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The Best of Faulty Gadgets: Is Your Smartphone On the List?
Hearing about the latest faulty phone, the self-combusting Galaxy SIII, made me think about how hazardous technology is for us. This isn’t the first time a gadget’s exploded. Some even caused serious injuries and fatalities.
So let’s take a trip down memory lane to recall some of technology’s darkest hours.
This segment includes faulty laptops, mobile phones, tablets and other electronic devices.
Aside from the self-combusting Galaxy SIII, European consumers who were able to get their hands on the Pebble Blue version of the device reported noticing a white substance that looked like it was splashed on the device. People are now thinking that this may be the reason that there’s a 2-3 week wait for the Pebble BLue version in the US.
Though fanboys think they have the last laugh after the melting Galaxy SIII, they shouldn’t. If you recall, last year an iPhone 4 also self-combusted on a plane, mid-flight. And the iPhone 4 was badly damaged compared to the Galaxy SIII. Not long after the plane incident, another iPhone 4 was reported to have self-combusted, this time while being charged. Aside from that, iPhones and iPads are plagued with issues, such as poor battery performance, a yellow screen because of the glue, and more, upon release. Remember Yellowgate? Batterygate? WiFigate? How about Heatgate?
The NVIDIA Tegra-3 quad-core tablets Iconia Tab A510/A511
is no longer being sold/shipped due to faulty hardware that causes freezing in the devices.
The Taiwanese company acknowledged that their Tegra 3-powered HTC One X is having WiFi issues due to a loose connection between the device and its WiFi antenna. HTC tried to resolve the issue over a software update but later found out that the defect was physical in nature when they squeezed the device and saw that signal indicator lit up. HTC declined to name how many devices were affected, stating that there are only isolated reports of the WiFi problem.
Back in 2010, a man reported that his Motorola Droid 2 exploded in his ear and caused bleeding. Though some are doubtful of the incident, Aron Embry, the man who reported the incident, stated that he was using the phone when he heard a pop, then when he removed the phone from his ear, he felt something oozing out and found out that it was blood. That’s when he checked his phone and saw that the screen burst outwards.
In February, a man was hospitalized when the electronic cigarette he was using exploded in his mouth, leaving him with severe burns, missing front teeth and a chunk of his tongue. The man was allegedly trying to quit smoking and opted for the electronic version hoping to have a healthier lifestyle. Little did he know that the switch could’ve cost him his life.
Back in May, it was reported that a parked Chevrolet Volt burst into flames three weeks after a side-impact crash test. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, General Motors, and LG Chem, South Korea’s biggest chemical maker and supplier of Volt batteries, worked together in investigating the incident. They tried replicating the incident, which allegedly caused the fire but their efforts were in vain.
The NHTSA’s investigation into 1.4 million Toyota vehicles for door fires sparked by power window switches were expanded and upgraded. They’ve added 600,000 Toyota Camrys and other vehicles to their investigation, which started in February involving 161 incidents and 9 injuries and thankfully no fatalities. The investigation now covers 2007-09 Camry, Camry hybrid, RAV4, Yaris and all Highlander hybrid vehicles which were built between September 2006 and August 2008.
Honda Motor Co. is conducting a safety recall of certain 2012 Honda Civic sedan regarding a potentially faulty drive shaft. The driver’s side driveshaft may have been improperly assembled which could result into separation from a joint, while the car is running, that could lead to the engine no longer propelling the vehicle in any gear. It may also result in a car rolling away while parked if the parking brake did not engage because of the faulty driveshaft. A total of 50,000 units were recalled in the US.
Ford is recalling 128 2013 Lincoln MKTs and Town Cars with the limousine or hearse preparation package because of the risk of wheel separation due to the rear brake rotor bolts that were not fully seated allowing the head to protrude above the wheel mounting surface. If not addressed, it could lead to torque loss in the wheel joint, potentially leading to wheel separation, increasing the risk of a crash.
Kia announced two recalls earlier this month. The first one involved the 2006 through 2008 Rio subcompacts due to the front passenger airbags that might deploy when they shouldn’t. The second one involves the Borrego SUVs with fragile brake pedal mounts.
These are just some of the faulty gadgets/technologies that we have today. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, not take our lives or cause injuries. As more gadgets and gizmos become available, the risk of using them, hopefully, would not increase as well.
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Auto sector best placed to gain from the tailwinds of revival: Arun Gopalan
It would take two to three quarters for India Inc’s earnings growth to reach the mArun Gopalanic double-digit threshold, says Arun Gopalan in an interview.
Auto sector leads in talent demand: Survey
Besides the auto sector, others like accounting, tax and consulting firms also posted an average r...
Auto sector leads hiring into the new financial year: TimesJobs RecruiteX
Talent demand jumped by 3% in automobile sector even as other secto...
Budget 2016: No bold steps announced for revival of auto sector
The auto sector is further hit by introduction of provision for collection of tax at source @ 1% on the sale of luxury cars with prices exceeding Rs 10 lakh.
Disappointed by the growth of auto sector: Anand Mahindra
Anand Mahindra, Chairman and MD of Mahindra Group says he is disappointed with the growth of auto sector in India. Anand added that despite a slowdown Mahindra did well, but Mahindra had two major launches behind this performance.
Budget 2016: Auto sector wants simplification of tax structure
The first and foremost demand of auto sector from Budget 2016 is simplification of tax structure and inclusion of road tax, octroi in GST.
Rail Budget 2016: Railways to tap auto and FMCG sectors in big way
Currently, railways mainly carries commodities such as coal, iron ore, steel, cement, minerals, fertilisers and food grains.
Autocar Confidential: Buzz in auto industry
Check all about the buzz going in the auto industry with Autocar Confidential.
Auto components sector to grow in high single digit: ACMA
He said the domestic market will continue to be the major contributor for the component industry as exports contribute just about 30 per cent.
Auto and auto ancillaries among top picks: Nitin Raheja, AQF Advisors
One has to be careful in terms of valuations that you are paying also because clearly a macro nervousness that prevails.
Fintech sector proving to be talent magnet
Fintech is an umbrella term that covers technology-based companies operating in insurance, payment, asset management, etc.
Will have separate transport department for auto sector: Nitin Gadkari
To oversee the automobile sector, government will set up a separate Transport Department in the Highways Ministry, Nitin Gadkari said today.
'Worst is behind us in the steel sector'
In a chat with ET Now, Neelkanth Mishra, India Equity Strategist, Credit Suisse says ffter two years of a price downtick, steel prices are a bit better.
DMK prince bats for Tamil quota in private sector
"Freebies don't work anymore," MK Stalin says, "development and job creation does."
Recovery across key sectors 'surprisingly strong': Nomura
According to the Japanese financial services major, the magnitude and breadth of recovery across sectors is "surprisingly strong".
Government plans to ban FDI in tobacco sector
Shares of cigarette makers may drop on news that the government is working on a proposal to completely ban foreign direct investment in the tobacco sector.
Will retail loans save public sector banks?
“After a long time, we see an improvement in the market share of public banks after consistently losing it since FY2012,” Kotak Institutional Equities said in a report.
Hyundai Verna concept sedan showcased at Beijing Auto Show
Verna in India has gone through several facelifts and has done well for itself in its segment. In recent years though, it has faced tough competition from Honda City and Maruti's Ciaz.
'India's legacy of discrimination apparent in housing sector'
The rapporteur listed her observations about India's housing sector at a press conference, noting a detailed report will be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council.
Bullish on auto, cement and banks: V Srivatsa, UTI MF
Will move more towards domestic oriented sectors and stocks and these three are the top sectors
Auto companies consider discounts to back government's plan to retire old vehicles
The 'voluntary vehicle modernization scheme' is being viewed as a move that will enable the entry of cleaner vehicles, while phasing out the ones that are not environmentally friendly.
Rural slump, muted urban demand hit the brakes on auto sector
Stocks of automobile cos have slipped up to 5% in the past month with the BSE auto index seeing muted gain of about a per cent.
‘Liquor sector is bearing the burn of politics’
In a chat with ET Now, Gaurang Shah of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services share his fundamental ideas for the market.
Exports for 17 out of 30 sectors in negative zone in March
Agri-products, which constitute over 10 per cent of the country's total shipments, too recorded a negative growth during the month under review.
Government wants PSUs to emulate private sector, buy back shares
With public sector companies sitting on an estimated cash pile of Rs 2.6 lakh crore, leveraging surplus cash would be the best option for them rather than going for disinvestment.
Experts' view: Recovery in cement sector
Experts on ET Now join to talk the recovery seen in the cement sector.
Forget corporate sector lenders, NBFCs are better: Ajay Bagga, Market Expert
It is still some time away before you can really bet on the wholesale lenders
Real estate sector still in distress: Vipin Sondhi, JCB
"This sector needs a far more close looking at for revival, because you are right it is a major driver but right now it is not one that is driving demand."
IT sector Q4 earnings disappoint, Infosys seems to be back on track
Infosys, the country’s second-largest IT exporter, appears to be back on the growth track. The growth in its revenue in 12 months to March 2016 was at 9.1%.
India to boost investment in Iranian oil and gas sectors
Enhancing energy cooperation and development of the Chabahar port were the centerpiece of talks which was mostly dominated by economic issues.
Reforms can attract UK investments into Indian food sector: Report
These measures will "push India-UK collaborations and investments in food supply sector where huge opportunities and potential remain to be tapped fully", it said.
Rapid rise in private sector debt posing risk to economies: Fitch
Foreign-currency debt was highest as a share of GDP in Turkey at 41 per cent (including indexed debt) and Russia at 37 per cent.
Qute performed relatively better in tests: Bajaj Auto
Bajaj Auto maintained that its quadricycle Qute, is "relatively better" in its tests than cars did in theirs'.
Six lessons that Patanjali teaches India's FMCG sector
Emergence of Patanjali helps keep the established players on their toes and provides the consumer the benefit of more efficacious products at lower prices.
Bajaj Auto, KTM to extend network in Indonesia
The arrangement involves KTM-branded Duke and RC motorcycles being distributed through a chain of KTM dealerships to be managed by Bajaj.
Pearls group owns two full sectors in Mohali, CBI probe claims
CBI sources said the group was planning to develop the sectors as residential townships, by naming it Pearls City, which its website claims is spread over 500 acres.
Index of mineral production of mining and quarrying sector 5% higher in February 2016
The total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during February 2016 was Rs 19,995 crore.
Power tariff hike to have adverse effect on agriculture sector: GCCI
The power tariff hike order by Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) in Goa would have an adverse effect on the agri sector, a state industry body has said.
Private sector banks lead PSBs in sanctioning and disbursing funds to renewable energy sector
Private banks were far ahead in disbursals too, having already paid out Rs 10,255.51 crore, or 11.59% of their target by end February.
Maritime Summit: Big plans for naval sector
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday recalled India's rich maritime heritage, dating back to the world's first dock built at Lothal in Gujarat around 2,500 BC.

