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Black Friday 2021
The hustle and bustle of Black Friday is so stressful for retailers, but it's not just them. This time of year, also means that couriers are tasked with ensuring everything goes smoothly from start-to finish without any glitches or mistakes! And what's more: last year saw UK consumers take advantage not only in terms on offers but during Cyber Monday sales days too--and who could blame them?
The COVID-19 pandemic did not stop UK consumers from embracing a US tradition this year. Black Friday, which is usually one of the busiest online shopping days for retailers and stores alike will be even more popular with those who want access to deals anytime they have both time and desire!
The recent floods in Europe and China have exacerbated already strained global supply chains. Brands need to take a more holistic approach or risk being left high-and-dry by these natural disasters, as they may not only lose money when their products don't sell but also tarnish the reputation of all brands affected for years to come.
The flooding that has devastated both countries recently poses significant threats due its impact on international trade flows which could compromise near term growth prospects along with medium/longer term sustainability efforts if major disruptions remain unresolved
In this day and age, even large companies can't rely on their own luck when it comes time for them deliver the products they've promised customers - which is why we should all be wary about going into any purchase decision without thoroughly considering our options from multiple sources first!
Black Friday and the holiday season, for which products are being staged will face a great deal of strain.” Pawan Joshi executive vice president at E2open stated in an email that consumer electronics such as TVs or computers may be hard to find this year because they were overproduced leading up until now when demand slows down significantly. School shopping started up again beginning September 15th through October 31st


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The popularity of Japanese anime and manga, a particular style of Japanese comic books, has attracted the attention of pirates. Anime and manga piracy has flourished since the pandemic, which costs the growing industry billions of dollars. In 2020, manga sales were slated to reach 612.6 billion yen, which is approximately U.S. $4.6 billion. This exponential growth is due in part to highly successful releases like Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (“Blade of Demon Destruction”).
In addition to record sales, manga readers have engaged in hacking to illegally get their hands on the latest publications. Through that, manga piracy has accelerated. In 2019, the creator of Manga-Mura, a popular mange pirate site, was sued by worldwide publishers. After they were arrested, a new website, Manga Bank, simply took its place. It is estimated that this new illegal manga site has almost a billion visitors and has cost legitimate publishers more than 200 billion yen (U.S. 1.5 billion). After enjoying this profit, this site has been shut down as well.
Illegal manga publishing platforms continue to thrive, mostly hosted on offshore servers. Therefore, it will take an international effort to fight against manga piracy. The Authorized Books of Japan (ABJ) is an organization that seeks to raise awareness and fight this piracy problem. The group is made up of distribution platforms and publishers spanning ten countries, including Japan, China and the U.S. With plans to launch in April, the organization will be managed by the Content Overseas Distribution Association (CODA).
Manga piracy hurts new and lesser-known designers and publishers most of all. This is because they rely on online publication, which compromises their intellectual property rights and puts them at greater risk of piracy and copyright infringement. Since they have not been physically published in magazines, the internet is their sole channel of distribution.

domain: news


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Suzuki to commence new plant in Gujarat this year; expand existing plant capacity to 7.50 lakh units
The Gujarat plant will play an "important role" in Suzuki's overall business plans.
By India Today Web Desk: Japan's Suzuki Motor Corporation said its new automotive plant in Gujarat will start production from next month.
"Support from government for manufacturing sector is very encouraging for us. Our new automotive plant in Gujarat will start production from next month. I visited the site yesterday and found everything ready," Toshihiro Suzuki, President of Suzuki Motor Corporation said at the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit.
The production capacity of Gujarat plant will be expanded to 7,50,000 units in future, he said, adding that the Gujarat plant will play an "important role" in the company's overall business plans.
"In light of future growth of automotive industry in India, we are eager to establish automotive industry cluster here in Gujarat," he said.
Complimenting the government for its policy action and execution, Suzuki also praised the Skill India mission which he said supports manufacturing industry's growth.
He said with Suzuki Motor's plans to expand operations in Gujarat in future, the state will see a competitive auto industry.


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Fri May 2, 2014
GM to recall Cadillac SUVs
DETROIT, MI (AP)-- General Motors is recalling more than 50,000 luxury SUVs to fix a computer error that can delay acceleration for three or four seconds.
The recall affects some Cadillac SRX SUVs from the 2013 model year with 3.6-Liter V6 engines.
GM says in documents filed with U.S. safety regulators that the problem happens when the transmission shifts from first to second gear and the driver brakes the vehicle to under 5 miles per hour. The company says a lag in acceleration can increase the risk of a crash.
GM dealers will update the transmission control computer at no cost to customers.
No date has been set yet for the recall to begin.
GM has recalled about 7 million vehicles since February, including 2.6 million for a deadly ignition switch problem.


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What a year we had in real estate on the Seattle eastside! December real estate was on fire, just like much of 2012! Just over 1000 homes were for sale, about 1/2 as many as were for sale just a year ago. It's been over 15 years since there have been so few homes for sale in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond and other eastside cities. In a few eastside neighborhoods, every home for sale sold, but the bottom line is in every area most homes were selling, if they were priced right and showed well.
The area with the most sizzling sales activity was near Microsoft, in Redmond and East Bellevue. There was and is a dearth of listings, so every home that was for sale sold! Over 100% of the available homes sold in December! More than likely a few homes sold before they were on the market, causing the percentage of those sold to top 100 percent.
Our listings have been selling in a matter of days with multiple offers. Typically, homes sold for more than full price because of the intense competition and lack of inventory.
In 2012, 7300 homes sold on Seattle's eastside. Even with fewer homes for sale in 2012 than in 2011, more homes actually sold in 2012. In 2011, 5440 homes sold. In 2012, most of the homes sold were priced between $500-$750,000. The second most popular price range for homes in Eastside neighborhoods was $350-$500,000. Market time was really short by the end of 2012. It would have taken about 2 months to sell every home for sale, which was half the time it would have taken to sell off all of the available inventory in 2011.
Here are the specifics for December 2012 as compared to December, 2011:
- 46% of the available homes sold this past December, 17% sold in December, 2011.
- Homes continued to sell quickly, in 63 days, which is down from 106 days in December, 2011.
- In 2011 median pricing in December was $460,000. In 2012, median pricing was $506,000.
The median price of $506,000 listed above reflects the median price of the sales in December. The median price for homes sold in all of 2012 was $525,399, up from $502,784 in 2011. The chart below shows the median pricing for each of the last 5 years. As I've mentioned in previous posts, it makes more sense to look at the trendline (the red line) for the year then to just compare one month to another. It's clear that for the first time in the last 5 years, we are seeing a solid trend with price increases.
The fabulous activity in the 2012 eastside real estate market should continue into 2013. We've started the year with our listings selling just after the ink is dry on the listing and it's posted on the internet. With supply at an amazing low and demand still very high, there are multiple buyers for homes.
Seattle is on a strong path forward because of our strong economic footing, according to Jed Kolko, the chief economist at Trulia:
On the other hand, metros like Seattle, which came in second on the list of cities with the highest asking-price recovery, are on a smoother path to growth because of their strong economic fundamentals, he said.
If you'd like more information specific to your home, don't hesitate to contact us. Have a wonderful 2013.


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Neiman Marcus Names Ralph Lauren’s Exec Geoffroy van Raemdonck Chief Executive
DALLAS, TEXAS — Struggling American luxury retailer Neiman Marcus Group Ltd on Friday (January 5) named Ralph Lauren Corp executive Geoffroy van Raemdonck its new chief executive, succeeding Karen Katz.
Katz will retire on February 12, and will remain on the board of directors.
Van Raemdonck joins Neiman Marcus from luxury apparel manufacturer Ralph Lauren, where he was group president for Europe, Middle East and Africa and head of travel retail.
He also worked at French luxury conglomerate Louis Vuitton from 2008 to 2013 and Victoria’s Secret owner L Brands Inc.
Chairman of the Board David Kaplan said: “As CEO, Karen helped establish Neiman Marcus as a digital leader in luxury fashion and retail and put the Company on a path for long -term growth. We are extremely grateful for her vision and significant contributions, which have spanned over 30 years at the Company, including the last seven as CEO, and look forward to continuing our work together on the Board.”
“We are thrilled to welcome Geoffroy to Neiman Marcus and look forward to extending the Company’s positive momentum under his leadership,” Kaplan added. “He is a global industry leader and business builder with exceptional vision and energy . The entire board is confident that Geoffroy’s leadership will add significant value to the Company, our partners and our customers.”
The move to replace Katz comes as the up-market chain continues to struggle with a nearly $5 billion debt load mainly due to its leveraged buyout in 2013, when Ares and Canadian public pension fund CPPIB acquired it from other private equity firms.
Like other retail chains, Neiman Marcus is struggling to reinvent itself as customers increasingly prefer online shopping to brick-and-mortar retail.
Same-store sales rose for the first time in two years in its latest quarter, as efforts by Katz to invest heavily in its online business paid off.
Katz will be eligible to receive nearly $2.5 million as a lump sum following her retirement as CEO and another $1 million before March 14, 2019, Neiman Marcus said in a regulatory filing.
Van Raemdonck starts his new position next month.
Photos Credit: Via Neiman Marcus


