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|Game Group plc collapse to boost profits of rival entertainment retailer HMV Group plc|
|Friday, 04 May 2012 08:24|
News round up: HMV, Game, Royal Bank of Scotland, UK homeowners, Cobham, Aviva and Trinity Mirror.
Royal Bank of Scotland
Nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland is to repay the final tranche of notes issued under the government's Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) next week, after posting a profit of more than a billion pounds in the first quarter of 2012.
Wealth among Britain's homeowners will not return to pre-recession levels until 2019, as almost 1m highly indebted "zombie" households hold back recovery, a leading think tank has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the main drag on wealth in Britain would be house prices, which it forecast would fall by an average of 1.5% every year for the next five years, accounting for inflation.
British satellite technology chiefs are pledging to bring something of Cobham to the state of Denmark. The defence and aerospace supplier has landed a satellite antennae rival, Thrane & Thrane, after a short-lived takeover battle. The acquisition, which has the recommendation of the Thrane board, presents an enlarged Cobham satellite communications threat to industry giants such as Honeywell of the United States.
The board of Aviva must have thought that chief executive Andrew Moss had taken the sting out of a looming showdown with investors when he agreed to waive a near-5% pay rise. It wasn’t to be, and another annual meeting has been used by shareholders to vent their anger over executive pay. No sooner had the Aviva vote come through than Swiss bank UBS and Premier Foods also felt the backlash from disgruntled investors.
A shareholder revolt has prompted Sly Bailey to quit Trinity Mirror amid unrest over her pay package. The chief executive announced her decision a week before the newspaper publisher’s annual meeting, at which many shareholders are expected to vote against its remuneration report.
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Virtual reality is the latest movie/game/video experience and destination all in one, and the early players are eagerly imagining the possibilities. That’s why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is touting VR as the next frontier for the brand, investing in its Oculus business to pioneer new experiences for consumers and marketers alike. As Zuckerberg said on Wednesday’s quarterly earnings call,
We’re going through a period where now it’s mostly visual and photos. We are entering into a period where that’s going to increasingly be primarily videos, and we’re seeing huge growth there. But that’s not the end of the line, right? I mean, there’s always a richer way that people want to share and consume thoughts and ideas, and I think that immersive 3D content is the obvious next thing after video.
That’s welcome news and a call to action for brands already investing in immersive 3D content to keep stepping up. Joining the party, GE has been busy creating VR experiences for all the major platforms including Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear, Google Cardboard and YouTube 360.
That’s YouTube’s 360-degree showcase for VR including ads and short films by brands—such as Bud Light’s #UpForWhatever ad above, its first, or Subaru’s tour of Mt. Washington below—in addition to videos making Google Cardboard the star.
The GE Neuro VR experience, for example, behaves like a virtual portal into the human brain, leveraging photographer and DJ Reuben Wu’s experiences of how music affects the human brain, as Fast Company notes.
Another experience, GE 360, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look with creator-in-residence Sally Le Page into the making of GE’s Evolution Series Tier 4 Locomotive and its 9HA Gas Turbine, massive machines at work in some of the company’s most remote locations across the US.
Beyond projects, GE has created a VR channel (in partnership with Reel FX) for Samsung’s Milk platform called Science by GE, which offers new weekly experiences and showcases GE’s R&D labs. The co-branded relationship helps GE expand and engage its audience—and its cool factor, too, as the visuals are stunning—while Samsung is still pushing consumer adoption of its Gear VR.
An impetus for GE’s VR investment was bolstered last year with GE’s subsea oil technology VR Project to collect and discover gas and oil deposits in the ocean. “After we saw it worked in subsea, we wanted to commit to telling more of our stories in this way,” said Katrina Craigwell, GE’s head of content and programming, to Fast Company.
“From the work on Instagram, to our YouTube videos, and now VR, we as a brand lean in to visual content because these stories are complex and technical and we’re talking about work, research and manufacturing that’s happening in many areas and industries that are difficult to access,” added Craigwell. “We see VR as something with the potential to go a step further and really bring people to the bottom of the ocean, or into a test facility, or into the brain.”
For those without VR hardware such as Samsung’s Gear VR (a partnership with Oculus), all of GE’s VR experiences will be available on the YouTube 360 channel by August 8th.
Eager to contribute to state-of-the-art VR, Nokia’s latest virtual reality product was released this week with its OZO camera. Designed for professional filmmakers, the spherical device boasts eight shutters to capture 360-degrees of video with eight integrated microphones.
Users can see what they’re filming in process through a VR headset, and can produce a low-resolution version of the footage within a few minutes. It’s slated to be shipped out by Q4 2015.
Not to be left out, Facebook-owned Oculus this week released Henry, “a warm and fuzzy intro to virtual reality films.” The branded entertainment is set in Henry the hedgehog’s tiny home—he knows someone is there and reacts to their presence in a charming demonstration of the power of VR to enhance storytelling.

domain: news


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tech2 News StaffOct 01, 2019 16:57:55 IST
Premium smartphone company OnePlus on Tuesday said it has recorded Rs 500 crore revenue in two days of festive sale on Amazon.in.
"The recently unveiled OnePlus 7T and the OnePlus TV 55Q1 saw tremendous uptake registering the highest-ever sales in the premium smartphone category and the TV category respectively on Amazon.in," a statement said.
OnePlus has seen over 100 percent growth as compared to the previous year, it added.
"India is one of our most important markets and we will strive to ensure an unparalleled, superior experience for our users," OnePlus India General Manager Vikas Agarwal said.
Last week, OnePlus had launched its OnePlus TV in the Indian market, making India the only country to have the product. It plans to take its smart TV to other markets in the future. It had also announced the launch of OnePlus 7T smartphone.
OnePlus 7T Specs
The OnePlus 7T features a 6.55-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution, a waterdrop notch that the company says is 31.46 percent smaller than the one seen on the OnePlus 6T and a 20:9 aspect ratio. The OnePlus 7T also has a 90-Hz refresh rate screen as with the one seen on the OnePlus 7 Pro, and it is also HDR10+ compliant.
As far as design goes, the OnePlus 7T features a matte-frosted glass back similar to the one found on the iPhone 11 Pro and it has Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection on the front and back of the device. The phone will be available in two colours, which are Frosted Silver and Glacier Blue.
In the camera department, the smartphone features a triple-rear camera setup in a circular housing. It has a 48 MP primary sensor with an f/1.6 aperture, 16 MP ultra-wide sensor with a 117-degree field of view, and also a 12 MP telephoto sensor with 2X optical zoom and f/2.2 aperture. The phone features a dedicated macro mode to snap a shot from as little as 2.5 cm, away and it also has Nightscape mode which works on both the primary and ultra-wide lenses. On the front, there is a 16 MP camera for selfies. In terms of video, the phone has hybrid image stabilisation which combines the phone's OIS and EIS features to deliver a smooth video.
Performance-wise the OnePlus 7T features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ chipset which the company says brings 15 percent faster graphics rendering and faster 4G connectivity as compared to the standard Snapdragon 855. As far as memory and storage options go, the OnePlus 7T has 8 GB RAM and up to 256 GB of internal storage. The higher storage variant of the OnePlus 7T is available at Rs 39,999.
The smartphone features a 3,800 mAh battery with Warp Charge 30T that the company claims can charge your phone to 70 percent in just 30 minutes. The phone runs on the Android 10-based OxygenOS.
With inputs from PTI
Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.


