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Mylan (MYL) probably wouldn't win the People's Choice award for favorite public company if such an award existed. The drugmaker has come under fire from all sides this year for jacking up prices of its EpiPen auto-injector. Mylan's management had a chance to present its side of things in the company's third-quarter results conference call on Wednesday. Here's what they want you to know. (All quotes courtesy of S&P Global Market Intelligence.)
1. We're not just EpiPen
While many Americans think of EpiPen when they think about Mylan, the company's executives stressed that Mylan isn't about just one product. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch noted that the company is "anticipating EpiPen's contribution to be approximately 6% of total sales in 2017."
There's no question, though, that EpiPen's importance to the company's bottom line was much greater in the third quarter. Mylan reported a big loss primarily because of a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and other government agencies over allegations that the company improperly classified its EpiPen products so it could pay lower rebates to Medicaid.
2. We didn't create the system, we just play by its rules
If you think Mylan's executives would express any remorse over the controversial pricing of EpiPen, think again. Heather Bresch said, "We have acknowledged that the current system, which we didn't create, but which we must compete in, was not built for consumerism..."
Bresch noted that Mylan isn't "blaming the system." She said that Mylan has started "a discussion about the transparency that's needed and that people understand the complexity around the pricing."
Mylan's team didn't (and likely never will) say that the price hike for EpiPen was wrong. Instead, they maintain the higher price was justified but that consumers shouldn't have to pay as much. Bresch said she wished the company "had better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration of the rising out-of-pocket cost for a growing minority of patients who may have ended up paying full WAC [wholesale acquisition cost] or more when they went to the pharmacy counter."
3. We're not limited to the U.S.
In her opening remarks, Heather Bresch emphasized that "Mylan is much more than any one product and our reach goes far beyond any one market." She went on to state that while "the future of the U.S. healthcare system maybe unclear, one thing is certain, the world can count on Mylan..."
This sentiment was echoed throughout the call. Mylan president Rajiv Malik underscored that Mylan remained focused on its global business despite public attention over EpiPen.
It makes sense that Mylan's management would focus on its global reach. The company's generic drug sales increased solidly in international markets. Only in the U.S. did Mylan report sluggish generic sales growth.
4. Biosimilars will fuel growth
Mylan likes the potential for its biosimilars. Rajiv Malik pointed to the company's recent submission for U.S. approval of a biosimilar to Herceptin. This was Mylan's first biosimilar regulatory filing in the U.S.
The company announced a deal with Momenta (MNTA) in January to develop and market six biosimilars. Mylan paid Momenta $45 million up front with up to $200 million to follow in milestone payments. Dosing in an early-stage study of Momenta's biosimilar to autoimmune disease drug Orencia began last week.
When the Momenta collaboration was first announced, Heather Bresch said biosimilars would be an important driver of future growth for Mylan. Malik confirmed this view in his comments, stating that the company's "broad portfolio of biosimilars" would help fuel Mylan's expansion.
5. Looking for "bolt-on" deals
Heather Bresch said business development efforts "going forward will emphasize bolt-on deals." Mylan CFO Kenneth Parks followed up, stating that the company had the "financial flexibility" to achieve its goals "while still deploying capital strategically for bolt-on acquisitions."
When asked what "bolt-on" really meant, Bresch replied that Mylan didn't "need to do any big acquisition" like the failed attempt last year to buy Perrigo. She said the company would instead focus on complementing its current therapeutic categories and products.
Beyond the words
Despite Mylan's attempts to change the subject, I suspect public and political pressure on the company over its EpiPen pricing will remain a headwind for the company. However, this should be an issue only for the near term.
The fundamentals for Mylan continue to be solid. Mylan's global reach and ability to make the "bolt-on" deals mentioned by Heather Bresch should help the company achieve solid earnings growth. Mylan's stock appears to be priced attractively thanks in no small part to the EpiPen controversies. I think Mylan will be a winner for investors with a long-term perspective.


