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In his month-to-month crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers rising applied sciences inside the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain house, in addition to their roles in shaping the economic system of the twenty first century.
The crypto market, simply as some other market, runs in cycles. Despite the fact that digital property are recognized, if not notorious, for being extra unstable than many different asset sorts, their value motion nonetheless follows a well-recognized sample of ups and downs. A few of this, akin to Bitcoin’s (BTC) four-year cycle, largely comes all the way down to the algorithm’s intrinsic guidelines — extra particularly, the halving of miners’ rewards. Off-chain components, such because the U.S. tax-reporting guidelines, also can come into play.
Nonetheless, whereas the market’s logic dictates change, the logic itself stays largely unchanging. In different phrases, in the identical approach a bull run ultimately runs out of steam and hits a plateau, bears ultimately lose grasp of the market as nicely, giving technique to one other upshoot.
For now, after all, the market continues to be recovering from Terra’s crash and lots of different pressures that there was no scarcity of prior to now few years. As fragile as its rebound makes an attempt could also be, and as purple as each coin is in comparison with just some months in the past, the worldwide crypto scene is hunkering down and powering on in wait for an additional bull run. So, the place may it come from?
Associated: Methods to survive in a bear market? Ideas for novices
Just some years in the past, the very concept that Bitcoin could possibly be authorized tender in any given nation appeared like a far-fetched delusion. And but, after El Salvador’s daring Bitcoin gambit, the Central African Republic (CAR) joined the fray in late April, granting Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies the standing of authorized tender.
These two nations make for an fascinating comparability. It’s by now frequent information within the crypto house that remittances from overseas make up a serious portion of El Salvador’s funds, and this truth was seen because the financial rationale behind the experiment. Whereas stories counsel the method is shaky, the nation’s authorities does store for Bitcoin, embracing the “purchase the dip” stratagem.
With the CAR, issues couldn’t have been extra completely different. The economic system of the war-ravaged nation has been ailing for fairly a while. Moreover, solely about 10% of the nation’s inhabitants has web entry, in response to World Financial institution knowledge. In different phrases, the usage of crypto will doubtless be restricted to a small portion of the inhabitants — and, given the geopolitical and native context of the transfer, the prospects can certainly be fairly murky.
Nonetheless, extra rising economies might select to observe swimsuit, particularly provided that El Salvador shouldn’t be the one nation leaning lots on remittance transfers for funds money. Even the truth that there’s precedent for that’s sufficiently big to get the momentum going, and will even yet another nation be a part of the membership this 12 months, the crypto markets will realize it.
Associated: El Salvador’s Bitcoin Legislation: Understanding options to authorities intervention
Blockchain for establishments
Whereas the early crypto rallies primarily got here from non-public retail traders and merchants, institutional traders have been becoming a member of the fray as nicely in recent times. From prime banks and hedge funds delving into the crypto house to fintech giants including assist for digital property to their platforms, institutional adoption is now not a pipe dream — it’s actuality.
Even the inside-baseball use instances, akin to JPMorgan experimenting with its non-public blockchain meant for interbank use or a bunch of prime data and communication know-how suppliers tapping ClearX’s blockchain answer for data-on-demand companies, matter. They add additional credibility to the know-how powering the crypto ecosystem, which provides to long-term investor confidence.
Despite the fact that fairly just a few enterprise-grade blockchain initiatives will doubtless keep on non-public blockchains, the rising investor confidence within the know-how is more likely to additional normalize crypto within the public eye and draw extra eyes to the general public blockchain house. Moreover, such initiatives make for an entire area of interest market of options that can assist corporations construct their non-public chains. One other area of interest could also be in bridging these non-public chains with the general public house. Crypto is, in any case, all about connectivity and inclusion, so such aspirations solely make sense.
The primary Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) within the U.S. took off in late 2021, and the quantity of curiosity it drew from traders is one other testimony to only how a lot urge for food the market has for crypto publicity. Now we have come to the purpose the place some monetary advisors are recommending that everybody, no matter their age and danger preferences, ought to have at the very least some publicity to crypto.
Because of a change in sentiment like that, increasingly more asset managers shall be trying into the crypto house, whether or not it’s on a shopper’s request or on their very own inclination. By the identical token, increasingly more excessive earners shall be becoming a member of the ranks of crypto traders, bringing extra worth into the blockchain economic system.
With all due respect to ETFs and different conventional property, any crypto-savvy person will let you know that precise crypto is healthier than a standard asset mimicking its actions. The explanation for that’s that crypto is way extra dynamic. Your Ethereum-pegged ETFs (if these pop up some day) will solely sit together with your dealer. With the precise cash, however, you’ll be able to stake, use yield farms, and faucet varied different DeFi companies for extra passive earnings.
On this respect, it will likely be fascinating to observe and see if conventional asset managers quickly begin dropping floor to crypto-native options akin to EQIFi, backed by EQIBank. One of many platform’s key companies is its yield aggregator, which successfully acts as an asset supervisor by allocating the person’s funds into varied DeFi protocols to ensure most returns. Such companies make crypto extra profitable as an asset class that may work for its proprietor 24/7 via platforms which are all the time accessible and take just some clicks to handle.
Associated: Elusive Bitcoin ETF: Hester Peirce criticizes lack of authorized readability for crypto
Video games and avid gamers
Blockchain video games usually are not precisely one thing new, as anybody who remembers the CryptoKitties craze can attest to. Nonetheless, when Axie Infinity started making headlines as folks within the Philippines turned to it in quest of an earnings amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the play-to-earn business stepped proudly into the limelight.
Now, it’s exhausting to not marvel if a few of this pleasure might have been misplaced, given the plights that Axie Infinity, the business’s standard-bearer, is now dealing with. The sport has lengthy had an inflation downside as its underlying enterprise mannequin started to provide approach. Including to this situation was the current hack, one of many worst ones on document within the DeFi house.
Axie Infinity’s pains could possibly be simply one other case of a nascent business determining its personal greatest practices. A complete host of latest initiatives is now gearing as much as transfer this house additional, aspiring to convey it to AAA-level polish when it comes to visuals and gameplay. As soon as these new juggernauts enter the sector, we are going to doubtless see extra avid gamers start to discover crypto.
It could be tempting to write down blockchain gaming off as simply one other subset of the retail market, however there’s extra to it in the long term. The online game business is an undisputed powerhouse within the leisure world, and wherever it goes, its adherents will observe. From esports to in-game adverts, the standard gaming business has already given start to a big selection of satellite tv for pc markets, and all of these make for brand spanking new use instances, new audiences and new enterprise alternatives.
This text doesn’t comprise funding recommendation or suggestions. Each funding and buying and selling transfer includes danger, and readers ought to conduct their very own analysis when making a call.
The views, ideas and opinions expressed listed here are the creator’s alone and don’t essentially replicate or characterize the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
Ariel Shapira is a father, entrepreneur, speaker, bike owner and serves as founder and CEO of Social-Knowledge, a consulting company working with Israeli startups and serving to them to ascertain connections with worldwide markets.


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The red wine market is booming and buying wine has become a symbol of good fortune and social status in China. However, champagne – associated with luxury and power for centuries – has yet to receive widespread recognition by the Chinese. “Compared with red wine, the acceptance of champagne is still limited,” said Wang Wei, director of the Comit Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne (CIVC) in China. Figures from consulting firm Euromonitor show that a total of 1.3 billion liters of red wine were consumed in China in 2011. Champagne consumption was only 900,000 liters in 2011. Champagne is increasingly seen at weddings and parties in China. However, in many cases, newlywed couples only pour champagne down an ornate arrangement of glasses for a photo but do not drink it. Federico Tabja, Chile’s trade commissioner, who saw red wine exports from Chile increase 19.6 percent in the first eight months of 2012, “Red wine entered the Chinese market early and people are more familiar with it. Drinking red wine is trendy nowadays” said Federico Tabja. “We have seen significant growth in the past six years and we have high expectations for the market” said Wang. In line with the forthcoming boom of Sparkling wines, Freixenet, the Spanish Cava wine group (since 1830) has just entered the CWSA (Best Value) for the first time. Given the success of red wine and increasingly white wines in China, it is highly likely that sparkling wines will follow the same positive development.
More China Wine Market News… Treasury Wine Estates Ltd. (TWE), Australia’s largest winemaker, plans to boost their share of Chinese gift sales.The company spent several hundred thousand dollars last year researching China’s wine-buyers, said David Dearie, chief executive […]
More China Wine Market News… With more than an enormous 1,500 entries already accepted from 25 countries around the world – the CWSA Best Value 2013 competition is set to break records. We are very […]

domain: news


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There comes a point in many epic stories where the hero must team with its erstwhile rival to take on an even greater threat. For Apple, that time may be now. A
report in BusinessWeek on Wednesday suggests that Apple may be in talks with Microsoft to replace the iPhone’s default search engine, Google, with Microsoft’s own offering,
As recently as 2007, this would have been unthinkable: Google was the stalwart ally who’d helped Apple build the iPhone’s Maps and YouTube applications, and Microsoft was the longtime nemesis whose 1997 $150 million investment was viewed by many as a deal with the devil. Google CEO Eric Schmidt even had a seat on Apple’s board of directors, a position that could never have belonged to Microsoft founder Bill Gates or CEO Steve Ballmer.
But the best of friends have a way of becoming the worst of enemies (just ask
Erik Lehnsherr and
Schmidt departed Apple’s board, Apple rejected several of Google’s iPhone apps, and now the two seem to be
And yet, through all of that, Google remained inextricably linked to much of Apple’s software: its search box, for example, is prominently displayed in Safari on both the iPhone and the Mac. (The Windows version of Safari, like the iPhone version, lets users choose between Google or Yahoo.) And Google, of course, makes money off ads displayed when people make searches through that box.
Given the two companies’ prominent placement at the forefront of the technology industry, it’s no surprise that Apple might turn to another high-stakes player to help take a bite out of Google—even if that third player has as tortuous a history with Apple as Microsoft does. But at this point, both Apple and Microsoft stand to lose more from Google than they do from each other.
Of course, even if Apple and Microsoft strike a deal to make Bing the iPhone’s default search engine, there’s no guarantee that iPhone users won’t switch back to Google en masse (assuming Google is left as an option).
And if Google is really that much of a concern, it raises the question of those other points of intersection between the search giant and Apple. It’s already been rumored that Apple is
developing its own mapping software and the BusinessWeek piece also suggests that the Bing deal may only be an interim solution while Apple develops its own search effort.


