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Global Privacy Dispatches
ITALY—Garante Addresses Medical Research, Welfare Positions Issues
The Garante, Italy’s Data Protection Authority (IDPA), has released three decisions related to research and a register of welfare positions.
ITALY—Garante Releases Enforcement Activity Report
The Garante, the Italian Data Protection Authority (IDPA), has released information on enforcement activity in Italy in 2013 and its relevant plan of inspections for the first semester of 2014.
CANADA—Anti-Spam Legislation To Come Into Force
After much discussion and consultation on the accompanying Regulations, Canada’s anti-spam legislation is about to take full effect. While the CRTC had previously published its regulations on March 28, 2012, the Electronic Commerce Protection Regulation was finally published on December 4, 2013.
UK—Government Department Fined 185,000 GBPs After Terrorist Incident Data Sold at Auction
A government department has been fined after a filing cabinet containing personal information relating to victims of a terrorist incident was sold at auction.
NEW ZEALAND—Privacy Reflections/Predictions for 2014
The high-profile privacy breaches of 2012-13 have shed an unprecedented light on personal information in New Zealand. Outgoing Privacy Commissioner Marie Shroff is leaving the role at a time when protecting personal information, a cause she has actively championed over the past 10 years, is at the forefront of public awareness and is top-of-mind for policy analysts, legislators and businesses alike.
NEW ZEALAND—Will the Tide Turn in 2014?
Last year was not a good one for New Zealand privacy-wise. While Australia forged ahead enacting legislation covering issues such as cross-border controls for personal data and introducing measures to implement breach notification, the government in New Zealand, by contrast, has been dragging its feet and instead adopted a raft of measures diminishing existing privacy protections. This article briefly reviews developments in New Zealand in 2013 and ventures some predictions as to what may lie in store in 2014.
AUSTRALIA—Australia Legislates for Privacy by Design
In March, Australia will be overhauling its privacy laws. One of the key features of the new regime means Australia will become one of the first jurisdictions to effectively legislate for the concept of Privacy by Design.
Close Up On… Recent State Action (November 1, 2005)
The House Commerce Committee has replaced a broad spyware bill with language modeled after the California law prior to advancing it out of committee. As passed by the committee on Oct. 19, HB 1697 would make it a felony, subject to 10 years in jail and/or a $25,000 fine, to intentionally copy or install unauthorized "deceptive" software. HB 1697 now goes to the House Floor.
The IAPP's Privacy Academy 2005 Makes Headlines (November 1, 2005)
In a year marked by repeated security breaches that compromised the personal information of millions of people and fueled identity theft crimes and concern, it is no coincidence that the IAPP's membership has increased 100 percent in 2005. This connection, pointed out at the IAPP's Privacy Academy in Las Vegas by Executive Director J. Trevor Hughes, was noted in an article by Privacy & Security Law reporter Barbara Yuill, who attended the Oct. 26-28 event at the Green Valley Ranch Resort & Spa.
Innovation Award Winners Receive Accolades (November 1, 2005)
The announcements at the IAPP's Privacy Academy 2005 of the winners of the HP/IAPP Innovation Award and the IAPP/Deloitte & Touche Vanguard Award generated coverage distributed over the UPI wire.
Successful Meetings Taps The IAPP For ‘Good Policy' On Information Practices (November 1, 2005)
In other IAPP news, Successful Meetings reporter Suzie Amer contacted J. Trevor Hughes, Executive Director of the IAPP, for a story that explored the challenging privacy implications for meeting planners as concerns mount over the protection of personal information. The nature of the industry "makes it especially attractive for data and identity thieves because meeting planners gather large numbers of people and collect all kinds of potentially sensitive data on them."
New Jersey's Identity Theft Prevention Act May Catch You Off-Guard (November 1, 2005)
If your company does business in New Jersey, new laws taking effect Jan. 1, 2006 may require changes to avoid civil and criminal penalties. Acting Governor Richard J. Codey recently signed numerous privacy-related bills, including the "New Jersey Identity Theft Prevention Act," which requires the notification of consumers after a breach.
Microsoft Advocates Comprehensive Federal Privacy Legislation (November 1, 2005)
Microsoft Corp. is supporting federal data privacy legislation, saying the "time has come" for a strong national standard for privacy protection that will benefit consumers and set clear guidelines for businesses while allowing commerce to flourish. Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, explained recently to the Congressional Internet Caucus in Washington that Microsoft supports a comprehensive federal legislative response for three reasons.
Vontu, Inc. Joins Cyber Security Industry Alliance As Principal Member (November 1, 2005)
The Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA) has announced that Vontu, Inc., a company that offers data loss prevention solutions, will have a "strategic level of participation" in CSIA. Vontu will join other industry leaders to enhance global cyber security through public policy, education, awareness and technology.
New Jersey's Identity Theft Law (November 1, 2005)
Read about New Jersey's new identity theft law provisions, beginning Jan. 1, 2006. Provisions include prohibiting any person, including a public or private entity from: Publicly posting or displaying an individual's Social Security number, or any four or more consecutive numbers taken from an individual's Social Security number; Printing an individual's Social Security number on any card required for the individual to access products or services; or requiring an individual to transmit their Social Security number over the Internet, unless the connection is secure or the Social Security number is encrypted.
Notes from the Executive Director (November 1, 2005)
Privacy professionals generated enormous excitement in Las Vegas last month after taking part in the first-rate education, certification and networking opportunities at the IAPP Privacy Academy 2005. The talent and creativity in the privacy profession are exactly the reasons why the IAPP recognizes the achievements of our colleagues.
Privacy Academy 2005 Wrap Up (November 1, 2005)
The IAPP Privacy Academy at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Las Vegas brought the IAPP's second major event of the year to the great casino city in an effort to determine: Do the things in that happen in Vegas REALLY stay in Vegas? In addition to exploring key themes of identity management and personal surveillance, The IAPP Privacy Academy offered attendees valuable opportunities to network with each other, educate themselves with the latest developments in privacy law, policy and technology — and become certified in their profession.
Privacy in India (November 1, 2005)
As India becomes a leader in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), increasing amounts of personal information from other countries are flowing into India. Questions have been raised about the ability of Indian companies to adequately protect this information. Unfortunately, employees of BPO organizations have misused customers' personal information repeatedly.
Privacy and the Paycheck (November 1, 2005)
Read a Q & A between the IAPP's Executive Director J. Trevor Hughes and Dr. Larry Ponemon, founder and president of the Ponemon Institute, on the Exclusive Findings of the Privacy Professional's Role, Function And Salary Survey.


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MTS has launched a new Android smartphone in India known as MTS MTag 401. The MTS MTag 401 features a 4.0 inch capacitive touch screen display with screen resolution of 800X480 pixels. The new MTS Android phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS. This is the 4th Android phone from MTS. The price is also affordable for Indian market. The MTS MTag 401 is powered by an 800 Mhz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 processor.
The device also features a 3.0 megapixel rear camera. According to storage capacity the device it has expandable memory up to 32 GB. You can watch live TV more than 100 channels on this Android phone. The device preloaded with social networking sites and it comes with a 1700 mAh battery.
According to the price of this Android smartphone the MTS MTag 401 comes with a price tag of around Rs 9,000 approximately.

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Company reports increases in season pass sales and advance bookings
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — After one of the toughest seasons in memory, Vail Resorts wrapped up its fiscal year 2012 with earnings down about 7.5 percent from 2011, according to the company’s earnings statement released today (Sept. 25).
Total net revenue was $1,024.4 million in 2012 compared to $1,167.0 million in the prior year, a 12.2 percent decrease.
For 2012, VR reported a net income of $16.5 million, down from $34.5 million in 2011, as skier visits dropped steeply at the company’s California and Colorado ski areas. In Colorado (Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge) visits dropped 8.9 percent, from 5.2 million in 2011 to 4.8 million in 2012.
Overall VR skier visits dropped by 12.1 percent, from 7 million in 2011 to 6.1 million in 2012.
The company’s California areas saw visits drop 22.4 percent, from 1.6 million in 2011 to 1.3 million in 2012, with the decline partly offset by a higher effective lift ticket price, up for $49 in 2011 to $56 in 2012.
Skiers and snowboarders apparently are optimistic for the coming season. During the quarterly earnings call, Vail CEO Rob Katz said season pass sales through Sept. 23 are up 17 percent, with revenue from pass sales up 21 percent over the previous season.
To-date, the company has sold about 178,000 season passes, CEO Rob Katz said in the earnings statement.
“I am very pleased with our fourth quarter and fiscal year results,” Katz said. “In the fourth quarter, our Resort Reported EBITDA was improved compared to the prior year, reflecting enhanced summer guest visitation.
“For the full fiscal year, I am very proud of our results given that the 2011/ 2012 ski season was the most challenging winter in the history of the United States ski industry and our performance demonstrated the resiliency of our business model.”
“In the Mountain Segment, net revenues actually increased 1.9 percent for Fiscal 2012 despite total skier visits declining 12.1 percent compared to Fiscal 2011,” Katz said, attributing the gain to higher ticket prices, season pass sales, more spending by skiers at resorts and increased international visits.
Similarly, in the lodging sector, Katz said that, even though the poor snow season had impacts, the effects were offset by higher room rates and summer operations, especiall at the Grand Teton Lodge Company operations, adding up to an increase in total lodging revenues.
“Resort Reported EBITDA declined 3.8 percent from Fiscal 2011 when adjusting for one time items (including the timing of the Northstar, Kirkwood and Skiinfo acquisitions and a prior year litigation settlement),” Katz said. “We feel this modest decline is particularly noteworthy when considering that Fiscal 2011 was an all-time record snowfall year and Fiscal 2012 was the lowest snowfall season in our history.”
Net real estate revenue was down from more than $200 million in 2011, to just $47.2 million in 2012, with the year-to-year variance “driven by the Fiscal 2011 closing of 71 condominium units at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Vail for $186.4 million, which included 45 units sold to The Ritz-Carlton Development Company at the completion of construction on the project,” according to VR.
In 2012, the company closed on thirteen condominium units at The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Vail ($33.2 million of revenue with an average selling price per unit of $2.6 million and an average price per square foot of $1,146) and seven condominium units at One Ski Hill Place ($8.6 million of revenue with an average selling price per unit of $1.2 million and an average price per square foot of $975).