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In case you missed it, Indiana Governor Mike Pence passed what’s called a “religious freedom” bill essentially allowing businesses in the state to refrain from serving any particular demographic that conflicts with their religious beliefs.
While the move will almost certainly boost Pence’s standing among key audiences, a few major businesses and celebrities are less than pleased.
Twitter star George Takei started the #BoycottIndiana tag after the law passed yesterday:
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 26, 2015
The tag quickly began trending, but not everyone used it: Broadway star Audra McDonald, for example, addressed the governor himself.
One of the first businesses to weigh in was the NCAA, whose Final Four will happen in Indianapolis next week. The org’s president said, in a statement:
“We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees.”
Yelp’s CEO Jeremy Stoppelman then made his opinion known with a post on his company’s blog, writing:
“These laws set a terrible precedent that will likely harm the broader economic health of the states where they have been adopted, the businesses currently operating in those states and, most importantly, the consumers who could be victimized under these laws.”
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff told Re\code:
“We’ve made significant investments in Indiana…but we simply cannot support this kind of legislation.
We have a large number of employees and customers who would be impacted dramatically by this legislation. … I’m really just advocating on their behalf.”
He then announced that he would move a coming event from Indianapolis to New York. This afternoon, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a statement on Twitter after his home state of Arkansas passed a similar law and governor Asa Hutchinson said he’d sign it:
Apple is open for everyone. We are deeply disappointed in Indiana’s new law and calling on Arkansas Gov. to veto the similar #HB1228.
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 27, 2015
Finally,White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told Washington’s Metro Weekly:
“I have seen that there are a number of private businesses and nonprofit organizations that have said that the signing of this law prompts them to reconsider doing business in the state of Indiana.
Again, that’s not just the view of the administration, I know that’s the view of the Republican mayor of Indianapolis and a whole host of nonprofit and private sector companies who have legitimate concerns about the impact of this legislation.”
No one outside of politics has spoken out in support of the laws, because that would be terrible PR.


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Will Facebook be able to maintain its popularity in 2021? Statista’s latest numbers as of October reported that Facebook maintains a commanding lead on its competition with more than 2.7 billion worldwide users. YouTube and WhatsApp trailed at 2 billion each. Even Facebook Messenger, with 1.3 billion users, outpaced WeChat’s 12 billion and Instagram’s 1.1 billion. Brands intending to remain or increase their presence on Facebook have this data to back them up.
In 2018, there were 3.5 billion broadcasts on Facebook Live, and a second-quarter 2020 survey by Socialbakers showed a 26.8 percent increase in usage over the same period a year earlier. The social media and digital marketing firm went on to predict that the trend will continue in 2021.
Based on its own data, Facebook predicted that even more people would be shopping on Facebook next year. It credited an increase in e-commerce and its launch of Facebook Shops as the reasons. These, too, are expected to maintain their popularity with marketers, according to Socialbakers. It reported that Facebook’s news feed got 58.2 percent of business ad spend for the third quarter of this year. It added that the click-through rate of 1.82 percent was also higher than instream videos and video feeds.
With more people working remotely—and mostly from home—AR will likely continue in popularity. A prevalent platform is Facebook Spark AR Studio, which was introduced in 2017. They report that more than 1.2 million effects have been created since then by more than 400,00 creators from 190 countries. Business Insider pointed out the growing potential of chatbots by citing 40 million businesses already using Facebook Messenger to connect with customers. It expected the trend to continue.
After analyzing data from January to August of this year, Digiday found that user-generated content had doubled from 223 to 495 billion in just eight months. The online trade magazine expects that trend to also continue into 2021. Video content is expected to increase as well. Comparing the third quarter of this year with the same period a year earlier, Socialbakers reported an increase of 2.6 percent.
Based on data it analyzed, SocialMedia Today saw more companies exploiting the potential of hashtags and predicted their use on Facebook to increase. Facebook predicted that it foresees private, interest-driven communities, increasing their presence. It noted that there are already 10 million groups being used by more than 1.4 million people worldwide.
In the final assessment of Facebook in 2021, mother.ly said observers might see more support for small businesses in 2021. The community-driven lifestyle brand based its statement on the $100 million in grants Facebook awarded this year.
The obvious consensus of the different industry watchers is that Facebook will maintain its strength and growth as a powerful marketing tool. The areas that call out loudly for marketers to pay attention to are perhaps more employment but certainly better use of videos, UGC, AR, chatbots, hashtags and Facebook Live.
Ronn Torossian is CEO of 5WPR, a leading PR agency.
No comments have been submitted for this story yet.


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Pike & Fischer: Cable broadband speeds on the rise
DECEMBER 18, 2008 -- If your cable broadband service is getting better, you may have telephone company Verizon to thank, says market researcher Pike & Fischer.
DECEMBER 18, 2008 -- If your cable broadband service is getting better, you may have telephone company Verizon to thank, says market researcher Pike & Fischer (search for Pike & Fischer).
According to the company's annual analysis of broadband speeds and prices, cable operators are generally increasing the data rates of their standard high-speed Internet services without raising prices. But Verizon's FiOS service has injected a new level of competition in the residential broadband market, creating a hodge-podge of discounts and other special offers across the country.
"As Verizon has rolled out FiOS Internet and TV services in more and more communities, the market has seen an increasing variety of prices and data rates, as cable operators respond to FiOS launches [and to a lesser extent similar services from AT&T and Qwest Communications] on an increasingly market-by-market basis," explains Pike & Fischer contributing analyst Mitchell Shapiro in the report.
Like prior years, most cable operators today offer a flagship broadband service tier priced in the range of $40 to $45 per month, depending on the region. But standard cable modem speeds have climbed from an average high of 3 Mbps in 2004 to today's typical 10-15 Mbps, and in some markets as much as 30 Mbps. (Higher speeds are available at premium prices.) And cable companies are increasingly using short-term discounts to attract customers.
This has happened as Verizon's FiOS, which operates on a fiber-optic network that provides more capacity than cable systems, has crept into the market with standard prices as much as $10 more than cable. But a key difference between FiOS and cable modem service is the expanded upstream capacity that Verizon's network provides, making it easier for users to upload large files, the report notes.
For more information about the report, "High-speed Internet Packaging and Pricing Strategies: 5th Edition," visit Pike & Fischer


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Ever wonder what a Wolfenstein game would be like with robots and set in the sixties? Well developers MachineGames is making it happen according to Bethesda Softworks. Que teaser trailer that shows not very much.
The Nazi’s are back to their meddlesome ways. There isn’t a set release date yet, but it is believed to be a 2014 title. It will be coming to current generation consoles; the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as well as the PC.
News Source (PC Magazine)


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- Our Blog
… When Apple disclosed in September that its new iOS 9 operating system (OS) would accept ad-blocking apps, Ben Ilfeld, co-author of a widely publicized analysis by 10up Inc., said revenue loss projections should “set off publishers’ alarm bells.” He added: “Include desktop ad blocking…and the overall picture might be far worse, even in the short…
… on the advertising and marketing side also are closely monitoring ad blocking developments. Ron Blevins, vice president of digital strategy at Novus Media Inc., the U.S.-based local arm of Omnicom Group, the international ad agency holding company, explained his firm’s response: “We’re taking a proactive wait-and-see approach. We’ve yet to see a negative…
Facebook’s HipHop Virtual Machine continues to help software and platforms outside of the social network drastically increase their speeds, as WP Engine, a software-as-a-service content-management platform for websites and applications built on WordPress, became the latest company to tout the virtues of HHVM.


