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This acquisition arrives as the consumption of digital video continues its push to the mainstream. Video now comprises over 80% of all traffic on the internet, and according to JW Player data, people are consuming over two hours of digital video each day, a 40% increase since the beginning of 2020. As a result, a digital video strategy has become a ‘must have’ not only for broadcasters and media companies, but also for organizations of all types, including for JW Player customers in fitness (Centr app), e-commerce (Tag Heuer), sports (Miami Heat) and e-learning (GoNoodle), among others. These new entrants have a diverse range of needs and require a scalable and flexible video platform that allows them to connect and engage with their audiences on the screens of their choice. Given these dynamics, the addressable market will grow from $14B today to $50B by 2027, a 20% CAGR.
JW Player’s platform combines highly-scalable video delivery with data insights from 2.7 billion unique monthly devices to help its customers achieve their business goals with video. Vualto complements JW Player’s offering with market-leading, high-end live streaming and DRM services for broadcasters. The combined result is a single platform for high-quality live and on-demand video delivery across mobile, web and OTT platforms; secure content delivery; and unique insights, intelligence and monetization features to help customers grow their revenue.
Camilla Young, CEO and co-founder, Vualto, said, “This is a huge growth opportunity for us as a business, as well as for our team. Our successful partnership with JW Player over the past year has given our teams the opportunity to successfully go-to-market under real-world circumstances. Through this, a natural culture match between our teams has already developed, which gives us incredible confidence that together we will be hugely successful. As we embark on this new chapter, our commitment to our existing broadcast customers and our DRM service remains, and we will continue to provide the same high level of support and service that our customers have come to expect from Vualto.”
Vualto will expand JW Player’s customer base with prominent customers in the European market and elsewhere, including ITV, the UK’s most popular commercial TV channel, French national public broadcaster France TV, and the European Parliament. These broadcasters join over 12,000 media companies already using the JW Player platform, including broadcasters such as FOX, BBC, CNBC, EuroSport and VICE.


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This week in subscriptions, Twitter is starting to test CoTweets, allowing for meaningful collaboration between writers, and Microsoft is planning to remove Xbox 360 games from Games with Gold and Game Pass subscriptions. Nintendo is adding more subscription options with a care plan, DoorDash plans to raise subtotal minimums for select orders, and BMW is looking at heated seats as a subscription, but people aren’t happy.
Twitter Starts Testing CoTweets
Twitter, always looking to find new ways to grow, is testing a new feature, called CoTweets. With CoTweets, two accounts can co-author a tweet and both be tagged in a single tweet. The social media platform is testing CoTweets for a limited time, after they started experimenting with the idea at the beginning of the year, according to The Verge.
Currently, this feature is available for select accounts in the US, Canada, and Korea, per Twitter’s Help Page. Twitter explains that users may turn the feature off, and any CoTweets created could be removed after the test is over. On the FAQ page, Twitter further explains that a CoTweet is a co-authored Tweet that is posted to both authors’ profiles, and you’ll see profile pictures and usernames in the header of the tweet.
In order to create a CoTweet, both authors must collaborate and decide what they want to tweet. Twitter recommends using direct messages to talk about what they want to post, then move into draft mode using the standard Tweet composer. Users can select a co-author from their follower list, and tap Send Invite. After the Invitation is sent, content within the CoTweet cannot be edited. TechCrunch reported that users are only eligible to invite one co-author per CoTweet. Additionally, if a user wants to revoke ownership of a CoTweet, they can do so once the Tweet is published, and it will become a regular tweet by the original author.
CoTweets are not able to be promoted, AdWeek reports. However, they can be quote-tweeted by anyone on Twitter, and the co-authors can also collaborate on quote tweets. Currently, only the initiator of the CoTweet can pin it to their profile, and only the first tweet in a thread can be co-authored.
Microsoft to Stop Including Xbox 360 Games in Subscriptions
Microsoft is planning to make changes to their Xbox Game Pass subscription, and taking away new games is one of them. In an email sent to all current Games with Gold and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers, the company shared that Xbox 360 games would no longer be included in the service, effective October 1, GeekWire reported.
“From October 1, 2022, the monthly games provided to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and Xbox Live Gold members via Games with Gold will no longer include Xbox 360 titles. We have reached the limit of our ability to bring back Xbox 360 games to the catalog; however, Games with Gold will continue to include exciting Xbox One titles and exclusive savings each month,” the company shared in an email.
For users that redeemed Xbox 360 games in the past, the games will remain available. Microsoft has made it clear that the games are not being removed outright from the service, just that no additional games will be added. The removal of the games comes after a final batch of backwards-compatible 360 games were announced in November. With that announcement, the company also shared they were at the limit of their ability to bring new games to the catalog from the past due to licensing, legal, and technical constraints.
This announcement changes the Games with Gold offering, Polygon said. When October comes, it could mean that the offerings could be cut in half, meaning a potential loss of subscription revenue for Microsoft. However, those that have access to the games they redeemed with Games with Gold now get to keep those games without conditions.
Nintendo Launches Switch Repair Subscription in Japan
Nintendo is taking another swing at the subscription market with their new offering, aimed at helping users make repairs. With their latest console, the Switch, having issues like Joy-Con drift, it is easy to get frustrated at the system and some of its faults. The gaming company is launching a Switch repair service called “Wide Care.”
On the Wide Care website, Nintendo promises that users can subscribe at any time, no matter when they bought their Switch system, unless the system is already broken. If someone repairs their broken system via Nintendo Repairs, they can subscribe to the service.
The service has a monthly plan and an annual plan. The monthly plan costs a user $1.50 per month, and the annual plan costs a user $15 per year. With the subscription, gamers can take advantage of six repairs per year, two of which can be used to replace the console. Repairs can be used for the Switch, Switch Lite, Joy-Con controllers, the Switch dock, and AC adapters, Video Games Chronicle reported. If a repair exceeds the $735 repair cost Nintendo has cited, a gamer will have to front the excess cost, according to PC Mag.
This subscription makes sense when it comes to protecting a console investment, and $15 a year to replace a console up to two times seems like a smart move. It is unclear if the service will be available outside Japan. Nintendo currently offers Joy-Con repairs to gamers in the US and Europe, so roping this into a subscription could save the company some money in repairs.
DoorDash to Hike Subtotal Minimums
With inflation coming in hot, DoorDash is starting to feel the burn. In an August 12 email update, the company made the announcement that DashPass subtotal minimums may increase. Factors include the store, city, and time of day, according to TechCrunch.
The food delivery company did not share which specific markets would be affected, or what the new minimums are. Currently, the changes are only slated to affect US markets. It does not appear that it will affect restaurant food delivery, but will affect convenience, drugstore, and liquor store orders. DashMart orders will also be affected. DoorDash cited that delivery from stores can be more costly, since customers are more likely to just order one thing, Quartz shared.
“As we continue to expand our offerings to bring customers more selection, including fresh groceries, convenience, and retail items, we are testing and learning what makes the most sense to support all sides of our business, including customers, merchant partners, and Dashers,” said Annabel Sandhu of DoorDash.
Some are speculating that the price increase could also be to help DoorDash increase their Dasher’s wages. Spokespeople from the company have addressed that they want to ensure Dashers are being fairly compensated for the additional work of going through stores and hand-selecting items.
Additionally, DoorDash has done a lot for their drivers to keep them with the company. For example, in March, they introduced a gas rewards program to allow their Dashers to offset rising gas costs. This program gave Dashers 10% cash back on gas, as well as a weekly gas bonus for those who drive the most.
These changes are slated to take effect August 12. In their financial statement released in May, DoorDash disclosed that their total revenue grew 35%, and their monthly active users are at all-time highs. Even with a price increase, it seems that consumers may still be willing to pay a little extra for convenience.
BMW’s Heated Seats Subscription Debacle
Vehicle subscriptions have developed a different meaning for BMW. The automaker recently announced they would start selling subscriptions for heated seats that would cost a driver $18 per month. Currently, BMW’s heated seat option is being offered in several countries. If a driver would like to opt-in for heated seats for one year, it would set them back $180. For three years, a driver would get some savings, paying $300. For “unlimited access,” the cost is $415, according to The Verge.
However, this isn’t BMW’s first rodeo with subscription options. Depending on the region, drivers can opt-in for BMW’s Safety Camera, Driving Assistance Plus, High Beam Assistance, IconicSounds Sport (sounds for your engine), a map update package, an online entertainment voucher, or inclusive service. They decided to go all-in on this venture in 2020.
The heated seat subscription caused some uproar, which backed BMW into a corner. They responded in a press release. The company stated that if a car is initially ordered with heated seats, those heated seats will be fully functional throughout the life of the vehicle. BMW also cited that they did not see factory option purchase levels to be impacted significantly moving forward. However, BMW ConnectedDrive upgrades are designed as subscriptions. In the US, there are two options: BMW Drive Recorder and BMW Remote Engine Start.
If you dig deeper and ask drivers about features for their cars, it’s not surprising how few would pay for additional features through microtransactions. In a survey done by Cox Automotive, three-quarters of those surveyed said that they would not be willing to pay either monthly or annually to get additional services or features for their vehicles. Those surveyed also agreed that heating or cooling seats, remote start, and safety features should all be included in the purchase price of the vehicle.
It doesn’t seem that the subscription market for autos is going anywhere. General Motors earned over $2 billion in in-car subscription revenue last year, The Verge said. The automaker’s goal is to build a subscription on par with the size of Netflix by 2030. However, they offer 45 additional features, to BMW’s current eight features. This could mean that BMW has more room to grow.