domain: news


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China Forces Apple To Choose Ad Partners Wisely, Business And Political Angle SeenBy Johanna Michaels, UniversityHerald Reporter
Apple and its retailers need advertising to drive in sales, a practice normally did globally. There are however exceptions with the Cupertino company blacklisting certain publications for several reasons – including politically-motivated ones.
China is one of the biggest markets where Apple gets a chunk of its revenue. To keep their business afloat, the need to appease the government is a need – including selecting the right mediums to place their ads. One publication that has been hit is The Vision China Times. According to the news medium’s general manager (Maree Ma), the last time an iPhone appeared was back in October 2015 with the iPhone 6s from Telstra. Since then, the no iPhone had followed, Apple Insider reported.
While the publication still gets ads from carriers, such does not include Apple products. A look at rival publications shows Apple products as the iPhone appear, Ma believes that The Vision China Times is in the blacklist driven by political reasons. The Vision China Times is not the only one bearing the brunt with other publications like the Epoch Times showing no Apple products being advertised as well.
All these suggest that China is trying to increase media control even across borders. It is not the first time that they have done so, recalling a case back in 2014. This involved a Hong Kong newspaper, the Apple Daily where two London-based banks stopped ads because of pressure from Chinese authorities, the Guardian reported. Apple Daily is one Hong Kong’s biggest-selling newspapers with almost 200,000 daily sales.
For Apple, the numbers best justify the blacklisting moves. China accounts for $16.23 billion in revenue and one can just imagine the losses if the Cupertino company loses customers in the region. To avoid that, Apple needs to play China’s game, one of which is to properly select the news mediums where they place their ads.


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Price to be around Rs. 5,500 a quintal
The Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has forecast the price of red chilli to be around Rs. 5,500 a quintal in February-March 2014. Normal production in the current season and good domestic and export demand is expected to keep the price above the predicted range. Based on this, farmers are asked to take their sowing / planting decision for chilli.
According to a release, the forecast was made based on the red chilli price that prevailed in Virudhunagar Regulated Market for the last 16 years. At present, cold stored samba chilli is trading around Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 7,000 a quintal in Virudhunagar Market.
In Tamil Nadu, chillies are raised in nurseries or directly sown in October-November, and harvested during February-March.
For details, contact 0422-2431405 / 6611284, a release here has said.


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Pinterest has signed a definitive agreement to acquire THE YES, an AI-powered platform that allows consumers to personalize their shopping feeds based on their brand, style and size preferences. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2022.
THE YES features hundreds of merchants and boasts a fashion taxonomy that relies on human input and machine learning to power its algorithm. With this acquisition, Pinterest is setting the stage for an expanded social commerce strategy and product offering. Although Pinterest plans to sunset THE YES site and app once the transaction closes, the goal is to implement a more integrated and evolved shopping vision.
In fact, the company noted that THE YES brand connections and shopping roots can “potentially be applied” to other categories on Pinterest such as home, beauty and food. As a result, THE YES Co-Founder and CEO Julie Bornstein will report to Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann. She will then oversee the shopping vision and strategy across Pinterest, creating a new organization dedicated to Pinterest’s “taste-driven shopping efforts,” according to the announcement. THE YES’ existing team will join Pinterest to support these efforts.
“THE YES team are experts in building an end-to-end shopping experience,” said Silbermann in a statement. “They share our vision of making it simple to find the right products that are personalized for you based on your taste and style. We’re very excited about THE YES’ talented team and technology as we build dedicated shopping experiences on Pinterest.”
Following a record 2021, during which it surpassed $2 billion in revenue, Pinterest has been incorporating new tools and building out fresh features for shoppers and merchants. The company’s latest additions include the personalized shopping tool Your Shop, Catalog API, In-App Checkout, Idea Ads, Paid Partnership, Merchant Details and an updated version of Pinterest Trends.