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There’s a new twist to the stay-and-refresh strategy when it comes to luxury hotels in the United States: staying at a luxury hotel with a brand-new line of products.
Hotels like Ritz Carlton in Florida and the Ritz-Carlton Downtown in Orlando are offering their guests new services and perks as they roll out new lineups of the popular StayRise brand.
Ritz Carlton is offering the “Get Rich Slowly” loyalty program for guests who stay at their hotel for at least six months and stay for five nights.
Guests get to keep their room and get a $500 credit toward a deposit at the RZD resort.
The brand-name products are being offered in addition to new luxury goods, including jewelry, furniture, shoes, and a bed and breakfast.
In contrast, the Rachael Ray StayRISE line of items includes a full-service spa, a spa bar, a full bar, and fitness center, as well as “a range of unique services that allow you to live in a lifestyle with more privacy, wellness, and luxury,” according to the brand.
Rachae Ray, a Miami-based fashion brand, has also launched the “Stay Rich Slowly,” loyalty program, which offers free spa treatments and a complimentary fitness class for two guests.
RachaelRay is a brand that has become synonymous with luxury brands like Prada and Versace.
The company was acquired by Prada in 2017 for $10.5 billion.


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The adventure motorcycle will be the first of its kind off-roading bike to be presented in India. The bike has a top speed of 130 km/hr.
DSK Benelli entered India last year with a slew of very good looking bikes and has established a name for itself in the market. Here at the 2016 Auto Expo, the Benelli pavilion has been the most crowded of them all because of the spectacular bikes DSK has chosen to display here. Among them is the rough and tough looking adventure motorcycle the Benelli BX 250 Motard. The 250cc bike, if launches in India, is expected to carve out a new segment in the country which many enthusiasts crave.
The BX 250, as the name suggests, has a 250cc engine producing 25 BHP and 20 NM of torque. The engine is mated to a 6-speed gearbox and a wet type multi-plate clutch. The bike weighs just 135 kgs and can achieve a top speed of 130 km/hr. It has got a tubular chassis and both front and rear disk brakes with a two-piston calliper setup. The adventure motorcycle has 50 mm USD forks at the front and adjustable monoshock suspension the rear. DSK is unlikely to launch this bike soon and is just gauging the customer response at this moment.
– Gets a 250cc engine with 25 BHP on tap
– Is an adventure bike aimed to tackle rough terrains
– Unlikely to be launched anytime in the near future


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Businesses should review conventional cybersecurity measures amid the latest data breach scandal, according to a leading academic.
Medibank is the latest company to record a data breach, with around 9.7 million current and former customers compromised.
Dr Xingliang Yuan, from the Monash Department of Software Systems and Cybersecurity, said now is the time to review measures.
“Currently, businesses often use conventional cybersecurity measures like user access control to specify who can access the data or encryption that can be undone at the server’s end. These methods do not guarantee strong data protection," Dr Yuan warned.
"Both external hackers and employees like database administrators etc. can compromise such systems and steal data, as demonstrated in recent data breaches at Medibank and Optus.
“To address this problem, businesses should be adopting encrypted databases which can store, query, and process the data in an encrypted form directly. Only trusted parties like the data owners can decrypt data in such systems and they reduce the attack surface at the server level.
"Also, even if a hacker or an insider compromises the server, they will not have clear access, as the data remains encrypted throughout its life-cycle.
“Companies are not doing enough for data security. More significant investment is needed to ensure data protection at the business level.”
Last month, online marketplace MyDeal also reported a data breach affecting 2.2 million customers.
The Woolworths Group subsidiary confirmed unauthorised access to its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, resulting in the exposure of some customer data.


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Tea Market Poised for Quick GrowthTea Market Poised for Quick Growth
November 12, 2007
According to Tea and Ready-to-Drink Tea in the U.S., a new report from Packaged Facts, Rockville, MD, tea remains a largely underdeveloped market in the United States and is poised to double over the next five years. The report estimates that sales for instant, leaf, liquid concentrate and ready-to-drink (RTD) tea will grow from $7.4 billion this year to nearly $15 billion by 2012.
A primary driving factor catalyzing this growth is increased consumer attention on health and wellness, as well as the aging baby boomer population. And tea itself has a healthy image that continues to grow. A functional beverage, tea fits into the well-established movement among aging baby boomers to seek out foods and beverages that promise wellness and anti-aging effects, notes the report.
This report examines both the U.S. retail and foodservice tea markets, analyzing such products as instant tea, leaf tea, liquid concentrate and RTD beverages. The report also addresses:
Market size and composition, including projected market growth;
Specific brands and market shares;
Profiles of mainstream marketers, specialists and up-and-coming niche players, and analyses of the products they market;
Retail and foodservice strategies;
The consumerwhos buying what, and where
Trends and opportunities.
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Realme GT Neo 3T to get a special edition on October 14 in India1 min read 03 Oct 2022, 12:46 PM IST
Realme GT Neo 3T was launched in the country last month.
The smartphone comes powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor.
Realme GT Neo 3T will soon get a special edition in India. As announced by the company via microblogging platform Twitter, the smartphone’s Realme x AmitAggarwal collection will be unveiled in the country during Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai on October 14. Realme GT Neo 3T, Realme says, is an ‘amalgamation of speed, style and technology’. The smartphone succeeds the last year’s Realme GT Neo 2T which was also launched at a starting price of ₹24,999.


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News Corp said net profit in its fiscal second quarter ended December 31 rose to $832 million, or 27 cents per share, from $822 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.
News Corp., which bought Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones & Co. in December, earned $832 million in the final three months of 2007, up 1 percent from the $822 million it earned in the same period a year earlier.
The company's second fiscal quarter results were equivalent to 27 cents per Class A share, which met estimates of analysts polled by Thomson Financial.
Twentieth Century Fox Television reported lower contributions versus the second quarter a year ago, primarily reflecting the timing and delivery of new episodes partially offset by higher contributions from domestic syndication and international television, most notably from 'Family Guy' and 'The Simpsons,' the company said.
Profit at News Corp.'s film and television production unit dropped 14 percent to $403 million. The quarter included contributions from Alvin and the Chipmunks, which has sold $207 million in tickets domestically, and strong DVD sales of Fantastic Four sequel Rise of the Silver Surfer, Live Free or Die Hard and The Simpsons Movie. The year-ago quarter included bigger revenues from such blockbusters as Borat.
Meanwhile, its Fox Interactive Media business helped boost operating income in its other segment to $23 million, a $22 million improvement. The popular social-networking Web site MySpace, owned by Fox, said its earnings rose to $23 million from $1 million as revenue advanced 9.5 percent. The growth in profit resulted from its advertising agreement with Google from January last year, which allows the site to further monetize its inventory.
News Corp. closed its $5.7 billion purchase of Dow Jones in mid-December.


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With alternative to hotel gift basket, entrepreneur grows business
Shuchi Vyas has created a package of useful items for guests at hotels and other rental properties.
| 6:10 a.m. September 27, 2019
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!
It has been a busy summer for GuestBox. Founder and CEO Shuchi Vyas has been signing on new customers and adding new product companies to the mix for her growing business.
Vyas has created an alternative to the hotel gift basket, dubbed GuestBox. It’s a package of useful items, such as toiletries, snacks and skincare products, for guests at hotels and other rental properties. “What we’re really doing from a higher level is basically standardizing a welcome basket,” she says. “We’re standardizing the budget for them, providing a high-quality guest welcome experience that’s branded, dynamic and relevant, and we’re providing items that guests would actually use during their stay.”
Her Tampa-based business has its roots in a classic entrepreneurial scenario — she experienced a need and created something to fulfill it. “I was an Airbnb host in Manhattan, and I always struggled to provide something to my guests other than the basics,” she says.
Vyas wanted her guests to feel welcome, so if she knew someone was bringing a child, for example, she would run out to the store and buy some kid-friendly snacks. But it wasn’t an efficient process. That led to an idea. The subscription box industry was booming, and she realized there was a place in the market for a box catered toward guests.
Since then, she’s built her business through a combination of cold calling, marketing and client referrals. Now Vyas is bracing for rapid growth, with challenges to overcome in the form of access to the right investors and continuing to sign on additional customers.
Vyas launched the beta version of GuestBox in July 2017, after earning second place in a startup competition. She says the win gave her early validation that the business idea could be viable.
The company initially focused on selling baskets to multiproperty Airbnb hosts. It still serves clients in that segment today, but about a year ago it shifted toward hotels. That’s where Vyas sees momentum for GuestBox, with opportunities for higher sales volume and to impact a greater number of guests. “The fact that we are really helping solve multiple pain points within the hospitality industry became more clear as we expanded into that space,” she says.
The list of obstacles hotels face when trying to give special guests a nice welcome gift is long. Drink tickets and wine bottles hotels offer often get left behind because travelers have different preferences and face airport security restrictions. Fruit and cheese platters might sit in a room for hours before a guest gets to them and thus lose their freshness by the minute. And elaborate welcome baskets are expensive — both in terms of the items included and the staff time it takes to assemble them.
Vyas’ pitch? GuestBox makes it more efficient and enjoyable, all the way around. “We’re trying to help the industry focus on what they’re good at: core hospitality,” she says. “We’re bringing expertise to the whole process, standardizing it and making it easy.”
“We’re trying to help the industry focus on what they’re good at: core hospitality. We’re bringing expertise to the whole process, standardizing it and making it easy.” — Shuchi Vyas, founder and CEO, GuestBox
To gain more customers, Vyas has leveraged cold calls and marketing along with referrals and in-person sales pitches. “Now we’re big enough to schedule those conversations in advance,” she says. “There would be certain hotels on our target list we’d want to get in front of.”
Along with solving challenges for the hospitality industry, the boxes also solve a pain point for product-based companies: exposure. GuestBox gets products directly into the hands of potential customers. It uses products from larger companies all the way down to mom-and-pop businesses. Vyas says it has different agreements with each company for compensation.
In the past 12 months, Vyas says GuestBox has shipped out approximately 15,000 boxes. “And we’re growing that as well pretty rapidly,” she says. To manage the orders, the company uses a professional fulfillment center in Tampa. Prices of boxes range from $5 to $50 a box, depending on quantity, size and order frequency. Vyas declines to disclose revenue figures or how much she's invested in the business, saying only, in an email, "We are generating high revenue, and we are self-funded."
In growing further, one of GuestBox’s biggest challenges is a common one for young companies — access to capital. “We’ve said ‘no’ to a lot of money,” Vyas says, adding that she seeks an investor in the hospitality industry with a startup mindset. “It’s been tough to find the right investors.” The company is now in conversations with strategic investors, she says.
Vyas’ vision for the company involves fostering connections for the multiple groups in the GuestBox cycle. “We’re helping hotels create better experiences for their guests, we’re helping travelers feel more welcomed and cared for, and we’re helping product companies increase their exposure and distribution.”
(Editor's Note: This article was updated to reflect the correct price options for GuestBox.)