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That’s why you see this trend of Hollywood capturing movies. They see if they’ll make the film larger and more important than the money. At the very end of the movie, when the youngsters are combating at the mall, the girl in the hoodie is killed by one of them.
LA County Sheriff’s Department alert buyers there was no energetic shooter at Montebello Mall in California, but a smash and grab theft. Based on the mere sounds from the video shared from Montebello Mall on social media, it’s comprehensible how the loud bangs had been misheard as gunshots. Soon afterward, a heavy police presence was on the scene, emergency responders and helicopters also swarmed the area, which solely furthered shoppers’ fears.
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MONTEBELLO — Police are searching for a number of suspects who smashed a glass show case with a hammer, inflicting a panic after word unfold on social media that there had been a taking pictures. LYNWOOD, Calif. – Three folks were killed and no less than one particular person was injured in a multi-vehicle crash Sunday in Lynwood. Dozens of people gathered at the crash site to carry a vigil and mourn the deaths of three folks, ABC7 reported. CNN’s Nick Watt reports on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ initiative to clear encampments on city streets and home the homeless in motels till town is ready to provide everlasting housing. Shocking safety video shows the moments a gun battle erupted inside a 7-Eleven retailer in Montebello.
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Montebello PD and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated preliminary reports of an lively shooter situation were unfounded. Police are investigating an incident at a mall in Montebello that panicked crowds of consumers, but say it was not a taking pictures and no injuries had been reported. It’s true that shooting at a mall is a relatively new trend in the movie business.
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Table of Contents
What happened to Starbucks? How a progressive company lost its way
There is a coffee shop in Midtown Manhattan that is simple to overlook. It is located on the ground level of an office building. There is no menu as you go in; instead, there is a metal riser holding beverages that are ready to be picked up, and in the rear are some plush banquettes and tables. Sushi and sandwich packs are neatly organised in display cases, while shelves are stocked with gas station mainstays like Red Bull and Kettle chips. You must go through a turnstile that scans your palm in order to log into your Amazon account in order to access any of stuff. Without speaking to anyone, you may pay for the coffee and meal. Start with the applications, advises a notice beside the door.
This store—called Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go—opened in November of last year and was marketed as “a wholly different Starbucks focused on seamless convenience.” It is the first of three that the coffee giant hopes to launch in New York. It is also a powerful representation of Starbucks’s stealthy brand evolution from cosy meeting place to tech-enabled caffeine depot as well as the difficulties the business is currently facing. Starbucks stated on March 16 that Kevin Johnson, its CEO of five years, will be stepping down, demonstrating the company’s apparent recognition that it is at a turning moment. (Starbucks stock increased 7% as a result of the announcement.)
Starbucks started positioning itself as “the third place” in the 1990s, a location where consumers could find warmth, camaraderie, and decent coffee halfway between home and work. The idea was sparked by former CEO Howard Schultz’s visit to the friendly espresso bars of Milan in the late 1980s, and Starbucks has since broadly spread the experience by running 34,000 locations throughout 84 nations. The business expanded on this philosophy to provide staff members “a friendly and uplifting third place,” which over time has come to entail generous programmes including healthcare coverage for part-timers, an intentionally inclusive workplace, free college tuition, and paid parental leave.
Starbucks has grown enormous along the way. After McDonald’s and Subway, it is currently the third-largest restaurant chain in the world, and it is expanding more quickly than either. The business intends to establish 2,000 additional locations this year, many of them in China, the company’s second-largest market, where it has been opening a new location every 15 hours since 2020. (Starbucks owns and runs all of its locations in China.) If you had invested $10,000 during Starbucks’ 1992 IPO, your money would currently be worth more than $3 million.
However, the idea of developing a third location had already started to lose priority for the business before the epidemic. 80 percent of transactions in 2019 were for takeout. The smartphone app was being used to place one-fifth of the orders. Cold beverages were outselling hot drinks because they are intrinsically more portable. Starbucks’ brand identity was deteriorating along with the cafés’ sense of community. Executives at the corporation, which denied all requests for interviews for this piece, were already subtly suggesting ideas to “reinvent” or “reimagine” the third place idea as early as 2020.
Starbucks’ relationship with its employees was also evolving at the same time, as a result of factors both within its control and outside of it. Baristas in Buffalo, New York, began organising last summer, claiming that their pay was too low and worker safety was being disregarded. One of the fastest-moving union drives in American history has been sparked by petitions for union ballots filed by partners at more than 150 Starbucks locations across 27 states since August.
However, this is neither an Alabama coal mine, a Nabisco factory, or an Amazon warehouse. This is Starbucks, a stalwart of progressive capitalism that launched ground-breaking employee-first practises and was the first business to grant stock options to even part-time workers. (Because of this, Starbucks refers to its baristas as “partners.”) Employees shouldn’t rebel against a business like this. However, coffee businesses aren’t allowed to request your biometric information. How did Starbucks get here, and how far can it go while still maintaining any semblance of its original brand DNA?
In a statement, Schultz, who is coming back to serve as interim CEO until Johnson’s formal successor is named in the autumn, acknowledged being aware of the problems: Although I had no intention of going back to Starbucks, I am aware that it has to change once more in order to prepare for a fresh and exciting future in which all of our stakeholders may prosper.
However, Schultz’s participation hasn’t exactly improved the company’s employee relations thus far, and Starbucks will continue to face strong market pressures, which suggests that extreme tech-driven efficiency tactics are definitely here to stay.
According to Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors, “They’ve done about everything they can do.” Given the macro, which is Wall Street’s word for underlying factors like the pandemic and inflation that, lately at least, have roiled markets, the stock has languished because it is pricey and you aren’t receiving the results that you used to. Despite the fact that Johnson’s overall revenues were in the upper single digits, she continues, it still felt like “running on a treadmill simply to keep static.”
A lady and a guy entered the Starbucks-Amazon shop behind me on a Saturday in February while I studied how to register my palm on the kiosk so that the turnstile’s biometric sensor would let me through.
The man said, “Whoa,” like one does when they believe they have been found intruding. The barista informed them they couldn’t place an order as they approached the counter. To fulfil their order, they had to access the Starbucks mobile app, locate this specific location (59th Street between Park and Lexington), and place it there.
The barista said, “Right now, the wait should just be around 15 minutes.”
The pair contemplated this for a moment before leaving.
Starbucks celebrated its 50th anniversary at the shareholder meeting last year. It was completely virtual because of COVID-19. President and CEO Kevin Johnson used the phrase he invented for society’s return to post-pandemic life: “We’ve positioned Starbucks for the inevitable Great Human Reconnection that is about to occur.” After taking over for Schultz in 2017, he erected the Tryer Center at Starbucks’ Seattle headquarters, where he was standing. It’s where Starbucks creates Deep Brew, the platform for artificial intelligence that has grown to be his area of interest.
Johnson, the son of a theoretical physicist at Los Alamos and a former IBM engineer, was nothing if not a numbers person. He also held positions as CEO of Juniper Networks, the networking and security company, and an executive at Microsoft who handled Windows. And a good one at that: Starbucks’ stock increased by more than 50% when Johnson was CEO. When questioned about how his approach differed from Schultz’s, he once responded, “I employ data to assist guide judgments.” (Schultz frequently has a good instinct.)
During the 2021 annual meeting, Johnson argued that Starbucks is “more resilient and stronger today than we were pre-pandemic.” Johnson attributed this success to a methodical “plan to reinvent the Starbucks experience” that involved moving stores around, boosting productivity, and examining Deep Brew’s data.
The Starbucks mobile app, which is so well-liked that it has recently processed more mobile payments than Apple Pay or Google Pay, is the brainchild of Deep Brew.
Birthdays, geolocations, and order histories are all tracked by Deep Brew. In an effort to change customer behaviour, Deep Brew may promote prepayment or provide a discount for an Americano rather than your customary complex latte if the store is crowded. Additionally, it aids Starbucks in juggling employee schedules, stock levels, machine upkeep, and even shop development. Mobile ordering increased by 8% last year, suggesting that customers tend to prefer it, especially during a pandemic.
Johnson stated to investors during the conference in March of last year, “These were strategic initiatives we put in place long ago, which we expedited to meet this moment.” Hasn’t this very second put that idea into practise? He said that his strategy since taking over the firm has been “to honour the vision, values, and traits that make that distinctive Starbucks experience while aggressively reimagining for the future.”
In order to improve efficiency in other areas, such drive-through waits, Starbucks has also hired outside experts, like Aaron Allen of Aaron Allen & Associates. “Food offers that were eight or nine syllables” became a bottleneck.
Starbucks has trained us to recite drink orders like “Iced Venti Nonfat Latte with an extra shot,” according to Allen. Inside of stores, where they didn’t want consumers demanding the #1, that made sense. However, Starbucks discovered at the drive-through that more syllables might lengthen wait times. To make ordering simpler and faster, menu boards now include large, practical pictures and linked food and beverage products.
However, pro-management employees I spoke with who were interested in organising claimed that Starbucks hasn’t been as eager to change policies and practises to facilitate their work. The issue of staffing has caused conflict.
One barista should be able to complete 10 client orders in 30 minutes, including taking payments, making beverages, cooking any food, and handing everything off. Some baristas contend that the standard is out of date. Apparently, certain things have become more challenging as a result of the drive toward mobile ordering. With the Starbucks app, customers are no longer subject to the barista’s gaze while purchasing a drink with 14 ingredients that is renowned on TikTok. Recall the avalanche of color-changing Unicorn, Mermaid, Zombie, and Pegasus Frappuccinos from Starbucks, which has even encouraged this practise.
Sara Mughal, a shift supervisor and member of the organising committee for her New Jersey location, claims that while she and her coworkers were pleading with Starbucks to give out N95 masks, put back in plastic sneeze guards, and add more shifts during the pandemic, their team was also battling with drinks that seem to get trickier and trickier. Another partner was requested to take over the drink-making duties at her business. Instead, they were given a huge digital monitor similar to the one that welcomes guests at the Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go location. People can see where in the queue their drink order is. However, a barista manning the busy bar must manually update it using an iPad sitting on the espresso maker.
In a letter to Johnson in January, Mughal’s planning committee stated, “We have forged deep connections with other coffee enthusiasts.” “Instead, they’ve been receiving hurried orders more frequently lately, put together by a group of baristas juggling an excessive number of duties at once. Although you have exhorted us to do so, you haven’t provided us with the tools to do so.
THE ENTIRE EXPERIENCE WILL BE BAD IF THE PEOPLE SERVING THE CUSTOMER ARE NOT HAPPY, COMMITTED, AND PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT THEY’RE DOING.
According to Jeffrey Hollender, cofounder of the American Sustainable Business Council and former CEO of Seventh Generation, “I’m a Starbucks customer, and in my judgement the customer experience has degraded considerably over the previous two to four years.” “AI won’t make a difference there. The entire experience will be terrible if the employees servicing the client are not engaged, pleased, and passionate about what they are doing.
Scott Bedbury, who created the third place concept while serving as Starbucks’ first chief marketing officer in the 1990s, finds the idea of digitising the third place to be especially startling. (Prior to that, he developed the phrase “Just Do It” when working as Nike’s commercial director.)
At the time, Starbucks was rapidly expanding, acquiring large amounts of square area in strip malls that required a cohesive concept. Bedbury’s task included determining how to characterise that area. His team conducted a number of focus groups in 1996. Respondents were instructed to close their eyes and imagine the finest possible coffee experience rather than being shown mock-ups of cafés. ‘What do you notice when you enter inside this place?’ we would ask them. You hear any music? How about your palate? What are you touching? Bedbury remembers. The last question is, “What do you feel when this coffee experience is as excellent as it can possibly be, it couldn’t be any better?”
He searched through these coffee shop imaginations with Jerome Conlon, Starbucks’s then-VP of branding, looking for patterns. Not in the caffeine sense, he explains, “the term we kept coming back to was stimulating: the experience of being stimulated by the noises, sights, scents, and relationships of the café.” This was a flexible zone in between; it wasn’t home or work. Bedbury gave me a picture of the grease board where these concepts were mapped out. The third place is stated in the centre. Words like “oasis,” “sanctuary,” and “meditation” follow that. Some people make word associations such as “laughter” and “comedy,” “romance” and “time” and “spirituality” and “Deepak” and “not too heavy” and “not cultish.”
Since then, Bedbury has come to see the unstoppable online march as a force that will divide society rather than unite it. We consider what the digital world has done to this area between places one and two that once served as holy ground, and now we find ourselves in a fourth location, he says. It never stops, it never turns off, it’s addicting, and it’s getting to us.
Companies that promote a progressive mindset are finding themselves in an uncomfortable position as a result of America’s growing labour movement.
For instance, leftists’ favourite outdoor clothing retailer REI, a customer-owned cooperative, was put to a union vote early this year: In February, CEO Eric Artz and Chief Diversity Officer Wilma Wallace recorded a 30-minute anti-union podcast that opened with their pronoun declarations and an apology for taking Indigenous territory. Nevertheless, workers decided to unionise.
However, market observers refer to Starbucks as the canary in the mine. “We invest in people—especially our partners, so they can help individuals in the places we serve,” Johnson remarked in June 2020. However, the organising employees claim that Starbucks has sought to thwart their efforts by shutting stores, reducing hours, conducting meetings with captive audiences, and dismissing some of their leaders—strategies that businesses like Walmart and Amazon have used in reaction to union campaigns. The National Labor Relations Board also filed its first official complaint against Starbucks this week, alleging that the coffee chain had unjustifiably penalised against two Phoenix-based baristas who were organising.
Even financial experts are criticising Starbucks: Two open letters were sent to Starbucks management by a group that was coordinated by Trillium Asset Management and Parnassus Investments. In reference to Starbucks’ significant environmental, social, and governance activities, Trillium’s chief advocacy officer, Jonas Kron, says, “One reason we’ve invested in the firm is they do have a very good ESG narrative.” But given the response to current labour issues, “we are afraid they might possibly erode decades’ worth of effort over the period of a few weeks.” In December, 53 investors who collectively owned assets worth $1.3 trillion signed the first letter. In March, more than 75 people who contributed $3.4 trillion signed the document.
Customers drop by daily to talk about the union:
According to baristas who are organising, both sides of the bar discuss unionisation most frequently. According to Meridian Stiller, a business partner from the Richmond, Virginia, area who serves on their store’s organising committee, “customers come in every day and want to talk about the union.” Writing “Union Yes” on cups is like writing “Race Together” again, Stiller laughs, alluding to the company’s well-intentioned but largely derided 2015 campaign that urged baristas to write those words on cups to spark a national dialogue about race.
“Starbucks did a great job of promoting the image that it’s better than most employers, but now that the curtain has been pulled back by their own workforce, it should serve as a cautionary tale for those of us who tend to reflexively say, ‘This company is great,'” writes Rick Wartzman, director of the Drucker Institute’s KH Moon Center for a Functioning Society and author of the book The End of Loyalty. The takeaway, according to Wartzman, is “that Starbucks is now usual,” not that Starbucks is terrible.
Starbucks is a fair and generous employer by many standards. The company’s most recent environmental and social impact report indicates that 69 percent of its employees are women and 47 percent are people of colour. Executive pay is based on meeting diversity goals, and as part of a mentoring programme, the corporation matches BIPOC managers with corporate executives. It claims scores of 100 on both the Disability Equality Index and the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. In order to “provid[e] a Third Place of relief for people throughout the world who seek it,” it has recruited more than 26,000 veterans to date and is more than 25% of the way toward recruiting 10,000 refugees by 2022.
But the majority of these programmes date back several years. Since their debut, other businesses have not only imitated them but also improved them. For instance, Walmart, Amazon, and Target have more comprehensive programmes now than Starbucks, which launched the first programme of its sort in 2014.
Today, it also looks like the company’s health plan is less extreme. If a new barista picks Starbucks’ suggested plan and works 20-hour weeks, 7.5 percent of their earnings will go toward monthly premiums and up to another 6.8 percent toward deductibles. According to the Commonwealth Fund, a person is considered “underinsured” if they spend 5% of their salary on their deductible alone since their insurance is insufficient and might put them in a difficult financial situation.
Starbucks is above average on some workplace policy metrics (e.g., more likely than McDonald’s or Dunkin’ to give employees at least two weeks’ notice on work schedules), but significantly below average on others, according to the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shift Project, which tracks employment in the service sector extensively (e.g., changing schedules at the last minute). According to The Shift Project, Starbucks hasn’t put an end to the infamous “clopening,” a shift in which an employee shuts their store at night and then comes back a few hours later to reopen it. The business promised to stop this practise in 2014, but according to Daniel Schneider, head of Shift Project, 30% of partners still engage in at least one closing every month.
Next are salaries. Starbucks declared that it was making “historic investments in its partners,” including lifting the salary floor to $15 an hour by this coming summer, after organising activities kicked into high gear. But in 2012, advocates referred to $15 as a “living wage,” and in 2018, Amazon began paying fulfilment centre employees that amount. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult has to make at least $20 per hour in New York City, $23 in the Bay Area, and $19 in Seattle in order to maintain today’s basic standard of living. According to the most recent Family Budget Calculator from the Economic Policy Institute, employees need to make at least $14.50 an hour to support themselves in Orangeburg, South Carolina, the most cheap county in America.
Starbucks’s sales in 2021 was $29 billion. Despite shareholder opposition, Johnson nevertheless earned a compensation raise of over 40%, according to the company’s annual report. Schultz allegedly increased his wealth by 50% during the epidemic; his estimated net worth is now $4 billion. The chain also announced its third price increase since last October and promised $20 billion in stock buybacks and dividends last fall. Partners like Stiller in Virginia note that this money could have been used to bolster personal protective equipment, replenish catastrophe insurance, or help stores come up with innovative ways to reclaim their sense of a third place.
“Partners miss that feeling of community, and we believe quite strongly that a union is a community,” says Stiller, who has given up waiting for Starbucks to create any sense of camaraderie.
In order to show that “it wasn’t the coffee we were selling, it was the sense of community,” as Schultz put it, Starbucks initiated a campaign in 2015 to build additional cafés in underrepresented communities. The first of these so-called Community Stores was situated in Jamaica, Queens. It included agreements with two neighbourhood groups as well as an on-site job training space.
Following the opening of fourteen additional Community Stores, investors were uneasy. Why is Starbucks building locations in Bedford-Stuyvesant, people ask us? After Brooklyn’s first Community Store opened a distance away from the middle class housing developments where Schultz was raised, Schultz said, “We’re not in the charity business. “Quarterly earnings are given so much attention, but we learnt we needed to deposit goodwill early.”
Less than two years after the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which led to significant unrest in the city, Starbucks built a second Community Store there.
According to Cordell Lewis, the first manager of the shop, “I instantly felt the advantage of being at a community café when I came in Ferguson.” Michael Brown’s uncle worked as a barista, and the café tried to offer goods from regional producers like Natalie’s Cakes and More. It collaborated with the Urban League to provide employment training to over 400 residents of the neighbourhood. Starbucks referred to the Ferguson location as “a roadmap for the future” in 2017.
STARBUCKS DID THE RIGHT THINGS TO BUILD THOSE EARLY RELATIONSHIPS BY GETTING OUT INTO THE COMMUNITY AND ATTENDING DIFFERENT EVENTS.
According to Ella Jones, mayor of Ferguson, “Cordell created a tremendous foundation.” “Starbucks did the proper things to create those early ties,” says the author, “going out into the community and showing up at different events.”
Lewis was promoted to district manager in 2019, with responsibility for 11 Starbucks locations in the St. Louis region. The epidemic then began. He commends Starbucks for providing ill employees with catastrophic pay. Additionally, he claims that even when the stores weren’t doing well, managers still earned thousands of dollars in quarterly incentives. However, he adds, “Starbucks really got caught with their” after pausing, “Hopefully they’re thinking about what their operating processes look like. I understand that their primary goal is to boost earnings.
The organising effort, according to Lewis, who quit Starbucks in January to take the general manager position at a furniture company, began in early 2021 when Seattle halted catastrophe compensation and informed baristas that “it’s time to return to ‘business as normal’.”
Since the initial round of 15, Starbucks has constructed eight additional Community Stores, and it recently declared its intention to construct 1,000 by 2030. While Starbucks continues to significantly invest in “new formats that rethink the third place experience,” for example by building 42 mobile-order-only Starbucks Pickup locations since 2019, key executives driving the programme have gone. Before the epidemic had begun, however, Starbucks in Ferguson ceased selling Natalie’s Cakes and had Lewis’ Urban League’s job-training programme terminated.
According to Lewis, “all the original programmes have kind of withered away.” “I have no idea who owns that in Seattle or locally. But the store manager didn’t work in vain to make things happen. He claims that for a company the size and intelligence of Starbucks, “we might have showed up differently. maybe virtual collaborations. or at the very least checked in frequently to keep lines of contact open during the outbreak. Since that is what the rest of the world did, of course.
Similar outcomes have befallen other community stores. After missing sales goals, the business in Trenton, New Jersey was recently relocated to a new corporate neighbourhood.
Graffiti is now all over Bedford- Stuyvesant’s, which is located in a location that belonged for 40 years to the local landmark discount retailer Fat Albert. I recently went there and barely noticed two customers.
The tables were all photographed on the same day at Bushwick Grind, a locally owned coffee shop three blocks away, where a barista described the ingredients in the “sea moss smoothie.” Sea moss supplier DrSeaMoss is among the local firms with products on the inside shelves. Each day at 4:00 p.m., employees put leftover food in a communal refrigerator outside. With assistance from a neighbourhood charity called Together We Thrive that supports Black-owned companies, the shop is getting set to launch an urban garden.
The third location is there, pandemic or not. There will always be a need for a gathering place. They don’t require a green siren to summon them.