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White House tightens health plan's standards after consumers complain
The Obama administration issued stringent new standards on Friday for health insurance to address a flood of complaints from consumers who said that costs were too high and that the choice of doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs was too limited in many health plans offered this year under the Affordable Care Act. In deciding which products can be sold in the federal marketplace next year, officials said, they will scrutinize health plans more closely and rely less on evaluations by state insurance regulators and private groups that accredit health plans. Consumer advocates welcomed the standards and said they should have gone further.
- Will More Pioneer ACOs Defect?
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- MU Final Rule Disappoints Some CIOs
- Evidence-Based Practice and Nursing Research: Avoiding Confusion
- Interventional Radiology No Longer a Sub-Specialty
- 'Terrible' Patient Becomes Dedicated Nurse
- NFP Hospitals' Revenue Growth at 'All-Time Low'
- CNO Leads $1M Charge for New Scrubs, Uniforms
- mHealth Tackles Readmissions
- Acute Kidney Injury Gets New Focus


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Long distance relationship couples can now send their kisses as a new device with warm, moving silicon’lips’ has hit the market.
The device advertised has a way to let the couples share a ‘real’ physical intimancy, is causing a social media uproar within chinese social media users.
It is equipped with pressure sensors and actuators, the device is said to be able to mimic a real kissby replicating the pressure movement and temprature of the user’s lip.
The device can also transmit the sounds the users makes.
How does the device work?
To send a kiss, users need to download a mobile phone app and plug the device into their phones charging port. After pairing with their partners in the app, couples can start a video call and transmit replicas of their kisses to each other.
According to china’s state-run Global Times, the invention has been patented by the ChangzhouVocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology.
“In my university,I was in a long distance relationship with my girlfriend so we only had contact with each other through the phone. That’s where the inspiration of this device originated.’Jiang Zhongli, the leading inventor of the design was cited saying by the Global Times.
Jiang applied for a patent in 2019 , but the patent ended in January 2023, and the inventor hopes someone else could expand on and perfect the design.
The device also enables users to pair up anonymously with strangers in the ‘Kissing Square” function of the app.If two strangers match successfullyand like each other they can also exchange kisses.
However, while social media users so the device funny, others found fault with it, voicing concers that minors could buy it and use it.
Users can also upload their ‘smoochers’ in the app for other to download and experience.


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Tesla is Recalling 130,000 Vehicles to Address Touchscreen Display Malfunctions Caused by Overheating, its 11th Recall This Year
Over the years, electric automaker Tesla Inc has been forced to recall its electric vehicles for a wide variety of problems. But being such a high-profile automaker, the company receives extra attention each time its announces another recall, as is the case today.
Tesla is recalling about 130,000 vehicles in the United States following an overheating issue involving the CPU that powers the center-mounted touchscreen display in the 2021 and 2022 Tesla S and X vehicles, as well as the 2022 the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV. The overheating issue can cause the center display to malfunction, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Tuesday.
Luckily for Tesla, the recall can be done "virtually" with an over the air software update which will resolve the issue, according to the NHTSA.
If the CPU for the screen overheats while driving, warning lights and other warning lights and other important vehicle information cannot be viewed. A driver would also lose the function of the reaview cameras when backing up, the NHTSA said.
Earlier this year Tesla recalled all of the Model 3s produced between Jul 15, 2017 through Sept 30, 2020 to inspect and repair the rear view camera cable, which can be damaged from repeatedly opening or closing the trunk. A break in the wiring would cause the rear view camera not to work.
Tesla informed the NHTSA that it was aware of 59 warranty claims and 59 field reports received since January that may be related to the issue. However, there are no reports of crashes or injuries related to the malfunctioning touchscreens.
This latest recall follows another last month. Tesla recalled approximately 48,000 Model 3 Performance sedans vehicles in the U.S. and another over 14,600 in China to address a problem where the vehicle's speedometer doesn't show when the vehicle is put into "Track Mode".
The recall covers vehicles from the 2018 through 2022 model year Model 3 Performance Models. Tesla inadvertently removed the speedometer display from the user interface after a routine firmware update in Dec 2021.
Due to Tesla's pioneering software-based vehicle design. The automaker was also able to address this problem with an over-the-air software update.
In February, Tesla recalled 26,000+ Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in China due to malfunctioning heat pumps, which can lead to inefficient heating of the cabin which could affect the performance of the windshield defoggers and cause the windows to fog up while driving.
This particular problem also surfaced after a software update in December. Shortly after the update, Tesla began receiving complaints from customers who brought their cars in for service complaining of a loss of heating performance in extreme cold weather conditions.
An investigation into potential causes soon began, which linked the problem to the Electronic Expansion Valve (EXV) experiencing controller communication interruptions.
Also in February, Tesla recalled 2021-2022 Model S sedans and Model X SUVs, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles to address a malfunctioning seat belt chime. The problem was that the audible chime may not activate when the vehicle starts and the driver has not yet buckled their seat belt.
NHTSA Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) require that all vehicles sold in the U.S. have an audible alert for the driver if they forget to buckle up. This problem was also addressed via an OTA software update.
Tesla has issued 11 recalls so far this year. The company is tied with Stellantis for fourth most recalls in 2022.
But Tesla's pioneering software-based vehicle architecture allows the automaker to fix these types of minor problems quickly and efficiently, without the inconvenience of owners having to take their vehicles in for service like other automakers are required to do.
- Lucid’s New ‘Stealth Look’ Appearance Package for the Electric Air Sedan Compliments its High Performance DNA
- Toyota’s Redesigned Prius May Get More Drivers Behind the Wheel of a Hybrid Vehicle
- Toyota to Collaborate With Texas-based Utility Provider Oncor to Accelerate a Vehicle-to-Grid EV Charging Ecosystem
- Stellantis to Idle its Illinois Assembly Plant Indefinitely, Citing the High Costs of Electric Vehicles
- Apple Delays its Long Rumored Electric ‘Apple Car’ Until 2026, According to Sources
- The World’s First Level-4 Automated Parking Feature Developed by Mercedes-Benz and Bosch is Approved for Commercial Use
- Hyundai Motor Group Signs MoU with SK On Co. to Secure Batteries for EVs Built in the U.S.
- Tesla May Build its Next Factory in South Korea, According to the Country’s Presidential Office


