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Growth is slowing, but remains positive. With manufacturing in recession, private consumption is now the main growth engine for the region.
The economic situation in the Eurozone has remained on the same path since the start of the year. The export-oriented continent still suffers from uncertainties related to global trade conflicts and the resulting unwillingness of corporates to invest. Consequently, growth has been slowing, but remains positive. Private consumption is a crucial factor that can counter a slowdown that could lead to a recession. Driven by still-strong labor markets, private consumption is the key growth engine of the Eurozone economy. Through this article, we take a deeper look at the state of the European consumer in light of the current performance of the major economies in the Eurozone.
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Owing to headwinds from international trade and the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the manufacturing sector in the Eurozone has been in recession the whole year. The impact of political factors has become very palpable. For example, Germany’s car exports to the United Kingdom have fallen by 23 percent since the referendum in 2016, mainly caused by Brexit-related uncertainties and the appreciation of the euro versus the pound.1
The sectoral trend of value-added growth highlights the relative underperformance of the manufacturing sector (figure 1). While the recent Ifo Business Climate Index indicates that the German manufacturing sector might have bottomed, a fast recovery seems unlikely given the uncertain external environment.2
The industrial recession affects Germany especially, given its strong focus on manufacturing. However, Germany is hardly alone; among the other big Eurozone economies, Italy also has a strong manufacturing base. Conversely, countries that are less reliant on exports and manufacturing are doing better. Looking at the quarterly growth rates, Spain is still the best performing of the major Eurozone economies (0.4 percent in the third quarter), followed by France (0.3 percent), while the Italian and German economies are stagnating.3
Currently, impulses for growth are mainly coming from consumption rather than investment or trade. Of the 1.15 percent year-over-year economic growth in the Eurozone in the second quarter of 2019, 0.89 percent originated from higher consumption expenditure, while investment and trade contributed only 0.24 and 0.01 percent, respectively.4
The strength of private consumption in the Eurozone owes much to the strong performance of the labor market. Employment and consumption growth have accelerated in a synchronized way in the last few years (figure 2). The Eurozone reached record numbers of employment—as many as five million new jobs were created since 2017 and unemployment fell to 7.4 percent in September 2019 from 9.5 percent in 2017.5 At the same time, inflation has been very low, while real disposable income has been growing.6
While employment and consumption growth seem to have peaked in 2018, both are still growing (figure 2). Consumer confidence remains positive and well above its long-term average, although it has lost momentum (figure 3). From that perspective, private consumption remains robust. Yet, there are signals potentially indicating higher consumer restraint in the future.
First, the savings rate has been on the rise for the last four quarters (figure 3). This is normally a sign of a cloudier consumer outlook and a greater caution to spend money. At the same time, sales of durable goods have lost momentum since early 2018, which also suggests greater consumer wariness.7
Second, how the weakness in manufacturing will affect labor markets is crucial. A worsening labor market would hurt consumer confidence and spending. Results from Deloitte’s recent European CFO Survey reveal that the hiring intentions of employers are falling in general and, in some sectors, very significantly.8 Hiring sentiment has turned negative for automotive, industrial goods, and consumer goods (figure 4). Nevertheless, they are still positive for services sectors, such as retail and transport. Nevertheless, falling employment intentions of key sectors indicate that the peak of labor market performance is behind us.
While these signals point to a more negative trend for private consumption going forward, consumers seem torn. According to survey results, consumers have indeed become much more pessimistic about the general economic outlook, but they have also become—somewhat paradoxically—more optimistic about their personal financial situation in the future.9
As long as a positive outlook for the personal financial situation prevails and price pressure remains low (figure 5), a sharp decline in consumption is unlikely. For the moment, the likely scenario is for consumption to grow, albeit at a slower clip. In the medium term—and without an unexpected easing of trade tensions—the trends on the Eurozone’s labor market will largely determine private consumption and, therefore, economic growth.


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Galaxy S II has become one of the fastest selling phones for Samsung in South Korea. Samsung today confirmed that they’ve sold (on supply basis) over 1 million Galaxy S II devices in South Korea within a span of 30 days. Expectedly, this record has managed to break previous Galaxy S record of a million devices in 70 days.
Galaxy S II went on sale on 29 April in South Korea and has been achieving some milestones in the domestic market like 100,000 in just 3 days; 200,000 in 8 days; 400,000 in 14 days and 500,000 in 18 days.
Samsung’s Android flagship is currently on sale on SKT, KT and LG U+ networks.

domain: news


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Volga Dnepr partnered with Kuehne + Nagel for the delivery of a turbine from the East Midlands in the UK to Russia.
The 4.5-ton (4.1 tonne) shipment was loaded onto Volga Dnepr’s IL-76TD-90VD aircraft using the freighter’s onboard crane system.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) – part of Volga-Dnepr Group – has transported 425,000 doses of vaccines from Chicago, USA, to Beijing in China.
Sri Lankan airline FitsAir has appointed Aero Africa Sub Saharan South Africa – a branch of Aero Africa – as its cargo general sales agent.
In partnership with Gebrüder Weiss, Chapman Freeborn has coordinated the transport of Covid-19 test kits on more than 20 charter flights from China to Austria.
An Enerpac push-pull system has been used to construct the Ain Dubai observation wheel in the UAE.
Express Global Logistics (EXG) has transported 6,099 tons (5,533 tonnes) of rails from Kattupalli port in Chennai to Bengaluru, India.
Mammoet has loaded out a 12,733-tonne jacket for the Sao Vang and Dai Nguyet (SVDN) gas and condensate development project, located offshore Vietnam.
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Ford is recalling around 281,000 units of the F-150 pickup in the United States due to a potential problem with the door handles, according the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall involves model years 2009 and 2010 F-150 pickups that were produced from January 2008 to November 2009.
The NHTSA said that in an event of a crash, ‘the door handle spring can fail causing the door latch to open.’ Ford said that as of Jan. 21, there have been no reported accidents or injuries related to the recall.
The NHTSA filing by Ford said that customers are being asked to bring their F-150 trucks to dealerships for inspection. Once parts are available, dealerships will replace them free of charge.
– By: Omar Rana
Source: Automotive News


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Supply chain leaders discuss the power of A.I.
By students: Matt Hyatt, College of Arts and Sciences Class of 2024 and Christian Piantanida, Quinlan School of Business Class of 2022
If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is to expect the unexpected. Stochastic events like the pandemic are precisely what business executives around the world fear and why many companies are striving to be flexible and nimble. Not only do these events impact each business individually, but they have the potential to disrupt entire distribution networks and supply chains.
To understand how innovative technologies can be leveraged to detect and respond to supply chain anomalies, Loyola University Chicago’s Business Leadership Hub hosted the conference Designing Flexibility to Address Uncertainty in the Supply Chain with AI in June 2022. The event brought together senior supply chain executives from a variety of companies including Amazon, CDW, Dollar General, Griffith Foods, Kohl’s, Kroger, McKinsey, Microsoft, W.W. Grainger, and Walgreens, among others. Quinlan faculty who participated included Cerag Pince, Associate Professor; George K. Thiruvathukal, Professor of Computer Science and Deptartment Chair; Maciek Nowak, Professor and Interim Dean; and Michael Hewitt, Professor and Faculty Director of the Supply Chain and Sustainability Center. Discussions centered on global supply issues and how companies can build sense-and-response systems by leveraging data and AI.
The sold-out conference was outstanding, and we look forward to the second annual AI in the Supply Chain event planned for May 18, 2023, in Chicago. For information on that event, please contact Steven Keith Platt, Director of Analytics and Lecturer of Analytics and Applied AI, Quinlan School of Business- email@example.com.
Here are some key takeaways from the conference:
AI must be interpretable for it to be useful.
Some speakers said their teams opt for simple solutions over complex ones, especially in cases where accuracy may come at the cost of explainability. People do not trust what they don’t understand, and a confusing AI model may be rejected. Simplicity makes all the difference in adopting intelligent forecasting tools.
Consistency is also essential for stable businesses. A few speakers agreed that to promote stability and predictability, they would opt for a model with 50-80% accuracy over a model with 70-75% accuracy.
Learn AI processes over algorithms.
AI is becoming increasingly used in the workplace. One day, it might be considered a soft skill, similar to the adoption of Excel. While it may not be necessary to learn every strategy in building intelligent systems from the ground up, grasping the general process and limitations of AI will keep businesses from losing ground and help leaders work in partnership with their data scientists and engineers.
The same solution will not always work.
Rajiv Malik, EVP of Sourcing and Product Services at Kohl’s Corporation, explained how fashion trends follow this rule: what was trendy last season will likely be out of fashion the next. In other words, the same solutions will not always work. This rule applies to companies and their supply chains. To be robust and prepared for change, you must be aware, innovative, and adaptable.
Know when to deviate away from the rule.
Blindly following AI may not lead to good decision-making. But it can provide a great generalization of trends. Anomaly detection—the identification of rare events—is a helpful tool for spotting when things go awry. It allows management to know when to change course even if they choose not to follow algorithmic decisions.
Plan for uncertainty.
The keynote speaker, Warren Powell, Co-founder and Chief Analytics Officer of Optimal Dynamics and Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, suggests that managers need to understand the complexity and variability within a supply chain to begin making informed decisions. Due to uncertainty about inputs and events, the traditional point forecasting methods no longer suffice. Therefore, a distributional forecasting method is more appropriate for making effective supply chain decisions. “You cannot prepare for uncertainty unless you model uncertainty,” says Powell, “Distributional forecasting is the foundation of planning into an uncertain future.”
The jungle of stochastic optimization.
Powell defines “The Jungle of Stochastic Optimization” as 15 fields that deal with decision-making under uncertainty. These fields are fragmented, exhibiting their own unique tools and methods for specific problems. To successfully address sequential decision problems involved with supply chains, teams require individuals with a broad understanding of all 15 fields. “Real applications require skills that span a wide range of problem settings,” says Powell. However, finding these individuals to hire could pose a challenge since most universities still teach the unique, highly specialized AI techniques instead of also teaching a broad range of application skills.