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We are delighted to announce that a new supermarket will open at Jachthaven Biesbosch this spring after formal contracts were signed between the marina and entrepreneur Koen van Grootel.
The new 700sqft Spar supermarket will service marina berth holders, residents and tourists arriving by boat and road. The store will be built in the same modular system that is already in place at the western end of the marina.
This supermarket has been the missing piece in our long term development of Jachthaven Biesbosch so we're delighted that this has been finalised.
Entrepreneur Koen van Grootel will operate the Spar having already operated 10 other similar branches other tourist areas and recreation parks. "We believe in the marina and the village. Day tourism and the 1400 marina berths offer great opportunities for a supermarket.", Koen commented.
The news was also positively received by other local business owners including Brenner Verhagen who owns and operates Het Witte Huis restaurant and Sloop hire service at the marina. "This is what we have missed for years. Many people who come here by boat do not have a means of transport, but have to go to Made to do their shopping. Now they are no longer dependent on it."
The supermarket is expected to open in May with opening times from 8am to 6pm, with later opening hours during the peak season. In the first instance, it is expected that the store will close during the winter, but operator Koen van Grootel is open to the idea of extending the hours, saying "...we look at that at the end of the summer season. If the port continues to develop, it may be possible to remain open in the winter months. "


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Monica Eaton Cardone Discusses Chargeback Right & Responsibilities with TravelPulse
Chargebacks911® COO Monica Eaton Cardone weighed in on consumers’ rights and responsibilities when filing chargebacks in a new feature for TravelPulse.
TravelPulse has delivered industry news, dynamic video content, and important supplier and destination information Since 2002. They’ve allowed countless travel agents to succeed, while also providing valuable consumer-facing content.
Travel providers face the prospect of ongoing chargeback problems as the COVID-19 outbreak drags on. In response, Monica suggests that it will be a worthwhile investment on the part of merchants to address these disputes.
"This is a complex, time-consuming process," Monica says. "The sheer volume of cases will compound that exponentially. Over the long run, however, it will be worth the effort, in terms of both recovered revenue and sustainability."
Monica offers advice for both merchants, as well as consumers worried about recovering funds from canceled trips. She says consumers should always contact the merchant before filing a chargeback, as merchants may have faster, more collaborative options available to help consumers. Also, while consumers have the right to file a chargeback, this right still relies on their claim’s relationship to COVID-19.


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Signet Jewelers Ltd., the world's largest diamond jewelry retailer, has launched the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds, designed to promote greater transparency and commitment to improving the integrity of the global diamond supply chain. Signet is based in Hamilton, Bermuda, but its U.S. retail operations are headquartered in Akron, including the brands Kay Jewelers, Jared the Galleria of Jewelry, and J.B. Robinson Jewelers.
(Signet Jewelers Ltd.)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Signet Jewelers Limited, the world's largest diamond jewelry retailer, on Tuesday announced it had launched the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds (D-SRSP), designed to promote greater transparency and commitment to improving the integrity of the global diamond supply chain.
Signet created the protocol with input from the diamond industry, including the De Beers Group, Rio Tinto, Dominion Diamond Corp., the World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB), the United States Jewelry Council, the International Diamond Manufacturers Association, Partnership Africa Canada, the Diamond Development Initiative, Jewelers of America, officials from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), governments and Signet diamond suppliers around the world.
"The D-SRSP builds on existing diamond industry standards, the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD's Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains to ensure transparency through a collaborative process that is practical and workable," Signet Chief Executive Mark Light said in a written statement.
"We have been active in the development of harmonized industry guidance and standards for many years, and with the new Responsible Sourcing Protocol for Diamonds, we are asking our suppliers to carefully map their supply chains more rigorously than ever before," he said.
The protocol requires suppliers to perform greater due diligence on the diamonds they deliver to Signet and builds on years of effort by industry and governments to track where diamonds come from.
Signet said it "envisions that the collaborative, workable and practical manner in which the Protocol was designed will lead the D-SRSP to become an accepted industry reference for responsibly sourced diamonds."
Signet said it encourages all the companies involved in the diamond industry to adopt and use the protocol in their own supply chains, to promote greater transparency in the worldwide supply.
"Today's consumers increasingly expect that companies act as responsible corporate citizens, held accountable for ensuring the integrity of our supply chain," Light said.
Signet Jewelers, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, but with its U.S. retail operations headquartered in Akron, operates 3,600 stores worldwide under the brands Kay Jewelers, Zales, Jared The Galleria Of Jewelry, H.Samuel, Ernest Jones, Peoples, Piercing Pagoda, and regional brands like J.B. Robinson Jewelers.
In 2013, Signet bought a diamond-polishing factory in Gaborone, Botswana, for an undisclosed sum as part of its efforts to ensure a more reliable long-term source of diamonds for its jewelry stores.
Barnes said at the time that its goal was "to secure additional, reliable and consistent supplies of diamonds for our customers and achieve further efficiencies in the supply chain."
The U.S. is the world's largest market for diamond jewelry, and sales of diamonds or diamond jewelry at that point accounted for more than 75 percent of Signet's U.S. sales.
"By owning this state-of-the-art facility, its first, Signet can ensure more consistent, cost-effective access to diamonds in the sizes and qualities it needs with less vulnerability to the fluctuations of the overall diamond market," Signet spokesman David Bouffard said at the time.
In a separate announcement also released Tuesday, Signet said it has filed a voluntary application with the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority to delist its common shares from the London Stock Exchange.
Its shares will still be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, under the ticker symbol "SIG."
Signet said that because less than 1 percent of its annual trading volume takes place on the LSE, "the benefit of LSE listing is outweighed by the monetary expense, regulatory burdens, and time spent on LSE-driven activity."
Its shares will be traded on the London Stock Exchange until Friday, March 11, 2016, and be canceled from trading at 8 a.m. GMT on Monday March 14, 2016.
Signet's shares closed at $104.15 on Tuesday, up $5.52 or 5.6 percent from the previous close of $98.63.


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BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Forget the flash, at least for now. When the new Nike Elite 51 NFL uniform were unveiled in Brooklyn Tuesday, it was the uniform's performance improvements that were boasted about as its hallmark feature.
As Nike and the NFL officially launched their five-year partnership to bring all game, sideline and fashion apparel to the NFL with a swoosh, Nike officials, NFL players and Roger Goodell heralded the performance aspect of the overall uniform package.
The NFL's Elite 51 uniform builds upon new uniform technology in place within the collegiate ranks, giving athletes a base layer uniform that is 22 percent cooler, eight percent lighter and five percent drier than the NFL's previous threads as well as a top layer that also offers lighter weight, all with stronger materials and more flexibility -- two aspects the players fawned over on Tuesday.
As hundreds gathered from around the world -- including all around the NFL, as each team's jersey was modeled by a member of that team -- to catch a glimpse of the new NFL look, the most innovative visual change (other than the swoosh replacing Reebok's logo, in place for a decade) came from the Pacific Northwest and the Seattle Seahawks' new deep blue color, complete with a Native American-inspired winged pattern for the helmet and throughout the uniform.
As Nike has done previously, the company used performance innovation to highlight aesthetics. Cue the Seahawks' accenting winged pattern, which runs from the neck to down the side of the pant. Using a totem pole-styled graphic, the subtle winged pattern harkens both to traditional Pacific Northwest roots and the Seahawks' franchise story. The pattern gives a pop to the helmet, but also provides a "thermal regulation" cooling zone, says Todd Van Horne, Nike's global creative director. Using 12 wings on the pant leg nods to Seattle's 12th man tradition.
Kam Chancellor, Seattle's Pro Bowl safety, says he loves the new designs, but enjoys the cut and fit even better. "The shrink-wrap fit, we can move our body around," he said. "We can move and be free."
The major performance aspects the players honed in on were the stretch fit, the breathability of the top and the strong Flywire collar.
Van Horne notes that Nike uses nine different materials in their uniform, but the Flywire neck takes what traditionally was three or four different fabrics merged together into one bulky, easy-to-grab feature and turns it into a tension system -- similar to what is used in footwear -- to reduce the amount of fabric needed while giving a "lock-down fit" opposing players can't hold onto, as it form-fits the padding.
Brian Urlacher said it will be "harder to get held, which is good since I get held on every play." Along with the uniform's ability to help Urlacher skirt past offensive players, the linebacker praised its ability to ventilate his body and provide added comfort.
The shrink-wrapped Nike Elite 51 uniform -- which Victor Cruz modeled as a uniform that provides fewer "grab points" (both offensive and defensive players want less grabbing, it appears) -- utilizes zones to add in mesh ventilation as well as high-tenacity stretch materials for a single layer of stronger and more flexible fabric. Even the numbers are made from four-way, stretch-twill fabric for full movability. Deflex padding built right into the uniform eliminates the need for a second layer of padded uniforms, said Finley, reducing weight and increasing mobility.
Ndamukong Suh has been a part of the Nike sounding board since last year, discussing ideas with Van Horne. For him, the range of motion is the change he gravitates toward. "You are able to get a custom, form fit," he says. "It is adjustable to body types and that is especially great for a guy like me."
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger loves the lightness of the mesh materials. "It is not the old mesh, it breathes really well," he says.
The new uniforms start with Nike's Pro Combat base layer. Three versions of "Hyper" product offer either cooling fabric that wicks sweat away from the body, a fabric that moves sweat away and seals out the cold for added warmth and a protection version with lightweight, flexible "deflex" padding integrated into critical hit zones. Van Horne says players can opt for a carbon-fiber plate for added protection.
Even the socks and the belts have lightweight protection. The belt's D-ring is constructed from aircraft-grade aluminum and the socks include arch support and zone cushioning.
For the most out-of-the-box flash coming to every team, look no further than the "logo lock-up" gloves for all teams, which include a patented technology to improve grip. For the NFL, there is mostly function with a dash of flash.
Goodell says Seattle is just the first to create a new story, and "there will be more to come." Van Horne says other teams made subtle changes (Chicago enlarged the memorial stripe on their sleeve, for example) and Nike is always ready to listen to the desires of the clubs, leaving the look of 2013 wide open.
Green Bay's Jermichael Finley likes the Seahawks' look so much he hopes the Packers will be one of the teams changing things up in the future. "The Seahawks have crazy uniforms," he said. "Hopefully Green Bay decides to switch it up and go with the look of 2012. If you look good, you play good. If you play good, you get paid good. The Seahawks have the best uniform out there right now."