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Big four banks crypto
CBA's move puts it at odds with its "Big Four" peers that together dominate the banking sector: National Australia Bank (NAB) (NAB. After one major Australian bank this week announced it'll give customers the option of trading crypto currencies, such as Bitcoin. “Big Four” banks explore cryptocurrency space. While the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) led the charge towards creating a retail cryptocurrency trading. BEST WAY TO EXCHANGE BITCOIN FOR LITECOIN
Loans and Credit : By removing the need for gatekeepers in the loan and credit industry, blockchain technology can make it more secure to borrow money and provide lower interest rates. Trade Finance : By replacing the cumbersome, paper-heavy bills of lading process in the trade finance industry, blockchain technology can create more transparency, security, and trust among trade parties globally.
Customer KYC and Fraud Prevention : By storing customer information on decentralized blocks, blockchain technology can make it easier and safer to share information between financial institutions. Read on for a deep dive into how blockchain technology could turn the traditional banking industry on its head while enabling new business models through technology. To learn about the other industries blockchain is affecting, take a look at our article on 65 industries blockchain could disrupt.
Payments Takeaways Blockchain technology offers a secure and cheap way of sending payments that cuts down on the need for verification from third parties and beats processing times for traditional bank transfers. Today, trillions of dollars slosh around the world via an antiquated system of slow payments and added fees. The number of confirmed Bitcoin transactions per day has grown from just over 50, in January to over , as of August Source: Blockchain.
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether are built on public blockchains Bitcoin and Ethereum , respectively that anyone can use to send and receive money. Public blockchains cut down on the need for trusted third parties to verify transactions and give people around the world access to fast, cheap, and borderless payments.
Bitcoin transactions currently take 25 minutes on average to settle, although this can lengthen to hours or even days in extreme cases. And due to their decentralized and complex nature, crypto-based transactions are difficult for governments and regulatory bodies to control, observe, and shut down. Developers are also working on scaling cheaper solutions to process crypto transactions more quickly. Bitcoin Cash and TRON, for example, have relatively low-priced transactions at an average of less than a penny each.
Examples of improved payments through blockchain While cryptocurrencies are a long way from completely replacing fiat currencies like the US dollar when it comes to payments, the last couple of years have seen mostly upward growth in transaction volume for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether.
Some companies are using blockchain technology to improve B2B payments in developing economies. One example is BitPesa , which facilitates blockchain-based payments in countries like Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda. Source: BitPesa BitPesa is also widely used for remittances sent throughout sub-Saharan Africa, the most expensive region in the world for sending money. Blockchain companies are also focusing on enabling businesses to be able to accept cryptocurrencies as payment.
For example, BitPay , a payment service provider that helps merchants accept and store bitcoin payments, has a number of integrations with e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. In , it announced support for DoorDash and Uber Eats payments. To pay for their food, cryptocurrency owners have 3 different payment options: purchase an Uber Eats or DoorDash gift card with their crypto wallet, pay with their BitPay Card, or order from Menufy or Takeaway. Ethereum-based payments platform AirFox , which was acquired by Brazil-based retailer Via Varejo in May , partnered with MasterCard to allow customers to pay using its banQi app at global points of sale, as well as at every Via Varejo location.
At the time, this enabled consumers to pay using the HUPAYX mobile app and point-of-sale infrastructure at over , stores, including duty-free stores and shopping complexes. In the payroll space, companies such as Bitwage and PaymentX enable companies to pay their employees in cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology is also being used to facilitate micropayments, which represent amounts usually less than a dollar.
For instance, SatoshiPay , an online cryptocurrency wallet, allows users to pay tiny amounts to access paid online content on a pay-per-view basis. Users can load their wallets with bitcoin, US dollars, or any other payment token supported by the app. One big factor driving the coming disruption of the payments industry is the fact that the infrastructure supporting it is just as liable to disruption — the world of clearance and settlements.
Email 2. Clearance and Settlements Systems Takeaways Distributed ledger technology could allow transactions to be settled directly and keep track of transactions better than existing protocols like SWIFT. Ripple and R3, among others, are working with traditional banks to bring greater efficiency to the sector.
The fact that an average bank transfer — as described above — takes 3 days to settle has a lot to do with the way our financial infrastructure was built. Moving money around the world is a logistical nightmare for the banks themselves. Today, a simple bank transfer — from one account to another — has to bypass a complicated system of intermediaries, from correspondent banks to custodial services, before it ever reaches any kind of destination. The two bank balances have to be reconciled across a global financial system composed of a wide network of traders, funds, asset managers, and more.
Each correspondent bank maintains different ledgers, at the originating bank and the receiving bank, which means that these different ledgers have to be reconciled at the end of the day. The actual money is then processed through a system of intermediaries.
Each intermediary adds additional cost to the transaction and creates a potential point of failure. That means that instead of having to rely on a network of custodial services and correspondent banks, transactions could be settled directly on a public blockchain. This stands in contrast to current banking systems, which clear and settle a transaction days after a payment.
That might help alleviate the high costs of maintaining a global network of correspondent banks. Examples of improved transactions through blockchain Ripple , an enterprise blockchain services provider, is one of the most prominent players working on clearance and settlement. While the company is best known for its associated cryptocurrency XRP, the venture-backed company itself is building out blockchain-based solutions for banks to use for clearance and settlement.
Ripple currently has over customers in over 40 countries signed up to experiment with its blockchain network. Source: Ripple Ripple also helps settle cross-border transactions in a shorter period. If a trader in Mexico wants to send money to their counterpart in the US, a traditional bank transaction would require that both traders have local currency accounts in the countries in which they wish to receive their money. Ripple removes this requirement. The trader in Mexico can simply use Mexican pesos to buy XRP tokens through the exchange to pay their American counterpart.
And this entire transaction can happen in a fraction of a second, Ripple claims. R3 is another major player working on distributed ledger technology for banks. SNB successfully completed Phase II of the project in January , which tested digital currency for transaction settlement with 5 commercial banks. The collaboration aims to enable financial service providers to develop central bank digital currency applications. It also partnered with OneHypernet to develop a blockchain multilateral netting solution for the pooling of funds to easily execute payments.
Projects like Ripple and R3 are working with traditional banks to bring greater efficiency to the sector. Blockchain technology is also playing a role in the political sphere. Blockchain projects are doing more than just making existing processes more efficient, however.
The fundraising space is a notable example of this. Fundraising Takeaways In initial coin offerings ICOs , entrepreneurs raise money by selling tokens or coins, allowing them to fundraise without a traditional investor or VC firm and the due diligence that accompanies an investment from one. Raising money through venture capital is an arduous process. Entrepreneurs put together decks, sit through countless meetings with partners, and endure long negotiations over equity and valuation in the hopes of exchanging some chunk of their company for a check.
In contrast, some companies are raising funds via initial coin offerings ICOs , powered by public blockchains like Ethereum and Bitcoin. In an ICO, projects sell tokens, or coins, in exchange for funding often denominated in bitcoin or ether. The value of the token is — at least in theory — tied to the success of the blockchain company.
Investing in tokens is a way for investors to bet directly on usage and value. Through ICOs, blockchain companies can circumvent the conventional fundraising process by selling tokens directly to the public. Some high-profile ICOs have raised hundreds of millions — even billions — of dollars before proof of a viable product.
Since then, however, the EOS blockchain has floundered, due to issues ranging from a dwindling user base to important developers moving on from the project. ICOs themselves have also struggled in the years since While use remained hot into , the bubble burst halfway through the year, sending ICO funding into a downward spiral. In recent years, ICOs have also been challenged by regulators, who have closely monitored the sales and are cracking down on violations.
In February , for instance, the SEC brought charges against individuals that allegedly engaged in digital asset fraud, which included unregistered ICOs. At the same time, initial coin offerings represent a paradigm shift in how companies finance development. First, ICOs occur globally and online, giving companies access to an exponentially larger pool of investors. Second, ICOs give companies immediate access to liquidity.
Compare that to 10 years for venture-backed startups. Venture capital firms have taken notice, with Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, and Union Square Ventures, among others, all directly investing in ICOs, as well as gaining exposure by investing in cryptocurrency hedge funds. And I hope it does. The democratization of everything is what has excited me about technology from the beginning.
The idea behind the ICO is to sell tokens to users and bootstrap a payment platform on top of the messaging network. If, as blockchain advocates predict, the next Facebook, Google, and Amazon are built around decentralized protocols and launched via ICO, it will eat directly into investment banking margins. Several promising blockchain companies have emerged around this space. Companies like CoinList , which began as a collaboration between Protocol Labs and AngelList, are bringing digital assets to the mainstream by helping blockchain companies structure legal and compliant ICOs.
CoinList has developed a bank-grade compliance process that blockchain companies can access through a streamlined API, helping projects ensure everything from due diligence to investor accreditation. Investment banks today are experimenting with automation to help eliminate the thousands of work hours that go into an IPO.
And CoinList is just the start. A number of companies are emerging around the new ICO ecosystem, from Waves , a platform for storing, managing, and issuing digital assets, to Republic. Of course — given regulatory pronouncements — ICO activity should be taken with a grain of salt, particularly given that the bubble of unregulated ICOs largely burst after This is not just limited to company fundraising but also to the underlying fabric of securities.
Securities Takeaways Blockchain tech removes the middleman in asset rights transfers, lowering asset exchange fees, giving access to wider global markets, and reducing the instability of the traditional securities market. To buy or sell assets like stocks, debt, and commodities, you need a way to keep track of who owns what. Financial markets today accomplish this through a complex chain of brokers, exchanges, central security depositories, clearinghouses, and custodian banks.
These different parties have been built around an outdated system of paper ownership that is not only slow but can be inaccurate and prone to deception. Say you want to buy a share of Apple stock. You might place an order through a stock exchange, which matches you with a seller. Chrono is an Australian fintech company which specializes in the utilization of blockchain technology as a means to streamline HR processes and enable people to embrace new employment opportunities.
In order to comply with all regulatory requirements, Chrono had to team up with a licensed bank to process transactions. As a result, the company had to begin working with a small bank whose name Chrono did not disclose. Judo Bank focuses on serving small and medium businesses in need of funding.
Judo value the speed and efficiency of their operations and are always ready to listen to their client without making them wait for several months on end. Although Judo is not on the list of banks that accept Bitcoin , it still can be considered a crypto-friendly institution. The CEO noted that the bank reviews every business case individually.
Nevertheless, in order to facilitate the process, the CEO said that certain regulatory issues needed to be resolved. There is a chance that companies like Chrono will have to partner with Judo Bank to create their crypto and blockchain projects.
That became possible thanks to its partnership with Gemini, a crypto exchange and custodian, as well as blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis. Volt wanted to get rid of the practices such as hidden banking fees and unfavorable deals for loyal clients, which have become normal among many institutions.
Instead, Volt wanted to offer an exceptional quality of customer experience. Before its closing in June , Volt had partnered with BTC Markets, a major Australian crypto exchange, to provide its customers with an opportunity to trade crypto assets.
BTCM clients were about to have access to a corporate cash management account on Volt, which will facilitate the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies for them. Volt was to become virtually the first among Australian banks that accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Unfortunately, the bank announced it would permanently close its deposit-taking business and voluntarily return its banking licence, citing funding issues Australian Banks Opposing Crypto Bendigo Bank Bendigo Bank is not a major financial institution in Australia, but it still has a substantial number of clients who use crypto and actively trade digital assets.
Unfortunately, it seems that the bank is not supportive of the activities of such customers. Yet, it is unclear the maximum sum and frequency of purchases permitted by the bank. It is certain, though, that money laundering and terrorism claims have no proof, but organizations such as Bendigo Bank continue to use them as legitimate grounds for refusing to serve clients.
ANZ is a top-four bank in the country that, despite having numerous clients, still rejects the option of providing cryptocurrency services to them. Elliott said that it was difficult to find a proper way to service the area of cryptocurrencies under the current regulatory situation and guarantee safety to all stakeholders. It seems that ANZ simply lacks a clear vision of how cryptocurrencies can be incorporated into its business model.
HSBC has a presence in dozens of countries around the world and services millions of clients. Essentially, these banks are more invested in offering cryptocurrency services. Perhaps, in the future, when more banks will open themselves to crypto trading, HSBC will join them.
How to accept Cryptocurrencies While the majority of Australian banks decide to stay away from dealing with cryptocurrencies, Australian merchants can begin accepting digital assets as payment without their assistance. NOWPayments has designed several tools for accepting cryptocurrencies that businesses can utilize to deploy their crypto payments gateway.
Crypto invoices are a popular and user-friendly way to accept cryptocurrencies. Businesses can create crypto invoices and specify the sum and the payment address for their clients. Crypto invoices can be reused an unlimited number of times. NOWPayments also has a web-based Point-of-Sale solution that merchants can employ to issue individual invoices to customers.
NOWPayments also has developed a solution for charities and bloggers. They can accept crypto donations from their audiences with the help of widgets, buttons, and links. Conclusion Research shows that Australian banks are not eager to embrace cryptocurrencies.
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When Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced on Sept. 16 that the city would extend the outdoor dining season past the original Halloween end-date in response to the ongoing pandemic, it came as welcome news to Charles Street restaurants struggling to stay in business, but now, those same restaurants are bracing for the inevitable onset of colder temperatures, as well as other realities of winter in New England.
Bin 26 Enoteca is doing its part by embracing the change in the weather with the launch of a new campaign called “Bin 26 Has Got You Covered,” where patrons can purchase (at cost) small blankets made from a synthetic blend and adorned with the restaurant’s logo for $8 a piece, along with fuzzy, wool hats for $25 each, with 100 percent of proceeds from the sale of the hats going to BINA Farm Center – a nonprofit that offers a variety of therapeutic and recreational equine programs to people with and without special needs.
“The idea is to cover your head and your body with a blanket and enjoy dining outdoors,” said Babak Bina, who, with his sister, Azita Bina-Seibel, owns and operates the longstanding restaurant at 26 Charles St.
Besides providing space heaters outdoors, Bin 26 also took the additional step last weekend of wrapping the exterior of the upper portion of the patio in clear plastic to offer al fresco diners resistance from the wind.
And inside, Bin 26 recently began using a machine that produces “food-friendly” disinfectant fumes to sanitize the interior of the restaurant after each service in the morning, in the afternoon and at night.
“Obviously, we’re still wiping everything throughout the service area,” Bina said, “but this is an extra measure we’re taking to assure that everything else is getting sanitized as well.”
Bin 26 is also now considering purchasing air purifiers for the interior of the restaurant, but since each one costs around $300 and can only cover about 600 square feet, this could be more than the restaurant can afford to spend at the moment.
“The weather has been great, and we want to stretch that out for as long as we can,” Bina said, “and we’re doing everything we can to keep the interior of the restaurant sanitary and healthy for patrons.”
In early July, the Paramount became the first restaurant on Charles Street to offer outdoor dining when the city allowed them to convert two parking spaces into space for four tables, and Diego Osorno, the manager and chef of the restaurant at 44 Charles St., credits this gift from the city for helping the business stay afloat during these uncertain times. But even so, The Paramount is now bringing in only around $6,000 in receipts on a normal Saturday or Sunday, down from $10,000 pre-pandemic.
The Paramount’s inside occupancy was also cut in half due to safety measure enacted by Gov. Charlie Baker – going from space for 48 diners to only 24 – but the 20 diners can now be accommodated outside has helped the restaurant recoup some of its losses.
On the flipside, it has also become commonplace for some would-be patrons to abandon the idea of dining at The Paramount if outdoor seating isn’t available – in fact, just last week, a party of 15 left when they were told they couldn’t eat outside, costing the restaurant around $500 in receipts, Osorno estimates.
The Paramount also recently tried to make the outdoor dining experience more comfortable for its patrons by purchasing two inexpensive electric heaters, Osorno said, but after a fuse blew in one last week, the restaurant is now faced with the decision of buying five propane heaters at the cost of around $280 a piece – and that doesn’t even include the cost of propane.
Anthony Ackil, CEO and founder of Streetlight Ventures, a small business-service company that now owns and operates The Upper Crust’s original 20 Charles St. location (as well as its five other outposts), is also thankful for the agreeable weather, as well as for Mayor Walsh’s decision to extend the outdoor dining season in the city.
But he also knows all too well that Mother Nature is one reality that can’t be bargained with or sidestepped.
“We want to stay open for outdoor dining for as long as we can,” he said. “We’ve bought heaters, and we’re doing everything we can to make it comfortable outside, but there comes a point where it won’t work anymore.”
And like restaurants everywhere, The Upper Crust must also anticipate living with the coronavirus for the foreseeable future.
“We’re doing everything we can to accommodate outdoor dining as late in the winter and early in the spring,” Ackil added, “because we don’t see anything changing over the next six months.”