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San Antonio City Council this week approved some new rules for restaurants and food handlers, aimed at making food safer.
The changes to Chapter 13 of the City Code, which governs food and food handlers, and is enforced by Metropolitan Health District sanitarians, set new standards for food temperatures and employee hand washing. Mobile food venders are subject to new sanitation requirements. New regulations dictate how condemned food is destroyed.
Interestingly, those who sell whole, uncut fresh fruits and vegetables are exempt from food permits. And a new food handler certification program is approved but won’t go into effect until 2010. Only certain types of food handlers will need certification.
“The food handler certification program is a new tool we are utilizing to further promote safe food handling and ensure public health,” said Stephen Barscewski, who heads the health district’s sanitation services. “For example, an establishment that receives 30 or more demerits during an inspection will be required to have certification for all food handlers on duty.”
More information is available here.


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Alphabet Inc stock had an indifferent performance in March after almost 7% gains in the first two months of 2017. Has GOOGL stock lost steam?
Shares of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) have not yet recovered from the YouTube ad controversy sell-off. GOOGL stock had made a good start to 2017, gaining almost four times the 2016 stock returns in the first two months of 2017. However, GOOGL stock has largely moved sideways since the emergence of YouTube ad controversy and is down by more than 2.5% from the time, the controversy broke out. The YouTube controversy had also earned Alphabet stock few rating downgrades from analysts, which too didn't help the search giant's cause. There were also strong signals from technicals in the late March suggesting a near-term correction was on the cards. Now a major question which intrigues many investors is, has Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) stock lost the early momentum which it built from the beginning of the year? Will the latest controversy weigh heavy on Alphabet stock forcing it to give up the early gains? Let's take a closer look.Technicals suggest a mixed scenario.
Shares of Alphabet Inc closed marginally lower by almost 0.5% in the last trading session on April 6th. The Alphabet Inc stock technical chart highlights that GOOGL stock has been testing the 20-day simple moving average (SMA) in the last few trading sessions. GOOGL stock price had dropped below the 20-day SMA on March 21st after the YouTube ad controversy got bigger. GOOGL stock price is hovering near the 20-day SMA of late and had managed to close above the 20-day SMA trend line in the beginning of this week on April 3rd but has closed below the 20-day SMA in rest of the following days. GOOGL stock is facing resistance from the 20-day SMA. However, GOOGL stock price has found good support from the 50-day simple moving average. GOOGL stock has consistently closed above the 50-day SMA trend line since going past the 50-day SMA on March 29th, it only dropped marginally below the 50-day SMA price in yesterday's trading session. The search giant's stock needs to break the resistance posed by the 20-day SMA to head higher in near-term. The 50-day SMA support is a positive cue and a better technical indicator than the 20-day SMA.Why some analysts downgraded Alphabet Inc stock.
The YouTube meltdown had led to several advertisers walking away from Google's YouTube platform. This had led to a belief among many that this could slow down the Google's parent company Alphabet Inc's growth. Brian Wieser, a Pivotal Research analyst downgraded GOOGL stock to 'Hold' from 'Buy' due to the YouTube controversies. Recently, BMO Capital’s Internet analyst, Daniel Salmon became the latest to downgrade shares of Alphabet. Salmon is of the view that the Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) new advertising business will become a headwind for Alphabet going ahead. He also cut his GOOGL stock price target to $880 from $1005. However, as we had covered in our previous post on Alphabet, analysts are divided in opinion over the impact of this controversy on the search giant's growth. Morgan Stanley analyst, Brian Nowak in his research note released after the Youtube controversy, reiterated his Overweight rating on GOOGL stock. According to his research estimates, the current YouTube controversy could impact only 1% of the search giant's net revenue.Long-term growth drivers for Alphabet Inc remain intact.
In spite of the YouTube controversy, Alphabet Inc is still expected to be the leader in digital ad space. Coming to the point that some advertisers walked away from Google after YouTube issue, well, this could be just temporary. Advertising and public relations company WPP, CEO Sir Martin Sorrell echoed similar views. Commenting on the YouTube controversy, he says "You're negating or withdrawing from arguably one of the most powerful mediums." Sir Martin Sorrell believes that boycotting Google doesn't make sense considering its large presence in digital advertising space. He also stated that his company, WPP, had spent a little under $5 billion on Google for advertising last year.
Further, YouTube is taking measures to prevent ads by big brands being placed next to questionable content. The online video platform will not allow ads on channels that have less than 10,000 views in total, across their entire platform. This measure, at the least, would help avoid displaying ads on videos that are vague and offensive enough to not find a proper regular audience.
Google is on course for another bumper in year ad revenue. An eMarketer research report released just before the YouTube controversy states it could make, the double of what its nearest competitor Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) will make, in US digital ad revenues in 2017. Alphabet also has several other growth drivers. A recent Morgan Stanley study suggests that public cloud could soon become a utility like electricity and as per their study, all major cloud providers including Google Cloud platform are undervalued. With Google Cloud expected to grow at a faster clip in future, Google stock still has huge long-term growth potential. Further, latest reports suggest Google has developed its own custom chips, the Tensor Processing Unit or TPU, which are supposed to be been 15 to 30 times faster than today’s server-class CPUs and GPUs of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA). This bodes well for Google's business as it could help massively reduce its datacentre costs in future. In Waymo, Google's self-driving car subsidiary, we could see Alphabet's next growth cycle much sooner than many think, as self-driving car market is growing at an incredible rate.Summing It Up.
As discussed above, the technicals present a mixed case for GOOGL stock. Further, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) measure of the Alphabet stock is very close to the oversold threshold value of 30. A further weakness in GOOGL stock could push the stock into oversold territory, which could set GOOGL stock for a rebound in the coming days. Taking a long-term view, we believe that shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are still headed higher, and we like the stock fundamentally, to the extent that we've added it to our list of top stock picks, which have beaten the NASDAQ by over 132%.
if you think that's impressive, and you're also looking for good stocks from the auto sector, here's our list of top auto stock picks, which have beaten the S&P 500 by over 166%.


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MacKenzie launches £66m legal bid
KELVIN MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun, is suing Radio Joint Audience Research Limited for £66m, which he says is the amount of advertising lost by his Wireless Group because Rajar consistently underestimated the audience of his talkSPORT station.
Rajar says the station had 1.9m listeners in the last three months of 2003 but MacKenzie's preferred electronic measuring device gives it 6.6m. The case is unlikely to be heard until next March.
Wireless said it may also sue Rajar's owners - the BBC and Commercial Radio Companies Association.
MacKenzie said: 'My opponents have tried desperately to kick the issue into the long grass because they are making a hell of a lot of money out of this fraudulent system. The public was not involved in Rajar tests of the new technology. It was tested by just a dozen of its own staff.'
Rajar was not immediately available for comment.
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Pawnbrokers in the the north west have seen a rise in demand post-Christmas as company owners look for a short-term cash injection to settle quarterly VAT and other tax bills or to meet credit card payments.
Jonathan Caplan, a partner at Manchester-based online pawnbroking service Sparkle Money, said: “A lot of our customers are business owners who want a quick fix to cash flow problems.
“We recently got a very rare viola worth £200,000 and one customer came in with a Rolex and personalised number plates. Because the banks aren't willing to help out, people are cashing on on their high value goods.
“Last month was certainly busy, a combination of people paying off their credit card bills, meeting tax deadlines or just simply seeking cash flow.
“Many of our customers have cited not receiving enough help from banks as one of the reasons they are using services like ours.”
Sparkle Money, which targets clients who do not want to be spotted at a traditional pawnbrokers, arranges loans of between £500 and £100,000 within 48 hours, secured on valuables such as jewellery, watches, antiques, works of art and even cars.
James Bowes, a jeweller and pawnbroker in Stockport, said it had seen an increase in business during January following overspending at Christmas as well as small business owners looking for a cash injection.
The family-run business, which has also seen an increase in middle-class customers, said its pawnbroking services grew 25 per cent last month compared with January 2010 .
Paul Bowes, whose great-grandfather founded the business in 1880, said: “January is traditionally the busiest time of the year for pawnbrokers. Customers have overspent at Christmas and need that extra helping hand until pay day whereas others are facing annual tax bills.
“We have seen an increase in clients who are small business owners or are self-employed. They need a short-term cash flow boost, particularly when hit with large bills such as their quarterly VAT payments.”


