text:
Philadelphia and the Case of the Disappearing Neighborhood Bars
Thanks to our state’s old-school liquor laws and new competition from grocery stores, the price of a license to sell booze in Philly has skyrocketed. Is this the end of the humble corner bar?
Wanda’s Lounge was a bar. There were many bars like it, but this one was a wee corner dive on a residential block of Kingsessing, in Southwest Philly. For half a century, Wanda’s was the sort of down-the-way spot one always hopes might be down the way: a mirror-walled watering hole about as wide and as long as a train car, with a soundtrack of R&B and a tight line of barstools occupied by customers who might be best known locally as “Disco Doc” or “Stonewall Jackson.” There was room for dancing, if the spirit took you, and a corner stage where a local musician could get his start.
It was here that Sean Marshall learned to love music, long before he could even sit at the bar. He’s now a high-school teacher in North Carolina — and a Billboard-charted rapper under the name Official 3-2. But back in the ’70s, he was a kid in Southwest Philly, living upstairs from Wanda’s. The music wafted through the floorboards or poured out the doors, and he soaked it up by osmosis: Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, the Temptations, the Whispers. Half the stuff he samples, he’s pretty sure, is just a subliminal transmission from Wanda’s.
“There were so many regulars, it made me think of the television show Cheers,” Marshall says — a comparison made by seemingly every old head who knew the spot. He plans to name his next album Wanda’s Lounge, in tribute to the bar that helped shape him.
That tribute will also be a funeral. As of last year, Wanda’s Lounge is no more. It’s likely nothing similar will take its place soon — or open anywhere nearby. Bars come and go in any city, of course. But in Philly, the corner bars are mostly just going.
“It’s almost as if the neighborhood bar is quickly disappearing from Philadelphia,” says Paul Herron, one of the few liquor lawyers in the city who act as lonely boatmen, selling liquor licenses from dead businesses and ferrying them to new owners around town. Most licenses now go to well-heeled buyers in areas like Center City, Herron tells me. And indeed, Liquor Control Board records show the license from Wanda’s was snapped up by a Chicago-owned concern called Puttshack that promises an “upscale, tech-infused mini golf experience” in Rittenhouse Square, imbued with something the company calls “trendy vibes.”
There was a time, Herron says, that neighborhood bars accounted for a large share of the liquor licenses he sold in Philadelphia. The supply once seemed limitless. Now, it’s drying up. And it’s not just corner bars. The number of Philadelphia bars and restaurants with active liquor licenses has dropped dramatically in the past quarter-century, despite our much-touted restaurant boom. In 1997, more than 2,100 liquor licenses were reported in Philly. Today, there are about 1,300 active licenses, and more than 60 of these are taken up by a new crop of supermarkets and gas stations.
In that same period, the price of a liquor license has skyrocketed to heights the city had never seen. After remaining relatively stable for decades, prices shot up significantly faster than overall inflation over about 20 years — from $30,000 at the turn of the millennium to a peak of more than $200,000 just before the pandemic. If prices have dipped a little since, say brokers, it’s only because so many restaurants have closed.
This process has already begun to radically transform how and where we dine and drink in Philly — a shift fueled by unforgiving economics, arcane liquor laws designed to make the drinks business as inconvenient as possible, and a couple of little businesses named Wegmans and Wawa.
In most states in America, a restaurant liquor license is nothing more than a business permit: You apply, and maybe you get one. Fees might range from a few hundred bucks to a few thousand dollars. And then, as long as you follow the rules, you’re free to sell a crisp Singha beer with your platter of pad Thai.
But in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and a scattering of other states, restaurant liquor licenses function instead as portable real estate, traded like cattle futures to the highest bidder. That’s because the number of licenses is starkly capped. Licenses made before this cap was instated didn’t necessarily go away. They were grandfathered in, so Philadelphia — due to an explosion of licenses between 1933 and 1939, which we’ll get into in a bit — still has far more licenses than is technically allowed.
But if a county is above quota, new licenses are almost never created.
They’re also not destroyed, according to Liquor Control Board spokesman Shawn Kelly. Contrary to public perception, the board doesn’t get rid of licenses, though it might decline to renew the permits of scofflaws who don’t pay taxes or rack up violations. Some bar owners simply walk away and let their licenses expire.
Otherwise, licenses pass from owner to owner, and from location to location within the same county. They’re privately sold, usually when a business closes. And as supply gets scarce, they tend to fetch higher and higher prices, going for staggering sums of half a million dollars at auction in some Pennsylvania counties, foreclosing all but the most moneyed, well-connected or bold from starting a tavern. Bucks and Montgomery counties, long home to six-figure liquor licenses, have both seen prices well north of the quarter-million mark.
Famously boozy Philadelphia avoided this fate until relatively recently. But its account has finally come due.
To understand how this all came to be, to borrow a joke from Tom Waits, you’ve got to go all the way back to the Spanish-American War — or, actually, about 10 years before that. That’s the 1880s, when a man named Gifford Pinchot took a boat to Europe to study forestry. There, by some accounts, he had himself a bit of beer. Too much beer. Beer that shamed him. Or maybe he just watched all the Germans drinking too much.
Either way, he returned to Pennsylvania as the most crackling of “drys,” a crusading teetotaler firmly convinced of the evils of demon spirits. This came to matter quite a bit because when federal Prohibition ended in 1933, Pinchot was the governor here.
He charged himself with a mission: saving his home state from both violent bootleggers and the corrupting influence of alcohol. His solution was simple — just eliminate private profit from booze and give control of liquor sales to the state. Corruption solved!
With the 1933 creation of state stores and the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board — which he promptly loaded with fellow Prohibitionists — Pinchot helped install what became one of the more tortuous state liquor bureaucracies in America. Beer could be sold only by taverns or distributors. Wine and liquor were owned by the state. Six years later, the legislature threw in the added wrinkle of quotas, restricting the number of liquor licenses in each city or county.
At first, the cap was one liquor license per thousand people. But that limit was too high for the crusaders, including some mayors of Philadelphia. There were so many competing saloons on Delaware Avenue, mayor Richardson Dilworth complained in 1958, that there was no way they could make profits on liquor alone. They had to be fronts for “number writers, bookmakers and narcotics peddlers,” he opined.
With each big tweak of the liquor code, the caps were tightened.
The old licenses still persist, grandfathered into old age. But in theory, Philadelphia is allowed just 530 retail licenses — well under half the number of active holders today (and just a fraction of the nearly 3,900 licenses in the city as late as 1962). Inexorably, with each passing year, the number of licenses in Philadelphia sinks just a little closer to this appointed number.
The modern spike in liquor license prices, paradoxically, was fueled by freedom. More specifically, say license brokers, it followed a massive expansion of who can sell wine and beer in Pennsylvania.
Around 2007, chain supermarket Wegmans embarked on a grand legal experiment in Pennsylvania. Management looked at the state’s liquor license laws for restaurants, which required food service, more than 400 square feet of business space, and 30 chairs for guests to sit down, and asked a question: Are we not restaurants?
In January 2007, a Wegmans near Scranton applied to buy a restaurant liquor license owned by a nearby Denny’s. That was quickly followed by six more applications, for six more Wegmans (Wegmanses?). Beer distributors, sensing an existential threat, sued to block them, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided for Wegmans, kicking off a grocery-store buying spree for the same limited supply of licenses coveted by bars and restaurants. Customers rejoiced at their newfound ability to walk down to the local Acme and buy a beer. But within a few scant years, the price of a liquor license in Philly reached six figures.
This intensified in 2016, when Wawa and Sheetz got into the game via new laws that allowed gas stations into the mix and added six-packs to distributors and to-go wine to grocery stores and, soon, Di Bruno Bros. locations.
In Philadelphia, the effects were near-immediate.
“Oh, here we go: I sold a license in March 2016 for $140,000,” license broker Rich Hewitt, of Liquor License Sales PA-NJ, recalls. “Then, in February 2017 … ”
He pauses, double-checking a figure he doesn’t quite believe.
“I sold it for $199,000. Wow.”
Other counties saw even higher numbers: In Cumberland County, a Giant supermarket broke a state record in 2017 by paying $556,000 for a license in a public auction. Numbers like that change how people think — and how they act. A liquor license has become the single biggest asset most restaurants and bars own that isn’t real estate, leading many to think of those licenses as their retirement plan, according to Chuck Moran, of the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association.
He’s sympathetic to those who now have a hard time opening a tavern. But liquor licenses are an asset his organization will fight to protect against any efforts to lower their value.
“The people who already have the licenses, what they’ll tell you is that they took a risk years ago,” he said. “And they treat it like an investment. And they don’t want to see their investment decreased.”
In the meantime, many of those old corner bars have cashed out that retirement fund, especially during COVID. “That really precipitated the closing of a lot of the dive bars, or neighborhood bars. They just couldn’t make it through the pandemic,” says license lawyer Herron. “So their licenses came up for sale. And predictably, most of the licenses moved to places like Fishtown or Passyunk Avenue or Center City.”
In Philadelphia, we’re witnessing a great migration, Herron explains — not of people, but of liquor licenses. From the neighborhoods to the hotel district. From the corner bar to the Wawa. And from Wanda’s Lounge to Puttshack.
It’s worth remembering, though, that working around liquor laws is a longtime Philadelphia tradition, going back to the bad old days of Prohibition, when the city boasted 16,000 speakeasies — 10 times the number that serve alcohol now.
Philly chefs have responded to the dearth of affordable liquor licenses with startling inventiveness, in ways that have reshaped dining across the region. At Palizzi and Messina in South Philly, chefs have turned private social clubs into wine-filled destination dining. In Fishtown, refined Tulip Pasta and Wine Bar has established itself as a satellite to a local winery, so as to be able to serve you a glass of rosé. Next door in Montgomery County, fish-and-chips shop Yankee Chipper went so far as to turn itself into a nanobrewery, because it was easier to brew a keg of your own beer than to buy a liquor license.
And then there are the BYOBs — a dining scene that has exploded alongside the city’s liquor license prices. Though some of these, like Kalaya, have found ways to add wine and cocktails by taking on investors, fully half of Philadelphia magazine’s top 20 restaurants this year began as license-free restaurants.
At bustling Cambodian noodle house Mawn in the Italian Market, chef Phila Lorn says the $185,000 price he was quoted for a license didn’t make sense for the business. He and his wife would have had to change who they were as a BYOB, from a convivial spot to pour yourself some Hennessy into a place that had to turn tables and make money.
“If we wanted to have a liquor license, we wouldn’t have gone to 764 9th Street in the Italian Market,” he says. “We would have gone to 13th and Sansom.”
Juana Tamale’s Jennifer Zavala says much the same. She tried every business model under the sun before opening her fast-casual birria taco and ramen spot at the elbow of Passyunk Avenue and knows all too well the trade-offs that come with not serving liquor. “In the industry, they say the food pays your bills, but the liquor is your profit,” she says. “So right now, I’m just paying my bills.”
She has to charge more for her tacos to make ends meet; with booze on the menu, she could drop prices by $3. But to afford a liquor license, she’d have to take on an investor and probably move closer to Center City. She’d have to get a bigger place. She’d need a bigger menu, to appeal to more people. She’d have to be a different restaurant.
That back-of-the-envelope math is the whole problem, according to Jon Geeting, of nonprofit political advocacy group Philadelphia 3.0, which has long pushed for solutions to high liquor license prices. In other cities, restaurants and bars often lead the charge in revitalizing neighborhoods. But in Philly, successful businesses leave for Center City.
“It’s got to be cheaper for people to get in the game and get into some of these vacant storefronts,” he says.
He’s inspired by the ingenuity of chefs in dealing with a tough situation. But Philadelphians are cynical that anyone will ever make the laws better, he says — and few legislators seem to even be paying attention. Meantime, New Jersey, likewise facing $400,000 liquor licenses, is searching its soul for answers.
“It’s very much a public policy issue at this point in New Jersey,” he tells me. “There are bills in the legislature. People think it’s a problem, and they’re trying to do something about it.”
Some of the cost of such expensive licenses, Geeting says, is what doesn’t happen here — all the interesting places that won’t come into existence because starting a new business doesn’t seem possible.
East Passyunk’s tiny Fountain Porter opened a decade ago, right before the door snapped shut on what it aspired to be: a modern heir to the old-school neighborhood bar, with fair prices, a food menu that now consists mostly of excellent $6 cheeseburgers, and good taste, less calculated than personal.
The bar’s record player might spin obscure Chinese psych rock or off-brand Paul McCartney; its chalkboard menu is an equally private notion of what beer or wine is worth sharing. In its dogged simplicity, the bar is an expression of the people who run the place. But if they tried to open Fountain Porter today, says co-owner Evan Clancy, he’s not sure it could have happened the same way.
At the time, he was just a “bartender with a good idea.” He and partner Scott Pawlicky cobbled the place together with as much sweat as equity, taking on a silent investor who’s no longer involved with the bar.
If they’d had to pony up $150,000 or more for a liquor license, they might never have tried. At that point, an investor would have pretty much owned the bar — and the vision and business plan — potentially leaving them less free to offer dirt-cheap $2.50 Kenzingers at happy hour, those famously affordable burgers, or the health insurance Clancy is proud they’ve provided to employees since the early days of the bar.
An investor would want to make the money back, and offering health insurance doesn’t help much with that. Now, Clancy worries that Fountain Porter’s bartenders won’t find the same opportunity he had when he was a bartender — to follow up on their own good ideas and start their own places — and that the city will be worse off for it.
“Now, they would have to ask: Whose money are you going to take?” he says. “And what compromises to your idea are you going to have to accept?”
Published as “A Good Bar Is Hard to Find” in the July 2023 issue of Philadelphia magazine.