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In five years, Dell went from being the poster boy of ignoring the emerging social Web to becoming a model for how to orient a company around social media. Its journey began in 2005, when Facebook was barely beyond a dorm room project. Problems with Dell customer service percolated on blogs under the moniker “Dell Hell.” The company, founded by Michael Dell with a focus on customers, reoriented itself to be more responsive.It’s gone on to become a social media star, ranked by Vitrue as one of the 10 social-media brands of 2009. It has built a strong social-media team that focuses on entwining those technologies within all aspects of its business, from customer service to marketing to research. Its activities include racking up $6.5 million in sales through Twitter, connecting with 3.5 million consumers on social sites and its own, and soliciting consumer input through sites like Dell IdeaStorm and Dell Tech Center.
“When we first jumped headfirst into this, we started with engaging and listening to consumers,” says Manish Mehta, vp of social media and community at Dell. “Hopefully that moved the needle. The business will at some point question how this is helping the P&L. That’s why taking a step back and finding the value drivers is so important.”
The company’s push into social channels left it with a conundrum: How could it evaluate efforts that were taking place all over the company to see if they were worth the investment? This fall, Dell’s social-media team mapped out a defined framework to guide those decisions. It identified a set of value drivers for the customer and for the business, looking for programs that overlapped the two sets. For consumers, Dell identified drivers like connections, recognition and advice. For its business, its drivers are things such as revenue, brand health, share of voice and customer sentiment.
“They are light years beyond what others are doing,” says Aaron Strout, CMO at social-media firm Powered in Austin, Texas. “They spend a lot of time thinking through how to translate that into real dollars. Quite frankly a lot of companies haven’t done a good job at that.”
Take the Dell Tech Center, one of the company’s less sexy social initiatives. The Tech Center is an online community for IT managers to go and connect directly with Dell engineers. Dell tracks it success based on fundamental metrics, like members, questions posed and answered, and traffic to the site. It also charts how many large-enterprise customers have interacted with the site through a post-purchase survey. Yet one of the key metrics is harder to define: evidence that it’s helping deals close quicker and stripping out costs.
“We’ve found our salespeople are referring prospects in there,” says Richard Binhammer, a senior manager on Dell’s social-media team. “It’s shortening the sales cycles.”
Binhammer and Mehta agree the key to pushing forward with social media at the company is a commitment at senior levels. As a tech company that sells most of its products online, this is easier at Dell, although there’s still work to do, Mehta admits.
“We want to make this be completely embedded into the fabric of the company,” he says.


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Mahle Aftermarket has appointed a new operations manager at its UK headquarters near Wolverhampton to oversee the expansion of its warehousing facilities and installation of a new parts handling systems.
This year’s Automechanika show in Frankfurt, Germany is the scene of several debuts for Mahle Aftermarket. The Mahle business unit specialising in spare parts is introducing its new Mahle Service Solutions division; this new division expands Mahle Aftermarket’s product portfolio to include repair shop equipment. Other first-time highlights on display this year (hall 3.0, stands A11 and A20) include complete solutions from Mahle for air management, oil management, piston systems and cylinder components, and engine cooling.
Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems (BMTS) has founded a wholly owned subsidiary in the People’s Republic of China. The company will be called Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. and the HQ is currently being built on the Mahle premises at the Shanghai location. In a first stage it will mainly produce turbochargers for petrol engines destined for the Chinese market in a new building covering 5,000 square metres.
German car parts supplier Mahle Group acquired all of the shares in its former joint venture company Mahle IPL Limited. Mahle had already been a majority partner in the joint venture with a share of about 60 percent.
Automotive filter and engine component supplier Mahle Filter Systems UK has appointed Phil Everitt as its new managing director. Everitt has been finance director of the company since 2002 and has over 25 years’ experience in the automotive sector, holding senior positions with TRW/Lucas and Rover.
He succeeds Ian Stanworth, who is taking early retirement after a career spanning 35 years in the automotive aftermarket, the last five of which were as Mahle’s MD
The UK subsidiary of the international Mahle group has completed the re-organisation of warehousing and administration functions, gearing up for further expansion in the aftermarket. The first phase took place late last year with a new, £2.5 million warehouse opening at Salisbury, doubling storage capacity to 40,000 square feet. Now, Mahle Filter Systems UK has relocated its administration to new offices at Oldbury in the West Midlands, in a 2,700 square feet building centrally located close to junction 2 of the M5.
Mahle Filter Systems UK has opened a new, purpose-built warehouse at Salisbury, doubling its storage capacity for automotive filters and engine components to 40,000 square feet. Investment in the new building was £2.5 million and it is equipped with the latest stock picking and handling systems. Products under storage include Mahle and Knecht oil, air, fuel and cabin filters and the range of Mahle Original engine components. Mahle says that the new facility will enable the company to meet its new business development strategy and to accommodate the expanding range of products for the UK and Irish aftermarkets.
Mahle International has increased its share in Izumi Piston Manufacturing Co, (Thailand) Ltd from 34 to 52 per cent. The company will now operate under Mahle Engine Components Thailand Ltd supplying the Thai automotive industry with 1.8 million pistons per year, predominantly for passenger car and commercial diesel engines. The 370 employees at the Bangkok location currently achieve sales of around 13.1 million euros. With 7 locations, Mahle now has a production capacity of 18 million pistons and is one of the largest suppliers in this sector on the most dynamic growth market. The announcement is retrospectively effective from 1 January.


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Adidas has unveiled its five year plan to boost its brand desirability, with an increased focus on its eCommerce offering and marketing a major part of it.Adidas Group has freshly launched its latest business strategy it is calling “creating the new”, a five-year strategy aimed at accelerating growth through increased “brand desirability”, said the company. The new business plan focuses on three major strategic choices: speed, cities and open source.Firstly, it aims to reduce production lead times and increase in-season creation. Its eCommerce business is a big part of this, with the group looking to push its eCommerce business to above 2 billion by 2020. It will also take an omni-channel approach for this, said the company. The company will evolve production capabilities to dramatically expand product customisation options for its consumers. This will include a shift of its manufacturing from Asia closer to its main markets, which will allow it to be quicker to respond to fast changing trends, according to Reuters.Next, it will continue growth through a focus on six global key cities: Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo. Across these cities, the adidas Group will over-proportionally invest in talent, attention and marketing spend, it said.Roland Auschel, executive board member, global sales commented that: “Global brands are created in global cities. If we win running in New York and Los Angeles, we will win running in the US. Therefore, we are committed to win market and mind share in key cities around the globe.”Finally, Adidas will focus investments across its core brands: adidas, Reebok and TaylorMade. The company has also launched open source to further strengthen the company’s ties with its consumers. Adidas plans to engage with consumers, athletes, retailers so as to build brand advocacy. At present, the company is working together with names such as Stella McCartney, Kanye West, BASF or Google.Herbert Hainer, CEO of Adidas group, said: “Our new strategy is built on speed, focus and openness. As a result, we will accelerate our growth story and deliver superior returns to our shareholders. I am very much looking forward to ‘creating the new’ together with the adidas Group’s more than 53,000 employees across the globe.”This move comes after Hainer has already abandoned two long term strategy plans. Hainer earlier remarked in a March 5 earnings call that the company has “turned our entire marketing organisation upside down” to let divisions such as running shoes and soccer cleats take charge of advertising.
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Lincoln MKC Concept
Luxury brands have been expanding into smaller vehicles for a while now, and the Lincoln MKC Concept unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show continues that trend. The smallest member so far of Ford's struggling lxuury brand has been the MKZ mid-size sedan, but the compact crossover concept shows the brand will go smaller. While it's built on the underpinnings of the 2013 Ford Escape, the MKC shares no body panels with that popular crossover. Instead, it layers on the luxury and shows off the usual Lincoln styling cues and the brand's signature all-glass roof. Inside, it replaces Ford's practical...
Lincoln MKC Concept: Luxury Compact Crossover At Detroit Auto Show
Some may bemoan the lack of a hybrid version of Ford's Escape crossover, but a range of efficient Ecoboost turbocharged engines still makes it a reasonably green pick among its peers. For those wanting a little more class, you may soon have that option. Lincoln has launched the MKC concept at the...Antony Ingram