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In a more complex trade I would want to be long some sort of ratio risk reversal.
Chart patterns suggest food delivery service company has bottomed out and may be turning.
But with indicators mixed, traders could approach the long side of GIS if they use a sell stop below $51.
Despite the financial positivity, many analysts warn the deal could have hiccups ahead.
The deal makes sense for growth - and for Allergan shareholders - but now the price and uncertainty make this stock hard to swallow.
PFE was ready to pay $160 billion until U.S. regulators blocked the deal.
Let's look at their price charts and technical indicators, and draw some conclusions.
Meanwhile, the latest economic data suggest the likelihood of a Fed rate cut at the next FOMC meeting.
Shares of the food giant may not have made a bottom, but it will be interesting to see how the stock behaves from here.
The proposed, $63 billion transaction is the latest deal in an industry where it can be cheaper to buy the science of another company than develop products.


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Weekly News Roundup – 7 September 2012
Once again the week is coming to an end and that means it’s time for a roundup of the past weeks news!
Pandora Shares Down 18% After Apple Reportedly Working On Own Rival Service – Ouch. Not that it’s much of a surprise, but a little over twelve hours after The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was going to create its own Pandora rival, prices of Pandora shares have tanked by over 18%.
Amazon’s New Kindle Fire Tablets May Look Good, But The iPad Will Still Be King [Report] – f you’re in the market for a tablet, and you don’t mind adopting Google’s Android platform, then the choice available to you right now is incredible.
Updates to Apple’s iMac Line Reportedly ‘Imminent’ – FoxNews.com‘s Clayton Morris reports that an update to Apple’s aging iMac lineup is “imminent”, although he does not offer additional details on a specific timeframe or expected improvements.
Twitter Reportedly Discontinuing Development of Official Twitter for Mac Client – According to a tweet from the well-connected MG Siegler, Twitter is discontinuing development of Twitter for Mac, though it will still remain available.
Apple ‘Unlikely’ to Use Audience’s New Noise Suppression Technology in iPhone 5 – Audience today announced that it appears “unlikely” Apple will use the company’s earSmart noise suppression technology in the upcoming iPhone 5.
Tim Cook and Jony Ive Top Vanity Fair’s ‘The New Establishment’ List – Vanity Fair magazine has published its yearly listing of top media power players, called ‘The New Establishment‘.
Apple-Samsung judge refuses to change sales ban hearing dates – US District Court Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple’s request to move its December 6 injunction hearing to an earlier date, according to a Bloomberg report.
FedEx preparing for ‘surge’ on anticipated Sept. 21 ‘iPhone 5’ launch date – More evidence of a Sept. 21 launch for Apple’s next iPhone has come from mail carrier FedEx, which has begun alerting employees about a “surge volume” event beginning that Friday.
Apple’s iPhone tops JD Power satisfaction survey for 8th straight time – Apple’s iPhone once again topped the J.D. Power and Associates rankings for customer satisfaction, marking 8 straight surveys of besting the competition.
‘iPhone 5’ launch will mark end of Apple’s iPhone 3GS – rumor – The arrival of a new iPhone model will push existing models down to lower price points, while the iPhone 3GS will no longer be offered by Apple, according to a new report.


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The Stop and Shop: safer than ever.
Quirkily-captioned security cam stills of local ne’er-do-wells still flutter above the cold case, but the notorious
Stop and Shop — aka the "Stop and Rob" — on Wabash and B streets hasn’t called in an actual robbery for the last three years.
Owner Lee Ok Boon was vague about why the store hasn’t lived up to its dubious reputation lately, saying only that there had been “no problems.” Business was good on the morning we visited, with a steady stream of clients lining up for coffee and cigarettes. One woman waved away the assistance of the extra clerk, clutching a fistful of dollar bills as she waited for Boon to be free. Boon greeted her with a smile.
“Taaka?” Boon asked. The woman nodded, and Boon handed her a small plastic bottle of vodka.
Eureka Police Department spokesperson Brittany Powell said she was as curious as us as to the turnaround, but Senior Detective Ron Harpham offered a surprising explanation: Maybe the “Stop and Rob” nickname was never deserved in the first place.
“I’ve worked here 24 years and it’s been robbed a couple of times, I suppose, but nothing that specifically warrants that reputation,” Harpham said in a phone interview.
Harpham was the lead detective on the last reported robbery, in January 2012. The same armed suspect, captured by security cameras, is wanted for a 2011 robbery of the store. The case remains unsolved.
As to why the Stop and Shop gained its apocryphal moniker, Harpham blamed a combination of semantics and misinformation. Petty theft calls to the address, he said, have remained at a steady, but not extraordinary, rate. (The photos festooning store walls would seem to attest to this.) Actual robberies to convenience stores are rare, Harpham said, adding that many more people choose to rob grow houses or drug houses, because they have more money, less security and residents are less likely to report the crime.
Also, if you’re listening to your scanner and hear a high volume of calls for the Stop and Shop, Harpham said they may very well be for other crimes in the vicinity.
“It’s very common for an officer to call in and instead of using the address—say Wabash and B—to say I’ll be out by Stop and Shop,” said Harpham, “Probably the minimarts down along Broadway have had a far greater run than the Stop and Shop.”
(A quick scan of Eureka robbery reports for the last four months reveals that the majority are, in fact, clustered around Broadway and Old Town.)
Occasionally businesses will have their alcohol and beverage licenses pulled if they make too many calls to law enforcement, removing their motivation to report crime. Harpham said that’s unlikely in this case.
“My experience with owners of Stop and Shop is that they’re very cooperative and very helpful. They also have a good security system.”
A quick Internet search reveals that “Stop and Rob” as a nickname for convenience stores is neither clever nor unique, having made its way into both Urban Dictionary and Police
magazine. The Eureka Stop and Rob, however, does have its own active Facebook page
, where our wittier locals check in to say they are “feeling lost” at the Stop and Rob, need help “killing a keg,” at the Stop and Rob, and “smell trouble” at the Stop and Rob. If the page is any indication, this Wabash Street store generates a lot of passion in both directions: There are equal amounts of one and five star reviews, with nothing in between. No one on the page mentions a robbery.
Petty theft public shaming on display.
Steal candy, get a free poem.


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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Less than a month after the release of new $20 bills with features designed to deter forgeries, counterfeiters are already at work.
Last week, people in and around Brockton, Mass., tried to pass fake notes at a convenience store, a restaurant, and a Radio Shack, according to the Brockton police department.
|Old Hickory's new look.
In an unrelated incident on Tuesday, phony bills showed up at a convenience store in Quincy, Mass., according to Steve Ricciardi, Special Agent in charge of the Secret Service's Boston office. An arrest was made in Quincy, he noted, but there have been neither arrests nor suspects in the Brockton case.
The Massachusetts scams were not the only recently reported forgeries. In Indiana, at least five fake notes have been passed.
A restaurant in Elkhart, Ind., found two of them. A teen-aged girl had been the one to spend the bills, police said, though they have not since located her for questioning.
Three other counterfeit bills have also turned up in the area in recent days, according to Tom Cutler, a lieutenant and spokesman for the Elkhart police. "All of them have been what I'd call 'sophisticated copies,' not ultra high-tech notes," he said.
Federal officials said they expected to see counterfeiters try to take advantage of the release of the new bills, and are prepared for it.
"We see this every time there's a new note put into circulation -- people try to challenge the system," said Jeannie Mitchell, a Washington-based spokeswoman for the Secret Service. "In 1996, we saw the same sort of thing happen early on, before levelling off."
Discoveries are good
When the government announced last spring that the $20 note would be redesigned, officials stressed that the move was driven by a desire to stem counterfeiting.
News that fake bills are already being detected, therefore, may be evidence that the plan is working. (By definition, the discovery of a counterfeit note means an attempt at fraud has been thwarted.)
Among the new $20's security features are a watermark image engrained into the paper; an embedded vertical plastic strip; and color-shifting ink, whose appearance changes in hue from copper to green as the bill is tilted against light.
The most obvious change is that the greenback is no longer just green and black. The new $20 contains pastel background colors of pinkish-orange and powder blue, in addition to different shades of green.
In the case of the Elkhart forgeries, Cutler said that the color-shifting ink was obviously not present. "If you gave them a good glance, you could see they were different," he said. "Part of the problem is that not enough people have seen the new ones yet, so they don't know what to look for."
In Massachusetts, too, the false notes lacked enhanced features. "There was no security strip, no red-and-blue fibers in the paper, and the watermark was missing," said Ricciardi.
As the Secret Service's Mitchell noted, the government's outreach campaign is explicitly designed to help people identify an authentic bill. "It's usually pretty easy to tell when a note is a fake," she said. "It's very rare that they're so well done that you can't tell the difference."
Only 1 bill in 10,000 is illegitimate, according to the Secret Service, but widespread access to digital printing technology has made counterfeiting easier in recent years.
The U.S. government seized about $130 million in (unused) counterfeit notes last year, according to the Secret Service. Almost $44 million more was retrieved from circulation. Nearly 5,000 people involved were arrested.
The multicolored new bills represent "an opportunity to be proactive," according to Steven Carey, who runs the Secret Service's New York operations. "We're using new technologies to stay one step ahead of the counterfeiters."