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Hello Kitty Cafe Truck coming to Sarasota
If you’re looking to get any Hello Kitty merchandise this holiday season, you’ll have your chance this weekend.
The Hello Kitty Cafe Truck, a cafe on wheels that sells sweets, popcorn and retail items, will make a stop at the Mall at University Town Center Saturday, at the entrance next to Kona Grill. The truck will be there from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Dec. 14.
This is the first time the truck will make an appearance in Sarasota. Things like canvas bags, stainless steel thermal bottles, sprinkle T-shirts, bow-shaped water bottles, madeleine cake sets, enamel pin sets, and giant cookies will be available for purchase.
The truck is debit and credit card only — no cash. Each guest that spends $25 on food gets a free pink mini-tote bag.
The cafe-on-wheels launched in 2014 and has traveled to more than 80 cities everywhere from California to Chicago to New York.


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12 Jun 2018
Business Roundup: Here are today's top 5 Business news
Written byDeepali Aggarwal
Hola! Missed the business headlines of the day? No worries, here's your daily wrap of business news.
Separately, Telangana's Finance Minister termed Centre's decision to put liquor and fuel under GST as an 'incorrect' move.
IKEA to make its India debut with samosas and biryani
The world's largest furniture retailer IKEA will make its debut in India next month by opening its first store in Hyderabad on July 10.
IKEA which is also a top restaurateur will offer Indian shoppers local delicacies including samosas and biryani.
Also, to cater to the Hindu sensitivities in the country it will be replacing its beef meatballs with chicken and veggie balls.
After entering banking space, Paytm now eyes PoS terminal business
After foraying into the banking space with Paytm Payments Bank, digital payments major Paytm has announced that it will now enter the Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal business.
Notably, the PoS terminal business is a money spinner. There are around 31 lakh PoS terminals deployed across India, which in March alone facilitated 46 crore transactions worth Rs. 90,300cr.
The space is currently being ruled by banks.
It's wrong to put liquor, fuel GST: Telangana Finance Minister
Telangana's Finance Minister Etela Rajender has said that the Centre's decision to put liquor and fuel under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is not a correct decision.
Adding that "if these products are brought under GST, state finances will be further reduced," the minister said that a state should have some autonomy in generating its own economy.
Need more powers to monitor PSBs: RBI to Parliamentary panel
RBI Governor Urjit Patel today told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that the central bank has "inadequate" control over Public Sector Banks and need more control to oversee them.
He appeared before the panel over the banking sector's poor performance which includes growing NPAs and frauds.
DoT, Aviation Ministry to meet to discuss in-flight connectivity rules
The meeting will bring a result on the usage of internet and voice services on mobile phones in the Indian airspace.
DoT's highest policy-making body Telecom Commission last month cleared a proposal to allow wider in-flight connectivity.


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The team at EPS Diesel is reporting progress on its turbo-diesel clean sheet Graflight Flat 8 engine. The company expects to wrap up initial certification later this year. Over the past year, EPS has completed tests of the engine to simulated altitudes of 30,000 feet in a re-activated Air Force altitude chamber. It also tested the engine in various phases of flight at different altitudes, including climbs and engine restarts.
EPS is now ramping up toward final certification and production at its New Richmond, Wisconsin, factory. There, EPS is finishing up a number of new facilities for developing, building, testing and inspecting engines as part of certification and production efforts. “There are a considerable number of innovations in the Graflight Flat 8 engine,” said EPS CEO Michael Fuchs, “and some of the new installations have stretched the known rules and methods for certification, especially in software.” Despite working with such new tech in an old-tech regulatory framework, Fuchs expects that EPS will be shipping completed engines by the end of this year.
Learn more at EPS.


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Marijuana businesses have been left between a rock and a hard place after the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) stated on Monday that marijuana companies aren’t eligible for relief to help cushion them against the Coronavirus pandemic.
Since the novel Coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China late last year, there have been over 450,000 confirmed cases and 21,000 deaths worldwide. Experts say that if the virus keeps spreading unabated, up to 70% of the world’s population might be infected before it runs its course. Understandably, countries have started implementing lockdown procedures to curb…
CNW420 spotlights the latest developments in the rapidly evolving cannabis industry through the release of two informative articles each business day. Our concise, informative content serves as a gateway for investors interested in the legalized cannabis sector and provides updates on how regulatory developments may impact financial markets. Articles are released each business day at 4:20 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. Eastern – our tribute to the time synonymous with cannabis culture. If marijuana and the burgeoning industry surrounding it are on your radar, CNW420 is for you! Check back daily to stay up-to-date on the latest milestones in the fast -changing world of cannabis.
To receive instant SMS alerts, text CANNABIS to 21000 (U.S. Mobile Phones Only)
For more information please visit https://www.CNW420.com
Do you have a questions or are you interested in working with CNW420? Ask our Editor
CNW420 is part of the InvestorBrandNetwork.


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The Globe and Mail is reporting that eBay is the target of a $3.8-billion law suit filed Tuesday in Delaware by XPRT Ventures LLC, who cited six patents that they felt eBay had infringed upon in the development of Paypal Pay Later and PayPal Buyer Credit.
In the complaint "XPRT said that when eBay on April 30, 2003 filed a patent application titled “Method and System to Automate Payment for a Commerce Transaction,” it failed to tell the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office it knew of XPRT’s own patent applications." XPRT says information was shared in confidence with eBay by the inventors on XPRT’s own patents.
"XPRT is seeking a minimum $3.8 billion in monetary damages, based on their estimated present value. It is also seeking treble damages resulting from eBay’s alleged “willful and malicious conduct,” punitive damages, and other remedies."


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Google have been opening up a little recently, allowing other social network sites on its search engine Knowledge Graphs, and removing the need for gmail users to set up a Google+ page, which benefits the other social network sites, such as Twitter and Facebook when it comes to search engine results. The latest change is Google and Microsoft working together to allow for Microsoft licences to be stored within Google’s Cloud without the need for additional licenses.
The Cloud is a platform provided by Google which allows users to store information on an infrastructure outside of their computers hard drive. It’s become an increasingly popular method for storing information, and previously extra licenses were required to use Microsoft Server, SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint with the cloud. Not anymore though, as Google has removed the road block which made using the two companies products together a chore.
It’s a movement towards parity for all systems, which makes the service more in line with what Amazon are offering with Amazon Web Services. While Microsoft have their own Cloud service, Azure, this change means Google Cloud users can continue to use their products, without being forced into which data storing infrastructure they choose to use.
While Google and Microsoft aren’t set to become best friends any-time soon, the extra license removal is a positive step to making the internet a more accessible and user friendly digital world. The Cloud is for everyone to use, not to keep people out because they favour a companies products over another. We hope Google opening up with the way it handles its services is an ongoing trend, as it will no doubt be beneficial for a number of businesses.
At RS Digital, we believe the more open the internet is, the more chances everybody has at making an online impact. With SEO, content and social media coverage fairly judged by Google, the future is bright with Google’s new changes.