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He's still D.R.E, but with some extra cash in his pocket.
E! News has confirmed that Apple has agreed to acquire Dr. Dre's streaming music service Beats Music, and Beats Electronics, which makes the popular Beats by Dre headphones, speakers and audio software for a cool $3 billion. Dre and his Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine will reportedly get $2.6 billion in cash and $400 million in Apple stock.
Additionally, the two business partners also now have jobs with Apple.
Talk about the deal of a lifetime!
"I've always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple," Iovine said in a statement. "The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple's unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple's deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special."
Apple CEO Tim Cook shared a happy photo of the bunch after the sale, tweeting, "Sharing a laugh with Jimmy, Dre, and @ . Excited to welcome the team to . It's all about the music."
Meanwhile, Dre posted a photo of his famous headphones on Instagram with the text, "Here's to the next episode. #AppleBeats," referencing his famous 2001 hit.


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Deliveroo is taking on 15,000 new riders after signing up 11,500 new restaurants as well as launching or extending partnerships with major brands.
The recruitment is on top of 15,000 already taken on since the start of the pandemic, reports The Mirror.
Deliveroo chief executive Will Shu said: “Riders are heroes and we are so proud of the vital role that they are carrying out in their local communities during the pandemic.
"It is fantastic that we can now recruit even more riders and will create a record 15,000 new opportunities by the end of the year.
"With a record number of riders and restaurant partners on the platform, we can now reach even more amazing customers across the UK, delivering the food that people need and want."
Deliveroo riders are self-employed, letting them choose which shifts to take and fit them around everything from job interviews to other work or even lectures and the company says they are paid well above minimum wage.
This year Deliveroo has partnered with Aldi, Co-Op, Waitrose and M&S to let them get food to people's doors.
Partnerships with Co-Op and Morrisons have also been extended in the past few months.
Then there have been new nationwide chains sign up or extend deals, from Threshers to Nando's and Pret.


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ERCOT adopts new demand reduction pilot program
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) approved a pilot this summer creating a new program to cut electric use during peak demand when power supplies are tight. "The Weather-Sensitive Emergency Response Service pilot is open to electric users — either as individual customers or as part of an aggregated group of consumers — who can reduce power use by at least 100 kilowatts, about the amount 20 homes use during peak demand," ERCOT said in a news release. Participants will be paid "based on how much they reduce demand." ERCOT can use this option when reserves drop below 2,300 megawatts, earlier than existing ERCOT programs.
“During the hottest hours of summer peak days, electric use by residential consumers represents about half of total demand, due mainly to increased use of air conditioning,” said ERCOT CEO Trip Doggett. “This pilot will provide new incentives for participants to reduce that weather-related consumption and support reliability for the entire grid."
ERCOT recently released its summer weather outlook, which sees "a significant chance that ERCOT will need to issue Energy Emergency Alerts and appeal for conservation on some days during the upcoming summer season." ERCOT manages power to 23 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state's demand.
-- Jim Fuquay


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Residential development is boosting the growth of Brooklyn’s retail real-estate market, driving rising rents in some neighborhoods and contrasting the turmoil seen in several mature Manhattan shopping districts, according to a new report.
Greenpoint and downtown Brooklyn had the biggest rent growth among the development hot spots, according study conducted by real-estate services firm GFI Realty Services LLC. Average asking rents for ground-floor space on Greenpoint’s Franklin Street corridor hit $89 a square foot in the first quarter of 2017, a 42% jump from the $63 a square foot recorded in the same period the previous year. Ground-floor asking rents on the downtown Fulton Street section rose 8% to $325 a square foot, the report said.
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American multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs says the worst of the economic slowdown may be behind us.
“This easing in financial conditions suggests not only that global growth is likely to pick up somewhat in absolute terms, but also that growth may come in stronger than currently predicted by the forecaster community,” wrote Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief economist.
Goldman sees more comfortable financial conditions, a robust consumer, and the strong possibility of a positive result from the U.S. and China trade talks, leading to a healthy 2020.
“We expect the global growth slowdown that began in early 2018 to end soon, in response to easier financial conditions and an end to the trade escalation,” Hatzius wrote.
Hatziuz went on to write, “Our confidence that growth will improve sequentially is highest in the US.”
A robust consumer and strong consumer confidence are a crucial part of Goldman Sachs’s analysis for a strong 2020.
It seems word of this hasn’t reached the consumer. U.S. consumer confidence fell for the fourth straight month in November.
Lynn Franco, senior director of economic indicators at The Conference Board, said this “suggests that economic growth in the final quarter of 2019 will remain weak.”
Franco then went on to say, “However, consumers’ short-term expectations improved modestly, and growth in early 2020 is likely to remain at around 2%.”
Franco continued, “Overall, confidence levels are still high and should support solid spending during this holiday season.”
So far, consumers have come out in full force to spend this holiday season.
While foot traffic was down on Black Friday, online spending hit a record of $5.4 billion.
This represents an increase of 22.3% compared to last year’s online spending on Black Friday.
Cyber Monday in 2019 is expected to bring in $9.4 billion, up from last year’s $7.9 billion.


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New Jersey is aiming to accelerate the recovery of its restaurant industry by channeling $20 million directly to operators and another $10 million to potential large-scale customers.
The $20 million will be allocated in the form of grants, while the $10 million will be distributed in allotments of $100,000 to $2 million to groups that feed the unprivileged. The charities are required to use the money for the purchase of restaurant meals in bulk. They are then obliged to distribute the food to the needy.
The effort to help restaurants while simultaneously feeding residents in need is a re-up of the dual-purpose Sustain and Serve N.J. Program, an initiative the state launched in February. In that first phase, $14 million was used by 28 charities to purchase 1.5 million meals from more than 340 restaurants, according to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
The $10 million in new funding and the additional $20 million in grant money were allocated under a $325 million small-business relief bill that was signed into law last week by Gov. Phil Murphy.
“This additional funding will help us add to the more than 60,000 small businesses that have received aid to date,” Murphy said in a statement.
Other state officials noted that the aid was approved as dining-room capacity restrictions were lifted by the state and the local tourism industry entered what had been its busiest time pre-pandemic.
“The restaurant, hospitality and tourism industries were crippled by the pandemic shutdown last spring and the continuing capacity restrictions that are just now being lifted sufficiently for them to be able to resume somewhat normal operations heading into the summer,” state Senator Vin Gopal said as part of the announcement. “These new grants will be a big help.”
Applications for the Sustain and Serve N.J. program will be accepted through July 18. They are available here.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a Restaurant Business member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.


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Vegan Food takeaway is growing at an astonishing rate
Orders of vegan meals increased by 388 % over the last 2 years.
While chicken wings and pizzas are still king when it comes to favourite takeaway food, vegan meals are now the fastest growing choice in the UK. The number of orders has risen fivefold over between 2016 and 2018, according to the British Takeaway Campaign.
Black beans burgers, sweet potato and quinoa are among the dishes that are gradually and quickly becoming a priority for people who like takeaway food.
Photo by Jo Sonn on Unsplash
Estimates show that around 600,000 vegans live in the UK and that number is growing at a fast rate. Obviously, while 388 % might sound like a big number, it must be said that the percentage growth of vegan meals is impressive chiefly because this is a relatively recent trend. Having said that, 388 % is a lot whichever way you look at it. Pakistani, Greek, Turkish and Persian meals are growing more rapidly than Chinese and Indian, a traditional favourite, while English takeaways recorded the slowest growth - less than 1 %.
Household spending on takeaways has been steadily growing as well, it is now nearly 15 % - it was only 11% in 2015.
Several kebab shops owners report that vegan kebabs are now regularly outselling their chicken or falafel options. Paul Baron, owner of I Am Doner in Leeds and Harrogate, said that many of his customers aren’t actually vegan, but they still prefer the vegan option.
Photo by Alexandra Golovac on Unsplash
Even Deliveroo, the popular online delivery platform, reported that orders of vegan meals have quadrupled over the last two years. Furthermore, Deliveroo reported that, considering last month alone, its best-selling vegan dishes were Wagamama’s vegatsu version of katsu curry, Pizza Express’ vegan margarita and the smoky chorizo and cheese burger from Arancini Brothers. In June 2019, Deliveroo recorded its highest number of vegan orders ever and this is probably going to be topped several times over in the upcoming years.
In response to this blatant trend, mainstream caterers are modifying their menus accordingly. In January, British low-cost airline Jet2 introduced a vegan version of its “pasta arrabbiata” as part of its in-flight service and in April Ryanair followed suit by adding vegan “lasagne”. Thomas Cook has done something similar, and so has Greggs, the largest bakery chain in the United Kingdom.