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In addition to launching in Russia and at The Co-operative Bank and Metro Bank in the United Kingdom this week, Apple Pay is now available at Canadian credit union Desjardins, serving some 5.8 million members, and to residents of three tiny British Crown dependencies: Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey.
Desjardins members can use Apple Pay with Visa credit or prepaid cards or Interac debit cards. Desjardins said its MasterCard cards will be supported in 2017. Eligible cards can be added to Apple Pay by tapping the "Add Credit or Debit Card" option in the Wallet app on iPhone 5 and later running at least iOS 8.1.
Apple Pay continues to expand to additional banks and countries, with New Zealand, Japan, and Taiwan reportedly set to launch the mobile payments service in the near future. Last year, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey said Apple is "working rapidly" to expand the service to additional countries in Asia and Europe.


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Malaysia-based Axiata Group’s profit fell last year as growth in its key Malaysia market slowed and the weak rupiah erased strong revenue gains in Indonesia.
Its profit after tax and minority interests (PATAMI) in 2014 fell 7.9 per cent to MYR2.3 billion ($631 million), due to higher costs related to Celcom’s IT transformation, XL’s Axis integration costs and the weakening of the Indonesian rupiah. The group’s EBITDA fell 3.7 per cent to MYR7 billion. Its EBITDA margin dropped 1.2 points to 37.4 per cent.
The company’s revenue increased just 1.9 per cent to MYR18.7 billion. But in constant currency, the company said it rose 4.4 per cent. Data revenue, which rose 31 per cent, showed strong growth in all markets as smartphone penetration expanded.
Celcom’s revenue fell 4 per cent to MYR7.71 billion. The Malaysia operator accounted for 42 per cent of Axiata’s total revenue. The company said Celcom’s IT transformation affected customer service and its ability to introduce new offerings but will give it a long-term competitive advantage once it’s completed.
Celcom’s data revenue grew 24 per cent, with mobile internet revenue up 50 per cent. Data accounted for 22 per cent of total revenue, up from 17 per cent in 2013. The growth was driven by smartphone penetration climbing 15 percentage points to 47 per cent..
XL, Dialog, Robi and Smart all reported strong revenue growth last year.
XL’s revenue was up 10.4 per cent on a local currency basis. But the Indonesian rupiah declined by 9 per cent against the Malaysian ringgit in 2014. XL’s revenue of MYR6.47 billion represented 35 per cent of Axiata’s turnover.
Its data revenue increased 42 per cent, accounting for 29 per cent of total revenue. Voice and SMS revenue managed to increase 3 per cent last year.
XL completed the sale of 3,500 towers to Solusi Tunas in 4Q, with the proceeds of the IDR5.6 trillion ($460 million) sale to be used to pay down debt and improve its capital position.
Sri Lanka’s Dialog posted a 6 per cent increase in revenue to MYR1.68 billion. Data revenue expanded 56 per cent and now accounts for 9 per cent of total revenue.
Bangladeshi Robi’s revenue rose 9.4 per cent to MYR2.08 billion, with data rising 120 per cent and now accounting for 76 per cent of turnover (up from 3 per cent in 2013).
Cambodia’s Smart saw its revenue jump 36 per cent to MYR588 million, which represents 3 per cent of Axiata’s revenue. The growth was driven by a 135 per cent rise in voice revenue and a 19 per cent increase in data sales. Total data subscribers increased to 1.8 million and now account for 27 per cent of its of user base. Prepaid revenue grew 43 per cent, contributing 76 per cent to total revenue.
Its associate companies in Singapore and India – M1 and Idea – reported 7 per cent and 19 per cent increases in revenue respectively.
Axiata has forecast 4 per cent growth in both revenue and EBITDA this year and its planned capex is MYR4.8 billion.


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Rumor: Apple Under Antitrust Investigation Over Plans to Crush Spotify
Pretty soon they’re going to have an opportunity to deny Apple’s involvement in a conspiracy with record labels, or so The Verge reports:
The Department of Justice is looking closely into Apple’s business practices in relation to its upcoming music streaming service, according to multiple sources. The Verge has learned that Apple has been pushing major music labels to force streaming services like Spotify to abandon their free tiers, which will dramatically reduce the competition for Apple’s upcoming offering. DOJ officials have already interviewed high-ranking music industry executives about Apple’s business habits.
Apple has been using its considerable power in the music industry to stop the music labels from renewing Spotify’s license to stream music through its free tier. Spotify currently has 60 million listeners, but only 15 million of them are paid users. Getting the music labels to kill the freemium tiers from Spotify and others could put Apple in prime position to grab a large swath of new users when it launches its own streaming service, which is widely expected to feature a considerable amount of exclusive content. "All the way up to Tim Cook, these guys are cutthroat," one music industry source said.
Apple is expected to launch a streaming music service at WWDC in June, and it looks like they are laying the same groundwork for the new service that they laid for iBooks in late 2009.
Please excuse me for a second while I enjoy the moment.
… turns on Happy by Pharrell …
… dances like no one is watching …
Okay, I’m done.
Personal glee aside, I am going to wait for real evidence before reaching a conclusion. I want to see a statement on the record, a copy of the indictment, or something that shows that this is more than hearsay.
I might enjoy reading the hearsay but it is still just hearsay at this point. There are reports Apple has pulled tricks like this before, but that doesn’t mean that this report is true.
And even if it is true, that doesn’t mean that Apple actually did anything wrong or that the DOJ will prosecute. The labels are more than capable of conspiring on their own. Also, there have been other reports that the record labels were already trying to kill Spotify’s free service, which means Apple’s rumored involvement could be nothing more than that: a rumor.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
image by Bev Goodwin


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A few weeks ago, it was said that Pawan Kalyan had dubbed for the teaser of Vakeel Saab and it would be released on the occasion of Diwali. But the makers did not release the teaser.
Pawan Kalyan’s fans who were hoping the producer of Vakeel Saab, Dil Raju would release the teaser were left disappointed as there was no announcement regarding the teaser.
Now, Pawan Kalyan’s fans are pressurising Dil Raju to release the teaser of Vakeel Saab at the earliest. They are using social media trends and posts to assert pressure on Dil Raju.
There are rumors that Vakeel Saab might be releasing next Sankranthi if the situation permits. It appears to be that Dil Raju is waiting for some clarity on the potential release date before releasing the teaser.


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Apple’s 4-Inch iPhone SE Will Come to India at Rs 39K, Not Rs 30K
The new iPhone SE gets a smaller display, but packs features of the iPhone 6S.
Apple has taken the wraps off the 4-inch iPhone SE, which will be available in India by the end of next month.
Apple initially announced that the phone will be priced Rs 30,000 onwards, but later clarified that the price was actually Rs 39,000.
The small size iPhone SE gets a 4-inch display, but beyond that Apple claims that the SE will be on par with the iPhone 6S in terms of power. The phone gets a host of features like Touch ID, NFC, the 12-megapixel iSight camera among others.
Apple has loaded the iPhone 6s with its latest A9 chip that is backed by 2GB RAM. The iOS 9 is seamless and hassle free. The phone can also shoot 4K videos as per the company claims.
Most of us expected India to be part of the first list where the Apple iPhone SE will be available. However, markets like the US, China will be able to get their iPhone SE by the end of this month. Most importantly, Apple claims that the small size iPhone SE will offer better battery life without compromising on the performance.
The Apple iPhone SE will be available in space grey, silver, gold and rose gold metallic finishes in 16GB and 64GB models.
At this price, Apple will be hoping to attract buyers who’ve always felt that owning an iPhone is beyond their budget. Also, if you consider that the iPhone SE will be available in India from April onwards, one can feel that India is truly in Apple’s sights like never before.
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Sophie Paris successfully marks its 13th year in the Philippines by holding a celebration to pay tribute to the successful individuals behind the company’s continuous growth in the country. Titled An Evening with the Stars, the annual awards ceremony will recognize the top performing business centers and leaders of the company whose hard work and commitment have propelled Sophie Paris into becoming one of the most dynamic and fast-growing direct selling and multi-level marketing (MLM) companies in the Philippines.
According to Sophie Paris founder Bruno Hasson who flew in from Jakarta to grace the momentous event, “This annual event is an opportune time to reflect on the growth of the company and share plans and strategies for the coming year. But beyond the growth figures, this occasion calls for raising a toast to the Filipinos whose hard work has helped bring happiness and achieve the dreams of many families and individuals.”
Hasson eagerly shared that, from its head office in Metro Manila where Sophie Paris Philippines started, the company has expanded and achieved sales growth in Visayas and Mindanao. “The growth of Sophie Paris is based on motivation — a spirit to break new grounds and create a dynamic world of fashion. Sophie Paris’ corporate culture was created by fostering creativity and innovation and rewarding hard work. Good quality, good design, and launching the latest trend in fashion have been our strengths which give pride and confidence to our customers,” adds Hasson.
These core strengths will likewise be highlighted during the event, which will feature a fashion show to unveil the newest fashion collections from the brand.
The collections which will be unveiled during the event are testament to the principles of product excellence; affordable luxury and the highly effective direct marketing scheme upon which the company was founded on when it was established in 1995.
BIRTH OF SOPHIE
Hasson, a Frenchman entrepreneur, started the company as a home-based business with merely three tailors crafting beautiful handbags in the attic of his house in Jakarta, Indonesia. He labelled the bags Sophie Martin and sold them through retail companies Metro and Sogo. As sales grew fast, Hasson decided to rent an office building, hire more employees, and implement a system of direct selling, which gave incentives to the sellers of Sophie Martin products. When the financial crisis hit the region in 1998, the company switched to a multi-level marketing (MLM) system, offering consumers an affordable alternative to designer bags while helping those who were laid off from jobs to earn extra income. The products were subsequently marketed by its members and business centers all over Indonesia. A few years later, the brand would find its way to the Philippines, Morocco, and Malaysia.
In 2008, Sophie Martin became the core brand of a larger brand called Sophie Paris, which offers different lines of fashionable products aside from handbags. Sophie Paris began distributing dresses, shoes, jewellery, and other fashion accessories to the international market.
SOPHIE DELIVERS HAPPINESS
Sophie Paris Philippines was officially inducted as a member of the Direct Selling Association of the Philippines (DSAP) in 2010. Three years later, the brand introduced its slogan called, “Sophie Delivers Happiness,” which aims to represent the core values of the company—passion and fun, teamwork, open-mindedness and eagerness to learn, efficiency, and customer focus. These values have since become the guiding principles of the Sophie Family.
In line with the company’s vision of delivering happiness, Sophie Paris not only strives to distribute a wide range of high quality and fashionable products, it also helps its members, whom 95 percent are women, to get additional income for their families.
“Sophie Paris does even more than offer our customers the latest trends to affordable prices, we also help them reach their dreams. We believe in celebrating, encouraging, and rewarding others for who they are. We can’t wait to deliver Sophie Happiness to you!” says Sophie Paris Philippines Managing Director Daniel KK Hahn.
Today, Sophie Paris is recognized as one of the leading MLM companies in Asia, helping improve people’s lives and making dreams come true. Check out the latest Sophie Paris Philippines collection at http://www.sophieparis.com.ph.