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Then the limited edition Ferrari SA Aperta was introduced at the Paris Motor Show last year, it was announced that the model will be limited to only 80 units.
That, of course, hasn’t stopped Novitec Rosso from rolling up their sleeves and building a comprehensive tuning program for the drop-top version of the 599 supercar.
Before we get down to the heart of the program, Novitec Rosso installed a new set of sport springs, a stainless steel high-performance exhaust system, and a new set of 21" or 22" lightweight forged wheels.
Then there’s the engine upgrade, which, to a word, is just completely mind-blowing. The "standard" Ferrari SA Aperta is powered by a V12 engine that produces a mighty 670 horsepower and mated to a F1 Superfast six-speed transmission. Novitec took that number and added a twin-supercharger to push the output to a staggering 888 horsepower at 8,400 rpm and 635 lb/ft of torque at 6,600 rpm. The new numbers have taken the SA Aperta’s performance figures with a 0-62 mph acceleration time of just 3.1 seconds and a top speed of 240 mph.


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By Paul Lienert and Joseph White
(Reuters) - General Motors CEO Mary Barra has staked billions on a broad lineup of electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV designed from the wheels-up to be electric, software-defined vehicles that can match or beat any Tesla.
On Tuesday, Barra made a significant exception, reversing a decision to phase out the Chevrolet Bolt.
The Bolt does not align with GM's long-term EV technology strategy, but it is the Detroit automaker's best-selling and most affordable EV in North America, by far. News of its scheduled demise at the end of this year prompted criticism of GM for turning its back on an affordable EV in favor of large, expensive models such as the $80,000 and up GMC Hummer EV.
GM is now planning a second-generation Bolt that will come with a new, more efficient Ultium battery pack that should cost 40% less than the current Bolt's battery technology, Barra told analysts.
"Instead of doing an all-new vehicle, we're really leveraging what was already there," Barra said.
The decision to save the Bolt without re-engineering it from top to bottom reflects a new emphasis on what Barra called "winning with simplicity."
A revamped Bolt "should cost the same or less to produce than the outgoing model," said Sam Fiorani, head of global forecasting at consultancy AutoForecast Solutions.
The Bolt's cost has been key to its relative success with a price that starts at $27,495 before federal and state EV purchase subsidies. Barra and GM officials did not say how much the new Bolt would cost or where it would be built.
Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y outsell the Bolt in the United States by roughly four to one. For GM, the Bolt has been the mainstay for its North American EV sales.
In the first six months of this year, U.S. Bolt sales totaled 33,659 vehicles, outselling Ford's Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and other EVs from established automakers.
Bolt sales rebounded this year after GM was forced to halt production of the car for nearly six months to fix problems linked to battery fires. GM on Tuesday said it was taking a nearly $800 million charge to account for costs of that recall.
Within GM's EV portfolio, the Bolt has represented more than 90% of its EV sales so far this year, in part because production of GM's purpose-built, Ultium-architecture EVs has been hobbled by problems at GM's new battery plant in Ohio.
"If I were GM, I wouldn't change much," said manufacturing expert Sandy Munro, president of Munro & Associates, which has done detailed analyses of the Bolt, Teslas and other EVs. "You don't need to change the body. Elon Musk doesn't do that."
Fiorani said one of GM's Mexican assembly plants could be a leading contender to produce the new Bolt, although "with UAW contract negotiations just starting, GM could offer a next-generation Bolt to a Michigan-area plant" including its Orion Township facility where the current model is produced.
(Reporting by Paul Lienert and Joseph White in Detroit; Editing by Nick Zieminski)


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It appears to be “game on” in the EV world.
For over a decade, Tesla (TSLA) has dominated the public consciousness when it comes to electric vehicles (EVs).
Other car manufacturers had tinkered with hybrids, but it was only Tesla that focused solely on creating a line of all-electric vehicles. Minor players like Fisker and Rivian have entered the market, but no one can really touch the 800-pound gorilla that Tesla has become.
And through all of the company’s ups and downs—no matter what you think of its CEO—Elon Musk has stubbornly dragged the automotive world, quite possibly kicking and screaming, toward the EV market.
When ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood tapped Tesla to be one of the innovation leaders in her ARKK fund several years back, it was nothing but upside for the car manufacturer. (Yes, the valuations that come with a share of TSLA stock are still pretty insane—but so were Amazon’s back in the 90s.)
Ford and GM Are Ramping Up FastFord (F) recently came out and announced its plans to ramp up EV production by spending up to $20 billion over the next five to 10 years to convert current internal combustion engine infrastructure into EV production-capable facilities to accelerate its transition to electric vehicles.
Ford’s CEO Jim Farley made no secret about the company’s goals saying Ford wants to “challenge Tesla’s dominance in EVs.”
(Of course just to hedge that bet a bit … “Farley sees gasoline-fueled vehicles as a core part of the company for many years to come and still intends to invest enough to keep it competitive with rivals, he said in a separate interview last week.”)
But no matter, Ford is now making a major commitment, and shareholders are approving. The company’s stock rallied over 100 percent since August of 2021.
General Motors (GM) is also putting on the EV gloves.
They’ve announced their expansion plans revealing they’ll be opening a third factory that will produce plug-in trucks. GM’s CEO Mary Barra said the company is now targeting sales of 400,000 electric vehicles in North America by the end of 2023. That’s a very aggressive goal when you consider that in 2021 it sold fewer than 25,000 EVs.
Barra said in an interview, “We also recognize we need to launch more EVs faster. That’s exactly what we’re going to do.”
To the displeasure of income investors, the company also announced it was continuing to suspend its dividend in order to prioritize spending on EVs and other growth opportunities.
Where the Real Opportunity May LieWhile all the majors are duking it out over who’s going to dominate the electric highway, there’s another developing EV market that’s flying under almost everyone’s radar.
The electric boating market.
Before you roll your eyes and stop reading consider this, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (the NMMA), outboard boat engine sales hit a record high of $3.4 billion in 2020. And that was the ninth consecutive year of sales growth. (If there was ever a sign of a burgeoning growth market, that may be it.)
Apparently, GM was impressed as well. They recently took a 25 percent/$150 million stake in a Seattle-based electric boat start-up called Pure Watercraft. A $150 million investment may not sound like much compared to the billions they’ve pumped into their auto side, but it’s exactly these unknown, “barely believable” companies that become the next Tesla.
Investors can do well to examine these “fringe” markets where future growth stock leaders are trading quietly under the radar. Companies like Vision Marine Technologies (VMAR) that touts the fact they’ve built the world’s most powerful electric outboard motor. These are the giants of tomorrow that you can find at great values today.