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China supports Russia's early WTO entry
MOSCOW: China's top legislator Wu Bangguo Wednesday reaffirmed the nation's support for Russia's early entry into the World Trade Organization.
During his meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Wu said that China looks forward to becoming one of the first countries to sign a bilateral agreement on market access with Russia and to share equal and mutually beneficial co-operation under the framework of WTO rules.
Russia last week signed an agreement with the European Union, which paves way for its entry into that world trade club.
Negotiations with China are still ongoing.
According to a spokesman with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, made five proposals for further developing trade with Russia during the talks.
Respect the rules of the market and enhance the government's macro-guidance and co-ordination, including efforts to improve laws and regulations, law-enforcement mechanisms and ensure the legitimate rights of foreigners in Russia.
Strengthen co-operation in major projects, between large-scale enterprises as well as in high-tech fields, so as to upgrade the economic relationship to one that incorporates trade, investment and technological partnerships.
Enhance co-operation between the local regions of the two countries and make it the new area of growth in Sino-Russian trade.
Start consultative mechanisms that are already in place to properly resolve newly emerging problems in economic ties and trade.
Promote regional economic co-operation, particularly within the framework of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization.
Economic ties have been a major focus in Wu's talks with Russian leaders during his visit, an indicator that China is eager to keep current momentum for trade growth. Trade between China and Russia has grown remarkably for four consecutive years.
According to the NPC spokesman, Fradkov agreed with Wu, saying that Russia hopes to exchange experiences with China in market economy reforms.
Russia will work with China to take measures to improve trade structure, standardize trade order and enhance partnerships, he added.
Wu also held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin before leaving for St. Petersburg yesterday afternoon.
The NPC spokesman quoted both leaders as stressing the importance of the strategic partnership of co-operation between the two neighbours.
The new leadership in China attaches great importance to the nation's ties with Russia, said Wu.
Noting that the political trust has been increasing while economic ties and cultural exchanges expand, Wu said that China will make more efforts to promote ties to higher levels.
Describing the relationship as full of energy, Putin particularly mentioned parliamentary exchange, saying that it has played an important part in promoting bilateral partnership.
Both men agreed on the importance of Sino-Russian consultations on major international and regional issues, and pledged to enhance co-operation in international organizations as well as within the framework of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization, so as to safeguard peace and stability.
As a footnote, Putin is scheduled to visit Beijing in October.
He will also hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao when they meet next month for the Shanghai Co-operation Organization's annual meeting.