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Subject: Editorial | July 25, 2017 - 10:48 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: Vega, Threadripper, ryzen, RX, Results, quarterly earnings, Q2 2017, EPYC, amd
The big question that has been going through the minds of many is how much marketshare did AMD take back and how would that affect the bottom line? We know the second half of that question, but it is still up in the air how much AMD has taken from Intel. We know that they have, primarily due to the amount of money that AMD has made. Now we just need to find out how much.
Q2 revenue surpassed the expectations of both the Street and what AMD had predicted. It was not a mind-blowing quarter, but it was a solid one for what has been a slowly sinking AMD. The Q2 quarter is of course very important for AMD as it is the first full quarter of revenue from Ryzen parts as well as the introduction of the refreshed RX 500 series of GPUs.
The Ryzen R7 and R5 parts have been well received by press and consumers alike. While it is not a completely overwhelming product in every aspect as compared to Intel’s product stack, it does introduce an incredibly strong dollar/thread value proposition. Consumers can purchase an 8 core/16 thread part with competitive clock speeds and performance for around $300 US. That same price point from Intel will give a user better single threaded and gaming performance, but comes short at 4 cores/8 threads.
The latest RX series of GPUs are slightly faster refreshes of the previous RX 400 series of cards and exist in the same price range of those previous cards. These have been popular with AMD enthusiasts as they deliver solid performance for the price. They are also quite popular with the coin miners due to the outstanding hash rate that they offer at their respective price points as compared to NVIDIA GPUs.
AMD ended up reporting GAAP revenue of $1.22B with a net income of -$16M. Non-GAAP net income came in at a positive $19M. This is a significant boost from Q1 figures which included a revenue of $984M and a net income of -$73M. The tail end of Q1 did include some Ryzen sales, but not nearly enough to offset the losses that they accumulated. These beat out the Street numbers by quite a bit, hence the uptick in AMD’s share price after hours.
The server/semi-custom group did well, but is still down some 5% as compared to last year. This is primarily due to seasonal weaknesses with the consoles. Microsoft will be ramping up production of their Xbox One X and AMD will start to receive royalties from that production later this year. AMD has seen its marketshare in the data and server market tumble from years past to where it is at 1% and below. AMD expects to change this trend with EPYC and has recorded the initial revenue from EPYC datacenter processor shipments.
We cannot emphasize enough how much the CPU/GPU group has grown over the past year. Revenue from that group has increased by 51% since last year. We do need to temper that with the reality that at that time AMD had not released the new RX series of GPUs nor did they have Ryzen. Instead, it was all R5/R7 3x0 and Fury products as well as the FX CPUs based on Piledriver and Excavator cores. It would honestly be hard for things to get worse than that point of time Still, a 51% improvement with Ryzen and the RX 5x0 series of chips is greater than anyone really expected. We must also consider that Q2 is still one of the slowest quarters in a year.
AMD expects next quarter to grow well beyond expectations. The company is estimating that revenue will grow by 23%, plus or minus 3%. If this holds true, AMD will be looking at a $1.5B quarter. Something that has not been seen for some time (especially post foundry split). The product stack that they will continue to introduce is quite impressive. AMD will continue with the Ryzen R7 and R5 parts, but will also introduce the first R3 parts for the budget market. RX Vega will be introduced next week at Siggraph. Threadripper will be released to the wild as well as the x399 chipset. EPYC is already shipping and they expect that product to grow steadily. Ryzen Pro and then the mobile APUs will follow up later in the 2nd half of the year. Semi-custom will get a boost when Microsoft starts shipping Xbox One X consoles.
What a change a year makes. Lisa Su and the gang have seemingly turned the boat around with a lot of smart moves, a lot of smart people, and a lot of effort. They are not exactly at Easy Street yet, but they are moving in the right direction. Ryzen has been a success with press and consumers and sets them on a level plane with Intel in overall performance and power. The RX series continues to be popular and selling well (especially with miners). AMD still has not caught up with demand for those parts, but I get the impression that they are being fairly conservative there by not flooding the market with RX chips in case coin mining bottoms out again. The demand there is at least making miners and retailers happy, though could be causing some hard feelings among AMD enthusiasts who just want a gaming card at a reasonable price.
AMD continues to move forward and has recorded an impressive quarter. Next quarter, if it falls in line with expectations, should help return AMD to profitability with some real momentum moving forward in selling product to multiple markets where it has not been a power for quite some time. The company has been able to tread water for the past few years, but has planned far enough ahead to actually release competitive products at good prices to regain marketshare and achieve profitability again. 2017 has been a good year for AMD, and it looks to continue to Q3 and Q4.
Subject: Graphics Cards | November 10, 2016 - 08:27 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: quarterly earnings, nvidia
The most recent quarter for NVIDIA, which is the three months ending on October 30th, has just passed $2 Billion USD in revenue, an increase of 54% from last year. All said and done, this leads to $542 million in GAAP net income, which is also up 108% from last quarter (or up 120% from the same quarter last year).
NVIDIA doesn't attribute this increase to any specific line of products. Instead, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang takes the opportunity to promote the “years of work and billions of dollars” they spent on the Pascal architecture, applying it all over the place. While I'm guessing a lot of the sales are carried over from last quarter's parts, which are now able to keep up with demand, NVIDIA points to laptop SKUs of 10-series GPUs, the launch of Tesla P4 and P40 GPUs, and initial shipments of the DGX-1 as new and notable for this quarter.
NVIDIA expects to have an even better quarter with the holiday, aimed at $2.1 Billion USD, plus or minus a couple percent. A lot more details are available on NVIDIA's blog, including their Switch announcement with Nintendo, their Drive PX2 platform, and their next-generation Tegra processor, codenamed Xavier.
Subject: General Tech | July 17, 2014 - 11:37 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: quarterly earnings, GCN, financial results, APU, amd
Today, AMD posted financial results for its second quarter of 2014. The company posted quarterly revenue of $1.44 billion, operating income of $63 million, and ultimately a net loss of $36 million (or $0.05 loss per share). The results are an improvement over both the previous quarter and a marked improvement over the same quarter last year.
The chart below compares the second quarter results to the previous quarter (Q1'14) and the same quarter last year (Q2'13). AMD saw increased revenue and operating income, but a higher net loss versus last quarter. Unfortunately, AMD is still saddled with a great deal of debt, which actually increased from 2.14 billion in Q1 2014 to $2.21 billion at the end of the second quarter.
|Q2 2014||Q1 2014||Q2 2014||Q2 2013|
|Revenue||$1.44 Billion||$1.40 Billion||$1.44 Billion||$1.16 Billion|
|Operating Income||$63 Million||$49 Million||$63 Million||($29 Million)|
|Net Profit/(Loss)||($36 Million)||($20 Million)||($36 Million)||($74 Million)|
The Computing Solutions division saw increased revenue of 1% over last quarter, but revenue fell 20% year over year due to fewer chips being sold.
On the bright side, the Graphics and Visual Solutions group saw quarterly revenue increase by 5% over last quarter and 141% YoY. The massive YoY increase is due, in part, to AMD's Semi-Custom Business unit and the SoCs that have come out of there (including the chips used in the latest gaming consoles).
Further, the company is currently sourcing 50% of its wafers from Global Foundries.
“Our transformation strategy is on track and we expect to deliver full year non-GAAP profitability and year-over-year revenue growth. We continue to strengthen our business model and shape AMD into a more agile company offering differentiated solutions for a diverse set of markets.”
-AMD CEO Rory Reed
AMD expects to see third quarter revenue increase by 2% (plus or minus 3%). Following next quarter, AMD will begin production of its Seattle ARM processors. Perhaps even more interesting will be 2016 when AMD is slated to introduce new x86 and GCN processors on a 20nm process.
The company is working towards being more efficient and profitable, and the end-of-year results will be interesting to see.
Also read: AMD Restructures. Lisa Su Is Now COO @ PC Perspective
Subject: General Tech, Processors, Mobile | July 16, 2014 - 03:37 AM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: quarterly results, quarterly earnings, quarterly, Intel, earnings
Another fiscal quarter brings another Intel earnings report. Once again, they are doing well for themselves as a whole but are struggling to gain a foothold in mobile. In three months, they sold 8.7 billion dollars in PC hardware, of which 3.7 billion was profit. Its mobile division, on the other hand, brought in 51 million USD in revenue, losing 1.1 billion dollars for their efforts. In all, the company is profitable -- by about 3.84 billion USD.
One interesting metric which Intel adds to their chart, and I have yet to notice another company listing this information so prominently, is their number of employees, compared between quarters. Last year, Intel employed about 106,000 people, which increased to 106,300 two quarters ago. Between two quarters ago and this last quarter, that number dropped by 1400, to 104,900 employees, which was about 1.3% of their total workforce. There does not seem to be a reason for this decline (except for Richard Huddy, we know that he went to AMD).
Image Credit: Anandtech
As a final note, Anandtech, when reporting on this story, added a few historical trends near the end. One which caught my attention was the process technology vs. quarter graph, demonstrating their smallest transistor size over the last thirteen-and-a-bit years. We are still slowly approaching 0nm, following an exponential curve as it approaches its asymptote. The width, however, is still fairly regular. It looks like it is getting slightly longer, but not drastically (minus the optical illusion caused by the smaller drops).
Subject: General Tech, Processors, Mobile | April 16, 2014 - 08:40 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: Intel, silvermont, arm, quarterly earnings, quarterly results
Sean Hollister at The Verge reported on Intel's recent quarterly report. Their chosen headline focuses on the significant losses incurred from the Mobile and Communications Group, the division responsible for tablet SoCs and 3G/4G modems. Its revenue dropped 52%, since last quarter, and its losses increased about 6%. Intel is still making plenty of money, with $12.291 billion USD in profits for 2013, but that is in spite of Mobile and Communications losing $3.148 billion over the same time.
Intel did have some wins, however. The Internet of Things Group is quite profitable, with $123 million USD of income from $482 million of revenue. They also had a better March quarter than the prior year, up a few hundred million in both revenue and profits. Also, Mobile and Communications should have a positive impact on the rest of the company. The Silvermont architecture, for instance, will eventually form the basis for 2015's Xeon Phi processors and co-processors.
It is concerning that Internet of Things has over twice the sales of Mobile but I hesitate to make any judgments. From my position, it is very difficult to see whether or not this trend follows Intel's projections. We simply do not know whether the division, time and time again, fails to meet expectations or whether Intel is just intentionally being very aggressive to position itself better in the future. I would shrug off the latter but, obviously, the former would be a serious concern.
The best thing for us to do is to keep an eye on their upcoming roadmaps and compare them to early projections.
Subject: General Tech | January 18, 2014 - 12:49 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: quarterly earnings, Intel, financial results, earnings
Intel has released financial results for the full year and fourth quarter of 2013. According to Intel CEO Brian Krzanich, the company had a "solid fourth quarter." Although full year revenue and net income fell, there was a slight increase in Q4 net income and revenue YoY compared to Q4 2012.
In 2013 Intel had $52.7 billion in total revenue along with $12.3 billion operating and $9.6 billion net income. Compared to the previous year (2012), Intel's revenue fell 1% while operating income and net income fell 13% and 16% respectively. Specifically of interest to the PC Perspective readers, the PC Client Group had 2013 revenue of $33.0 billion which was down 4% versus 2012.
|Q4 2012||Q4 2013||YoY Change||2012||2013||YoY Change|
All $ figures are in billions (USD).
As far as the previous quarter (Q4 2013) alone, Intel made revenue of $13.8 billion which was a 3% increase versus the same quarter in 2012. Quarterly net income also increased 6% YoY to $2.6 billion.
Looking forward into 2014, Intel estimates revenue for the first quarter (Q1 2014) to be $12.8 billion. Unfortunately, Intel plans to cut approximately 5,000 jobs (specifically 5% of its workforce) in 2014 despite the "solid" company performance.
You can find more information in this Intel press release.
Subject: General Tech | October 19, 2012 - 02:04 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: quarterly earnings, downer, billions, amd
The hard numbers have arrived and AMDs quarter was every bit as bad as investors had feared, with a non-GAAP net loss of US$150 million and a $0.20 loss per share. The actual income for this quarter was $1.27 billion, the low end of the predictions that were made by analysts and with the sluggish movement in the PC market the choice has been made to lower operating costs as opposed to trying to increase revenue. To do so they will be reducing their global workforce by 15% over the coming quarter and restructuring the company with the goal of reducing operating costs by 25% so that a $1.3 billion dollar quarter would be a break even point, not a loss. The Register details other changes Rory Read is planning on implementing, more of a focus on chips for servers and embedded cores and SoCs for communication and industrial applications. As well AMD's win on the console side, with the Sony PS4 using AMD for both CPU and GPU as well as the WiiU which will use an AMD GPU and the as yet unnamed new XBox, all of which will garner licensing incomes for AMD for years to come. The talk about ultra-low-power chips for tablets and ultrabook like products is hopeful, though it is unlikely to be a major revenue source it would be a good move to attempt to grab more market share in that segment. DigiTimes also weighs in here.
"One week ago, AMD warned investors that its financial results for its third quarter of 2012 were going to be worse than it had previously estimated, with revenues down about 10 per cent from the previous quarter rather than the 1 per cent, plus or minus 3 per cent, that they had forecasted earlier.
They were spot on – not that being correct about such a disappointing result will win them many friends on the Street.
After the markets closed this Thursday, AMD announced that its Q3 2012 revenues were $1.27bn, which hit that prediction of a 10 per cent quarter-to-quarter slippage."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- One year on, SSL servers STILL cower before the BEAST @ The Register
- Multiply Your Encrypted Linux Backups with Horcrux @ Linux.com
- Mozilla launches Firefox marketplace for Android @ The Inquirer
- Arctic Charging Station @ Kitguru
- Motherboard Advertising & DRAM Compatibility @ Benchmark Reviews
- SysAdmin Corner: 7 Network Security F-Ups Small Offices Make @ Techgage
- Good Old Games Adds Mac OS X Support @ Slashdot
Subject: General Tech | October 12, 2012 - 07:34 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, financial results, quarterly earnings
While we do not have the finalized results of AMD's Q3 earnings, The Register did report that they will not be meeting the targets that were set previously. The are lowering both expected revenues as well as their gross margins projections. While this news is not unexpected it does illustrate the difficulties which AMD is currently experiencing. With new products already for sale and more scheduled for release before the new year, there is still hope for AMD to make a bit of a recovery. As we have pointed out many times before, whether you purchase AMD products or not, the continued existence of AMD is crucial to keep the marketplace competitive.
shamelessly stolen from macgasm
"AMD has announced lowered expectations for its third-quarter financial results, with revenues declining 10 per cent from the previous quarter, down from the 1 per cent – give or take 3 per cent – that it had previously projected."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- TLC NAND could penetrate biz with flash-to-flash backup @ The Register
- AMD Hondo-based products to be launched in mid-November at the earliest @ DigiTimes
- My smartphone conundrum @ The Tech Report
- Office 2013 hits RTM, will ship starting in November @ The Register
- What is going on with Nvidia’s GK114? @ SemiAccurate
- Fractal Design End Mod
Subject: Processors | July 20, 2012 - 11:21 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: quarterly earnings, loss, APU, amd
AMD recently released its Q2 2012 earnings (as did Intel), and things are continuing to look bleak for the number two x86-64 processor company. The company stated that the lower than expected numbers were the result of a weak economy and during a time of the year when people are not buying computers. The may be some truth to that as the second quarter is in the post-Christmas holiday season lul and before the big back-to-school retail push. On the economy front, it’s harder for me to say but without going political or armchair economist on you, the market seems better than it has been but is really still recovering–At least from a consumer perspective.
AMD reported revenue of $1.41 billion in the second quarter of 2012, which does not seem terrible, but when compared to Intel’s $13.5 billion Q2 revenue, and the fact that AMD’s numbers represent an 11-percent lower value than last quarter and 10-percent decrease versus Q2 2011, it’s easy to say that things are not looking good for the company.
According to Paul Lilly over at MaximumPC, when breaking AMD’s numbers down by business segment it gets even worse. Its Computing Solutions business fell 13-percent versus the previous quarter and Q2 2011. On the other hand, the company has the ever-so-slightly better news that the graphics card division stayed the same versus last year and was down 5-percent versus last quarter. The company was quoted as stating that the respective revenue drops were due to lower desktop sales in China and Europe and a “seasonally down quarter.”
PC Perspective’s Josh Walrath recently wrote up an editorial (note: pre-earnings call) that talks about AMDs new plan to focus on APUs, take on less risk, and push out new products faster. As a future-looking article, it talks about the impact of the company’s upcoming VIshera and Kaveri processors as well as AMD’s increased focus on heterogeneous system architectures. It remains to be seen if that new path for company will help them to make money or if it will hurt them. AMD cautions that Q3 2012 may not see increased revenue, but here’s hoping that they will be able to pull together for a strong Q4 and sell chips during the big holiday shopping season.
I for one am excited about the prospects of Kaveri and believe that HSA could work and is what AMD needs to focus on as it is one advantage that they have over NVIDIA and Intel – NVIDIA does not have an x86-64 license and Intel’s processor graphics leave room for improvement, to put it mildly. AMD may not have the best CPU cores, but it’s not an inherently bad design and where they are moving with the full convergence of the CPU and GPU is much farther ahead of the other big players.
Read more about AMD's Q2 2012 earnings (transcript).
Subject: General Tech | July 10, 2012 - 02:18 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: amd, quarterly earnings
While AMD predicted the second quarter of 2012 to be up 3 per cent, plus or minus 3 per cent compared to last quarter, total revenue instead fell by 11%. This is blamed on the slowed global economy, not just in North America but in other major markets like China and Europe, as opposed to a loss in market share to competitors. This is not the news AMD was hoping for but because at least some of the loss is due to a reduction in sales volume across the marketplace there is still hope for AMD to turn a profit because the gross margins may remain the same. Heavy cost reduction at AMD could make the difference in profitability in this economic downturn but that is not really a long term solution if they want to remain innovative and profitable. The Register has the acutal numbers handy here.
"The bean counters at AMD have done a first pass on the company's second quarter, and it is not looking so good.
The company said in a statement after Wall Street called it a day on Monday that revenues in the second quarter ended in June would fall by approximately 11 per cent sequentially from the first quarter."
Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
- Hackers could target Chrome users' webcams, security experts warn @ The Inquirer
- HP's faster-than-flash memristor at least TWO years away @ The Register
- Microsoft lures resellers with Office 365 perks and payments @ The Register
- TRENDnet TPE-S44 8 Port 10/100Mbps PoE Switch Review @ NikKTech
- Nikon Coolpix P310 Review @ TechReviewSource


