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Like a nation's highway system, the Internet has traffic rules that prevent chaos and gridlock. But an increasingly popular type of multimedia traffic is turning out to be a cyber road hog that flouts the rules and creates traffic jams.
This scofflaw traffic, known as streaming media, is widely hailed as the future of home entertainment, capable of eventually delivering high-quality audio and video programming over the Internet.
Unfortunately, network experts warn, it may drive everyone else off the road.
Streaming media is analogous to broadcast media in that the audio or video material is produced as soon as a computer receives the data over the Internet. The problem is that the streaming data does not respond to network congestion the way other Internet traffic does.
When a computer sending conventional data encounters congestion, it significantly slows its own transmission rate, but a computer sending streaming data will reduce the flow only slightly. So if streaming traffic competes with conventional traffic for the same congested strip of roadway, the streaming traffic, like some VIP motorcade, assumes the right of way and lets all other data traffic pile up.
The difference, said Van Jacobson, chief scientist for Cisco Systems Inc., a leading maker of Internet traffic routers, is that conventional traffic "is polite; this stuff is impolite."
"People writing software for that traffic--they don't care," Jacobson said of streaming media. "In the long term, it's a problem."
By its very nature, streaming media has to flow continuously to the user's computer, so it cannot follow the same traffic rules as conventional data. But even so, it is possible for packets of streaming data to interact civilly with other traffic on the Internet. The reason they do not, Jacobson said, is that streaming media providers have no incentive to comply with traffic rules.
Today, he said, "if Real Networks is polite and Microsoft isn't, then Real looks crummy."
Even elbowing all other data aside, today's streaming media produces a very low quality of entertainment most of the time.
Much of that lack of quality is a result of slow modems at the user's end. In three to five years, when cable modems and souped-up digital telephone lines are expected to be common, most Internet users may be listening to live Webcasts or playing high-quality radio on their computers. In 10 years, movies and commercial television might be carried over Internet channels.
This increasing demand will add vast amounts of streaming traffic to the Internet and could lead to what Jacobson calls "congestion collapse" -- the Internet equivalent of gridlock.
Internet service providers also are concerned.
Tony Blake, vice president for marketing and business development for AT&T Labs Research, calls the trend disturbing, adding, "What people are saying is, `If my stuff gets through, that's all I care about.' " He said AT&T and other Internet service providers were pressuring the producers of streaming media to head off the problem before it grows out of control.
Streaming media traffic is also of growing concern to the Internet Engineering Task Force, an industry group that is the closest thing the Internet has to a governing technical body. Jacobson, an active task force participant, said the group has not yet formally addressed the issue because "it's not big enough to kill the Net."
Jacobson said he would like to see streaming media use congestion controls that are compatible with those used for conventional data-packet traffic.
According to measurements by the National Laboratory for Applied Network Research at the University of California at San Diego, none of the existing streaming media providers are using such controls.
Real Networks, the largest streaming media provider, declined to respond to the growing criticism, although a spokesman, Jay Wampold, said the company was trying to address congestion problems. Over the last year, he said, Real Networks installed a network of computers for delivering the company's broadcasts that bypasses the Internet's main traffic routes.
Kevin Unangst, lead product manager for Windows Media, the streaming media division at Microsoft Corp., said the company was working with network companies to route its streaming data around the Internet's main arteries.
"We know bandwidth and optimizing bandwidth is a huge, huge issue," Unangst said, using an industry term for transmission capacity, "and we're covering all the bases."
But Jacobson said that while actions like those taken by Real Networks and Microsoft might help, they would not resolve the problem. The bottlenecks are not on the main thoroughfares, he said, but on the side streets and access roads.
"As you get out to the edge of network, closer to users, that's where the bandwidth gets limited," he said.
While cable modems and digital subscriber lines will increase bandwidth to the home, a truly significant increase in Internet bandwidth would require replacing 300 million copper wires with fiber.
"That's not going to happen fast," Jacobson said.
The remedy, experts say, lies in providing incentives for streaming media providers to comply with traffic rules.
With the proper incentive structure in place, streaming material from both Microsoft and Real Networks would look slightly worse than it does now, Jacobson said, but at least the competition for bandwidth would be fairer.
As a standards-setting organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force does not have legal authority to force software developers to adopt congestion-control measures.
But standards, which enable all the computers linked to the Internet to talk to one another, can sometimes be used to discourage disruptive behavior.
"It's the tragedy of the commons," said Sally Floyd, a researcher at the AT&T Center for Internet Research at the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, Calif. "Only with the right incentive structure do the right things happen."


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SHANGHAI -- China's drug-safety agency, responding to questions about oversight of an exported blood-thinning compound, said checks of pharmaceutical ingredients made in China are ultimately the responsibility of countries that buy them.
The State Food and Drug Administration said it works with foreign counterparts to monitor drug-ingredient production. But it said that based on international practice, "safeguarding the legality, quality and safety of active pharmaceutical ingredients" is up to importing countries.
In its statement, the agency also said it is cooperating with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in the regulator's investigation of deaths and illnesses possibly related to the anticlotting medicine heparin sold in the U.S. by Baxter International Inc., BAX -0.41 % of Deerfield, Ill. Some of the heparin used in Baxter's drugs was made by a Chinese joint venture of Scientific Protein Laboratories, a Wisconsin company that also makes heparin in the U.S.
Scientific Protein owns 55% of the joint venture; its Chinese partner owns the rest.
China's food and drug agency noted that the company in question is majority U.S.-owned, its production technology was supplied by Scientific Protein and all of its output was exported to the U.S. It also said that U.S. regulators "verified" in 2004 that Scientific Protein's China venture, Changzhou SPL, was supplying heparin.
It remains unclear if the heparin produced in China is connected in any way to the adverse reactions linked to the Baxter drug. Even so, the heparin case highlights regulatory gaps that have opened as drug companies have become increasingly global in their purchase of ingredients. China is supplying more of the international pharmaceutical industry's raw materials.
Lembit Rago, head of drug safety for the World Health Organization, says many Chinese manufacturers don't "have an understanding of international regulations or the training" to comply with them. Consumers in the U.S. and European nations are protected in part by their own regulatory agencies, Dr. Rago says. For other countries without the capacity to check drug quality, "it's a much bigger problem."
Yan Jiangying, spokeswoman for the State Food and Drug Administration, said that in China, producers of active pharmaceutical ingredients must be drug companies that are "registered and certified" by her agency. She said foreign buyers should check this certification and importing countries "should make strict tests" on ingredients and drugs.
Ms. Yan also says that her agency is working to "further strengthen cooperation" with the U.S. FDA on the monitoring of exports of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA's commissioner, has said his agency needs a bigger budget to fulfill its responsibilities. Among its biggest challenges: coping with a rising number of drug imports.
Makers of crude heparin -- who extract the chemical from pig intestines, often in small workshops, and supply this raw material to companies such as Changzhou SPL and other producers of refined heparin -- say that they face little oversight from Chinese health authorities.
—Ellen Zhu in Shanghai contributed to this article.
Write to Gordon Fairclough at firstname.lastname@example.org

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COLUMBUS, Ohio — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke found some respite on Tuesday from the second-guessing the central bank has faced since it announced a $600 billion effort to stimulate the slow recovery.
During a 75-minute discussion with five business leaders, including the chief executives of IBM and Ford Motor Co., inflation and monetary policy were not even mentioned, much less debated.
Bernanke did, however, emphasize the toll high unemployment was taking on families and on the share of the unemployed — more than 40 percent — who have been jobless for at least six months.
“At the pace of growth that we’re seeing now, we’re not growing fast enough to materially reduce the unemployment rate,” he said. The economy needs to grow at an annualized rate of 2 percent to 2.5 percent just to accommodate new workers coming into the labor force, he said. Bernanke has made this point repeatedly this year.
At 9.6 percent, the unemployment rate is about where it was when the recession officially ended in June 2009, Bernanke said, and only about 1 million of the 8.5 million jobs lost since the peak of the last economic expansion have been restored.
“Part of the barrier to faster growth and recovery is confidence in households that they will be financially secure and that they can make purchases and take chances in changing careers and changing locations,” Bernanke said. “With unemployment so high, that confidence is hard to come by.”
The discussion, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and held at the Fisher College of Business at Ohio State University, was part of an effort by Bernanke to reach out more.
“We spend a lot of time, of course, looking at data, sitting in Washington, looking at the screen, but there’s only so much you can learn from that,” he said.
While none of the executives criticized the Fed, Samuel Palmisano, IBM’s chief executive, said that uncertainty, particularly over regulations, was holding back businesses, not financial constraints.
“Clearly, there’s tons of liquidity, as you know,” he told Bernanke, who was seated to his left. “There’s probably more than we could consume. It’s not a credit issue. It’s not the financial system or a banking issue. I think at the end of the day, it’s clarity.”
But local business owners on the panel said financial conditions were still tight. “Credit is much more tight today than it was in past years,” said Dwight Smith, founder of Sophisticated Systems, a provider of information technology services.
Curtis Moody, co-founder of Moody Nolan Architects, said, “The lines of credits are more difficult to get, and they’re lower.”
Alan Mulally, chief executive of Ford, said the government needed “a laser focus on creating an environment where businesses can grow.”
He added: “We need to have trade agreements that actually allow us to export.”


