6,000 individuals from the United States drawn from Experticity’s micro-influencer network and the general population. In addition, more […]
Market research companies eMarketer and Global Web Index have collaborated together to release the 10th edition of the global media intelligence report. The report is a detailed compilation of data and insights about internet users’ traditional and digital media usage in 42 key markets worldwide. Communicate will be highlighting the key trends that are shaping the […]
Social Bakers, a global AI-powered social media marketing company has released the Q3 edition of their social media trends report. The report reveals where the industry is currently standing with regard to spending and engagement globally. Here are the key findings – ADVERTISING Worldwide ad spend increased by 56.4% in Q3 compared to where it […]


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- The device will feature a circular camera module on the back with a 50 megapixel primary sensor.
- It will be coming with a large display.
- There is no official confirmation about the device.
The popular Chinese smartphone brand Oppo is reportedly gearing up to launch its upcoming Find N3 Flip folding Smartphone and the latest leak is revealing the important specifications along with an image and the launching timeline of the device. So without making any further delay let’s get into the article to check out the new information.
It is reported that the upcoming Oppo Find N3 Flip will be official by the end of this month and the device will come with a circular camera module that will house 3 camera sensors and it is also having the Hasselblad logo which is available within the circular module and the logo of Oppo is at the bottom of the device.
The device is coming with a large 3 inch cover display while the back panel of the device will feature a 50-megapixel main camera with optical image stabilization (OIS), an 8-megapixel ultra-wide lens, and an additional 32-megapixel camera.
It is also reported that the upcoming Oppo Find N3 Flip will be supporting 67W fast charging technology. The device is also believed to come with a 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED display along with a 120Hz refresh rate. The device is also expected to feature a 32-megapixel front camera as well.
There is no official confirmation about the device and we recommend you to take the information with a pinch of salt.
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The Internet in 2019
Between overconsumption and discerning use
With 92% of homes connected in France and 53.1 million monthly internet users, the internet has reached a certain level of maturity. In 2019, this market flaunted a compelling growth. Connection frequency is growing and smartphones are playing an essential role in surfing the web. In 2019, internet users went online 22 days of the month on average, which is four times more than 10 years ago. This was done mainly through their smartphone. Bertrand Krug, Director of Médiamétrie’s Internet Department said: “Mobiles have become a must-have when we talk about the internet - they are key to its growth. 37.4 million French people are daily mobile internet users, which is 7 million more than two years ago, and four out of 10 mobile internet users use their mobile phone exclusively to surf the net.”
The internet: powerful and dynamic
On average, French people spend 2 hours and 12 minutes online each day. But this number hides large disparities: the 15% (7.6 million people) who connect the most often are online nearly 7 hours per day (6 hours and 53 minutes), whereas 25.4 million French people who are more moderate, spend, on average, 1 hour and 10 minutes online.
Internet users spend their time online on research, communication, fun and services. Bertrand Krug continues: “There is an increasing number of stakeholders in all these fields, who are attracting increasingly powerful brands. This is how, in 2019, 77 brands had over 10 million unique visitors compared to only 17 brands 10 years ago.”
Social networks, messaging services and video at the heart of internet use
Social interaction is an important part of internet users’ lives, making it one of the main uses on the internet. Six out of 10 French people connect each day to social networks and messaging services. Facebook, Snapchat and Messenger top the list. Young people are the main audiences of these services, but each age range has its preferred network. Thus, 11 to 20-year-olds are mostly on Snapchat and Instagram, whereas Facebook attracts mostly people aged 25 to 34 years.
Video also has a leading place in online practices. It attracts four out of 10 French people each day on average. Again, we see young people top the list, as 38% of videos are watched by people aged 15 to 24 years. Video brings together a wide variety of stakeholders: audio-visual groups, pure players, SVoD services, and more recently, platforms like Twitch. They all reinvent the genre by creating event-driven content and creating spaces for users to gather.
Surfing for information
News and information are also at the heart of activities of internet users. In 2019, 44.6 million unique visitors visited news websites and apps each day, on average, which is 3.4 million more within one year. They also spent 22% more time than in 2018.
Young people, more particularly, those aged 15 to 24 years, are particularly keen on online news: 80.6% of them visit news websites or apps each day, compared to 71.1% of the population as whole. In order to attract and retain this audience, information stakeholders readily provide videos and social network tools to share their content.