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eMAG Hungary and Extreme Digital, the two leading Hungarian online marketers, have announced their merger, giving birth to one of the leading e-commerce companies in Central and Eastern Europe, which will be able to compete with the biggest online retailers. Their goal is to reach sales of EUR 1 billion in the coming years.
“This partnership is a recognition of the scalability and quality of eMAG technologies that have been developed over the past ten years. We are confident that eMAG’s development in the region will intensify as a result of this merger, creating the premises for expansion in countries where Extreme Digital is already active,” said Iulian Stanciu, eMAG CEO. “Extreme Digital was founded in 2001 by Balázs Várkonyi and Gyula Kelemen, the most powerful technology entrepreneurs in Hungary. Their experience, along with eMAG’s technology and know-how, will help us build the largest local technology company with a target of one billion euros in six years.”
Following the merger, eMAG Romania will become the majority shareholder of the new entity, with 52 percent of the shares, the remaining 48 percent returning to Extreme Digital shareholders. Completion of the transaction is subject to the agreement of the competition authorities.
Balázs Várkonyi, as CEO, and Gyula Kelemen as CFO, along with Catalin Diz, the current Country Manager of eMAG Hungary, will head the new company based in Budapest. The technology used in Hungary and in five new countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria) will be developed by eMAG.
For Marketplace partners, eMAG thus becomes a gateway to business scaling and internationalization, while for Hungarian customers it translates into more benefits: access to more products, better prices, greater convenience through delivery services and return to high standards.
Extreme Digital is an important player on the Hungarian retail market, which uses a hybrid business model combining online and offline marketing. This way, customers can get offline products they have ordered online in their 16 stores.


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Samsung has decided to ratchet up the level of competition with Apple. The South Korea-based company will attempt to trump its iPhone 4S rival by offering up its popular Galaxy S II smartphone for just two bucks without a service contract (yes, you heard correct). This likely stems from Apple’s recent rejection of Samsung’s settlement offer, which would have allowed the manufacturer to push its products to Aussies without being litigated for patent infringements.
Samsung has set up a pop-up store just a hop skip and jump away from Apple’s Sydney store, all just for stealing the thunder from the iPhone 4S launch this Friday. Samsung will give the first ten customers each day up to Friday its Galaxy S II for just $2.
Samsung’s campaign will help draw a crowd, but it will be interesting to see how well they do with head-to-head sales. Offering two-dollar Galaxy S II’s to just 10 people per day isn’t even a speed bump when it comes to the locomotive that is the iPhone 4S. Honestly, I think Samsung just gets a kick out of pissing Apple off.
If you happen to be in Sydney, more details on the promotion are available here.


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GameStop (GME) earnings Q1 2021
Picture by Paul Weaver/SOPA Photographs/LightRocket through Getty Photographs
Shares fell greater than 9% after-market buying and selling on Wednesday on information of the corporate’s earnings.
This is how the corporate did for the fiscal first quarter ended Might 1, in contrast with Refinitiv consensus estimates:
- Loss per share: 45 cents per share adjusted vs. 84 cents anticipated
- Income: $1.28 billion vs. $1.16 billion anticipated
Within the quarter, GameStop reported that its internet loss narrowed to $66.8 million, or $1.01 per share, from a lack of $165.7 million, or a lack of $2.57 per share a yr earlier. Excluding objects, the corporate had a lack of 45 cents per share. Analysts have been anticipating GameStop to report a lack of 84 cents per share, in response to Refinitiv.
Complete income grew to $1.28 billion from $1.02 billion a yr earlier, topping Wall Road’s expectations of $1.16 billion.
The corporate declined to offer steering for the yr, however mentioned momentum continued within the second quarter. It mentioned complete gross sales in Might elevated about 27% in contrast with the identical month a yr in the past.
The online game retailer’s inventory has gyrated wildly over the previous a number of months as retail merchants have shared tips about Reddit and tried to gasoline brief squeezes for corporations together with AMC Leisure, Mattress Tub & Past and Clover Well being — collectively the group has turn out to be referred to as meme shares.
GameStop’s shares are up 1,506% to date this yr. Its shares have swung from a 52-week low of $3.77 to a 52-week excessive of $483.
The buying and selling frenzy has gotten the eye of the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee. In a submitting on Wednesday, GameStop mentioned it had acquired a request from the SEC on Might 26 to voluntarily present paperwork and knowledge. The corporate mentioned it was reviewing that request and deliberate to cooperate.
GameStop has tried to catch traders’ consideration in different methods, because it focuses extra on e-commerce and poaches expertise from different corporations. This spring, it tapped Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen to steer efforts to develop the net enterprise. He was named chairman at a shareholder assembly on Wednesday. The corporate additionally employed a number of former Amazon executives, together with Jenna Owens, its new chief working officer; Matt Francis, its first chief know-how officer; and Elliott Wilke, its chief progress officer.
Learn the corporate’s earnings press launch right here and its CEO announcement right here.
This story is growing. Please examine again for updates.
Correction: GameStop named former Amazon govt Matt Furlong as its new CEO. An earlier model of this story misstated his first title.