text:
Cisgenics, intragenics, and non-browning apples - GM lobby doublespeak
2. USDA asked to approve non-browning GMO apple
3. Food for thought - Jim Hightower article about GM non-browning apple
NOTE: For several years, genetic engineers have promoted branches of GM called "cisgenics" and "intragenics", which use genes from the species of interest or related species - as distinct from "transgenics", which uses genes from an unrelated species. They tout "cisgenic"/"intragenic" food as a safer and more publicly acceptable option than "transgenic" food on the claimed grounds that no foreign genes are introduced:
An article on the pro-GM Biofortified website, "Cisgenics - Transgenics without the Transgene", bluntly states the PR value of "cisgenics":
"the central theme is to placate the misinformed public opinion by using clever technologies to circumvent traditional unfounded criticisms of biotechnology."
The GM "non-browning apple", named Arctic, that a Canadian company is asking the US to approve (see items 2, 3), is an example of a "cisgenic" product.
Venkatesh Viswanath and Steven H. Strauss, Modifying Plant Growth the Cisgenic Way, ISB News Report, Sept 2010.
The GM lobby also seems to be seeing intragenics and cisgenics as a way of sneaking genetically manipulated foods past regulatory barriers:
"A strong case has been made for cisgenic plants to come under a new regulatory tier with reduced regulatory oversight or to be exempted from GM regulation."
- Venkatesh Viswanath and Steven H. Strauss, Modifying Plant Growth the Cisgenic Way, ISB News Report, Sept 2010.
But in reality, as a scientist told us (item 1), the difference between transgenic and intragenic/cisgenic is only semantic: "the artificial nature of the transgene construct and its way of introduction into the plant genome make intragenics/cisgenics just as GM/transgenic as cross-species transfers".
1. A scientist's comments on intragenics/cisgenics
The word "intragenic" implies that one is engineering genes within the genome of a single species. But although it is possible to isolate a gene from corn, for instance, and then put it back into corn, this will not be purely intragenic. This is because, in order to put the gene back into corn, it is necessary to link it to other sequences from bacteria and/or viruses and/or other organisms and/or even synthetic DNA. Since any "intragenic" gene transfer uses sequences from other organisms, the process is not purely intragenic, but is transgenic. "Transgenic" is defined as moving genetic elements from one species to another. The supposedly intragenic apple is clearly transgenic in that sequences other than apple DNA sequences were part of the DNA construct that was introduced into the apple. Another term that is used instead of "intragenic" is "cisgenic" which contrasts with "transgenic".
The implication in making the intragenic/transgenic distinction is that intragenic genetically engineered organisms will be safer than "transgenic" ones. This is fallacious in the following two ways:
First, as I explain above, such GMOs are not purely intragenic because they introduce sequences from other species and this introduces big unknowns into the organism's functioning, because we don't know all the effects that those foreign sequences might have on the organism into which they have been introduced.
Second, risks of GMOs are not limited to the unknowns related to introduction of "foreign" (non-intragenic) DNA into the recipient organism. The process of introducing ANY piece of DNA into an organism via genetic engineering techniques has big risks and big unknowns associated with it. In any genetic engineering process, intragenic or transgenic, insertion takes place essentially randomly and without control. That means that any genetic engineering process results in at least one insertional mutation event within the DNA of the recipient organism. That insertional event will interrupt some sequence within the DNA of the organism. That insertion will interfere with any natural function that the interrupted DNA may have. For instance, if the insertion occurs in the middle of a gene, that gene's function could be destroyed. That means the organism will lose the cellular function that that gene encodes.
Another just as feasible outcome is production of an aberrant (eg truncated) host protein. There are various ways in which this can happen - e.g. aberrant pre-mRNA splicing caused by the transgene insertion event. This abnormal host protein will have novel properties that could make it highly toxic in its own right or disruptive to the host's biochemistry, in turn leading to toxins, allergens, etc.
In addition, all of these manipulations take place in plant cells that are grown in culture. There is a growing body of research evidence that documents the fact that the process of plant cell culture, itself, actually causes additional mutations to the cells' DNA. These mutations can result in additional damage to the functioning of the organism. These are both fundamental hazards associated with genetic engineering, whether it is done with sequences from the same or different species.
So in summary, no genetically engineered organism is purely intragenic and therefore to make a claim that this apple is special and safer than any other GMO because it is intragenic and not transgenic is not true. It is preying on the peoples' naivete regarding the details of genetic engineering. Intragenic GMOs have as much reality as hens' teeth. "Intragenic GMO" is a phrase for which there is no correlate in the real world. Second, genetic engineering of any sort, transgenic, intragenic, cisgenic or whatever, has very real and very well recognized hazards, and to claim that a GMO is intragenic, and therefore safe, fails to recognize and understand these hazards.
2. USDA Asked To Approve Non-Browning GMO Apple
November 29, 2010
CASHMERE, Wash. - A Canadian biotechnology company has asked the U.S. to approve a genetically modified apple that won't brown soon after its sliced, saying the improvement could boost sales of apples for snacks, salads and other uses.
U.S. apple growers say it's too soon to know whether they'd be interested in the apple: They need to resolve questions about the apple's quality, the cost of planting and, most importantly, whether people would buy it.
"Genetically modified - that's a bad word in our industry," said Todd Fryhover, president of the apple commission in Washington state, which produces more than half the U.S. crop.
But Neal Carter, president of the company that developed the apples, said the technology would lower the cost of producing fresh slices, which have become a popular addition to children's lunch boxes, and make apples more popular in salads and other quick meals.
Carter's company, Okanagan Specialty Fruits of Summerland, British Columbia, licensed the non-browning technology from Australian researchers who pioneered it in potatoes. Essentially, the genes responsible for producing the enzyme that induces browning have been silenced in the apple variety being marketed as "Arctic."
"They look like apple trees and grow like apple trees and produce apples that look like all other apples and when you cut them, they don't turn brown," Carter said. "The benefit is something that can be identified just about by everybody."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has considered about 100 petitions for genetically engineered or modified crops. Those that have drawn the most attention have been engineered to withstand certain weed killers, but among those the agency has approved are tomatoes altered to ripen more slowly - the first genetically modified crop approved in the U.S. in 1992 - and plums that resist a specific virus. This is the first petition for apples.
The USDA's biotechnology regulations are designed to ensure that genetically modified crops are just as safe for agriculture and the environment as traditionally bred crop varieties, spokesman R. Andre Bell said in a statement. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service works with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, depending on the product, to ensure safety.
The approval process can take years, and it's not clear the apples will be accepted even if they pass government inspection.
Fryhover raised concerns about cross-pollination of conventional trees with genetically modified ones if they were planted in close proximity. He also questioned whether Arctic apples would generate enough in sales to outweigh the $10,000 to $20,000 per acre cost of replanting.
Carter said growers replant orchards all the time and the company aims to have big growers plant the apples in large blocks so cross pollination is minimized. Carter said he's confident the fruit won't harm the environment and he's submitted paperwork to the USDA and FDA to prove his point.
"Some people won't like it just because of what it is," he said. "In the end, it's a great product, no question about it, and people will see the process used to get it had very sound science."
Companies have invested heavily in crops genetically modified to improve flavor, increase yields or nutrition and make them drought resistant, said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit public interest group based in Washington, D.C. Often, though, the genes that define those traits are one small part of a complex system, he said.
"Scientists have been saying they're only turning one thing off, but that switch is connected to another switch and another switch," Kimbrell said. "You can't just do one thing to nature. It's nice to think so, but it just doesn't work that way."
He also said the non-browning technology appears to benefit apple growers and shippers more than consumers by allowing companies to sell apples that are older than they look.
"A botox apple is not what people are looking for," Kimbrell said. "I'm predicting failure."
Crunch Pak, based in Cashmere, Wash., is No. 1 in the sliced apple market, with customers including Costco, Kroger Co., Publix and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The company, founded in 2000, has tripled in size in the past four years, with nearly 500 employees and a new processing plant in Pennsylvania.
Its apples are rinsed in a combination of calcium and ascorbic acid - vitamin C - to maintain freshness. Taste and quality are always important, but spokesman Tony Freytag said the biggest issue is food safety.
"Quite honestly, I would rather have an apple turn brown than think it's still OK because it's still white," he said. "I'm not discounting the anti-browning. It's just not the panacea."
Everyone agreed that consumers will make the final call. They have largely accepted other genetically modified crops, but whether they will do the same with apples remains to be seen.
"There's something about an apple. It's the symbol of health and nutrition, and then to turn around and say it's been genetically modified - doesn't that go against what consumers say they're looking for?" Fryhover asked. "Right now, I wouldn't say the industry is poised to go either direction. We need to know more."
3. Food for Thought
15 December 2010
In this joyous season, friends and family come together to cook, share and savor nature's bounty. As we tuck into food and drink this year, we can be especially appreciative because - wow! - another scientific breakthrough has been made in food production.
"The benefit is something that can be identified just about by everybody," exulted Neal Carter, who helped produce this long-awaited advance for humankind. Is it a miraculous cancer-fighting food? No, bigger than that. Is it a richly decadent chocolate that helps eaters lose weight? No, bigger even than that. What we have here is - are you ready? - apple slices that don't turn brown!
Is this fabulous or what? Non-browning apple slices - another marvel from the biotechnology profiteers who love to mess with the genetic makeup of the world's food supply. And this is truly a global accomplishment. The science of non-browning was pioneered in potatoes by Australian gene-splicers, who licensed the process to Carter. He's a Canadian peddler of apple trees who hopes that American apple growers will now rip out their old-fashioned natural orchards and plant these biotech wonders of modern science, paying a nice profit to his company.
But it's going to be a hard sell. "Genetically modified," said the head of Washington state's apple commission, "that's a bad word in our industry." He's referring to the fact that consumers routinely reject foods they know to be altered. In fact, consumers are demanding more organic production, not stuff from a gene factory.
Also, Carter could not have chosen a worse product to turn into a lab rat. Apples are the very symbol of nutrition and health, a perfect snack for children. Why mess with it? Besides, mothers know that a little lemon water is all it takes to keep apple slices from browning.
This technology has no benefit for consumers, but it could fatten the bottom line of big-box retailers, allowing them to sell old, inferior apples that look fresh only because they're still white.
That's gross. But other biotech corporations love to play with our food, even though we don't like it when they do.
So what happens when ordinary folks organize to stop the Frankenstein-ification of our foods? They sometimes get defeated.
For example, in Ohio, such biotech powerhouses as Monsanto and Eli Lilly are the profiteers behind an artificial growth hormone that induces dairy cows to produce more milk. This stuff is not good for the cows, and it produces nutritionally inferior milk. It also horrifies consumers - who tend to get a bit testy at the thought of having what actually is a sex hormone added to the milk their children drink.
However, big milk marketers like the idea of squeezing out more milk per cow, for it fattens their bottom lines. The only problem is that little matter of consumer rejection. But the biotechers and marketers fixed that by getting federal regulators to declare that adulterated milk need not be labeled as such. In short, the industry, the government and even the cows know about the sex hormones, but consumers are kept in the dark.
Nonetheless, many organic and smaller dairy businesses have had the audacity to label their products as "hormone-free," and consumers have rushed to them. This spurred the hormone hucksters into a cross-country lobbying frenzy, demanding that various state governments ban hormone-free labels.
Ohio swallowed this corporate line, outlawing labels that tell consumers what's NOT in their milk. Now, however, in a case brought by the Organic Trade Association, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled that such bans are not only ridiculous, but unconstitutional, violating the free speech rights of dairy producers who want to be straight with consumers.
The court's decision is a major defeat for the 15-year effort by the corporate powers to hide their perfidy from milk buyers. To learn more, contact the Organic Trade Association: www.ota.com.
To find out more about Jim Hightower, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM