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Popular benchmarking software Antutu’s July 2023 performance rankings for the Chinese market are in, listing the best-performing Android phones in the flagship and sub-flagship categories.
American chipmaker Qualcomm has introduced a 5G chipset that’s meant for smartphones that cost $200 (around P11,097) or less — and we might just see it commercially launched soon.
Qualcomm has announced a new chipset for sub-flagship or upper-midrange devices, the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 2. Curiously, the chip maker has skipped the Snapdragon 7 Plus Gen 1 and Snapdragon 7 Gen 2 monikers for the Snapdragon 7 successor, which it says is its “most powerful 700-series yet.”
In December 2022, iQOO units dominated Antutu‘s lists of best-performing flagship, sub-premium, and midrange Android smartphones released in ChIna. Which models made it to the January 2023 rankings?
Antutu has released its latest rankings of flagship, sub-premium, and midrange Android smartphones released in China that performed well on the platform.
Qualcomm has announced the successor to 2021’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, following the launch of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform for flagship devices.
Popular benchmark app Antutu has posted the most recent lists of best-performing Android smartphones released in China. So, which flagship, sub-flagship, and midrange devices figured in the September 2022 rankings?
Antutu’s most recent performance rankings of Android smartphones released in China, which feature the best-performing handsets in the flagship, sub-flagship, and midrange categories, is now out.
Qualcomm has unveiled the follow-up to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, aptly calling its latest — and now, most powerful — chipset yet, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1.
MediaTek remains the top mobile chipmaker for the fourth and final quarter of 2021, according to market-research firm Counterpoint Research.
MediaTek did it again. Counterpoint Research recently posted its quarterly report on smartphone chipset shipments, and the results showed MediaTek leading Qualcomm in the quarter July to September 2021.
New chip, new name. The latest and greatest Snapdragon chipset yet, which was announced at the Snapdragon Tech Summit, also introduces the brand-new naming scheme Qualcomm will be using in its chip business moving forward.
A Taiwanese company is still the biggest smartphone chip maker in the world.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is easily the most powerful chipset we’ve ever tested to date. It can run anything you throw at it without really breaking a sweat. And as we’ve noted time and again in our reviews, such as our test of the ASUS ROG Phone 5, its benchmark scores are much higher than its flagship competition.
Apparently, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, which debuted on the Xiaomi Mi 11, won’t be the only Snapdragon 800 series chipset to get some love from smartphone manufacturers this year. Something less powerful — but possibly no less appealing — just dropped today.
A few days after sharing the Chinese market’s rankings for December, Antutu Benchmark this time revealed the list of best-performing flagship and midrange Android phones released globally.
Qualcomm announced its flagship Snapdragon 888 chipset earlier this month, and the 5nm chip is expected to power many of tomorrow’s top-end devices — some variants of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S21 series included. Xiaomi, OPPO, and Realme will launch their own Snapdragon 888-based devices as well.
Qualcomm’s next-flagship chipset is not called Snapdragon 765, as many expected; it’s Snapdragon 888, representing a number considered lucky in China.
Huawei‘s smartphone business is still in a pickle amid a trade dispute between the United States and China, which has left one of the world’s largest smartphone vendors without access to global chip suppliers, for one.
MediaTek and Kirin chipsets may be dominating in the midrange category, but the flagship space is still Qualcomm’s territory, as seen in the more recent Antutu Benchmark rankings. And it looks like its reign won’t end soon.
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This article is more than 1 year old
Cloudflare R2 Storage service takes direct aim at Amazon S3, hits on price and portability
Networking biz says it won't charge for most egress fees, pledges to undercut
Updated Cloudflare on Tuesday announced its R2 Storage service with the promise that it will store customers' data without taking it hostage.
R2 Storage stands for "Really Requestable," "Ridiculously Reliable," and several other aspirational formulations approved by marketing copywriters. It's designed to be compatible with S3, Amazon Web Service's Simple Storage Service, at least on the API level.
Where R2 diverges from S3 is its approach to billing – that and not being publicly available just yet. In July, Cloudflare took aim at AWS's "egregious" egress fees – what AWS charges customers to transfer their own data off its servers - by charging $0.015 per GB of data and limited egress fees.
AWS at the time responded by defending its need to recoup its network investment and by noting that it has "made eight data transfer out (egress) related price cuts in the last 11 years."
But Cloudflare continues to press on price, having perhaps sensed an opportunity to turn Jeff Bezos's famous dictum, "Your margin is my opportunity," back on the company that first applied it.
Prince not interested in charming Amazon
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince on Monday evening challenged AWS's cost-cutting claim by noting via Twitter that the cloud giant's cost-cutting scissors have gotten rusty: "Fun fact: AWS hasn’t reduced the price of S3 since December 2016."
AWS did discount a different service, Glacier, this year. And the company has added S3 features during this period, like strong consistency. So it's not as if AWS has been idly lounging on its $59bn annual run rate doing nothing; it's just not aiming to be the low-price leader.
Characterizing egress fees as a tax that doesn't translate into value for customers, product manager Greg McKeon argued that R2 demonstrates Cloudflare's commitment to the Bandwidth Alliance, an anti-egress fee consortium, by providing zero-cost transfers out for storage objects, regardless of request rate.
- Cloudflare slams AWS egress fees to convince web giant to join its discount data club
- Cloudflare ties Workers to distributed data storage
- Cloudflare says Intel is not inside its next-gen servers – Ice Lake melted its energy budget
- Internet Archive's way cool Wayback Machine gets way more websites in Cloudflare fail-over pact
"Egress bandwidth is often the largest charge for developers utilizing object storage and is also the hardest charge to predict," said McKeon in a blog post. "Eliminating it is a huge win for open-access to data stored in the cloud."
To turn its declared win into a loss for AWS and other competitors that support egress fees, Cloudflare is providing developers with a free migration service that works with any other S3-compatible storage services.
McKeon insists R2's low price isn't being made up by shifting costs elsewhere. "Cloudflare R2 will be priced at $0.015 per GB of data stored per month — significantly cheaper than major incumbent providers," he said, adding that there will be no charge for infrequent storage operations – less than 10 requests per second – and that R2 will charge less per-operation than other major providers.
Better still from a customer perspective, R2 looks to be simpler even than Amazon Simple Storage Service and its not-so-simple tiering system. According to McKeon, R2 manages the tiering of data to maximize performance at peak load and to avoid cost for infrequently requested objects.
"We’ve gotten rid of complex, manual tiering policies in favor of what developers have always wanted out of object storage: limitless scale at the lowest possible cost," he explained.
Whole lotta shakin' goin on
"The amount of effort it takes to understand and account for S3 Intelligent-Tiering is somewhat mind-blowing so to get rid of all of that (and the corresponding fees) would be really nice and TheWayThingsShouldBe™ for the customer," he said. "On top of that most users just don't even know S3 Intelligent-Tiering exists so it'll be great if Cloudflare just handles that automatically."
In a phone call with The Register, Schaechter said that S3 offers four different classes of storage and that most customers use the standard tier, which is the most expensive. But AWS, he said, offers a service called Amazon S3 Intelligent-Tiering that customers can pay for to have AWS monitor file access patterns and shift them to a different storage class with a more favorable price structure.
"It's not very well known, it's complicated, and you have to pay an additional fee," he said. "What Cloudflare is saying out of the box is not only can we do this cheaper, but we'll do it on your behalf automatically."
Schaechter, who worked previously at AWS and at DigitalOcean, acknowledged that AWS is known in the industry for high egress fees. "Amazon," he said, "can command those fees because they have a suite of 250 other services you don't get elsewhere."
Some AWS customers, he said, may be able to move easily to Cloudflare while others, particularly large organizations, may not easily be able to lift and shift their operations. How this all plays out, he said, will depend upon how R2 actually performs once it's publicly available.
"Not everything is price-related," he said. "People are willing to pay for better performance."
Cloudflare R2 is currently under development and those interested can sign up to a wait list for early access. ®
Updated to add
“We agree that Amazon S3 has been a game changer for developers,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement emailed to The Register, making reference to McKeon’s observation that “cloud storage services were a godsend for developers” when S3 launched in 2006.
“With the deepest feature set and industry-leading scalability, data availability, security, and performance, customers are storing well over 100 trillion objects there today. While we can’t comment on a product that has been announced but not released, we welcome competition generally across our businesses because we believe it is healthy and helps grow markets.”


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An Australian woman suffered burns on her face and hands when her Beats headphones exploded, but Apple says that it's not its fault.
According to Apple, the third-party batteries the woman purchased separately for her Beats headphones are to blame for the incident.
Apple Beats Headphones Exploded On Plane
Imagine you're on a plane, listening to something on your headphones and you fall asleep, only to wake up to your face burned by exploding headphones. That's what the woman in question went through with her Beats headphones.
As Adelaide Now reports, the unfortunate incident occurred back in February, when a pair of Beats headphones exploded. The woman was wearing the headphones on a plane and dozed off to sleep when she woke up "to the sound of an explosion and a burning sensation on her face."
The Beats headphones had caught fire and the woman got her face, hair and hands burned. The woman didn't try to get compensation for her injuries. Instead, she just sought to have Apple reimburse her headphones, as well as her ruined clothes that got burned in the incident.
Third-Party Batteries To Blame, Says Apple
Apple launched an investigation into the matter, but reportedly concluded that it doesn't have to issue any compensation because third-party batteries were to blame, not the headphones themselves. In other words, Apple said it's not its fault and will not reimburse anything.
"Our investigation indicated the issue was caused by a third-party battery," a company representative noted in a statement the woman's lawyers released on Friday, May 19, as cited by Adelaide Now.
The headphones were apparently an older model, which required AAA batteries to function. The woman told the publication that she bought the Beats headphones from a duty-free shop back in 2014, along with the AAA batteries needed to power them.
She explained that the headphones needed batteries to function and she didn't find any specifications anywhere as to whether she should use a special brand of batteries. She wanted the headphones reimbursed so she could buy new ones, and said she was disappointed that Apple shifted the blame onto third-party batteries.
It remains unclear which brand of batteries the woman used for her Beats headphones, as she did not specify. She did mention that she threw the headphones to the floor of the plane, where they kept sparkling until flight attendants came with a bucket of water and placed the headphones in the bucket. Both the batteries and the cover reportedly melted and stuck to the floor.
Beats Headphones Exploding On Plane Prompted ATSB Warning
After this exploding headphones incident, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau issued a warning advising passengers to keep batteries in an approved stowage when they're not using them, pack extra batteries in their carry-on luggage and not their checked bag, and take other precautions when traveling with battery-powered electronics.
This incident may not be of the magnitude of the great Samsung Galaxy Note 7 fiasco from last year, when a number Note 7 units exploded worldwide, but it still serves as a warning to be extra careful when using battery-powered devices.


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Ford has confirmed its global electric vehicles plan is extending to Europe with five full electric or hybrid vehicles across its C, CD and light commercial vehicle ranges coming for European customers by 2011.
Ford will launch two zero-emission full battery-electric vehicles including the Transit Connect Electric light commercial vehicle in 2011 followed by the Ford Focus Electric in 2012. Three other vehicles – two next-generation petrol hybrid-electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid – will be introduced in 2013.
Ford’s global electrification strategy will deliver a suite of electrified vehicles to a variety of markets and build on the company’s overall vision of offering the widest possible range of technology solutions – instead of a single vehicle or technology – to improve fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions for customers around the world.
The first models to be launched in Europe will be zero-emission, full-electric versions of two significant models in Ford’s global product portfolio.
The Focus Electric will be based on Ford’s next-generation Focus model and is one of at least ten vehicles that will be developed from the company’s new global C-car platform. Focus Electric will be introduced in the US and Canada in 2011, followed by Europe in 2012.
The Ford Transit Connect Electric is a zero-emission, pure electric-powered version of the award-winning Transit Connect light commercial vehicle and goes on sale in North America later this year. Ford is aiming to make the Transit Connect Electric available for European customers from 2011.