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A host of Blair County businesses take advantage of our upgraded listings for business.
In the last few weeks this Altoona area site has seen some very impressive growth in traffic, content and new business additions. Our Blair County Judge article alone has seen more than 2300 views and we have set a new record high for monthly traffic to our Altoona PA site with more than 3800 visits just last month!
Related to the growth of our site, many more business owners are seeing that our upgrade packages are well worth taking advantage of to place more information about their business in front of targeted traffic interested in Blair County and all it has to offer. During the last two weeks we have welcomed Altoona area car dealers, bakeries, bait and tackle shops, insurance agents and more to the upgraded ranks in our Altoona - Blair County Business Directory.
We encourage you to browse our business directory to learn more about the upgraded businesses and the services they provide.
The list of Altoona area businesses that have chosen to upgrade since our last update include;
Benson Auto Sales
Central Dairy and Mechanical
Wye Motor Lodge
Fiore True Value Hardware
Baldy's Bait Shop
Cullen Sheehan Allstate Agent
D'Lites Fruit and Bouquets
Twice Cherished Childrens Consignment Boutique
With spring finally here we plan to become even more proactive in promotions of our Blair County site as we continue to grow this CountySpot Directory for Altoona PA by adding more photos, events and informational articles about Blair County PA!


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Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the fintech space in 2019 was characterised by continued and accelerating consolidation, particularly in the payments space.
This took place globally and involved numerous large-cap deals – including FIS’s $35bn acquisition of WorldPay, the largest ever fintech transaction by value. The pace and scale of dealmaking meant that, by the end of May, total fintech deal value in 2019 had already surpassed that of 2018, writes John Meehan partner and founding member of Arma Partners.
Consequently, the supply of sizeable assets available to buy across the sector has shrunk. Scarcity has pushed the valuations of the remaining high-growth fintech companies higher and higher. In the US and Europe, there were over 50 financing rounds in which start-ups raised more than £50m last year, as financial sponsors bet big on creating category leaders. Roughly 20 fintech companies achieved unicorn status ( private start-ups with a $1bn+ valuation), representing a more than 50% increase in the total number. Notable new additions included the digital banks Chime, which received a valuation of $5.8bn following a fundraise in October, and N26, which received a $3.5bn valuation following a fundraise in July.
Fintech valuations were also pushed higher by the growing levels of competition on the buyside of M&A. Following the latest cycle of fundraising in the private equity industry, Preqin estimated that buyout firms had record ‘dry powder’ reserves of almost $2.5tn in unspent capital to put to work. The fintech sector is viewed as a highly attractive area to deploy this capital, as many assets boast a business model with strong recurring revenues and, more generally, the sector has a large globally addressable market with strong tailwinds.
Conscious of the rival spending power of private equity investors and looking to benefit from growth rates that average around 5% annually for listed fintech companies, a broader range of strategic players have become more aggressive in making acquisitions. This includes traditional financial institutions, such as banks, insurers, assets managers, and exchanges, epitomised last year by deals like the London Stock Exchange moving to acquire Refinitiv for $27bn, as well as BlackRock’s $1.3bn acquisition of eFront. However, service companies such as Cognizant, which acquired capital markets software provider Meritsoft, and internet companies such as Chinese internet giant Alibaba, whose payments arm Ant Financial acquired international payments business WorldFirst for $700m, have also become more active buyers of fintech companies.
A growing scarcity of sizeable fintech assets, a buoyant fundraising market, aggressive competition between financial sponsors and a diverse set of strategic buyers for deals; these are challenging conditions in which to invest judiciously in fintech companies as we settle into 2020.
This dynamic has required market participants to become savvier investors, frequently prioritising particular business traits: notably, both organic and acquisitive growth potential, and resilience. We can expect these considerations to continue setting the agenda for fintech M&A in 2020.
In recent years, the tendency of investors to value high organic growth over short-term profitability has been particularly pronounced among fintech companies. In 2019, both venture capital and private equity firms as well as strategic investors maintained an undiminished appetite for scalable businesses with significant organic growth potential, largely irrespective of profitability levels. This was exemplified by the UK mobile bank Monzo, which has achieved a $2.4bn valuation off the back of drastically growing its customer base, despite its net losses having increased by over 50% in its latest financial year.
Suggested reading: Fintech’s largest mergers and deals in 2019
A parallel trend that we have seen over the last 12 months is the continued interest, from both financial and strategic buyers, in fintech assets that also exhibit the ability to grow inorganically, through acquisitions. For private equity firms in particular, supporting the inorganic growth of its portfolio companies via bolt-ons allows for the deployment of more capital and potentially the opportunity to pay lower multiples when adding on smaller companies acquired in less competitive processes. The proven capability of a management team to execute deals is therefore a key characteristic that buyers look for in fintech companies.
Alongside growth, the second watchword among fintech investors in 2019 was resilience. With escalating trade tensions casting shadows over future global economic prospects, combined with sustained political uncertainty in major fintech markets such as the UK, investors actively sought companies with business models designed to resist macroeconomic downturns, with particular focus on subscription-based business models (commonly associated with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), companies). Strategic acquirers also favoured fintech companies with an international presence or global market reach, in order to minimise their exposure to economic downturn in any one market. For example, Ant Financial’s acquisition of UK-based WorldFirst served to establish a foothold in Western markets.
Best performing sub-sectors
Another way of looking at investors’ priorities in this competitive market is to focus on those ‘hot’ segments within fintech. Financial SaaS companies and payments businesses are two areas that have attracted significant investment – often precisely on account of these business models’ resilience and strong growth potential.
By operating a business model based on selling subscriptions to cloud-hosted financial software to enterprise customers, SaaS fintech companies frequently achieve high customer retention, enabling them to generate strong and highly predictable recurring revenues. Meritsoft, acquired by Cognizant, provides intelligent cloud-based software solutions to a subscriber base of global capital markets participants. The company’s subscription-based business model, combined with its high growth potential due to its ability to help businesses comply with increasingly stringent regulatory and tax requirements, were both key drivers of the deal and entirely characteristic of a sizeable and high-quality B2B SaaS fintech company.
Meanwhile, companies in the payments space have been highly sought after, as they often exhibit huge growth potential, through both expanding their networks into new markets, as well as through diversifying their service offering by adding extra software capabilities and services. For example, Payzone, acquired by AIB and First Data last April for $112m, processes 125 million transactions annually and has developed a highly diversified, multi-channel platform enabling it to achieve robust growth from expanding into new verticals and product offerings.
The synergies and economies of scale inherent to the payments sector were also in evidence last year within the string of mega-deals that fuelled industry consolidation. As well as FIS’ record-breaking acquisition of Worldpay, these included Global Payments’ $22.15bn acquisition of Total Systems Services, Fiserv’s $21.79bn acquisition of First Data and Mastercard’s acquisition of the real-time payments unit of Nets Group for $3.19bn.
What to expect in 2020
More of the same. Despite high levels of M&A in 2019, the fintech market was highly fragmented at the outset, so there is still runway for further consolidation. This will continue to reduce asset supply and sustain high valuations in the industry, as the market matures and companies of real scale emerge. Consolidation will remain particularly pronounced within payments, but also emerging areas such as insurtech, regtech, data analytics and AI, all of which are considered innovative sub-sectors with high growth potential.
The attractiveness of fintech assets to a broad range of acquirers will remain the driving force behind consolidation in the industry. Notably, internet giants are building more active and aggressive M&A platforms so will assume an even greater role in fintech M&A as they look to diversify their offering. Combine this with the sustained appetite of traditional players such as banks and insurance carriers, financial sponsors seeking to put capital to work, and the ability of all strategic buyers to use their own buoyant valuations to part-fund acquisitions with equity, and it is clear that high levels of M&A activity in the fintech industry are likely to continue throughout 2020.
By John Meehan partner and founding member of Arma Partners
This article is also featured in the February 2020 issue of the Banking Technology magazine.
Click here or on the banner below to read the digital edition – it is free!


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After the initial success that the 2012 Dodge Charger Blacktop edition brought, Dodge has announced it has expanded the special edition trim to the Avenger, Challenger R/T, and the Charger R/T.
Read This Article
If these cars were in gym class, they’d be picked last for kickball.
When Fiat S.p.A.
Fiat-Chrysler further cuts back the Dodge lineup, raising questions about the brand's future.