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Chinese President Xi Jinping was so eager to please US President Donald Trump that he treated Trump with a State Visit +, an honor no foreign leader has ever enjoyed in China.
Trump was certainly pleased and said and wrote something in return.
However, SupChina’s report “An ‘incredible welcome ceremony’ for Trump but few results” today described how many US media are upset by such mutual currying of favor as those media have fallen deep in Thucydides Trap and will not be pleased unless the US has done something to effectively contain China or at lease fight a trade war, if no military war, with China.
The report says that there are few results in Trump’s visit in its title.
In fact, there has been tremendous achievement, first of all and most important of which is the two leaders have got mutual understanding that they want win-win cooperation instead of falling into Thucydides Trap.
China and the US have signed deals worth $250 billion. The report says that there are no details. Certainly, if one has taken part in the discussion of such large deals, they certainly know that it takes time for conclusion of contracts for such deals. However, at least, the signing of the deals showed the intention for win-win cooperation.
In the US, a John Pomfret published an open letter to Xi in Washington Post to worn Xi that there are lots of people deeply in Thucydides Trap who want to fight a trade war with China. Perhaps Trump could not stop them or may even be impeached by them and replaced with someone deeply in Thucydides Trap.
There are also quite a few people deeply in Thucydides Trap in China such as Colonel Liu Mingfu, who advocates China’s military rise to replace the US as world number one in his book “China Dream: The Great Power Thinking and Strategic Positioning of China in the Post-American Era”. The book became a bestseller as soon as it was published. It proved that there were lots of Chinese people who have also fallen deep in Thucydides Trap.
China is lucky to have a leader who has the wisdom to see the disaster that Thucydides Trap may bring to both China and US and who has gained the authority as the core of leadership to silence the opposition from the large number of stupid Chinese who have fallen deep into Thucydides Trap.
China’s Xi is prepared for a trade war so that he has launched China’s Belt and Road initiatives to take great risks in investing in poor countries in order to make them rich to be able to buy Chinese goods so that when China has lost US market, those countries will provide substitute market.
That takes time, but it also takes time for Trump’s enemies to remove him, if possible. China is now fully centralized so that Xi, a leader characterized by quick decision and quick action, is able to make and implement decisions quickly. There is no centralized power in the US. Decisions, if ever be possible, are made very slowly. Perhaps, by the time opposition has grown strong enough to remove Trump, with joint efforts Xi and Trump have to a great extent overcome the trade imbalance between the two countries so that no trade war will be necessary or practical.
In addition, by that time, China and Russia may have succeeded in establishing the Asian Union like the EU to enable all those in the Union to grow rich through win-win cooperation.
The US wants to be world leader. Look at the mirror, do you look like a world leader with declining economy, dilapidated infrastructures, disability to control drugs, crimes and flood of illegal immigrants?
In the past, ASEAN regarded the US as its leader, but now it does not want to take side between the US and China. Is US still its leader?
How many countries obey US leadership now?
China shall be regarded by the US as the country among all countries in the world that respects US world leadership the best. Look, what grand welcome China gave to Trump. That is precisely the honor China has ever given to a world leader.
I would like to ask: Will the Americans deep in the Trap be happy if Xi starts a trade war to drive away McDonald’s hamburgers, Kentucky’s chicken, Pizza Huts’ pizzas, Ford and General Motors’ cars, Iphones, Coca-cola and Pepsi’s soft drinks, etc. that are popular in Chinese market due to China’s open-door policy? American companies produce those goods in China so that they are not regarded as US export to China. If the sales of US goods produced in China are taken into account in the trade balance between the US and China, there is no Chinese trade surplus at all in the trade between China and the US.
Are those goods indispensable in China? Are there no alternative sources for those goods in the world?
Stupid people whether Chinese or American are arrogant. That is why they have fallen into Thucydides Trap.
Comment by China Kai Yee on SubChina’s report, full text of which is reblogged below:
An ‘incredible welcome ceremony’ for Trump but few results
Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
Donald Trump enjoyed his treatment in Beijing. He changed the main image on his Twitter account to a photo of himself and Xi Jinping standing together with their wives, and tweeted the following on November 9:
15:08 Beijing time: President Xi, thank you for such an incredible welcome ceremony. It was a truly memorable and impressive display!
21:58 Beijing time: In the coming months and years ahead I look forward to building an even STRONGER relationship between the United States and China.
Both tweets are accompanied by short videos that are similar in style and content to Xinhua News Agency productions.
What was the result of Trump’s two day stay in Beijing? It’s perhaps best told in a series of headlines, abridged for easy reading:
- Trump praised China and blamed past U.S. administrations for the trade deficit, but while he was having a “beyond terrific” time, human rights lawyers faced harassment and house arrest. —The Guardian
- The American president placed his bets on flattering Xi Jinping, producing no visible structural changes. Trump said he was looking to President Xi Jinping to “do something” about America’s opioid epidemic, but China’s online opioid bazaar is booming. —The New York Times (paywall)
- Air Force One took off from Beijing leaving behind nice optics but few gains on trade or North Korea. The $250 billion worth of deals announced by the U.S. administration feature little of substance — many are “memorandums of understanding…with few details, rather than contracts.” Another example of hype is that the Boeing China order hawked by Trump is said to be mostly old news. —Bloomberg
- Taiwan is the most important and sensitive issue in Sino-US ties, Xi Jinping told Trump. —Reuters
- Trump and Xi took no questions at an event on Thursday billed as a news briefing, as the American president cooperated with Beijing’s sweeping efforts to control the message of his heavily choreographed visit. —Associated Press
- Trump has given Xi Jinping a pass on the South China Sea. —Quartz
- While Trump was in Beijing, the People’s Daily reported that China has plans to test launch a Long March rocket in the South China Sea soon, for commercial purposes.
So the visit went smoothly and media reports talk of a bromance between Xi and Trump. But the bros may not be able to maintain the bonhomie:
- The Economist says (paywall) that while Xi and Trump look friendly now, anti-U.S. feeling is stirring in China, and that “the anti-American strain now seems to run from the top of the Chinese state (Messrs Xi and Wang [Huning 王沪宁]) to the bottom (Xinhua and internet trolls).”
•In the Washington Post, John Pomfret has published an open letter to Xi Jinping, which warns that “a backlash is brewing against your country in the United States, and it goes well beyond Trump,” and many of Pomfret’s colleagues, “even those from the Democratic Party, are in complete agreement with Trump’s former aide, Stephen K. Bannon, that the United States is in an economic war with China and that Americans have done far too much to facilitate your nation’s rise.”
According to Reuters’ report titled “U.S. business group urges Washington to ‘use every arrow’ against China”, US business group is quite bellicose in dealing with China. I wonder whether they want to fight a trade war to shoot China with arrows. I am really sorry that I see few arrows in US quiver, especially those to be used for US business in China.
Anyway, it is ridiculous that in our era of stealth fighters and GPS guided missiles, some people still want to use arrows in war. However, that is really the sorry situation for US business in China as Chinese investment is insignificant in the US while US investment in China is very great, but China can easily drive away US investment as China has not only the financial but also the technology resources to drive away US business from China now though China may suffer some losses in a trade war with the US.
However, the losses will mainly be caused by US restriction on China’ exports to the US instead of by US business leaving China. Even if China lacks the financial and technology resources, Japanese and European businessmen will be happy to have the opportunities to replace US investment.
Comment by Chan Kai Yee on Reuters’ report, full text of which can be viewed at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-business-idUSKBN17K0G8.
By Michael Martina and Diane Bartz | BEIJING/WASHINGTON Tue Apr 4, 2017 | 7:48am EDT
Although worried about the prospect of a trade war, American businesses operating in China nonetheless want President Donald Trump to wring some concessions on market access from China’s leader Xi Jingping when the two meet this week.
Trump warned in a tweet last week the meetings at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday and Friday will be “very difficult” and “American companies must be prepared to look at other alternatives.”
Trump has said he wants U.S. companies to stop investing in China and instead create jobs at home. He has also accused China of manipulating its currency to boost exports.
Critics within U.S. industry have accused China of unfair government subsidies to its companies, and of flooding the U.S. market with cheap products from steel to solar panels, while restricting foreign investment over vast swathes of the world’s second-biggest economy.
But they also worry Trump’s policies on China are not entirely clear, with his trade team still not in place, and may be subject to a ‘grand bargain’ involving other issues such as North Korea.
Trump is set to enter the meeting without several key advisors, including his pick for trade negotiator, Robert Lighthizer who has yet to be confirmed by Congress. His nominee as ambassador to China, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, has also yet to be confirmed, while several posts in the U.S. State Department that formulate Asia policy remain unfilled.
“With this in mind, it is hard to imagine that there will be much in the way of concrete accomplishments at this summit, or even that there has been any significant interagency discussion on strategy leading up to it,” said Randal Phillips, Mintz Group’s Beijing-based managing partner for Asia and the former chief CIA representative in China.
‘ACTIONS, NOT WORDS’
Some of the largest U.S. companies have contributed to the billions of dollars of foreign direct investment that have poured into China over the past two decades, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. They include tech companies like Apple, which makes much of its iPhone in China, automakers such as General Motors and Ford, heavy machinery firms like Caterpillar, retailers like Starbucks and makers of shaving foam and detergent, like Procter & Gamble.
U.S. steel producers want Trump to press Xi on Chinese steel prices, according to a source who has been in discussions with the administration in advance of the summit.
U.S. automakers complain about a disparity in tariffs: The United States has a 2.5 percent tariff on auto imports, China’s is 25 percent.
But the stakes are perhaps highest for American technology firms, who worry that China’s new cyber-security law, which takes effect in June, sets potentially discriminatory standards for multinationals.
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think-tank whose board includes representatives from Apple, IBM Google and other tech heavyweights, has urged the Trump administration to pressure China to “stop rigging markets”. It warned that possible retaliation from Beijing was not a reason for inaction.
Trump has staked out various positions on China as president in his tweets, phone calls and statements.
In a phone call with Xi after taking office, Trump gave ground on one of Beijing’s most sensitive issues – the status of Taiwan – after earlier suggesting he might not stick to Washington’s long-held “one China” policy.
Trump signed two executive orders on trade on Friday, one to improve import tariff collection and another to study the causes of the U.S. trade deficit. Trump said at the White House signing ceremony he and Xi were “going to get down to some serious business” and vowed that “the theft of American prosperity” by foreign countries would end.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said on Friday the U.S.-China trade imbalance was mostly the result of differences in the two countries’ economic structures and noted China had a trade deficit in services.
China tops the list of countries who have trade surpluses with the United States, with a $347 billion surplus last year.
Some in the U.S. business community worry about tit-for-tat retaliation in trade disputes with China.
Jacob Parker, vice president of China operations at the U.S.-China Business Council, said the two presidents need to take “positive actions that would lead to a more durable relationship, not retaliatory actions that would lead to a trade war”.
The list of commercial issues between the two countries was so long, it would be impossible to make a major dent in them with one meeting, he said.
China is the largest export market for U.S. soybean producers, accounting for 62 percent of U.S. soy exports in 2016 with a value of over $14 billion, leading some experts to suggest the sector could be particularly vulnerable to retaliation.
Steve Censky, chief executive of the American Soybean Association, told Reuters he hopes Trump will take a “prudent” approach to the trade relationship and address any issues in a “workman-like manner”, recognizing that both countries have a lot to lose if the relationship suffers.
William Zarit, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China met senior Trump administration officials in February, and said “it was clear they were very familiar with the issues facing American companies in China, perhaps more so than previous administrations”.
But several corporate lobbyists, representing a range of companies expressed concern Trump’s lack of attention to detail could prove counterproductive when it comes to the intricacies of the massive trade and investment relationship.
“It’s not yet clear whether … this is a White House that wants to fundamentally reset the terms of the relationship or tinker at the edges and declare a public relations win,” said a China expert at a Washington business lobby who asked not to be named.
(Reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing; Diane Bartz, David Shepardson and Joel Schectman in Washington; Nichola Groom in Los Angeles; and Mark Weinraub in Chicago; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Source: Reuters “U.S. business seeks action, not trade war, in Xi-Trump summit”
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
By David Lawder | WASHINGTON Fri Mar 31, 2017 | 9:26am EDT
The Trump administration on Friday slammed China on a range of trade issues from its chronic industrial overcapacity to forced technology transfers and longstanding bans on U.S. beef and electronic payment services.