domain: news


text:
India economy likely to grow 6.5%-7% next fiscal year: Sanjeev Sanyal
- ‘I think we are now on stream to achieve somewhere slightly short of 7% GDP growth rate for this financial year,’ the economic advisory council member said, which is in line with projection by the Reserve Bank of India
Giving a higher estimate than some economists, Sanjeev Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic advisory council, on Thursday said the Indian economy is expected to grow 6.5% to 7% in the next financial year if the global environment does not worsen.
Login to enjoy exclusive benefits!
- Unlocked premium articles
- Personalized news
- Market Watchlist
- Insightful Newsletters & more


text:
China’s tech giants are bringing their AI Capabilities to the Global Market
Artificial intelligence (AI) simulates human intelligence from perception and cognition, providing machine learning and inference capabilities. Together with 5G communication technology, IoT and cloud computing, AI has become a science and technology that can truly change our production technology.
China’s Ministry of Science and Technology announced a new wave of “open innovation platforms” in November 2017, relying on Baidu for rolling out autonomous vehicles, on Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) for smart cities, and on Tencent for medical imaging and diagnostics.
This blog looks at some highlights and strategies of China’s tech giants — Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, collectively called BAT.
Baidu’s AI offers comprehensive capability, accelerating the promotion of industrial intelligence
Baidu was the first to pioneer and apply deep learning, scoring a big win in 2014 with the hire of Andrew Ng to head its Silicon Valley AI lab.
By 2015, Baidu’s AI algorithms had surpassed human ability to recognise Chinese speech, a full year before Microsoft achieved the same feat in recognising English speech.
In 2016, Baidu set AI as its strategic development goal. It continues to improve the AI ecosystem and accelerate AI productisation and commercialisation.
Global leading open AI platform Baidu Brain, today accounting for c.80% of market share, has accumulated years of technology and business practices, providing all businesses with AI capabilities and underlying support, and empowering industry and developers. Driven by AI, Baidu Mobile formed a product matrix of “Only Super Power and Multi-great Powers” and built a mobile ecology with “Baijiahao” and “mini-programs” as the core.
As an important part of the AI ecosystem, Baidu already has two open ecosystems: the Apollo autonomous driving open platform and the DuerOS voice-based AI operating system. Baidu has so far obtained more than 50 intelligent network vehicle road test licences, pioneering the effort in China. Xiaodu Assistant, with Baidu’s DuerOS-powered smart speaker additions, maintains its leading position in China, ranking #1 in the domestic market and #3 in the world in terms of shipments of smart speakers in the first quarter of 2019. Meanwhile, Baidu’s intelligent cloud-based AI, big data, and cloud computing (ABC) strategy has also made a significant achievement, enabling users to develop their own computing applications.
Baidu’s AI ecosystem
Alibaba focuses on industrial AI, positioning technology base
China’s leading e-commerce behemoth Alibaba has made a substantial dent in the country’s retail and financial sectors.
Leading the world in fintech disruption, Alibaba’s Ant Financial Services Group controls the world’s largest money market fund, has provided loans to tens of millions, and handled more payments in 2017 than Mastercard.
Alibaba proposed “AI for Industries” and integrated AI technical ability into adaptive technology platform ET Brain. ET Brain is powered by AI and machine learning, and has a large number of use cases in the industry, finance, retail, transportation and other fields.
Alibaba has also invested in many AI enterprise unicorns, including SenseTime, Face++, YITU Technology, and Cambrian.
Given its accumulative commercialisation scenarios and the underlying infrastructure of cloud computing, Alibaba has the ecological advantages of computing resources and applied data value mining and aggregation. It expects Alibaba Cloud to undertake a technology-based role and build segmented industry solutions by integrating ecological partners, and with the help of ET Brain to provide intelligent capabilities, better serve customers.
Alibaba’s AI ecosystem
Tencent focuses on consumer AI with multi-dimensional application scenarios and industrial AI technology enablement
Tencent uses its AI strategy Connect to apply its AI capabilities to the consumer and industrial internet. At the consumer end, AI for games uses data-mining algorithms and machine-learning algorithms to understand player behaviour characteristics, to further optimise the game experience. Content AI pushes thousands of music recommendations for QQ Music and other users. At the industrial end, Tencent has developed medical AI, security AI, education AI, smart government, smart retail, and smart campus and other scenarios through Tencent Cloud, Tencent Youtu, Tencent Minying and other subsidiaries.
In general, Tencent provides multi-dimensional intelligent applications, and smart infrastructure, open technology centres, and has collaborated with multiple partners to build an innovation ecology.
Tencent’s AI ecosystem
Partnering with China for AI
From 2010 to July 2019, 36 private companies joined the Global AI Unicorn Club, according to CB Insights. China, with 12 unicorns and ranked second after the US, is now universally regarded as the global AI leader in terms of talent pools, number of startups, financing activities and monetisation opportunities. Roughly 50% is controlled or backed by BAT.
Two-thirds of global investment in AI is to China; this helped the AI industry there grow 67% last year alone. Hence, any partnership between a global and Chinese company would be win-win.
Acuity Knowledge Partners understands the opportunities presented by China’s rise in the AI space, BAT’s leading position and the marketing needs of global companies. We, therefore, leverage our global and local knowledge bases to offer market insights and theme-based research to help companies engaged in the sector make important business decisions. Our professional services include industry research, risk mitigation, monitoring programmes, and regulatory analysis.
As the BAT companies clash to capture a lion’s share of China’s tech space, we believe private equity firms will find it challenging to close deals in the China market. We pride ourselves on our professionals who provide such firms with the research acumen and RFP support they require.
Orignal source : https://www.acuitykp.com/