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- When did the Royal Mail go private?
- Is the post office privately owned UK?
- Who owns Royal Mail now?
- Who is in charge of the post office?
- Who owns the Post Office UK?
- Who sold off Royal Mail?
- What happens if the post office gets privatized?
- Who is the owner of Royal Mail?
- Can the post office go out of business?
- Who runs the post office?
- Was the Privatisation of the Royal Mail a success?
When did the Royal Mail go private?
In 2013 the government part-privatised the Royal Mail..
Is the post office privately owned UK?
The Post Office was separated from Royal Mail in 2012, and is owned by the UK Government. … Modernisation has seen the number of Crown Post Offices, those run directly by the Post Office, decrease in recent years. Some branches have been franchised to partners such as WHSmith.
Who owns Royal Mail now?
ON October 11th the British government will sell around 60% of its stake in the Royal Mail, the state-owned postal service, via a flotation on the London Stock Exchange. Unlike other former state-owned businesses such as telecoms firms, energy providers and the railways, Royal Mail has so far avoided privatisation.
Who is in charge of the post office?
Incumbent 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, D.C. The United States postmaster general (PMG) is the chief executive officer of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The postmaster general is responsible for managing and directing the day-to-day operations of the Postal Service.
Who owns the Post Office UK?
Secretary Of State For Business, Innovation And SkillsPost Office Ltd/Parent organizations
Who sold off Royal Mail?
The plunge in Royal Mail’s share price is down to the British government selling off the 14% of Royal Mail it still owned, ending the privatisation process that started in 2013. The sale raised £591 million for 13% of the remaining shares, with the final 1% gifted to Royal Mail employees.
What happens if the post office gets privatized?
A privatized USPS would pay federal, state, and local taxes, which would put the USPS on a level playing field with other businesses.
Who is the owner of Royal Mail?
For most of its history, the Royal Mail was a public service, operating as a government department or public corporation….Royal Mail.TypePublic limited companyKey peopleKeith Williams (Executive Chairman) Stuart Simpson (Interim CEO)15 more rows
Can the post office go out of business?
The coronavirus pandemic has seriously impacted the financial stability of the U.S. Postal Service, to the point that the agency is expected to run out of cash on hand sometime this summer. It is unlikely, however, that whether without intervention the agency would shut down completely.
Who runs the post office?
It is, however, an “establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States”, (39 U.S.C. § 201) as it is controlled by presidential appointees and the postmaster general.
Was the Privatisation of the Royal Mail a success?
Privatisation of the Royal Mail means the end of nearly 500 years of state control. Despite the protests the general belief is that previous attempts to commercialise and modernise the Royal Mail at a time of considerable change in the communications industry, had failed.


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Swiss Re's Chen: China's Re Market Is About to Get Crowded
John Chen, president, Swiss Re China, said new regulations have focused on adequately supporting risk, but have reduced capital requirements for motor insurers. China, he said, is expected to approve more reinsurance competitors soon.
October 14, 2016
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The Chinese Ecommerce Boom: a decade of growth is just the beginning
If the digital economy has exploded in any one country over and above the global average, it is China. Ten years ago, China’s ecommerce market accounted for just 1% of the world’s total. Today, it accounts for 42% of the global ecommerce market. That growth is staggering – but it may just be the beginning. Meanwhile, in the west, the numbers are dropping. Since 2005, the United States has seen its share of global ecommerce dwindle from 35% to a still-respectable 24%. One thing is clear: when it comes to ecommerce, China is already more developed than the developed world.
Chinese mobile data usage this year has already overshot 2017’s total!
How did China go from being a (very) minor player in a worldwide trend to handling more digital transactions annually than France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States combined? Three factors stand out in particular: first, its sheer size (China, after all, is the most populous country in the world with 1.4 billion citizens); second, the country’s unique geographical challenges; and third, the speed with which it has embraced mobile technology.
Over the last ten years, China’s urbanization project has stormed ahead, massively swelling the country’s middle class, and bringing the trappings of what we might call “modern” life to its people. China is so vast a landmass that many of those people live hours away from cities with decent retail opportunities. Ecommerce, in this regard, is the great equalizer: no matter which tier your city is in – or, for that matter, your village – if you can get online, you can find what you need. In this way, ecommerce has provided an answer to a problem for hundreds of millions of consumers – and they’ve been keen to exploit it.
The Chinese people have also embraced new technology relatively more quickly than their international peers. Earlier this decade, mobile payments expanded dramatically in the country, accounting for 25% of mobile internet use in 2013, and 68% by 2016. By 2016, Chinese mobile users were spending $790 billion on “consumption-related” purchases. That’s 11 times as much as the United States spent on the same thing in the same year – an incredible statistic, but even more so when you consider that the U.S. still has 262 million more mobile internet users than China!
Ultimately, simple demographics are what suggest that China has much more room to grow in the digital realm. With about 731 million people online today, the country has an internet penetration rate of around 55%. North America, by contrast, has an internet penetration rate of 88%. As China continues to close the gap, global ecommerce is likely to be a winner.
Dominion holds a number of Chinese internet firms in its Global Trends Ecommerce Fund, as well as western companies with exposure to the Chinese market.
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The New York Stock Exchange recently announced that shares of China companies including China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom would be delisted. This follows then-President Trump’s executive order that barred American retail and institutional investors from owning 35 China companies with alleged links to China military
One of the affected companies, China Mobile Ltd (HKG: 0941), saw its share price drop steeply to close at HK$40.80 on 4 January.
Would this be a good opportunity to buy China Mobile’s shares? Let’s delve deeper.
China Mobile is the largest telecommunication services provider in China. As of end-Sept 2020, it had 946 million customers, one of the largest in the world.
The company groups its operations into four strategic business lines: Customer, Home, Business, and New markets.
Under Customer, China Mobile fosters customer retention and satisfaction in the 5G era by providing data access, applications, and customer benefits bundled service to individual clients. The Home market focuses on growing broadband subscriptions needed to deliver rich smart home services to households.
The Business market is the new growth engine that leverages data, information, and communications technology to enable business transformation and upgrade. Revenue from this segment grew 48% in 2019. The new market covers international operations and new initiatives such as digital content and internet finance.
China Mobile’s last reported its 9-month 2020 earnings in October last year. Operating revenue was RMB574.4 billion, an increase of 1.4% over 2019. Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA), a common measure of operating earnings for telco, dropped 3.8% to RMB216.9 billion. EBITDA margin correspondingly shrunk 2% to 37.8%.
Source: 1-3Q Results Announcement
However, there are a few bright spots if we delve deeper into the numbers. Telecommunication services revenue grew by 2.5% to RMB525.7 billion. Almost 114 million customers were on 5G mobile plans, a huge jump compared to 32 million in 1Q 2020.
Source: Corporate Website Quarterly Operating Data
Handset data traffic increased substantially to 24.2 billion GB in 3Q 2020. Average Revenue per User (ARPU) as of 3Q 2020 was RMB48.9 per month, 2.8% lower than the 1H 2020 figure of RMB50.3 per month. Notably, the rate of decline has slowed down from -10.1% in 1H 2019 and -3.7% in 1H 2020.
Source: 1H 2020 Results Presentation
A glance at China Mobile’s historical financials shows that the company has had a stable revenue trend in the past 5 years. EBITDA had increased over the period, with margin improving from 35.9% in 2015 to 39.7% in 2019. This indicates that China Mobile operations are getting more efficient at churning out higher earnings per unit of revenue.
Operating cash flow has also grown in tandem with revenue, except for 2018 due to the company clearing up a large chunk of accounts payable.
Source: 2015 to 2019 Annual Reports
China Mobile’s operational data has also shown good growth over the same period. 4G customers, except for 2019 when the industry was transitioning towards 5G rollout, more than doubled to 713 million in 2018. Wired broadband customers increased from 77 million to 187 million in 2019. Mobile data consumption showed a similar pattern of explosive growth.
It seems clear that China Mobile was able to use its dominant market position to capture new user growth.
Source: Corporate Website
Strengths and Opportunities
As the largest telecommunication services provider in China, China Mobile has a solid foundation bolstered by its 946 million customers. The mobile telecommunication sector is also a defensive industry compared to other consumer sectors such as fast fashion or food and beverage. Customer loyalty is often dependent on costs, network quality, and value-added services, factors that China Mobile, an established player is strong in.
The scale of China Mobile grants it a competitive edge against the smaller players that helps to solidify its economic moat. It could secure financing at a low rate to fund its capital expenditure. Its economies of scale mean it runs more efficient operations. It is also the largest shareholder of China Tower, the dominant communication network and infrastructure company in the country.
China has a low internet penetration rate. 64.5% of China’s population has accessed the internet before as of Mar 2020, compared to 87% of the US and 91% of Japan according to Statista. With China already in the mobile internet age, the large rural population that has yet gone online are likely to do so via mobile data, presenting a huge addressable market. As the company was able to grow its 4G business tremendously, I would believe that China Mobile is likely to capture the next phase of 5G growth.
I do not see any strong threats that would fundamentally affect the company’s operations and market-leading position in China. However, it is less innovative in various aspects of the digital economy such as fintech, payment, e-commerce, compared to the likes of Tencent, Alibaba, and Huawei. Hence the company is less likely to enjoy explosive growth in the future compared to the internet technology firms.
Price Plunge Due to Delisting – An Opportunity?
As written earlier, China Mobile’s share price suffered a knee-jerk drop after the delisting announcement. At its lowest price of HK$39 on 8 Jan, it was valued at a Price Earnings ratio of around 7 and a yield of 8.3% based on its 2019 dividend of HK$3.25. This was an attractive valuation for a blue-chip stock by any measures.
The lowest share price since the Global Financial Crisis also attracted institutional investors from mainland China. Large funds surge into China Mobile stock via the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, causing transaction volume spike and a share price increase to HK$47.30 on 29 Jan.
We have seen from this article that China Mobile is the largest telecommunication company in China, with a steadily rising revenue and earnings. Its 5G mobile plans seem to be gaining traction too, with a growing number of 5G customers, increasing services revenue, and a slowing trend of decrease in ARPU.
The delisting of China Mobile shares from the US does not affect its business and operation fundamentals which take place in China. The impact pertains to the liquidity of shares and market sentiment which can depress the share price in the short term.
However, in the long term, I do not see anything materially different from the company before the delisting announcement.
Hence this becomes a situation where a fundamentally sound company is temporarily impacted by negative market sentiment. If you are attracted by the low valuation and the juicy dividend yield, this could be a good chance to collect some shares.
CS Jacky is a Remisier and Financial Adviser with Phillip Securities Pte Ltd. Graduated with a Bachelor in Business Administration (Finance), he has been investing in the stock market since 2010. He identifies companies with good prospect trading at a low valuation using a unique blend of fundamental, technical, and portfolio analysis. He also holds REITs and dividend paying shares. He holds regular seminar to share about market updates, investment insights of specific stocks in his watch list, and overall wealth management for retail investors. He is the owner-blogger of 'CS Jacky - 360 Wealth Management' and a guest writer for Value Invest Asia.