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An IP-based videophone service called GlobalLinx will launch in the U.S. in the second quarter, offering a $200 videophone and $30 monthly service for consumers and businesses.
The service, from privately held 5Linx Enterprises Inc. in Rochester, N.Y., will rely on interconnection agreements with other carriers plus a voice-over-IP network that 5Link owns and operates with facilities in New York and Atlanta, 5Linx officials said.
GlobalLinx will use videophones from Grandstream Networks Inc. in Brookline, Mass., and has already purchased 5,000 videophones for use in the U.S. and for a February launch in Sweden, where the brand name will be 5LinxGlobal, officials from both companies said.
Both deployments rely on small variations to Grandstream's GXV3000 videophone, including the addition of GlobalLinx logos. The resulting GlobalLinx model will be branded the GL3006, officials said.
The U.S. service price of $30 includes unlimited calls in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Ireland, France, Australia, China, Portugal, Spain and Italy, said Michael Machonkin, GlobalLinx vice president of sales and marketing, in an e-mail. He said the Swedish offer will be "very different from the U.S.," but could not divulge details. While GlobalLinx has facilities in neighborhoods called "points of presence" in New York and Atlanta, Machonkin did not specify where the GL3006 and the videophone service will be marketed.
Machonkin said it is GlobalLinx's first deployment of Grandstream phones, although the carrier has been deploying videophones since 2005.
"The ability to see the other person you are talking to is very powerful," Machonkin noted. "When talking to a family member across the country or halfway around the globe, the call typically lasts much longer than an audio-only call because you now have the enhancement of video to make a call that is much more personalized."
While the pricing GlobalLinx envisions would be attractive to consumers, Machonkin also said that businesses find the devices "a very efficient tool to communicate with other offices, remote workers or individuals who travel."
Desktop and room-size videoconferencing products are available today from a variety of suppliers, such as Cisco Systems Inc., Polycom Inc. and Tandberg. Those companies and other smaller vendors also make a range of videoconferencing products that are sometimes comprised of large desktop phones with oversize video monitors, or phones with four or five-in. screens and typical desk phones. Additional competitors include Avaya Inc., LG, OJO and Zyxel Communications Corp., analysts and Grandstream officials said.
Cisco recently unveiled use of smaller videoconferencing units deployed by Magic Johnson Enterprises to keep employees nationally in touch with one another.
Khris Kendrick, director of business development at Grandstream, said that Grandstream is dominant in videophone sales. "Nobody supplies videophones at our quality and price," he said in an interview. The price of the GXV3000, which at $219 is slightly higher than the GlobalLinx price of $200, could be hundreds of dollars below that of competing desktop videophones. It runs on the H263 videoconferencing standard as well as Session Initiation Protocol. He said the video quality is very high, providing fluid motion at 30 frames per second.
Kendrick expects the videophone market to pick up in the economic downturn, allowing workers and families to replace travel with video calling. While a few of the telecom carriers are working with phones that are video-capable, "they are not yet accustomed to having pure IP video" run on their networks, he said.
The prime advantage of working in an IP network will be cost for many customers, because they won't be paying a toll cost for a long-distance call, the same way they benefit over a Skype-type voice call over the Internet, Kendrick said.
The Grandstream phones work over typical wired connections, although wireless capability is possible and will become more important, Kendrick and Machonkin said. Machonkin said the phones can already be combined with a wireless device to make them work over Wi-Fi, but predicted advancements to work with fast wireless networks such as WiMax or LTE. "You will see more advancements in this area in the very near future," Machonkin said.
Joslyn Faust, an analyst at Gartner Inc., said GlobaLinx might be trying to get a foothold for a broader rollout of videophones in the U.S. "All the carriers are struggling to find services to build up revenues, and videoconferencing makes total sense, so it will be interesting to see who adopts it," she said in an interview.
The GlobaLinx phone at $200 would be much cheaper than many versions of business-focused videophones. At that price, GlobaLinx might be best suited for consumers, she said, since business users often have a desk phone that sits next to a computer, which can be used for a desktop videoconference from a number of Web-based IP videoconferencing companies.
In general, however, Faust said videoconferencing over video phones hasn't caught on because of the price. In fact, she added, "there aren't a lot of reasons to do a videoconference for most businesses ... unless you are in an industry where it's beneficial to show something, such as with manufacturing or architecture."
This story, "Meet George Jetson's Videophone" was originally published by Computerworld.