text:
A recent startup called Limited Run has been generating substantial buzz recently on the topic of Facebook advertising. Limited Run claimed that 80% of the clicks they received from running Facebook ads came from bots rather than real people. The startup posted an update on their Facebook page explaining the situation:
The 80% of clicks we were paying for were from bots. That’s correct. Bots were loading pages and driving up our advertising costs. So we tried contacting Facebook about this. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t reply. Do we know who the bots belong too? No. Are we accusing Facebook of using bots to drive up advertising revenue. No. Is it strange? Yes. But let’s move on, because who the bots belong to isn’t provable.
Limited Run deleted their Facebook page within the next couple of weeks and ditched Facebook all together, because, “they’re scumbags and we just don’t have the patience for scumbags.”
Them’s fightin’ words! The company will still have a social media presence, but they will stick to Twitter, where according to them, they don’t have to worry about bots and B.S.
I did some investigating, and found out that Limited Run’s run-in with sketchy Facebook advertising is not a one-time deal. Search Engine Journal published an article on July 16 (before the Limited Run story gained national attention) in which Jake Filan describes his Facebook-advertising experience.
A Second Suspicious Fake-Click Situation
Filan ran an ad campaign for a Facebook fan page that increased the number of page likes from 100 to 900. His first thought: Facebook advertising is working! These numbers are certainly impressive. Yet, after a week of posting content to engage these new fans and capture the attention of more new fans, Filan found that each individual post received around the same number of “likes” as before the ad campaign. The page’s number of fans rose dramatically, but engagement and participation levels remained unchanged.
Filan examined the individual profiles of these alleged new fans. What he found was shady and suspicious. The “people” who were liking the page had inactive Facebook profiles with no substantial information and had liked (in some cases) upwards of 11,000 pages. This is more than cause for suspicion. Filan found that some accounts liked pages at a rate of more than 500 per month. It’s worth noting that the majority of people (75%) like between only two and ten brands on Facebook.
He concluded that people use bots and compromised accounts to sell actions in Facebook. These accounts go on frequent, rampant liking sprees in an attempt to, as Filan says, “diversify their activity history” and “randomize any patterns.” And, bottom line, to avoid getting kicked to the social media curb. They don’t want these accounts banned from Facebook, so they like tens of thousands of pages.
These two examples don’t inspire any confidence in Facebook advertising. They’re Facebook advertising horror stories. Companies who receive clicks from bots are not any further along as far as brand awareness, consumer base, and company growth, and they’re out on time, money, and resources. Reading the accounts of Limited Run and Filan would shake anyone’s faith in Facebook ads, and it might even inspire people to run far, far away from advertising on the largest social media site. Also, in May, General Motors, the third-largest advertiser in the country, scrapped its $10 million Facebook budget. These examples raise the question: do Facebook ads even work?
Do Facebook Ads Work?
For its 2011-2012 Search & Social Survey, Greenlight surveyed 500 people to discern how people use Facebook. The findings:
- 44% of respondents said they never click on display ads.
- 31% of respondents said they “rarely” click display ads.
- 10% said they “often” clicked ads.
- 3% said they “regularly” clicked Facebook’s sponsored posts.
An AP-CNBC poll found that:
- 83% hardly ever or never click on ads or sponsored content on Facebook.
Reuters found that:
- 4 out of 5 Facebook users have never bought a product or service as a result of advertising or comments on the social network site.
However, a Wall Street Journal article, “The Big Doubt Over Facebook,” reports that when Ford used Facebook ads instead of Super Bowl ads to market the 2011 Explorer, shopping activity for the Explorer jumped 104%, as opposed to the average increase of 14% following a Super Bowl ad.
I also discovered a story on Mashable about a Facebook ad success story. Brendan Irvine-Broque, Director of Growth for PageLever, wrote a post on his personal blog in which he states that Facebook ads helped him make $10,000 in a single day. Irvine-Broque states that he spent $150 on ads to publicize a vintage-vinyl-record sale he planned to hold at his home. After three weeks of running the event ads, 341 people had RSVP’d as “attending” and 104 people RSVP’d as “maybes.” These real people actually showed up at Irvine-Broque’s home, and he made $10,000 in cash. His point: Facebook ad clicks come from real people, not bots. Of course, Irvine-Broque admits he’s biased, because he works for a company that derives its entire raison d’être from Facebook: PageLever is the leading provider of Facebook Analytics for global brands.
There is a lot of evidence out there to suggest that Facebook ads don’t work, but there are some success stories as well. The Limited Run story has generated a lot of discussion, and I think it’s very easy to use this one instance (possibly coupled with GM’s abandonment of Facebook ads) to conclude that ads don’t work. And maybe they don’t in the majority of cases. But, they do for some people. I think it’s hard to reach a general consensus about Facebook ads, because it’s hard to compare an ad run by a start-up music site like Limited Run to an ad promoting a vinyl-record sale.
Yet, I think there is an underlying problem with Facebook ads in general. Ads and Facebook are not an obvious or natural combination. Ads and Facebook are conflicting more than they are complementary. Let me explain.
Why FB Ads Don’t (and Won’t) Work
Numerous people have spoken out against Facebook ads, and I think they have very valid points. Joseph Perla wrote a much-talked-about article entitled “Facebook Is a Ponzi Scheme.” In the article, he states:
People go to Facebook to interact with their friends. It is fundamentally different from the ad platform that is Google. People go to Google to find something they need, possibly ready to buy, which a good percentage of the time can in fact be solved by someone’s ad. Facebook ads, on the other hand, annoy users. They yield no real value, and thus no profits.
This is a controversial, adamant statement, and many people would contest Perla’s utter denunciation of Facebook ads. People spend money to advertise on the site because they believe it works. Contesting a sense of faith in the power of Facebook ads (which are inextricably linked to time and cash, two things people don’t want to believe they are wasting) can get messy. Facebook-ad proponents will crawl out of the digital woodwork and emerge from behind their computer screens to say that dismissing ads is senseless. But, I think that Perla has an excellent point. Facebook is by nature social, not commercial. I don’t log on to Facebook to be bombarded by ads; I log on to connect with my friends. If I search for a book or clothing item on Google, I may very well be in buying mode: I’m willing, and ready, to make a purchase. When I visit Facebook however, I’m not in a money-centric mindset; I want to get the latest updates on my friends and family, peruse photos, or write on someone’s wall. Consumerism and cash are not on my mind.
WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell echoes a very similar sentiment in an article published in The Guardian. He says:
The point is that Facebook is a social medium, not an advertising one, like search or display,” he told the Guardian. “It certainly is one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful branding medium. It is, however, a word of mouth or PR medium. You interrupt social conversations with commercial messages at your peril.
Sorrell’s statement reminds me of something I heard while recently watching a special on Mark Zuckerberg on MSNBC. Zuckerberg said that the purpose of Facebook is to connect people. He actually said something very similar to shareholders recently: he stated that “Facebook was originally not created to be a company…It was built to accomplish a social mission—to make the world more open and connected.”
Zuckerberg’s statement on the original purpose of Facebook surprised me. People talk about Facebook all the time: from a friend’s recent status update to a family member’s photo album to going offline to avoid an unexpected Facebook chat assault by that not-so-special someone, Facebook is part of our everyday dialogue. The site even has a unique jargon that has become part of contemporary vernacular. Facebook has seen tremendous growth, but to hear Zuckerberg cut through all of the millions and millions of users and zero in on the one idea behind the site’s creation was interesting. It’s not often that I hear Facebook boiled down to a single, specific purpose.
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
If Facebook is by nature a social site designed to foster a more connected world, what does this mean for advertising? Well, Facebook is in a tough spot, because the site has grown so much that it needs to employ programmers, designers, executives (oh hey, Sheryl Sandberg!), and various other staff. Therefore, the site needs to make money. That’s where advertising comes in. Ads represent the main source of Facebook’s revenue. According to the New York Times, Facebook generated $3.7 billion in 2011, 85% of which came from advertising.
Yet, according to people like Perla and Sorrell, advertising conflicts with the fundamental nature of Facebook. Sorrell says the inserting commercial messages into an inherently social space is detrimental. Can Facebook stay true to its original purpose while simultaneously making money through advertisement? Is advertising muddling up the original purpose of Facebook? Can a social medium have commercial elements?
Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Facebook certainly makes it seem that socialization and advertising can get along.
Facebook is clearly trying its best to integrate the social aspect of the site with advertising as seamlessly as possible. It thinks social and commercial aspects can coexist rather than conflict. Facebook even features a page titled “Advertising on Facebook” that reads like a mini commercial on behalf of ads. Facebook first presents ad as a necessary evil: “from the beginning, the people who built Facebook wanted it to be free for everyone. It now costs over a billion dollars a year to run Facebook, and delivering ads is how Facebook pays for this.” But, then they try to make ads not seem so bad. After all, they’re personalized, and people can impact the ads they see: “Spot something that doesn’t interest you? Click the X and it’s gone.” How bad can something that makes a free Facebook possible and that vanishes with the click of a mouse really be?
(Oh, and in case you were wondering, the rumor that Facebook sells people’s names and contact info to make money is false, according to Facebook’s own version of Mythbusters.)
Facebook tries to meld social and commercial elements together so that the ads we see aren’t so random, nonsensical, and invasive. Hence, sponsored stories. If one of my Facebook friends likes a page or interacts with a brand by posting on its wall, that company can pay money so that I will see this like or this interaction. Here are a few examples from my Facebook page:
Both of these posts showed up in my news feed, because Walmart and Subway have both paid for sponsored stories. The key here is that Walmart and Subway promote themselves through my friends. The theory is that I have faith in the opinions of my friends and I trust their recommendations, so if my friend likes a brand, I will be more inclined to like them as well. A random stranger liking the Subway page means nothing to me, but if my friends like the page, then this brand becomes relevant to me. Sponsored stories allow businesses to tap into the power of word-of-mouth marketing, which research has proven is extremely powerful. They’re (seemingly) beneficial for businesses, but also (seemingly) beneficial for consumers. If Facebook ads are necessary in order to keep the site free, at least I’m not bombarded with irrelevant, pointless ads. These ads connect to me in some way through my friends.
This is a nice effort on Facebook’s part to integrate the commercial aspect of Facebook into the social aspect, but ads are still ads, whether they’re shrouded in sociability or not.
Forecasting the Future
The real question is: where does Facebook go from here? The Limited Run story is one more crack in the foundation of Facebook’s credibility. And, there have been a lot of stories running recently about the erosion of Facebook integrity, the inability to trust ads, etc. I wanted to see if blasting Facebook ads is the equivalent of jumping on the bandwagon, or if all these anti-Facebook remarks are empty words.
I looked at social media ad spending, but found conflicting reports, so it’s hard to say if Facebook has something to worry about. One report predicted that global ad spending on social media platforms will increase tremendously over the next four years. Yet, Forbes ran an article last month that reported agencies and brands are devoting less attention to Facebook compared to just three months ago. Also, a report from IDC found Facebook’s advertising growth fell by more than half to 30% in the fourth quarter. Yesterday, Facebook’s stock price dropped to a new low.
I think Facebook obviously needs to address the Limited Run situation; but I also think they need to speak to advertising on the site in general. And yes, I’m aware they already put out a statement, but I’m talking about something other than using a lame word like “miscommunication.” Also, I think it’s worth noting that Facebook became the wildly popular entity it is today due to people flocking to the site because of what Facebook offered them socially, not commercially. See, this tweet:
I don’t know how much Facebook can do about the nosey old women, though.
(view original post via Mainstreethost)