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The competitive environment
Without technology investments, remaining viable will be difficult.
For all their benefits, supply chain tracking and monitoring, blockchain, artificial intelligence and the internet of things technologies are currently the least used in the middle market, according to the 2018 RSM survey of CFOs on digital transformation. Only one in four executives participating in the survey claims to be leading their competitors when it comes to implementing digital technology.
Notably, most company executives (94 percent) participating in the digital transformation survey claim to have a “digital road map,” that is, a detailed, operational plan that describes how digital strategy will take shape. Yet when asked if they have a strategy to achieve specific goals or objectives in place, less than half (48 percent) had a fully developed plan.
But tech priorities may be gaining more importance.
As research firm Gartner notes, spending on application and infrastructure software is expected to continue to rise through 2019. In addition, among the participants in the RSM MMBI survey who prioritize increasing capex, three of the top five areas for investment are tech-related:
“IT is not about just maintaining servers anymore,” says Bill Kracunas, RSM US’s national management consulting leader. “Among other things, it’s about aggregating data from a number of different sources that can provide visibility into patterns and trends for increased insight into customers, employees and financials.
As Kracunas sees it, companies are using technology to connect with current customers and expand their customer base. They are using enterprise systems to achieve better inventory, production and quality management, as well as improving customer behavior forecasting. Many are implementing performance management and employee self-service systems to give employees a better work experience and insights into their careers.
Trends in technology investments
Clearly, some company executives see the disruption coming and they are investing accordingly. For all business processes and segments, the vast majority of middle market companies expect future digital spending to increase over the next three years, particularly in operational efficiency, according to the digital transformation survey.
In fact, small and medium-size businesses are expected to spend nearly $602 billion in 2018 for IT hardware, software and services, a nearly 5 percent increase over 2017, according to research firm International Data Corporation. Devices such as personal computers and mobile phones make up the largest spending category, followed by spending in applications and enterprise resource management.
Depending on the industry, companies are investing in technology to enhance the customer experience, track buying patterns and even gather biometrics. From business-to-consumer to business-to-business, technology disruption abounds in health care, financial institutions, retailers and other industries:
According to the American Bankers Association, millennials are the fastest-growing customer base and one that is changing the way banks do business (see Profile section on Kansas City-based NBKC Bank). This generation requires digital solutions to manage their money, and banks that offer digital services such as mobile payments, budgeting and wealth management tools are improving their engagement with millennial consumers and other generations. However, many traditional financial institutions are experiencing competition from financial technologies (fintech) such as mobile transaction apps. According to the analytics software company FICO, while fintech use is still somewhat low across the board, younger generations (those aged 18 to 34) are twice as likely to use mobile payments as those over 35, and more likely to start using mobile payments in the next 12 months.
To combat fraud and protect customers, a number of retailers and financial institutions are tracking visitors’ physical movements as they use websites and apps. Using sensors on phones or code on websites, the data points—known as behavioral biometrics—are collected and being used to prove that a digital customer actually is who he or she claims to be.
Some companies are implementing social media listening initiatives to monitor and enhance engagement and consumer confidence, allowing businesses to collect valuable data that is then integrated into its customer relationship management systems. This helps companies understand customer preferences and be more proactive about potential issues. Manufacturers, retailers and others are also using predictive analytics technology to remain agile and forecast appropriate inventory levels throughout the year to improve their ability to meet client demands.
Consumers value streamlined convenience, information, easy comparison shopping and quick transactions once they’re ready to buy. Successful consumer products businesses are providing services such as mobile or online ordering with in-store pickup, easy returns and improved loyalty programs, as well as showroom and online experiences featuring artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Many companies are leveraging big data to mine targeted demographic information, maximize their omnichannel effectiveness, expand their reach with customers and better understand them.
Improving operations and engagement
Smart health care providers are linking multiple computer systems across the enterprise to exchange collected information. This allows patients’ electronic health records to be entered once but referenced endless times, providing accurate care, quicker service and efficient billing. Some health care providers are also leveraging population health management studies to help prevent or predict community health concerns.
Many organizations are leveraging digital technology to increase communication and gather employee feedback. Common strategies include installing video boards to share office news and current events, creating surveys to gauge employee satisfaction and implementing internal social media platforms.
For some time now, mobility strategies have altered the traditional work environment, removing the need for the daily commute, the desktop PC and the conventional workweek, and transforming how employees work, when they work and where they work. Mobile tech is arguably the biggest enabler of the digital revolution.
The looming disruption is gaining the attention of private equity managers, who are increasingly investing in tech companies. Investment strategies include application software, IT services, hardware, office electronics and consumer electronics, among others. In the first five months of 2018, 16 of the 46 new fund launches, representing $6.7 billion or 30.1 percent of all assets deployed, were PE funds with tech investment strategies, continuing an upward trajectory of such investments. By the third quarter of 2018, there were more middle market funds with technology strategies than in all of 2017. It appears the middle market is using innovation as a way to propel investment returns, and managers are sensing market disruption in their respective ecosystems. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation in nearly all industries, PE firms recognize the inevitability that tech will transform business.
Technology investments require a commitment over the long term. “It’s not like you can just go flip the switch and you automatically gain the advantages,” says Steve Ems, leader of RSM US’s national business application practice. “It’s an investment of time, dollars and other resources. However, the derived benefits can be substantial.”


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The latest short interest data is out for the key counters of AMD stock, Alibaba stock and Snap Inc stock.
The latest short interest data has been made available yesterday for the period ending October 31. Quite possibly, one of the most keenly watched counters would be those of Sunnyvale, California-based Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD), Chinese eCommerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) and Venice, California based Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP), parent of the popular social media app Snapchat. This short interest data also holds little more interest as this is out after these companies recent earnings releases. AMD and SNAP stock are almost in the same boat witnessing a massive crash after their earnings announcement while Alibaba stock has continued its bull run to new highs crushing earnings estimates. Now, let's quickly look at the latest changes in short interest in these names.
Short interest in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) stock rises again after falling in last period.
AMD stock shred another 5% yesterday after the announcement from its core rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). The Chipzilla has hired former head of the Dr.Lisa Su led semiconductor company's graphics unit Raja Koduri, to lead its newly formed Core and Visual Computing Group. And, now latest short interest data interest further suggests that the sentiment around AMD stock continues to remain bearish. AMD has held its position for the second most shorted stock on NASDAQ in terms of the number of shares shorted again. Short interest in AMD stock has risen by 4.3%. Short interest in terms of the number of shares shorted is 154.97 million shares, as of the latest reporting date compared to 148.60 million in the preceding period. The days to cover stood at just 2 days. As a percentage of float, short interest increased to 17.6% from 16.8%.
AMD had reported better than expected earnings last month but the next quarter outlook being lower than the latest quarter didn't go down well with investors. Then followed a massive correction in the stock, and in our earlier coverage, we had hinted that AMD shares were almost near a bottom. Shares of the chipmaker have bounced back since then only to be hit hard by the recent spate of negative news. AMD stock is again in oversold territory as per Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator with the latest RSI reading coming in at 28.51, just below the commonly use oversold threshold limit of 30. However, the Bollinger Bands indicator is yet to flash an oversold signal and generally, the combination of these two popular indicators is considered as a strong signal. Investors looking to play AMD stock would do well to follow the AMD stock technical chart before making a move.
Shorts are fleeing Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) stock.
Alibaba stock's bull run has dealt a heavy blow to the shorts. Just a few days back Alibaba was the most shorted stock in the world in terms dollars-at-risk. With mind-blowing earnings performance and a strong outlook, there seems to be nothing to stop the Chinese eCommerce juggernaut. Alibaba stock performance has had an impact on the short interest as well. If the latest short interest numbers are anything to go by, bears are looking to give up on Alibaba stock as short interest fell consecutively for the third straight fortnight. Short interest in Alibaba stock fell further by 8%. Short interest is only 123.24 million shares, as of the latest reporting date compared to 133.93 million in the preceding period. The days to cover stood very high at 7 days. As a percentage of float, short interest has fallen to 4.8%.
We have remained bullish on Alibaba stock for some time now. With single's day around, this might be an exciting time for Alibaba shareholders. Investors can go through recent coverage on BABA stock to get insights about how to play Alibaba stock ahead of single's day. Having said all this, the Chinese eCommerce giant still remains a good long-term buy, given the multi-billion dollar opportunities ahead of it. It is highly risky at the moment to bet against BABA stock with more and more growth drivers emerging for the Chinese online retail giant
Short Interest in Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) stock cools off a bit.
Shorts had been piling into Snapchat parent Snap Inc stock since its second-quarter earnings. However, some shorts seems to have closed their position as of the last reporting period anticipating a better than expected earnings. Snap Inc earnings though were hardly encouraging with revenue and user growth falling short of expectations in a big way. Snap stock has lost nearly 18% of its values after its earnings release. Coming to latest data, short interest in Snap Inc has declined to 114.87 million shares, from 121.13 million shares as of October end, a 5.2% drop. Short interest still stands very high at 29.3% of Snap's float, with days to cover too very high at 6 days. Given that the latest earnings hardly inspires confidence, it's only a matter of time when more shorts would be back betting against Snap stock.
The Snap Inc stock technical chart is flashing some important signals for investors. The recent crash has landed the stock in oversold territory as per Bollinger Bands indicator. The share price has breached the lower Bollinger Band to signal an oversold condition. However, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator is yet to flash an oversold signal, but it's only a matter of next trading session where it could also suggest Snap Inc stock is oversold. The current RSI reading of Snap Inc stock is 30.89, just above the oversold threshold of 30. A bottom may be just around the corner for the Snap stock but it is highly likely that people would like to bet against the stock right now. And, why not, shorts have been very profitable last quarter betting against Snap stock.
Looking for fundamentally strong China-based companies to invest in? One Chinese stock in our picks has delivered more than 600% return since 2011. Then do check out Amigobulls' top stock picks, which have outperformed the NASDAQ by over 164%. Further, if you're also looking for top picks from the auto sector, you should also check out our top auto stock picks, which have beaten the S&P 500 by over 269%. If you're a trader though, you should check out our daily trading ideas section for daily, free updates on the latest crossovers and other popular technical signals.