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Samsung has reported a 25% rise in third-quarter profits from the same period the year before to a record 8.24tr won (£4.8bn), driven mainly by revenues from memory chips.
Samsung’s mobile division still accounted for two-thirds of the operating profit, but sales are slowing as competition in the upper end of the smartphone market pushes down prices.
Analysts estimate Samsung sold 85 to 89 million smartphones during the quarter, noting that strong sales of low-end and mid-range smartphones covered falls in profit margins, according to the Telegraph.
Samsung said an upswing in shipments of mass market models helped to improve earnings.
"Despite currency depreciation in emerging markets, increased price competition and global market uncertainties, we were able to reach record earnings driven by solid earnings in our core businesses, including memory chips and smartphones," said Robert Yi, Samsung's senior vice-president.
Read more about Samsung
- Samsung wary of smartphone competition
- Samsung cements smartphone leadership position
- Samsung launches SAFE with Knox for mobile devices enterprise security
- Samsung promises profit despite Apple patent battle
- Samsung tops smartphone league table
"Although we expect demand to increase next quarter due to peak seasonality, lingering macro-economic issues and intensifying market competition will remain in the fourth quarter."
A lack of growth in sales of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S smartphones was offset by strong sales growth at the cheaper end of the smartphone market.
The semiconductor business saw the biggest gains, with a 12% increase in revenue compared with the previous quarter, with memory chips accounting for revenue of 6.37tr won (£3.9bn).
Samsung's consumer electronics unit continued to struggle with margins at 2.9% as new demand for televisions remained weak.


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The Justice Department secretly kept a database of Americans’ calls to foreign countries for more than a decade, according to a new court filing and officials familiar with the program.
The revelation of another secret government database storing records of Americans’ calls came in a filing Thursday in the case of a man accused of conspiring to unlawfully export electronic goods to Iran.
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Heavy Rain awarded 15 certificate
In case you need a reminder, this means that legally you cannot go to the shops and buy yourself a copy if you are 14 or below.
In the past, it was predicted that the game would probably be awarded the highest 18 certificate due to its content.
The PEGI who are simply an advisory board for video games in Europe and gave it the full 18 rating, which makes this decision even more surprising.
The BBFC also noted that the game had received no cuts but will still contain “strong language, violence and sex”.
The Heavy Rain release dates have yet to be announced for North America and Europe, but it is anticipated to arrive sometime in February – the long wait could be almost over!


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Vision of luxury: Rolls-Royce unveils future of exclusive automotive
The luxury car reimagined
British luxury automaker Rolls-Royce have unveiled its concept car for the future, named 103EX. The radical new concept is part of the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 where they aim to bring and sync the marquee brand into the future.
"The Rolls-Royce patron will continue to be a famous figure in the future," said Director of Design, Giles Taylor. "I envision that the Rolls-Royce Vision Next 100 will play a key role in these people's lives, guiding and conveying them effortlessly through their life's journey in an exquisite sanctuary where they can reflect in peace ahead of arriving in the grandest style."
Completely autonomous, the 103EX is fitted with 'Eleanor', a virtual assistant that's connected to the owner's lifestyle – think reminders, itineraries and recommendations. Inside the minimalistic cabin, a sofa made from the finest silk awaits along with custom-made ivory wool, carpet flooring. As well, a large OLED screen sits at the front of the car providing real-time travel information.
These are just a few of the uber chic interpretations of luxury set forth by the world's most luxurious car. Discover the new concept car here...
Then watch Rolls-Royce's visionary short film...


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While traditional asset classes aren’t fostering wider adoption among women, cryptocurrencies seem to have found success in bringing women on board, according to a recent survey.
Data submitted to Cointelegraph by the eToro team highlighted that cryptocurrencies are now the second most popular asset class for women, after cash. This is according to eToro’s latest Retail Investor Beat report, which surveyed around 10,000 global retail investors in 13 countries.
According to the results of the survey, there is a significant increase in cryptocurrency ownership among women. The figures show ownership rose from 29% in the third quarter of 2022 to 34% in the latest quarter. According to the eToro team, this suggests that cryptocurrencies are “succeeding where traditional financial markets have sometimes failed,” meaning it’s bringing in more women.
While cryptocurrency adoption among women took off in the last quarter of 2022, ownership among men only increased by one percent over the same time period.
Meanwhile, despite cryptocurrencies being considered the best-performing asset class last year, the total number of global investors owning cryptocurrencies rose from 36% to 39% quarter-on-quarter.
In addition to being driven by women, the data was also influenced by older investors who bought the dip. Retail crypto-holding investors aged 35-44 and 45-54 each gained 5%, suggesting that older investors are also accumulating crypto.
When it comes to why more investors are venturing into cryptocurrencies, 37% of those surveyed said they are taking advantage of the opportunity to achieve high returns, while 34% said they believe in the power of blockchain and think crypto is a transformative asset class.
In addition to retail investors expressing their faith in blockchain technology by investing, businesses are also starting to do the same. On January 12, Casper Labs found that among the 603 businesses surveyed, 90% already deployed blockchain in some capacity.


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Congo Franchise News
Check out the latest news regarding franchise opportunities in Congo.
FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc. announces the opening of the first Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Kinshasa.
FAT (Fresh. Authentic. Tasty.) Brands Inc. announces a multi-unit development deal which will bring Fatburger and Buffalo’s Express to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Radisson Hotel Group Announces New Appointments To Drive The Execution Of Its Renewed Expansion Ambitions For Africa
Radisson Hotel Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Ramsay Rankoussi as the new head of development for Africa and Daniel Trappler, Senior Director, Development for Sub-Sahara.
Radisson, one of the best recognized hotel brands, announced today the opening of Radisson Hotel Oscar Freire at Rua da Consolação, 3555 Cerqueira Cesar, São Paulo, Brazil.
As part of its commitment to encouraging entrepreneurship, Regus is offering the opportunity to develop its franchise business centre concept in 14 African countries.
Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton’s (NYSE: HLT) globally recognized upscale hotel brand, is celebrating strong growth in Africa with four open properties and an additional 14 in the pipeline just three years after opening its first hotel on the continent...
Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today that Hyatt ranked number 38 on the “100 Best Workplaces for Women” list by Great Place to Work®.
Fantastic Fest Announces Final Wave Of Its Biggest Slate Ever with the World Premieres Of David Yarovesky's "The Hive"
Fantastic Fest opening night premieres of TUSK and ABCs OF DEATH 2 screen in all Alamo Drafthouse markets nationwide with Q&A live stream via Fantastic Fest YouTube and Fandango, presenting sponsor of the festival.
Ace Hardware Corporation, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the industry, today announced changes to its board of directors.
Nixon Peabody LLP announces the publication of Franchising in Africa 2014: Legal and Business Considerations.
Yum! Brands, KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell Launch World Hunger Relief Effort Featuring Global Spokesperson Christina Aguilera
Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM), parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, announced today the launch of its annual World Hunger Relief effort featuring multi-Grammy Award winner and international superstar Christina Aguilera.
Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company as measured by number of hotels, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Brazilian real estate company EmCorp to launch the Super 8® and Wyndham Garden® brand...
Weight Watchers today announced that Weight Watchers members and online subscribers can once again participate in the Lose For Good campaign, an effort that helps to battle hunger and chronic malnutrition.
Earn a Free Night at More Than 1,500 Hotels After Just Two Separate Stays This Summer With Choice Hotels
Two vacations are better than one! This summer, travelers can earn a free night at more than 1,500 hotels after just two separate stays with Choice Hotels.*
This season, travelers can earn great rewards three times as fast with Choice Privileges from Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH). Choice Privileges members who book their stays at ChoiceHotels.com or 800-4CHOICE arriving between now and March 2
Choice Hotels Welcomes topbonus, airberlin's Worldwide Frequent Flyer Program, as Newest Airline Rewards Partner
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is pleased to announce airberlin as the newest addition to its growing list of airline partners for its award-winning Choice Privileges rewards program.
Century 21 Real Estate LLC has announced that it has signed a master franchise agreement to license CENTURY 21 franchises in Angola.
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Meanwhile, back at the Heartland breach
Like most blogs, DataBreaches.net totally abandoned any attempt to track all of the affected entities. Instead, we have been trying to support BankInfoSecurity.com‘s efforts to keep track. Expect the numbers of affected banks and credit unions to rise to 500 or more next week after they have a chance to enter about five dozen links to reports of affected institutions this site sent them in the past 24 hours. Not all reports assert unequivocally that their members’ or customers’ cards were affected, but all of the institutions were affected in terms of proactively replacing cards or in other ways. Some of the credit unions and banks did an excellent job of providing information on their web sites linked from their home page, while others did not make clear whether any of their customers were actually affected.
It is hard to fathom what the total cost of this breach will be. As one example, the North Carolina State Employees Credit Union was hit especially hard. Earlier this week, David Morrison of The Credit Union Times reported:
The $16.5 billion State Employees’ Credit Union has, so far, had more than 500,000 of its credit and debit cards involved in the Heartland Payment Systems breach and is facing the prospect of more, according to the credit union’s CEO Jim Blaine.
Blaine estimated the costs of closing accounts and reissuing plastics, so far, at more than $1.5 million. According to the credit union’s September 2008 call report, State Employees’ credit union has more than 190,000 credit card accounts and more than 1.6 million share draft accounts that are eligible for debit cards.
Then, too, there is the impact of consumers. Although many sources have indicated that the consumers have zero liability protection, for many consumers, their ability to function was impacted when banks suddenly imposed restrictions such as limiting cards to PIN-based transactions only and blocking signature-based transactions. Other institutions imposed caps on daily limits. This is a breach that has clearly affected many people already.
In a recent communication, Jason Maloni, Heartland spokesperson, indicated that the processor had been notified on October 28th by Visa and MasterCard after approximately 1,000 fraud reports led to them identifying Heartland as the source of the breach. In a separate statement on January 21, CUNA Mutual Group explained their part in uncovering the breach:
In October, CUNA Mutual notified Visa and MasterCard of higher-than-normal fraud activity after credit unions began informing the insurer of a spike in plastic card fraud and related activities. “CUNA Mutual Risk Management detected that something big was happening,” Cashman said. “We reported our findings to both card associations to help facilitate an investigation to determine if a breach had occurred and, if so, its origin.”