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New Delhi: Sensing a multi-billion dollar opportunity to improve the cross-border payments system, Facebook is launching its own digital coin called ‘Libra’ next year which is set to run into rough weather with several governments, including India, not treating cryptocurrencies as legal tender.
The move to launch ‘Libra’ comes at a time when Facebook is under intense pressure from regulators, shareholders, and users to address privacy shortcomings.
The social networking giant with over two billion users globally is facing regulatory challenges as the Cambridge Analytica scandal has exposed its lapses of data privacy and security.
According to senior Forrester analyst Aurelie L’Hostis, now that Facebook is reaching out to financial firms and payments service providers to join the Libra consortium to help them launch their cryptocurrency-based payments system, we can expect regulators and governments to raise questions regarding Facebook’s financial data collection and management process.
“By launching its own cryptocurrency, Facebook is essentially creating its own shopping ecosystem where consumers and businesses will be able to buy and sell products on its platforms without having to use web payment systems like PayPal,” L’Hostis told IANS.
However, the move is set to see some intense scrutiny as there is a huge trust deficit with Facebook.
Facebook has been making inroads into financial services, having applied for an EU “e-money” license five years ago in order to let users use Facebook to pay and exchange money with others on the platform.
According to Meng Liu, another analyst with Forrester, the Libra vision sets up a series of massively complex challenges.
“A cryptocurrency is used by 2.7 billion people across the globe would be a threat to national sovereignty and the disruption of their ability to coin money.
“China, Indonesia, and Pakistan have already banned Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies due to similar threats. The US, France, and Russia have now all expressed concerns regarding the threat that Libra would represent,” said Liu.
Though cryptocurrency itself is characterized by anonymity, the digital platforms that consumers use to make payments will be based on WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook.
“The Cambridge Analytica scandal exposed egregious missteps by Facebook — and users haven’t yet forgotten that breach of trust,” Liu added.
‘Libra’s’ documentation indicates that it has strengthened its data privacy protection mechanisms, but this will unlikely be enough to assuage deep concerns when it comes to Facebook’s ability to govern such a system and currency.
“Meanwhile, too much privacy will increase regulatory concerns about money laundering and tax avoidance,” the expert cautioned.
Facebook says its aim is to enable accessible and affordable digital payments for billions of people with ‘Libra’.
“While Facebook has a lofty vision for Libra, it already faces many rough challenges pertaining to privacy and regulation. India currently posits an excellent growth opportunity for fin-tech initiatives, primed from its booming digital payments push by the government,” said Prabhu Ram, Head, Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research.
It is no wonder then that in India Facebook, like its peers Google and Amazon, has been aiming to integrate payment capabilities into WhatsApp, allowing users to make and receive payments.
“However, with ‘Libra’, it will potentially run into rough weather with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which currently does not view cryptocurrency favorably,” Ram told IANS.
Just weeks ago, the media was awash with calls to break up Facebook and reduce its influence. Considering this background, the launch of the ‘Libra’ project seems brazen.
“But what is even more strange is Facebook’s decision to launch a cryptocurrency. Launching a traditional payment system to better compete with the likes of Alipay and WeChat Pay would have not attracted such ire from governments and would have probably had a better chance of success,” noted Liu.