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Archive for the ‘Google’ Category
Monday, March 18th, 2013
Yesterday’s announcement to shut down Google Reader in July sparked protests on the Internet, but why?
Since 2009 the industry has predicted the demise of RSS, and everyone’s banking on social reading.
While there are other feed aggregators, it’s clear that RSS – like dial-up – is headed into obscurity. Internet users should not be asking “how do we save this?” , but instead, “what’s next?”
In yesterday’s New Yorker, Joshua Rothman waxed poetic about lost knowledge and noble pursuits with the decline of Reader, but pointed out how feeds can overwhelm users. Reader’s value was organizing web content, not having an endless stream of articles reminding you that your commitment to home gardening is not what you thought it was.
The next big thing?
Content curation is unquestionably the next big thing, and personal collection, organization and publication is driving this movement.
RSS feeds deliver “push” content – a passive experience wherein subscribed or relevant content is automatically delivered. We still see traffic coming to the TechJournal from our RSS feed and were seeing hits from Google Reader as well.
However, “pull” content is what the user has gathered. It’s collected, organized, and presented for utility or perspective – personal curation is personal power.
Some Reader users will opt for other news feeders such as NetVibes, NewsBlur, and Feedly . Content aggregators we use here at the TechJournal include Trove and Scoop.it, and there are many others out there. We admit, we stopped using Google Reader sometime back as apparently, too many others did as well.
Looking outside the box
Others may kick it old school and use browser bookmarks. But others are going to look outside the box for what’s next.
Jenna Gavin , CEO of Surfdash.com, states, “Our online lives are becoming more complex. Information we access on a regular basis – email accounts, banking, social media, health providers, local services, and news – is overwhelming, and the industry is rethinking content access and organization.”
There are curation tools available for professional marketers, bloggers, or high octane “sharers.”
Put together pictures to tell a story and you have Pinterest, or publish your ideas with content on GetPocket.
What do you use? Are you waiting for the next big thing or do you have content aggregation and curation tools that meet your needs now?
Monday, February 25th, 2013
Advertising Age editors threw in a few surprises with the 2013 Digital A-List, out today in print, online and on the AdAge iPhone and iPad apps. The list is the centerpiece of the its annual Digital Issue.
All of the top three on the list are somewhat surprising. They are the humor site, The Onion, The Weather Company, and statistics maven Nate Silver, who correctly predicted outcomes in last year’s political races.
But something that isn’t a surprise: it’s clearer where the value is in the digital world, the magazine says.
“What a difference a year makes,” said Abbey Klaassen , editor of Advertising Age. “The digital ability of our industry is finally maturing. A year ago, things felt dark. Breakthroughs that were supposed to be big didn’t turn out that way, and business models that were supposed to save the world didn’t.
“Google was the only one making money in digital and our A-List pretty much wrote itself. This year, things have settled. And it’s clearer where the real value is.”
Each year, the closely watched Digital A-List names the companies, things, and one person the AdAge editors believe drove progress for digital over the past 12 months.
Nate Silver is high on the Advertising Age Digital A list for 2013. Photo from Ad Age.
The Digtal A list for 2013:
- The Onion
- The Weather Company
- Nate Silver
- General Electric
- First Round Capital
- Google Apps
- 3D printing
- Samsung Galaxy
Deep Dives on Facebook, Twitter, Google & Hiring
The issue also includes AdAge‘s second exclusive assessment of marketers’ sentiments toward Facebook. A series of charts and other analytics show that most brands have yet to sample things like Sponsored Stories or use the Facebook Exchange.
“We can see that as either an indictment or an opportunity,” summed Michael Learmonth , assistant managing editor at Advertising Age.
Also in the issue, a look at Twitter’s coming of age.
“Twitter created a new real-time window for marketing and they own it, but until this year, there was a real question of whether the company would be able to capitalize on the business opportunity,” added Learmonth.
“We now see brands’ newsrooms operating continuously, and going into high alert around things like the Grammys, the Academy Awards and the Super Bowl.
“Nothing existed with this urgency before Twitter. It’s an amazing opportunity for Twitter, and there are real risks. The value of real-time content expires very quickly compared to search’s very long tail and permanence.”
Google/Samsung tensions brewing
In a third look at leading digital platforms: the story of the tensions brewing between two longtime Silicon Valley allies, Google and Samsung.
In the wake of Google’s hiring of Samsung’s top marketer, the story delves into how the relationship has turned acrimonious.
“There are real indications that the united front of these two companies is crumbling and that united front is vital to competing with Apple,” added Learmonth.
New to the Digital Issue for 2013 – and providing some of the most interesting twists to the issue’s coverage: The Eight Best Digital Hires over the past year.
“You’ll see people you’d expect on the list, like Marissa Mayer . But you’ll also see people you’ve never heard of,” Learmonth said. “It gives you a sense of who to watch in 2013.”
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
According to technology expert and Google enthusiast Richard Gorman, the Google Hangout feature has come a long way. When the real-time chat function first launched, it was met with skepticism in some circles, despite having the almighty Google brand name affixed to it.
With time, however, Google Hangout has become a popular tool; celebrities and even political figures have used Google Hangouts to host conferences and meet-and-greets. Despite its burgeoning popularity, the Google Hangout is still not accessible to anyone and everyone—but the Google development team is seeking to change that.
The company has announced some major changes to the Google Hangout technology, all designed to bring more users into the fold. These Google Hangout changes have won the attention of Gorman, who has responded with a statement to the press.
Internet connections a problem
“These changes are very much in keeping with Google’s typical passion for making all of their products as accessible, to as many different people, as possible,” Gorman says. “Something like Gmail may be fairly universal in its efficacy, but, for many users, Google Hangout remains untenable, simply because of Internet connectivity issues.”
Indeed, while those with stellar Internet connections can make good use of Google Hangout, the feature is much less useful in third-world countries, or even in busy, public places with crowded Wi-Fi networks. Google has been upfront in saying that the new changes to its Hangout feature are all designed to offer greater accessibility, specifically by allowing users to have more control over their Hangout connections—thus making them less helpless against the ebb and flow of a volatile wireless network.
Audio-only mode slashes bandwidth needed
One of the changes to Google Hangout is an audio-only mode. By sending audio only, and not video, users can significantly cut down on the bandwidth they need to participate in a Google Hangout. To other members of a Hangout, audio-only participants will be visible simply as static profile pictures.
“The audio-only option will surely come in handy to users for whom bandwidth is shaky,” offers Gorman. Still, the more significant advance is the introduction of a new “slider” at the top of each Hangout screen. This slider allows users to take full control over their own bandwidth preferences.
“Google Hangout users used to rely on the default bandwidth settings, but now, they can use the slider to move from high bandwidth to low, and all the way down to audio-only,” Gorman explains. “The bottom line is that, if your connection starts to go bad or you are taxing the network too much, you can easily cut down on your bandwidth without disrupting the Hangout.”
New features only on desktop now
Currently, these new features are available for desktop user only, but Gorman sees a real opportunity for Google to serve mobile users. “The audio-only feature would be an immense boon for those who participate in Hangouts via their mobile devices,” Gorman says.
“It would allow users to participate in Hangouts even while on the go, or in crowded public settings.” He notes that video takes up a lot of bandwidth and is often too much for a mobile device to handle, whereas audio is much easier for smartphones to deal with.
As if these technological improvements were not proof enough of Google’s commitment to making its products as universally accessible as possible, the company has also launched Hangouts in India, for the first time ever.
The bottom line, according to Gorman, is that Google is doing everything it can to make its products second-nature, to anyone and everyone. “Google continues to innovate new ways to make its technology accessible to users everywhere,” he concludes. Richard Gorman is a technology pundit and online marketing professional, and can be found on Quora.
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
Amazon is on a roll. In addition to topping a list of 25 retailers with the best mobile satisfaction ratings during the recent holiday shopping season, it also edged out Apple as America’s most reputable company, according to the 2013 Harris Poll RQ Study which engages over 14,000 members of the general public to measure the reputations of the sixty most visible companies in the country.
And companies can learn from how the leaders gain their stellar reputations.
This is Amazon’s first time earning the top ranking, but the fifth consecutive year with a great reputation score. The Walt Disney Company, Google, and Johnson & Johnson complete the top five. This is Google’s eight consecutive top five appearance, an incredible achievement for a fourteen year old company.
AIG and Goldman Sachs return to the bottom two reputation positions on the list of the most visible companies, joined by Halliburton, American Airlines, and Bank of America. With a full six point increase in RQ score though, Bank of America had the highest year-over-year increase in the 2013 study. Best Buy and Honda experienced the greatest decline in RQ scores, 6.76 and 4.73 points, respectively.
RQ measures six dimensions that comprise reputation and influence consumer behavior.
The dimensions and the 2013 leaders are:
- Social Responsibility – Whole Foods
- Emotional Appeal – Amazon.com
- Financial Performance – Apple
- Products & Services – Amazon.com
- Vision & Leadership – Apple
- Workplace Environment – Google
Amazon’s reputation strength runs wide and deep as it ranked in the top five in five of the six dimensions of reputation. Amazon had a five point advantage over any other company in the study in the dimension of Emotional Appeal, despite an entirely virtual relationship with the public. Amazon also achieved the top rating in the dimension of Products & Services.
Amazon earned nearly 100 percent positive ratings on all measures related to Trust. More than 50 percent of respondents also recall discussing Amazon with friends and family in the past year, and nearly 100 percent of these conversations were positive.
“Our results show that Amazon has managed to build an intimate relationship with the public without being perceived as intrusive,” adds Fronk. “
Nine of ten would recommend it
And as the company that is so widely known for its personal recommendations, more than nine in ten members of the public would recommend Amazon to friends and family.”
The results for Apple and Google are equally as impressive as those for Amazon and continue a compelling trend that has been developing for the past few years – companies that begin in the technology sector, which is by far and away the highest-rated industry when it comes to reputation, absorb the reputation equity from the industry, then transcend the industry to become a more multi-faceted business.
Companies that are able to do this are perceivedto “Play A Valuable Social Role,” a characteristic, which according to the RQ study, has become a key driver of reputation.
The Kindle’s eInk technology frees you from LED glare and eye-strain – and you can make the fonts as large as you like.
As a longtime Amazon customer, we can understand why it has such a great reputation, despite moves such as encouraging “showrooming,” viewing products in stores to buy later online.
It’s customer service is beyond first rate. We dropped and broke our first Kindle e-reader when it was out of warranty and they still replaced it free, overnight, and we didn’t even have to pay postage. When a large package of books went awry and never showed up, they simply resent the order.
Banking industry shows gains, still low ranked
The banking industry is not so lucky. It showed some encouraging signs in 2013. Positive ratings of the industry are now 25 percent, a more than 50 percent increase from 2012.
Wells Fargo became the first of the four big banking companies in the past four years to move from negative to positive equity in the dimension of Emotional Appeal. Harris’s fourteen years of conducting the RQ study show that a company cannot build or maintain positive reputation without this positive equity. Wells Fargo also received significantly higher marks on attributes related to its people and work environment, and it is possible that these may be the first signs of a bank once again being seen as trusted.
But in our conversations with sources, the banking industry is still most often cited as having abysmal customer service and is viewed as frequently predatory. The continuing mortgage default problem hasn’t helped.
What can companies learn from the 2013 Harris Poll RQ Study?
Companies need to evaluate and understand the increasing importance that playing a valuable social role has on reputation, purchase consideration, advocacy and positive word of mouth. This is about a business having a purpose, not just checking the box on social responsibility or sustainability.
Additionally, companies need to adapt to a major trend in consumer behavior. More than 60 percent of consumers now “pro-actively try to learn more about how a company conducts itself” before they are willing to consider that company’s products or services. This group, which Harris calls Seekers:
- Proactively engage in conversations with others about what they find out about a company;
- In 60 percent of cases, decide NOT to do business with a company because of something they learn about that company; and
- Actively try to influence friends and family on whether to do business or not with a company based upon what they have learned about that company’s conduct.
Thursday, December 13th, 2012
Globally, at least 18 million Android users will encounter mobile malware from the beginning of 2012 to the end of 2013 according to Lookout’s 2013 Mobile Threat Predictions, a forecast that identifies mobile threats people and businesses may face in the coming year.
In addition, the global likelihood of a new Lookout user encountering a mobile threat, such as malware or spyware, is .84% on average from June to October 2013. The US likelihood remained low at .40% in October 2012.
Web-based mobile threats like phishing links or malicious websites, continue to be the most prevalent and relevant threat to smartphone users. Nearly four in ten people encountered a web threat over the course of 2012 and we expect this trend to continue.
Highlights for the 2013 Predictions include:
- Toll fraud continues to grow: 72% of all of Lookout’s malware was classified as toll fraud in 2012. This class of premium SMS fraud will continue to dominate the 2013 mobile threat space despite improvements made on the Android platform. Toll fraud is the easiest and least technical path to monetization and provides considerable ROI that is built into most mobile networks via pre-existing billing channels. In addition, while more recent versions (Jellybean 4.2) of Android devices provide updated protection against premium SMS abuse, older versions of Android remain vulnerable.
- Spam harvests personal data: SMS-based spam will increase in its volume across mobile networks in 2013. Lookout recently observed a number of malicious applications toll fraud-based and otherwise, actively collecting contact information from infected devices. It’s not a stretch to expect that malware writers will seek to monetize these datasets via spammers. It’s only a matter of time before writers send spam in-network, infecting devices to appear they have come from inside as the have on PCs in the past.
- Businesses strike a balance between control and employee empowerment: Finding the right balance between protection and employee empowerment will be the business mobile threat challenge of 2013. As corporate IT administrators seek to manage the various mobile threats, there is the potential that by over-correcting for the problem, employees will seek new ways to subvert processes and policies that constrain the pure consumer experience.
For in-depth information, tips and graphics, read the complete 2013 Mobile Threat Predictions on the Lookout blog.
How Individuals Can Stay Safe in 2013
- Avoid toll fraud, regularly check your phone bill: Always review your monthly phone bill statements for suspicious charges. Contact your carrier if you identify something you believe to be fraud.
- Double-check URLs on your mobile: After clicking on a web link, pay close attention to the address to make sure it matches the website it claims to be, especially if you are asked to enter account or login information.
- Protect your privacy, understand app permissions: Be cautious about granting applications access to personal information on your phone or letting the application have access to perform functions on your phone. Make sure to check the privacy settings for each app before installing it.
- Be smart about device settings: Keep network connectivity such as NFC / WiFi, or Bluetooth ‘OFF’ when not in use. Be sure to disable settings such as debug mode that can open a device up to illicit access.
- Download a security app: Download a security app that scans the apps you download for malware and spyware, helps you locate a lost or stolen device, and protects you from unsafe websites.
- Update your phone and apps: Make sure to download and install updates from your mobile operator as soon as they are available for your device. The same goes for apps, download app updates when they are available.
How Businesses Can Stay Safe in 2013
- Raise employee awareness: Help employees understand the threats and risks in the wild so that employees can take action to safeguard their phones.
- Protect employees’ phones. Ensure that every phone – personal or business – is protected with a mobile security software that finds malware, scans apps, and locates and remotely wipes the device.
- Patch known vulnerabilities: Keep employee phones’ operating system software up-to-date by enabling automatic updates or accepting service provider’s updates when prompted. Stay up to speed on what vulnerabilities are not patched across device types and carriers to maintain a proper threat model. The National Institute of Standards and Technology offers a database of device vulnerabilities.
Friday, November 2nd, 2012
More than 100,000 Android applications in the Google Play store—25 percent—pose a security risk to mobile device users and the enterprise networks to which they connect, according to a research report by security firm Bit9.
Bit9 examined the security permissions of more than 400,000 Android applications. The company focused on Google Play applications because more smartphones today run Android than any other operating system.
“When a seemingly basic app such as a wallpaper requests access to GPS data, this raises a red flag. Likewise, more than a quarter of the apps can access email and contacts unbeknown to the phone user, which is of great concern when these devices are used in the workplace.”
Criteria for defining an application as “questionable” or “suspicious” included the permissions requested by the application, categorization of the application, user rating, number of downloads, and the reputation of the application’s publisher. In its examination of the more than 400,000 Android apps, Bit9 found that 72 percent use at least one high-risk permission.
In addition, the company found that:
- 42 percent of applications access GPS location data, and these include wallpapers, games and utilities
- 31 percent access phone calls or phone numbers
- 26 percent access personal data, such as contacts and email
- 9 percent use permissions that can cost the user money
This report follows previous Bit9 research on the most vulnerable mobile devices.
“A significant percentage of Google Play apps have access to potentially sensitive and confidential information,” said Harry Sverdlove, chief technology officer for Bit9.
“When a seemingly basic app such as a wallpaper requests access to GPS data, this raises a red flag. Likewise, more than a quarter of the apps can access email and contacts unbeknown to the phone user, which is of great concern when these devices are used in the workplace.”
In addition to this comprehensive research, Bit9 conducted a survey of IT security decision makers who collectively influence mobile device usage policy for more than 400,000 employees.
Almost three quarters of those surveyed said their organization allows employees to bring your own device (BYOD) to work and access company email, calendar and scheduling—a risky decision given the significant percentage of applications Bit9 found with access permissions to these programs.
Of the IT security decision makers surveyed:
- 78 percent feel phone makers do not focus enough on security
- But 71 percent allow employees to bring their own smartphones to the workplace
- 68 percent rank security as their most important concern when deciding whether to allow employees to bring their personal devices to work
- But only 24 percent of companies employ any sort of application control or monitoring to know what applications are running on employees’ mobile devices
- Only 37 percent have deployed any form of malware protection on employee-owned devices
- 84 percent of respondents believe iOS is more secure than Android.
These results spotlight an interesting—and disturbing—policy contradiction: While the majority of organizations allow employees to bring their personal devices to work and connect to the company network, the organizations have little visibility into the privacy and security risks the mobile applications on the devices pose to the companies’ networks.
Convenience, and not security, drives the growing trend to allow BYOD policies.
The survey highlights a clear call to action for companies to realize that when employees access company data from a smart device, their intellectual property is being put at risk.
The company created this infographic detailing its findings:
Tuesday, October 30th, 2012
Job growth in Internet and digital media jobs slowed in New York and Boston over the last six months, including sharp declines in the third quarter. But growth does continue in the sector and some top firms such as Google continued to add headcount in both cities, though at a slower rate.
Amazon, Mashable, LinkedIn, and eBay also all continued to add to staff.
Cook Associates Executive Search, a retained executive search firm, reports in its quarterly East Coast Internet and Digital Media Jobs Index, which tracks job creation at more than 470 companies in New York and Boston, that New York showed 3.6 percent growth for the third quarter, following on the heels of 5.6 percent growth in the past quarter.
Boston, on the other hand, showed lower growth of 1.9 percent after a 3.2 percent increase in jobs in the second quarter.
Growth much stronger in New York
Index creator John Barrett said, “It’s now clear that a slowdown in hiring has been occurring in this sector over the past 6 months. Things began getting soft in Boston by the second quarter.
“There were some signs that it was also getting a little soft in New York, but hiring is now definitely slowing down in New York. Overall, Internet and digital media jobs growth is still much stronger in New York and I expect that trend to continue.”
Barrett added, “Things are even worse than they appear in Boston. All of the net new hiring came from just 10 companies out of the approximately 150 companies being tracked in the city. Without those 10 companies, employment in Boston was flat at best and perhaps declined slightly.”
Overall, New York added about 900 new Internet and digital media jobs while Boston added about 260. Approximately 55% of New York’s job growth came from publicly-traded companies while about 75% of Boston’s job growth was derived from public companies.
“This illustrates the continued strength of private company hiring in New York that’s resulting from high levels of venture investing occurring there,” according to the report.
Where the jobs are
Top 10 companies showing largest headcount gains in New York include: Google, Rent the Runway, Amazon, AppNexus, eBay, Facebook, LinkedIn, Gilt Groupe, Etsy, Warby Parker.
Up-and-coming companies showing large headcount gains in New York included: Foursquae, Fab.com, ZocDoc, Magnetic, Tumblr,Thrillist,BuzzFeed, HowAboutWe.com, Mashable, SignPost, Yext, Moda Operandi and Outbrain.
The top ten firms showing the largest headcount increase in Boston include: Hubspot, Wayfair, Amazon, TripAdvisor, Vistaprint, Rue La La, Google, Constant Contact, Karmaloop, and Jumptap.
Up and coming companies showing large headcount gains in Boston include: Visible Measures, DataXu, Naigans, Care.com, Gemvara, NetProspex, WordStream, Fiksu, and ClickFuel.
Monday, October 22nd, 2012
Business leaders admire Warren Buffett by a wide margin in Speakeasy Trust Survey.
Business people tend to trust the news media more than politicians, according to the 2012 Speakeasy Trust Survey, and that’s saying something, considering that news media only scored 3 percent of the votes.
Politicians? No one voted for them.
The survey showed that the most trusted business leader is Warren Buffet, no surprise there, considering his public candor, and the most trusted company is Google.
Speakeasy, Inc., a nearly 40-year old executive communication consultancy that helps business leaders to develop more powerful and strategic communication, conducted the 2012 Trust Survey among business people at varying levels of responsibility within a broad range of industries, in September 2012.
asked to select who they trust most when receiving communication, respondents were given a choice between business associates, politicians, salespeople, celebrities or news media. The most votes were received for people we know personally, with 97 percent of respondents selecting business associates.
“Given the choices, it stands to reason that people would most trust the coworkers they see and interact with on a daily basis,” said Scott Weiss, CEO, Speakeasy.
“The real surprise is that politicians scored no votes while the news media scored three percent of the vote. What this says to me is that politicians need to take a good look at what they really represent in the public eye. Exacerbating the issue is the disturbing need to run every word uttered by a politician through a fact-checking process in order to validate their honesty.”
Buffett top business leader
Asked to provide a write-in answer for which business leader they trust most and why. Warren Buffett was the overwhelming winner, with 14 percent of respondents writing in his name. Among the reasons: “he is plain spoken,” “he is authentic,” and “it’s clear that his motivation is not just about money.
Other business leaders named in the survey include S. Truett Cathy (Chick-Fil-A), Bill Gates (Microsoft, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and Richard Branson (Virgin), each of whom earned six percent of votes. Regardless of the leader who was named, the reasons why didn’t differ much. The most common themes, says Speakeasy, were the leaders’ abilities to inspire people, their authenticity, their transparency, and their abilities to connect on a human level.
asked to provide a write-in answer for which company they trust most and why. Google, scoring eight percent of votes, edged out Starbucks, which was named six percent of the time. A common theme around Google was its customer focus. Google is “motivated to create useful products,” “is focused on the customer” and “values honesty.”
“Delivering consistently high quality products and customer service is the hallmark of a successful company, but in order to build enough equity to be named the most trustworthy, companies must bring something more to the equation,” added Weiss.
“Google and Starbucks are ubiquitous and reliable, and both have very public social programs with which people like to align themselves.”
Other companies that received multiple write-in votes in the survey were American Express, Target, State Farm, Chick-Fil-A and Amazon.
Thursday, October 18th, 2012
By Allan Maurer
Bill Leake, CEO of ApogeeResults, is a veteran of McKinsey & Co. and Dell Computers. He is one of 120 digital marketing thought-leaders participating in the Internet Summit in Raleigh, Nov. 6-8.
Ad agencies may try to sell on the idea of letting them build you an expensive mobile app. That’s fine for some companies, “But others might not need to spend that money,” says Bill Leake, CEO of ApogeeResults.com.
Leake has created one of the 20 largest independent online marketing agencies in the United States. Apogee has been instrumental in building dozens of “Internet Retailer 500” and “Software 500” and venture capital backed companies. It works with top global brands such as Whole Foods, IBM, SAP and Hewlett Packard.
While iPhones and tablets have made mobile much more of a real thing, “There is still a lot of hype about mobile,” says Leake. “It’s more of a real thing, but still not for everyone. Folks don’t do a lot of hard core research or interactivity that takes a lot of typing on a smartphone. You have to keep in mind how everything changes on mobile.”
Leake is one of 120 thought-leaders, game changers and marketing gurus participating in this year’s Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC, Nov. 6-8, which this year includes a Startup Summit sponsored by TechMedia’s 2013 Southeast Venture Conference set for Charlotte, NC in March.
Back to marketing basics
Leake suggests the way to approach mobile is to “Get back to the basics of marketing. Who is your customer and how does he like do things? Do you want a mobile app or just a mobile web site? The Google Places piece of Google Plus offers a free mobile web site and probably 50 percent of businesses would do just fine with setting up a Google Places profile.”
“People are getting snookered with mobile apps instead of microsites. Sometimes a mobile app is a game changer, but many get lost in the Apple store. The world is littered with mobile apps no one can find.”
Instead of spending $100,000 on a mobile app, he suggests, “Spend $20,000 on the app and $80,000 on media so people find it.”
You need to be in the mobile pool, he adds, “But it may not be time to dive in from the 50-foot high board. Stay in the shallow end unless you have the budget top learn and fail.”
Get your ground game down
Putting it another way, he says, “Get your ground game down before doing trick plays. Really complicated apps are trick plays with a high failure rate.”
One of the best approaches to a mobile strategy, he says, is to “Let it be an extension of what works well in other places. It’s going from beach volleyball to indoor. It’s not a new game. The form factor just changes a little.
Too many ad agencies tend to view their clients as their artistic patrons, Leake says. “I’ve run into so many creative types who believe the client lives to support their art.”
When a client asks how much they need to spend on a web site, the agency says, “How much was your SBA grant? That’s how much you need to spend.”
They use expensive, slow-loading flash art work. “It’s the height of arrogance,” says Leake. “Flash can be good if embedded in a humble way that downloads a quick bit of HTML saying we have this other thing to show you, but you can bypass it if you want to. But just waiting 20 seconds with no explanation? It’s like the news networks telling you what to believe every night.”
They will judge you on speed
Similar arrogance leads to overdone mobile projects. “A lot of times,” Leake says, “you just need a first level mobile app. People on mobile will judge you on speed. Have things far less graphic with fewer functions.”
All of which, he notes, “Flies in the face of what the typical creative agency wants. They can’t build as much with text as they can with moving pictures.”
Focus, he says, “On what you are trying to do and what your clients are doing. It doesn’t need to be award-winning; it needs to be good enough.”
Think about building something “reasonably” stable that doesn’t need to be replaced every six months, he suggests.
Consider such elements as how to minimize data input challenges. “Thumbs are a pain in the rear,” he says. You have to realize that typing is not the same as on a regular keyboard.
Bring hyper local to the fore
Right now a lot of retailers should be thinking about how to use mobile to defend against the Amazons of the world. So a mobile app or web site should let users know, can they get a certain product? Is it in the store? Will they match lower prices?
“What we’re not seeing enough of is sending mobile ads to someone sitting in a coffee shop within walking distance of a store.”
Also, he says, “Mobile should not be viewed as an isolated silo. It needs to integrate into a full marketing strategy. It’s mission critical for some, but in a lot of cases it’s not. You’re not going to choose what car to buy on a smartphone.”
Marketers also need separate strategies for smartphones and tablets, he adds. “People toss around the word “mobile” casually and apply it to both.”
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
Where do you get your online news? We grab ours from a multitude of services, but we have noticed that Yahoo! news consistently catches our attention with a headline or three.
Others must agree, because Yahoo! News is the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend® News Service Brand of the Year.
The free, online news service performed well on equity metrics such as Fit, Trust, and Positive Emotional Connection—psychological components which reflect internal decision-making more than external decision-making—are indicative of a highly personalized relationship between a news service organization and its consumers.
Harris Poll EquiTrend is an annual brand health assessment of over 1,500 product, service, and lifestyle brands from Harris Interactive.
Yahoo! News makes its debut appearance in Harris Poll EquiTrend’s News Service category this year; it and nine other newcomers join three veteran brands: Associated Press (AP), Reuters, and United Press International (UPI).
“We expanded the News Service category to reflect the abundance of media choices facing consumers. These inclusions let us monitor a bigger slice of the market and see how well the veteran brands perform against new rivals,” says Jill Gress , vice president, Harris Interactive .
“Overall, AP is holding strong; however our Brand Momentum metric gives us a hint as to which brands may be contenders next year.” Google News has the top Brand Momentum score this year, followed by Yahoo! News, AP, USA Today, BBC News, and CNN Online.
Business and Weekly News
When it comes to business and weekly news magazines, Money Magazine and The Economist are the only two brands to rank above their respective category averages, earning each of them the 2012 Harris Poll EquiTrend Brand of the Year distinction.
Monday, October 1st, 2012
Will Facebook’s move into search disrupt the search business?
Facebook amasses a huge amount of information about people and businesses, and is looking to use what it calls “friend mining” to provide more accurate and detailed search results.
The move could put it into direct competition with search engines such as Google, question service Quora, as well as with local search and review sites like Yelp, according to CNET.
The current king of internet search engines is Google. The California-based search engine and advertising company was founded in 1998 and has grown to be the largest search engine, and one of the most visited websites on the planet. Google owns a 66.4 percent share of the search engine market in the United States, and posted a $2.79 earnings report in the second quarter of 2012.
Here at the TechJournal, we seriously doubt that Facebook search will hamper Google search. Can you imagine saying “I Facebooked it?” when you look something up online?
Quora, founded in 2009 by two former employees of Facebook, is a site with the goal of providing answers for every question that someone may have.
People can register for the site, and then either search for the answer to a question, or post one themselves. Other users can then post answers for that question, and the members of the community can positively or negatively vote for them.
Facebook could compete with Quora due to its already huge amount of data, and circumvent the need for live answers.
Since its beginnings in San Francisco in 2004, Yelp has grown to have more than 78 million monthly users. It has become a prime online and mobile source of information and reviews of local businesses. Users can find information on a local business, and also read or write a review of that business.
Each company is also rated between one and five. This system gives users a way to search for highly-rated businesses in their area. It can also be a source of local internet marketing, as local establishments can advertise through Yelp.
Facebook’s “friend mining” could certainly slash inroads into business reviews. People still trust word-of-mouth from their friends more than any other source of information.
A CNET article recently concluded that Facebook launching into the search engine arena could have many consequences for existing companies, consumers, and small businesses. It highlights how important online reputation can be for small businesses, as potential customers have more and more opportunities to discover information online. A foray by Facebook into searching may see Facebook attack the likes of Google, Yelp, Foursquare, and Quora head on.
Editor’s note: comments by Allan Maurer
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
By Allan Maurer
UPDATEd – Mobile developers think that a mobile-first social startup could disrupt Facebook and grab market share from the current top dog in the social media pack. So says Appcelerator’s Q3 2012 mobile developer report, which is chock full of surprises.
In the largest mobile developer survey ever conducted, Appcelerator and the IDC surveyed 5,526 Appcelerator Tianium developers on their feelings about current debates in mobile, social and the cloud and about their development priorities.
The report warns that history shows major technology shifts can transform businesses and industries. It happened with the introduction of the web and “mobile will be not exception.”
Mobile has the power to disrupt entire industries
Mobile has the power to reshape entire industries and changes can be swift. But it is not enough to just port elements of an existing business model over to mobile, the report says.
And, if a billion dollar company with more than three-quarters of a billion users like Facebook could be disrupted, “Other mature, stagnant companies should take note,” says Lyla McInerney, vice president of marketing at Appcelerator.
McInerney tells the TechJournal, Developers believe someone can take a mobile first approach and disrupt any industry. It’s a cautionary note, but also a real opportunity.”
She points out that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted recently that Facebook is not doing as well as it wants to in mobile and has to do better, saying building its mobile on HTML 5 was a mistake.
The Appcelerator report notes that developers expressed dissatisfaction with nearly every aspect of HTML 5.
“Facebook didn’t think about how to deliver on mobile,” says McInerney. “They just carried it over. As Zuckerberg said, ‘Good enough is not good enough.’ Companies need to think about how to do mobile best.”
Build mobile differently
Jonathan Rende, vice president of products at Appcelerator, adds, “This underscores the debate about whether mobile is an extension of the web or something completely different.”
It needs to be built completely differently, Rende suggests. Otherwise, “A startup can come in, take a fresh look at your business and take market share away from you.”
Lots of businesses and industries heard that about the web itself more than a decade ago, now, and the ones that ignored it paid a high price.
The speed at which mobile is happening, though, “Is much faster” with mobile, Rende says.
Developers not as interested in Android
Yet another surprise in the report is that developers have lost some interest in developing for Google’s Android mobile operating system. Considering the increasing number of devices running Android, we thought that was odd.
Rende explains that much of the problems developers have with Android is due to “fragmentation. Developers have to deal with all the different flavors of Android rather than build it once and have it run on various platforms. If you implement your app for one particular device, there is no guarantee that it work the same way on another device.”
Nolan Wright, Appcelerator’s CTO and co-founder adds, “Another thing is that the (Apple) iOS system is really successful and a better way to monetize mobile apps. And Enterprises are more interested in iOS than in Android. The Apple ecosystem is so tight it is a seamless experience for developers and consumers.”
Among the report’s findings:
• Mobile developers predict demise of Facebook. Mobile Developers believe that Facebook is at risk of being disrupted by a mobile-first social startup. A resounding 66% of mobile developers state that it is likely to very likely that a mobile-first social startup will disrupt the market for social applications on mobile devices and take market share from Facebook.
• Top predictions for mobile in 2015. The mobile market is evolving at breakneck speed, with developers predicting that by 2015 they will be building mobile applications for more than smartphones and tablets. Televisions, connected cars, game consoles, GoogleGlasses, and foldable screens all ranked high on the list of form factors in 2015.
• RIM declines to all-time low, providing an opportunity for Windows 8 to become a strong third OS for which to develop mobile apps.Mobile developers “very interested” in building apps for the Blackberry phone fell to an all-time low of 9% from almost 40% in our January 2011 survey.
• Developers remain excited about cloud storage and Backend as a Service, specifically citing the capabilities for applications and data to move across different devices and for secure access to information from anywhere at anytime. The potential remains wide open, however, as only 17% currently implement mobile BaaS.
• Developers are excited about new Apple features. The iOS features developers are most looking forward to using are Apple Maps (over 37%) and enhanced Siri (22%). Faster processors, LTE conductivity, and a larger screen are the advances developers most hope for in the next version of the iPhone.
• Apple continues to reign as the platform of choice for developers. Apple maintained its dominance at the top of developers’ list for mobileapp development this quarter, with 85% of developers very interested in building apps for iOS smartphones and 83% equally focused on iPad apps.
• Android development declines for a fourth quarter. Android’s return to decline in developer interest levels is disconcerting, with now fewer than 65% of developers very interested in developing for that tablet platform.
• HTML5 Still Not Good Enough. Developers ranked their satisfaction with nearly every feature of HTML5 as neutral to dissatisfied, including user experience, performance, monetization, fragmentation, distribution control, timeliness of new updates, and security.
The new Wall Street Journal’s list of the top 50 venture-backed companies expected to become the “Next Big Thing,” includes Appcelerator. The Wall Street Journal considered more than 5,900 candidates for inclusion in this year’s list. Appcelerator was selected for its ability to reduce development time and costs for mobile applications.
Thursday, September 20th, 2012
Is Google the “World’s Most Attractive Employer?”
It is for the fourth consecutive year according to the preferences of over 144,000 career seekers, with a business or engineering background from the world´s 12 greatest economies. So says the Universum global talent attraction index: “The World’s Most Attractive Employers 2012″.’
KPMG keeps the second place and Procter & Gamble is now on the third position.
Here at the TechJournal, we find it interesting that Apple shows up on in the 8th spot on the engineering employer list.
“The Google fever is still hot! Students are attracted by Google´s relaxed and creative work environment, international atmosphere and innovative products. Google offers great benefits and opportunities that are hard for other companies to match.” says Petter Nylander, Universum’s CEO.
Also in the engineering category, Google takes the first position for the fourth consecutive year and is followed by IBM and Microsoft.
“The giants in the software industry are seen as great places for the launch of an engineering or IT career. They offer training, networking and future career possibilities. Moreover, they are global,” says Nylander.
World’s Top 10-Business
- Google (1)
- KPMG (2)
- Procter & Gamble (7)
- Microsoft (6)
- Deloitte (5)
- Ernst & Young (4)
- PwC (3)
- J.P. Morgan (9)
- The Coca-Cola Company (12)
- Goldman Sachs (10)
World’s Top 10-Engineering
- Google (1)
- IBM (2)
- Microsoft (3)
- BMW (4)
- Intel (5)
- General Electric (8)
- Siemens (9)
- Apple (7)
- Sony (6)
- Procter & Gamble (10)
In parenthesis is the company’s position in 2011. For the full ranking, go to http://www.universumglobal.com/IDEAL-Employer-Rankings/Global-Top-50