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Kraft To Stop Using Yellow Dyes In Mac & Cheese
Kraft has decided to stop using yellow dyes in its macaroni and cheese products after health activists petitioned the company to cut the additives.
Soon, the iconic golden yellow Kraft Mac & Cheese might be a little less yellow.
That's because Kraft will no longer be using artificial preservatives or synthetic colors starting January 2016 — specifically, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6.
Some argue that food dyes can cause hyperactivity disorder in children, but that remains a subject of debate in the scientific community.
USA Today reports a Kraft spokesman said the move isn't in response to pressure from activists to ditch the ingredients, and the company has been mulling changes for at least three years now.
But it was probably hard to ignore a Change.org petition with more than 350,000 signatures urging the company to stop using the dyes.
Plus, the company has already had to make changes in some parts of Europe where the dyes are banned due to health concerns.
"If they want to maintain their dominant market share — and it is huge; They sell a million boxes of macaroni and cheese every single day — and if they want to maintain their share, they've got to change with the consumer tastes. [Consumers] are looking for simpler, more natural ingredients," said CBS contributor Mellody Hobson.
Sales for additive-free and organic products have been on the rise. The Organic Trade Association says sales jumped 11 percent in 2014 to a record $39.1 billion.
Now the people behind the original Change.org petition are setting their sights on Kraft's entire product line and are aiming to get artificial dyes removed from items like Jell-O and Kool-Aid.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this video said U.S. consumers spent $39 million on organic products in 2014. Those sales actually totaled $39.1 billion. The video has been updated.
This is how South Carolina is fixing the correctional officer shortage
A lack of correctional officers across the country is expected to worsen, but South Carolina is making changes to recruit and retain more workers.By Scripps News
Some are getting heated over rising heating bills
The cold weather and Russia’s war on Ukraine have increased U.S. gas exports to other countries, tightening supply and increasing prices.By Scripps News
GoodRx to pay penalty to FTC; feds claim it shared health information
The FTC is pushing consumers to check their privacy settings after alleging GoodRx shared health information with advertisers without user consent.By AP
AI, like ChatGPT, is creating teaching challenges on college campuses
Plagiarism is nothing new, but the role artificial intelligence is playing in it is now a concern at colleges across the country.By Scripps News
Southwest to testify before US Senate after mass cancelations
Southwest's Chief Operating Officer will testify before the Senate committee on Thursday Feb. 9.By Ted S. Warren / AP
Millions expected to lose Medicaid coverage this spring
Here are some ways you can stay ahead of the process.By Scripps News


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Slow battery production hinders the Mitsubishi Outlander's U.S. launch.
Read This Article
If you live outside California, some of the state's laws may seem dumbfounding.
In less than two weeks, the 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander and the 2013 Outlander Sport Limited Edition will be making their North American debut at the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show.
The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander has done what few crossovers have done before it: Earn an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award.


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Can Spark Plugs Last 100,000 Miles?
There have been times when the technicians at Don's Automotive have found spark plugs seized in the cylinder heads of some of our Lisbon Falls area customers' vehicles with as little as 60,000 miles on them. The removal of these seized plugs can result in hours of labor by our technicians at Don's Automotive. There have been rare occasions when Don's Automotive has needed to remove cylinder heads just to get the spark plugs removed. Don's Automotive suggests that in order for our customers in the Lisbon Falls are to maintain peak performance for their vehicles, that their spark plugs should not be run longer than 30,000 miles. Don's Automotive suggest that consumers should take those 100,000 mile spark plug marketing claims of manufacturers with a grain of salt.


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Open Farm is the first major pet food company in Canada to receive the Certified Humane® label
First ethically-raised and sourced pet food
product hits Canadian market
(HERNDON, VA, USA) November 10, 2014 — Humane Farm Animal Care (HFAC), the leading international non-profit certification organization improving the lives of millions of farm animals in food production, announced this week that Open Farm will be the first producer of Certified Humane® Raised and Handled® pet foods in Canada.
Open Farm, a Canadian-based pet food company, launches their Certified Humane® dog food products in stores across Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes this week .Open Farm works exclusively with farmers who share their commitment to exceptional quality and sustainable practices in order to make better food for pets while doing good for family farms, farm animals and the environment.
“Since Humane Farm Animal Care launched in 2003, pet owners have been clamoring for pet foods with meat and chicken that were Certified Humane®,” said Douglass. “We’re excited to see such a product finally hit the marketplace. It will give Canadian pet owners the opportunity to purchase pet food that reflects their humane values.”
Under the Certified Humane® Raised and Handled label, Open Farm will use only meat and poultry products in their pet foods that come from Certified Humane® farms and ranches. The Certified Humane® label assures consumers that farm animals are raised on farms where they can express their natural behaviors, such as flapping wings and moving around freely in their environments. The farm animals must also be raised without animal by-products and without the use of antibiotics.
“As an animal lover and ethical eater, it was very important that Open Farm work only with farmers who respect the animals under their care, raising them in accordance with strict ethical and humane standards,” says Jacqueline Prehogan, President of Open Farm. “The Certified Humane® stamp gives pet parents a high level of comfort in knowing where their pet’s food comes from and, for the first time, having the choice to buy humane pet food.”
Prehogan goes on to say, “Farm animals covered by Certified Humane’s® extensive standards are fed a healthy vegetarian diet, free of antibiotics and growth hormones, and live natural lives with space, shelter and gentle handling. Because of this, the quality of meat produced under the program is exceptionally high, and pet parents can know that they are making a major difference in the lives of farm animals by supporting our brand.”
Open Farm plans to expand their Certified Humane® pet food product line into Western Canada and the United States in 2015.
To find a store near you that sells Certified Humane® products, visit www.certifiedhumane.org or download the free Certified Humane® App for iPhone or Google Play for Android, which offers English and French language options for consumers.


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Motel 6 and Studio 6 will be first economy lodging brands to provide personal safety devices to all hotel team members.
DALLAS – G6 Hospitality LLC, the parent company of Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands in the United States and Canada, announced a series of new and enhanced programs and policies to help ensure team member safety on property and across function areas.
This autumn, the company will begin providing personal safety devices (PSDs) to all team members at its corporate owned and managed hotels, with the intent to have the devices in place by end of March 2019. All team members on duty will receive a PSD that emits a dual siren alarm with multiple means of activation. G6 Hospitality will be the first in the economy lodging sector to provide PSDs to its team members across all functions at its hotels.
"People are the heart of this business and the single greatest asset to G6 Hospitality. That is why we are committed to the well-being, peace of mind and safety of our team members and guests, and we continue to take steps to improve that experience," said Rob Palleschi, CEO, G6 Hospitality. "We are proud to partner with the American Hotel & Lodging Association and other member brands in this important safety initiative. These PSDs will provide another layer of security for our team members, in addition to the other measures we have in place to ensure their safety, including written policies against harassment and violence in the workplace, multi-lingual training to help team members identify and report harassment and violence, and a confidential employee hotline."
Also this year, the company will introduce anti-human trafficking training to corporate, field and property team members. The company partnered with the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST) to provide management team members important insights to help property team members better understand and combat the issue of human trafficking. Additionally, the company developed its own training for all property team members to understand how to effectively intervene and identify potential trafficking situations to protect each other, guests and the community.
"With the new anti-trafficking training and personal safety devices, we are re-emphasizing our commitment to our team members and guests," said Palleschi. "We will continue to review and evolve our policies, procedures and brand standards and identify new and emerging practices and technologies to ensure that team member safety is always at the heart of our operations."
The company plans to provide guidance to its franchise community, in the form of brand standards, recommended policies and product sourcing support for the purchase and implementation of personal safety devices, with the intent that all franchisees will have them by the end of 2019.
The announcement reflects the commitment made by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA). Earlier, the hotel industry association announced its 5-Star Promise, a pledge to provide hotel employees across the U.S. with personal safety devices and commit to enhanced policies, trainings and resources that together are aimed at preventing and responding to sexual harassment and assault.
Angelos is the news editor for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). His role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy.
He currently studies Communication, Media & Culture in Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens.