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Demand amongst five to 16-year-olds for digital devices means that each child in the UK commanded an average ‘tech-spend’ of £537 in the past year alone, with spend peaking for seven year olds at £761. According to research by shopping comparison site Kelkoo, more than 91% of UK school children have received a wealth of sophisticated products in the past 12 months, with each child owning an average of four gadgets. This increases from two per child at the age of five, to just over four at the age of 11, reaching five by the age of 16.
The most in-demand technologies amongst five to 16-year-olds are games consoles, owned by 58% of children, closely followed by mobile phones (52%), MP3 players (48%), laptops (35%) and digital cameras (35%). Among junior school children (age seven to 11), 47% own a mobile phone, 44% own an MP3 player and almost a third have their own laptops (30%). Children are also starting to embrace latest generation technologies with over one in ten (11%) now owning a smartphone, 7% owning a netbook and 3% with a tablet PC.
A third (31%) of all digital devices purchased for children in the last year offer web access, yet one in five parents (21%) admitted they never take control of their children’s internet access and 43% occasionally keep a check. This figure is even higher amongst parents of children aged five, with almost a quarter (23%) revealing they never implement parental controls and less than a third (32%) enforcing restrictions every so often.
The research also reveals that nine out of ten parents (90%) recognise that technology now forms a vital part of a child’s development and 84% agree that having the right devices helps with school work. On the flip side, technology also gives some parents cause for concern. Almost two thirds (60%) worry that buying expensive digital devices makes children more attractive to thieves and a similar number (59%) believe there is undue peer pressure on youngsters to have all the latest gadgets.
John Carr, Executive Board Member, UK Council for Child Internet Safety, comments: “Technology is a fundamental part of modern schooling, so it’s really important that children learn to use these digital devices properly. Despite the majority of parents accepting the need for children to have access to these gadgets, it’s really worrying that so many fail to use parental controls on devices that have internet access. We all know that being a parent is not an easy job, and there could be a number of reasons why they aren’t – including a lack of awareness. If this is the case, I would strongly encourage parents to take a few simple steps to protect their youngsters and enable them to stay safe as they surf.”
Junior school children had more money spent on them than any other age group, receiving £595 worth of digital devices last year, closely followed by secondary school children with £592 worth of kit. The research also shows the emergence of true ‘techno-tots’ with the five to seven year old age group commanding an annual tech-spend of £438.
According to the research, when a child reaches seven they hit adults’ pockets the hardest, costing £761 a year which is 42% higher than the average spend (£537). This is the age when most children take the step up from infant to junior school, becoming increasingly self-aware and able to articulate exactly what they want.


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The African Development Bank Group’s board of directors approved a $1.5-million grant for the assessment of policy gaps in the digital trade, e-commerce ecosystems, and policy environment in ten African countries. The funds, sourced from the African Development Fund (ADF), the bank’s concessional window, will go to the Smart Africa Alliance.
The Smart Africa Alliance is an alliance of 32 African countries, international organisations and global corporations with a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030.
The project will cover Ivory Coast, Benin, Ghana, Liberia, Uganda, South Sudan, Zimbabwe, The Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group recently approved a $1.5-million grant to assess policy gaps in the digital trade and e-commerce ecosystems and policy environment in 10 African countries. The Smart Africa Alliance will receive the funds, which were sourced from the African Development Fund, the bank’s concessional window.
Smart Africa will consult the public and private sector to develop an online training program. This will directly benefit 600 stakeholders (government officials, small and middle enterprises, private sector network operators, and private sector mobile network operators), according to an AfDB press release.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk – DS


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According to Valve, Steam Deck game console users can look forward to at least 5,000 supported games. According to the latest information, the company has tested at least 7,000 projects from Steam for compatibility with its hardware and software, 5,000 of which are recognized as suitable for playing on a portable system.
According to the latest data, the company has awarded the title of “verified” and “playable” to more than 5 thousand games available on the platform. She also confirmed that 2,000 games are “not supported”.
The title of “verified” game receives if it is compatible with Steam Deck without any problems. If there are minor problems or glitches, but the game is definitely playable, it gets the title of “playable”. Those games that Steam Deck does not support are labeled accordingly.
To be approved by Valve, a game must demonstrate solid compatibility with controllers and, when necessary, with an on-screen keyboard. In addition, support for the native Steam Deck resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels is required. It also checks for compatibility with the Proton software used to run Windows games on Steam Deck.
Of course, there are more than 50,000 games on the Steam platform in total, and while official support for 5,000 is already quite a lot, the company’s employees will have to do a lot of work to check the compatibility of other offers in the catalog. It’s worth noting that while the company hasn’t yet officially verified most of the games, there’s nothing stopping users from experimenting with options that haven’t been Deck Verified yet.
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL + ENTER.


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The EU has exclusive power in the area of trade in goods. When it comes to services and intellectual property, power is shared between the Commission and the Member States. Case law from the EU Court of Justice dictates that the European Commission and the European Member States work closely together in order to ensure that Europe speaks with one voice, particularly at the WTO. So the European Commission organises trade policy in close coordination with the Member States. This coordination takes place on a weekly basis, at the meeting of the European Council’s trade policy committee.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action is responsible for setting out Germany’s position on a number of trade policy issues and for representing the German government at European and international level.
“Trade for all” – the European Commission’s new strategy on trade
On 25 October 2015, the European Commission presented its new strategy on trade entitled “Trade for all”. With this strategy, the Commission revises and updates its “Global Europe” trade strategy from 2006 (which implemented the EU’s Market Access Strategy) and the trade policy elements included in its general economic policy strategy entitled “Europe 2020” from 2010.
The strategy focuses on 5 points:
- Trade and investment as driving forces for growth and employment:
The Commission notes that in the next 10 to 15 years, 90% of global growth will take place outside Europe. In order to benefit from this growth, the EU needs open markets.
- New trade policy issues: A stronger focus on services, digital trade, raw materials, innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
- Greater transparency in trade and investment policy:
This includes making TTIP negotiations more transparent to the public and working more closely with other EU institutions, the Member States and civil society. The European Commission also proposes regularly publishing the Council’s negotiating mandates.
- A trade and investment policy that is based on values:
The European Commission has presented its plans for reforming and redesigning the investment protection chapters in free trade agreements. A particular focus will be placed on whether trade policy upholds high sustainability, human rights and democracy standards.
- Trade policy as a tool to shape globalisation:
The European Commission stresses the importance it attaches to the WTO and to taking a multilateral approach to trade policy. At the same time, it develops proposals for reviving multilateral negotiations.
Germany welcomes the fact that the European trade strategy is being revised. The latest communication identifies the opportunities and challenges that currently exist in trade policy, including growth, employment, transparency, investment protection reform and sustainability. The objectives set out in the strategy – particularly those of opening up markets and implementing a set of dependable, global rules on trade – must now be consistently pursued. This is the only way in which German and European businesses can improve their competitive edge on growth markets outside the EU.
Market Access Strategy
The European Commission aims to open up global markets even further and thus strengthen the competitiveness of European companies. It wants to eliminate barriers to market access, particularly non-tariff barriers, and assist European companies as they enter certain markets and industries around the world.
To this end, the European Commission released a new communication on its Market Access Strategy on 18 April 2007 entitled . The main focus is on better dovetailing the work undertaken by the European Commission, the European Member States and the European business community.
Modernising trade-defence instruments
The EU is currently working on a modernisation of its trade-defence instruments in order to afford more effective protection to Europe’s companies and industrial centres against distortions of competition in international trade and against unfair trading practices and subsidies in other countries. A trilogue agreement was reached in December 2017 between the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.
Further to this, the EU’s Council of Ministers approved a new methodology to calculate dumping in EU anti-dumping procedures, sending out an important signal in particular for the manufacturing sectors in Germany and the EU, such as the steel industry. The new rules ensure that the EU will continue to be able to deploy an effective set of trade-defence instruments to counter unfair trading practices in future – particularly in the case of dumping by non-market economies.
The Trade Barriers Regulation
The Trade Barriers Regulation gives companies the right to submit a request to the Commission to ask for the investigation of a barrier to trade, and to do so without asking for permission from their association or a ministry. It the request is accepted, an investigation is started. During this investigation the Commission tries to find out whether the barrier that the company complained about actually exists and whether it negatively affects or impairs a particular industry in the EU. If the complaint is confirmed and no amicable settlement can be reached, the EU can decide to start a formal procedure for settling the dispute as part of an international agreement that exists with the trading partner.