The annual trade barriers list from the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) office sets up more areas of potential irritation for the first face-to-face meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Florida.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, asked about his expectations for the meeting, told Fox News on Friday: “What I would hope will come out would be a commitment to starting to abide by the rules and a commitment to working collaboratively to help reduce our deficit.“
USTR, controlled by the White House, said that Chinese government industrial policies and financial support for industries such as steel and aluminum have resulted in overproduction and a flood of exports that have distorted global markets and undermined competitors.
“While China has begun to take steps to address steel excess capacity, these steps have been inadequate to date and even fewer efforts have been taken by China in aluminum and other sectors,” USTR said in the report.
USTR released the list of trade irritants in 63 countries just after senior Trump trade officials announced an executive order to study the causes of U.S. trade deficits.
The report said China also is using a series of cybersecurity restrictions as part of an apparent long-term goal to replace foreign information and communications technology products and services with locally produced versions.
USTR also accused China of using a range of measures to engineer the transfer of foreign technology to Chinese firms. They include denying financial or regulatory approvals to companies using foreign-owned intellectual property (IP) or that do not conduct research or manufacture products in China.
“China also reportedly conditions foreign investment approvals on technology transfer to Chinese entities, mandates adverse licensing terms on foreign IP licensors, uses anti-monopoly laws to extract technology on unreasonable terms and subsidizes acquisition of foreign high technology firms to bring technology to the Chinese parent companies.”
Gaps in IP rights enforcement have allowed the misappropriation of foreign IP and trade secrets, both within and outside of China.
USTR’s criticisms are consistent with increasingly vocal concerns raised by international business groups about what they see as a worsening business climate for foreign firms in China, as well as China’s goal to boost domestic manufacturing content in 10 sectors from robotics to biopharmaceuticals.
Earlier this month, the European Union Chamber of Commerce said the “Made in China 2025” plan amounts to a “large-scale import substitution plan aimed at nationalizing key industries” or “severely curtailing the position of foreign business.”
USTR also brought up longstanding complaints about online piracy of movies, books, music, video games and software in China as well as a ban on U.S. beef that has been in place since 2003.
It said delays in China’s approval process for agricultural products derived from biotechnology also worsened in 2016, hurting U.S. corn exports.
Ross, the commerce secretary, also said Trump will sign two executive orders on Friday. The first calls for a 90-day study by the Commerce Department into the causes of U.S. trade deficits, the results of which would be used to formulate policy.
A second order would solve a problem involving collection of anti-dumping duties, he said.
“There’s some $3 billion worth of duties that have never been collected because they set up straw-man importers that don’t have any financial substance, so by the time the case ends, there’s nobody there against whom you can assess the fine. So what these orders will do is require letters of credit or insurance company bonds or cash so there will be somebody against whom we can levy the fine,” Ross said.
(Additional reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Michael Perry and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Source: Reuters “U.S. trade barriers report slams China on overcapacity, tech transfer”
Note: This is Reuters’ report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
By Simon Denyer March 15 at 9:54 AM
BEIJING — China’s premier told the United States on Wednesday: We don’t want a trade war with you, but if one breaks out, your companies would bear the brunt.
Yet despite tensions over jobs, currency rates and “security matters,” Premier Li Keqiang told a news conference in Beijing ahead of the first visit by the new U.S. secretary of state that he remained optimistic about the future of China’s relationship with the United States.
“Our hope on the Chinese side is that, no matter what bumps this relationship may run into, it will continue to move forward in a positive direction,” he said.
The two countries share extensive common interests and should “sit down to talk to each other” to build trust and narrow differences, Li told journalists at the end of China’s annual parliamentary session. He added that diplomats were working toward a face-to-face meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Trump.
Experts say China has been pushing hard to arrange such a meeting, realizing how important personal chemistry between the two leaders could be in maintaining stable ties. U.S. news media have reported that a meeting has been tentatively scheduled for April 6-7 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Tokyo late Wednesday for his first Asia trip since taking office, and he will visit Beijing later in the week.
Li said China’s trade and investment ties with the United States created up to 1 million American jobs last year.
“Recently I came across an article from an authoritative international think tank. It says that should a trade war break out between China and the United States, it would be foreign-invested companies, in particular U.S. firms, that would bear the brunt of it,” he said.
“We don’t want to see any trade war breaking out between the two countries. That wouldn’t make our trade fairer,” he added.
While a trade war would have a disproportionate effect on American firms such as Apple that outsource manufacturing to China, economist Christopher Balding said it is not accurate to say that the U.S. economy as a whole is more vulnerable.
“China is much more dependent on trade with the U.S. as a percentage of GDP, and received most of its trade surplus from the U.S.,” said Balding, an associate professor at the HSBC Business School in Shenzhen. It would be easier for U.S. firms to move their supply chain than for China to change its industrial structure, he added.
“It remains advisable for China to match its rhetoric on open markets and free trade with action, by opening up its markets to competition in goods and investment,” Balding said.
Li’s comments came a day after Trump’s nominee for U.S. trade representative said that China is one of the top trade problems the United States faces and that it is not clear whether Beijing is still manipulating its currency.
“If you look at our problems, China is right up there,” Robert E. Lighthizer told the Senate Finance Committee at a confirmation hearing Tuesday.
Trump repeatedly complained about China on the campaign trail, accusing it of stealing American jobs, manipulating its currency, militarizing the South China Sea and not doing enough to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program.
He then upset Beijing by accepting a phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after his election and publicly questioning whether Washington should maintain its one-China policy.
But he eventually backed off, agreeing to honor the policy during what he called a “very warm” phone call with Xi in February. Since then, he has also refrained from any criticism of China on his Twitter feed.
Li reiterated that the one-China policy is the “political foundation” of relations and must not be undermined.
“With that foundation in place, we believe there are bright prospects for China-U.S. cooperation,” he said.
While relations with China will be discussed during Tillerson’s visit, North Korea’s nuclear program is expected to top the secretary of state’s agenda.
Li repeated his country’s call for dialogue to lower tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
“Tensions may lead to conflict which would only bring harm to all the parties involved,” he said. “It’s just common sense that no one wants to see chaos on his doorstep.”
Source: Washington Post “China to Trump: We don’t want a trade war — but if there is one, you’d lose”
Note: This is Washington Post’s report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
A trade war between China and the United States would only cause pain, China’s commerce minister said on Saturday, as analysts say the spectre of deteriorating U.S.-China ties is likely to weigh on confidence of exporters and investors worldwide.
“A trade war would not benefit either country or either country’s people, you could say it would have no advantage whatsoever,” Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan told reporters on the sidelines of the annual parliament session in Beijing.
“Many American and western friends think that China can’t live without the United States but that’s only half true.”
“At the same time, the United States can’t live without China,” Zhong said, adding that in the past ten years, the growth of U.S. exports to China has outpaced the growth of Chinese exports to the United States.
Zhong said that he looked forward to meeting his U.S. counterpart Wilbur Ross.
Billionaire investor Ross was sworn in as U.S. commerce secretary in February after helping shape President Donald Trump’s opposition to multilateral trade deals.
He is expected to start work on renegotiating trade relationships with China and Mexico.
“I am aware that Mr. Ross is an outstanding businessman and an experienced negotiator, an excellent person” Zhong told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the country’s parliament.
“I am willing to deal with excellent people because excellent people play the long game and think strategically.”
China’s foreign trade outlook faces lots of risk and uncertainty, Zhong added.
China’s exports for January and February combined rose 4.0 percent from the same period last year, while imports surged 26.4 percent, suggesting solid improvement in demand domestically and abroad.
But the export outlook for China and other trade-reliant economists is being clouded by fears of growing U.S. protectionism.
Zhong also spoke about China’s growing outbound investment, noting that a small number of Chinese companies had invested overseas “blindly and irrationally” in ways China did not encourage. He said the government would step up regulation around such investments.
(Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Sam Holmes and Toby Chopra)
Source: Reuters “China-U.S. trade war would only cause pain: commerce minister”
Note: This is Reuters report I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the report’ views.
Clay Chandler Feb 06, 2017
In first two weeks as president, Donald Trump locked horns with so many U.S. trade partners—denouncing Japan’s biggest car maker for building factories in Mexico, hectoring Mexico’s president for failing to stand up to “bad hombres,” browbeating Australian prime minister and allowing his top trade advisor to slam Germany as a currency manipulator—that pundits the world over are calling him a “bull in the china shop.” But the cliché is inapt. So far, the one country President Trump has avoided charging at is China.
Such forbearance, whether by accident or design, seems unlikely to last. Trump’s screeds against China—for cheapening its currency, stoking its export machine and “stealing” American jobs—were a centerpiece of his campaign. And yet, as Trump himself probably knows, China won’t be easy to bully.
That is so partly because China is a strategic rival, not an ally, and thus less willing forgive a rude phone call or testy Tweet, and because China’s leaders, like Trump himself, are unpredictable, thin-skinned and obsessed with matters of “face.” But the real difficulty in taking on China lies in the fact that China’s economic relationship with the U.S. is at once more important and more complicated than that of any other nation.
It’s hard to overstate how tangled the U.S.–China partnership has become. Historian Niall Ferguson has famously suggested the two countries are so inter-dependent that they should be thought of as a single creature; he calls it “Chimerica.” China owns $1.1 trillion of U.S. government debt, ranking just behind Japan as America’s largest foreign creditor. China is America’s largest trading partner, with annual trade in goods and services worth $663 billion, and its third-largest export market. By one estimate, if sales by U.S. foreign affiliates in China and re-exports of U.S. products through Hong Kong to China are factored in, U.S. exports to China total $400 billion. Last year General Motors sold 3.9 million vehicles in China, more than 25% more than it sold in the U.S. China now has more than 130 million iPhone users, making it larger market for Apple than the United States.
The U.S. far outweighs China in military firepower and economic output, of course. But trade wars, once begun, aren’t easily controlled and if the world’s two largest economies get into a mutually destructive economic confrontation, the real question won’t be who has the biggest GDP, but which country has the highest threshold for pain. In theory, Trump could slap high taxes on Chinese imports. Beijing’s countermoves could include shutting out Boeing, which is hoping to claim at least half of China’s estimated $1 trillion market for airplanes over the next 20 years. China could put the squeeze on host of other U.S. companies including Ford, Qualcomm, Walmart, Starbucks. The risk for Trump is that, with China, his get-tough approach could start to look less like The Art of the Deal and more like “The Art of the Squeal.”
As we wait for Trump’s China policy to take shape, you can get a good idea of the complexities of the U.S.–China economic relationship by reading this fascinating article by veteran China correspondent Brook Larmar, who takes a detailed look at what may be China’s most important U.S. export: students. Chinese students now account for about 300,000 of the roughly 1 million foreign students enrolled in American colleges, making them by far the biggest foreign group. Brook’s latest piece tries to understand why the number of Chinese high school students, part of what some call the “parachute generation,” has also grown so rapidly. Interdependence is one of the article’s main themes. The Chinese students benefit from coming to America, learning English and preparing for U.S. universities. But the communities into which these kids parachute benefit too, from Chinese money that funds schools and has many trickle-down benefits.
But Brook captures the many human dynamics of the surge: the yearning of Chinese students to escape the rigors of their own brutal examination system; the Chinese brokers who exploit the desires of their countrymen for hefty profit; and the sense of alienation students feel after coming to America. The piece notes that ultimately, rather than gaining a new understanding and appreciation for the United States, many students who come to America to study return with a new wariness of America, and stronger sense of identity as Chinese. It’s a classic study in the paradox in globalization, and how sweeping forces that should be bring us countries and cultures together often wind up just pushing us all apart.
Source: Fortune “It Won’t Be Easy for Donald Trump to Bully China”
Note: This is Fortune’s article I post here for readers’ information. It does not mean that I agree or disagree with the article’s views.