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We can now confirm that plan*t will be launching nationally with the amazing team at My Food Bag. Now Sustainable Food's delicious NZ-made, plan*t-based sustainable foods, will be able to be delivered to homes throughout Aotearoa. plan*t will be a fixed option to meet the growing demand from My Food Bag’s flexitarian, vegetarian and vegan customers who want a plant based product to swap in.
This includes the following products from the plan*t product range:
We are thrilled to announce that Sustainable Foods has secured famous international rugby halfback and committed vegan TJ Perenara as our newest plan*t brand ambassador, long term partner and investor.
TJ originally adopted a vegetarian diet in 2016 then became vegan in 2019 after the Rugby World Cup. Originally, his reasons were ethical, but as an athlete, the health benefits he experienced were a huge bonus. We are extremely excited to have TJ on board as a like-minded partner that shares in our vision.
“Being vegetarian and vegan for more than 5 years, I wanted to be part of a project that enables me to have an impact in this space. Sustainable Foods has a definite edge being on the ground here in New Zealand. When the opportunity to invest and be part of the team came up, I jumped at it.” – TJ PerenarRead more about the announcement
What if we could develop delicious plant-based protein foods as tasty alternatives, that more people would choose to eat regularly?
As co-founders of Sustainable Foods we believe we have an opportunity to make a real difference for current and future generations. We have 40 years combined experience in food manufacturing and hospitality and have been working together for 11 years.
We have been creating new, tasty and innovative real food for our customers for over 20 years and while we’ve always had a focus on quality and ethical sourcing, and ranges of vegetarian products, we realised we wanted to do more.
With our families and personal diets already changing, several years back, we saw this change aligning in the market. With consumer preferences reflecting a growing awareness around nutrition and sustainability. The more we read, engaged and experimented, the more committed we became to making sustainable, plant-based products our focus.
After years of eating imported options ourselves, we knew there was an opportunity for us to create high quality plant-based products in New Zealand, and celebrate and amazing provenance of sustainability production that cares for our environment.
We have a deep commitment to personal health and sustainability. We want to scale our business to impact on our futures locally and globally. Our products are all about ‘Nourishing individuals’, “Nurturing our planet’ and fulfilling our responsibility towards Kaitiakitanga - guardianship of our environment and people.
Our tasty food is NZ-made, using thoughtfully sourced, natural ingredients supported by certified sourcing and measurement, and we are committed to ongoing product innovation to continue our leadership in this space.
We believe in empowering conscious consumption choices without compromising the eating experience or nutrition. We want to give our customers access to great plant-based protein options, that are nutritious, taste great and are produced sustainably for our planet!
Looking back at the last 12 months we are amazed and humbled at what we’ve accomplished – launching new products, being shortlisted for and winning multiple awards both in NZ and internationally and securing new ranging and contracts – great recognitions for our team. We’ve done this while establishing a world class manufacturing facility and delivering significant growth.
At Sustainable Foods we are focused on business with a greater purpose. Creating and innovating more sustainable food, building new ideas and always striving for improvement.
We are excited about path ahead and have lots more to do including strengthening our ingredient sourcing with NZ growing partnerships, furthering our sustainability initiatives and collaborating with our community. We’re ready for the next stage and hope to have you along for the journey!
We believe it is possible to both eat well and ensure future generations enjoy our wondrous planet. We can nourish ourselves while nurturing our planet.
Ngā mihi nui ki a kotou.
Justin and Kyran
Sustainable Foods Limited’s (SFL) vision is to be a leading innovator and provider of delicious nutrition-rich, plant-based protein options that help consumers eat more sustainably. The company offers a portfolio of revolutionary products under their plan*t brand, that are nutritious, flavourful and sustainable.
Sustainable Foods believes it is possible to both eat well and ensure our future generations get to enjoy the wondrous planet as we do today. To truly deliver on that belief consumers need to be able to choose delicious plant-based food alternatives.
Fresh from winning the highly contested NZ Artisan Awards Chilled and Deli Category, and the 2021 New Zealand Vegan Society Best Banger award, Sustainable Food’s products include mince, burgers, sausages (red meat alternatives) along with white meat alternatives such as natural hemp chick*n, nuggets, tenders and southern fried chick*n. Sustainable Foods plan*t products are made from plant-based proteins or PBP which replicate the taste, texture and eating experiences of animal-based protein.
Sustainable Foods takes pride in where and how they source ingredients and implement sustainable business practices throughout the supply chain. All plan*t products are made from:
The global plant-based protein market size is projected to grow strongly with the global plant-based meat market expected to reach USD 35.4 billion by 2027 according to a new study conducted by Polaris Market Research - this represents a CAGR of 15.8%. Today PBP makes up 1% of overall demand for meat protein. This is projected to reach between 11-22% by 2035.
The alternate protein and PBP market in New Zealand has been developing at a moderate rate offering consumers new options from the traditional offerings of tofu and vegetarian sausages. While the local market is hard to value given its infancy, the closest comparable is the chilled vegetarian products market which is worth $38m and includes retail alternate protein. The foodservice market is estimated to add another third to this market size.
Market growth is being driven by consumer awareness of the health concerns and environmental and animal-welfare impacts of animal-based meat consumption has resulted in a surge in demand for ethical and kinder living choices available through plant-based protein alternatives. Consumers are keen to explore alternatives that don't require them to compromise on taste or dramatically change lifestyles.
PBP products are projected to have the highest growth in the next 5-10 years out of all the alternative protein options; this can be attributed to the progress in product development along with consumer acceptance of PBP as a source of protein.
Operating since 2018, Sustainable Foods initially launched in partnership with The Craft Meat Company Limited and in January 2020 SFL acquired full ownership. SFL achieved revenue of $606k in FY21 and is targeting $1.5m+ for FY22 based on year-to-date revenue of $980k from 1 April to to 31 December 2021.
With established sales channels with Foodstuffs, Progressive Enterprises, the three main Food Service Distributors as well as the QSR brands such as Hell Pizza, Burger Wisconsin, Tank Juice and Gorilla Burger, the business also recently consolidated production sites to a world class, scalable facility in kapiti which will enable them to meet demand from their target customers - being flexitarians and meat reducers that make up an estimated 30% of the population.
Sustainable Foods has built the base capability, product, production, brand, sales channels, and business relationships and has an expert team in place to accelerate growth. They are now raising $1.5m of new capital to support the following:
The opportunity that we have in front of us is being driven by three key themes, population growth outpacing food supply, the environmental impact of meat production and consumer trends.
While the global meat products market is expected to grow from $838.25 billion in 2020 to $1,157.55 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 7%, largely driven by population growth, the alternative meat market is set for more rapid growth in the coming years. It is estimated to make up 1% of overall ”meat” protein demand today and is projected to be between 11-22% by 2035.
The world’s population has grown to reach 7.9 billion and is expected to surge to 9.6 billion by 2050, leading to a massive need to increase food production volumes.
Globally, we consume over 300 million metric tons of meat every year, which is more than double that of what was consumed in 1990. By weight, poultry is now the most consumed meat type worldwide (131.2 m metric tons), followed by Pork (106.3m metric tons), Beef (70.9m metric tons) and Lamb (15.5m metric tons). However, proteins are not evenly distributed across the world and are disproportionately consumed in first world and emerging economies.
It is estimated we need a 69% increase in food calories to be produced to feed 9.6 billion equitably - producers still face a massive deficit between current food production levels and future food production requirements.
Emerging markets are driving this growth: China, in particular, is the world’s largest consumer of meat, with protein consumption expected to grow by around 4% a year due to its rising middle class. China alone was estimated to have consumed more than 40 million metric tons of pork in 2020 which is more than double the amount consumed across the entire European Union. India is on track to becoming the world’s largest middle class consumer market, forecast to surpass both China and the U.S by 2030. In aggregate, China and India will represent roughly two-thirds of the global middle-class population and 59% of middle-class consumption. Countries such as Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines and Vietnam are following similar trajectories with a rapidly growing percentage of middle class expected to drive meat consumption.
While the Covid-19 pandemic had a disruptive impact on global meat consumption, the increasing global demand for protein has created challenges for feeding future generations, and meatless alternatives are helping to fill the gap.
It is well recorded that several factors related to the production of meat contribute to global environmental damage, including increased greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, biodiversity loss/soil degradation and mass water usage - all contributing to climate change.
Meat is the biggest contributor to environmental damage caused by food production and reducing meat consumption is the one of the best ways consumers can reduce their environmental impact on the planet.
Plant based protein uses 47%–99% less land and water resources to produce than meat which is leading a large number of consumers to seek out meat alternatives that are also protein rich.
The world is changing and the plant-based food segment is one of the fastest growing consumer trends the world is seeing today. As a result, protein-rich and plant-based products are in high demand.
Consumers look to plant-based protein for a combination of reasons that are outlined below.
Results from a number of global studies have found that nearly half (48%) of all consumers look for foods and drinks labeled “plant-based”. Additionally, one- quarter of adults say they are eating more plant protein than they did in 2020,twenty-nine percent of adults eat meat alternatives at least once a month or more often, 40% of those aged 18–44 do so, and one-third of restaurant diners aged 18–34 are increasingly seeking out vegetarian/vegan options as a first choice on menus.
The primary types of alternative proteins fit broadly into three categories:
Plant-based proteins or PBP are produced to replicate the taste, texture and eating experiences of meat, dairy and seafood – this alternate protein has dominated investment, and global market consumer consumption. Dairy replacements have led the way recently with the mainstream adoption of brands like Little Island, Oatly, Califia Farms and Ripple Foods.
Laboratory cell grown products seek to replicate the natural meat or fish product but is developed in a lab. While this product shows promise they are some time from becoming commercially viable and there are varying levels of consumer acceptance.
Sources such as insects have historically been eaten in more emerging markets given nutrition and accessibility. Consumers in developed markets do consume the category in processed form i.e., powder. This category is still in the infancy stage given low customer acceptance. However, it is seeing growth as a replacement for animal feed to address challenges in global fish stocks and biodiversity. And as we struggle to feed the growing population, markets are also likely to change.
Sustainable Foods has invested strongly in its team which has a strong mix of business strategy, marketing, nutrition, food production and safety, product development. Our current team’s backgrounds are noted below.
It's crucial for you to understand the characteristics and risks of this investment opportunity. New Zealand law normally requires people who offer financial products to provide in-depth information to investors before they invest. The usual rules do not apply to offers by companies through Snowball Effect. As a result, you may not be given all the information you need to make an informed decision. Investing is risky. Some of the key risks include loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of returns, dilution, loss of key people and customers, and lack of control. You should only invest money that you can afford to lose.