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Judge Lucy Koh, ruling on a motion by Samsung for a re-trial, chastised Apple's lawyer for making the fact that Samsung was a foreign firm an issue in closing remarks to the jury
The Calcalist financial newspaper reported the news on Sunday without citing sources. PrimeSense is an Israeli developer of optical chips and imaging systems that can be used to sense the depth and location of objects in a three-dimensional space.
Lenovo Group said it will triple the number of markets in which it sells smartphones by focusing on emerging economies where Apple Inc.’s iPhone is seen as too costly, but CEO Yang Yuanqing declined to comment on any specific targets, or whether the company had pursued BlackBerry Ltd.
Apple Inc’s disappointing third quarter was nowhere in evidence in Japan, where sales increased more than 40 percent as the highly anticipated launch of the new iPhone by Japan’s biggest mobile firm boosted sales - at rival carriers
Apple Inc shares opened 0.8% higher as investors looked to strong sales for the flagship iPhone 5S, shrugging off signs of less-than-stellar orders for the cheaper 5C model
The world’s biggest fund managers are giving shareholder activists the muscle to take on larger companies from Dell Inc. to Microsoft Corp.
Infinity Blade III will be a sword-swiping hoot, but don't expect Apple's new device to replace your PC, console or Nintendo 3DS.
Apple Inc.'s new iPhone 5c and 5s are lovely devices, but Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said they are nonetheless disappointing
China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd will carry Apple Inc’s newest iPhone models within days of their launch in Beijing next week, while Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc is expected to start selling iPhones as soon as autumn
Though investor optimism in BlackBerry Ltd.'s future may have been bolstered by Monday's Microsoft Corp.-Nokia Corp. deal, not everyone has quite the same faith in what's to come
Both sides fighting over the $5.4B oil pipeline have sought to marshal current and former politicians, foreign dignitaries, scientists and celebrities to their cause
'Nearby Friends' is optional and uses your smartphone’s GPS system to tell your Facebook friends you are nearby — provided they have the feature turned on
In this twist on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the idea is that once you’re operating in the highest tier, you’re set up to be a financial success
Google updated its terms of service this week, informing users that their incoming and outgoing emails are automatically analyzed by software to create ads
Here are some of the best things you can say to motivate your employees and move your business forward


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DETROIT – Gas prices have hit a sweet spot for U.S.-based automakers. They’ve fallen enough to spur pickup truck sales, yet remain so high that newer small cars are selling as well.
That isn’t the case for Honda and Toyota, however. They ran short of small cars because of production problems tied to the March earthquake in Japan.
Industry analysts expect overall U.S. sales to rise 13.5 percent from last June, to around 1.1 million cars and trucks. Automakers were reporting June sales throughout the day on Friday.
General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. both said their sales rose 10 percent. Chrysler Group’s sales increased 30 percent. But Honda Motor Co., and Toyota Motor Corp., each saw sales drop more than 21 percent.
Despite the Honda and Toyota numbers, the results indicate the U.S. auto industry’s slow recovery from the recession is back on track after a brief slump in May.
GM said that cheaper gas lured more pickup truck buyers into showrooms. Chevrolet Silverado sales rose 5 percent and GMC Sierra sales up 8 percent compared with a year earlier. Sales of Ford’s F-Series pickups rose 7 percent, while Chrysler reported a 35-percent increase in Ram truck sales.
Any jump in pickup sales helps the Detroit automakers, which sell more than five times as many pickups as foreign-based brands. But even Nissan Motor Co. benefited, as sales of its Frontier small pickup rose 51 percent.
Still, GM’s sales increases were powered by smaller, more fuel-efficient models. Sales of the new Chevrolet Cruze compact more than doubled those of the car it replaced, the Cobalt. Gas prices averaged $3.68 per gallon in June, cheaper than in May but hardly inexpensive.
“There is a certain portion of consumers that react to gas prices almost on a daily basis, and they decide what to buy based on those prices,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends and insights for car pricing site TrueCar.com.
Honda and Toyota ran short of top-selling models as demand for their smaller, fuel-efficient vehicles was rising. Sales of Honda’s two top-selling models, the Accord midsize car and Civic compact, were each off about 35 percent. At Toyota, sales of the Camry midsize car were off 25 percent, and the Corolla compact was down 14 percent.
Both companies’ North American factories are starting to return to normal production. The earthquake and tsunami in March damaged Japanese parts plants and cut off electricity.
Even with sales rebounding, there is some concern about the strength of the recovery.
Don Johnson, GM’s vice president of U.S. sales, said he now expects total industry sales to be at the low a range of 13 million to 13.5 million vehicles. J.D. Power and Associates lowered its full-year sales forecast from 13 million vehicles to 12.9 million.
Johnson blamed stubbornly high unemployment. Sluggish hiring in May contributed to that month’s sales decline, which broke a string of double-digit monthly increases. Forecasters say the jobs picture improved only slightly in June.
Johnson says the industry recovery will motor along. He said that even with unemployment around 9 percent, 91 percent of the country is still working. And many are driving older cars.
“There are still people out there looking for a vehicle and in many cases need to replace their vehicles,” Johnson said.
The average car on the road now is 10.6 years old, according to the Polk research firm.
Sales were expected to be up around 5 percent from May, when parts shortages, $4-per-gallon gas and a lack of deals caused a slump.
But the pace of sales has slowed from the beginning of this year.
Shortages are keeping car prices high. That’s likely to continue through September, J.D. Power said. In the meantime, hiring has slowed and incomes are flat. Consumer confidence – an important measure of whether or not cars will sell – slipped to a seven-month low in June.
“Things aren’t quite as healthy in the current environment as expected earlier this year,” said Jeff Schuster, J.D. Power’s executive director of global forecasting.
One issue for automakers is the lack of small, fuel-efficient cars. Japanese automakers expect earthquake-related shortages of popular products like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic for several more months, and Detroit automakers can’t meet the demand for small cars alone.
The industry began June with a 30-day supply of compact and subcompact cars, and inventory has only gotten tighter since then, Ford’s top U.S. sales analyst George Pipas said. That compares to a 51-day supply of all cars and trucks.
Pipas said that instead of moving into mid-size cars, small-car shoppers are simply waiting. Both Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. have said they expect their North American production to be at near-normal levels by late summer, and more cars will get to dealerships soon after that.
Other automakers reporting Friday:
• Volkswagen AG said its U.S. sales rose 35 percent in June on strong demand for its Jetta midsize sedan and other models.
• Nissan said sales rose 11.4 percent on strong demand for smaller vehicles. Sentra compact car sales rose nearly 31 percent.
• Hyundai Motor Co. sales were up 15.6 percent, led by the Elantra compact car. The Korean automaker sold 59,209 vehicles in June, up from 51,205 a year earlier.
• Kia Motors Co. reported its best June ever with sales up 41 percent to 45,044. The hottest seller was the new Optima midsize sedan at 7,099. That’s almost six times more Optimas than were sold a year earlier.


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Core retail sales and upward revisions to January bolstered the report.
February retail sales fell 0.4%, giving back only a portion of the upwardly revised January strength. Retail sales surged 3.2% in January, 0.2% more than initially reported. The largest declines showed up in traditional department stores, restaurants, furniture and vehicles. All those categories are still up substantially from the suppressed levels of late 2022, when consumers pulled back.
The control group, which goes into the calculation of real GDP growth, rose 0.5% in February after rising by an upwardly revised 2.3% in January. That confirms our view that consumer spending accelerated in the first quarter after losing momentum in the fourth quarter. That will help to drain inventories and explain the persistence we are seeing in inflation, which looks like it is getting stickier.
Traditional department store sales experienced the largest drop, -4.0% in February, after a stunning 18.1% surge in January. That gain was lifted by a record bump in Social Security payments in January; baby boomers are the largest demographic to shop at traditional department stores. The January increase was the third largest on record; only the increases as the economy emerged from lockdowns were larger. Sales at restaurants and bars declined 2.2%; I would say the “dry” January was pushed into February, but sales are still up at those establishments significantly since December.
Sales of motor vehicles and parts fell 1.8% in February, which was already telegraphed by the decline in unit sales reported earlier in the month by dealers. Inventories of new vehicles remain tight due to supply chain problems. A shortage of workers at suppliers has supplanted chip shortages as the primary supply chain problem.
Furniture store sales fell -2.5% but were still up from the suppressed levels of the fourth quarter. Electronic and appliance sales held up better for the month. Building materials, which feed more directly into new home construction, were weaker. Spending on apparel declined 0.8% and sporting goods store sales fell 0.5%. Retailers were slow to discount in February, which no doubt exacerbated the weakness in apparel sales.
However, it is hard to escape the rebound in consumer spending at the start of the year after a lackluster holiday season. This tracks the acceleration that we saw in employment in the first two months of the year, which could slow in response to the tightening of credit conditions in the banking industry. Employment gains were driven by firms with less than 250 workers; those are the most at risk from the current financial market instability.
Retail sales were much stronger than the headlines figures suggest, given the gains in core retail sales and the upward revisions to what was already a stellar January. A week ago, this would have further cemented the Federal Reserve’s commitment to raise rates. Recent financial market instability has complicated the calculus. The Fed is likely to pause at its meeting next week, even as members of the Federal Open Market Committee mark up their trajectory for rate hikes going forward. The Fed is carefully weighing the risks of inflation against those for a less controlled rise in unemployment due to financial instability.
Recent financial market instability has complicated the calculus. The Fed is likely to pause at its meeting next week.