text:
Good morning, everyone!
Top News in the A.M.
Uber launched in Portland, Or., last Friday, despite not having the permits and inspections required by the city for a taxi service. Now Portland has filed a lawsuit against the transportation startup.
Spain and Thailand just banned Uber, too.
Data Detectives Seek Up to $15 Million in Series B Funding
Big data is often used to sell consumers “stuff,” but it has plenty of truly helpful applications, too. One company trying to gather and sift through data to catch bad guys, for example, is Forensic Logic, a 10-person, San Francisco-based company behind a growing law enforcement data sharing platform. With information from roughly 600 local enforcement agencies around the country, users of its platform can, say, track down anyone who has ever been associated with a particular license plate, or every incident related to a certain kind of shell casing, all within seconds.
Getting buy-in from those agencies hasn’t been a walk in the park. For the most part, 11-year-old Forensic Logic’s bottom-up approach has meant convincing one agency at a time of its merits, starting with a “hub” city. Take the police department of Oakland, Ca., which began using Forensic Logic’s technology to disrupt criminal networks. Once information from its massive police department was poured into Forensic Logic’s repository, its database became more compelling to neighboring city police departments, including Vallejo, Ca., where it’s now a lot easier to track down a robber who might dump his getaway vehicle on one of its streets.
The company has also had to fend against plenty of competitors, including IBM, which helps many police departments process crime-related data. (IBM acquired Forensic Logic’s most direct competitor, CopLink, in 2011 for an undisclosed amount.)
But Forensic Logic has reached a tipping point, says its cofounder and CEO, Bob Batty, who’s about to begin seeking $15 million in funding for the company, which has so far raised $3.5 million from individual investors.
For one thing, the company has struck a a growing number of partnerships with federal agencies, among them them the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or ATF, whose data Forensic Logic has been extracting digitally and scanning, making it searchable by any law enforcement officer with an Internet connection.
Looking at the broader market opportunity, there are roughly 18,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies altogether that employ about one million people. Forensic Logic, which operates under FBI criminal justice system regulations and so must be able to record every single user (and every keystroke he or she makes), charges $300 per person per year for its technology.
Forensic Logic is broadening into other markets, too. It has pilot programs to identify shoplifters in place with Walmart, Kohl’s and Target. (Using facial recognition technologies, Forensic Logic can send names and other information to the companies’ loss-prevention departments in real time, it says.)
It’s also working with tobacco companies to stop tobacco counterfeiting, which has become a $34 billion business. (Up to 20 percent of cigarettes sold in the U.S. are made illegally in China and smuggled in.)
Indeed, says Batty, the money the company will look to raise will stretch across six categories, including a field organization to get more of its software installed within local law enforcement agencies, and a retail group.
It seems like a lot to take on. Batty insists otherwise, though.
“What we’re selling is bits,” he says. “And we can we sell them many times to many people.”
Adagene, a four-year-old, Sozhou, China-based antibody discovery and engineering company, has raised $8 million in Series A financing from Fidelity Biosciences, Fidelity Asia Growth, and WuXi Venture Fund.
Altiscale, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based company that’s selling what it calls Hadoop as a service — open-source Hadoop delivered over the Web so that users can focus on using the software instead of maintaining it — has raised $30 million in Series B funding, reports Venture Capital Dispatch. Northgate led the round, with participation from earlier backers Sequoia Capital and General Catalyst Partners. The company has now raised $42 million altogether, including from Accel Partners, AME Cloud Ventures and Boston Seed Capital, along with individual investors.
DataGravity, a two-year-old, Nashua, N.H.-based big data automation platform, has raised $50 million in funding led by new investor Accel Partners. The company has now raised $92 million altogether, including from General Catalyst Partners, CRV, and Andreessen Horowitz. Fortune has more here.
DigitalOcean, a three-year-old, New York-based, fast-growing cloud hosting startup that raised $37.2 million in Series A funding in January, has secured a $50 million credit facility from Fortress Investment Group, reports Venture Capital Dispatch. More here.
Dynamics, a seven-year-old, Pittsburgh, Pa.-based company that designs and manufactures intelligent battery-powered payment devices and advanced payment platforms, has raised $70 million in Series C funding from MasterCard and CIBC, with participation from earlier backers Bain Capital Ventures and Adams Capital Management. The company has now raised roughly $110 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.
Errplane, a two-year-old, New York-based service that helps developers monitor their applications’ performance, custom metrics, and exceptions, has raised $8.1 million in funding from Mayfield and Trinity Ventures. The company had also raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Y Combinator last year.
Foap, a three-year-old, Sweden-based company that lets users upload and sell their their smartphone photos through its marketplace, has raised $2.3 million in funding, including from VaynerMedia cofounder Gary Vaynerchuk, CNN President Jeff Zucker, and Delivery Hero CEO Niklas Ostberg. TechCrunch has more here.
Grofers, a year-old, Gurgaon, India-based online hyper-local delivery service that connects offline retailers with customers, has raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Sequoia Capital. VC Circle hasmore here.
Hired.com, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based talent marketplace that focuses largely on software engineers, has raised $15 million in fresh funding from Silicon Valley Bank, Comcast Ventures and Lumia Capital, along with earlier backers Crosslink Capital, Sierra Ventures, SoftTech VC and Sherpa Ventures. The newest round reportedly values the company at $200 million. The company — which raised $15 million in March at a $60 million valuation — has now raised $32.7 million altogether.
Insikt, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based origination and syndication platform for alternative lending products, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by Revolution Ventures. First Mark Capital, which led the company’s Series A round, also participated, along with Serengeti Asset Management, Peterson Ventures and strategic investors Jefferies and Atalaya Fund Management. Insikt has also secured $65 million in credit facilities, it says.
Kitchit, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company that provides personal chefs on demand, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding led by Javelin Venture Partners. The company has now raised $8.1 million altogether.
Nginx, a three-year-old, San Francisco-based company behind a popular open-source web server used to run websites, has raised $20 million in new funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with e.ventures, Index Ventures, Runa Capital, and the startup’s chief executive, Gus Robertson, participating. To date, Nginx has raised $33 million.
Nok Nok Labs, a three-year-old, Palo Alto, Ca.-based security platform providing fingerprint and multi-factored authentication to organizations, has raised $8.25 million from undisclosed investors in a still-open Series C round. To date, the company has raised $40 million, including a $16.5 million Series B round led by Lenovo Group. Others of the company’s investors include DCM and ONSET Ventures.
Off Grid Electric, a three-year-old, Arusha, Tanzania-based pay-as-you-go solar power provider, has raised $16 million in new funding from the solar finance and installation giant SolarCity, with participation from Vulcan Capital and Zouk Capital. The company has now raised $23 million to date, shows Crunchbase. TechCrunch has more here.
RezNext, a three-year-old, Bangalore-based company whose software gives hotels a way to update their inventory in real-time, has raised $5 million from New Enterprise Associates.
Sckipio Technologies, a three-year-old, Ramat Gan, Israel-based chipset maker, has raised $17 million in Series B funding led by Pitango Venture Capital, with participation from earlier backers Gemini Israel Ventures,Genesis Partners, Amiti Ventures and Aviv Ventures. The company has now raised $27 million altogether.
Seeo, a seven-year-old, Hayward, Ca.-based maker of advanced lithium polymer batteries, has raised $17 million in Series E funding fromSamsung Ventures, along with earlier backers Khosla Ventures and GSR Ventures. The company has now raised $40.6 million altogether, shows Crunchbase.
SoftWear Automation, a five-year-old, Atlanta-based maker of robotic sewing technologies for the garment industry, has raised $3 million in Series A funding from CTW Venture Partners.
SuiteHop, a six-month-old, Denver-based marketplace for luxury suites at sport and entertainment venues across the United States, has raised $1 million from undisclosed sources.
ThousandEyes, a five-year-old, San Francisco-based IT performance management company, has raised $20 million in Series B funding led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with Salesforce Ventures, and earlier backer Sequoia Capital participating alongside angel investors.
Transcriptic, a nearly three-year-old, Menlo Park, Ca.-based company that uses spectrometers, robotic liquid handlers, centrifuges, incubators, cytometers, chromatographs and other sophisticated machines to perform scientific experiments for biotech companies, has raised funding and struck a partnership with Y Combinator. (It will offer Y Combinator’s biotech companies $20,000 worth of laboratory work time.) Venture Capital Dispatch has the story. Y Combinator’s investment in the company is part of a bigger Series A round that Transcriptic is currently raising. Its seed backers, which have provided the company with $4 million already, include Google Ventures, Founders Fund, IA Ventures and Data Collective.
UpCounsel, a 2.5-year-old, San Francisco-based online workplace for businesses to find and hire attorneys, has raised $2.4 million in seed funding led by Crosslink Capital and Metamorphic Ventures, with participation from earlier backer Homebrew. The company had previously raised a $1.5 million seed round, including from SV Angel, Collaborative Fund, Bobby Yazdani, and other angels.
Wagepoint, a three-year-old, Waterloo, Ontario-based company that makes payroll software for small and mid-size businesses, has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Extreme Venture Partners, with Business Development Bank of Canada, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agencies, and Canadian and U.S. angel investors participating.
LendingClub, the San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lender, revealed yesterday that it could raise up to $929 million in its IPO, with price targets that are up nearly 17 percent from the targets set a week ago. More here from the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
DataGardens, an Edmonton, Alberta-based vendor specializing in disaster recovery for on-premises infrastructure, has been acquired by the telecommunications and Internet provider CenturyLink for undisclosed terms. Eweek has more here.
PassOmatic, a 2.5-year-old New York-based startup that had created automatic password change technology, has been acquired by Dashlane, a five-year-old, New York-based startup behind a password manager and secure digital wallet. Terms weren’t disclosed. PassOmatic had never disclosed outside funding. Dashlane has raised $30 million from investors, including FirstMark Capital, Rho Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.
Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is donating $100 million to help create the Allen Institute for Cell Science, a new Seattle-based non-profit organization that will study how information coded in human genes becomes a living cell, and what prompts disease. Geekwire has more here.
Dan Held is joining the micropayment infrastructure company ChangeTip as VP of Product. ChangeTip recently raised $3.5 million in funding led by Pantera Capital. Held had previously cofounded ZeroBlock, a real-time market data and aggregated news feeds company that was acquired by the web-based bitcoin platform Blockchain.
Board members of the blood-test business Theranos are “clearly charmed” by its 30-year-old founder, Elizabeth Holmes, writes Ken Auletta in a New Yorker profile of Holmes, her company, and the challenges it’s facing. Writes Auletta: “She is a careful listener, and she is unnervingly serene; employees say that they can’t remember an instance when she raised her voice.”
Snapchat, the mobile messaging company, has hired star tech banker Imran Khan, the former head of tech banking at Credit Suisse, as its first chief strategy officer, reports the WSJ. Khan will report directly to Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel, says the report.
Amazon, which recently began testing delivery drones in the U.K., is warning U.S. officials it will move even more of its drone research abroad if it doesn’t get permission to test-fly in the states soon.
Amazon has also been testing the idea of using bike messengers to help deliver packages within an hour in New York City, sources tell the WSJ.
Oh, and in other Amazon news, you can now barter with Amazon sellers.
How to win a breakup on the Internet.
How to make a roller coaster in one week.
Colleges are embracing e-sports, even offering the same sort of scholarships given to athletes playing soccer, football and ice hockey.
Ornaments for geeks.
Artic Force snowball blaster. (Oh, yeah, things are about to get real.)