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For the first time, people can now buy beer on Sunday in Wiggins.
Since store owners asked the city’s board of aldermen in June to extend beer sales to Sundays, businesses and customers have been eagerly awaiting the new change.
Beer business was steady Sunday at Dandy Dans Texaco station in Wiggins.
It was the first day that the store and all of the city could sell on Sunday.
“We finally took the no beer on Sunday sign in the beer cave yesterday and it was a great feeling because I knew we would get more customers today,” said sales clerk Maritus Saucier.
She said the new ordinance will likely increase business on Sundays by 25 to 30 percent.
It also made some customers really happy.
“I love it,” said Mark Gorny. “’Bout time. ‘Bout time. Now maybe they might get a restaurant in here that serves beer on Sundays. You can eat a hot dog and a cold beer and enjoy life.”
Sam Douglas said it makes things easier.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It brings a lot more money into the county. You don’t have to drive out of the county to get beer. It’s a lot more convenient.”
Stores in Wiggins had been able to sell beer from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Sales hours on Sunday are noon until 11 p.m.
Even those who don’t buy beer, like Tara Tucker, believe it was a good move.
“Well for people who do drink, although I don’t drink, it’s a big deal,” she said. “People who actually do drink have to drive about 30 miles out of the way, and now that we’re actually selling beer on Sundays, it saves a lot of people a lot of gas, time. People are actually going to be excited.”
And while there are those who support law because of business and convenience, there are others who object, and strongly.
Dr. Eugene Anderson, pastor of Vardaman Street Baptist Church in downtown Wiggins, was one of many who objected to the Board of Aldermen's decision, saying it was just the wrong direction for a family oriented community to go.
“I would have been better satisfied if it was brought to a vote by the city,” Anderson said. “And then, if the whole city voted on it, to me that would be more acceptable than just the board of alderman.”


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They may be considered different media, but internet and TV advertising are getting joined at the hip.
Case in point is how knowledge of TV viewing habits is increasingly informing the online component of multi-channel ad campaigns.
Kantar Media chief commercial officer Bud Breheney tells Beet.TV Kantar’s data about Americans’ TV tuning behavior is being used by WPP stablemate Xaxis to plan smarter digital ad campaigns.
“We know what households have been exposed to commercials,” Breheney says. “We’ve looked at people that have low television usage. Xaxis can then target a campaign for people that are light TV viewers.”
Equally, data showing moderate and heavy TV viewers can also help plan ad buys, helping Xaxis double-down on reaching viewers who may already have been exposed to certain brand ads, for example.
Kantar is also busy beefing up the TV tuning data with other types, recently adding a new partner for doing so. “We’ve matched CPG (consumer packaged goods) data with TV tuning, we’ve matched automotive purchase data,” Breheney says. “Now we are bringing in American Express category spending data in with television tuning data. We’ll bring that out to market in early first quarter of 2014.”


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US Congress to probe Toyota recalls
Congressional investigators have sought documents from Toyota Motor Corp and US safety regulators about a pair of safety recalls the automaker was racing to address.autos Updated: Jan 29, 2010 09:04 IST
Congressional investigators sought documents from Toyota Motor Corp and US safety regulators about a pair of safety recalls the automaker was racing to address.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman said he would hold a hearing next month to consider "how quickly and effectively" the car maker responded to complaints about unintended and dangerous acceleration.
"Like many consumers, I am concerned by the seriousness and scope of Toyota's recent recall announcements," Waxman said in a statement.
The unusual action by the US government comes just hours after the Toyota recall for accelerator problems was widened to include China and Europe.
The world's largest automaker and a company studied for its devotion to quality, Toyota has recalled about 8 million vehicles in recent months -- more than the number of cars and trucks it sold worldwide in 2009.
The recalls rank as the largest ever for Toyota. Analysts say the financial impact will depend on how long the safety problems shut production and whether Toyota's famously loyal customers begin to abandon the brand.
Shares of Toyota have dropped 17 per cent over the past week. The stock was down 1.5 per cent in early Tokyo trading on Friday.
"If I sat down to write the worst thing that could happen to Toyota, it would be very close to what is happening to them now," said Gerald Meyers, a University of Michigan business professor and veteran auto executive.
"They are at the edge of a collapse of confidence in their products," said Meyers. "That means their brand is in jeopardy. If they lose their brand they lose the battle. That's why it's close to being as bad as it could get."
Ratings agency Fitch, placing Toyota on watch negative, said the recalls and production suspension damaged Toyota's reputation for quality and could hamper its recovery.
Toyota's troubles come as rivals Ford Motor Co and Hyundai Motor Co announced fourth-quarter results that beat analyst expectations. Both automakers lead a pack of rivals expected to gain ground from Toyota's missteps.
Reckoning the damage
Industry analysts and executives estimate that it will cost some $250 million in warranty costs alone to address the smaller of the two recalls underway in the United States.
The automaker also faces the fallout from the larger recall that began last year and was broadened this week for vehicles at risk of having floormats that can become jammed under accelerator pedals.
Then there are the still unknown costs for lost production, financial support to dealers and sales incentives the company has told its retailers it is considering in a bid to keep customers being wooed by rivals.
In addition, Toyota is certain to face lawsuits from people who claim injuries from the defects or class-action claims on behalf of consumers who will claim the crisis has damaged the value of their cars, analysts say.
Toyota has not released an estimate for the number of incidents of unintended acceleration. Consumer advocates say there are hundreds of such cases in Toyota vehicles.
Meanwhile, Toyota said it was racing to fix one of the recurring problems with sticky accelerator pedals that has forced it to shut down sales and production of most vehicles in the United States.
The proposed remedy under discussion with U.S. officials would involve shipping a "spacer" or a "shim" to Toyota's dealers in the United States, sources briefed on the matter said.
The new part would increase tension in the accelerator and prevent sticking, Toyota engineers believe, according to the sources, who asked not to be named because an announcement has not been made.
Toyota spokesman Mike Michels declined to comment on the proposed repair. He also said production could be run at reduced levels even after it is restarted to allow Toyota to send replacement parts to dealers.