From reckless to eco-friendly consumption
In 2019, 40 million online shoppers trusted powerful online retailers such as Amazon, Cdiscount and Fnac. But new websites offering products at lower prices, such as Wish, AliExpress and Joom, are gaining traction with internet users looking for a good deal.
Finally, in line with increasingly important social questions, internet users sometimes choose new options: renting instead of buying, buying second-hand instead of new, checking the composition of products before purchasing, etc.
Thus, each month 10% of French people visit barcode-scanning websites and apps, helping them to be healthier and more ethical consumers.
More aware consumers are also more eco-friendly: 1 in 10 French people visit anti-waste sites and apps, which represents an additional 3 million fans in one year. Second-hand markets are also growing in tech and fashion in France. 27% of French people now sometimes choose second-hand clothing or clothing rentals.
“2019 confirms what we have been observing in our measurements for a while: a certain dichotomy, a paradox almost, in internet consumption. It is sometimes reckless, but at the same time, more reasonable,” concludes Bertrand Krug.
Please click on the icon to download the comprehensive press release.


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A couple of weeks ago rumors started circulating that Sandy Bridge-E, the chip powering Intel's next-gen enthusiast platform, had been delayed from Q4 2011 to January 2012. Initial speculation suggested that the chip giant may be giving priority to its server CPU business and putting this relatively small high-end consumer market on hold for a quarter.
According to new information obtained by VR-Zone, however, Intel is having some issues with the new platform.
Apparently the company is trying really hard to get Sandy Bridge-E and the Waimea Bay platform onto the market before the end of this year, but it may have to downgrade the feature set to get around whatever issues it is having. Specifically, this means the X79 chipset (or platform controller hub) will have no PCI Express 3.0 storage uplink to the CPU and it will include four SATA/SAS 6Gbps ports instead of eight – it will still get four 3Gbps ports, though.
Sandy Bridge-E was meant to be Intel's first native PCI Express 3.0-enabled CPU, but due to the lack of PCI Express 3.0 hardware to test with the company has decided to postpone this. VR-Zone says Intel is looking into some kind of solution to add the aforementioned features after launch, but that would likely mean a second revision of the X79 chipset itself, not a BIOS patch, as motherboard makers are simply not going to add interfaces that are not supported at launch.
Intel has reportedly run into a snag with the CPUs as well, as it is supposedly waiting for revision C-1 (instead of the C-0 in testing now) before it begins shipping the processors out to board partners for their qualification testing.


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- The Bitcoin market anticipates a pivotal week with CPI, PPI data, and ARK Invest’s ETF decision on the horizon.
- Inflation concerns rise as CPI data release approaches, potentially impacting Bitcoin and the crypto market.
- ARK Invest awaits the Bitcoin ETF decision, a potential game-changer for the crypto market.
The Bitcoin and crypto market is at a critical crossroads as the week unfolds. Amid a torrent of economic data, three events have emerged as particularly significant: the unveiling of July’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) figures, along with the eagerly awaited Bitcoin ETF verdict for ARK Invest.
Inflation Concerns Loom as CPI Data Release Approaches
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The CPI, an inflation barometer, is under intense scrutiny as the US wrestles with fluctuating inflation rates. The headline CPI for July will climb from 3 to 3.3% YoY. This significant shift comes as the beneficial base effects from the previous year start to wane.
Moreover, the Cleveland Fed’s Inflation Nowcast model forecasts a 3.42% headline CPI, slightly above the consensus. This data release will be particularly interesting, especially in light of the Federal Reserve’s recent decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points.
Currently, 84.5% of the market believes there will be no further rate hikes at the next FOMC in September, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. However, a resurgence in inflation data could flip these expectations. Notably, two CPI data releases will be before the next FOMC meeting from September 19-20. If inflation picks up both times, it could spell trouble for the financial markets.
PPI Data Release: A Leading Indicator for CPI
The PPI, a measure of the average change in selling prices received by domestic producers, is often seen as a precursor to the CPI. Last month’s PPI YoY was a mere 0.1%, teetering on the brink of negative territory. However, forecasts for July suggest a rebound to 0.7%.