text:
New Media write-offs spark pay cuts
DIRECTORS at New Media Spark have taken pay cuts of up to 30% as they reported savage write-downs on their portfolio of tech investments. The portfolio has been written down from £109.7m to £38.8m. The worst single hit was a £30m write-off of its investment in eTV, an interactive broadcaster and designer.
Finance director Bruno Delacave, who is personally taking a 30% pay cut, said: 'It's very painful.' Staff numbers are being reduced from 35 to 16 and chief executive Michael Whitaker already takes no pay.
A holding in EO, a company set up to deliver initial public offerings online to small investors, was slashed in value from £7m to £1.6m.
However, the cash balance improved from £35m to £41.8m and Spark pleased shareholders by announcing plans to return cash to investors, possibly through a share buyback. Spark is also confident it will soon realise cash from its 11% holding in the interdealer broker Tullett & Tokyo Liberty, which is mulling a £200m float.
The shares, peaked at 178p at the height of the dotcom boom, rose 1/2p to 9p.
Most watched Money videos
- Range Rover races through the 99-turns of the Tianmen Road
- Should you buy a petrol or diesel car: Here's how to decide
- New Jaguar I-Pace takes on Tesla in race against the clock
- Tips to invest your Isa - and why it is worth doing
- Take a look at the brand new Jaguar I-Pace prototype
- Jaguar I-Pace prototype smart cones driving test in Geneva
- Where are the best places to invest in 2018?
- Big Money Questions: What is diversifying?
- Can emerging markets continue to climb? We ask a top manager
- Jack Whitehall stars in Jaguar I-PACE promotional video
- Bentley's brand new luxury Bentayaga V8 SUV is driven on ice
- Big Money Questions: Does tax have to be so complicated?


text:
Graze Robotics has preorder launched its flagship commercial grade robotic lawn mower (G3).
"Today marks a pivotal moment for Graze as we introduce G3, one of the most advanced robotics systems on the market today," said Logan Fahey, CEO at Graze. "We are excited to offer our customers an opportunity to be among the first to experience the future of lawn maintenance. We believe that innovation, combined with sustainability, is the way forward, and our new mower is a testament to that."
Details of the product include:
- With a wide 60-inch mowing deck and the capability of mowing 1.6 acres per hour, the mower promises timely job completions, ensuring businesses can handle more projects in less time.
- The mower boasts an impressive 8-hour runtime with an extensive battery life, ensuring that operations run smoothly with fewer interruptions.
- The mower is equipped with three metal mulching blades that operate at 3000 RPM, ensuring a consistent and even cut. Furthermore, advanced sensors allow for mowing on varying terrains, making it versatile for all kinds of landscapes.
- Graze prioritizes safety with a 360-degree optical suite and computer vision technology to detect and avoid obstacles. Additionally, the mower comes with an intuitive app for real-time monitoring, adjustments, and software updates.


text:
Posted on January 14, 2013
comments powered by Disqus.
Samsung's ultra slim Galaxy A8 gets shown off in new video
Galaxy S6 sales help Samsung overtake Apple for U.S. market lead
Sony to pour billions into its camera business for Apple, Samsung and others
Recently on Cult of Android


text:
HYPEBEAST 100: The innovators from all realms of creativity in the spotlight.
With in-depth interviews, focused features and fashion-forward editorials, our print publication features long-form coverage of the topics valued by readers.
Explore and be inspired by the latest women's fashion news and trends.
Beating out seven other teams.
Before he passed his way into Cowboys history, he was an elite high-school hooper.
Similar to last year’s Twitter deal.
However Romo may be one injury (not his own) away from returning.
Replays, ejections, tablets, leaping over the line and more.
Finally, a decision has been made.
Along with his Super Bowl XLIX jersey?!
“He ain’t no ramen noodle, Lucky Charms, hot dog. He’s got culinary skills.”
Ross is signed to Nike, so adidas gets to keep its island.
Last year it was a cool $1 million USD.
Sign up for our newsletters
Receive the latest in Footwear, Fashion, Music and Creativity in our newsletters.


text:
Although it may seem like you've just packed away all the Christmas decorations, it's not long until you'll have to get them all out again.
It's only 100 days until Christmas 2015, and the signs are already starting to show in some stores.
A study of the UK and US found almost 60 percent of retailers have already launched their promotions - and New Zealand is following suit.
Retail New Zealand chief executive Mark Johnston says although it seems like the Christmas advertising starts earlier each year, it's usually always around three months out from the big day.
Watch the video for the full interview with Mark Johnston.


text:
The first agent who pleaded guilty in July to stealing $700,000 worth of bitcoin, has been sentenced to six and half years in prison by a San Francisco judge.
Carl Force, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, was part of the special task-force created to investigate and bring down Silk Road, the illegal marketplace that sold everything from drugs to weapons.
Force admitted to charges of extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
As part of the investigation, Force worked undercover, posing as a drug dealer who was in contact with contract killers, in a bid to initiate contact with Ross Ulbricht, Silk Road’s founder.
The agent was successful in establishing contact with the elusive founder, but instead of attempting to bring Ulbricht to justice, Force sold information to him about the ongoing investigation.
Ulbricht was ultimately apprehended and is currently serving a life imprisonment term for charges that include conspiracy to traffic narcotics, computer hacking, money laundering – all of which are associated with his creation of Silk Road.
The US District judge who sentenced Carl Force, described his “betrayal of the public trust [as] quite simply breathtaking”.
Force was the first agent to have pleaded guilty back in July, but there was another US government agent who was involved.
Agent Shaun Bridges was part of the US federal team that was tasked with investigating and shutting down Silk Road, which culminated in the arrest, trial and imprisonment of Ross Ulbricht. as part of the investigation, Bridges took over an administrator account on the site, which he used to reset passwords and steal approximately 20,000 bitcoin from numerous wallets totalling $820,000.
Barclaycard, which processes nearly half of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, has secured its contract with Transport for London (TFL) ... read more
IBM and Visa announced the industry’s first collaboration which brings point of sale everywhere that Visa is accepted.
PayPal CEO Dan Schulman is attempting to make good on his promise to better serve the unbanked.
Amazon recently announced that over 33 million customers have used Amazon Payments to make a purchase.