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Lori Baker has seen just about every aspect of the retail business community’s reaction to COVID-19 from the uncertainty when the pandemic first hit to adjusting to doing business in a new way to adapting to what could the new normal for at least the next little while.
“It has been very stressful,” said Baker, the co-owner of McNally Robinson Booksellers with locations at the Grant Park Mall and The Forks in Winnipeg and in Saskatoon. “When it started out, right away we realized that we were going to have to let our staff go as soon as we knew that we were going to be closing down. It’s an awful thing to have to lay off a whole bunch of your staff but we could hear that things were only going to be temporary so we did that right off the bat as we kept a very bare-bones staff.”
Initially, Baker said like many retailers they thought they would have to shut down their stores completely. But they already had an online business with curbside pick-up and deliveries. That’s basically how they made it through until they could reopen again, she said.
“It was a lot longer hours for our delivery drivers,” said Baker, who estimated her business dropped to 10% of normal. “And people were quite happy with curbside, too. Online was a little tougher because like everyone there was so much online that we fell behind. Now even the post office is way behind. I guess they’re catching up now that the rest of us have caught up.”
The Grant Park location also contains a small restaurant which was closed until very recently and presented its own share of challenges due to social distancing and the province’s phased reopening plan.
McNally Robinson was hardly the only local retailer forced to change the way they did business.
For instance, Wine Sense home winemaking business had to close its five outlets in Winnipeg and one in Brandon to the public but could still sell supplies and kits through curbside pick-up.
“We were very, very fortunate in that while things weren’t as good as they were the year before, it wasn’t devastating like it was for some friends of mine in the restaurant business who really took it hard,” said Colin Swanston, who owns Wine Sense along with his brother Craig. “It wasn’t great but it wasn’t devastating like it was for some.”
But if there was a silver lining in this situation at least for Swanston’s business, it’s that many Manitobans found themselves stuck at home.
“We certainly saw some customers we hadn’t seen for a while because they were at home looking for stuff to do,” said Swanston. “But being closed is never a good thing no matter what the circumstances.”
Across the province, retailers of all shapes and sizes have faced challenges most have never faced before.
“We basically had to reinvent ourselves,” said Brian Scharfstein, President of Canadian Footwear, with three locations in Winnipeg and one in Calgary. “I’ve been in this business over 50 years and certainly have not experienced a setback — if you want to call it that — of this nature ever. We had to make some very quick decisions. I mean, who’s prepared for something like this?”
In Scharfstein’s case, they locked their doors in early March and sent home 100 employees but decided to keep paying them. He said they switched their focus to e-commerce and ramped that up by marketing on social media. They also decided to keep up their marketing on TV and radio.
“The good news on our e-commerce side is our sales went up dramatically from coast to coast and we offered a door-to-door what we call ‘white-glove’ service,” he added. “We’ve never done that before so on a good day during the peak of the pandemic we were delivering as many as 60-70 pairs of shoes a day to every corner of Winnipeg.”
Since reopening on May 12, Scharfstein said they spent ‘a ridiculous amount of money’ to protect their employees including daily temperature checks and provide masks for all of their customers. Scharfstein estimates they’ve given out over 10,000 masks to their customers.
“We will survive,” he said. “We will lose a lot of money in 2020 but we will survive. I can’t say we’re having fun but certainly we feel we are exceeding our customers’ expectations.”
But as a past chair of The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, Scharfstein has a wide network of contacts with retailers and businesses across Manitoba and he isn’t sure that all of the businesses will be so lucky.
“What we’re beginning to see is consumers having more confidence in going out into outlets,” said John Graham, Prairie Region Director for the Retail Council of Canada. “Some of the sales are returning in those hardest-hit categories such as fashion, sporting goods and hobbies. However, they continue to be significantly below what they were pre-COVID-19.”
Sales numbers plunge in April
Retail sales in Manitoba fell 19.6% from March to April as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the sector extremely hard across the country, according to figures released by Statistics Canada June 19.
Nationally, the numbers were down by more than one-quarter (-26.4%) in April to $34.7 billion and have fallen by one-third (-33.6%) since physical distancing measures were implemented in mid-March. The one bright spot is online sales surged to a record high, representing 9.5% of the total retail market.
While essential retailers such as supermarkets and other grocery stores, convenience stores, pharmacies, gasoline stations and beer, wine and liquor stores remained open with reduced hours, most Canadian retailers did not offer in-store shopping in April. Nevertheless, many retailers started or expanded their online presence and curbside pick-up services in response to the closures, according to Stats Canada.
“Over the last three months, many more customers have started to look at online options for some of their purchases and what we’ll be watching is how much of that shifts back now that Manitobans can return to brick and mortar stores,” said John Graham, Prairie Region Director for the Retail Council of Canada.
“Overall, in Manitoba we did a pretty good job of things,” added Wine Sense owner Colin Swanston. “The numbers reflect that. Closing down the economy is never a good thing but I think we did it as best as we possibly could. I’m sure there are guys in the restaurant business who feel otherwise and I know some of them and it was just devastating for them. You look at what’s gone on in other jurisdictions and, touch wood, we’re very lucky.”
One area the provincial government could have taken more action is by introducing some type of commercial rent eviction moratorium program like every other province, said Graham. In late May, the Retail Council joined the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, Manitoba Restaurants & Food Service Association and Restaurants Canada in writing an open letter to Premier Brian Pallister, calling for moratorium on commercial tenant evictions.
“It’s an important step that we would to see the Manitoba government take because what that does is it creates an incentive for landlords and tenants to sit down and leverage the program that has been put in place by the federal and provincial government to help take the pressures of rent off,” he said. “Ultimately, landlords have focused on deferrals and a deferral is fine but that bill has to be paid and it’s exceptionally daunting to pay for multiple months of rent with no substantial increase in sales.”
On Friday, Finance Minister Scott Fielding announced a temporary ban on commercial evictions as part of an effort to drive increased participation in the federal-provincial cost-shared Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program.


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Across Europe, besides isolated regional lockdowns, easing measures are being introduced. The summer holidays are beginning. A lot of things seem to be "normalising". But there are many unknowns: How will the global recession affect us? Are the supply chains reorganising? Who are the winners and losers of the crisis?
If there were winners during the coronavirus lockdown, they were e-commerce platforms and their ecosystems. Klarna is one of these winners. In a video and at the GDI Retail Summit, Klarna’s CMO David Sandström explains what it would look like if Gucci was a payment provider.
We need to create cities where the most comfortable and simple lifestyle is also the healthiest and most sustainable, says Kristian Villadsen, partner and director at the renowned Danish architectural firm Gehl Architects. At the GDI Retail Summit and here in this interview, Villadsen reveals how the city's retail sector can reinvent itself after Covid-19.
Thomas Sevcik is co-founder of the think tank arthesia and one of the masterminds behind the Autostadt project in Wolfsburg. At the GDI Retail Summit and here in this interview, he talks about the changing shopping behaviour of the middle classes, the role of retail in the city and the dematerialisation of consumption.
The COVID-19 crisis has brought society into the future practically overnight. We’ll never return to life as it was before the pandemic, so businesses and society need to adjust to the ‘Next Normal’ as quickly as possible. What will stay with us? And what will we never see again?
Experiences instead of shopping: city centres are undergoing a fundamental change, with far-reaching consequences for the cityscape and retail. In an interview ahead of this year’s Retail Summit, David Bosshart, CEO of the GDI, addresses the question of what still characterises retail in the city – and how retail characterises the city.
Nicht nur in Zeiten von Hamster-Einkäufen: Online-Shopping boomt. Die Konsequenzen für den stationären Handel sind gravierend – aber auch für die Umwelt. Dagegen will Uwe D’Agnone etwas tun. Warum er dabei auf Gras setzt, erklärt er an der 70. Internationalen Handelstagung.


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New York – Two weeks prior to CEDIA Expo, Sharp used a press conference here to formally introduce two new big-screen 1,080p AQUOS LCD
Roger Heuberger, former president and executive director of the PRO Group, is now
Atlanta - Home Depot reported fiscal second quarter net earnings of $1.86 billion up 9.8 percent, ended July 30, compared to the same
DETROIT — General Motors announced today that more than 2 million vehicles in calendar 2007 will offer a new turn-by-turn voice
For some reason, I love coincidences. Having two seemingly disparate events combining to make something new is cool to me
1995 will be remembered as a watershed year, when standards were set for digital CE products that created markets for the
New York – Sprint Nextel teamed with Intel, Motorola and Samsung to announce plans for a fourth quarter 2007 commercial launch of mobile
Woodbury, N.Y. – JBL and systems integration specialist Radio Active teamed up to offer luxury-home developer Drummond a series of
Vista, Calif. -- Directed Electronics has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Polk Audio, marking its second speaker-brand
Overland Park, Kan. — Sprint/Nextel will raise its data-speed limit sooner than planned.
The carrier will
A quick look around the just opened Flatbush, Brooklyn location of
New York — Samsung held its annual star-studded Hope for Children Gala on June11, raising $
San Antonio — The Progressive Retailers Organization was at the Westin La Cantera Hill Coun
If you are having trouble accessing TWICE content or wish to subscribe to TWICE Online please email email@example.com or call 866-71-PRESS (866-717-7377).