text:
Google has released a new version of its YouTube app for its Android platform, and the latest version comes with a range of new features, and it will work with Android devices running Android 2.2 and above.
The latest version of the YouTube app now lets you easily send videos to your TV with the use of one button, you can now also automatically pair with YouTibe on your Google TV.
We’re making it even easier to play videos from your phone or tablet on your TV, with a YouTube app update for Android and Google TV that automatically pairs your devices on the same WiFi. Just find a video on your YouTube app for Android — like the latest video from GoPro or H+ The Digital Series — click the TV icon that appears, and the video will play instantly on your Google TV.
The app now also comes with manual pairing support for YouTube on the PS3 and the Xbox, plus there are also a number of bug fixes, you can find out more details over at the Google TV Blog.
Last week Google launch their latest Nexus smartphone, the Google Nexus 4, and now the reviews of Google’s Android 4.2 Jelly Bean smartphone are starting to come in.
The Google Nexus 4 comes with the latest version of Google’s Mobile OS, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the device features a 4.7 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels and 320ppi.
Processing is provided by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 pro processor clocked at 1.5GHz, it also feature 2GB of RAM and a choice of either 8GB or 16GB of storage, plus there is a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera and a rear facing 8 megapixel camera.
Some of our fellow technology sites have managed to get their hands on the new Google Nexus 4, have a look at the reviews below to see what they thought.
Google Nexus 4 -Wired
LG Nexus 4 hands-on and first impressions – Android Community
Nexus 4 Review – Slashgear
We just heard that the new Google LG Nexus 4 is expected to come with wireless charging, and now we have a photo of the wireless charger that will be used to charge the handset.
The photo below is a new wireless charger for the Nexus 4 smartphone, it isn’t clear as yet whether the charger will come with the handset or whether it will have to be purchased separately.
It is also possible that Google intends to use this new wireless charger for other devices than just the new LG Nexus 4, of course this has yet to be confirmed by Google, as soon as we get some more information we will let you guys know.
Source Android Community
It’s a long overdue match, really — if the Google Drive productivity suite is considered the centerpiece of Google’s web app catalog, and the Chrome Web Store is the catalog, why weren’t the two combined? Google has seen the light by turning Docs (text), Sheets (spreadsheets) and Slides (presentations) into neatly packaged web apps that can be installed through the Chrome browser. New Chromebook owners won’t even have to go that far, as the trio will surface automatically in the Chrome OS app list over the next few weeks. The web app bundles might be simple, but they could be tremendous helps for anyone who wants to punch out a few quick edits while on the road.
Well, hello there, the worst-kept secret in tech. Apple’s iPad mini is the company’s newest device, a 7.9-inch tablet that’s designed to go toe-to-toe with Google’s Nexus 7. For now, it’ll sit alongside the iPad 2 and fourth-generation iPad, and as it packs the same 1,024 x 768 display as the second-generation slate, apps will carry across without any resizing. While Phil Schiller didn’t mention Google or the Nexus 7 by name, the rival slate (and Google’s app library) was compared to the newest iOS device. On stage, he claimed that the screen, which is .9-inch larger than the Nexus 7, gives the iPad mini 35 percent more display area than Google and ASUS’ collaboration.
On the hardware size, the 7.2mm thick, .68 pounds device has been manufactured with an “all new” process that gives it the same anodized edges as you’ll find on the iPhone 5. If you were hoping for equal specifications to the big-daddy iPad, you may be mildly disappointed. While it will pack a 5-megapixel camera and an LTE modem (if you opt to buy a cellular model), it’s running the last-generation A5 CPU. However, the slower internals and less potent display may account for how the company has been able to squeeze out a claimed 10 hours of use despite the constrained space for a battery. Pre-orders for the $329, 16GB WiFi-only model begin on Friday (October 26th) and will begin shipping on November 2nd. The cellular-equipped models will begin shipping a few weeks afterward on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, with the 16GB base model costing $459, running all the way to $659 for the 64GB unit.
Google really impressed us in San Francisco here today with its 11.6-inch ARM-based Samsung Chromebook. The $249 laptop is 0.8-inches (20mm) thin and weight only 2.43 pounds (1.1kg). It features a 11.6-inch 1366 x 768-pixel matte display, a full-size keyboard, a button-less trackpad and a 30Wh battery for 6.5+ hours of operation. Specs include a fanless dual-core A15-based Samsung Exynos 5 Dual (5250) SoC, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in flash storage, WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth. There’s a full-size SD card reader and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack (with mic support) on the left, plus the power input, HDMI output, USB 2.0 port, USB 3.0 connector and SIM slot (currently unused) in back.
First impressions? This is a solid machine — build quality and materials are fantastic for the price. It’s also pleasantly thin and light, a boon for people who are used to carrying a laptop around every day. We’re happy with the display which is bright and crisp. Viewing angles could use some improvement, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better laptop screen at this price. The keyboard and trackpad feel great (we’re coming from an 11-inch Core i7 MacBook Air), and two-finger scrolling works like a charm. Performance is somewhere between the original Atom-based Chromebooks and the current Celeron-equipped Series-5 model. The system didn’t have any issues playing back 1080p content in YouTube, but we didn’t get a chance try Hulu or NetFlix.
Ultimately, this is a phenomenal device for the price. If you’re used to working in the cloud, you’re basically getting 80 percent of the entry-level MacBook Air experience for a quarter of the price. Factor in the Google Now integration and 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years and this latest Chromebook is a winner. Check out the gallery below and hit the break for our hands-on video.
Google launches 11.6-inch ARM-based Samsung Chromebook: $249, ultrathin, 6.5-hour battery, 1080p video
Google just launched the latest iteration of its Chrome OS-based laptop here in San Francisco — the $249 (or £229, for those in the UK) 11.6-inch Samsung Chromebook. It’s ARM-based (fanless), 0.8-inches thick, weighs only 2.43 pounds, runs 6.5+ hours on battery, boots in under 10 seconds and supports 1080p video playback. Pre-orders start today at Amazon and PC World, and the laptop includes Google Now integration using Google Drive as a transport and comes with 100GB of free storage for two years. It will be available for sale on the Play Store and featured prominently at retailers like Best Buy, and naturally, we’re expecting this one to make a bigger splash than prior models based on the bargain bin price alone.
Under the hood, there’s a dual-core A15-based Samsung Exynos 5 Dual (5250) SoC, 2GB RAM, 16GB of built-in flash storage, WiFi a/b/g/n and Bluetooth, all of which should act to give this Chromebook a lot more oomph compared to slower, earlier models. Other specs include a 1366 x 768 native screen resolution, a USB 3.0 port, a USB 2.0 socket, combo headphone / mic jack, an SD card slot and a “full-size Chrome keyboard.” Hit up the links below for the nitty-gritty, or hop on past the break for a promo vid.
Google has sent out invites for an Android event which will take place on the 29th of October at 10AM in New York, the invite features the tagline ‘the playground is open’.
Google has yet to reveal any information on what will be unveiled at the event, but there are a number of possibilities and we suspect we will here about Google’s next Nexus smartphone.
It is possible that Google could be unveiling more than one Nexus smartphone from different manufacturers, as we have heard about devices from HTC, Samsung and LG that could be a new Nexus device.
Google could also announce their new 32GB Nexus 7 tablet, and possibly a slightly cheaper entry level Nexus 7 tablet, and we could also here some more details on the next version of Android from Google.
Source The Next Web
Ever fancied a look inside one of Google’s cavernous server farms? Given the security issues, the company isn’t likely to just let anyone mooch around — but understands if you’re curious. That’s why it’s adding a special collection to its Street View data that lets you wander inside without a big trek to Iowa, Belgium or Finland. If you’d like to sample some of the delights, you can check out our gallery or head down past the break to get a video tour of the facility in Lenoir, NC.
While we’ve seen the Google TV platform spread to additional manufacturers and some new lower-priced form factors, LG Uplus (not the same as LG Electronics) is the first we’ve seen offering a set-top box for its IPTV service based on it. new and existing customers alike can opt for the U+TV G, which will blend live TV streams, video on-demand and Google TV apps. Rapper Psy will be playing a large part in a national campaign to promote the offering, and after making Korea the tenth country Google TV is available in, Google says it will continue to work with providers around the world. Jumping inside the cable box is a notable move for the project, however at home hasn’t significantly improved integration beyond that originally offered by Dish Network, and it’s not even built into the Google Fiber set-top box.
Google has been testing an expanded search that includes Gmail results ever since August, and it’s been enough of a hit that the company is swinging for the fences with an expanded test. The new version lets Gmail members find Calendar appointments and Drive files through the autocomplete results in the search box. Visit the main Google page and the results won’t be quite as broad, but they’ll include both the previous trial’s Gmail infromation as well as Drive — thankfully, tucked to the side rather than dominating the main page. Any individual, English-literate Google fans can join the new trial to get early access and find that long lost spreadsheet in the cloud.
As from this week Google will now be providing more of its Google Play experience via its Google TV service, allowing users to enjoy Google Play Movies, TV Shows and Music.
The new additions to the Google Play TV service will start rolling out over the coming weeks, enabling you to purchase or rent content directly through your Google TV.
As well as being able to purchase new content nay previous movies, music or TV shows you have purchased on other devices will also be available to browse and play on your Google TV system, and vice versa. Google explained in their press release today:
“Google Play gives you one place to find, enjoy and share your favorite entertainment with millions of songs and thousands of movies and TV shows for sale, and adds to the millions of entertainment options available for you on Google TV through YouTube, TV & Movies, Search and the full web through Chrome.”
Google TV also provides recommendations for movies, TV shows and music from the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and now Google Play. For more information jump over to the Google TV blog post.
Google’s Nexus 7 tablet, which is made by Asus, comes in two different versions at the moment, one with 8GB of storage and one with 16GB of storage, although it would appear that Google is getting ready to launch a new version.
According to the guys over at Droid Life, Google will also be launching a 32GB Nexus 7 tablet, the following photo is apparently from UK mobile phone retailer, the Carphone Warehouse, and it shows a new 32GB Nexus 7 tablet on their inventory system.
What is also interesting from the photo is that a ‘Samsung Nexus 2′, which is a device yet to be announced is also listed, so if this is correct then Samsung will be making this years Nexus smartphone for Google.
Source Droid Life
Earlier this morning, Google did the iOS crowd a generous favor by flipping the switch on its Street View service to help alleviate some of those Maps troubles, so it’s only natural to take care of the Android faithful as well. With that in mind, Google has updated its Gesture Search to be fully compatible with the ASUS-built Nexus 7, as well as improving the application’s UI, boosting search performance, adding support for more languages and allowing contacts without digits to now be searchable. The new version of Gesture Search can be downloaded now via Google Play, straight from your device or by simply using the link down below.
Sandia Labs’ MegaDroid project simulates 300,000 Android phones to fight wireless catastrophes (video)
We’ve seen some large-scale simulations, including some that couldn’t get larger. Simulated cellular networks are still a rare breed, however, which makes Sandia National Laboratories’ MegaDroid project all the more important. The project’s cluster of off-the-shelf PCs emulates a town of 300,000 Android phones down to their cellular and GPS behavior, all with the aim of tracing the wider effects of natural disasters, hacking attempts and even simple software bugs. Researchers imagine the eventually public tool set being useful not just for app developers, but for the military and mesh network developers — the kind who’d need to know how their on-the-field networks are running even when local authorities try to shut them down. MegaDroid is still very much an in-progress effort, although Sandia Labs isn’t limiting its scope to Android and can see its work as relevant to iOS or any other platform where a ripple in the network can lead to a tidal wave of problems.
Google’s fast-track approach to updating Chrome gives a different theme to each update: last time, it was all about visual acuity. For the just launched Chrome 22 stable version, the focus swings to gaming. Web apps can now lock in the mouse control for first-person shooters, simulations and other 3D content that needs the full attention of the pointer during play. Not keen on action games through the browser? There’s still some fine-tuning in place for those who live on the cutting edge, including Windows 8 users and Retina MacBook Pro owners. The update may already be sitting on your computer if you’re running Chrome; if not, you can get your gaming-friendly fix (and the security notes) through the source links.
Over the next few weeks, we can surely expect iOS developers from all over the globe to start pushing out updates to make their applications better interact with Apple’s iOS 6 and that all-new screen found on the iPhone 5. And, because we know some of you choose Chrome over Cupertino’s built-in Safari browser, we thought we’d single out the fact that Google has outed a new version of the app which makes it friendly with the new iPhone’s larger display as well as the most recent variant of iOS. Aside from the iPhone 5 / iOS 6 compatibility, though, Mountain View also bundled in some undisclosed stability and security improvements in version 21.0.1180.82 (!) of the web browsing application. As is usually the case, you’ll find the updated Chrome goods in the App Store — link for that is just down below.
We’d say the wait is nearly over, but that wouldn’t be telling the whole truth. Inching ever closer to a hard launch date, Samsung’s Galaxy Note II is now poised to hit stateside on Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and US Cellular “by mid-November.” If you’re seeking anything more specific than that, you’ll have to hold out for individual carrier announcements. What we do know for sure, however, is that the US variant of this 5.5-incher will be packing HSPA+42 / LTE radios and sporting a nigh unchanged build — much like the company’s other flagship, the GS III. To recap, this S-Pen equipped phablet, recently unveiled at IFA 2012, features a 1280 x 720 HD Super AMOLED display, quad-core 1.6GHz Exynos processor, 2GB RAM and ships with a skinned version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Sure, this release is shaping up to be a slow tease, but that anticipation just makes the final bow of this second act even sweeter. Official PR after the break.
LG launches Optimus G flagship smartphone: quad-core S4 Pro, LTE, 2GB RAM, ICS, 13MP camera (updated)
It’s official! Today in Seoul LG is announcing its latest flagship smartphone, the Optimus G. The 8.45mm (0.33-inch) thin handset — which has been rumored for weeks — packs Qualcomm’s Fusion 3 chipset which pairs a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC (APQ8064) with a 2G / 3G / LTE radio (MDM9615). It features 2GB of DDR RAM and a 4.7-inch 1280×768 (320ppi) True HD IPS PLUS display with Zerogap Touch (in-cell touch) technology. A sealed 2100mAh Li-polymer battery rated for 800 charge cycles powers this Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) device. The rear camera sports a 13-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor with 1.1µm pixels, an f/2.4 autofocus lens and a single LED flash — along with a more pedestrian 1.3MP shooter in front. There’s 32GB of built-in flash storage, but no microSD card slot. Other specs include WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS, NFC and MHL.
Aesthetically, the Optimus G marries LG’s Chocolate and Prada design-languages into a sleek 145g (5.11oz) unibody smartphone. The front is all glass with three capacitive buttons while the back indroduces the company’s Crystal Reflection process which gives the handset “the ability to display different patterns depending on the viewing angle and lighting”. LG’s placing a lot of emphasis on how the user experience benefits from the Optimus G’s quad-core Krait CPU and Adreno 320 GPU — something it calls “cross-tasking”. This includes capabilties like QSlide Function, Live Zooming, Dual Screen Dual Play, QuickMemo, Screen Zooming, Application Link and Icon Personalizer, plus camera funtionality such as Time Catch Shot, Cheese Shutter, Smart Shutter and Low Light Shot Noise Reduction.