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The worlds of ancient and modern DNA exploration have collided in spectacular fashion in the past few months. Last week saw the publication of a long-awaited draft genome of the Neanderthal, an archaic hominin from about 40,000 years ago. Just three months earlier, researchers in Denmark reported the genome of a 4,000-year-old Saqqaq Palaeo-Eskimo that was plucked from the Greenland permafrost and sequenced in China using the latest technology.


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Speaking to journalists, on the sidelines of the ceremony to celebrate the 112th anniversary of the demarcation of the Vinho Verde region, the president of CVRVV, Manuel Pinheiro, said that the market should end the year “without losses compared to last year”.
"Naturally, it all depends on whether we are going to have another lockdown and it depends on how the economy will behave at the end of the year, but we are very confident that we will manage to close the year with good numbers," he said.
During the ceremony, Manuel Pinheiro also said that exports have been “very good”, with indicators showing, by the end of August, increases of around 10% in the market for green wines and 5.8% in the market of white wines.
“April and May were very difficult months both in Portugal and in exports. They were the months of confinement and the economy practically stopped. Then we started to recover and we are recovering, even more strongly in exports than in the domestic market. We are having good results in white and rosé wine”, he said.
Although markets such as France and Brazil have “retracted”, the North American, German, Swedish and Norwegian markets “performed very well”.
“In a global analysis, exports had positive results”, said the president of CVRVV, adding that Poland and Japan are “markets that are growing”.
Manuel Pinheiro also referred to the “resilient” and “ambitious” character of the region and its producers, stating that the objectives now include improving the quality of wines, valuing the region's wines and investing in wine tourism.


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Belgian Delhaize Group's turnover has grown 15 %, of which only 2.2 remained after exchange rates, to 5.82 billion euro in the first quarter of 2015. Its Belgian like-for-like turnover dropped however.
Belgium slowly climbs back up
Belgian turnover dropped 2.4 % to 1.18 billion euro, while its like-for-like turnover dropped 2.8 %. Strikes after the announcement that the chain would close several Belgian stores were mainly the cause of the weaker results.
"We are implementing huge changes in Belgium, to revitalize Delhaize. Our first quarter results were impacted by price investments, discounts and marketing, but we have seen a steady turnover and market share improvement", CEO Frans Muller said.
Huge blow to net profit
Delhaize's American like-for-like turnover grew 2.5 %, while its total turnover grew 3.2 % to 4.36 billion dollars (3.9 billion euro). Excluding exchange rate fluctuations, Delhaize even grew 25.5 % in the US, thanks to the weak euro compared to the dollar. Southeast Europe managed a 5 % turnover increase to 768 million euro, but its like-for-like turnover did drop 0.8 %. The abysmal Greece economy is a burden on local turnover.
The group's underlying operational profit dropped 11.2 % to 173 million euro (including exchange rates), while its net profit even dropped 75.8 % to 36 million euro.


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The long implementation of California's landmark climate change law appears poised to make history, even as the state's biggest consortium of corporations asks the courts to intervene.
Regulators are prepared to launch the first auction of pollution credits on Wednesday, the key part of a 'cap and trade' strategy to help reduce -- as mandated in law -- California's greenhouse gases by 2020.
That auction will involve the allocation and purchase of 'allowances' for companies to exceed their capped pollution limits -- thus attempting to use market forces... cold hard cash... as a way to either comply with the law, or funnel new cash into state climate change strategies.
It's that last part, though, that's now landed in court. On Tuesday afternoon, the California Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit that claims the revenue generating portion of the plan exceeds state law.
Business groups have long argued that the auction, and the resulting cash from ever more scarce pollution credits, will harm the state's economy. Their lawsuit filed in Sacramento Superior Court alleges that process is not allowed under AB 32, the climate change law signed by then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.
But the lawsuit won't apparently stop Wednesday's auction from taking place -- an auction that state officials say will be in a private, undisclosed location... where companies will be able to claim and trade credits using a secure online system.
"This is historic," says Dave Clegern of the state Air Resources Board. "It's kind of the last piece of a multi-program effort to control greenhosue gas emissions in California."
The initial auction isn't expected to generate any real cash, but rather set a market rate -- value -- for the pollution credits. The vast majority of initial credits are being given to businesses for free. But the auction will go beyond just these early credits, marking those for future years as a "vintage" that will be cashed in once it's... well... ripened.
The cap on those emissions, first focused on the industrial sector, will be lowered each year by 2 to 3 percent. State officials say that will allow companies time to either become more efficient in their operations -- thus, fewer greenhouse gas emissions -- or slowly impose the additional costs to keep doing business in the same manner.
Even so, the market-based auction system is being counted on for only a portion -- about 18 percent -- of the greenhouse gas reductions mandated under the 2006 law. That means a lot of heavy lifting in other places to meet the mandate.
The creation of the cap and trade system has left some prominent businesses -- with many of them in the manufacturing sector -- arguing that the process will be unfeasible at best, an economic drag at worst. There have also been questions about the gamble being taken for a state like California to essentially go it alone on an issue that affects the entire nation, let alone the world.


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Paul Holland, managing director for UK Fuel at Fleetcor
COVID-19 and the subsequent national lockdowns have impacted our lives significantly.
Being forced to stay at home for months on end meant that CO2 emissions dropped to levels not seen for a century as air and road travel grounded to a halt.
It was in this pause that we saw a glimpse of the future and how widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) could benefit our environment.
Throughout 2020, there has been a growing interest in going green from British fleets, with 33,000 pure electric and hybrid cars being registered between April and June, compared with 29,900 diesel vehicles, according to official figures.
In addition, the UK’s network of rapid charging units saw a staggering 363% growth in the last five years alone.
Together, these figures clearly demonstrate that there has been significant momentum gained in the EV movement in recent times, and the UK’s vehicle owners are on board, whether private individuals or businesses.
Harnessing the surge in EV interest
The momentum gained recently is impressive and makes good headway in the Road to Zero movement, which aims to see at least half of new cars as being ultra-low emission by 2030.
This has been bolstered by government initiatives such as changes in company car Benefit in Kind (BIK) tax, but it still isn’t enough.
The UK government must capitalise on these promising developments and help businesses looking to introduce EVs into their fleets.
They should be doing everything possible to ease the vehicle transition for businesses.
Critical to this is ensuring the right infrastructure is in place to allow easy charging across the UK.
It also means providing sufficient incentives to encourage businesses to switch to EVs.
Against the backdrop of lockdown forcing many businesses to close their doors for months on end, and the UK recently entering a recession, this is more important than ever.
From our research, more than a quarter of large businesses are planning to add EVs and other alternatively fuelled vehicles to their fleets by 2021.
And by doing so, there clearly is a future for low emission, low cost, highly efficient transport for employees, goods and services.
Support from fleet partners
We must stress that the responsibility for paving the way for the Road to Zero doesn’t just fall on the Government, all those in the fleet industry must put in a collective effort to make this a reality.
At Allstar, we are making it our mission to support businesses through this adoption by ensuring we provide unique and complete solutions that help standardise payment options across multiple providers.
In launching the Allstar One Electric card, we offer a convenient payment solution for businesses, enabling them to keep their existing fleets on the road, while also enabling them to incorporate electric and hybrid vehicles.
Our multi-branded EV charging network has more than 2,800 charging points across over 1,100 locations throughout the UK to date.
And we make it our promise to continue to grow the electric charging network to ensure all our customers are covered by one card, while having easy access to charging points.
Going green together
It is clear that there is now a tangible shift in attitudes in favour of electric and other alternatively fuelled vehicles.
But we can’t rest on our laurels, as there is still a long way to go before we are able to achieve the goal of a true mass expansion of green vehicle adoption across the country.
We must focus on improving infrastructure to support such a move, dramatically reduce emissions from the vehicles already on the UK’s roads, and drive the uptake of zero emission cars, vans and trucks.
With the right tools and initiatives in place to encourage business owners to make the switch to EV, we can maintain the record-low CO2 emissions seen during lockdown long into the future.


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English | En español: Microsoft lanzará kit de desarrollo de software oficial para Kinect [http://blogs.impre.com/piensa-digital/2011/02/21/microsoft-lanzara-kit-de-desarrollo-de-software-oficial-para-kinect/].
Since the arrival of Kinect for the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s add-on device has quickly become one of the most popular not only for casual gamers, but for those who love tech. Due to its ability to recognize human movements used to interact with games without the need of a controller, the Kinect has been at the center of much attention since last November. Those enthusiastic fans who have the ability to program and managed by themselves to create software to extend the capabilities of Kinect to their Windows computers will now have the cooperation of Microsoft.
The company, after a few months, has noticed the interest of its fans and announced today the upcoming launch of the Kinect for Windows SDK (software development kit). The first release of the program will only be for enthusiasts and academic researchers (for noncommercial use) and will be available this spring, while the commercial version will be available to the public at a later date.
According to Cragin Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, “Microsoft’s investments in natural user interfaces are vital to our long-term vision of creating computers that are intuitive to use and able to do far more for us.”
The SDK will provide the necessary tools to develop software to run on Windows 7 and on the Xbox 360.
Mundie also stated that “the resulting creativity and invention will open up a whole new world of possibilities for computing.”
Source: Microsoft Research: Academics, Enthusiasts to Get Kinect SDK [http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/news/features/kinectforwindowssdk-022111.aspx].