text:
China's gaming giants Tencent Holdings (OTC: TCEHY; HKEX: 0700) and NetEase Inc. (Nasdaq: NTES; HKEX: 9999) turned to gains on Tuesday after reports surfaced that gamers have found ways to circumvent the new limitations that went into effect on Sep. 1.
The new gaming restrictions limit underage players in China to three hours of playtime a week – and only on weekends. In addition, companies are now requiring registration under real names to play, as gaming companies are responsible for ensuring compliance. Earlier, the nation allowed 1.5 hours per weekday for minors.
The toughening of the laws was met with an outcry from the public, as China is the world's leader in esports; the restrictions practically kill the teens' chances from entering the big games, as Reuters wrote, citing Chen Jiang, an associate professor at Peking University's School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science. The esports business is also expected to suffer.
However, the People's Daily wrote Tuesday that certain sites are offering rent and swap services for player accounts. Tencent is now suing over 20 account trading platforms for renting and selling accounts for its flagship game "Honor of Kings," the only one game to ever reach 100 million daily players. According to the medium, users could rent an account for 33 yuan ($5) for two hours of play.
Further, video game website Kotaku notes there are other ways for minors to circumvent the new limitations. For instance, parents may give their children access to their adult gaming accounts. Notably, the new restrictions are not law, but the country's independent tech giants have suffered enough this year from the authorities' crackdown and paid enough fines to be eager to comply with the new warnings.
The stock in Tencent ended 6% higher Tuesday, at $67.09 per share. NetEase closed 3% higher, at $95.73 a share. Both conglomerates have taken on an uptrend over the past month following wide sell-offs on fears spurred by Beijing's anti-monopoly probes, as well as stricter rules on gaming and protection of user data.


text:
Meta is keen to let you know that your Facebook and Instagram newsfeed will soon be dominated by content from people and companies you don’t follow.
Meta is keen to let you know that your Facebook and Instagram newsfeed will soon be dominated by content from people and companies you don’t follow. Or, better said, the contents of strangers will be even more prevalent, given that for several months now the algorithms have been giving precedence to viral contents, taking away space from those posted by your contacts.
And if you signed up on the two social networks to receive updates on your friends’ lives or to follow the contents of your favorite pages, well, it doesn’t matter because the company has different plans for you.
Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will “more than double” the amount of content recommended on Facebook and Instagram over the next year. The recommended contents are none other than the photos and (above all) the videos that the algorithms of the two social networks think you may like, based on your activities on the social network. These are contents that, by definition, come from spaces of the social network that you have not yet visited. So posts by influencers and pages you have never liked, but which Meta thinks you may like and, above all, that they can keep you for longer with your eyes on the screen.
It is the TikTok model , the app of the Chinese ByteDance that has built its fortune thanks to an infinite newsfeed, capable of showing every day millions of contents selected according to the personality and tastes of each individual user. A model that ensures that each user has a surgically customized newsfeed, and that two users with different tastes never see the same things. This formula has allowed TikTok to climb the rankings of the most downloaded and used applications every day, completely conquering the so-called Gen Z. By now TikTok is no longer just the application of kids: it is used across the board by all generations. Instagram and Facebook certainly couldn’t stand by and watch. And here’s how we got to the current situation: Meta wants tiktokicize its social networks, hoping to replicate the success of the rival application.
The invasion of recommended content is just the tip of the iceberg. Instagram is already starting to focus less and less on photos, giving priority to videos . Obviously we are not talking about the elaborate videos and several tens of minutes long, on a YouTube model, but about the disposable clips of up to 30 seconds. Just like the ones that are shared on TikTok.
Meta, on this, does not intend to step back: “our artificial intelligence is able to identify content that people find interesting,” explained Zuckerberg. “This causes the quality of the feed and the time spent by users on the application to increase a lot.”


text:
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued a weekend food recall warning for Veggie Foodle brand Green Zucchini Whole Vegetable Noodles recalled due to Listeria monocytogenes. The Aug. 20 Veggie Foodie brand recall by Freshline Foods Ltd. is for products distributed in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and possibly, Quebec.
|Veggie Foodle||Green Zucchini Whole Vegetable Noodles||340 g||8 09145 70000 0||21AU18
This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) test results. The CFIA is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products. If other high-risk products are recalled, the CFIA will notify the public through updated Food Recall Warnings.
The CFIA is verifying that the industry is removing the recalled product from the marketplace.
About Listeria infections
Food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes may not look or smell spoiled but can still cause serious and sometimes life-threatening infections. Anyone who has eaten any recalled product and developed symptoms of Listeria infection should seek medical treatment and tell their doctors about the possible Listeria exposure.
Also, anyone who has eaten any of the recalled products should monitor themselves for the food poisoning symptoms during the coming weeks because it can take up to 70 days after exposure to Listeria for symptoms of listeriosis to develop.
Symptoms of Listeria infection can include vomiting, nausea, persistent fever, muscle aches, severe headache, and neck stiffness. Specific laboratory tests are required to diagnose Listeria infections, which can mimic other illnesses.
Pregnant women, the elderly, young children, and people such as cancer patients who have weakened immune systems are particularly at risk of serious illnesses, life-threatening infections, and other complications. Although infected pregnant women may experience only mild, flu-like symptoms, their infections can lead to premature delivery, infection of the newborn, or even stillbirth.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)


text:
GLOBAL 2016: Chinese and retail brands enter the Global Top 100
The seven brands that entered the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands this year illustrate several trends, including the impact of China and the strength of the retail category in this year’s ranking. Two of the newcomer brands are Chinese and a third accelerated its expansion in China; and three of the brands are retailers. The other two brands are from the technology and beer categories.
Moutai, a premium version of baijiu, China’s traditional white alcohol, rebounded from a sales slump that began two years ago when the Chinese government imposed restrictions on official gift giving as part of its anti-corruption campaign. Moutai lowered prices and expanded distribution to make the brand more accessible. Brand strength helped sustain the brand while the company developed and executed revised strategies.
The success of JD.com, China’s second largest e-commerce site, reflected the overall strength of online retailing and the particular strength of the JD.com brand. It successfully challenged Alibaba with more efficient distribution and social media effectiveness. Consumers that access JD.com through WeChat, the social networking site, can then text, shop, and pay without switching platforms. Insurance brand AIA, which serves 18 Asia-Pacific markets, increased its agent sales force in China and grew the value of new business in China by 45 percent.
Lowe’s and CVS, two U.S. retailers, benefited both from the strength of the U.S. retail market and also some clear brand strengths. Lowe’s partnered with Facebook and Snapchat to reach the next generation of DIYers. The brand also partnered with Microsoft in an initiative that enables shoppers to view kitchen remodel designs in 3-D, using the Microsoft HoloLens.
CVS, the U.S. drug store chain that stopped selling cigarettes two years ago, continued to strengthen its brand purpose as a health provider, allocating more of its retail space for urgent-care clinics and other medical treatment centers. CVS also partnered with the IBM Watson Health Cloud to collect and analyze customer medical data.
The entrance of Adobe into the BrandZ™ Global Top 100 shows that a business-to-business technology brand can exhibit the kind of rapid value growth usually associated with technology business-to-consumer brands. Adobe also confirms the argument for disrupting the market before the market disrupts the brand. A provider of creative tools for the marketing industry, Adobe shifted from a boxed software model to a cloud subscription model three years ago. The subscription business grew 55 percent in 2015.
Heineken entered the BrandZ™ Global Top 100 in a year of beer category consolidation, as the two largest global brewers, AB InBev and SAB Miller, prepared to merge. Heineken continued to be the number one imported beer in most of its 179 country markets, and it performed especially well in the developing markets of Africa and Southeast Asia.


text:
Amazon has shared a big update today on its progress with getting its Echo smart speakers and other Alexa enabled devices into the hands of consumers via The Verge. This holiday season has been a big success for the company’s AI and it has now sold over 100 million Alexa devices.
Amazon’s SVP of products and services shard with The Verge’s Dieter Bohn that Alexa devices like its Echo Dot speakers flew off their digital shelves and they couldn’t keep up with demand.
While the company claims it outstripped its most optimistic expectations for the Echo Dot during the holiday season, Limp wouldn’t give a number for that. Instead, Limp says, Amazon is sold out of Dots through January, despite “pushing pallets of Echo Dots onto 747s and getting them from Hong Kong to here as quickly as we possibly could.”
The report notes that the 100 million number seems less impressive when compared to Apple and Google having billions of users with their respective AI baked in. However, the flip side is that consumers are probably specifically looking to buy and use a digital assistant when they purchase an Alexa enabled device.
While Amazon has what seems like a solid lead over its competitors, Limp doesn’t believe it will come down to one company dominating the digital assistant market.
“I don’t think it falls into a sporting event,” Limp says, “where there’s going to be one winner.” He adds, “There will be multiple players for the foreseeable future. I don’t think it’s only going to be only two, either. I think there will be more than that.”
While Siri has its own strengths it generally does fall behind both Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. Just this week we heard about how Amazon out-hires Apple when it comes to their digital assistants by 5:1.
HomePod is another difficult situation for Apple. Wits its premium $350 price tag, it’s no surprise it’s just captured an estimated 6% of the smart home speaker market. Meanwhile, both Amazon and Google often offer their compact smart speakers for just $30, 1/10th the price of HomePod.
Another huge selling point for Apple users is Apple Music integration with Echo speakers, which will also be coming to third-party Alexa speakers sometime in the future as well. Check out our tutorial here for help on getting your Echo speaker set up with Apple Music.
How about you? Do you find yourself using both Siri and Alexa? Have you started using Alexa more over the last year? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


text:
A significant drop in sales for the Windsor-built Chrysler Pacifica.
The Pacifica saw a 40 per cent drop compared to the same time period last year.
According to FCA Canada's first-quarter 2023 sales results, 1,300 Pacificas were sold compared to 2,154 in the first-quarter of 2022.
The automaker is also reporting a 51 per cent sales drop for the Chrysler Grand Caravan.
601 Grand Caravans were sold in the first quarter compared to 1,220 in last year's first-quarter sales.
Overall FCA Canada says it remains the number-one seller of PHEVs in the country, with three models among the top-10 best-selling plug-in electric vehicles.
The automaker says its Dodge and Ram brands had year-over-year sale increases while the Jeep Wagoneer sales jump 36 per cent in the quarter.