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By Dana Blinder
Wine enthusiasts will find extra benefit in a regular glass of Merlot beyond post-work relaxation. A new study conducted by Purdue University and published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry suggests red wine may help fight obesity.
Piceatannol, a compound found in red wine, is responsible for the delay of fat absorption. The compound reduces fat cell formation by blocking the effect of insulin on cells, the researchers say.
Similar benefits can be found from foods containing pterostilbenes, like blueberries and grapes.
The abstract can be found here.


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Virginia Beach, Va. - "They were walking around quite some time watching us, waiting for that opportunity to go back here when there was nobody looking and put it in their backpack."
Surveillance video from Pet Paradise shows two young teens stealing a snake.
You can see the one teen pick up the container holding the snake and put it into the other teen's backpack.
Pet Paradise manager Josh Severts says there were three teens in all walking around the store waiting to steal the snake.
"A hit to the gut because you know we're a family business that's been here for 31 years, run by family of all the places they want to steal from, it's a little mom and pop shop,” says Severts.
The thieves stole what’s called a corn snake. It's very common in this region and only costs about $70, so folks at Pet Paradise say they're not worried about how much the snake costs. What they're concerned about is the snake’s safety.
"If they don't have the money to buy the snake, they usually don't have the money to care for it either. So you have no idea what kind of care that snake is going to now,” says Severts.
Severts says the stolen snake is virtually harmless.
"It’s one of the safest snakes that could have been taken out of the store. They stay very small. They have very small teeth. Not very likely to bite. So it's not like a dangerous animal on the loose or something like that,” says Severts.
Police have yet to find the suspects or the snake.
If you know anything about this case, please call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.