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News & Reviews: MCU
Disney+ Hotstar officially launching in Malaysia on 1 June, price package is RM54.90 for three monthsMay 04, 2021
Today, the news of Disney+ launching in Malaysia is finally coming true. As expected like our neighbour, Singapore, the name will be Disney+ Hotstar and will start streaming on 1 June 2021. Besides the huge library collection of Disney movies, Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there will be local contents as well such as J2 J Retribusi, Ejen Ali and more.
Sep 28, 2019
By now, most of you Spider-Man and MCU fans have heard the good news. In this short announcement - it was announced that the Spider-Man / Peter Parker character movie license has swung back to the Marvel Cinematic Universe just before the end of Friday. With this, a third installment of the 'Homecoming' series which will be guided by Kevin Feige once again, is set to hit theatres on 16 July 2019.
Aug 22, 2019
It was truly a piece of heartbreaking news for all movie and MCU fans around the world. In cased you missed it, we reported that Disney, on behalf of Marvel Studios, couldn't reach a partnership conclusion with Sony on sharing Spider-Man on the big screen due to profit sharing.
Since then, both parties have gone separate ways and of course, the Internet was quick to point fingers at Sony for taking away web-slinger out of MCU. Sony was quiet for a while until they finally responded on its Twitter page.
Aug 21, 2019
So what's the story and why is Spider-Man swinging out (pun intended) out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Well, it has to do something with money (obviously) and here's the breakdown of the dispute between Marvel (or rather Disney) and Sony who still has the license over the superhero.


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- BlockQuarry Corp. specializes in strategic brand development and early growth facilitation, with a focus on the telehealth and cryptocurrency mining industries.
- The company has made significant progress toward expanding its cryptocurrency mining capacity in 2021, tripling its mining fleet in early March.
- BlockQuarry Corp. operates a joint venture with Bit5ive aimed at innovating the infrastructure needed to run profitable and efficient crypto mining projects.
- Through a partnership with Proceso LLC, the company is working to create high-density processing and mobile data centers powered by renewable energy.
- The cryptocurrency market was valued at $1.03 billion by 2019, and it’s projected to reach $1.40 billion in 2024, growing at a CAGR of 6.18%, according to MarketsandMarkets.
BlockQuarry Corp. (BLQC), through its in-house initiatives and strategic partnerships, has invested in growing operations targeting the telehealth and cryptocurrency mining industries.
The company specializes in strategic brand development and early growth facilitation. Management maneuvers its proprietary companies through critical stages of market development, including conceptualization, go-to-market strategies, engineering, product integration and distribution efficiency.
The company’s core mission is to enhance these sectors by implementing innovative services and products that are ready to meet the demands of a changing world. To that end, BlockQuarry leverages its strategic expertise, resources and innovative software to establish market-leading companies and partnerships, thereby ensuring success in their chosen industries.
The start of 2021 saw a massive resurgence in interest surrounding bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining. In mid-February, bitcoin prices hit an all-time high of greater than $57,000, and heightened demand for cryptocurrency mining power has played a key role in exacerbating a global shortage of semiconductors and computer components.
With a foothold in the cryptocurrency mining space, BlockQuarry has placed significant focus on expanding its position and capitalizing on this momentum. Recent highlights include:
- February 9, 2021: The company announced that its revolutionary Pod5 Cryptocurrency Mining Pod will be powered up into full operational launch at the Bit5ive renewable energy cryptocurrency mining facility in Pennsylvania on February 12, 2021.
- February 11, 2021: The company announced that it is in negotiations to purchase a large number of miners (between 300 and 900) in preparation for its coming Phase 3 expansion in mining volume.
- February 23, 2021: The company announced its entry into a comprehensive Hosting and Maintenance Agreement prior to going online with its new ASIC s17 miners.
- March 2, 2021: The company announced that it has successfully tripled its active cryptocurrency mining fleet with the addition of two new POD5IVE datacenters.
“As we continue to bring our miners online, we want our shareholders to be able to track the expansion and profitability of the company’s mining activity given the sharp rising trend in bitcoin prices,” Alonzo Pierce, President and Chairman of BlockQuarry, stated in a news release. “It currently costs about $11K in computing power to mine a single bitcoin. Bitcoin is pricing at over five times that level, making this is an exceptional ROI opportunity, and our responsibility to our shareholders is clear: continue to invest, expand and execute.”
BlockQuarry’s diverse portfolio reflects the growing demand for essential services in a dynamic modern operational landscape. Some of the company’s current holdings and partnerships include:
- Bit5ive LLC: BlockQuarry operates a joint venture with Bit5ive, a global leader in cryptocurrency mining. The joint-venture agreement enables BlockQuarry to collaborate with the experienced team at Bit5ive to innovate the infrastructure needed to run profitable and efficient crypto mining projects.
- Proceso LLC: BlockQuarry has partnered with Proceso LLC to create high-density processing and mobile data centers powered by renewable energy. These innovations will allow Proceso to offer lower-cost and diverse services to its clients, including hosting and colocation services to growing sectors such as the gaming industry and cryptocurrency mining.
- PHH Health: The company’s home health division answers the growing need for home care services in a world where health care delivery is changing and an increasingly large aging community is looking for efficient and effective ways of accessing health care.
- Volum: The company’s logistics and supply chain management division is designed with the core goal of increasing supply chain efficiency, which is recognized as one of the key aspects of successfully growing any business.
BlockQuarry’s recent activity in the cryptocurrency mining sector has positioned it to capitalize on the forecast expansion of the cryptocurrency market in the coming years. According to data from MarketsandMarkets, the cryptocurrency space was valued at $1.03 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach $1.40 billion in 2024, achieving a CAGR of 6.18% during the forecast period.
The report suggests that major drivers for this growth will be the transparency of the underlying blockchain technology, the high volume of remittances in developing countries, the high cost of international remittance, expected fluctuations in monetary regulations and sustained investment in the cryptocurrency space by venture capital firms.
Terry Williams is the Chief Executive Officer and Director of BlockQuarry. Mr. Williams brings to the company more than 30 years of experience in accounting and information systems, logistics, insurance and transportation. With a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in accounting and management information systems, he amassed considerable corporate experience at UPS (NYSE: UPS), where he took several logistical roles, managing more than 2,000 employees and a budget of more than $10 billion. Mr. Williams also serves as president of Airware Transportation and Logistics and Chief Financial Officer of AVI Insurance Caribbean. In 2013, he received the National Airport Minority Advisory Council Award for mastering skills in the aviation industry.
Alonzo Pierce is the company’s President and Chairman. He brings a wealth of business development and wealth management experience to the BlockQuarry team, having spent the past 20 years building recognizable brands in multiple industry sectors. Mr. Pierce has launched enterprises in life-styled brands which were delivered to high-profile, high-net worth families and individuals. He has worked in the adult beverage industry, establishing a formidable background in marketing and brand creation. Pierce has a B.A. from Baylor University and has received multiple awards in the adult beverage industry, including ‘Outstanding Sales Performance in the Southern Region’ for Sapphire Brands. Pierce also served as a national liaison to a Super-Regional Bank’s private wealth division. In addition to his for-profit endeavors, Pierce has served on multiple charitable boards, sourcing funding for JRA, food insecure families and housing insecure families. Kristina Mahoney-Brown is Secretary, Treasurer and Director of ISW Holdings. With more than 20 years of experience providing tax and financial consulting to real estate companies, as well as investors, developers and construction companies, Ms. Mahoney-Brown has gained solid business expertise and market knowledge and prides herself on staying abreast of the latest industry trends. Her professionalism, impeccable work ethic and advanced marketing strategies have earned her the nickname ‘The Tax Diva’. Mahoney-Brown has a Bachelor’s in accounting, a Master’s in taxation and a Master’s in business administration, specializing in personal financial planning.