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What could Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods mean for Australia?
Over the weekend, Amazon acquired Whole Foods, a premium American supermarket chain which only sells foods without artificial preservatives, colours, flavours, sweeteners and hydrogenated fats.
Although a AmazonFresh arrival has not been confirmed yet, speculation that Amazon will at least be establishing some type of grocery presence in Australia has been ramping up over the past several months.
If speculation is correct, Amazon could now have the chance to not only establish itself as a grocery provider in Australia under Amazon branding, but also introduce Australians to Whole Foods.
Whole Foods answers a niche demand for a solely health focused supermarket that today in Australia is really only catered for by a handful of independent stores. Products in these stores are also usually priced highly.
Even though a small selection of health foods are available at Australia’s larger supermarkets, Whole Foods could be the first large scale, health focused supermarket in Australia.
Traditionally however, premium and high-priced supermarkets have not done so well in Australia, so Amazon may have to ensure it perfects Whole Foods pricing prior to any Australian launch.
Although, times may be changing with new data just released from Nielsen today, showing Australians are willing to pay more for organic and “premium” groceries.
- Amazonin chats with Australian suppliers says UBS
- Woolworths prepares forAmazon grocery invasion
- AmazonFresh signal of entry to Australia
- Conditions couldn’t be riper forAmazon arrival, Roy Morgan Research
New Zealand dairy company, Fonterra, has announced its 2016 financial year results, reporting turnar...
Katter’s Australian Party MP, Shane Knuth, is pushing for ‘fair milk’ logos to be placed on Queensla...
Woolworths will this week begin displaying country of origin labelling (CoOL) on a selection of its ...
Australian food and grocery wholesaler, Metcash, has been caught up in the difficulties of an increa...
The Queensland State Government has decided to ban the use of single-use plastic bans by 2018.
Pet food producer, Ridley, has sold its 25 per cent share in an Inverell manufacturing facility.
Harris Farm Markets is teaming up with Clean Up Australia to campaign against single-use plastic bag...
Woolworths will be the first retail refund partner for the New South Wales Return and Earn Container...


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Online business continues to grow
Its a story that never seems to get old, but with a few reports published this week looking into different areas of growth of online business, it seems worth the occasional reminder that digital is still growing.
Firstly, the Global entertainment and media outlook from PwC outlines an expected growth of digital's share of all entertainment & media spending from 26% to 33%.
For the UK, PwC forecast a 4.8% increase over the next 4 years to £17.7 billion, with a rise of 11.2% for the online market (the only segment to be forecasted double digit growth.) However, although search advertising has previously been the main driver for the UK's online growth, social media and classified advertising are expected to be the source of the next wave of digital expansion.
Consumer spending on media and entertainment is expected to show slower growth of 2.7%, to hit £32.7bn by 2015, with £9.2bn being spent on accessing online media.
(Figures reported by NMA.co.uk)
Meanwhile, the IMRG Capgemini e-Retail index reported that online consumer spend in May was up 18% on last year to £5.3bn – equating to an average spend of £85 per person, with a total of £27.5 billion spent by consumers this year so far. By omitting travel (with "big ticket" spending in categories such as travel, electrical and home & garden still seeing the impact of the recession), an even more impressive growth of 21.5% is reported.
A similar report from the Office of National Statistics (PDF link) claims that ecommerce now accounts for 9.4% of the total retail market (excluding automotive fuel), up from 7.4% last year and 8.5% in April.
But that's not to say that everything touched by digital turns to gold, as the chief executive of Guardian Media Group announced £33m in losses for last year, as while readership is moving online, revenues aren't following at the same pace, saying that they could run out of cash in three to five years if the business operations did not change.
The group is now committed to a "digital first" strategy, aiming to double digital revenues to nearly £100m by 2016. Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger said that an "open" digital philosophy would be embraced, bringing in contributions from beyond the ranks of its own journalists.
The move indicates that the Guardian doesn't believe that the decline in the print edition can be stopped or reversed, with Miller saying that "All newspapers will ultimately exit print, but we’re putting no timeframe on that.", and Rusbridger saying that "Every newspaper is on a journey into some kind of digital future. That doesn't mean getting out of print, but it does require a greater focus of attention, imagination and resource on the various forms that digital future is likely to take."
But rather than abandon the physical product, the newspaper could expect to see a redesign, aiming to be "as relevant at 9am as 9pm" and aiming to emulate "Newsnight not News at Ten."
Top Level Domain Names (the last part of web addresses- ".com", ".org", ".int" etc.) have, until now, been intended to refer to either the geographic location of the web services, or provide information about the sort of services on offer (for example ".gov" indicating a US governmental agency, ".biz" indicating a business, ".mobi" indicating a site for mobile devices etc.)
ICANN – the body that oversees the management of internet names and addresses – have changed the system, allowing "groups" to create top level domains in any language or script.
What this means is that – in theory – large corporations (with $180,000+ to spare) will be able to set up a top level ".google" or ".msn" domain for their own use. What is more likely is that we will see more useful naming systems- so perhaps in a few years, you will get Premiership football updates from "premiership.sport" or "football.news", listen to music from "itunes.music", or find a nearby restaurant at "london.food" or "food.london". (Maybe you will end up finding us at "emergingspaces.media" – unless we can find the cash for "emerging.spaces"…)
ICANN have published a full guide (PDF link) to how the new system will work, and there is a useful 9 things you need to know post over at Mashable.com.
Mobile applications for catch-up TV
An ITV Player Android application has been launched, giving mobile access to ITV's catch-up TV services. Available across all Android 2.2-compatible devices, the app is free, although ITV haven't ruled out micropayments for content in the future.
With similar apps expected for Apple tablets and smartphones later in the year, this follows releases earlier this year of mobile applications for iPlayer and 4OD.
4OD's application is currently free, carrying sponsorship from Heineken, but it is understood that the long term strategy is to provide access for a one-off payment.
iPlayer is free for UK users but also this week, the BBC announced the first stage of a global rollout would begin with Western Europe. (Source: NMA.com) The international iPlayer would be a "different proposition" to the UK version– instead of serving as a catch-up service for broadcast TV content, the iPlayer will be the only way of accessing BBC content, which will be available for a monthly subscription of "less than £6", with a definitive amount yet to be announced.
Disclosure: Heineken is a Starcom MediaVest Group client.
A year since the launch of the iPad, and still no official Facebook iPad app- even though the iPhone app was ready as soon as the App Store opened.
Apparently, not for long though. According to a New York times report, an official Facebook iPad app is understood to be in the final stages of testing- although the official word from Facebook is "nothing to announce now."
But there is some interesting discussion going on around Facebook's future involvement with native apps for iOS devices.
TechCrunch has reported about a project at Facebook going under the codename "Project Spartan", aimed at building a web application in HTML5, targeted at Mobile Safari users. Like the FT app we noted recently, the web app would bypass Apple's App Store, creating a platform that Facebook would be able to build on without having to follow Apple's rules and guidelines.
This highlights some important shifts that are going on with online platforms. As a platform owner, Apple are in control of what goes onto iOS– whether that is the recently announced integration with Twitter in iOS5, or the Apps that are allowed in the App Store.
But Facebook are a software platform– developers can build applications that work within Facebook. For their platform to work effectively across both desktop and mobile devices, they need to have control over it. On the technical front, this means that applications that work within Facebook need to be able to work on all sorts of devices– including ones that can't/won't/don't support technology like Flash (which appears to be the main drive behind the Spartan project.)
Another post over at Techcrunch suggests that Facebook's PR is none too happy about the news being broken, suggesting that Apple aren't aware of what a Facebook platform that bypasses Apple's App Store might be able to offer. Because if Facebook want to develop features like Facebook Credits which allow for payments within Facebook, then they will need to either figure a way to operate within Apple's guidelines (which includes Apple's 30% cut of in-app payments), or find an alternative way of reaching users of Apple's applications.
Perhaps Apple won't mind payments made in Facebook credits (provided Facebook don't directly sell them within the application.) But it seems a safe bet that Facebook won't want to be building all their future plans on assumptions of what Apple might or might not allow– both now and in the future.
But Apple aren't the only ones who can control what goes onto their platform– as a surprising story from the US shows, where the New York Post is apparently blocking iPad users from accessing their website.
Although access to the site is free to web browsers on the desktop and other mobile devices (including the iPhone), iPad users attempting to visit the site (either the homepage, or following links posted elsewhere) will see a message asking them to download the iPad application from the App Store – and pay either a subscription of $6.99/month or $74.99/year to access the content.
Currently, iPad users can still use a browser other than Safari (the iPads default) to access the website– or use an alternative device. We can only assume that this is not a strategic decision in itself, but simply a step towards the implementation of a full paywall strategy and other devices will see similar blocks as soon as alternative applications are in place.


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"We gathered last night to recognize and thank McDonald’s top restaurant managers who have been and continue to be essential to our success—working hard each and every day towards making our customers smile," said Alan Feldman, president of McDonald’s USA. "We are proud of their daily accomplishments and the outstanding examples they set. They truly exemplify the qualities Ray Kroc himself believed in."
Winners were nominated by their individual owner/operators and chosen based upon success in meeting selected criteria, such as operational excellence, reinforcing McDonald's commitment to people, and building the business. Each winner received a specially created trophy and a monetary cash prize. In addition to the banquet, the winners spent a day with senior management sharing their ideas about what it takes to run a McDonald's restaurant.
Ray Kroc, who founded McDonald’s at age 52, when most people his age were considering retirement, was a true entrepreneur and able to build the McDonald’s business because he believed in the people who worked for him. Kroc was known for saying, "None of us is as good as all of us," because he believed that every person involved in the company equally contributed to its success.
The five times weekly e-newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on the latest industry news and additions to this website.