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UK stock alert
Afternoon Alert: Imperial Brands in 5th consecutive fall, nears two-month low 18 January 2018 14:43 GMT
NEWS BITES - EUROPE
Imperial Brands PLC (L:IMB) slipped further on Thursday, sliding an additional GBX79.50 (or 2.6%) to trade at GBX2,993.0. The stock decreased 0.41% on Tuesday and 1.95% on Wednesday bringing its 5-day fall to 5.8%. It is now approaching its 33-day low of GBX2,986.50.
Imperial Brands PLC (L:IMB; LON:IMB; LN:IMB)


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Britain said Friday it plans to ban companies from making their customers pay excessive credit and debit card surcharges when buying flights and other services.
Firms will be allowed to add just a small charge to cover their actual costs.
Continue Reading Below
Payment surcharges are especially prevalent in the airline sector, where Britain's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has estimated that British consumers spent 300 million pounds ($470 million) on such fees in 2009.
"We want to make sure that consumers paying by card do not have to pay excessively high surcharges being imposed on them by some airlines and other businesses," consumer minister Edward Davey said in a statement.
The ban will apply to most retail sectors, not just the transport sector.
The European Union Consumer Rights Directive will ban businesses in many sectors, including airlines, from imposing above-cost surcharges on payments from mid-2014.
The British government plans to consult on implementing this provision of the directive early, with the goal of banning above-cost surcharges by the end of 2012.
"We need to consult to get those rules right. We need to make sure the right process is in place to help consumers challenge companies that levy excessive surcharges and we need to give business some time to get their systems ready," Treasury minister Mark Hoban told the BBC.
Irish airline Ryanair said its 6 pounds booking administration charge did not apply to all cards.
"I would not expect the rules to affect us as we don't impose any debit or credit card fees. Our administration charge can be avoided using certain types of cards," said Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara.
In June, the OFT called for the law to be updated to stop surcharges on debit card payments after consumer group Which? asked it to investigate.
Which? said card surcharges were often sprung on the customer at the point of payment and could be much higher than the retailers' costs in processing the transaction.
The consumer group singled out low-cost airlines, such as Ryanair and Britain's Flybe (FLYB.L) and easyJet, who it said charge fees per passenger, per leg of a journey, even though they only have to process one transaction.
EasyJet declined comment and Flybe did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Which? said excessive charges were also spreading among cinemas and hotels.
The UK Cards Association, representing the debit and credit card industry, called the government's move "a terrific Christmas gift for consumers."
"The UK Cards Association fully supported Which? on this issue and we're delighted that the Treasury has decided to bring into line those few businesses who have been excessively charging us all for using our cards," it said.


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fashion is finally paying attention to differently-abled bodies
A revolutionary wave of actually-interesting designs addressing the needs of all people.
Photography courtesy Lucy Jones
On September 15, the White House hosted Design for All, its first-ever fashion show celebrating inclusive design, assistive technology, and prosthetics. The event was attended by innovators in the differently abled fashion space, including the Alleles prosthetic cover design studio, Tommy Hilfiger with an "adaptive" collection for kids, Nike designer Tobie Hatfield whose Flyease technology makes it possible for athletes of all abilities to rep the swoosh, and blogger Mama Cáx, who chronicles her travel, style, and journey as a woman who lost her right leg after winning a battle with bone and lung cancer.
The White House event arrives at a time when the fashion world's historically restrictive definition of beauty continues to evolve in response to a social media-driven demand for realness and diversity. Model and TSS survivor/activist Lauren Wasser, who had her lower right leg amputated in 2012, was cast as one of Kenneth Cole's "Courageous Class," IMG model Jillian Mercado, who has muscular dystrophy, scored a major Beyoncé campaign, and Madeline Stuart, the first adult professional model with Down Syndrome, recently walked in her third New York Fashion Week. But visibility and representation, although major steps forward, are only part of the battle to make fashion truly inclusive. To pick up where mainstream brands leave off, a new generation of visionary designers — among them Alleles, MagnaReady, and Parsons 2015 Womenswear Designer of The Year Lucy Jones — are using the tools of the trade (and inventing some new ones) to address the challenges presented by dressing differently abled bodies.
For her part, technology-obsessed designer Lucy Jones is creating modular, avant-garde pieces for people in wheelchairs. While enrolled in a Design Communication class at Parsons, she was tasked with designing something that would change the world. Inspired by her cousin Jake, who lives with hemiplegia, and was unable to dress without his mother's support, Jones became focused on addressing issues of functionality that stem from mobility issues. "You've got a petites section, and a maternity section — I think there should be a seated section, where you can buy the same looks from the same collections, just for seated individuals," explains Jones.
With their respective backgrounds in industrial design and architecture, McCauley Wanner and Ryan Palibroda co-founded Alleles, the Canadian design studio that creates custom prosthetic covers to empower amputees through self-expression. "We are a design studio first and foremost and always have been, but at the same time we're offering a prosthetic product," says McCauley. "So, we've had to do a lot of educating within the very technical industry about the psychology of fashion, and how effective it can be for healing and recovering from an amputation, and how the individual is perceived by others when they leave the clinic." For McCauley and Ryan, a priority is to make sure style never takes a backseat to functionality, which is why their ready-to-wear pieces come in a kaleidoscopic range of colors and prints including camo, flora and fauna, and skull and crossbones.
"Fashion designers are supposed to be super creative and visual, to be able to find beauty in anything," says McCauley, yet she and Ryan have found that to be far from the case. "We look at someone with a different body type, and we see these traits as cool and beautiful. We think of all the pieces we can come up with to emphasize or showcase that beauty. It's crazy that more designers don't see that as something worth designing for, or something interesting, or something that can actually be profitable from a business standpoint," she adds.
Alleles ambassador Mama Cáx, the Brooklyn blogger who became an amputee at age 14 after kicking cancer's ass, was inspired by the White House event. "The event underscored the importance of inclusive fashion, and how stylish assistive devices and prosthetics allow people with disabilities to express themselves and decide how they want to be perceived," she explains. "Someone at the event put it best when he said that when he meets strangers, his stylish prosthetic leg has helped 'change the focus of the conversation from disability to design.' This statement could not be more true for me."
Cáx owns 12 different Alleles prosthetic leg covers, each in a unique color and electric design. She says that embracing fashionable prosthetic covers has allowed her to control the narrative around her ability, and that blogging and Instagram are powerful tools for owning her story, commanding the attention of brands, and changing the public's perception. "When I meet a stranger, they are intrigued and want to know more about the covers. Whereas before, for many, I was a case of pity, the occasional passenger on the train asking to pray with me or straight up telling me how they feel bad for me, or my favorite: 'If you pray, god will give you your leg back.'"
Most people know Nike as the brand which tells us to "Just Do It." But did you know their mission statement is actually to "Bring Inspiration and Innovation to Every* Athlete in the World," with the asterisk indicating that "If You Have a Body, You Are an Athlete"? Now, the performance giant has put its money where its mantra is with the launch of Flyease self-lacing, easy-entry-and-closure technology, the brainchild of top Nike designer Tobie Hatfield. Inspired by a personal letter from Matthew Walzer, a then-high-school junior who dreamed of attending college without requiring assistance to tie his shoes due to challenges from Cerebral Palsy, the Flyease introduces a wrap-around zipper system that eliminates the need to tie traditional laces. Hatfield worked tirelessly alongside Walzer to fulfill his dream of total autonomy. The future-forward technology has since gone on to transform life for legions of athletes who've struggled to secure their own footwear, and been applied to a number of popular Nike styles, including the LeBron Soldier 9.
Chaitenya Razdan's Care + Wear is a company that offers stylish, comfortable, antimicrobial sleeves and port access clothing for patients with PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) lines, commonly used for intravenously distributed chemotherapy and antibiotics. Prior to Razdan's advancements, patients were forced to fabricate makeshift covers from bland, bulky white tube socks. It's this untapped market that the former Goldman Sachs investment banker identifies as "healthware" — solution-oriented style which blurs the boundaries between fashion and medical design — and predicts will be a $40 billion industry.
A recent study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there are 53 million adults in the United States living with a disability, the most common of which is a mobility limitation, followed by a disability in thinking and/or memory, independent living, vision, and self-care. That's one out every five individuals — athletes, parents, business professionals, scientists, artists, lovers, friends — 53 million people who deserve to express themselves through the clothing they wear and find themselves limited, not by their own bodies, but by an industry that is blinded by its own narrow perception of beauty.
"We are all at risk of having a disability at some point in our lifetime," said CDC Director Tom Frieden in a press statement. Yet, you'd never guess it by the underrepresentation of differently abled folks in fashion. While there may be some variances in the logistics of how a person with Parkinson's Disease buttons a blouse, or in the technical requirements of an individual who happens to use a wheelchair, we are all united by a desire to embrace personal style for confidence and self-expression.
While it's refreshing to see fashion houses casting diverse and differently abled models to star in campaigns and walk the runway, the battle for inclusivity is far from won. "Visibility is great, because we do need more of that for this underserved demographic," say McCauley. But it's simply not enough. "To just take these models and use them for personal marketing gains or as a gimmick and not actually design anything for them is insulting on so many levels," she explains. If we really want to see the revolution on the runway, more brands must take the leap to actually creating specifically for the one in five people in our country living and thriving with differently abled bodies.
Text Jane Helpern
Images courtesy Lucy Jones and Allele


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Meet the next generation of consumers where they are now. Join us virtually for The New Consumer, on March 30, for tips from Clutch, Mars Wrigley and more. Sign up for free.
Auto-generated captions are now available for all feed videos on Instagram, and the feature will be turned on by default for creators on the platform.
Instagram said that making it the default setting makes the process of adding captions to content seamless and makes content on its application more accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing users, as well as people who prefer to consume video with the sound turned off.
The Meta-owned platform added that it noticed creators turning to time-consuming and labor-intensive workarounds such as burning in captions or outsourcing the process, adding that those creators can now spend less time captioning and more time focused on their content.
The captions are rolling out in select languages, with more countries, languages and surfaces to be added in the coming months, and Instagram said it expects its artificial intelligence to continue learning as more people use the feature, which will improve the quality of...