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The publisher of the critically acclaimed GTA V, 2K Games, has recently reported an astonishing new milestone for their latest franchise. According to 2K, GTA V has now sold-in 70 million copies worldwide based on their latest survey. This means that GTA V has now set a new record for the most sold-out copies of any game in 2016, surpassing Overwatch which was reported to have sold 20 million copies this year.
GTA V: Fourth Bestselling Game Of All Time
GTA V is now sitting as the fourth bestselling game of all time, surpassing Super Mario Bros. which had sold a total of 40.24 million copies worldwide. The report was said to have conducted during the early Q2 of 2016 and ended last Sept. 30; which was meant to attract and acquire new prospect investors into the company. But take note that "sold-in" it doesn't necessarily mean that 70 million copies were sold to all households. It just simply implies that 70 million copies were delivered on all retail stores worldwide.
Success Behind the Game
According to gamerant, 2K has stated that the company is having "stellar results" during the second quarter of its fiscal year which the CEO of the company, Straus Zelnick, linked the continuous success of the franchise to the "robust demand for GTA V." It just simply imply how successful the GTA franchise is and how they've properly created a bond between the game's three main characters: Michael, Trevor and Franklin and to its players. Aside from that, the developers also made an ingenious method of making an open world action-adventure game with three playable characters which you have the freedom to switch to anytime.
GTA V Networth
The report shows that GTA V has had a jump of 21% of revenue this year, which is roughly amounting to $420.2 million from its total revenue of $347 million last year. The numbers certainly are astonishing considering the fact that GTA V was released way back in 2013. Although it comes to no surprise as Rockstar constantly support their GTA Online with brand-new contents including the recent Halloween Event which was received positively by its fans.