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Presented with extreme prejudice and lots of feels, here are the top (bottom?) least-fun, most-gut-wrenching, "can't bear to watch but can't take my eyes off the screen" moments of the entire series. Spoilers abound.
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station needed a socket wrench, so NASA engineers emailed him designs for 3D-printing one. What a world we're living in.
Apple and Samsung will have one hour each to present more testimony Monday, rather than wrap up evidence Friday, because of an appeals court ruling related to one of the patents at issue in the case.
Emporia's first smartphone runs a seriously altered version of Android that's designed to be easy to use. Check out our hands-on video, and see it for yourself
Face the undead apocalypse in style with a massive multitool containing a machete, ax, pipe wrench and auger bit.
Judge Lucy Koh has ordered a jury trial for early 2016 to decide how much money in damages Samsung should pay out to Apple over patent violations.
An original '60s Spock costume goes up for bid alongside a treasure trove of sci-fi and fantasy movie and television artifacts.
"Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz is bolting together a TV dramedy based on a book about ghosts in a Swedish-style furniture store. Here's hoping it's easier to follow than those instructions.
An adorable whirring 3D-printed circular saw runs on a button battery and is sized for impossibly tiny hands.
The streaming-music wars are on, with Apple Music and Spotify now locked in a battle on price, features and artist selection. But how do they compare on sound quality? We put them head-to-head to find out.


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Last year NeNe Leakes inked a deal to co-host 'Fashion Police' on E! but is her new gig already turning sour..?
Insiders claims NeNe Leakes and Fashion Police co-host Giuliana Rancic are not getting along because Giuliana only sees NeNe as a reality star and not a legitimate fashion critic.
Sources tell Life & Style
“Giuliana gave NeNe a very icy reception during her first appearance… NeNe felt like Giuliana was being catty towards her.”
“Every time [NeNe] made a comment, Giuliana was quick to dismiss it or fire back with a rebuttal.”


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- July 4, 2009
- Posted by: Atty. James Biron
- Category: Featured, Legal News
Ascentive, a software firm, filed a complaint against Google for trademark infringement.
The problem started when Ascentive payed $645,000 to be part of Google’s AdWords program. Considering that Ascentive owns numerous trademarks and since Google permitted other firms to use in its AdWords program Ascentive’s trademarks to launch pay-per-click advertisements, Ascentive tried to contact Google in several occasions to resolve this issue. Ascentive further alleged that Google wrongly erased the software company from their search engine results page .
In the trademark infringement case, Ascentive made clear that it has a trademark registration for “finallyfast.com”. However, the website FinallyFastAgain.com provided consumers software branded as “FinallyFast” and instructed these visitors to download softwares, but these softwares were not offered not affiliated with Ascentive in any way.
In reply to these accusations, Google argued: “As previously noted,we will not be able to investigate “finally fast” at this time because this mark differs too greatly from your actual trademark”.
Further, Ascentive believes that the situation may cause confusion among its clients. They go on to provide the following statement: “even after accesing the websites associated with keyword-triggered advertisements, consumers are likely to be confused into believing that those websites and any software they contain are associated with, sponsored by, develop by, or otherwise afiliated with Ascentive.”


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When the White House issued its big-data privacy report on May 1, it recommended the passage of federal breach legislation "to replace a confusing patchwork of state standards." Although that may have sounded like good news to the development community — the folk who generally bear the brunt of complying with such security requirements — it's only a step in the right direction if your goal is falling off of a cliff.
Having one federal standard rather than a large number of state standards is an unquestionably good thing. I'm not arguing against that. But the exceptions spelled out in the report and one rather obvious omission make the whole effort rather pointless. (Let's leave aside the question of whether putting any nuanced business problem in the hands of Congress and expecting them to figure out a realistic solution is akin to administering an astrophysics final to your pet rock. No need to belabor the obvious.)
Let's start with what the report recommends. In discussing big data, it makes a reasonable point: "Amalgamating so much information about consumers makes data breaches more con-sequential, highlighting the need for federal data breach legislation to replace a confusing patchwork of state standards. The sheer number of participants in this new, inter-connected ecosystem of data collection, storage, aggregation, transfer, and sale can disadvantage consumers."
In short, the more you collect, the more you can lose.
Here's where things get dicey: "Such legislation should impose reasonable time periods for notification, minimize interference with law enforcement investigations, and potentially prioritize notification about large, damaging incidents over less significant incidents."
Let's take those one at a time:
Reasonable time period for notification
What is a reasonable time period? Many retailers would argue that it's reasonable to wait until the report can be confirmed as accurate, which means allowing a comprehensive set of forensic analysis plus other testing. And maybe a second or third opinion.
Reporting the matter quickly is almost always going to mean delivering preliminary and wrong data. To the extent that such disclosure helps anyone — an assumption that I challenge — isn't disclosing incorrect data harmful?
This also raises the question of when the clock should start. Is it from when the breach occurs? When the company is told that there might have been a breach? When it's confirmed?
Please remember that large companies can get thousands of reports of potential breaches every day, from software that looks for any anomalies. Knowing that more than 99.99% of those reports turn out be of no concern, when should the notification clock start?
Prioritize large over small
Is this relative to the size of the company involved, or is it a fixed number of people affected? Given that it will likely be a fixed number — Congress has never been a big fan of nuance — doesn't that let tons of smaller and midsize companies off the hook?
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Falling consumer demand, due to high prices, has put pressure on milk prices.
A wait-and-see attitude among buyers of dairy products, hoping prices will fall further, has slowed the market. However, the EU prices for the main commodities are still mostly 30% to 50% ahead of 12 months ago.
Irish companies that rely on the UK market now have to contend with the consumer reaction to fresh food prices, which are 13.3% higher than last October.
Overall, UK inflation is at only 6.6%, but food inflation has jumped, in the biggest annual increase since 2005. There have been big price rises for most dairy products.
Over the past year, cheese volumes sold in the UK are reported to be back 5.8%, and butter sales back nearly 10%.
With the Bank of England warning the UK faces its longest-ever recession, and that unemployment could nearly double by 2025, Irish food exporters that depend on cross-channel trade face a difficult period.
In Ireland, there are reports of a 10% fall in supermarket spending in September compared to August. Eight out of 10 Irish consumers say they are concerned about their finances and are adjusting their shopping to reduce costs.
Across Europe, high inflation and the war in Ukraine have been two of the main drivers of falling consumer confidence for over a year.
Now, with employment growth slowing, rising interest rates, wage growth unable to keep up with inflation, and food and energy prices unlikely to fall significantly in the short to medium term, the dairy market volume is likely to shrink.
In the EU, volume declines are reported in key categories such as cheese and milk, but the full impact on dairy consumption will not be felt until 2023.
Irish exporters are reported to be hit hard by a 15% drop in butter volumes sold in Germany, where Ireland has a 20% market share.
Sluggish imports by Chinese buyers are also weakening the global dairy market.
On the other hand, prices will be supported by the resilience which characterised the dairy market through the pandemic, and by under-supply of milk, which is particularly evident in New Zealand and Australia.
September milk supplies in New Zealand continued to lag the previous year, by 3.2%, with season-to-date supplies back 3.7% year on year. With New Zealand exporting more than 90% of its dairy products, reduced milk production will have a significant effect on global markets.
Bad weather down under reduced the peak milk flows of late October, with wet conditions holding back farmers.
Australian milk production has been hit even harder, running 6.6% behind for the season to date, with lasting damage done to feed provision in many flood-affected areas.
Only the USA reported September growth (of 1.5% year on year) in milk supply, with the EU milk supply down slightly, still recovering from summer and autumn droughts.
South America continues to lose global dairy market share, with the exportable surplus likely to decline further.
So far this year, the total volume of the major dairy exporters (including the EU) up to September was 0.9% lower than in the same period of 2021.