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“Our insatiable appetite for clothes comes with a huge social and environmental price tag,” said Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the UK Government’s Environmental Audit Committee, speaking on Tuesday as London Fashion Week came to a close. The committee has called on the Government to make fashion retailers take responsibility for the clothes they produce and waste they create, concluding in its long-awaited report that the voluntary approach to improving the sustainability of the fashion industry is failing. However, despite these real concerns, there are sectors of the business that are striving to make a difference, and on the same day that the committee’s report was published, London-based designer Bethany Williams was officially recognized for her clear commitment to tackling both social and environmental issues.
The London College of Fashion (LCF) graduate was this year’s recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design, conceived in recognition of the role the fashion industry plays in society and diplomacy, and awarded to an emerging British fashion designer making a difference in terms of community or sustainability. Presented by The Duchess of Cornwall, who praised Williams for putting “change for the good at the heart of her business”, the award also demonstrated, according to LCF’s Frances Corner, “that it is possible to embrace and face head on the challenges that threaten our industry."
Hailing from a socially conscious and environmentally-aware family, Williams has regularly volunteered at homeless shelters and soup kitchens, and it was when working at a local foodbank while studying Critical Fine Art in Brighton that she decided to use fashion as a means of making a difference to society. Not only is her clothing line manufactured using sustainable materials, but it is produced in partnership with charities that support social change. And the designer’s debut appearance on the London Fashion Week schedule this week was a sartorial commentary on Britain’s housing crisis.
Named Adelaide House after a women’s shelter in Liverpool that houses the homeless, domestic abuse survivors, and prison-leavers, Williams commissioned artist Giorgia Chiarion to create a series of portraits of residents and abstract paintings of the city for the collection, which she then featured on her designs. She also made use of newspaper waste from the Liverpool Echo, transforming it into a textured material for the collection’s coats and trousers with the help of residents of San Patrignano, a rehabilitation center in Italy that teaches traditional crafts to people with drug dependency. Her jersey pieces were constructed in conjunction with LCF’s Making for Change program, which supports the training of women in Surrey’s Downview Prison; knitwear was created using renewable, biodegradable and deadstock yarns; and denim was sourced from a recycling facility.
While Adelaide House will receive 20% of the profits from sales of the collection, it’s clear that Williams’ support for charities goes much further than simply financial, and she takes an active role in championing causes. Another example of her work ethos could be seen on the catwalk, where two homeless models joined the other professionals including activist Adwoa Aboah. They were cast from TIH Models, a specialist talent agency that creates paid opportunities in campaigns and fashion shows for individuals currently sleeping rough on the streets of London.
Looking to the future, Williams wants to explore alternative ways of working that are beneficial to both people and the planet, and one of her goals is to set up a UK-based social manufacturing unit. “I’d set it up as a training programme and run it as a social enterprise,” she told Harper’s Bazaar’s Ella Alexander. “I could give away parts of my manufacturing to people that need employment or a chance to learn new skills.”


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Formula One appoints Virgin Media ad boss responsible for Usain Bolt creative as head of marketing
Formula One has appointed Virgin Media advertising and sponsorship boss, Ellie Norman, as its new head of marketing.
Ellie Norman will work with Sean Bratches, Formula One's managing director of commercial operations
Norman joins Formula One having spent five years at Virgin Media where she served as head of advertising, a role which was expanded to include the development and implementation of sponsorship across the business.
During her time at the telecoms giant Norman led the evolution of all Virgin Media brand campaigns including the Usain Bolt 9.58 second work.
She was also responsible for Virgin Media’s sponsorship transition away from the likes of V Festival to more strategic partnerships including Southampton Football Club, Bafta TV and EGX.
In addition to her work with Virgin Media, Norman held the role of communications manager at Honda Motor Europe where she led the communications strategy for 27 markets and had responsibility for pan-European advertising, media, digital and print.
“Ellie’s appointment represents the latest addition to our expanding management team, aimed at increasing engagement with Formula 1 fans globally,” said Sean Bratches, managing director of commercial operations at Formula One.
“Her previous experience across major automotive and media brands will help Ellie to drive Formula 1’s marketing strategy forward.
Norman added: “The commercial potential of the brand is enormous and I can’t wait to work with Sean and the growing Formula 1 team to unlock new opportunities to engage with Formula 1 fans around the world.”
Norman’s appointment follows on from the recent news that the sport’s new owners are planning to develop an owned online streaming platform as part of a wider evolution around its broadcast model.


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W.Va. AG, Capital One settle credit card lawsuit
CHARLESTON, W.Va.—Capitol One Bank will forgive $3 million in credit card debt owed by West Virginia to settle a lawsuit filed by the state.
The lawsuit filed by Attorney General Darrell McGraw's office claimed Capital One misled consumers about fees and terms of preapproved credit cards.
McGraw said Tuesday that the settlement resolves claims involving the company's credit card practices prior to Jan. 1, 2006. The attorney general's office began investigating in 2005.
McGraw says in a news release that Capital One also agreed to pay $9.5 million to the state and $1 million to his office.
Capital One spokeswoman Tatiana Stead says the company has made significant improvements and looks forward to continuing to serve card customers in West Virginia.