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As the weather finally starts to warm up, consumers can brace themselves for an onslaught of health products and weight loss regime ads.
Buck the aspirational trend, and embrace the heftier one by creating products that mess with the weight loss theme of the spring months.
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These muffin trays embrace the nutritional drawbacks and uncomfortable branding now synonymous with baked goods, by creating a muffin top fresh out of oven.
What trend can you play with to generate buzz?


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Uber’s Next Logistics Move – UberRUSH
Following a successful pilot in New York City, UberRUSH officially announced UberRUSH in three cities – New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.
SupplyChain247 reports Uber’s Next Logistics Move – UberRUSH.
For a little over a year, Uber has been operating its UberRUSH delivery service as a pilot program in New York City.
Today it’s making it an official part of the company, and expanding the courier service to Chicago and San Francisco, allowing customers to receive deliveries from local businesses.
UberRUSH competes directly with Postmates, delivering items like groceries, take-out food, and house supplies, albeit with a much larger fleet of cars on the road.
But unlike Postmates, when you open the Uber app, you won’t be flooded with a number of businesses that can deliver something to you.
Uber has integrated its delivery service with a number of top e-commerce platforms used by small businesses like Shopify, Clover, ChowNow, and delivery.com, which should help increase the number of local companies that utilize UberRUSH.
While it’s still early in the game for UberRUSH, the possibilities for Uber to truly succeed as a full-fledged delivery service are readily available.
With a fleet of cars that far exceed those operated by Postmates and Seamless, Uber could feasibly cut down on delivery times.
But with Amazon Prime Now still expanding and a number of other delivery startups sure to pop up in the future, UberRUSH is far from the last entry into this market.
Will Uber eventually go the next step and compete with FedEx and UPS?
While pondering that thought, please consider monkey-see, monkey-do, hikes of near-identical amounts at FedEx and UPS.
FedEx Rate Hikes
In September, FedEx Announced Rate Hikes on the basis people are shipping larger, heavier packages, and residential deliveries have increased.
- FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery will increase shipping rates by an average of 4.9%.
- Package surcharges increase on packages that exceed specified dimensions.
- Fuel surcharges apply based on weight
UPS Rate Hikes
This past week, UPS Announced Rate Hikes by the same 4.9% average.
- Effective December 28, charges rise by an average of 4.9%
- UPS Air and International services and accessorials, including UPSAir Freight rates within and between the United States and Canada will increase by an average net of 5.2 percent.
- UPS announced surcharges for Over Maximum packages and tables for Ground Air and International fuel surcharges will increase on November 2.
Rob Martinez, president & CEO, Shipware LLC, a San Diego-based parcel consultancy, offered these comments:
What’s surprising is that UPS is again increasing its fuel surcharge effective Nov 2, 2015. Where FedEx’s latest announcement to increase fuel surcharges on 11/2/15 brought it more in line with what UPS charges today, the new UPS fuel pricing will again be higher than FedEx. It’s also important to note that UPS will implement the 2016 pricing on Dec 28, 2015, a full week ahead of FedEx. Finally, UPS Freight pricing is also increasing an average of 4.9 percent effective Oct 26, 2015. To date, FedEx has not announced increases at FedEx Freight.
The Fed cheers these rates hikes. No one else does but the shippers and new competitors like Uber. Just thinking: What would an Amazon-Uber pairing be able to do?
Mike “Mish” Shedlock


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Following the announcement of a joint European steel venture between Tata Steel and thyssenkrupp, the members of the future management board have been released.
The European tube market was particularly stable in the first half of 2018 according to the European tube manufacturers association (etma). 5.6 billion tubes were produced during the six month period, equalling the levels of the same period the previous year (when the production of new member companies is taken into account). Gregor Spengler, etma’s […]
VMI Yantai has announced the appointment of Mr Chen Xing Chunjing as general manager.
Campbell Soup Company is to sell its international businesses and fresh refrigerated-foods unit, following a several month-long strategic review and pressure from hedge fund investors to sell the whole company.
Following a Memorandum of Understanding in September 2017, Tata Steel and thyssenkrupp AG have signed definitive agreements to combine their European steel businesses in a 50/50 joint venture in a new company.


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Posted Thu Jun 30, 2016 at 06:41 AM PDT by Sophia Edwards
Physical edition set for later this year.
Rising Star Games has announced that Dracue Software's remake of their classic 16-bit shooter 'Assault Suit Leynos' will be releasing on PS4 and PC on July 12th for $20. The game will be digital only on PC, however a physical release of the PS4 version is planned for later in the year, with no concrete date set just yet. The physical edition will come with a double-sided poster featuring artwork of the game and the original 16-bit version.
Between games like this and the recently released 'Raiden V', it's amusing to see classic shmup franchises stick around. They attract very niche audiences, but these are almost always passion projects from their developers, and it's cool to see that they're successful enough to keep going.
Source: Rising Star
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.


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Apple has won another major victory in its ongoing battle with Samsung.
A Dutch court in The Hague today issued a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace smartphones, following a hearing on the matter earlier this month. The court said that the Android-based devices violate a software patent that iPhone maker Apple holds in the European Union and that Apple claims Samsung violated.
According to FOSS Patents, which first reported on the court decision, the ruling will ban the sale of those devices in a host of EU countries where Apple's patent is valid. However, FOSS Patents says that Apple did not complete the full registration for the patent in many European countries, including Italy, Spain, and Greece, which means Samsung's devices likely won't be banned from those areas.
The preliminary injunction against Samsung's phones is set to go into effect in mid-October. It is separate from an injunction that focuses on Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets.
Because the patent focuses on software, today's ruling could also extend beyond Samsung to the broader Android ecosystem. "It's a severe blow for Android," writes Mueller. "In all likelihood, the winning patent is infringed by Android itself--maybe not the operating system per se, but by one or more of the applications that ship with Android and without which the usefulness of Android would be impaired."
• In Apple win, Samsung Galaxy Tab blocked in EU
• Samsung blindsided by Apple's EU tablet injunction
• Samsung Galaxy Tab ban lifted in Europe
For its part, Samsung didn't seem too concerned by the ruling. In an e-mailed statement to CNET, a company spokesperson said that the single infraction it was hit with will be handled. And the company doesn't expect to be forced to halt sales of its smartphones across Europe.
"Today's ruling is an affirmation that the Galaxy range of products is innovative and distinctive," the Samsung spokesperson said in the statement. "With regard to the single infringement cited in the ruling, we will take all possible measures including legal action to ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of our Galaxy smartphones to Dutch consumers. This ruling is not expected to affect sales in other European markets."
Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.
The two companies have been embroiled in a bitter contest spanning several continents as both sides allege that the other is violating patents they hold. So far, Apple has been getting the better of Samsung.
Earlier this month, Apple was awarded a preliminary injunction from a German court, banning the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 across several countries in the European Union. Last week, that ban was lifted in all nations except Germany because the court's jurisdiction did not reach beyond its country's borders, so a ban on the sale of the device could not be imposed elsewhere around the continent.
Apple and Samsung are to meet in court tomorrow to discuss Galaxy Tab sales across Europe. If Apple succeeds, it could once again see Samsung's tablet banned for sale across much of Europe.
In Australia, meanwhile, Apple has already found some notable success. It has come to an agreement with Samsung that will allow it to get a first look at three Galaxy Tab 10.1 models before they're offered for sale in the country. The option that Apple chooses will then be sold in Australia.
Google's Android isn't only coming under attack from Apple. The operating system is also being targeted by Oracle, which is taking aim at Google over alleged violations in Android, while Microsoft has targeted several Android vendors, including Barnes & Noble.
Google earlier this month tried to bolster its mobile-patent portfolio, announg the planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. If the deal is approved, Google would likely have the patent backing it needs to fire off its own legal salvos.
"Google's acquisition of Motorola shifts the balance of power in the handset-patent conflict between Google and its operating system competitors," NPD executive director of industry analysis, Ross Rubin, said in a statement earlier this week.
The search giant has been especially outspoken about its concerns over the patent litigation. Writing in a recent blog post, Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, chastised Apple, among other companies, that he believes are using "bogus patents" to stifle innovation in the mobile space.
"But Android's success has yielded something else: a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and other companies, waged through bogus patents," Drummond wrote in the post. "Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it."
This story was updated throughout the morning and at 1:06 p.m. PT with additional details.