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A woman has pledged to tour the UK eating a Greggs' vegan sausage roll in every one of the bakery's 1,764 outlets.
Greggs' launched the snack in January this year, garnering mainstream media headlines, and huge sales.
Vegetarian Mairead Sheehan, who says she was 'in heaven' when Greggs launched the roll, has already visited more than 50 stores.
"The plan now is to go to every Greggs in the country," she said. "My favorite from Greggs is definitely the vegan sausage roll- I love them. I started posting the pictures on Instagram and my friends thought it was hilarious - then strangers started commenting.
"I've been to more than 50 stores so far, but I'm planning to add a lot more to my total by visiting some big cities and going on multiple Greggs visits in one day.
"I have been a vegetarian my whole life, I have never eaten meat, my parents are vegetarian, so I was brought up like this and then chose to continue being a vegetarian. When Greggs brought out the Vegan Sausage roll I was in heaven. My friends think it's probably the most hilarious thing I've ever done in my life. But now I'm on a mission."
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are prepared in the author's capacity and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Plant Based News itself.Reuse this content
Maria is the Editor of Plant Based News. A former magazine editor, newspaper reporter, and features writer, her work has been published by The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and various regional newspapers. She was previously the editor of Vegan Life magazine and Vegan Trade Journal. She has interviewed a huge range of people, from Prime Ministers to authors, activists, pop stars and actors, and enjoys the varied range of topics writing for PBN allows her to tackle. You can follow her on Twitter @MariaChiorando and Instagram @mariachiorando.
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Meeting to discuss key GCC-India trade pact
Manama, May 29, 2012
The proposed free trade agreement between the GCC and India will be discussed during the two-day official state visit by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander.
The Bahrain delegation leaves today as part of the visit to India and will visit Mumbai and New Delhi. Members will engage in high-level talks with Indian officials and private sector leaders.
The visit aims to strengthen political and trade relations between both countries.
"Bahrain currently hosts more than 120 Indian firms," said Transportation Minister and Economic Development Board (EDB) acting chief executive Kamal Ahmed.
"Also, Indian nationals are the largest expatriate community in the kingdom," Mr Ahmed added.
"As Indian firms continue to expand internationally, Bahrain's low cost of doing business, highly skilled local workforce and access to the GCC market mean that it can provide an excellent location from which these firms can access the fast-growing Gulf market.
"This market is worth more than $1 trillion," he said.
As part of a roadshow, the EDB has organised a series of one-to-one meetings with members of the private sector and business community.
The high-level talks will also include discussions on the proposed free trade agreement between the GCC and India.
The official delegation accompanying HRH the Crown Prince includes representatives of the EDB, Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and Mumtalakat.
Dadabhai Group chairman Mohammed Dadabhai, LuLu Group managing director Yusuffali M A and Nader and Ebrahim Sons of Hassan Group partner and group managing director Ebrahim Al Ameer are also part of Bahrain's delegation.
"The Indian economy is the second fastest growing in the world," said BCCI chairman Dr Essam Fakhro."This makes India an attractive market for us to showcase our commitment to economic diversification."
"Our visit to India will enable us to interact with Indian businesses," he noted.
"It will also enable us to present a compelling proposition of holding Bahrain as a strategic business location from which to access the Gulf region," he stated.
"In the region, growth is to double to $2 trillion by 2020, as forecast by the Economist Intelligence Unit," he added.
Bilateral trade between Bahrain and India last year was around $1.7 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund. India's share of Bahrain's total foreign trade was 4.1 per cent between 2005-2010.-TradeArabia News Service


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Mar 9, 2022 - 10:59 am
Renault Trucks to add two electric trucks to lineup by 2023
Renault Trucks is expanding its electric portfolio and has announced the market launch of two new 44-tonner models for the first quarter of 2023: the Renault Trucks T E-Tech for long-distance transport and the Renault Trucks C E-Tech for construction site transport. Plans are also underway for another freight-carrying electric truck.
Jul 15, 2020 - 12:38 pm
Electric truck initiatives take off in Europe & the USA
18 European companies and organisations have formed a coalition, the European Clean Trucking Alliance (ECTA), to call for the decarbonisation of road freight transport in the EU. A similar initiative is forming in the USA – driven by several states.
Sep 30, 2019 - 05:02 pm
MAN delivers three eTGE electric vans to Paris
Three purely electric MAN eTGEs are now being put into operation in Paris. In the French capital, the electric van is used by DHL Express France, Geodis and SNCF Réseau – all for very different purposes.
Nov 20, 2017 - 05:37 pm
French cargo specialist Geodis expands its electric fleet
Geodis, the street cargo unit of French railway company SNCF, is going to expand its electric vehicle fleet from currently a dozen to 50 cars by June 2018. With this step, Geodis responds to plans published by the Paris city council to ban diesel-powered vehicles by 2020.


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If you're looking for something to do during the holidays, here are five pop-up experiences and attractions that could be worth checking out over the next few days in the city.
Google plans on transforming a former freight rail station in Manhattan into a 21st-century campus.
A trio of brazen robbers made off with $385,000 worth in designer handbags and clothing in SoHo, said police.
Miya Ponsetto was arraigned in court in Manhattan via videoconference on charges including unlawful imprisonment as a hate crime in connection with a confrontation with a Black teen at a hotel.
The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating another incident of vandalism at an art gallery commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Graffiti is now a growing problem in SoHo, as the neighborhood has been the target of vandals in recent weeks and local shop owners say the eyesores are keeping customers away.
A SoHo art gallery commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre was vandalized and police are investigating it as a hate crime.
Dr. Martin Aronoff, owner of Spring Street Dental, says dentistry is taking a huge hit since the pandemic began.
Ghost kitchens are exploding in popularity as city restaurants pivoted to takeout and delivery during the pandemic, and they could be here to stay.
In a since-deleted post, the suspect bragged on social media that he had so many luxury items that he could open his own small boutique, the FBI said.
Police in New York are on the hunt for a group of robbers who are rushing in and robbing high-end stores.
One of the world's top festivals of contemporary opera and theater has shifted format because of the coronavirus pandemic.
A white woman who wrongly accused a Black teenager of stealing appeared to back off her apology in a TV interview that aired Monday.
Sheriff's deputies raided an illegal bottle club in Queens and an illegal gathering in Soho.
The NYPD released additional video of the confrontation between a woman and a 14-year-old Black boy she falsely accused of stealing her phone.
The Manhattan DA's office is investigating a confrontation in which a man said a woman in a hotel lobby falsely accused his teenaged son of stealing her phone and then tackled him.
Brick-and-mortar retailers hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are reimagining the in-store experience to get customers to come back.
Plexiglass, the material used to make sneeze guards and other safety measures used everywhere from doctor's offices to retailers to nail salons, is in hot demand due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Police are searching for looters who made off with more than $375,000 worth of handbags from a store in SoHo during the chaos that unfolded after protests for George Floyd.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues, concerns are growing for the safety of shoppers and grocery store workers.