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Like the iPhone 13, the standard version would start at $799.
It seems that the rise in inflation that the US economy is going through will not affect the interests of Manzana and much less punish the pockets of his legion of fans worldwide. According to the latest industry rumors, the next iPhone 14 base model will have a starting price of $799the same as the iPhone 13 released last year.
According to a publication by the user “yeux1122” on the Korean blog Naver, endorsed by the specialized site MacRumors, Apple won’t raise the price of its next flagship in its standard version, to boost sales and offset the decline in demand amid the slowdown in the global cell phone market.
The decision to freeze prices for the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 this year appears to have been made “at the highest executive level,” despite the company facing higher production costs and continuing tensions in the supply chain.
If Apple does indeed release its next iPhone 14 at the same price as its predecessor iPhone 13, it would be the third consecutive year that the price of the 6.1-inch iPhone model remains unchanged.
However, the big difference with respect to the last deliveries will be -apparently- in the size, since a 5.4-inch iPhone 14 mini will not go on the market. The bad reception receiving the iPhone 13 mini made Apple rethink its future. Despite costing a hundred dollars less than the standard version, could not exceed more than 3% of salesaccording to a report from the CIRP firm.
What will the iPhone 14 be like: what the rumors say
Although there are no official confirmations yet, the next line that Apple will present in its traditional key note It will include a 6.1-inch iPhone 14, a 6.1-inch iPhone 14 Pro, a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max, and a 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung, will be in charge of manufacturing the OLED screens for the next four iPhone 14 series phones. According to an article by the Korean agency Elec, the subsidiary Samsung Display will use its old M11 series of OLED screens for the 6.1-inch iPhone 14 and 6.7-inch iPhone 14 Max/Plus. The new M12 series will be reserved for the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Max.
LG Display, a subsidiary of LG and a rival to Samsung Display, will also provide OLED screens for the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro Max, according to other reports from South Korea. They had previously provided OLED panels for the iPhone 13, so this use of multiple vendors seems to be common practice for Apple.
In particular, the models below the top of the line should not feature any significant design changes from the iPhone 13, as well as continue to feature the same A15 in-house processor. This feature will differ from the iPhone 14 Pro models, which are expected to feature a faster A16 chip.
It is also likely that they will eliminate the notch (eyebrow) or notch on the front of the screen that has remained a characteristic feature since the iPhone X (2017). According to estimates, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max would feature a combination of the circular perforated cutout for the front camera and a pill-shaped cutout to house the key components of the Face ID facial recognition system.


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Date: May 22, 2011
Key to Success: Intrigue with multiplatform
To market the show about the family who influenced Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Showtime capitalized on the popularity of Puzo’s classic story of crime and betrayal with the tagline “The Original Crime Family.”
“Americans have such a fascination with mafia and crime stories that we saw an opportunity to really anchor the campaign with ‘The Original Crime Family’ tagline,” said Sharon Allen, VP of program marketing and advertising at Showtime Networks.
To create more interest and engagement, Showtime partnered with foursquare and Barnes & Noble to create “The Borgias”-themed section where fans could earn foursquare badges, a Macy’s partnership teamed up with celebrity chefs to create recipes for a Borgias Italian feast, Lonely Planet created a customized downloadable guide to the Italy that the Borgias lived in and Zagat created an online guide to Italian restaurants. Showtime also amped up its online presence with behind-the-scenes videos, online games and podcasts.
“I think it’s a well-integrated, multiplatform campaign that resonated with the viewers to create interest in this incredibly dramatic premium show,” said Allen.
The series premiere of Showtime’s The Borgias ended up giving the network its best drama series premiere in seven years, even beating out the premiere numbers of The Tudors in 2007.


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IOTA, which is reputed to be the next generation distributed ledger or blockchain, received some boost over the past few days that caused a spike in the price of native token MIOTA on Monday.
The price of MIOTA climbed to over $0.74 today from around $0.50 on Friday, as per data from CryptoProbe.net.
Fujitsu, the Japanese information technology conglomerate, said in a report that IOTA is best suited for audit trails in industrial production environments and supply chains that involves hundreds of components and complex processes.
The second boost came from the public beta release of the Trinity Desktop wallet app from the IOTA Foundation on August 25. The Trinity Mobile wallet was launched in May.
IOTA is a decentralized open source distributed ledger that runs on a directed acyclic graph, or DAG, protocol called the Tangle.
The platform offers scalable technology that has been specifically designed to be the backbone for the Internet of Things, or IoT. Transactions happen on the ledger peer-to-peer without any transaction fees and with unlimited scalability.
In crypto exchanges, the corresponding token is listed as mega IOTA or MIOTA which is equivalent to 1 million IOTA.
“Fujitsu is well-equipped to help roll out IOTA as the new protocol standard as we are experts in both IT services and the manufacturing of IT products,” Leopold Sternberg, program manager of Industry 4.0 Competence Center at Fujitsu, said.
The company is promoting IOTA-based innovation with its Co-creation approach.
IOTA can serve as an immutable data storage medium for an audit trail for a production process, mainly for the manufacturing and automotive industry, Fujitsu said.
Adopting IOTA can improve the quality management, after sales processes and customer care management, the company added.
Further, IOTA provides a cryptographically secure source of unified truth for compliance audits and prevents negative influences such as security breaches, data corruption, or fraud, Fujitsu said.
The company is exploring a combination of its Fujitsu PalmSecure Palm Vein Pattern Recognition Technology and IOTA Tangle for identity and access management solutions.
The IOTA blockchain also supports comprehensive interaction along supply chains and ecosystems based on a global, open source network.
At the Hannover Fair 2018 held in April, Fujitsu and several other companies including Huawei and T-systems held around 10 live demos for IOTA use cases.
German car manufacturing giant Volkswagen demonstrated a proof of concept of how the trusted transfer of software over-the-air to vehicles can be securely documented using the Tangle at CEBIT 2018 in June.


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Oliver Rubber, a retread rubber company, has released its latest drive position retread, the Vantage Max Drive II.
The Vantage Max Drive II meets current SmartWay requirements for line-haul and regional applications and benefits from 26% more tread depth than its predecessor, the Vantage Max Drive. The retread has been designed using the company’s own rubber compounding to deliver improved mileage performance and enhanced fuel savings.
The tire also features Oliver Rubber’s VDI (Visual Depth Indicator) plus feature, which enables tire users to identify tread pull points and helps resist the retention of road debris.
The Vantage Max Drive II tread will be available in five sizes: 210, 220, 230, 240 and 250.
“The Vantage Max Drive II tread demonstrates Oliver Rubber’s continued investment in proven quality,” said Jaye Young, B2B on-road marketing director at Michelin North America. “Since 1912, Oliver and its family of dealers have proudly sold and serviced top-quality, American-made retreads you can trust to keep your trucks moving. We stand behind our retreads so you can stand behind your business.”