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There may be a ray of sunshine amidst dark stormy clouds when it comes to avoiding a massive trade war between the U.S. and China. The state-run China Daily reported today the government was mostly pleased by the results of weekend negotiations with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross over tariffs but still issued a warning to the Trump Administration.
While acknowledging the positive development, the statement emphasized that the results achieved between China and the US should be based on the condition that the two sides meet each other halfway and agree not to engage in a trade war.
If the US introduces trade sanctions, including tariff increases, all the economic and trade achievements negotiated by the two sides will not take effect, according to the statement…
China reiterated in the statement that its attitude has been consistent and it is willing to increase imports from numerous countries around the world, including the US, to meet the Chinese people’s growing demand for a better life and the requirements of high-quality economic development.
Sunday’s statement also emphasized that reform and opening-up as well as boosting domestic demand are China’s national strategies and the established pace (of implementing the strategies) will not change.
The article also features comments from a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences official worrying a trade war will hurt both economies which is kind of interesting to see given China’s communist government. One would think communists wouldn’t 100% worry about a trade war because, “the state will survive,” and they’d be gunning for a trade war, tariffs and all. One thing Daniel Ikenson wrote at Cato last week was China would probably do okay in a trade war because their government would just keep propping up business.
The administration is right to be concerned about China’s mercantilist technology policies, but it seems to have no clue about how to mitigate the problem. Tariffs will do nothing to address China’s promotion of national champion industries, nor will it dissuade intellectual property theft of forced technology transfer policies. They will disrupt global supply chains and make Americans, Chinese, and many others around the world less well off than they are today.
There are those who disagree with the notion a trade war will cause the American economy to crash and burn like the Hindenburg. Daniel McCarthy argued at Spectator USA the U.S. will come out on top should World Trade War X break out.
The thing to keep in mind when reading about retaliation is that the US has trade deficits with all of these countries—as well, of course, with China, which is not one of America’s leading sources of steel but whose state-subsidized steel industry is responsible for depressing prices globally. Because the US buys far more goods from these countries than they buy from us, they stand to lose much more in a tit-for-tat over tariffs. How can China or Canada put tariffs on American goods that they don’t actually buy? They can’t, and what they do buy, while not insignificant, pales before what Americans buy from them…
China’s long-term goal in this will be very familiar to anyone who has studied the history of trade, war, and imperialism. Beijing would like to build up its own industrial power and hollow out that of the United States, its chief long-run strategic rival. Under imperialism, the metropole liked to foster and protect industry at home and keep colonies dependent by depriving them of manufacturing and getting them to import finished goods rather than creating them (let alone exporting them). Leverage belongs to the manufacturers. China has no need to start a war with the United States. One superpower can replace another by a gradual process of economic eclipse and induced de-industrialization. Let Americans think that their “service economy” will sustain itself. It won’t: a nation without a strong manufacturing base is as vulnerable as a nation that cannot feed itself or supply its own vital natural resources.
Those who fear Trump’s tariffs need not lose hope, however. The president is a negotiator, as he is proving in his complex diplomacy with Kim Jong-un.
The heavy tariffs are leverage for negotiating, and Trump might yet back off if, for example, Mexico agrees to pay for the border wall he has pledged to build, or Canada cooperates in renegotiating NAFTA.
Maybe? I get where McCarthy is coming from but disagree based on past history. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff hurt the U.S. economy and the Tariff of 1828 was a factor in the lead up to the Civil War. It doesn’t make sense to just raise taxes on products which American companies and consumers are using. Calvin Coolidge biographer Amity Shlaes is right.
Lower taxes, higher market. Higher tariffs, lower market. It seems that policy affects markets. This is not a Random Walk.
— 𝔸𝕞𝕚𝕥𝕪 𝕊𝕙𝕝𝕒𝕖𝕤 (@AmityShlaes) June 1, 2018
I’m still holding out hope there won’t be any trade war and all this is bluster on the part of Trump. Congress still needs to do its job and repeal Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act. It might be a tiny thread of hope, but there’s still a chance a trade war won’t happen and a better economic relationship with China (and other nations) will happen.


text: The payments industry is always looking for new ways to streamline processes, reduce costs, improve security, and, most importantly, increase customer pleasure. Modernizing existing Automated Clearing House (ACH) rails will not be enough to speed the adoption of new creative digital services and products, such as digital wallets, when it comes to real-time or instant payments. To enable real-time payments, digital means will be necessary. When it comes to the adoption of cutting-edge digital services that are supported by a robust real-time payment infrastructure. RTP Space and Fed are the two biggest participants in the industry right now. India, the world's largest real-time payments market, continues to raise the bar.


text: Hedge fund manager Dan Niles has revealed that he is still shorting Tesla ‘s stock, despite being bullish on the broader market. Niles, cofounder and portfolio manager of the Satori Fund, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday that he sees significant headwinds for Tesla in the months ahead that could push the stock lower. TSLA YTD line Having more than doubled in value this year, Niles said the stock now faces a very different environment to earlier this year. Specifically, he cited surging interest rates, with the 10-year Treasury yield spiking to 4.8% recently, as creating a challenging backdrop for auto sales. Rising rates have pushed up the typical new-vehicle loan interest rate to 9.62% , according to Cox Automotive. Its data shows that it now takes 42.1 weeks of median income to purchase a new car — up from an average of 34 weeks before the pandemic. “Higher financing costs driving up the cost of cars for the average consumer, combined with the fact that the stock is up a lot, and we think it’s a good relative short paired up with a lot of the other names that were long in technology,” Niles said. Tesla delivered 435,059 cars in the third quarter, less than expected and lower than the 466,140 cars delivered in the previous three months. However, Tesla said it continues to target its previously declared goal of 1.8 million vehicle deliveries for the whole of this year. The lower delivery numbers were released despite price cuts for its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles earlier in the year. Together, Niles said the statistics were “indicative of there being continued pressure on gross margins going into the future.” It should be noted that Niles’ Tesla short position is relatively small and accounts for about 1% of his portfolio. In contrast, the fund manager has previously made aggressive bets of up to 15% of the fund on stocks where the hedge fund has had a high conviction. While Niles views Tesla’s stock as relatively overvalued, he is constructive on the company. “We like the company. I own a Tesla. I own a Model X. I think it’s a great product,” Niles told CNBC Pro. “I think Elon Musk is the Thomas Edison of our generation. I love the company. I just think the stock is expensive, given that estimates have to probably [come] lower.” Niles also explained that he’s currently “bullish” on the overall market as less than 10% of his fund’s holdings are shorts currently, compared to a historical average of around 50%.


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Video shows what the iPhone 5’s taller 4-inch display could look like in action
When Apple unveils its iPhone 5 next month, one of the biggest changes we’re expecting is a larger 4-inch display. Sure, it’ll probably have a faster processor, maybe a better camera, and possibly even 4G connectivity. But the biggest change for most of us will be the display – this video shows what it could be like to run iOS on it.
Created by MacRumors, this demonstration clip almost looks like it was produced by Apple itself. It’s based on a device with a 4-inch display, with a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels. That extra space means significant changes to every element of the user interface, from the home screen to apps, games, and playing video.
As the video demonstrates, the home screen would be capable of displaying six rows of apps as opposed to just five, and there would be more room to display open folders, which means you should be able to cram more apps into those folders (finally!).
In addition to this, MacRumors predicts future apps and games will become taller/wider to accommodate the larger screen. This is where things get really exciting. It means you’ll be able to play widescreen games and movies like those shown in the video, whereas apps like Twitter and Messages have more room to display more information.
The demonstration suggests that older apps, which haven’t yet been updated to support the larger display, will be “letterboxed” to run inside a smaller window – kind of like when you run iPhone apps on an iPad. The new 1136 x 640 resolution means a 16:9 aspect ratio – the same as that found on widescreen monitors and televisions – which means movies and TV shows should support the next-generation iPhone’s display as standard.
MacRumors notes that some of the features and designs in this video are purely speculative, and that Apple’s actual execution may differ somewhat. However, we get the feeling this is a pretty accurate portrayal of what iOS on the iPhone 5 will be like. And we can’t wait for it.