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Why collaboration and not competition is the mantra of local craft breweries
Celebration: Brewers Tim Clifford and J.C. Hill (bottom right) and their crews from Sante Adairius and Alvarado Street breweries toast the second batch of their collaboration beer, 38 Miles. Photo by Brock Bill.
Cold hands wrapped around hot mugs of coffee as brewers from 12 craft breweries from Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties crowded around the towering steel mash tuns and fermenters at Discretion Brewing in Soquel. Smiles easily thawed the chill as malted grain was crushed, water boiled, temperatures tracked. These beer folks hadn’t seen each other in a while and were happy to take a rare break from their own breweries to work collectively to create a beer that would represent the Monterey Bay area.
Inspired by local waves and boardwalk treats like salt water taffy and candy apples, members of the new Monterey Bay Brewers Guild decided to make a salted caramel stout. Discretion hosted the event, Alec Stefansky from Uncommon Brewers offered homemade caramel, J.C. Hill from Alvarado Street Brewing contributed barrels to age it in and everyone lent a hand, enjoying the festive atmosphere and company of like minds.
This collaboration brew was one of five made in the region to mark the San Francisco Brewers Guild’s creation of five new geographically defined chapters—San Francisco, East Bay, North Bay, South Bay and Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay. To celebrate, each of the new guilds created a beer to represent itself at the 2018 SF Beer Week opening gala in February.
The gathering at Discretion was not the first time brewers in our area have come together there for a large collaboration brew. Last summer, eleven Santa Cruz County breweries and Venus Spirits cooperated on the “Brewers Unite for David” session IPA. Sales of the beer raised more than $10,000 for brewer David Purgason’s medical treatments after he suffered a serious work accident.
Despite increasing competition, the craft beer industry, seemingly tethered to its homebrewing roots, has embraced the spirit of cooperation, and breweries frequently and willingly share knowledge and equipment in a remarkably supportive environment. Collaboration brews—the result of two or more breweries working together to create, brew and release a beer together—are the drinkable manifestation of this fraternal spirit.
While large-scale collaborations allow brewers to share information, discuss process and equipment and learn from each other, one of the biggest benefits is just getting everyone together. “It seems like a pain to coordinate, but when people are here, it’s really fun to talk to all these brewery owners and brewers. We all like each other and are all so busy trying to run our own breweries that we don’t see each other that often,” says Dustin Vereker, co-owner of Discretion Brewing.
To Discretion’s head brewer Michael Demers, sharing knowledge and even ingredients is the industry norm. He says, “In a way, we have an ongoing collaboration, because I got calls today from two breweries and a distillery asking to borrow ingredients, and we do that too. They say, ‘I’m short on this, do you have any extra?’ We’re doing that all the time.”
While the growing number of local breweries is competing for tap handles, customers and shelf space, it doesn’t yet appear to have damaged this sense of fellowship. Says Vereker, “So far it seems like we can continue to add new breweries and it’s okay. There’s still a feeling of respect and that you can actually love your competitor.”
More craft breweries exist in America today than at any other time in history, and California—with more than 900—has the most. Like the rest of the state, the Monterey Bay area has seen a precipitous rise in craft brewing in the last 10 years, with at least 20 breweries now in operation and a couple more due to open this year.
Photo by Dustin Vereker
Surprisingly, the impetus for the first collaboration beer wasn’t friendship—it was coincidence. In 2006, Santa Rosa’s Russian River Brewing and Boulder’s Avery Brewing realized they both had beers called Salvation. Rather than duke it out over naming rights, they blended their respective beers and Collaboration not Litigation Ale was born. Since then, the number of collaboration brews has skyrocketed nationally, and our area is no exception.
What is the allure of this process? Consumer popularity is certainly one factor. In an industry where the exclusivity of the product is almost as important to the consumer as taste, the desirability among craft beer aficionados for these rarer mind-melds is high. But according to local brewers, the true value of this process lies in the ability to nurture relationships, share knowledge and engender creativity while creating a product that is, ideally, greater than what each brewery could come up with on its own.
For head brewer Hill of Alvarado Street Brewery in Monterey, teaming up with the brewers of Capitola-based Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, whom he had long admired, was a “pinch me” moment. At Hill’s invitation, Sante Adairius and Alvarado made two beers together in 2016 and named them after the distance between the two breweries: 38 Miles, a hoppy, hazy IPA released in a can; and 64 Kilometers, a barrel-aged mixed fermentation saison. The Sante Adairius team joined the Alvarado brewers at their facility in Salinas for a full day of brewing—an experience that Hill feels solidified their friendship and made them want to brew a second batch of 38 Miles in 2017, to coincide with the release of 64 Kilometers.
“Brewing is such a passion-driven industry. We all benefit from that synergy of putting our heads together and seeing what will happen,” says Hill. “It’s so cool to see how someone approaches a beer from inception to creation.”
Business partners Tim Clifford and Adair Paterno of Sante Adairius have fond memories of that brew as well, which they say was born out of mutual respect for the others’ skills and a willingness to share information. “Trading ideas, sharing ideas, challenging each other based on those ideas—all of those are opportunities for growth,” says Clifford.
Beer drinkers went nuts to try the brainchild of nationally acclaimed Sante Adairius and up-and-coming Alvarado, and 38 Miles sold out in a few hours. While both breweries were understandably pleased, they emphasize that the true measure of success is non-material.
“Marketing should never be the purpose. It’s an indirect effect, but we’ll never do one solely for that purpose,” says Hill, who has also collaborated with Santa Cruz’s Humble Sea Brewing Co. “Collaboration brews are a really personal experience.”
Clifford agrees. “The goal is to make something in which we learn collectively, and hopefully we make something in a Voltron kind of sense, bigger than each of ourselves. As long as that’s the intention, then it’s great.”
Paterno says that even as it has grown, craft beer is still the most collaborative industry she’s ever been involved in. “There aren’t that many industries where people are willing to literally share their secrets with their competitors.”
She believes one reason for this is that craft breweries share a common foe—macrobreweries, the largest being Anheuser-Busch InBev, which owns more than 200 national and international brands including Budweiser, Corona and Michelob. “The smaller breweries have always banded against that, and that’s been common throughout our industry. It’s us against them,” says Hill.
As a result, craft brewing has become very “open book.” “Everything that we’ve done is something that I’ve learned from another brewery along the way. The reason we’re here is because of that collaborative nature. Bud and Miller have so much power. It’s easy to see why the little guys banded together,” he says.
Without the support and advice of Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing co-owners Emily Thomas and Chad Brill, Brewery Twenty Five in San Juan Bautista might have remained a twinkle in the eyes of owners Fran and Sean Fitzharris. Over the years the couple became good friends with Thomas and Brill, and eventually consulted with them about how to open a brewery of their own. When the time came for SCMB to upgrade its brewing system, it sold its used equipment to the Fitzharrises to help get Brewery Twenty Five off the ground. “We had already decided that if and when we do a collaboration, it has to be with Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing,” says Fran. “In my experience, collaborations are either the celebration of a friendship or the launch of a future friendship. This one is definitely the celebration of a longtime friendship.”
For their collaboration, the two breweries decided to embark on a yeast-driven experiment, dividing a jointly brewed batch of Flanders red ale into four barrels. Each person added a different yeast of their choosing into one barrel, and waited, aging the beer for two years.
“The results were great,” says Thomas. “Each beer was unique and wonderful, and we were able to document the subtle and sometimes not so subtle nuances among the beers.” All self-proclaimed “dog people,” the four brewers gave their beers the names of their beloved pups—Max, Jake, Charlie and Pete.
In addition to celebrating a supportive friendship, releasing the beer with the established SCMB exposed Brewery Twenty Five to many new potential customers.
Looking back, Thomas says she believes brewing has always been a very cooperative industry. “We aren’t competitive with each other because our true competition is the monolithic beer producers and their intent to control independent craft brewers. For 13 years, I can’t remember a single time where a brewer didn’t share resources or information with SCMB. Likewise, I always want to pay it forward.”


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- News tagged "samsung"
Tuesday, 28 Jul 2015
More photos of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 surfaced on the Internet yesterday showing off a gold color tone and giving us a closer look at the S Pen.
Monday, 27 Jul 2015
Samsung has announced the SE370, a new PLS monitor that comes with a wireless charging pad for your mobile devices.
Sunday, 26 Jul 2015
PhoneArena received photos of the alleged Samsung Galaxy S6 Mini from a reader who also claims that the device will be launched next month.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ is rumored to be powered by an Exynos 7420 chipset, 4GB RAM and a 3,000mAh battery. This could make it potentially as powerful as the Galaxy Note 5.
Saturday, 25 Jul 2015
Cross-platform processor benchmark Geekbench 3 reveals that the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will be powered by the Exynos 7420 octa-core processor and 4GB RAM.
Friday, 24 Jul 2015
Samsung has launched a new phablet, and it's the thinnest smartphone the company has ever made. At just 5.9mm, the 5.7-inch Galaxy A8 4G+ also boasts a full-metal chassis, Dual SIM 4G connectivity, an octa-core processor, and a Full HD Super AMOLED display.
Several photos of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ booting up have surfaced on the Internet. Hit the link to check out the photos!
Thursday, 23 Jul 2015
Samsung fans who cannot wait for the latest Galaxy Tab tablet can expect to spend their long National Day weekend setting it up.
Monday, 20 Jul 2015
An alleged image of the new S Pen from the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has been leaked. It shows the S Pen stylus in a gold tone with what appears to be a clickable top.
The Galaxy Note 5 may not be the only phablet Samsung is releasing next month. After being spotted in a listing on the IDA website, leaked pictures of an extra large version of the Galaxy S6 Edge, called the Galaxy S6 Edge+, have appeared online.


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Amazon launches Echo Spot, an Alexa-powered alarm clock
It's a tinier, more focused alternative to the Echo Show.
A love letter to my Philips Wake-up Light
I really do love lamp.
Barisieur's coffee-brewing alarm clock might actually happen
Wake up to a bedside pour over every morning.
The Rock wants you to wake up and smell what he's cookin'
Don't expect to hit the snooze button.
The Shock Clock band uses fear and electricity to wake you up
Resistance is futile.
Sensorwake clock wants to wake you up with scents, not sound
This alarm clock smells. No, literally.
Beddi smartphone alarm dock hooks up to Uber, Spotify and Nest
We've seen plenty of smartphone -- well, mostly iPhone -- alarm docks in our lifetime, but there's...
Google adds more useful features to its Clock app for Android
Google's standalone Clock app for Android gets more useful features, including deeper Android Wear support.
ICYMI: Self-healing plastic, Star Wars gear and more
You've got to see the story about a new plastic discovery that was made based on the study of squid. That and more in ICYMI!


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DETROIT -- General Motors' monumental announcement on Monday that it plans to close up to five assembly plants in North America and slash its workforce will only partially close the gap between capacity and demand for the automaker's sedans, according to a Reuters analysis of industry production and capacity data.
Sales of traditional cars in North America have been declining for the past six years and are still withering. After GM ends production next year at factories in Michigan, Ohio and Ontario, it will still have four U.S. car plants, all operating at less than half of rated capacity, according to figures supplied by LMC Automotive.
In comparison, Detroit-based rivals Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will have one car plant each in North America after 2019.
The Detroit Three are facing rapidly dwindling demand for traditional passenger cars from U.S. consumers, many of whom have shifted to crossovers, pickups and SUVs. Cars accounted for 48 percent of retail light-vehicle sales in the United States in 2014, according to market researchers at J.D. Power and Associates. This year, sedans will account for less than a third of light-vehicle sales.
That shift in turn has left most North American car plants operating far below their rated capacities, while many light-truck plants are running on overtime.
The collapse in car demand is a challenge for nearly all automakers in the United States, including Japan's Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which have the top-selling models in the compact and midsize car segments. Toyota executives said last month they are evaluating the company's U.S. model lineup. But Toyota also plans to build compact Corolla sedans at a new $1.6 billion factory it is building in Alabama with partner Mazda Motor Corp.
The obstacles facing GM in its plans to close more factories became apparent on Tuesday as President Donald Trump threatened to block payment of government electric vehicle subsidies to GM. While it is not certain that Trump unilaterally has the power to do that, he made it clear he intends to use his office to pressure the company to keep open a small car plant in Ohio that GM says will stop building vehicles in March.
Asked whether GM's plans to close factories and cut jobs might not solve the demand problem for its sedans, GM spokeswoman Kimberly Carpenter said on Tuesday: "We continuously look at our operations for opportunities to improve our efficiency and capacity utilization. We believe the actions announced yesterday move us in the right direction and we will continue to monitor the market and consumer trends and adjust accordingly."
Shares of the No. 1 U.S. automaker closed 2.5 percent lower at $36.69 on Tuesday, after rising nearly 5 percent the previous day.