Every month, the PPI rose 0.1% in June, with a 0.2% rise expected in July. A rising PPI could foreshadow re-accelerating CPI data as producers pass on increased costs to consumers. This could lead to a subsequent rise in the CPI, potentially influencing investor sentiment and Bitcoin and crypto market strategies.
ARK Invest Awaits Bitcoin ETF Decision
One of the biggest potential catalysts for the market could be approving a Bitcoin spot ETF. Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is the first to face a decision. While financial giants like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Invesco await an initial response from the SEC, Ark Invest is already one step ahead.
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The SEC has previously postponed Ark’s application once, with its next deadline set for Sunday, August 13. The SEC has three options: greenlight the application, deny it, or prolong the review period. Most specialists predict another delay in Ark’s application from the SEC. However, considering recent statements from SEC Chairman Gensler, an unexpected outcome remains possible.
As Bitcoin’s price is $29,044.18, the crypto market is bracing for a significant week ahead. Given these three crucial events in the pipeline, investors and market observers will watch the unfolding developments.
BTC/USD I-day price chart (Source: CoinMarketCap)


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Morning roundup of latest buzz in the Indian Internet market.
Office Hours Peak Time For Watching Online Videos – Nautanki.tv Study
In India, 85 percent of online video consumption happens from offices.
- 76 percent of all video consumption happens from the top seven metros / mini metros. Mumbai contributes to 14 percent of the consumption, Delhi 12.5 percent and Chennai is the lowest at 6.5 percent, probably because nautanki.tv has mostly Hinglish content.
- 30 percent of daily video consumption comes from Indians outside of India, largely from the Bay area and New York.
- Entertainment is the key traffic driver.
- Audiences have an attention span of 3.5 minutes for an online video with 50 percent of the audience dropping off at the 5 minute level. Almost no one watches a segment that is more than 10 minutes long, unless it is a documentary / short film of interest to the watcher.
Download the report.
Indians lead craze for music videos in Asia
Indians are the most passionate, television-driven music consumers in Asia, according to the Branded, MTV and Synovate Music Matters survey – on music habits and attitudes of young urban Asians- released at the 2007 Music Matters Asia Pacific Forum in Hong Kong.
Of the Indian urban consumer respondents, the survey reveals, 67% watch music videos on television almost every day, and 22% watch them two to three times a week, the highest rates in Asia. Regionally, 33% of consumers watch music videos almost every day and 25% watch them two to three times a week.
Although the relatively low Internet penetration rate in India means consumers there use digital music far less than in other parts of Asia, marketers should take note of the fast-growing segment embracing music on mobile phones, with one third of respondents having downloaded and saved a song to their mobile phone in the past month, and 56 % ready to replace their digital music devices with music-playing mobile phones.
BRIC Nations to lead Internet growth through 2011
There will be 1.5 billion people with Internet access in 2011, with the biggest growth in the online population occurring in Brazil, Russia, India and China, according to a new report.
In its “Worldwide Online Population Forecast, 2006 to 2011,” JupiterResearch anticipates that a 38 percent increase in the number of people with online access will mean that, by 2011, 22 percent of the Earth’s population will surf the Internet regularly.
Catch the latest buzz at IndiaBusiness.pluGGd.in


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The novel coronavirus’ impact on the U.S. economy has upended the business plans of many companies. Among other repercussions, summer internships were often cut or shortened. To make up for the business experience deficit these lost internships represent, the Department of Supply Chain Management in University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business offered a Skills and Professional Development Workshop for rising seniors to attain tangible supply chain skills immediately applicable in the business world. The workshop came at no cost to the students.
Students in the workshop engaged in a variety of sessions, including one-on-one meetings with career professionals via Zoom, virtual roundtable discussions with faculty and employers and specialized workshops. Several partner organizations of the department’s Global Supply Chain Institute assisted with the workshop, including Bush Brothers, Caterpillar, CoreTrust, Leidos, Nissan and Shaw Industries. Their representatives delivered presentations on various careers in supply chain and interacted with the participants to provide rich educational information and practical advice for entering the job market.
Cole Burns, the department’s director of student career management, says that as the extent of the COVID-19 disruption to internships became evident, administrators and faculty quickly developed alternative means for students to gain essential skills and experience that internships would have afforded.