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[On-Site Report] This episode shows how combining IoT technology with circular farming practices such as using chicken manure to heat greenhouses is proving to be just as good for farmers as it is the environment.
[In Depth: Turkey's Rate Cutting Turmoil] People in Turkey are struggling with skyrocketing prices for everyday items as the value of the country's currency nosedives. We examine what's happening and the motives of the man who's behind the turmoil.
[Global Trends: Imperfect Produce Trends Takes Shape] Major retailers in Japan are trying to cut back on the waste and work that goes into making perfect produce. We look at the benefits of selling items that sacrifice appearance without skimping on taste.
Sensors and cameras allow farmers to check on and adjust greenhouse conditions remotely
Water containing fish droppings is used to fertilize lettuce and is then sent back to the fish tanks it came from
Imperfect fruits and vegetables are becoming popular items among consumers
Selling apples that do not have to be perfectly colored helps reduce the labor burden on farmers


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Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)
$689.99 78.98 (12.93%)
19:58 EDT CMG Stock Quote Delayed 20 Minutes
Previous Close $689.99
Market Cap 19.18B
PE Ratio 102.98
Volume (Avg. Vol.) 984,000
Day's Range 630.07 - 707.70
52-Week Range 415.00 - 940.28
Dividend & Yield N/A (N/A)
CMG Stock Predictions, Articles, and Chipotle Mexican Grill News
- From InvestorPlace
- From the Web
Restaurant stocks are trading a multi-year lows because of the lost business in the near term, setting steep discounts on their valuation.
The stock market is in free fall and restaurant stocks are on the front lines. And soon, SBUX, LK and CMG will be too sweet to pass up.
Chipotle (CMG) news for Friday about a shakeup for its Board with founder Steve Ells leaving has CMG stock on the move Friday.
A solid economy and low unemployment are good signs for restaurant stocks. And these seven names could reap the benefits in 2020 and beyond.
Chipotle stock has an opportunity to soar above the $900 mark for the first time ever this week after the company reports earnings.
Recent market volatility on the back of coronavirus fears makes this a good time to stock up on quality stocks with long-term stability.
The world's leading foot traffic analytics platform thinks these five retail stocks are worth watching as we go deeper into 2020.
For years, Chipotle stock appeared in danger of crumbling. But with a remarkable recovery from its scandals, the fast-casual eatery can focus on its growth strategies with a clean slate.
The market surged to new highs and Tesla has a new Street-high price target. Here's what else happened in the stock market today.
Chipotle stock looks expensive relative to 2019 earnings. But if bulls are right, growth will continue for years to come.
Brian Niccol has expanded Chipotle's menu and gotten more sales from less space with walk-up windows, delivery and digital ordering.
The U.S. consumer has held up the economy. Wednesday's big stock charts highlight 3 key names on the move in that sector.
Navellier RatingsPowered by Portfolio Grader


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Kai also uses cheaper DDR3L memory, according to Nvidia officials who spoke at an investors meeting of investors in May.
While some analysts Monday speculated the quad-core Tegra 3 processor would raise Google's costs and require hundreds of dollars in subsidies per machine, the Kai design could change the equation.
"It's entirely possible" the Nexus 7 could have materials costs of about $200, lessening the need for a big Google subsidy, said Tom Mainelli, an analyst at IDC. "Or maybe Google's selling it at close to cost at first, they get below $200 as the Nexus 7 gets traction and they ramp up production."
Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said it's possible for Google to keep its costs low, as other Android tablet makers have done. The 7-in. Acer Iconia Tab A110, shown at Computex earlier this month, is expected to sell for less than $200, and will also include a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.
The Kindle Fire, Amazon's 7-in. tablet, has been the most popular 7-in. tablet model, and sells for $199. A next-generation Fire is expected in July. Amazon changed the Android interface in the Fire and refers all its users to Amazon services, not Google services.
Since there are other comparable machines on the market, the question for Google with the Nexus 7 is how it will distinguish itself, analysts said. Most agreed it will have to be through tablet applications built by third-party developers and Google services. Including the next version of Android, known as Jelly Bean, expected to be Android 4.1, will also add some distinction.
Gold cast some doubt that Google would do well by building a "cheap, 7-inch tablet with limited display resolution and lower end chips and less memory ... Google can't do it any cheaper than Asus, Acer, Lenovo or others and still have a markup that makes money."
If Google "goes the low-end route like Kindle did, then Google will be showing a device that won't compete well with [ Microsoft] Surface tablets, or the Asus Transformer ... In my opinion, Google needs to go the high road and show a killer tablet in order to stimulate the market. A low-end device just won't build the excitement they need."


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Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Ships 1M Units - NewsWilliam D'Angelo, posted on 14 March 2013 / 2,986 Views
City Interactive's new title Sniper Ghost: Ghost Warrior 2 has shipped more than one million units, according to VG247. The game was released in North America earlier this week on March 12 and comes out in Europe tomorrow.
The game is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The game is also getting free multiplayer DLC following its launch. The DLC will include two new multiplayer maps called Tower Defense and Temple Crossing, as well as a new game mode.


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WooSesh, a new two-day virtual conference focused on WooCommerce topics, will be held October 18-19. While wrapping up another successful edition of WordSesh, Brian Richards announced WooSesh as the next event coming under the WordSesh brand. On Wednesday, nearly 500 attendees joined WordSesh. People tuned in from around the world, although the audience was heavily US-based due to the time the event was scheduled.
Since WooConf is not happening this year, WooSesh is an exciting alternative that will be accessible to anyone in the world. Co-organizers Brian Richards and Patrick Rauland will be hosting eight presentations each day, so the event will last between 8-10 hours both days, including breaks and announcements.
“Once we learned that WooConf wouldn’t be taking place this year we reached out to our friends at Automattic to see if we could work with them as well to still provide a high-quality event but for a much more global audience,” Richards said.
WooCommerce is sponsoring the entire event, making it free for all live attendees. Richards said they are working with other prominent companies in the WooCommerce space who are lending their knowledgeable staff as presenters, as well as providing the event with digital swag for attendees.
WooSesh organizers are employing an interesting concept for encouraging attendance and engagement. The conference will have a $200 ticket price for those who do not attend live. Those who register in advance and attend live will receive the $200 ticket for free.
“That means if a person joins the mailing list and shows up for the event, they’ll be able to experience the whole thing at no cost to them,” Richards said. “Similar to WordSesh, a ticket grants attendees access to the entire broadcast, chat, recordings, real-time transcriptions, and some cool digital swag. But with WooSesh they’ll also get some targeted follow-up content, and perhaps a private community, to further help them succeed and increase the impact of this conference.
“And I think it’s in everyone’s best interest to register and attend live – at least trying to make it to one of the sessions across the two days – so they can get all of that for free.”
Richards said recordings may still make it out there for people to view afterwards but none of the other perks and follow-ups will be available without purchasing a ticket or attending live.
“We talked about asking people for a credit card up front and building a mechanism that would either charge them after the fact (like a pre-order) or charge them up-front but then refund them after the fact,” Richards said. “Instead we’re going with the simpler route and asking only for a person’s name and email address up-front. If they come to the live event they’ll be able to access all of the content afterwards just as if they had paid, and if they don’t attend live they’ll instead be greeted with a payment form.”
Building on their collective knowledge of organizing successful in-person and virtual conferences, Richards said he and his co-organizer wanted to reduce the friction as much as possible for people getting into their seats and engaged with the speakers and other attendees.
“Making it a virtual event already knocks down a ton of barriers,” Richard said. “Making the content available for free eliminates even more. Except that, people will often discredit free things and we didn’t want anyone to think of this content as any less valuable or serious than it really is.”
WooSesh organizers plan to host compelling case studies, as well as talks about SEO, security, tips for building different kinds of e-commerce stores, and share advice from others’ hard-earned lessons. The event will also host sessions for developers that delve into WooCommerce architecture, performance, how to build and support custom extensions, and how to expand service offerings to better support e-commerce projects.
“Our biggest goal with WooSesh is that it will help store builders as well as coders to have more impact with what they build,” Richards said. “Specifically, we’d like to see them make some measurable progress in their own goals, whether that’s more sales, better customer experiences, greater depth of knowledge, or otherwise. We’re also hoping that some of these talks will inspire attendees to do more than they originally thought possible – either for their own e-commerce stores or for their customers/clients.”