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The huge property company that owns a huge chunk of Plymouth city centre including the Drake Circus mall and new cinema complex has made a staggering loss of £319million - blaming the retail meltdown.
The British Land Company PLC’s full year results revealed the pre-tax deficit against a profit of £501million a year earlier.
It pointed the finger at “an especially challenging retail environment and an unpredictable UK macroeconomic backdrop” - and revealed it had lost £16.9million just from shops going into administration or CVA (company voluntary arrangement).
The value of its properties fell 4.8% to £12.3billion in the year to the end of March 2019, driven by an 11.1% drop in the value of its retail sites to £5.58billion. It has also been offloading retail sites, recently selling 12 Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
But British Land is highlighting its underlying profit of £340million as evidence the firm is in a sound state. This figure strips out one-off events and unusual circumstances which cost a company money.
However, this profit is still £40million lower than for 2017/18, a drop of 10.5%.
British Land owns Drake Circus Shopping Centre and is constructing the £53million Drake Circus Leisure development at nearby Bretonside. It also owns the huge block of Plymouth city centre buildings which include the House of Fraser and Debenhams stores.
Its report to the stock market revealed the 108,000sq ft, 12 screen, 14 restaurant, multiplex will be open in Autumn 2019, and that it is 67% let or under offer. That’s 5% more than in November 2018.
The company also revealed its strategy is now to focus less on retail and more on “mixed use” centres, with more residential units for rent.
In February 2019 it unveiled plans to make radical changes around Old Town Street, plum between the mall and the under-construction cinema and restaurant complex, involving the “sensitive” improvement of Norwich Union House, the immense building which has offices over shops and restaurants including Thomas Cook, Nando’s and Hubbox. It also envisages the building of six “retail pavilions” to “showcase a new variety of retailers”.
Chris Grigg, chief executive, said:"Looking ahead, retail is likely to remain challenging as structural change continues but there are early signs on parts of our portfolio, that some of the short-term operational headwinds impacting retailers are easing.”
The report said retailers are working to “optimise their store networks to have the right footprint to succeed in an omni-channel environment”.
It said companies are focused on the optimal number of stores they need and how much they are willing to pay for them, meaning they want to be in the best quality, best located retail sites, whereas secondary locations, or those which are too big to reflect local demand, have struggled.
But the report stressed: “Despite these challenges, many retailers continue to perform well and successful new entrants continue to emerge.”
British Land said it is looking at “blurring of boundaries between work and leisure time”. It said people want to be able to socialise, exercise or be entertained near where they work.
It said its aim is to reduce its retail business to 30-35% over the next five years., and added: “This implies further asset sales into a market which is currently more challenging and is likely to remain so in the short term.”
Mr Grigg said: “This has been another year of good strategic and operational progress in an uneven market, as retail remained challenging.
“We remain focused on delivering operationally and being thoughtful and commercial in what we do every day while at the same time progressing our long term strategic goals."
Emma-Lou Montgomery, associate director from Fidelity Personal Investing’s share dealing service said: “As one of the UK’s largest listed landlords British Land is closely watched when it comes to the state of the retail sector.
“Having recently recouped £193.5 million from the sale of a dozen Sainsbury’s superstores as it shrinks its retail property portfolio, investors will be watching what it does next.
“With its retail exposure now reduced by 11% the question is whether that 1% of its portfolio that’s still in superstores was the right move considering that yields are down in other sectors.”
Drake Circus mall: winners and losers
New Look - The budget retailer has had to weighs up “options” amid dismal sales figures and in April 2018 announced it could close 100 stores putting 1,500 jobs at risk.
Marks & Spencer - Retail bellwether Marks & Spencer, which has a huge store anchoring Plymout's mall, is closing 100 of its biggest stores, about a third of all those selling clothes and homeware, by 2022 after it reported a 62.1 per cent fall in pre-tax profit to £66.8million in the year to March 31, 2018.
H&M - Fashion giant H&M has said it is braced for further sales falls across its stores in 2018, including its Plymouth outlet in Drake Circus Shopping Centre.
Topshop, Topman - In May 2018 Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group reported profits dipped by 42 per cent from £215.2million to £124.1million and sales fell 5.6 per cent in the year to August 26, 2017, sliding from £2.01billion to £1.91billion.
McColl's - Convenience store operator McColl’s saw pre-tax profits nearly halve to £2.3 million in just six months during one of the “most challenging” period in the chain’s history. The firm, which has more than 10 outlets in the Plymouth area including in the mall, saw its surplus drop from £4.5 million during the same period a year earlier.
Footasylum - Streetwear store Footasylum swung to a £2.5million half-year loss bemoaning a challenging trading environment in late 2018.The premium sports chain, which opened in the mid-tier at Drake Circus Shopping Centre in 2016, has posted a pre-tax loss of £2.5million in the 26 weeks to August 25, 2018, compared with a £1.7million profit in the same period in 2017.
Paperchase - Stationery chain Paperchase suffered a mammoth fall in profits and had its credit insurance cover slashed in September 2018. The company, which has a flagship store in Plymouth’s Drake Circus Shopping Centre, is coming under mounting pressure after one of its main credit insurers reduced cover following the slump in profits. In March 2019 it entered a CVA and said it would close stores.
Superdry - Fashion chain Superdry has estimated profits will take a £10million hit in 2019 and is blaming the weather – again.
The chain – which has outlets in Exeter, Truro, Newquay, St Ives and Plymouth’s Drake Circus Shopping Centre – issued a profit warning after it said “unseasonably hot weather” had impacted its autumn and winter sales. Earlier in 2018 it complained the Beast from the East snowstorm had hit sales.
Next - Next reported a sharp hike in online sales over Christmas, though trading at its stores declined. The retailer said strong sales during the three weeks prior to Christmas and the October half-term holiday made up for a "disappointing" November.
Online sales rose 15.2% between October 28, 2018, and December 29 from a year earlier, while store sales fell 9.2%. In total, full-price sales at the retailer were up 1.5% over the period.
The retailer expects an annual profit of £723million, slightly lower than its previous forecast of £727million. It blamed the lower forecast on strong sales of less profitable items such as beauty products and personalised gifts.
Next has just opened an enormous Next Home store at Marsh Mills in Plymouth but has vowed to keep the mall branch open.
HMV - Music and movies retailer HMV went into administration for the second time in just six years in December 2018 putting 2,200 jobs at risk. When brought out of administration by Canadian music store mogul Doug Putman, it shut 27 branches including in Plymouth and Exeter. HMV had blamed a huge slump in the UK’s CD and DVD market for making its situation "unsustainable" and moaned about a “tsunami of challenges” facing the UK retail sector, and changing behaviour from customers. But Plymouth's store reopened on February 23, 2019, and staff got their jobs back.
Joules - Upmarket and quirky clothing chain Joules thanked a strong online performance for helping send festive sales surging by nearly 12% in 2018. The group - famous for its bright wellies and outdoor clobber - saw comparable retail sales rise 11.7% over the seven weeks to January 6, 2019.
It said online trade accounted for almost half of total retail sales thanks to purchases through its website and concession partners. Joules has a large store in Drake Circus Shopping Centre, Plymouth.
JD Sports - JD Sports posted robust sales growth in early 2019 despite the well-publicised tough conditions on the high street. The sports apparel retailer's sales increased 15% in the 48 weeks to January 5, 2019, while like-for-like sales rose 5%, including a positive performance from Black Friday.
The company said gross profit margins were maintained as it did not enter into "short-term reactive discounting unnecessarily". There are two outlets in Plymouth including a large one on the mall's mid tier.
Waterstones - Booksellers predicted a bumper end to 2018 as the week before Christmas was strong sales, with Waterstones expecting to do well once it totalled up sales.
The chain has innovated with Children’s book sections on average twice the size they were in 2011, while the addition of cafés in larger stores has increased their appeal to older customers. The chain is closing its New George Street store but moving its four bookselling staff to the mall and promising to make that branch even better.
Jack Wills - Ultra-hip clothing brand Jack Wills’ website proclaims: “These are times of change. And we say move.” So the firm moved to Plymouth’s mall in October 2017 – just in time for the return of the city’s university population.
Students are a large chunk of the chain’s target market and it often features reductions just for them. The brand came to the city after running a successful pop-up shop over the Christmas season in 2014.
Cath Kidston - The chain moved into Drake Circus Shopping Centre in 2017. The lifestyle brand first came to the city in 2015, but in 2016 shut it and later opened a pop-up. After a refit it re-opened a permanent unit on the mid deck at the mall.
Lovisa - The fashion accessories store was only founded in 2010 but it has rapidly expanded having “exploded into the fashion scene”.
The company added Plymouth, where it was another new face at the mall, to its 300-strong worldwide store portfolio.
Pandora - Plymouth’s outlet in Drke Circus Shopping centre is run by the Drakes Jewellers family business, now in its third generation. The late Harry Hirshman opened Drakes Fine Jewellers in 1951. His son John took over in 1975 and John’s children Monique and Andrew joined the company 30 years ago, now running it as directors.
Drakes group has expanded and has outlets in Truro, Exeter, Swindon, two in Bournemouth, and another in Taunton. In 2014 it refitted and relocated its Plymouth Pandora store, and opened one in Poole.
Lush - The highly fragrant cosmetics chain has a clearly defined clientele and offering and alongside its bathbombs and bubbles it offers politics and principles, and is expanding into larger premises, taking space in the divided up former Mothercare outlet on the mall's ground floor.
The firm’s products are made in the UK, animal and environment friendly, and accompanied with campaigning messages on subjects from gay rights to global trade. Turnover and pre-tax profits have reached record levels with the cosmetics brand making several key investments in property, manufacturing and stores.
For the year to June 30, 2017, the Poole-headquartered company recorded brand turnover of £995million, up from £729million in the previous year, with turnover from company-owned stores contributing £498millon. Profits before tax also increased to record levels, up to £73.5million from £43.2millon.
The Perfume Shop - A perfume retailer founded in 1992. The company was acquired by the world's largest health and beauty retailer, AS Watson Group in 2005. It is another business with an outlet in Plymouth’s Drake Circus mall.
Smiggle - The Australian owned business opened its 100 store in Drake Circus in June 2017. The lure of Plymouth’s shopping mall was what attracted the £135million stationary chain to the city – there is potential for the company to open more outlets across the South West.
To contact William Telford: email@example.com


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RTO suspends trade licences of 3 auto dealersProshun Chakraborty | TNN | Oct 6, 2012, 01.17 AM IST
NAGPUR: The Nagpur RTO has suspended the trade certificates of three automobile dealers in the city for delivering new vehicles without registration numbers. These three automobile dealers include two two-wheeler dealers who have showrooms at Deonagar and at Baidyanath Square and a four-wheeler dealer whose showroom is at Civil Lines.
Confirming the development, RTO, Sarjerao Shelke told TOI that these dealers cannot do business for 15-days from October 7 to October 22 under section 44 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules. "Besides this similar notices will also be served to another 10 dealers. These include some prominent four-wheeler dealers," he said.
According to Shelke, if these dealers sell any vehicles during the suspension period of their trade certificates every vehicle sold will attract a penalty.
City police had notified RTO many times that several vehicles were plying without a number plate. In fact these vehicles had been sold many months ago without being registered with the RTO.
Following the complaints, the RTO has directed all 38 vehicle dealers which include both two and four-wheelers in the city to deliver vehicles to customers only after completing the registration formalities.
"They were directed to desist from the practice of allowing vehicles on roads without having completed the registration formalities and not to entertain customers who plead for registration at a later date and insist upon having their vehicles delivered to them first," he said. "The dealers were asked to comply with these directives with immediate effect," said Shelke.
Despite the directives, many dealers continue to deliver vehicles without registration numbers, even though the RTO is providing the registration number within three days, he said.
Subsequently, a drive was launched on August 24 and vehicles plying with temporary registration numbers were seized. Driving without proper registration number is a punishable offence under Section 39 (1) of Motor Vehicle Act, this also empowers RTO to impose a fine up to Rs5,000.
As per rules, vehicle owners have to get RC or registration certificate after obtaining a temporary registration number which is valid only for the purpose of taking the vehicle for registration in other RTO offices. The decision also assumes significance as a security measure, said Shelke.