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TOKYO — Fast Retailing Co. Ltd. has tapped former Bally chief executive officer Berndt Hauptkorn to helm the European business of its Uniqlo chain.
Hauptkorn starts his new job Wednesday as the ceo of Uniqlo Europe, a newly created role. Hauptkorn will report to both Nobuo Domae, executive vice president and Fast Retailing senior group officer, and to Fast Retailing ceo Tadashi Yanai, according to a company spokesman. Hauptkorn will be based between London and Paris.
A Stella McCartney sketch of a custom dress made from protein-based silk in partnership with biotech lab Bolt Threads. The dress will be displayed at The Museum of Modern Art's upcoming design exhibition, "Items: Is Fashion Modern?"


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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants to charge customers more to buy some products online than in stores, part of the company’s efforts to boost profits and drive store traffic as it competes with Amazon.com Inc.
The world’s biggest retailer has quietly raised prices for some
food and household items sold on its U.S. website according to people familiar with the matter and comparisons
between online and in-store prices.. . . more


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29 June 2009 00:00 [Source: ICB]
Producers are increasingly prioritizing a switch to sustainable chemistry, but many perceive significant hurdles, as a recent ICIS/Genomatica survey discovered
SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY and green chemicals are receiving plenty of industry and media attention. Producers and their customers are looking to reduce dependence on petrochemical feedstocks and are seeking instead to utilize renewable feedstocks. At the same time, they would like to switch to processes with lower energy intensity and reduced environmental impact.
Of the 800-plus respondents to the ICIS/Genomatica survey, over half (57%) said their company was already engaged in sustainable chemistry practices and that this engagement would continue during the current downturn. A similar percentage agreed that their customers had expressed an interest in sustainably produced chemicals.
Besides this customer-driven interest, there are also cost and strategic drivers. Nearly half (46%) believe there is an economic advantage to switching manufacturing process inputs to renewable feedstocks, such as sugars, starches and biomass; and 57% agreed that their company should seek to reduce exposure to the petroleum-based commodity markets.
Christophe Schilling, CEO of California, US-based technology start-up Genomatica, has observed this trend firsthand. "From all of our discussions with chemical producers,hydrocarbon pricing volatility is proving to be an increasing burden on today's chemical industry," he notes.
"With well over 90% of all chemicals coming from hydrocarbons, there is a need to diversify the feedstock portfolio. That is making chemical executives increasingly open to petro-alternatives that improve returns and help stabilize feedstock costs."
Nearly half (47%) of all those surveyed said they were already using renewable feedstocks or agents in their manufacturing process. Of this 47%, half were using sugars and/or other carbohydrates, and half were using some form of plant-derived material. Just over one-third of those who are already active in renewables said they were using bacteria and yeasts in their production processes.
For some respondents (31%), exploitation of sustainable chemistry processes is already a priority, while even more (43%) commented that it would be a priority in the future.
Some 71% of those replying to the online questionnaire noted that it was important or very important for their company to be perceived as a front-runner is terms of sustainable chemicals. This point was further emphasized by the fact that most firms claim to be addressing sustainability on a company-wide or at least a management-level basis.
However, 10% admitted to approaching it only at the business unit level and a sizeable minority - some 20% - revealed that the issue was not yet a high priority or was only seen as a press relations opportunity.
When asked who the main front-runners were at present, the major producers evidently sprang first to mind. Leading the list were chemical majors BASF of Germany and Dow Chemical and DuPont, of the US, followed a little lower down by the likes of the UK's BP and the Anglo-Dutch Shell, Germany's Bayer and specialty chemical producer Clariant, of Switzerland. Also among the top 10 choice were US agriculture products giants Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland and specialty polymer producer NatureWorks, a joint venture between Cargill and Japanese chemical company Teijin.
"Chemical professionals want their companies to embrace sustainable chemical production,"adds Schilling. "Perhaps moreimportantly, their customers are beginning to expect the same thing."
Although the survey in theory indicates a fairly positive message on sustainable chemistry, in practice, respondents cited several challenges. The cost and time to develop a sustainable chemical program were high on many minds.
Estimates of the time needed to go from conception to commercial production were lengthy. Periods varied from five to 10 years (47%) and over 10 years (14%). Only 39% thought such programs could be implemented in less than five years.
Says Schilling: "Undoubtedly, there is a history ofsomewhatlengthy development timelines around commercializing renewable bioprocesses and creating markets for renewable polymers.Creating markets is always a time-consuming endeavor, but there is a lot we can do to bring new technologies forwardmore rapidly that will produce chemicals with existing markets.
"It is up to companies like Genomatica and our colleaguesdeveloping this next generation of sustainable manufacturing processes to demonstrate how the wealth of technological advances witnessed in the past decade will allow for reduced development timelines and costs."
Other factors making sustainable chemistry uptake difficult were technical capabilities (44%), adapting existing plant and infrastructure (36%) and the attitude and awareness of internal management (26%). Such hesitation is not unreasonable given the current steep recession.
"Jumping in with both feet is not a requirement," adds Schilling. "Sustainable plants have lower capital costs, so they can be economical at lower chemical production volumes than traditional petrochemical facilities. This allows companies concerned about cost during the current economic downturn to try smaller plantsand match capacity expansion with demand more precisely when the upward cycle begins."
When asked what their reservations about sustainable chemistry were, respondents cited the future pricing of renewable feedstocks (53%) and the availability of feedstock (52%) as their two main worries. But they were also worried about the fact that the chemicals would not be the same as the petrochemical-derived products they were substituting (26%) and that they might not have predictable, repeatable properties (23%).
As the respondents recognize, some sustainable chemical alternatives are chemically different from theproducts they replace. Fewer seem to realize, however, that many bio-manufactured chemicals are identical to existing petro-based products.Feedstock anxiety shouldn't be a surprise, since most chemical executives haven't had a reason to track renewable commodity markets.
Other issues included the investment required in new or retrofitted plant (32%) and the need to train and retrain staff (12%).
The survey indicates broadly that there is certainly much interest in sustainable chemistry and that many companies are embarking on this pathway to sustainability. But there are significant concerns about the cost, the feedstocks and time and investment required to move to commercial production based on bio-derived raw materials.
In many ways, it is up to the large chemical majors and the smaller, specialist start-ups to show the way forward in this area. The big producers because they have the funds and longer term perspective; the start-ups as they have the innovation and drive to demonstrate successful projects and products.
"The research corroborates what Genomatica has learned from engaging chemical executives," explains Schilling."The industry believes in a sustainable future. Itis seeking technologies that will work at commercial scaleand provide improved cost positions using less energy with lower carbon emissions. Now it is time for us all to deliver on this opportunity."
COMPANY PERCEPTIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY
We asked readers how they defined sustainability in terms of their business. The majority said to look at two main areas almost equally: the environmental qualities of the end-products and the carbon footprint of internal processes - largely determined by energy usage.
Fewer companies are looking at external energy consumption and impacts, that is, those associated with supply chain operations - only 45% of respondents identified this as very important, compared with 67% and 65% saying end-products and internal carbon footprint were a very important consideration in terms of sustainability.
But when asked to rank current and future business priorities overall, the environmental impact of products and processes slipped well down. Top priorities are inevitably raw material sourcing and pricing, cost reductions and maximizing cash flow.
Only the fourth priority brings up new product development. Seventh was reducing environmental impact operations.
When asked to rank the same critical priorities for the longer term, new product development surged to first place, and increasing shareholder value rose from ninth to second.
But, even longer term, product and operational environmental concerns are not, it seems, of prime importance. This sits somewhat at odds with the survey results suggesting that many companies have a high focus on sustainable chemistry. But perhaps this can be rationalized in terms of "good to do" and "critical to do" priorities.
The ICIS/Genomatica online survey was undertaken on May 11 and attracted over 800 replies from senior industry executives. An introductory article appeared in that week's issue of ICIS Chemical Business.
Nearly one-third of respondents were either CEO, chairman or president, or a vice president of their company, while a further 25% were general managers. Most came from either specialty (37%), petrochemical (34%) or polymer companies (34%), with the balance working mainly in agrochemicals and fertilizers, fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and commodity inorganics.
Some 35% of respondents worked for companies with turnover greater than $1bn/year (€711m/year), while 40% worked for smaller businesses, of under $500m in annual sales.
The geographic split of respondents was as follows: Europe (32%), North America (31%), Asia (21%), and Middle East (5%), with the balance in South America, Australasia and Africa.
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Flying cameras hover just above whizzing tear gas canisters and water cannon as protesters demand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra step down.
Transportation official in Thailand says the ride-sharing service does not use licensed vehicles, while a judge in Spain says Uber drivers lack official authorization.
Using high-definition NASA footage, a filmmaker has compiled a film made from timelapsed snippets of Earth as seen from the ISS.
Doors open at Apple stores across the globe as the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus hit the shelves.
View the passage of time in a new light with Human Clock TV, a rotating set of videos showing the time in minute-long vignettes that can be funny and fascinating.
The car-booking service was touted as a complementary add-on for GrabTaxi's taxi booking app, but in practice, the flat hiring fees position it as competition for Uber Asia's transport network.
The search giant will use Skybox's satellite-photo tech to improve Google Maps -- but it also has more ambitious plans.
A Bangkok-based photography studio has made Jurassic Park's famous kitchen scene even more tense and terrifying.
Boeing is working with Japan Airlines to service a plane after maintenance workers found its battery smoking.
The company argues, according to a report out of Thailand, that Apple approved an unlicensed application for access in its App Store.