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The survey was conducted by the ASEAN Food & Drink Exporters Forum in September 2021, where it surveyed over 1,000 food and beverage importers across Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand.
The surveyed companies included many major F&B distributors such as Indonesia’s PT Sukanda Djaya (which distributes Bega, Ovaltine, Meiji, Lipton, etc.), Malaysia’s Pikzern (Ballantyne, Nuttelex, MilkLab etc.), Philippines’ Silverware Corporation (Bundaberg, Beereberg, Bulla etc.), Singapore’s H.L. Yong (Contadina, SW, La Molisana, etc.) and Thailand’s Global Food Products (Mission, Kraft, San Remo, Wattie’s, etc.).
“Surprisingly, when we asked these companies whether they were still reviewing new F&B distribution opportunities in their ASEAN markets, the percentage dropped by 8.2% this year to 88.5% compared to in 2020’s 96.7% during the thick of the pandemic,” ASEAN Food & Drink Exporters Forum Chair Cameron Gordon said.
“This is of course still a relatively high number, but there is a definite observable drop, which we believe is because the long tail of COVID-19 has impacted many firm’s confidence in launching new brands in the F&B sector somewhat.
“As such, it is very important that brands still looking to enter any markets in this region make sure to clearly present their unique selling points, pricing and localisation strategies for the markets they are targeting, especially focusing on why distributors and retailers should take notice of their brand compared to others.
“More often than not, brands tend to bring a generic price list, presentation and samples to make their pitch – but in this very competitive environment currently within the ASEAN region particularly amidst the pandemic, this is really not a sophisticated enough strategy, especially if you don’t already have relationship with distributor and are going in cold.”
Speaking at the survey results virtual launch event recently, Silverware Corporation Business Development Manager Hannah Co added that it is ‘very rare’ for brands to come in with a strategy that had already taken local market research into account, but urged that this be done moving forward as it would definitely pique a distributor’s interest.
“There are many new brands that want to enter new markets now, especially having realised that 2021 is not going to be ‘the end’ of the pandemic as many thought before, so everyone is moving ahead trying to expand at once,” she said.
“That said, it is very rare to see a brand come in with market research already done for, say, the Philippines, but this would certainly be very helpful and of value.”
Gordon further highlighted a major mistake brands tend to make in terms of assuming that having good branding and a good market back in their home markets will mean an automatic similar reception in ASEAN.
“It is not enough to have a great brand in your home market - you need to understand the characteristics of each market you want to enter, including marketing and promotion norms, supply chain margin flow, investment required at launch and ongoing operations, and so on,” he stressed.
“In a market like, say, Singapore, a brand from perhaps Australia or New Zealand might look at this developed market and make a natural comparison between their brand and another similar brand and [expect similar outcomes] – but it needs to be remembered that Singapore is a very open market from tariff and openness perspective, so here you’re up against the world.
“Here, again pricing strategy and localisation are critical. Your products don’t necessarily need to be the cheapest, but must be priced accordingly to the category and within the range of your competition – which requires market research. Localisation is key when it comes to marketing - using the same New Zealand content, competitions, or KOLs - unless very well-known internationally - will make it difficult for your brand to resonate with consumers.”
Most popular products for import
The forum’s survey also asked importers about the most popular food and beverage categories being imported in 2021, and unsurprisingly healthy and organic food came out on top.
“The most in-demand categories currently really reflect the pandemic, e.g. things like health foods and organic foods were in the top spot with 15.7% of respondents saying these are products they are interested in right now,” said Gordon.
“These were trending in places like Australia and New Zealand about 10 years before, but we’re seeing a longer tail on those trends in ASEAN markets, especially more developing markets like Indo, Thailand, Vietnam and so on.
“We also saw a trend towards protein alternatives on the rise with 7.8%, high-protein snacks with 7.4% and plant-based or nut-based milks with 6.5%.”


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Estonia-based robotic company Starship Technologies is designing robots to solve delivery problems. The delivery robots have a capacity to carry grocery items up to 40 pounds. They will make its way to delivery points autonomously.
Starship Technologies has been in the works in creating a fleet of robots to be used for delivery service. Rather than flying drones to delivery grocery items to people's doors, the company suggests that it is safer to use land-based robots. It is also much more practical and cheaper when it comes to operational costs. The company states that the fleet of rover type robots will change the way things are delivered dramatically.
During an interview at Slush 2015 held in Helsinki, Finland, Starship Technologies co-founder Ahti Heinla acknowledges the huge potential of robots in improving people's lives and change the world. The company has always been attracted to solve big problems.
Nowadays, delivery services are much more of a problem that helping people in long distances communicate with their loved ones. To address the problem, the company has been led to create delivery robots and has been already testing it on the busy streets of Boston, Dublin, London, New York, and San Francisco.
It is not a secret that the company has been testing these robots on busy streets. They estimate that nearly 10,000 folks have already seen the robots and claim that it provoked little reaction to society. "Our vision revolves around three zeroes-zero cost, zero waiting time and zero environmental impact," Heinla said in a press release. He added that people do not react too much to the robots, which is an important matter as it shows that the robots can be accepted in people's daily lives.
The company states that they have not seen social misconduct toward the delivery robots. During the tests on the busy streets of big cities as mentioned, people did not push it, knock it down, or even kick it. Breaking into the robot's compartments is just as difficult as breaking into a vehicle.
The delivery robots are autonomous. It will make its way to customers on its own and it can carry a grocery load of up to 40 pounds. People will receive delivery schedules through a smartphone app. Once delivery is accomplished, the robots will return to a hub where it will be housed. The robot delivery service is targeted for a full consumer launch in 2017.


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NAB, one of the largest banks in Australia, expands its relationship with Khoros to advance its messaging and AI capabilities, and transform the way it interacts with customers
AUSTIN, Texas and MELBOURNE, Australia (February 2, 2022) — Khoros, an award-winning leader in digital-first contact centre software and services, today announced it had been chosen as a technology partner for National Australia Bank (NAB). NAB is one of the largest financial institutions on the continent. With Khoros, NAB will transform its digital messaging capability, accelerating digital servicing for customers and expanding support on the digital channels that customers prefer.
NAB Executive, Digital Experience and Engagement Michelle Sherwood said that with 94% of customer interactions now digital, the bank was pleased to partner with Khoros to help serve customers well.
“Having supported the launch of our Apple Messages for Business, WhatsApp and Google’s Business Messages channels, the Khoros platform has proved to be incredibly valuable to assist customers however they choose to interact with us,” Sherwood said.
“We look forward to building on our success and setting a new industry standard for what a high-performing, customer-focused digital messaging and contact centre experience can be.”
Khoros CEO Jack Blaha said that they’re thrilled to meaningfully expand their relationship with NAB.
“We’re honored to be working with this visionary organisation to drive digital transformation and, ultimately, provide a more modern experience for their customers. With Khoros’ leading contact centre solution and AI-powered vision for unlocking the power of customer interactions, we are excited to help NAB set a new global standard for digital-first customer engagement that will improve both the colleague and customer experience,” Blaha said.
NAB has more than 30,000 colleagues serving eight million customers throughout Australia, New Zealand, and around the world. NAB is one of thousands of enterprises that observed a massive increase in consumer demand for digital engagement in recent years. In 2020, more than three million web chat conversations were answered by the NAB digital virtual assistant—three times more than the previous year.
NAB selected Khoros to deliver a new digital messaging capability to meet growing customer needs in an ever-changing digital world.
The financial services institution will use Khoros’ platform to execute its simple and digital vision. This includes a digital messaging evolution and fully integrated digital-first service operation.
Customers are increasingly choosing digital channels, with more than 90,000 interactions occurring through digital messaging channels and 80% of customer questions resolved through Google’s Business Messages.
“Our partnership with NAB has been an exciting one to see progress, especially when they share a vision that very much speaks to what we are innovating here at Khoros—true digital customer engagement that seamlessly connects colleagues and consumers across any communication channel including digital and voice. We’re excited to be on this journey with NAB so they can deliver a leading customer service experience,” added Booth Fellers, VP of APAC at Khoros.
Khoros brings 20 years of digital-first innovation and partnership to the work of transforming contact centres. The Khoros platform helps contact centres drive both revenue and efficiency with a digital-first, ‘single pane of glass’ platform for all customer interactions. The Khoros platform makes colleagues’ jobs easier with an intuitive desktop experience, AI-enabled agent assistance, and a 360-degree view of customer engagement. Khoros is unique in the industry in coupling that digital engagement expertise with valuable voice of customer (VoC) insights, award-winning social marketing capabilities, and enterprise-grade communities software for self-service—all powered by its patent-pending, AI-powered orchestration engine.
For additional information about Khoros’ contact centre solution and digital customer engagement software and services, visit khoros.com.au.
Over 2,000 global brands, including one-third of the Fortune 100 companies, leverage the power of Khoros’ award-winning customer engagement platform to create customers for life. Our innovative enterprise solutions, including over 20 patented technologies, ensure success across digital customer service, messaging, chat, online brand communities, and social media management. Combined with our industry-leading services, Khoros enables brands to connect with customers throughout their entire digital journey.
Khoros powers more than 500 million daily digital interactions and leverages AI to turn these interactions into insights and action. Recognised nationally and locally as one of the Best Places to Work, Khoros has 11 offices globally and Vista Equity Partners is its lead investor. For more information, visit khoros.com.
National Australia Bank (NAB) is a financial services institution. We’re here to serve customers well and help our communities prosper. Today, we have more than 32,000 at NAB, serving approximately eight million customers at more than 700 locations. As Australia’s largest business bank, our business experts work with small, medium and large businesses to help them grow.
National Australia Bank Limited ABN 12 004 044 937 AFSL and Australian Credit Licence 230686
NAB Media Line
P: +61 (0) 3 7035 5015


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By Renita D. Young and Jan Harvey
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - Gold prices climbed nearly 2 percent on Wednesday, rebounding from early losses that followed stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation data, as the dollar surrendered gains and equities swung higher.
The dollar initially rose after the U.S. Labor Department report showed U.S. consumer prices increased more than expected in January, and traders bet the U.S. Federal Reserve would boost interest rates faster than previously forecast. [FRX/]
However, softer-than-forecast retail sales data and an immediate pullback in equities markets sparked concern that the Fed would struggle to raise rates quickly enough to offset inflation pressures.
Spot gold was up 1.7 percent at $1,351.81 per ounce by 1:37 p.m. EST (1837 GMT), after reaching $1,355.08, its highest since Jan. 26. U.S. gold futures for April delivery settled up $27.60 per ounce, or 2.1 percent, at $1,358.
Bullion was on track for its strongest daily performance since May 2017. Inflation fears generally prompt investors to buy the precious metal.
"Gold investors are looking into gold as a hedge against inflation and higher inflation expectations are boosting an interest in gold," said Suki Cooper, precious metals analyst at Standard Chartered Bank.
U.S. stocks fell immediately after the inflation report, then rebounded and traded higher in the afternoon. In addition to the strong inflation numbers, market watchers noted a surprise drop in January retail sales. [.N]
"Given the weak retail sales report alongside (the inflation data), the markets are probably going to talk about stagflation, where you are getting stronger inflation but not really getting a stronger consumer," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an interest rate strategist at TD Securities in New York.
"Those two in tandem might be leading to this flattener in Treasuries, though retail sales are pretty volatile."
Stock markets, which scaled record peaks in recent months, slid sharply last week, dragging gold prices as investors sought refuge in the U.S. dollar.
Meanwhile, silver was up 1.9 percent at $16.86 an ounce after hitting a one-week high of $16.98. Palladium gained 1.8 percent to $1,002.25, earlier hitting a one-week high $1,004.60 high. Platinum rose 2 percent at $993.24, earlier hitting $998.80, its highest in nearly three weeks.
The platinum market is set for another surplus this year after recording oversupply of 110,000 ounces in 2017, Johnson Matthey said in a report on Wednesday, though sister metal palladium is tipped for another deficit.
(Additional reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio and David Evans)