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A new report from Ofcom reveals that smartphones are now more popular than laptops among Britons who go online.
The data showed that 33 per cent of people in the UK preferred smartphones, whilst 30 per cent opted for laptops as their internet device of choice in 2014.
The popularity of selfies might have something to do with the findings; Britons also took 1.2 billion pictures of themselves last year.
Ofcom, which releases its “Communications Market Report” annually, described this as a “landmark moment.”
According to the report, adults in the UK spent almost two hours every day connecting to the internet via their phones last year.
Jane Rumble, the director of market intelligence at Ofcom, commented: “We’ve reached a landmark moment where the smartphone has become the most important way for people to get online – just last year laptops were in first place.”
Selfies on the rise
The rise of the selfie might have something to do with the findings. The popularity of posting photos online shows no signs of declining.
Almost a third of Britons (31 per cent) said they had taken a picture of themselves in 2014, and Ofcom found that one out of every ten adults took at least one such photo every week.
In fact, the report found that smartphones were more popular than digital cameras when it came to taking and storing photos.
Among those aged 16 to 24, 89 per cent said they used their phone as a camera, whilst 60 per cent of adults did the same. Only 29 per cent of adults over the age of 35 said that they bothered backing up digital pictures taken with their phones.


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Floating cannabis farm found in Amsterdam
More than 1,000 cannabis plants have been discovered on a floating crane.5 May 2008
AMSTERDAM - Harbour police in Amsterdam have discovered more than 1,000 cannabis plants growing on a floating crane. It is not clear whether the enterprise was being run by the owner of the crane. The police were alerted to the farm by the strong smell emanating from it.
[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]
We invite you to contribute to this article by sending related photos or videos. You can either send them to email@example.com or add them to our newly-created flickr group at http://www.flickr.com/people/expatica/. All contributed material will be credited accordingly.


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AMD Reportedly Working on Radeon Software Performance OSD
Samuel Wan / 3 years ago
Every couple of weeks, AMD releases a new set of Radeon GPU drivers. Each release comes with a few minor upgrades and bug fixes in most cases. A new set of Radeon Crimson Edition drivers get released once a year around December. Some details have been leaked ahead of this years launch. According to the leak, the new release is Radeon ReLive Redux and it comes with an on-screen display.
The first year AMD revamped their Catalyst drivers was Omega in 2014. AMD has released the Crimson Edition, Crimson ReLive and now ReLive Redux. Even with Raja Koduri gone, Radeon Technologies Group is chugging along. Keeping with his legacy, the latest release will likely be a major one. The headline feature is a performance OSD option. Bundled with Radeon ReLive, it offers polling for CPU, GPU, FPS, Utilization, RAM and VRAM.
AMD Radeon ReLive Redux Might Be 17.12.1
We have seen steadier releases as a result of RTG. Not a single month has gone by without a release. Even more important, major titles now see day one support in many cases. Due to the improved releases, AMD drivers have become increasingly attractive instead of a detriment. From the looks of it, Radeon ReLive Redux will keep this trend going. There are no doubt other major features as well.
If AMD keeps to their record, the new release will arrive as 17.12.1. The new release should come in the first two week of December. Furthermore, we may see a WHQL release in the second half of December as well. In addition, the new drivers should bring forward a lot of bug fixes. As a result of new features though, it may well introduce many bugs as well. It will be interesting to see what else AMD has in store.


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Recently, the city of Davos witnessed a huge movement towards environmental safety when 40 largest multinationals of this planet came together to find better ways to consume and make plastic waste that threatens the global eco-system. The plan was declared at the World Economic Forum where some very high positioned executives came together a few days ahead of Donald Trump’s swear-in ceremony. The man shows high concern on environmental issues and wants to work seriously in this direction.
One of the biggest polluted spots on this planet are the oceans that are getting clogged with the accumulation of more and more plastic over their surface. If this goes unchecked, the oceans will have more plastic than fishes by end of 2050, therefore, serious action needs to be taken in this regard. The call for this movement was made by a British philanthropist and sailor, Ellen MacArthur who brought in companies like Procter and Gamble and Unilever to commit for better practices related to the environment. Unilever ensured that it will ensure to make all its plastic packaging recyclable, reusable, and compostable by 2025.
Figure: Multinational Start Working On Getting Rid Of Ocean Clogging Plastic
The Davos Initiative states that around 20 percent of world’s plastic can be reused for other purposes while 50 percent can be recycled in place of infesting landfills and suffocating wildlife in the water bodies. But WEF says, “Even then without fundamental redesign and innovation, the remaining 30 percent of plastic packaging (by weight) will never be recycled and the equivalent of 10 billion garbage bags per year will be destined to landfill or incineration.” MacArthur further adds, “The ‘New Plastics Economy’ initiative has attracted widespread support, and across the industry we are seeing strong initial momentum and alignment on the direction to take.”
Filed Under: News


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If you’re looking for Just Mayo’s eggless mayonnaise, you won’t find it at Target. The retailer has decided to stop selling all Hampton Creek products two months after receiving reports of “specific and serious food safety allegations,” according to Bloomberg. Target removed the vegan products — dressings, cookies, and edible raw cookie dough — from shelves in June.
Hampton Creek states that all of its products are safe and in compliance with Food and Drug Administration rules.
“Although the FDA is not pursuing this further, we used the opportunity to review our portfolio, as we regularly do, and decided to reconsider our relationship with Hampton Creek,” Target spokesperson Jenna Reck told Bloomberg. “We are not planning to bring Hampton Creek products back to Target and have openly communicated our decision with the Hampton Creek team.”
Hampton creek alleges that Target’s decision was a direct result of letting the public know that their products had been cleared by the FDA, which they were told by Target represented a violation of the retail giant’s vendor communication guidelines.
The current difficulty is only one of a handful of major setbacks Hampton Creek has faced in the last year, including a current lawsuit brought against the company by Jaden Smith’s Just Goods Inc. over copyright infringement.
Eggless mayo might be out, but you can still get lost in the sauce with the 7 sauces that are killing your diet — and 7 healthy homemade substitutes that won’t.


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AutoNation Toyota Tempe Named 2018 Dealer of Excellence
Dec. 5, 2018—AutoNation Inc. announced AutoNation Toyota Tempe has been certified in the J.D. Power Dealer of Excellence ProgramSM for 2018. The program recognizes a select number of vehicle retailers throughout the United States that not only exceed customer expectations but also provide exceptional customer service.
"This certification sets us apart, especially coming from such an authority as J.D. Power," said Lance Iserman, executive vice president, sales and chief operating officer at AutoNation. "This award solidifies AutoNation's commitment to providing excellent and distinguished customer service."
Known for its "Voice of the Customer" research for 50 years, J.D. Power and, subsequently, its Dealer of Excellence Program help consumers identify leading retailers that will go the extra mile.
The Dealer of Excellence Program assists auto buyers who are looking for an exceptional retailer where they can confidently buy a vehicle. AutoNation Toyota Tempe exemplifies AutoNation's commitment to a peerless customer experience.
To qualify, stores must rank among the top of their brand's most recent J.D. Power U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) StudySM. The study is an analysis of the new vehicle purchase process from a consumer perspective.