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AB InBev has suffered a huge downturn in beer sales last quarter, due to the measures to stop the spread of Covid-19. Profits went downhill even faster for the world's largest brewery group, which also had to admit a huge impairment in Africa.
The Belgian group's quarterly turnover went down 17.7 % to 10.3 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros), as total volumes went down by 17.1 %. The combined sales of its three global brands (Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona) fell just a little less deep (- 16.6 %).
The company was quick to point out the hopes that the worst of the coronavirus crisis is already behind us: while volumes went down by 32.4 % in April, the May decline was 'only' 21.4 % and June even saw a tiny volume growth (+ 0.7 %), a press release says.
The company's gross profit (ebitda) went down 34.1 % tot 3.414 billion dollars (just shy of three billion euros), with which the company still beat the average analyst's prediction of a 36.4 % drop. Net profit fell from 2.48 billion dollars to just 351 million dollars (300 million euros).
The pandemic also forced AB InBev to record an impairment of 2.5 billion dollars (2.1 billion euros) due to disappointing results in Africa. The 1.9 billion dollars AB InBev gained with the divestment of Australian activities was not enough to fully compensate for this impairment.
Belgian business newspaper De Tijd sees in this impairment another proof that AB InBev paid way too much for SABMiller in 2016. That acquisition cost the brewery group a whopping 102 billion dollars (then some 90 billion euros) and is the cause for AB InBev's monumental debt burden.


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Chevy Volt Motor Trend Car of the Year
Chevy Volt a 'Significant Vehicle'
According to the Detroit News, Motor Trend editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie said the Volt — the $41,000 extended-range, plug-in car with a backup gasoline engine — is one of the most significant vehicles to receive the prestigious award in the 61 years it has been handed out.
Of course, there is ongoing debate on how prestigious an award this is because there has been grumbling by PR executives that the presentation of the award can be tied into a manufacturer's marketing budget. That could explain why the car of the year tends to be from larger manufacturers with more money to spend.
Recent past winners include:
- 2010 Ford Fusion
- 2009 Nissan GT-R
- 2008 Cadillac CTS
- 2007 Toyota Camry
- 2006 Honda Civic
- 2005 Chrysler 300
- 2004 Toyota Prius
- 2003 Infiniti G35
- 2002 Ford Thunderbird
- 2001 Chrysler PT Cruiser
- 2000 Lincoln LS
Famous past winners (tongue firmly planted in cheek) include the Plymouth K Car, the Chevrolet Caprice Classic (there was nothing classic about it), the AMC/Renault Alliance (which forever turned Americans off to French cars) and the Chevrolet Citation. Frankly, not a good car in the bunch.
We weighed in on the Volt with a report showing that it is facing lots of criticism before it even comes to market. Chevrolet has cut back sales expectations to 20,000 from what was once rumored to be in 100,000 in annual sales.
By the way, more significantly, Green Car Reports has selected the Nissan Leaf as its Car of the Year. It is, as the article points out, the only mass-produced electric car on the market. Tesla is all-electric, too, but sold in limited numbers. The Nissan Leaf is more the Car of the Year than the Volt, which some call a hybrid.


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Tolu is a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast based in Lagos. He likes to demystify crypto stories to the bare basics so that anyone anywhere can understand without too much background knowledge. When he's not neck-deep in crypto stories, Tolu enjoys music, loves to sing and is an avid movie lover.
After releasing a forecast that put its product sales growth under 70% for the fiscal year, Snowflake stock crashed 30%.
Snowflake Inc (NYSE: SNOW) stock recently plummeted 30% due to slowing revenue growth. In its report for the fiscal fourth quarter ending January 31st, the cloud computing-based data warehousing company reported its slowest revenue growth in about three years. Snowflake said it lost $132.2 million, or 43 cents a share, on sales of $383.8 million for Q4. Meanwhile, the consensus estimate for Snowflake’s Q4 outing was earnings of 3 cents a share on sales of $373 million, according to Refinitiv.
Although Snowflake’s report showed revenue growth of 101% YoY in fiscal Q4, it still paled in comparison to the 110% from the previous quarter. However, the $132 million loss for the fiscal fourth quarter was better than the $199 million reported in the previous year for the same quarter. In addition, the data analytics software company also reported that it ended its fiscal fourth quarter with more than 6,000 customers.
Going forward, Snowflake projects that its product sales will grow less than 70% this year, after doubling last year. This comes even though its product revenue for the full preceding fiscal year almost doubled from the $554 million reported in the previous year, to $1.14 billion. For its next fiscal first quarter, the cloud software company anticipates a product revenue growth of 79% to 81%. By comparison, analysts’ expectations for Snowflake’s product revenue growth for the same period was 78%.
Following its last results, Snowflake’s shares declined to under $185 in after-hours trading. This occurred even though SNOW initially closed with a 1.1% gain at $266.03 during regular trading.
Snowflake Executive Weighs In
During the past year, Snowflake’s headcount approached 4,000 at the end of the quarter, representing a 60% increase. According to the company’s execs, engineers have been rolling out efficiency improvements to the company’s software. This, in turn, has led to a reduction in the consumption of customer credits.
Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman explained in a conference call with analysts, that it was more about practicality than anything else. According to Slootman, “This is not philanthropy”. Instead, customers may feel the need to shift more workloads to Snowflake as economics improve.
Snowflake management is forecasting a 65% to 67% product revenue growth rate for the 2023 fiscal year. This roughly translates to an inflow of $1.88 billion to $1.9 billion. By comparison, analysts’ expectations for the same period is 66%, or $1.87 billion, according to FactSet.
However, several analysts predict that Snowflake would not have any issues meeting their projections. For instance, analysts at New York-based banking giant JP Morgan Chase said:
“Given a strong demand environment, we believe Snowflake’s FY23 outlook can land well above consensus, as some of its recent product innovations and investments see wider penetration.”
Furthermore, analysts at NYSE-listed American multifaceted financial platform Stifel stated:
“We expect management to follow historical patterns and guide conservatively on both the top and bottom line, but we do expect the current FY23/24 revenue estimates to move higher post the print.”
Read other stock market news on Coinspeaker.


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America Rebrands Itself In New Marketing Campaign To Boost Tourism
The U.S. unveils a brand new marketing campaign that encourages tourists to visit all 50 states. Featuring a new logo and website, Brand USA gives America a fresh global identity to drive tourism and boost the country's economy.
Brand USA, the tourism agency for United States, is launching a new campaign for all 50 states, marking the first time America has marketed itself through a single brand image. The campaign, Discover America, features a website displaying the tourism opportunities across the country, including great outdoors, urban excitement, culture, and indulgence. Stephen J Cloobeck, chairman of Brand USA, said:
Now Track More Ideas
- Interview: How Genesis Uses Instagram To Reach The Next Generation Of Luxury Consumers
- How Brands Like Influenster And Taobao Are Educating Consumers With Video Content
- Interview: Taco Bell Offers Fans Meme Culture-Inspired Holiday Merchandise Via Amazon
- Mexican Beer Brand Alters Facebook Algorithm To Fight Negative Search Results