text:
Digital advertising in the country this year should reach 124 billion baht, marking growth of 4.8%, thanks to consumer sentiment rebounding, the upcoming general election, government stimulus and fast online media growth, says a marketing and media network.
The digital channel will have growth of 20% and is expected to nearly equal the value of TV advertising within 3-5 years, said Pathamawan Sathaporn, managing director of Mindshare, a marketing and media network under media investment company GroupM.
The internet is a key driver of digital advertising in Thailand, accounting for 14.5% of the total 124-billion-baht ad market, she said.
Thailand is the leader in digital advertising in Southeast Asia, outpacing Indonesia and Philippines, but there's still room for growth compared with developed countries, where the share of digital exceeds 40%, Mindshare said.
"Driving the digital share to 40% takes at least three years, bringing the reach close to that of TV, as digital is useful for reaching people in Bangkok, even though TV still reaches the masses, while digital requires 5G network and more affordable internet prices to grow," Ms Pathamawan said.
In 2019, TV will continue to dominate the market, expected to be worth 72.9 billion baht, or 58.7% of the total market.
Of total TV, the share of digital TV will rises to 33.5 billion baht from 29 billion last year, analogue TV will decline to 37.5 billion baht, and cable/satellite will fall to 1.9 billion.
Spending on radio is expected at 4.8 billion baht, newspapers 5.2 billion, magazines 1 billion, cinemas 7.3 billion, outdoor 7.5 billion, transit 6.3 billion, in-store 1 billion and internet 18 billion baht.
The upcoming election will boost media spending in the public sector, mostly in outdoor media, from 6.8 billion baht in 2018 to 7.5 billion this year.
According to Mindshare, the top 10 advertising sectors remain the same as in 2018: media and marketing, motor vehicles, non-alcoholic drinks, communications, skincare and preparation, government, leisure, dairy products, pharmaceuticals, and retail.
Key advertisers in 2019 are Unilever, Lifestar, P&G, Toyota, Coca-Cola, AIS, Isuzu, L'Oreal and Nestle.
There are five key trends for 2019, one of which is streaming content, Ms Pathamawan said, adding that Facebook Live and other streaming content providers will become a new method for marketers.
Social networks are going to reach critical mass, outrunning traditional media with Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Line altogether making up one-third of digital advertising.
Marketers need to use advertising running sales conversion to induce customer purchases and focus on new technologies to get closer to consumers, particularly voice digital assistants and artificial intelligence.
Marketing should use quality and interesting content in appropriate volume and at the right times to appeal to users, especially those who avoid ads.
In 2018, ad spending in Thailand was 118.4 billion baht, up 5.7% from 2017.


text:
ISRAEL Viacom Enters Israeli TV Market With Stake in Ananey Communications Group
The entertainment conglomerate said Thursday it has purchased a minority stake in Ananey Communications Group, an Israeli content producer and pay-TV provider that dominates the content, production and distribution scene in Israel with its 11 channels and four subsidiaries. The deal leaves open the option for Viacom to purchase a controlling stake in the future.
The move, whose financial details were not disclosed, comes after a long history of collaboration between Ananey and Viacom International Media Networks. Ananey serves as the Israeli licensor of several of Viacom’s biggest brands, including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, and produces both local and international original content. Ananey has seen great success marketing Viacom content to audiences in Israel: Nickelodeon is the nation’s top children’s channel (ahead of Arutz HaYeladim, the local Hebrew-language kiddie content portal), boosted in big part by Ananey’s locally produced and dedicated content for the under-18 market under the Nickelodeon shingle.
Ananey also represents Viacom’s programming sales and consumer products business in Israel.
The move is bound to bring further diversity to the pay-TV market in Israel, which has seen rapid growth in recent years. Since the early 2000s, the pay-TV market here has been divided evenly between HOT cable and YES satellite, with nearly all local viewers choosing one or the other as a subscription service to access international content. But with Netflix now available in Israel, plus the introduction of Cellcom TV, a VOD and streaming service managed by one of Israel’s major telecommunications networks, competition is on the rise.
Udi Maron, founder and chairman of Ananey, said he expected the new partnership with Viacom to further shake up the market.
“We look forward to working with Viacom to create new horizons for the traditional pay-TV market and for the dynamic digital world and leveraging the strong Israeli start-up market to advance our shared digital vision,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
David Lynn, president and CEO of Viacom International Media Networks, also cheered the move, calling the Israeli TV market “one of the most dynamic production sectors internationally.” He added: “We have confidence that the Ananey team will continue to excel in the local and international market, and we are excited about what the future will bring.”


text:
Apple Unveils the New iPad — What Will It Do?
While Wednesday’s roll-out of the new generation of Apple’s iPad didn’t have quite the fanfare of prior events helmed by the company’s late co-founder, Steve Jobs, that doesn’t mean people weren’t paying attention.
Here’s a quick rundown of the announcement.
- The device, simply called “the new iPad,” will be released March 16 (pre-orders are going on now) with a starting price of $499. It boasts a sharper 9.7-inch screen with Apple’s retina display technology and 2,048-by-1,536 pixels — more pixels than traditional high-definition televisions — plus an upgraded camera and a faster processor.
- The next iPad also has personal hotspot software allowing the device to share a high-speed network with up to five devices (carrier permitting, of course), and, like the most recent iteration of the iPhone, it features voice dictation technology.
- All that extra mojo means the upgraded iPad is a bit thicker and heavier than previous models — but not by much. It’s now 0.37 inches thick (compared to 0.34 inches) and weighs 1.4 pounds (up from 1.33 pounds).
- The new iPad can also access 4G, or LTE, mobile networks, with AT&T and Verizon Wireless set to be the first US wireless carriers to sell the device.
- During Wednesday’s event, Apple CEO Tim Cook also unveiled an updated version of the company’s TV set-top box, which has a new user interface and what Cook deemed a “mirroring function” that will allow users to send video from their mobile devices to their televisions. The new Apple TV, which also goes on sale March 16, will cost $99.


text:
Walmart’s grocery business has started to turn a corner.
The retailer just posted its strongest quarter of food sales growth in a year, Walmart US President Greg Foran said Tuesday.
“What we’ve been working on this year is basic bloc king and tackling, doing the simple things really well,” Foran told reporters on a conference call.
He said Walmart has made great strides in particular in fresh produce and organics.
Groceries are vital to the retailer’s success, accounting for 56% of its sales.
But Walmart’s grocery department has been plagued by negative customer reviews in the past.
Customers have complained about a lack of fresh produce, poor service, and empty shelves, BMO Capital Markets analyst Wayne Hood wrote in research note in September. Our analysis of Yelp reviews yielded similar complaints.
To improve its fresh departments, the company has ramped up restocking efforts and increased staffing in grocery to make sure customers can find what they need, Foran said.
In its smaller-format Neighborhood Market stores, Walmart stores crates of extra produce under the displays, so employees don’t have to trek to the back of the store to restock shelves . The company’s Neighborhood Markets, which focus entirely on groceries, posted 8% same-store sales growth in the most recent quarter.
The company is also expanding the assortment of products in its bakery department, and baking more items in stores, Shawn Baldwin, who is the head of fresh foods and quality control at Walmart, told Business Insider in a recent interview. The items that are baked in stores are getting more prominent displays, as well.
One of those store-baked items is Walmart’s best-selling apple pie. The pie had a filling that was 31% apples last year, and it has since been reformulated to include filling that is 70% apples. The pie sells for between $ 4.59 to $5.69
Walmart’s pumpkin pie is another best-seller. The company expects to sell two pumpkin pies every second from November through Christmas, Baldwin said.
Reuters Walmart is also noticing that people are snacking more, so it’s packaging muffins, donut holes, and other snacks in single-serve containers.
“We’ve upgraded the assortment to include more indulgent small snacks and things that have cleaner labels and better ingredients,” Baldwin said.
Walmart is improving its fresh department amid growing competition from rivals like Kroger and Publix, which have been aggressively growi ng their grocery offerings to include more produce, organics, and freshly prepared foods.
Both Kroger and Publix have higher customer satisfaction ratings than Walmart, according to Hood’s September research note.
That’s a troubling sign for Walmart, since it consistently offers lower prices than its rivals.
Walmart’s grocery prices are approximately 10% to 15% lower than Kroger’s, according to Hood.
But the lower prices have previously failed to spur growth in Walmart’s grocery business, as illustrated in the graph below.
Written by Hayley Peterson of Business Insider
(Source: Business Insider)


text:
Internet access has given us many joys. Instant entertainment, food, transport – whatever we want, we can have it right now. But you know who can’t be trusted with the power to buy whatever their heart desires at the click of a button? Drunk people.
While we've all been alerted to the dangers of drink driving and drink texting, another of alcohol’s most immediate side effects goes hazardously unchecked - drunk shopping.
Online shopping site Lyst teamed up with the website Racked to shed light on this under-reported threat, comparing the buying habits of late-night shoppers on a Friday to late-night shoppers on a Monday.
Their findings: after a few drinks, women want expensive lingerie, expensive heels and lots of dresses (basically impractical items that daytime you would veto).
Evening sales of lingerie increased by 50% on Friday – not only that, but the order value for went up 140% from $165 to $404.
Post-midnight sales of dresses were also 320% higher on a Friday.
“Sales of shoes doubled in the wee hours on Friday compared to Mondays, with shoppers adding heels, platform heels, and sandals to their carts,” writes Racked. They're also spending more: heels purchased cost 165% more on a Friday evening at 10pm than on a Monday at the same time.
The peak danger zone for purchases was after 1am, when the average order value increased by more than 40%.
The moral of the story? If you wouldn't pick up your car keys, don’t pick up your credit card.