“Learning on the job is different from learning in an academic environment, but we challenged students to treat workshop participation as if it were a job in which their task was to acquire valuable professional skills,” he says. “Participants ended the summer term with an immersion in the supply chain field and qualifications in programming languages and other pertinent areas.”
Upon completion of the workshop, students had:
- Worked in a team to deliver a presentation outlining upcoming industry trends, issues or challenges
- Reviewed and polished their resumes with a career development professional, with the intent of having it included in the program’s resume book
- Earned LinkedIn learning certifications in:
- Lean Six Sigma
- Project Management
- And one of the following: SQL, R, Python, C++, Ruby, Data Integration Specialist (Via AWS)
Student response was enthusiastic.
“The workshop was an incredibly valuable experience for me,” Bridgette Larsen said. “I’ve learned so much about supply chain management and have been able to virtually connect with professionals across all sectors from the participating companies. Additionally, the sessions on forecasting, Tableau and SAP ERPs, to name a few, helped me shape my goals for my future career.”
Joseph Roebuck was studying abroad in Chile for the summer when classes were moved online. “Forced to be home and unable to intern, I was confused about next steps,” Roebuck said. “The workshop advanced my supply chain knowledge with insightful industry professionals and outlined how to attain relevant certifications. I am beyond grateful for Cole Burns and the entire SCM staff for investing in my professional development.”
The workshop was not an academic course, so no final grade was given. However, Mary Long, director of the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Supply Chain Forum, believes those who completed the session garnered something equally worthwhile.
“Participants honed skills that would have been gained in an internship to more effectively approach their job search, and they internalized the discipline that comes from working hard to master complex subjects,” she says. “While the participants are understandably disappointed to have their internship plans upset, we have been thrilled to help our exceptional students prepare for their careers through other means.”
Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, firstname.lastname@example.org


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Multiple award-winner and Woolpack-innovator Planet Protector Packaging is waging a war against EPS waste in our waterways, winning awards along the way for both the company and its CEO & founder Joanne Howarth.
When Joanne Howarth first conceived the Woolpack solution as an insulated alternative to expanded polystyrene shipping containers, little did she know the global acclaim the company, and she herself, would achieve.
Since 2020, Planet Protector packaging (PPP) has garnered several significant awards and grants, and run a successful crowdfunding campaign, all of which have helped the company continue to expand its manufacturing operations and drive business growth.
Within Australia’s packaging industry, Woolpack is fast gaining a foothold. Used for temperature-sensitive foods, seafood, wine, and pharmaceuticals, the insulated packaging solution is made from 100 per cent waste wool, enclosed in a recyclable or compostable food grade wrap, and then used to line the shipping carton. PPP has diverted this wool from landfill, monetised it and created a range of insulated packaging solutions that are now transforming supply chains across Oceania.
Apart from growing its NSW operations, PPP has set up a Woolpack hub in Tasmania, and new hubs planned for South Australia and Victoria, with long term plans underway for operations to expand into Asia, beginning with India.
Supported by a Boosting Female Founders Grant, PPP set up shop in Tasmania last year.
“Our Tasmanian hub was set up last year because we received a lot of interest in our Woolpack packaging in that region. As the food capital of Australia, it exports so many incredible products and although Brand Tasmania previously showed interest in Woolpack packaging, the freight to transport it from NSW was cost prohibitive. Being on the ground in Tasmania has given us an opportunity to offer our product more affordably to clients in this region – another step in the right direction to eliminate polystyrene,” she says.
PPP is now working with the Brand Tasmania organisation and partnered with TasFoods to showcase Woolpack at Agfest in Hobart in May last year.
A new operation in South Australia’s wine country is now also on the cards, says Howarth.
“We are looking to set up near Adelaide Hills,” she explains, confirming that the company is currently negotiating a site there to help PPP grow the Woolpack component of its business in that region.
“During Covid we began to focus on research and development in the wine industry. Since losing a lot of business due to China’s imposed tariffs on bottled Australian wine, the industry has been looking for new markets, and ways to differentiate itself by providing direct-to-consumer solutions,” says Howarth.