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As work lunches at Pret become a distant memory and people adjust to cooking at home, demand for fresh produce and raw ingredients has skyrocketed; far beyond the capacity of our established supermarkets. Amidst this tumultuous economic landscape new players have entered the fray, leveraging the rising trend in home cooking to carve out a place for themselves.
As a quarantined UK rumbles along, small businesses are stepping in to share in the increased demand. Initially these were mainly in the form of corner shops, local butchers, cafe’s, and other small food-based outlets one could expect. Now, apparently, it’s anyone’s game, with dry cleaners, florists, taxi firms, and anyone else who wants to have a go.
Making the switch from walk-in shop to delivery service is pretty straightforward. Adjustments to logistics have to be made but the product stays the same. But florists delivering flour? What this illustrates is that, up until now, the full extent of the capability of small businesses has been vastly underestimated. There is a reason these people are able to get in on the action, besides their entrepreneurial spirit. The home-cooking renaissance. This isn’t just a social media ‘theme’ or anecdotal observation, the truth is in the numbers. Indeed, when adjusted for the effects of Covid-19, GlobalData’s market data lays bare the shifts taking place in consumer attitudes and purchasing habits brought on by our strange new circumstances.
A key example would be that, when adjusting for Covid-19, the bakery and cereals category is stable with projected value-growth remaining 1.9% over 2020. Prepared meals on the other hand has dropped from a value-growth of 2.0% over 2020 to a COVID-19 adjusted forecast decline of -1.3%. These give insights not just to industry and sector outlooks, but to consumer behavior and the cultural shifts we are seeing. When faced with three meals a day, seven days a week all at home, ready meals start to lose their appeal.
This is where the delivery entrepreneurs come in. In a landscape where processed, prepared food is waning, and raw ingredients are enjoying a renaissance. A corner shop is unlikely to be able to mass produce ready-meals like the supermarkets can, but flour, sugar, oats? These are more resources than they are products. With people now demanding not glossy, pre-packaged meals, but the basics, small business has stormed onto an increasingly competitive playing-field.


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Digital media and advertising firm Demand Media said CEO Richard Rosenblatt has resigned effective Oct. 31, with co-founder Shawn Colo named as interim chief.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Demand Media also said James Quandt has been appointed chairman replacing Rosenblatt, effective immediately. The company’s board will begin a search for a permanent CEO shortly.
The company didn’t provide a specific reason for Rosenblatt’s resignation, but “the change is not entirely surprising given the pressure from Google’s algo(rithm) changes on the content business, the overall strategic drift in the company and waning share price,” Stifel analysts Jordan Rohan and Michael Purcell wrote in a note following the announcement.
Demand Media’s board also confirmed its spinoff plans, which were disclosed in February 2013, although the company said it is evaluating the timing for completing the separation. Under that plan, Demand Media would separate into two entities: one comprising its media assets and the other with its domain services business.
The company’s owned-and-operated websites include eHow.com, Livestrong.com and Cracked.com.
In June, Demand Media lowered revenue expectations for its second quarter to $100 million to $101 million — down from its previous estimate between $105 million and $107 million — citing a reduction in search engine referral traffic to owned-and-operated sites in May and June 2013.


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Everything you need to know about the upcoming open world action adventure game.
'Watch Dogs was revealed before anyone knew what the next gen consoles would be.'
"We heard what our fans were saying."
Ubisoft going all out with this game.
Looks like the aim was to have the co-op be as seamless as possible.
Ubisoft discuss how the driving mechanics have been improved in the sequel to their open world game.
Can Watch Dogs 2 be actually good?
It's hacking time!
Hacktivists are lining the streets of San Francisco, are you game?
It's like Assassin's Creed II all over again!
Ubisoft's next open world title does away with a key traditional feature.
PS4 owners will receive DLC for 30 days before other platforms.
Follow Marcus through one of his hacker excursions.
No more towers!
Don't leave your smartphone unattended.
Controllable copters and more.
It looks a lot more colorful than the first game.
DedSec lives and will unite to save new protagonist Marcus Holloway.
Hacker-centric game ironically can't keep its details secure.
Yeah, we don't know either.


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Although multiple warnings have suggested that iPhone 4S users update to iOS 5.0.1 before it’s too late, a new report from iClarified claims that these users should actually remain on iOS 5.0 to ensure the greatest possibility of unlocking their device in the future, should they ever need to unlock.
The news came from MuscleNerd who confirmed that an untethered jailbreak for iPhone 4S running iOS 5 will be released soon after the iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak…
MuscleNerd has confirmed to iClarified that an untethered iPhone 4S jailbreak for iOS 5.0 will be released at the same time as the iOS 5.0.1 jailbreak, or a day or two later. As always, for those looking to unlock, it is standard operating procedure to stay at the lowest possible baseband.
For those that have already updated to iOS 5.0.1, however, it might not be too late.
iPhone 4S users running iOS 5.0.1 are recommended to downgrade their baseband from build number 9A406 to 9A405, since an unlocking method will most likely be found for the earlier build first.
While an iPhone 4S unlock is not guaranteed, iOS hacker MuscleNerd did make an announcement last November claiming that a very promising unlock was in the works for Apple’s latest handset. If an unlock is inevitably released, we’ll be quick to let you know.


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SodaStream's Stock Rallies After Profit Beats Expectations
Shares of SodaStream International rallied 3.2% in premarket trade Wednesday, after the manufacturer of sparkling water makers reported a fourth-quarter profit that beat expectations, while sales missed. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, adjusted earnings rose to $7.5 million, or 35 cents a share, from $700,000, or 3 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. That beat the FactSet consensus analyst estimate for per-share earnings of 17 cents. Revenue fell to $126.5 million from $168.1 million, below the FactSet consensus of $127.1 million, given lower demand for sparkling water makers and flavors in the U.S. during the holidays. Gross margin improved by eight percentage points to 50.4% as a results of significantly lower discounting and promotional activities. The stock has lost 16% over the past three months through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.3%.
Copyright © 2015 MarketWatch, Inc.


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New Zealand producer input and output prices fell last quarter, led by electricity and dairy products, confirming there is still little sign of inflation pressures in the economy.
Producer input prices, or prices paid by producers, fell 1%, the first quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2009, after a 0.6% gain three months earlier, Statistics New Zealand says.
Output prices, or prices received by producers, fell 0.9%, the biggest drop since the third quarter of 2009, after gaining 0.3% in the second quarter.
The government statistician already released inflation data for the third quarter last month, showing the consumer price index rose a less-than-expected 0.3%, for an annual pace of 0.8%, below the central bank's 1% to 3% percent target band.
"Compared to the CPI, the PPI is more heavily weighted towards exported and imported items, so to a large degree the price drops in Q3 reflect global forces that were already known," Michael Gordon, senior economist at Westpac Banking Corp, says.
Electricity and gas input prices tumbled 15% in the latest quarter, mainly reflecting weaker power prices after higher hydro-storage lake levels and spot market conditions, the government statistician says.
Input prices for petroleum and coal manufacturers fell 9.3%, reflecting lower prices for imported crude oil.
Those for dairy manufacturers slid 6.8%, reflecting Fonterra's milk forecast payouts for the 2012-13 season.
Output prices for electricity and gas supply dropped 11.5%, mainly because of lower generation prices – the biggest quarterly decline since December 2008. Output prices for dairy manufacturing fell 10% on lower prices for whole and skim milk powder.
Dairy cattle farming fell 9.4%, reflecting lower farm-gate milk prices.
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The balancing of big tech
Don’t like ads on YouTube or Spotify? No problem, you can pay to have them removed. Of course, they won’t stop collecting your data, but they’ll happily take your money. Even if you aren’t seeing ads they’ll still use your data to target ads at other users. It’s win win for them. They get your money and your data. Money is nice but you can only spend it once. Data can be used again and again. It’s far more valuable than your monthly subscription fee, and that’s why they won’t ever give up collecting data.
With huge amounts of data, and increasingly sophisticated ways of using it, comes great power. And with great power comes great influence. Unfortunately, in the case of big tech firms, it doesn’t come with great responsibility.
Which is where governments try to step in. Society’s defence against commercial big tech and its use of data to influence and affect the running of people’s lives is to enforce the taking of responsibility through policy and regulation.
The ‘regulate commercial big tech’ narrative often seems to loose sight of the outcome it’s trying to achieve. The goal isn’t really to regulate tech, it’s to make digital societies and online spaces safe and useful places for everyone. Unfortunately, regulation is the only tool available to governments for achieving this. But it is a blunt old-world tool that isn’t fit for purpose in the information age. It may have worked in a world of physical goods where manufacturers could be inspected to see if they have fitted safety equipment, but isn’t sufficient for an online world of algorithms that generate unexpected and unpredictable results.
Even recent regulation aimed at technology has struggled to grasp the difference data makes to big tech business models. The EU Antitrust policy defines setting prices at a loss-making level as an abuse of a dominant position as it makes it more difficult for other companies to compete in the same market. But you can use YouTube for free. The UK Online Harms Bill seeks to place responsibility for moderating content onto the platform provider. But women will continue to receive abusive messages on Instagram from men who don’t care if their throwaway account gets banned.
Making big tech responsible in ways that is counter to a business model of using data to drive engagement is a bad idea. It won’t work. It isn’t even expecting them to mark their own homework, it’s accepting them saying their dog ate it.
How we want society to work, and in the twenty-first century that means society on the internet, is an ethical choice, not just an economic one. Do we want to live in online worlds that are heavily swayed in favour of the companies providing them? Or do we want the digital places we visit to balance everyone’s needs. If we want that, we’ll have to fight fire with fire.
To paraphrase James Plunkett, “We can’t tweak policy, we need to build new institutions”. Those new institutions will define how government should work in digital spaces, and what different approaches they could deploy in balancing the needs of citizens and companies.
In a cyber war, cyber soldiers use digital weapons to attack online targets. They know the difference between online and offline. They know how the internet works. And they know the real world affect their attacks can have. If a nation’s military has the sophistication to operate effectively online, then other parts of government have a lot of catching up to do.
Government departments of the future will behave more like big tech companies than the governments of today. They won’t passively rely of regulation to incentivise and fine companies, they’ll proactively go looking for policy breaches. They will develop and deploy artificial intelligence tools that interact with and affect the internet systems of commercial big tech in service of policy aims. Competition won’t only exist between company and company, it’ll exist between companies and government to enact policy in real-time. They’ll have to if we want to achieve a balanced society on the internet.
What if only big tech can keep big tech in check?