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LAS VEGAS (Nov. 2, 2011)—Falken Tire Corp. debuted four tires and announced plans to continue its motorsports sponsorships during the SEMA Show.
Falken unveiled the Azenis FK453, a successor to the FK452, which the company said will become the new Falken flagship as its most advanced UHP tire to date. The tire line features technologies developed through the company's motorsports involvement and targets sports cars and ultra-luxury coupes and sedans. Available in March 2012, the Azenis will be offered in a several sizes, ranging from 16 to 22 inches in wheel diameter.
The tire maker also introduced the WildPeak H/T, an all-season M+S tire for light trucks and SUVs. The tire offers improved dry handling and wet braking on multiple roadway surfaces. The symmetric nondirectional five-rib-design features a rigid block for handling, firmness and comfort on the road, and allows for an optimal cross rotational maintenance approach to prolong tire life. The line will be available in early 2012.
Falken, a subsidiary of Sumitomo Rubber Industries, said it is expanding its product lines by adding another Sumitomo brand, Ohtsu.
Falken will offer the Ohtsu FP7000 HP and UHP car tire and the AT4000 all-terrain LT tire for the first time in the U.S in 2012 through select Falken distributors.


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Most Active Stories
- Non-Verbal & Non-Linear, Jill Burton’s Singing Creates Spontaneous Soundscapes
- Choral Arts of Chattanooga Presents 'Wonderful Peace' Holiday Concert 12/13
- 'A Christmas Story, The Musical' Adds New Depth to Beloved Characters
- Give a meaningful gift through WUTC
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Skechers To Settle FTC Complaint
The Federal Trade Commission has announced that Skechers will pay more than $40 million to settle charges that the company made unfounded claims about its shape-up shoes. The FTC says the marketing was deceptive.


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Of the top Internet retailers, Amazon ranked the highest for customer satisfaction during the 2011 holiday shopping season, according to ForeSee Results’ annual survey. Netflix recorded the largest rating drop compared to last year.
ForeSee CEO Larry Freed said Netflix was hurt by its plan to raise prices by 60 percent and split up its DVD and streaming services. “Netflix totally misread its customer base and is paying the price, damaging its brand among both consumers and investors,” Freed said in a statement. Netflix abandoned the plan to create two companies, but maintained the price increase.
ForeSee’s index, based on a 100-point scale, represents the results of its customer surveys measuring satisfaction on the 38 largest retail sites.
Amazon scored No. 1 at 88 points; it was followed by Avon and JC Penney (83 points each). In contrast, Netflix (No. 32) had 79 points, a seven-point drop compared to 2010’s shopping season.
“Amazon may have started as an online bookstore, but it now competes in almost every significant retail category and it is setting the bar very high for any company selling online,” Freed said.
Retailers at the bottom of the index were: Overstock.com (No. 38), Gap.com (No. 37); Sony Store (No. 36); Buy.com (No. 35), and ToysRUs (No. 34).
BestBuy.com’s problems fulfilling online customer orders this month apparently didn’t affect its score. Ranked at No. 22 in the index, it received 79 points out of 100 – an increase of two points compared to last year, according to ForeSee.
And JC Penney may have benefited from the appointment of Ron Johnson as CEO; he’s former head of Apple’s retail operations. JC Penney saw the biggest increase in the index, going from 78 to 83 points.
The ForeSee report is based on more than 8,500 responses from visitors to the 38 largest retail websites based on Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide.
Here are the 10 sites that ranked the highest in the ForeSee index.
|ForeSee Rank||Retailer||Holiday 2010||Holiday 2011||Point Change
Since Last Year
|8||Barnes & Noble||NM||81||N/A|
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Swap Sandwiches With Billy Ray Cyrus
As you know — Hellmann’s and Best Foods Mayonnaise have teamed up with country music singer, songwriter and actor Billy Ray Cyrus to encourage people of all ages to celebrate their favorite childhood ritual and join the virtual Sandwich Swap ‘n’ Share program to support Feeding America®, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. People can visit Hellmann’s page on Facebook to create a virtual sandwich. Hellmann’s® will donate seven lunches to Feeding America for every sandwich created and for every sandwich sent to a friend.
In addition to the application found exclusively on Facebook, fans of Billy Ray Cyrus can participate in an eBay auction where the highest bidder will win the opportunity to swap a real life sandwich with Cyrus backstage just before his concert in Niceville, Florida. All of the proceeds from the auction will also support Feeding America®. Information about the eBay auction is available on ebay.com/hellmanns.
People will have the opportunity to bid from September 14-24.