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Recorded fraud attempts remained flat despite a surge in transaction volumes, values and increased number of payment methods, as the broader retail market used Amazon Prime Days 2022 to drive sales, according to new data from ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIW). ACI Worldwide is a global leader in mission-critical payments software and its merchant business serves tens of thousands of companies worldwide.
ACI’s merchant fraud intelligence attributes the success to a combination of factors: increasing integrated fraud prevention technology, improved customer vigilance and security habits and merchants using fraud management to shore up balance sheets and not assessing losses.
Fraud attempts remained flat at 0.1 percent, despite a 25 percent increase in transaction volumes and a 20 percent rise in transaction value compared with 2021, as the broader retail sector used the event to boost sales, according to ACI. A 0.2 percent drop in eWallet fraud attempts was noted over the same period, the first recorded decline. An optimistic sign, given studies predict half the world’s population will adopt eWallets by 2024.
“Fraud management solutions help guarantee higher acceptance rates and lower chargebacks, helping to shore up the balance sheet in times of economic uncertainty — this has not been lost on merchants who are shifting their mindset,” said Erika Dietrich, head of fraud management and payment analytics, ACI Worldwide.
Dietrich added, “Advanced fraud management solutions are now viewed as revenue generators, and merchant enthusiasm for them is reaching new highs. As eCommerce — via mobile apps and alternate payment methods — continues to expand, reducing risk while raising revenue in real time has become the default position for our merchant customers.”
“When merchants integrate advanced real-time fraud management solutions within the payments flow, higher fraud prevention figures are recorded overall,” she concluded.
New, integrated fraud management and orchestration technologies combined with consumer behavior look to be having an impact, which will come as welcome news for the $5.55 trillion global eCommerce industry — as every $1 lost through fraud now costs U.S. merchants $3.75.
“ACI is delivering enhanced security orchestration for merchants and a seamless shopping experience for customers, all in real time,” added Dietrich. “By restraining rising fraud, our comprehensive solutions provide unrivalled acceptance rates and reduce chargebacks, while providing trust, reassurance and a foundation for growth for our customers.”
ACI Fraud Management for Merchants is a real-time, cloud-based, managed service that uses advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning) and behavioral analytics to identify and assess inconsistent and unexpected patterns and behaviors. The solution automatically advises and alerts enterprises and merchants to potential threats or anomalies.


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In response to Vermont’s GMO labeling law, General Mills will voluntarily label all of its products sold in the U.S.
Companies that depend on label printers need a way to do more in less time.
The iColor 700 Desktop Digital Label Press by UniNet gives decision makers the freedom to devise a custom label printing strategy that is scalable to their volume of business. With this system, users are capable of printing 2,000 full color labels in less than 20 minutes The iColor 700 is a unique solution for short- to mid-run label production, built to keep up with the evolving label and packaging industry dynamics.
The patented auto-registration system keeps labels in position from beginning to end. This creates consistency in quality without the constant need to monitor printing. It’s a dependable solution for chemical and drum labels, meeting GHS BS5609 compliance and giving business leaders the freedom to adapt as regulations change. When die-cut labels are created using the iColor 700, they’re protected with outstanding resistance to water, chemicals, fading and the harshest of elements.
Visit our store to browse a selection of iColor printing solutions for your enterprise. With the best label technology on the market, you can boost productivity, expand your market reach and provide the most polished products to businesses and consumers.


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A bar in Indiana recently told customers who vocally opposed Bud Light for its recent sponsorship with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney to no longer drink at their establishment. However, after facing significant backlash, the bar released a statement retracing its position to win back business.
The Fairfax Bar & Grill in Bloomington, Indiana, initially posted at the height of the Bud Light boycott that customers who expressed “bigotry and hatred” would be kicked out of the establishment. The post has since been deleted, but it said:
“We are tired of all of the hate. We are very open to debate and discussion and it’s truly a shame that we can’t have open conversations about this important political and cultural topic. Bars, in our opinion, exist as public spaces where ideas should be exchanged. Unfortunately due to all of the bigotry and hatred that has surfaced around the Bud Light controversy any patron wanting to voice their concerns about the issue will be immediately asked to pay their bill and leave our establishment.”
The restaurant and bar owner, McKinley Minniefield, explained the motivation behind the statement, “We were just dealing with a lot of hate speech, and people being uncomfortable. My bartenders were aggravated and we had customers that were leaving.”
However, the bar has since indicated that they have lost many customers and need more business. This post has also been deleted since its posting, but it read, “With the departure of some of our regulars, we have needed new clientele, and you have answered. I’m not gonna lie, we still need more of you right now.”
The bar followed up with another post that implied it would backtrack from the original position and welcome differing but respectful viewpoints on the Bud Light boycott. It read, “A lot has been said – some correct, and some incorrect – and I want to clarify my stance. What I really want to convey is this: just be respectful. Different opinions are welcome here as long as they are delivered respectfully. We’d no more want ugly, aggressive or rude interactions about which sports team someone thinks is better, than about societal issues.”
It continued, “We do not and will not censor opinions, but we do require civility in this establishment. So if you can’t play nice, then get out of the sandbox. That goes for everyone! Let’s remember why we even gather at a bar – to enjoy each other’s company – and raise a glass to civility.”
What Fairfax Bar and Grill found out the hard way is that making decisions that contradict the values of the customer base is not good for business. For whatever reason, multi-billion dollar corporations don’t seem to understand this. Bud Light and a handful of other companies who have enacted brand sponsorships with Dylan Mulvaney demonstrate this. Fox News’ recent ousting of its most popular host Tucker Carlson is also a great example. However, a small bar in Indiana won’t be able to weather a decline in revenue like these other giants. Go woke, go broke!
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Roblox announced a partnership with Sony Music Entertainment to provide in-game music experiences and create revenue for artists.
The partnership will allow the companies to work together to create in-game music experiences for players, providing opportunities to give Sony Music artists a way to reach new audiences and generate revenue.
The announcement becomes the latest development in immersive advertising for music companies within the gaming metaverse.
“Sony Music artists have been at the forefront of engaging the millions of music fans in Roblox’s massive user community with forward-looking initiatives,” said Sony Music Entertainment President of Global Digital Business and U.S. Sales Dennis Kooker.
“With this new agreement, we look forward to expanding our successful partnership with the Roblox team to further unlock commercial opportunities at the intersection of music and gaming.”
“Immersive online environments represent a meaningful opportunity for reaching a growing number of fans who want to use virtual communities to enjoy shared music experiences,” he added.
— Jamie Adams (@Jamie_AdamsIRL) July 6, 2021
Sony artists Lil Nas X and Zara Larrson have both performed in-game virtual concerts on Roblox. The concept grew in popularity as artists’ tours have been sidelined because of the pandemic.
The Roblox platform allows artists to reach fans through various activities, including virtual concerts, merchandise sales, and other integrated in-game activities.
The Sony artists aren’t the only music moguls dipping their toes into immersive advertising, with Travis Scott and Marshmellow both hosting events on Fortnite.
Roblox also announced a similar partnership with music label BMG, also focused on future collaboration and revenue-generating opportunities for artists and songwriters.
“Sony Music has been a fantastic partner and I am pleased to deepen and lengthen our relationship. They truly understand the massive opportunity that the metaverse presents for their artists, and we are committed to helping them unlock new creative and commercial opportunities on Roblox,” said Vice President and Global Head of Music at Roblox Jon Vlassopulos.
— MusicLinkUp (@MusicLinkUp) July 6, 2021


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Google has upgraded its Chromecast and Chromecast Audio last September, but they are still due in all of Google’s various international markets. While the original Chromecast is currently available in India, the Chromecast 2015 and its younger sibling the Chromecast Audio are expected to be launched in India soon.
As they have been added to Google’s official hardware availability page, we can expect them to appear on the Google Store in India in the coming weeks. Despite they are listed on the support page, they haven’t made their way to actual online store – it’s a rare discrepancy.
The second generation Google Chromecast saw a complete makeover in terms of design and hardware over the original Chromecast. Despite its new dressing, it still retains the same price tag of $35 as the original. The all new design saw an HDMI cable looped inside a circular Chromecast logo-shaped unit. The company also upgraded the internal components to make the new Chromecast more capable and added three antennas inside the device. The device supported 5GHz 802.11ac Wi-Fi for stutter-free high-quality streaming. It comes with a new feature called “Fast Play,” allowing the Chromecast to start a video or audio streaming much quicker to start, once users press the Cast button.
Google’s Chromecast Audio streaming device, on the other hand, also priced at $35 (INR 2,300) that lets you stream music to regular speakers directly from a smartphone or laptop. Since the device doesn’t compress audio while streaming, you’ll have original audio quality. It works with Android and iOS devices, apart from PCs. The device supports high-quality audio, 2 watts RMS, and an optional optical digital out that sits in the hybrid port.