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Sri Lanka to attract long stay tourists by issuing six month visas
The government of Sri Lanka has decided to attract long-stay travellers by issuing tourist visas valid for six months to those applying via the electronic system.
The Cabinet of Ministers had decided earlier this year to link the Sri Lanka Tourist Mobile App to the visa application process implemented under the Department of Immigration and Emigration through its ‘Online Electronic Tourist Visa Activation’ (ETA) system.
Accordingly, the applicable visa charges for a six-month stay are as US$ 70 for tourists from SAARC countries, US$ 85 for those from non-SAARC countries and US$ 50 for tourists from Singapore, the Maldives and Seychelles (as per the bilateral agreements signed with those countries).
The proposal was submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities are engaged in an aggressive promotional campaign in the tourist markets as well as introduce attractive promotional offers jointly with the country’s national carrier, SriLankan Airlines. The island is in the process of returning to normalcy after facing the impact of the global Covid 19 pandemic that brought about global travel restrictions. Sri Lanka has recorded a steady growth in tourist arrivals to the country with international airlines also increasing the number of flights operated to the country. Also, Sri Lanka has been listed as a must visit destination by several leading global travel publications and the country’s airports have received the internationally recognized safety and hygiene certifications making the island an attractive destination in post Covid travel. With Sri Lanka’s tourism industry also looking at promoting new tourism concepts in the country, the industry has presented many attractive business/investment opportunities.
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Love it or hate it, there's no denying the unstoppable force of Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2019. What started off as a tradition across the pond has now become the highlight of every British bargain-hunter's calendar.
Whether you're brave enough to flock to London's Oxford Street or prefer to shop online from the comfort of your own bed, there are serious savings to be had. Laptops, games consoles and clothes are all sold at a fraction of the price - perfect if you want to do some early Christmas shopping.
Because this event only comes around once a year, you need to be as prepared as possible - ideally, knowing exactly what you're looking to buy. To help you prepare for your guilt-free shopping spree, therefore, we have created a guide of everything you need to know about Black Friday 2019 - including what date the sales start, how to find the best deals, how to be safe when shopping online, and early predictions of this year's big-sellers and best discounts.
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is a tradition that originates from America, where retailers cut prices on a huge range of items the day after Thanksgiving. However, in recent years Britain has also jumped on the bandwagon.
As such, you can expect major UK retailers to cut prices on a large selection of items - including big-budget electrical items, beauty gift sets, kitchen equipment and clothes.
When do the Black Friday sales start?
The official day for Black Friday 2019 is November 29. However, many retailers (like Amazon) actually slash their prices from the middle of November in an attempt to stay ahead of competitors - so keep an eye out for bargains throughout the month.
This also applies to online shopping, where sales typically run for an extended period in order to help improve the process of sales and online deliveries.
Can't wait for Black Friday 2019? You're not the only one. Currys PC world launched its 'Why Wait?' sales on Wednesday, November 13, with significant savings of up to £450 available. Even better, if the price is lower during the Black Friday sales, Currys have promised to refund the difference.
As it stands, KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixers have £220 off, there's a £200 discount on the LG 55” Smart Ultra HD TV with Google Assistant, and you can save £100 on the cord-free Dyson V8 vacuum cleaner. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. For more deals, visit the Currys website.
On November 10, Amazon.co.uk announced that Black Friday 2019 would be its biggest ever Black Friday Sale. Amazon's annual event will actually begin a week before everyone else's this year, running from November 22 to November 29. With their secret 'Deals of the Day' and 'Lightning Deals' already selected, the company has also assured us customers will save tens of millions on thousands of new deals throughout the eight day sale.
Currently, customers can take advantage of the Amazon Lightning Deals- offers which expire within a number of hours. Today, such offers include Upgraded Bluetooth 5.0 Wireless Earbuds from Setse, which are £17.99 - down from £69.99, and a pair of Alex Perry Christmas earrings, which are retailing at £12.99 (down from £99.99).
The brand's much-anticipated 'Home of Black Friday' customer experience is also returning for the third year running in London. From November 28 to December 1, the pop-up destination will offer complimentary workshops, experiences and the chance to try out the season's must-have products. Amazon has just announced that rapper Tinie Tempah will perform an intimate concert at their Home of Black Friday event in Lambeth on November 29.
Police officers in Philadelphia were actually the first to coin the term 'Black Friday' in the 1950s. Large crowds of tourists and shoppers came to the city on the day after Thanksgiving, causing chaos and traffic jams, so police officers had to work long shifts to control the carnage. As such, they labelled the day Black Friday. The name spread throughout Philadelphia and was later printed in The American Philatelist magazine in 1966.
By the late 1980s, the name was commonly known across America and linked to post-Thanksgiving sales.
Black Friday only spread to the UK in 2010, when online retail giant Amazon introduced the concept, promoting a range of discounts and deals. In 2013, supermarket Asda (owned by American retailer Walmart) held its own Black Friday sale - which resulted in chaos, as shoppers physically fought over flat-screen televisions. Following this, the sales bonanza spread across the UK, with many retailers now offering online deals, too.
What about Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday 2019 will officially take place on December 2 this year, despite the sales day's growing futility. It's not that there won't be deals, though — while Cyber Monday was once the day Black Friday-worthy deals would finally appear online, many of the best Black Friday deals are now web-only from the very start of the sales period.
That's not to say there won't be fantastic deals, of course. Amazon typically saves a few big bargains for Cyber Monday and an increasing number of retailers take site-wide discounts even lower, particularly if they haven't sold all they expected to.
How can I find the best deals?
Although it is still too early to know the specific deals for Black Friday 2019, there are ways you can make sure you're the first to know when shops announce their discounts.
The Telegraph will be updating our Black Friday channel with offers as soon as they're made available, so it's worth bookmarking it ahead of the big day.
Sign up to email updates from retailers, download their apps and follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. That way, you'll get notifications that keep you in the loop.
It's also a good idea to do your research in advance and bookmark the products you want to buy - as such, you create a shortcut to seeing the discounts as soon as the deals are released.
Sign up for Amazon Prime, because the online retailing giant gives Prime members exclusive discounts as well as early access to "lightening deals" (the ones that usually sell out within minutes) 30 minutes before the rest of the internet. That extra time could be crucial on Black Friday.
Shopping tips for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Online shopping is usually a leisurely activity - something you can do while watching a series on Netflix. Not on Black Friday. On this day, you're in a race to get the items into your basket and checked out before the deal is no longer available. Sound stressful? Don't worry - we've got some tips to help you get the best deals available on the day.
- Set up an online account in advance. Create an account on the sites where you'll be shopping on Black Friday. To speed up the checkout process on the day, make sure you store your account details so you can shop without wasting precious time.
- Haggle using live chat. While haggling can be mortifying at a market stall, it's easily done online. All you need to do is type the deal you want, or the discount code you've been given, into the website's live chatbox and see if the retailer can shave a little more off the price. In December 2015, Telegraph Money managed to haggle £65 off a Dell laptop. If you don't ask, you don't get.
- Grab an abandoned basket discount. This is a cheeky method that isn't guaranteed to work - but it's worth a shot. Some retailers offer customers discounts if they see they have put an item into their basket and not checked out. So, go on the website, add items to your basket and then close the window. A few days later, you might receive an email trying to entice you to buy the items at a discounted price. Retailers who have been known to offer this discount include Asda, Asos, H&M and Waitrose.
- Check Flubit. If you've found a product you like on Amazon, and you have a spare couple of hours, enter the URL into the Flubit generator - it will tell you if there's a better deal elsewhere on the internet. This can take up to three hours and Flubit, which receives a commission on each deal it facilitates, does sometimes admit that Amazon has the best price on an item.
- Shop around. Don't fall for the first deal you see. Instead, conduct a simple search on Google's 'Shopping' channel to check whether other retailers are offering a better discount. If you don't have time to check the prices yourself, you can use a price comparison site such as My Supermarket, which collates the best deals and allows you to see which are cheapest.
How to shop online safely
During the frenzy of Black Friday, consumers can fall prey to online scammers. The first step to avoiding this is to shop on sites with which you are familiar - such as Amazon or a high street retailer. When creating accounts for these sites, you should keep your passwords complicated and change them often. The following are also precautions to take to stay safe when shopping online.
- Always use a credit card, instead of a debit card, to pay for items. That way, if the products fail to arrive or aren't as promised by the seller's site, the credit card company has liability (under "Section 75") and should refund you the money.
- Set up credit card alerts. You can set up purchase alerts through your bank or credit card company, where you will receive texts or emails when purchases are made that exceed a certain amount. This will alert you to any unusual activity on your card and thus protect you against scams.
- Be wary of non-secure checkouts. The checkout stage is where you and your credit card are most vulnerable to a fraudster's attack. Therefore, make sure there is an encrypted checkout process - a small padlock should appear next to the site's URL in your browser.
- Don't share unnecessary information. Phishing scams are rife around the Black Friday weekend, so be wary of any emails purporting to be from a major retailer that request additional information. Remember: bank details and personal information should not need to be 'confirmed'. So, never respond and never click on hyperlinks. If in doubt, call the retailer directly.
- Move away from mobile shopping. It may be convenient, but shopping on your mobile poses security risks on Black Friday. Scams include abbreviated URLs on social media (leading to phishing scams) and public networking hacking (it's easy to pull personal data from unsecured Wi-FI networks). If you do want to shop on your mobile, make sure you're at home and on a password-protected network.
What happened on Black Friday 2018?
Last year saw Amazon, Currys PC World, Argos and John Lewis cutting their prices on electricals, with some truly impressive deals. In the beauty aisles, Boots, Mankind and a number of independent beauty retailers offered some great discounts - so they're worth keeping an eye on for this year's Black Friday deals.
If this year is anything like last year, the top sellers will be electrical items - which seems to be the key trend for Black Friday. Some of last year's best-sellers included the Sony Playstation 4, the Bose QuietComfort Noise Cancelling headphones, the Huawei P20 and the Dell Inspirion 13 laptop.
Electrical home devices were also popular - especially the KitchenAid 150 Artisan mixer, Bosch WAT28371GB washing machine, Google Home smart speaker, Amazon Fire TV stick and Amazon Echo Dot smart device.
Home and beauty products were also popular - including the John Lewis Beauty Advent Calendar, Royal Doulton tableware, and Egyptian cotton towels and 200-thread-count bedlinen from John Lewis.
What Black Friday 2019 deals can we expect?
It's still too early to tell what exact deals will be on offer this year, but we can predict that there will be discounts on some of 2019's most popular products.
For instance, wireless headphones have been a huge trend this year - with the Apple Airpods leading the pack. However, when the sales start, you should also keep your eyes peeled for deals on what we have rated the best wireless headphones on the market - including the Creative SXFI AIR and the Beats Solo 3 headphones.
Tablets continue to be popular, and we can predict sales on some of the high-end versions - such as the iPad Air and the Microsoft Surface Go, which our team at Telegraph Recommended rated as the best tablets.
Unless the internet suddenly ceases to exist, smartphones will continue to be in high demand. Look out for deals on the Google Pixel 3A and OnePlus 7 Pro - two of the best smartphones on the market, according to the Telegraph Recommended team.