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Really? Apparently there are 250 different organizations licensing copyrights and distributing royalties to rights owners, and that's just in Europe alone! It's a rat's nest for even the most well-funded stores (ie, Apple), and one the European Union hopes to tame. But a freshly-released proposal to simplify a raft of overlapping societies with pan-European licensing, tighter turnaround times and less territorialism has angered a few high-level superstars. That includes Radiohead, Robbie Williams, and Pink Floyd, who argue that the proposals cater to limited interests, fail to adequately address missing payments and lag times, and encourage continued transparancy issues.
Elsewhere, 7digital just brokered a pre-installation deal involving roughly 20 million HTC devices across Europe, Canada, and Australasia. The deal, which does not include US-based releases, starts at the tail end of 2012.
Back in the US, Grooveshark is now heralding victory against Universal Music Group, though the reality is that this remains a treacherous and extremely expensive tug-of-war. The latest development had been largely expected by a number of attorneys since August of 2011, though a New York State judge has now ruled that DMCA protections apply to pre-1972 recordings. Which shifts the attention towards other matters - including Universal's ultra-aggressive federal lawsuit and recently-triggered actions from Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI (among others).
The same judge allowed Grooveshark to pursue a countersuit against UMG for tortious business inteference, notably kiboshes involving Apple, INgrooves, Hewlett-Packard, and Google. Those are breaks, though the meter is running: just recently, Grooveshark attorney John Rosenberg admitted that finances were 'tight' at the company, while flatly stating that his client was 'under attack'. Separately, a well-timed report by Rutgers School of Law professor Michael Carrier pegged monthly expenses in the range of $150,000 to $200,000 in major label battles of this sort; as a prime target Grooveshark is likely hemorrhaging greater amounts.
Which brings us to a far simpler (and less expensive) lawsuit between Lord Finesse and Mac Miller. In a nutshell, Finesse says Mac Miller ripped off his "Hip 2 Da Game," penned in 1995. Miller's "Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza" very clearly uses the track; Rostrum Records and even mixtape site DatPiff.com are also both named in the action. The track helped to launch Miller's career.
Coming out the closet, or at least cracking the door on some details? Then try to do it right before an album release. The case study in perfect timing comes from Frank Ocean, whose Channel Orange is enjoying a bright spotlight. Indeed, Target found itself on the defensive for not stocking the title, after an attack from Ocean's manager, Christian Clancy. Target pointed to an iTunes exclusive and mismatch with its audience, Clancy apologized while counting his spruced-up percentages.
Which brings us to the latest album charts, where Chris Brown's Fortune shifted nearly 135,000 units for the top slot in the US, according to Nielsen Soundscan.
DIY platform Nimbit has just been acquired by audio hardware and production software firm PreSonus. The integration will enable a smooth transition from production to digital distribution. Whether this was a fire-sale is unclear; Nimbit declined to share any purchase price specifics.
And, Pandora is now toeing the waters outside of the US, specifically in Australia and New Zealand. The initial foray is web-only, and designed to feel the market out a bit. Pandora pulled out of the UK years ago, thanks to licensing disagreements.
poopstains Thursday, July 12, 2012
this blog has become poop stains..
Ignobles Thursday, July 12, 2012
...says the Grooveshark flunky


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Walmart’s widening embrace of new advertisers comes on the heels of a banner year for growth, both in terms of overall sales and advertising.
Walmart Connect executed 50,000 ad campaigns in the past year, and is working with ten times as many advertisers. Search queries were up 56% in 2020 compared to last year, and sponsored products grew 185% year over year, Josephs said.
Consumers used Walmart during the pandemic as they always have in times of need, noted Josephs, who noted that people often up stock up before natural disasters. The heightened demand for consumables and increased ecommerce behavior during the pandemic hasn’t showed signs of slowing down.
Walmart’s hope is that its Connect offering will be an appealing platform for advertisers seeking to reach those consumers.
Walmart Connect eventually plans to extend its ad opportunities to the store itself, including its self-checkout advertising and a TV wall.
“We are focused on scaling the fundamentals of our digital business, and then moving in store with our physical business,” Josephs said.
In addition to the partnerships with Stackline, Tinuiti, and Harvest Group, Walmart set up connections to Flywheel, Kenshoo, Pacvue and Teikametrics last year.
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3M's innovation machine launched 1,300 products last year. With sales and profits rising and the company's footprint in emerging markets growing, the stock looks like a buy.
Think that the axis of American ingenuity lies squarely in sun-drenched California? Think again, and direct your gaze at an unremarkable corporate park in the icy reaches of Minnesota.Previously:
This is the home of 3M, and people around the world interact daily with its products—from fiddling with Scotch tape, to leaving urgent messages on Post-its, to parking their posteriors on Scotchgarded furniture. Last year, Booz & Co., the consultant, named 3M the third most innovative company in America, after Apple (ticker: AAPL) and Google (GOOG). On any given day, you can find 3M's inventors working on such products as ultra-skinny panels for solar cells, or anti-microbial touch screens that let your fingers dodge co-workers' germs. Yet while shares of Apple have soared since the market bottomed in March 2009, 3M's stock (MMM) has crawled ahead. Last year, it climbed 7%, about half the S&P 500's gain. That's about to change. Shares of the former Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. are entering a sweet spot, thanks to a blizzard of new products and the rising popularity of 3M's wares outside the U.S. Over the next several years, 3M brass say, sustainable top-line growth will double, to 7% to 8% a year. If that prediction is correct, annual earnings probably would rise at least 60% over the next five years, boosting the stock commensurately.
Given this scenario -- which seems very plausible -- 3M shares look tremendously appealing. Robert Hagstrom, who runs the Legg Mason Capital Management Growth Trust, counts 3M among his largest holdings. "It has a clean balance sheet, it's a multinational, and megacaps are without a doubt the cheapest part of the market," says the money manager, who has been adding to his stake lately. Hagstrom, who is the author of The Warren Buffett Portfolio, believes that the company, especially at its current price, has many attributes of a classic Buffett selection.
Last year, 3M made $4.1 billion, or $5.63 a share, on $26.7 billion in revenue. The earnings blew past the guidance the company had provided early in the year, when the economic outlook was cloudy, and were well above the depressed level of 2009, when the big manufacturer earned $3.2 billion, or $4.52 a share. For the current year, 3M is forecasting 5.5% to 7.5% internal revenue growth and earnings of $5.95 to $6.20 a share, after pension expenses. (Without them, the range is $6.17 to $6.42.) Management contends that 20%-plus operating margins are doable over the next several years, which would be an industry-leading level. The robust sales forecast reflects the company's success at refreshing a stale product line over the past few years, improving productivity and rationalizing capacity.
The main hand behind the revival is that of CEO George Buckley, who took the helm in 2005, after having worked at powerboat maker Brunswick. Even in the Great Recession, Buckley pushed to boost sales abroad, do more research and manufacturing outside the U.S. and broaden 3M's product lines, without staunching its lifeblood -- research and development. The holder of 16 patents himself, he was an excellent candidate to head a company whose stock in trade is innovation.
ON A SUB-ZERO DAY this month, the Minnesota roads are crunchy with salt, and the 3M campus in St. Paul is mercilessly icy. Inside, Buckley is fighting a cold. Still, he's peppy. The company has just raised its dividend for the 53rd consecutive year and announced a major stock buyback, and Buckley seems confident that strong sales growth is sustainable, despite 3M's size. "If the law of averages takes over, how do you break that pattern?" he asks, rhetorically. "You find a way to create pockets of growth within the 3% [growth] market that are growing at 6% or 7%. You do that through innovation, through the creation of new markets, by expansion geographically."
For all that 3M is known for Scotch tape and Post-its (a boyfriend famously breaks up with a Sex and the City heroine via Post-it), it derives about a third of its revenue from industrial and transportation products, such as car waxes and abrasives.
The company's second-largest unit, at just under 20% of sales, is health care, whose wares include inhalers and orthodontic devices, including Incognito "invisible" braces for teeth. The health-care business is growing swiftly, and its earnings growth stacks up nicely against that of rivals like Smith & Nephew (SNN) and Covidien (COV).
The consumer and office division, which houses Post-its and consumer tapes, accounts for less than 15% of corporate revenue, but it is expanding nicely, too. So is the display and graphics unit, which makes reflective signage for highways, enormous graphic film for advertising, plus films that boost the brightness of electronic-device displays.
3M also is involved in safety, security and protection (which includes security systems and face masks). It also has an electro and communications unit that sells clear adhesives, high-capacity cables and flexible circuits for printers.
Last year, 3M spent about $1.43 billion -- 5% of sales -- on R&D, the highest percentage among its peers, except for Danaher. It has 35 international labs, and 7,500 of its 80,000 workers are in R&D. In 2010, it won 2,400 patents and launched 1,300 products. Today, about 31% of revenue comes from new products, up from 21% five years ago. The goal: 40% by 2015....MUCH MORE
How 3M Got Its (Innovation) Groove Back (MMM)


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Ernst & Young Recognizes Pierson for driving growth, innovation and community involvement
iovation, the provider of device intelligence for authentication and fraud prevention, today announced that its CEO Greg Pierson is an Ernst & Young (EY) Entrepreneur of the Year® 2016 Award finalist in the Pacific Northwest. An independent panel of judges selected Pierson after evaluating him and iovation for innovation, financial performance, and commitment to business and the Portland, Ore. community.
“It’s an honor to have been nominated, let alone be a finalist for this award,” said Pierson. “All the credit for our continued success goes to the iovation team and I hope every single employee is especially proud to be recognized by one of the world’s most respected business consulting companies.”
In addition to iovation’s financial performance and employee growth over the past three years, the judges specifically selected Pierson for:
- Taking Calculated Risks—In 2015, Pierson had a vision to make passwords a thing of the past. Having proven itself in online fraud prevention by protecting 15 billion transactions to date, iovation extended its core services to include Customer Authentication. This solution allows consumers with “known good devices” instant passwordless access to low-risk sections of consumer accounts—like account balances, shopping records and activity histories.
- Unrivaled Client Service—iovation has one of the highest Net Promoter Scores (NPS), a customer loyalty metric, of all Software as a Service (SaaS) companies. The company has a NPS score of 53, while the average SaaS company is 15. iovation has also maintained a 96 percent client retention rate or greater over the last several years.
- Community Service— In the beginning of 2014 Pierson started a company-wide volunteer initiative that takes place at least twice a year. 2016 kicked off with the entire Portland office closing down its headquarters to volunteer with organizations such as Children’s Book Bank, Oregon Food Bank, New Avenues for Youth, Village Gardens, Free Geek and P:ear Kitchen. Pierson is also a passionate fan and supporter of Self Enhancement Inc., which supports at-risk urban youth with tremendous success.
Pacific Northwest EY Entrepreneur of the Year award winners will be announced at a black-tie gala event on June 17, 2016 at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel. More details can be found here.
TransUnion Global Fraud & Identity Solutions unite both consumer and device identities to detect threats across markets while ensuring friction-right user experiences. The solutions, all part of the IDVision with iovation suite, fuse traditional data science with machine learning to provide businesses unique insights about consumer transactions, safeguarding tens of millions of transactions each day.