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Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 30
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
A logistics hub is planned to be created in the territory of the Heydar Aliyev International Airport, according to the Strategic Road Map for the development of logistics and trade in Azerbaijan, published by the country’s official press.
The prospect of creating a logistics hub in the airport in 2017-2018 will be analyzed and evaluated within the framework of strategic objective to create logistics and trade centers in Azerbaijan, according to the document.
In general, it is planned to create 5-6 logistics and trade centers in Azerbaijan, and four of them must be ready before 2020.


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Visitors must first register online at the team’s Web site, www.seahawks.com, where practice times and busing schedules will be posted. Registration, which begins at 10 a.m. on July 16, is first-come, first-served. Fans attending must check in at The Landing, a shopping center in Renton, and be bused from there at a charge of $5 per person.
In addition to the open practices in Renton, the Seahawks have scheduled two others at the University of Washington, on Aug. 7 and Aug. 18. Parking for those is available on campus.”


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Higher prices for meat and fresh produce have translated into stronger-than-expected sales for grocer Metro Inc., which says it’s looking for more locations near downtown Toronto condos this year.
Despite stiff competition in food retailing, the Montreal-based chain reported Wednesday that net profit soared 15.2 per cent to $111.6 million in its second quarter, ending March 14.
Same-store sales at locations open for at least a year were up 4.5 per cent – and 6 per cent overall – an increase from each of the four prior quarters as online promotions, an improved fresh food offering and a reorganization at its Food Basics discount banner gained momentum, the company said.
“In a market that remains very competitive, our merchandising strategies and investments in our store network supported our sales increase,” Eric La Fleche, Metro’s president and chief executive, told analysts on a conference call.
“Customers are extremely value-conscious and expect more from us everyday” in both its Metro and discount banner Food Basics stores, he noted.
While the price of its “aggregate food basket” jumped 4 per cent in the quarter, the grocer with stores in Ontario and Quebec figures food inflation has likely peaked after more than a year of increases in the price of meat, fruit and vegetables.
“We expect somewhat lower levels in the coming months as we cycle the meat price jump of last year and also the decline of the Canadian dollar,” La Fleche said.
Lower fuel prices have also been “a tailwind” driving higher consumer spending across the chain, he said.
Total revenue grew 6 per cent to $2.707 billion, with some help from the Premiere Moisson bakery business Metro acquired last year.
La Fleche said Metro’s loyalty program, which offers personalized discounts to get consumers to shop more frequently and spend more at its stores, has been a key strategy. It recently launched a digital online personalized flyer that allows consumers to save on products they buy.
Analysts say grocery retailers are breathing a sigh of relief now that Target Canada has closed all of its stores after a disastrous foray into the Canadian market.
Metro said it is looking at some former Target locations that are available, though La Fleche said a lot of those stores – most of which are old Zellers locations – probably aren’t the right fit for his chain’s needs.
“The grocery industry is benefiting from the fact that square footage additions are modest (especially relative to recent years) and food inflation is largely being passed through,” analyst Keith Howlett of Desjardins Capital Markets said in a research note.
The Quebec retailer said it plans to add more urban stores later this year to take advantage of the condo boom in both Toronto and Montreal. A Metro store recently opened west of downtown Toronto and one in Montreal’s Griffintown redevelopment is slated to open next spring.
“We’re close to the real estate community and looking for growth opportunities in urban markets,” La Fleche said, adding high rents downtown are a deterrent in some cases.
Besides its own operations, Metro’s investment in convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard delivered $16.3 million in earnings, up from $11 million a year earlier.


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One of the 10 most anticipated games at E3 2017, Days Gone, has finally had its chance to shine at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Bend Studio having now officially revealed footage for the forthcoming survival horror game during the press conference. Considering what the developer decided to offer up during the showcase, it now makes sense as to why Samuel Witwer–that is, the actor portraying the title’s protagonist, Deacon St. John–previously stated that the release would be at the function “in a big way.”
As seen in the footage below for Days Gone, fans get a look at Deacon St. John getting into a whole heap of trouble as he takes to the road on his motorcycle, encounters highway robbers, and slyly attempts to infiltrate a rival campsite holding a friend of his hostage. The gameplay featured includes a cinematic intro, several scenes of intense combat, stealth mechanics, throngs of undead hungry for flesh, and even a ferocious, drooling zombie bear.
For those unaware, it’s been roughly a year since SIE Bend originally unveiled Days Gone, as the studio was chosen to close out Sony’s E3 2016 press conference with a relatively sizable gameplay trailer. The footage from last year featured Deacon St. John riding his motorcycle, sneaking around what appeared to be an abandoned military site, crafting a silencer for a pistol, and of course, taking on hordes of the undead.
All things considered, Days Gone looks to be one among many PlayStation 4 titles that justifies a purchase of the console, as SIE Bend seems intent on making the game far more than just a zombie apocalypse simulator, especially with the studio having more than doubled the amount of staff on its books since the game was first announced. With any luck, as the months press on toward Days Gone‘s launch, any additional assets shown for the survival horror title will prove why it’s being considered as one of the PS4’s most awaited exclusives to date.
Days Gone is currently in production for PlayStation 4.


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Hanwha Q Cells officially opened its 300,000 square foot solar panel factory in Dalton, Georgia last week, claiming it is the largest such manufacturing facility in the western hemisphere. The $200 million factory employs more than 650 workers and is capable of producing 12,000 solar panels per day — enough to generate 1.7 GW of electricity. Its standard production panel features six bus bars, has an efficiency of about 19%, and an output of up to 345 watts.
The Georgia factory began producing panels in January and and started shipping them to customers in February. At full capacity, it will have three production lines operating simultaneously. “The factory is currently producing over 10,000 modules per day and very close to the full 12,000-module-per-day capacity,” Scott Moskowitz,director of strategy and market intelligence for Hanwha, tells PV Magazine. “We expect to be running at full capacity by the end of the year.”
Politics & Power
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who stole the election last year by systematically denying access to the polls to African American voters while he was running for governor and serving as Georgia’s secretary of state, trotted up to Dalton to say a few words about the new plant, claiming it makes northwest Georgia “a hub for the manufacturing of clean, renewable energy sources.”
There are currently three other solar panel factories in operation or under construction in the US — LG’s 500 MW factory in Alabama, Jinko Solar’s 400 MW fab in Florida, and First Solar’s 1.2 GW production line in Lake Township, Ohio. PV Magazine points out that the decision to move forward on all four came after the Republican-controlled Congress rammed through a massive tax cut for corporations in 2017.
Since then, Trump’s tariffs imposed as part of his trade war with China have added an extra economic incentive to manufacture solar panels in America. But as PV Magazine points out, the total output of all four factories will be about 5 GW while the US as a whole is on pace to install 12 GW of solar power next year. Clearly lots of panels are still coming into the US from foreign countries.
We haven’t forgotten about the Tesla/Panasonic factory in Buffalo, New York, but its production is negligible at present and there are concerns it may never begin producing more than a trickle of panels, so it is largely irrelevant to the conversation.
PV Magazine also points out that all the solar cells used in the Hanwha, LG, Jinko Solar, and First Solar are manufactured outside the US. Trump’s tariffs on those cells are hurting America’s quest to make its utility sector carbon neutral by driving up the cost of domestically manufactured solar panels no matter how you look at it.
Bear in mind that tax policies and tariffs can change quickly. If a future administration alters either or both, the long term prospects of these four factories could be in doubt as corporations continue to seek the lowest possible cost of manufacturing.