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The Walmart Black Friday 2013 ad has leaked online as of Tuesday, November 12, causing plenty of excitement among eager holiday shoppers. The leading retailer in the United States, Walmart, has indicated their stores will actually begin the sale on Thanksgiving Day with various doorbusters and deals scheduled. Among the major items on discount will be HDTV’s, tablets, laptops, video game systems, and much more. Walmart followed suit with what they did for last year’s holiday sale in terms of leaking their own ad before other sources could do it for them online.
The Walmart Black Friday sales ad went online just after midnight on Tuesday morning, with plenty of commotion already being caused over their deals and sales. The official sale with doorbuster deals is set to start at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving night with Walmart promising they’ll have a “1-hour-in-stock guarantee” on those doorbusters. Among the items pictured on front of the leaked sales flyer are a $98 32-inch TV and a $688 60-inch TV by VIZIO. There’s also a HP Pavilion Touchsmart laptop for just $278, and the Apple iPad Mini for $299 with a $100 Walmart gift card thrown in. The iPad Mini deal is one of the particularly attractive deals so far, compared to other retailers. Walmart also offers the iPad Air, laptops, and several other lesser-known brands of tablets at their stores, although the “Air” tablet is not part of their sale.
The latest ad leak comes after a Target BF deals preview and right before the Best Buy ad leaked online. While Target tends to be popular with some shoppers, it seems Walmart has some more competitive prices on the electronics items that shoppers want. Walmart is clearly looking to compete as best they can against Best Buy and Target, as well as online giant, Amazon.com. Amazon has yet to reveal any Black Friday week deals, but will do so on the Sunday right before the week of Thanksgiving.
So far, Walmart appears to be offering some of the lowest prices or most attractive deals on several electronics items, but the challenge will be finding them in stores ahead of other eager shoppers!
(Image Source: Amazon.com)


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The gentleman indeed seems to be a very fascinating entrepreneur - one that is sure to be besieged by offers from Private Equity firms.
Along the way, Mahadevan, the restless man that he is, launched a whole slew of fast food and restaurant brands for every segment of consumers – Benjarong, the Thai restaurant, Wang’s Kitchen and Noodle House for Chinese, Don Pepe for Mexican, Zara, the Spanish Tavern and the byword in food courts – PlanetYumm.
Not being content with India operations, Mahadevan ventured into foreign shores – he took Hot Breads to France and Italy, tied up with Saravana Bhavan to take the brand to US and opened a string of bakeries in the Gulf region. “But India is still my exploring territory and Chennai especially is my favourite city. I have been toying around with a chocolate idea for sometime now. And, I wanted to take the bread experience a step further,” says Mahadevan. So, out came The French Loaf and Maple Leaf.
...With 11 brands in his Indian operations and 4 in the International markets, Mahadevan manages a large work force – almost 1400 people in India and about 1000 in the International markets where he is present. Mahadevan is presently on an expansion spree with plans to open outlets in Bombay and Delhi. “Benjarong and Zara are the two brands I am taking to these cities. Thai food and Spanish Tapas will quite be the rage when the outlets open,” says Mahadevan. The art of retailing food is what he has mastered over the years, catering to the constantly changing food habits of new generation and old in different market situations. Mahadevan sure has a finger in every pie as much as he has a finger on the pulse of the food market.
Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of information and networking services to the private equity and venture capital ecosystem in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports.


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While leakers have already hinted at the possibility of a Nintendo Direct, they’re now being more upfront about when it will happen and what we could potentially be seeing during the presentation.
The leakers come in the form of KeliosFR and NateDrake. The former has a history of Direct leaks while the latter had some insider information on the Smash Ultimate ARMS DLC fighter.
In response to a post on Resetera about the Direct taking place “around the 16th” of July, NateDrake sneakily commented, “What’s around the 16th? Is July 20th around July 16th?”
In a follow up to users asking if the Direct would be on July 20, KeliosFR replied with a simple smiley face, but later confirmed the suspicions.
“Nate knew the date from the beginning, he hinted so much and you [people] didn’t see,” he wrote.
KeliosFR also went on to discuss what the presentation may and may not include. According to the leaker’s source, several titles will be shown, but don’t expect to hear news about Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 or a new Pikmin game.
In another comment, he claimed that this could be a standard Direct and not a Mini as we’ve had in the past. He also predicts that Nintendo will officially announce it on the Friday before.
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One possible announcement during the presentation could be in the form of a leaked Tomb Raider collection coming to Nintendo Switch.
Additionally, some fans have theorized that the July (the seventh month) could be when Smash Bros announces the 7th DLC pack for what will be the 77th fighter in the game.
The theory is that the long-requested character of Geno from Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars will be the next fighter.
Until then, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens. At least now we’re starting to get some information and won’t have long to go to find out if July 20 really is the day of the next Nintendo Direct.


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Brandify becomes a Snapchat Partner, Launching Enterprise Geofilter solution. As an early adopter of the Geofilter API, Brandify will immediately begin supporting multi-location campaign Ad management for enterprises.
Last week, Snapchat released a new API that will allow brands to launch sponsored Geofilter campaigns much more programmatically and efficiently. Testing On-Demand Geofilters has been easy for small businesses, one-time and one-location users but not completely scalable for multi-location businesses. Now, in partnership with a Snapchat Ad Partner, going through the Geofilter API will allow brands to scale campaigns to thousands of locations at a time using unique content.
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Since Friday, up to 150 countries have come under a cyber-attack and now Microsoft says governments should be prepared for more.
Microsoft Warns Of Potentially More Ransomware Cyber Attacks
Microsoft has said the recent cyber-attacks reveal vulnerabilities caused by the way governments are storing security vulnerabilities and this has resulted in widespread damage.
The latest ransomware exploits a loophole in Microsoft Windows that was initially reported by US intelligence.
There are reports that as the new week starts, there is a possibility of further virus attacks.
So far, firms are having experts working round the clock to prevent new attacks. The weekend virus invaded users’ computers and demanded $300b in payment to restore access to files.
Although the spread of the virus slowed down, experts say the break is only for a while. More than 200,000 computers across the world have been infected with the ransomware.
South Korea has given no further details other than that only nine cases of the virus were reported.
In Australia, it is reported that three small to medium sized business were affected.
In a statement on Sunday, Brad Smith, Microsoft president and chief legal officer was critical of how governments store information about security vulnerabilities.
He said, “We have seen vulnerabilities stored by the CIA become available on WikiLeaks and now this vulnerability accessed from NSA has affected users all over the world.”
He added, “Governments should look at this attack as a wakeup call.”
The technology giant said it had made available a Windows security update two months ago to deal with the issue brought up by this recent attack but many users had not run the update.
Mr. Smith added, “As cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated methods, the only way for consumers to protect themselves against threats is to update their system.”
Speaking to the BBC, Europol chief said the weekend ransomware was built in such a way that an infection on one computer would rapidly spread across the network.
He added, “This is why we’re seeing these numbers increasing all the time.”
He said that attackers had already release a new version of the ransomware.
Beck Pinkard from UK based cyber security company Digital Shadows said it would be easy for attackers and others who copy them to change the code of the virus, making it difficult to prevent a reoccurrence.
In England, Nation Health Service trusts including hospitals and pharmacies were affected. Other institutions that were targeted include Deutsche Bahn rail network in Germany, Telefonica, a telecommunication company in Spain, Russia’s Interior Ministry, US logistics company Fedex and French auto manufacturer, Renault.


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Philips Sonicare “AirFloss” Class Action Lawsuit
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Philips Oral Healthcare Inc., manufacturer of oral hygiene products such as the Sonicare Toothbrush, for alleged false advertising over their latest product – the Sonicare AirFloss.
According to the American Dental Association, flossing helps remove debris and interproximal dental plaque, the plaque that collects between two teeth. Dental floss (or dental tape) helps clean these hard-to-reach tooth surfaces and reduces the likelihood of gum disease and tooth decay. In response, Dr. Joerg Strate, Vice President at Philips Oral Healthcare, Clinical & Scientific Affairs department, explained that “Sonicare AirFloss replaces traditional flossing with microbursts of water and air.” However, many consumers are complaining that the AirFloss does not clean beneath the gum line, and therefore cannot replace the traditional methods of flossing with dental floss or tape.
Lead Plaintiff Lilia Perkins filed the class action in June of 2012, and sued for breach of warranty, unfair competition, false advertising, and violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. Philips attempted to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that the claims against it were nothing more than “nonactionable puffery,” but U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn L. Huff rejected that argument. Instead, Judge Huff ruled that the statements found on the AirFloss packaging, including the claim that using AirFloss is an “easier way to floss,” could lead consumers to believe that the product is the equivalent of dental floss. She explained, “These statements strongly suggest that consumers should floss more often; and a reasonable consumer could believe that they can remedy the problem by purchasing the AirFloss.”
Judge Huff also allowed Perkins’ unfair competition claims to stand because she was able to establish that she relied on the AirFloss marketing campaign when she purchased the product.
If you or someone you know has purchased a product that did not work as advertised, please contact Khorrami, LLP for more information.