“Wine supply chains are sometimes long, and what may not be commonly known is that wines spoil in transit. When wines get too warm in the supply chain, they can become bitter, so a lot of the wineries are also looking for solutions to maintain temperature stability,” she says, explaining that PPP’s Wine Protector range, which provides cushioning and temperature control to ensure the wine arrives at its destination in pristine condition, provides a packaging solution for local wine companies.
PPP is establishing a $10 million, modern wool processing facility in Geelong, to vertically integrate the production of its disruptive Woolpack products.
The funding for the facility was secured by the $4.8 million federal Modernising Manufacturing government grant, awarded to PPP late last year.
Howarth says the company has set its sights on Geelong as a good location for the new manufacturing facility, as one of only two wool scours in the country is located there. The purpose of partnering with the Geelong wool scouring operation is to be enable wool to be washed locally and not sent to China, which is currently the practice.
“Thanks to the Government’s foresight in giving us this grant, the new facility will benefit Australia as it will generate new revenue for sheep farmers, create jobs, support rural communities, and increase Australia’s sovereign manufacturing capability,” she said. “What we’re really excited about too is that it will enable us to receive and process circular textiles.”
Although current interruptions to supply chains means that purchasing equipment for the million facility could be delayed by a few months, Howarth says the wait will be worth it.
“This facility is going to be a game changer – it will have the capability to process a lot of contract manufacturing,” she says, confirming that PPP has already been approached by customers who are currently getting their wool products manufactured overseas and now require the company to do it locally for them.
In a highlight win this year, Planet Protector Packaging recently took top honours at the 33rd annual Banksia National Sustainability Awards, winning Gold overall for its Woolpack packaging solution.
Recognising the fine achievement, Graz Van Egmond, CEO of Banksia Foundation, says, “Planet Protector Packaging has the definite X-factor in linking new revenue for sheep farmers with a more sustainable solution to packaging. It is a smart initiative that helps to solve numerous known problems. They have a bold view of the challenges of disrupting a long-established supply chain.”
Passage to India
Howarth confirms that PPP is in the final stages of completing its market entry feasibility for India and is hoping to open its operations there by the end of the year.
“Although we’re proud of our local achievements, we are mindful that Australia and New Zealand comprise only 1.3 per cent of the global market for packaging. Asia, which is almost on our doorstep, has 46 per cent, which is why we have identified it as an important area for us to accelerate our impact,” says Howarth, emphasising that eight of the ten most plastic-, polystyrene- and microbead-polluted rivers, are in Asia.
The Indian venture will focus on the pharmaceutical sector, an area in which PPP has had great success, having launched its Vaccine Protector Solution (winner of multiple PIDA 2021 and WorldStar 2022 Award) during the height of the Covid pandemic.
In closing, Howarth says, “Our Woolpack solution is inspired by nature which invariably has solved some of the world’s most pressing global challenges. We are a social enterprise on a mission to leave the planet better than we found it. And you know, when you look at why we’re doing it, to prevent the fragments of polystyrene from destroying our oceans, it’s a no brainer.”
This article was published in the May-June 2022 print issue of PKN Packaging News, p18.


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The UK division of global fast food giant, McDonalds, says the app the company launched less than a year ago has proved enormously popular and successful, with one million downloads of the app having already been secured.
Moreover, the company says, once downloaded, the app has continued to engage users, with overall statistics on the number of times the app has been opened currently standing at over 10 million.
Further analysis of activity around the app has revealed that every month the app is used by 10 per cent of McDonald’s UK customers, with usage peaking between 12 noon and 2pm, and between 5 and 7pm, every day.
The downloading of the app and its usage was being carried out by both iPhone and Android device owners.
The app was developed last year with the assistance of specialist software company, Grapple, and was designed, among other uses, to help smartphone owners order food from the UK division’s restaurants.
Commenting on the success of the app, however, McDonalds UK’s head of young adult marketing, Mel Savage, said that the software tool had wider uses than being simply a food ordering process. She said:
“Mobile is proving to be a popular channel to not only increase footfall to restaurant, but also provide easy access to additional information such as promotions, menus and nutrition information when customers are actually in our restaurants.”
Meanwhile, Grapple’s chief strategy officer, Adam Levene, said the app was designed to cater for the specific needs of the customer and demonstrated that ‘customer utility’ was the main determinant of successful mobile marketing.