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Foot Locker, Inc. (NYSE:FL) – Investment analysts at Oppenheimer boosted their Q3 2019 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Foot Locker in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday. Oppenheimer analyst A. Andreeva now anticipates that the athletic footwear retailer will post earnings per share of $1.14 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.93. Oppenheimer also issued estimates for Foot Locker’s FY2019 earnings at $4.74 EPS.
Foot Locker (NYSE:FL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 17th. The athletic footwear retailer reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.80 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $1.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.82 billion. Foot Locker had a return on equity of 19.96% and a net margin of 6.79%. Foot Locker’s revenue was down .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share.
Foot Locker (NYSE FL) traded up $1.62 during trading on Friday, reaching $50.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,010,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,540,000. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 4.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $6,090.00, a P/E ratio of 12.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.82. Foot Locker has a one year low of $28.42 and a one year high of $77.86.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, January 19th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. This represents a $1.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 18th. Foot Locker’s payout ratio is currently 31.23%.
In other Foot Locker news, Director Matthew M. Mckenna sold 10,899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.82, for a total transaction of $499,392.18. Following the transaction, the director now owns 35,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,603,700. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,187,732 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $649,891,000 after purchasing an additional 201,518 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 32.0% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,591,593 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $126,495,000 after acquiring an additional 870,899 shares in the last quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. lifted its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 11.2% in the third quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 2,776,631 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $97,793,000 after acquiring an additional 279,200 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 1,744.5% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,372,300 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $67,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,297,900 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Foot Locker by 36.8% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,329,354 shares of the athletic footwear retailer’s stock worth $46,817,000 after acquiring an additional 357,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.91% of the company’s stock.
WARNING: This report was first reported by American Banking News and is owned by of American Banking News. If you are accessing this report on another website, it was stolen and republished in violation of United States & international trademark and copyright legislation. The legal version of this report can be viewed at https://www.americanbankingnews.com/2018/01/19/q3-2019-eps-estimates-for-foot-locker-inc-fl-boosted-by-oppenheimer.html.
Foot Locker Company Profile
Foot Locker, Inc is a retailer of shoes and apparel. The Company operates through two segments: Athletic Stores and Direct-to-Customers. The Company is an athletic footwear and apparel retailer, which include businesses, such as include Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Champs Sports, Footaction, Runners Point, Sidestep and SIX:02.
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SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai auto group and Chinese technology giant Baidu will step up their strategic partnership to jointly develop connected car technologies, an upgraded voice recognition system and an artificial intelligence (AI) robot for connectivity.
Hyundai said in a statement Tuesday that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the two companies at Baidu's headquarters in Beijing to strengthen their partnership.
Choo Kyo-woong, who heads Hyundai's infotainment development division, said the partnership with Baidu would lead to the development of "innovative" connected cars beyond the expectation of Chinese consumers.
Hyundai plans to develop an in-vehicle voice recognition system using Baidu's natural language processing and Hyundai's noise cancellation technologies. For the internet of things (IoT), they will develop home-to-car and car-to-home services.
The two companies unveiled an AI robot "Xiaodu" last week at Baidu Create 2018, an AI developer conference in Beijing. Hyundai said Xiaodu would be improved to communicate with drivers and control the operation of vehicles.
Hyundai said Xiaodu will be able to express feelings, assist smooth communication between drivers and vehicles, control main devices such as navigation and an air conditioning system through voice command, provide personalized services and warn of drowsiness or careless driving.
To develop next-generation technologies, Hyundai has already forged a series of strategic partnerships with foreign technology firms. The company invested five million US dollars in a U.S. connected car R&D center in October last year to support the creation of collaborated testing grounds for next-generation cars.
In January, it teamed up with Aurora Innovation, a U.S. startup. They will select an optimal smart city, connected through the internet of things, for the testing of self-driving and other technologies. Aurora has been allowed to start testing driverless cars on public roads in California.
Last week, Hyundai made a strategic investment in Autotalks, a global leader in vehicle to vehicle communications in autonomous driving, to cooperate in developing chipsets for connected cars.
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Tyrrells Crisps now made in Australia
Well-known UK brand Tyrrells Crisps are now being manufactured in Victoria’s Yarra Valley.
The crisps product first hit Australian shores in 2014. Current brand owner, Bahrain-based Investcorp, started its Australian venture by importing the crisps from the UK. The decision to start local manufacturing followed its acquisition of the business, Yarra Valley Snack Foods in August 2015.
The Yarra Valley site is the first place outside of the UK to make Tyrrells Crisps.
Tyrrells said although the site has changed its traditional cooking technique has not.
“Just like their English counterparts, the new Tyrrells potato crisps are hand cooked in small batches with their jackets on,” Tyrells said in the announcement.
Tyrrells Crisps can be purchased from Coles and Woolwroths supermarkets in 165g packets with a recommended retail price of AUD $4.49. The crisps come in a variety of flavours including lightly sea salted, Mature Cheddar Cheese and Chive and Honey Soy Chicken.
Pepsi Co. Australia and New Zeeland is releasing more new chips into Australian supermarkets.
The winners of the 2016 International Spirits Challenge hosted in London have been announced.
Two new pate flavours have been added to Maggie Beer’s eponymous range.
Gatorade is entering into the water category, now selling a sugar-free flavoured electrolyte water.
OAK has launched a new high-protein version of its flavoured milk range.
Helga’s is now selling gourmet gluten free bread rolls through Coles and Woolworths supermarkets.
Sunny Queen Meal Solutions is now selling a new range of finger food.
Byron Bay Cookie has launched its first marketing campaign.


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D-Day for 10+2 ad cap is here. What now?
Recent developments have revealed that the b'casting industry is clearly divided on the ad cap issue. Will it be implemented tomorrow – is the question of the hour
The year has been anything but dull for the broadcasting industry; and if the last week is anything to go by, far more eventful times lie ahead.
There has been much talk of whether the much-debated 10+2 ad cap will be applicable or no, with broadcasters clearly divided on the issue. The Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) took a firm stand earlier last week by issuing a formal notice to Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). A notice sent by ISA Chairman Hemant Bakshi stated: “Members of ISA have brought to the notice of ISA that they have received letters from some members of IBF about their proposal to impose an ad cap self-regulation and, thereby, ration inventory available to the members of ISA on the channels of these IBF members.”
The notice also added among other points: “We will advise our members to abide by the law and the judicial pronouncements. Any unilateral decision that some of your members take to renege on the existing contracts under the so called self-regulation while the matter is sub judice would virtually amount to showing contempt of TDSAT’s order.”
Additionally, News Broadcasters Association (NBA) managed to get a stay against the TRAI order in August by filing a petition in TDSAT, till the next hearing on November 11, 2013.
In another development last week, select music channels have also joined this bandwagon. It may be noted that these broadcasters have been quite open about their large dependence on advertisement for revenue, citing reasons of limited content, coupled with low subscription revenues and high carriage fees.
The channels that filed a petition against Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) order on ad cap include Mastiii, 9XM, MTunes and B4U, following which TDSAT imposed a stay on the TRAI order till the next hearing on October 21, 2013.
In the latest development, Sun TV joined these channels with its appeal for an exemption from the ad cap. Sun TV filed an appeal on September 25 with TDSAT seeking exemption from implementing the ad cap on October 1, and is waiting to hear from the Tribunal on its appeal.
Given the current scenario and developments, what happens from October 1 still remains unclear. The D-Day for the ad cap is upon us, but every channel seems to be dealing with the ad cap restriction on an individual level, as opposed to the industry as a whole.
My understanding is some channels have a clear reprieve; until the final decision comes through, clarity is yet not here. Some may choose to do so, some may not (follow the ad cap diktat). There is still ambiguity till the final order,” said Ashish Bhasin, Chairman India and CEO South East Asia, Aegis Media.
His sentiments are echoed by Pradeep Iyengar, President Indian Operations, EMM, “There has to be parity, otherwise there will be a postponement of the ad cap. It cannot be applicable to some and not applicable to the others; otherwise there will be a re-think. In terms of the ad rate hikes, the deals will be stuck because the ad cap has not been finalised across the board and advertisers will not want to pay increased rates.”
It is learned from industry sources that Sony will refrain from implementation of the ad cap, while Star Plus, Zee TV and Colors will follow the mandate.
Taking advantage of the impending ad cap, few channels have already hiked their ad rates, but given the current economic scenario, this move has been ill received by advertisers.
“From a business angle, given the economic scenario, this is absolutely the wrong time for a rate hike. It just means more trouble. The clients are in no mood to pay more. If the festive season goes off well, it will be good news and things will look up for the whole industry. Yes, post the festive season, there can be collective discussion on rate hikes in a bilateral fashion, not the unilateral way it is currently happening,” added Bhasin.
The chances of the implementation of the ad cap indeed look bleak, predict industry insiders. Whether or not the ad cap will be implemented, we will know tomorrow…
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Timeline final update: March 22, 2022
Scrap fiber exports to China collapsed in 2021, but the rest of the world more than made up the difference. Scrap plastics, however, continued their years-long decline in shipments.
Celadon Development Corporation announced plans to expand its North American footprint with a recycling and production facility in Virginia to export recycled pulp to China.
The third quarter of the year brought a resilient recovered fiber export market, even as the largest overseas buyer virtually disappeared. Meanwhile, scrap plastic exports continued a precipitous decline.
California lawmakers have approved a bill that would no longer allow scrap plastic that is exported to be considered recycled. The legislation now heads to the governor for final consideration.


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Our Spring 2011 national online multicultural consumer data shows that Latinos and other emerging minorities are not only leading in online presence with blogs and websites, but also in their use of gadgets that reflect the future of communications.
To my surprise Hispanics who responded in English lead both in their current ownership of electronic book readers and electronic tablets. Those who responded in Spanish are the most aspirational indicating they plan to have one of each within next year. In general, all minority groups have a higher incidence of current ownership and of the aspiration to own these devices.
Read the entire article at the blog of Dr. Felipe Korzenny.


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Last year, we predicted that the ambition of Oregon's emerging wine regions would finally reach the mainstream in 2021. And it did! As we kick off 2022, we're expecting winemakers to be innovative not only with where they're sourcing from, but what they're sourcing to begin with.
While the devastating fires of 2020 were thankfully avoided in much of wine country, wineries are still bracing for the lingering effects on their production and sales. In an effort to avoid complete losses, many wineries turned towards making more rosé and white wines than normal. Be on the lookout for more examples of fun, esoteric blush wines this year or even white wines made from typically red grapes–like Left Coast Estate's White Pinot Noir. These are the wines that will ensure wineries in Willamette Valley, Sonoma, and Napa can make it through the expected stock shortages, so make sure you support them!
More than a few wineries on the Winestyr platform found themselves needing to look beyond their estate vineyards for fruit. Some even decided to change the fruit they were looking for! While it remains to be seen if it has staying power, the emergence of sparkling grape/orchard fruit beverages has been fascinating to watch. Producers like Guthrie Family Wines have released stunning examples of complex, dry sparkling ciders, for example. Others are crafting lightly alcoholic concoctions of berries, grapes, and herbs. Wild times, indeed.
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