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Butte businesses show support for Pride month
BUTTE, Mont. - A group of local Butte business owners are participating in the Open to All Initiative, a movement showing support for LGBTQ customers.
The owners told NBC Montana they believe in diversity and that they welcome anyone into their establishments with open arms. Courtney McKee, owner of Headframe Spirits, is a strong supporter of the movement. Headframe's bourbon cream liqueur, named Orphan Girl, has a pride label on it that McKee says represents Butte's caring mentality. "We want to make sure that everybody knows that they are incredibly welcome. Not just in Headframes, but in Butte -- in our hearts and in our stories," McKee said. Like many places in town Headrame Spirits has a sticker on their front window to show its participation in the initiative. The main focus of the movement, we're told, is for local businesses to be inclusive in their practices, not exclusive. "We're just here to support everyone that lives and works in this community," said Eric Schelin, owner of Butte-Silver Bow Pizza. June is recognized as LGBTQ Awareness month in the United States.


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Saudi Arabia isn’t just the world’s top crude oil exporter. It’s also the biggest producer.
With around 26 million fake goods worth AED1 billion ($270m) seized in Dubai in 2017,.
Google confirms it has now addressed an issue that caused the YouTube app to drain.
Tesla’s Semi is an all-electric semi truck, which itself is a major feat, but its.
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In the present day, Samsung confirmed off its flagship Notice eight, the gadget has an.


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Woody Allen: Keep Mia Farrow, dirty laundry outta American Apparel clothing suit
By THOMAS ZAMBITO
DIALY NEWS STAFF WRITER|
May 05, 2009 | 12:16 AM
Woody Allen wants to keep ex-girlfriend Mia Farrow and Hustler Publisher Larry Flynt from taking the stand during his upcoming courtroom showdown with the owners of a popular clothing company.
His lawyers filed papers Monday in federal court accusing American Apparel of trying to turn the trial into a "spectacle" by listing Farrow as a witness so they can dredge up their bitter 1992 custody battle.
"It is clear that the unproven allegations from the custody dispute will be used in a most lurid manner," lawyer Christian Carbone writes.
Allen wants $10 million for American Apparel's decision to plaster an image of him lifted from "Annie Hall" on billboards in New York and Los Angeles.


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(Yicai Global) March 21 -- Shares in Xinjiang Talimu Agriculture Development, Wanxiang Doneed and other Chinese seed producers jumped today after Chinese distiller Kweichow Moutai said its parent firm the Kweichow Moutai Group is entering the seed market to produce the grain needed to make its famed liquor.
Talimu Agriculture’s share price [SHA:600359] soared by the exchange-imposed limit of 10 percent to end the day at CNY8.12 (USD1.28) while Wanxiang Doneed [SHA:600371] also surged 10 percent to finish at CNY13.66. Other seed producers, such as Shandong Denghai Seeds [SHE:002041] and Yuan Longping High-Tech Agriculture [SHE:000998], also did well with gains of 7.93 percent and 6.58 percent respectively.
Kweichow Moutai Group Hongyingzi Agricultural Science and Technology Development will be based in Renhuai, southwestern Guizhou province and will focus on cultivating the seed for the glutinous sorghum used to make Moutai, unit Kweichow Moutai said on March 19.
Setting up the seed unit will consolidate raw material production, expand the industrial chain upstream to seeds and form omni-industry chain quality control to ensure the taste never changes, the Zunyi, Guizhou province-based company said.
Branching into agricultural science and technology will satisfy the company’s need to guarantee quality sourcing for the production of its highly sought-after alcohol, General Manager Li Jingren said.
The prices of agricultural produce such as soybean and wheat have recently hit a 14-year high, propelled by geopolitical factors, Huaxin Securities said in a recent research note. This has increasingly highlighted the issue of food security and put more emphasis on the planting industry.
China’s newly amended law of seeds came into effect on March 1, giving better protection to seed intellectual property and encouraging breakthroughs in seed research and development, the report said.
Editor: Kim Taylor


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- Tesla is pivoting towards the overall energy sector and is trying to become a leading integrated clean energy provider.
- The recent launch of the Gigafactory and the acquisition of SolarCity are clear indicators of Tesla's strategy.
- The clean energy business is likely to become at least as big as the car business in the long term and plausibly bigger.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has been recently all over the technology and financial news for its initiatives aimed at becoming a leading player in the energy sector. It appears that the company is pivoting from its original luxury electric cars niche to the overall energy sector, and trying to become a top integrated clean energy provider.
The Gigafactory, Tesla's huge manufacturing plant for electric batteries and storage systems in the Nevada desert, opened its doors a few weeks ago. Tesla needs the Gigafactory to mass-produce batteries for the low-cost Model 3, the first Tesla car for the consumer market, which has been pre-ordered by 350,000 customers and is expected to make or break the company. The involvement of Panasonic shows that Tesla's energy storage products will have applications much beyond cars. Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk thinks Telsa’s Powerwall (consumer) and Powerpack (industrial) energy storage solutions, both assembled in the Gigafactory, will be important drivers for Tesla's growth, as CNBC reports.
Musk noted that improvements in manufacturing facilities with the economy of scale can deliver more performance enhancement per dollar than improvements in component design, and added that the energy storage business will probably be as big as the car business in the long term. "And will actually have a growth rate probably several times that of what the car business is per year," he said. "The growth in stationary storage is really under appreciated. That's a super-exponential growth rate."
In related news, Tesla proposed in June to acquire all of the outstanding shares of clean energy provider SolarCity (NASDAQ:SCTY) common stock. SolarCity, which is the leading solar energy provider in the US, announced that it had formed a special committee of independent directors to evaluate Tesla's proposal. Then, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, Tesla revealed that it had reached a deal to buy SolarCity for less than the price it had originally proposed.
The deal values SolarCity at about $2.6 billion. SolarCity stockholders would receive 0.11 share of Tesla for each share of SolarCity, which is below the original range of $26.50 to $28.50 per SolarCity share that Tesla had proposed in June. The deal would double Tesla’s workforce to nearly 30,000 employees and create a unique combination of solar, power storage and transportation, which Tesla says would be the world’s only integrated sustainable energy company. According to Musk, the deal will accelerate Tesla's ongoing transition from electric vehicle automaker into a fully integrated, renewable energy products company.
"[The] entire deal is actually driven by a need to bring together the products on the factory and the solar side to create an integrated product for the end-user," said Musk in a conference call and webcast hosted by Tesla and SolarCity on August 1. "The end-user being all the way from the individual to the utility. So this is really all part of solving the sustainable energy problem, something that has been a goal from the beginning."
"[The] next phase of the Company and Tesla creates some of the best products in the world," added SolarCity founder and CEO Lyndon Rive. "When you add their manufacturing expertise and the investment they are making into storage, as Elon mentioned, it’s going to be very clear that this company of solar combined with storage will be able to provide energy at a lower cost than traditional forms of energy. And that energy won’t just be energy as we know it today; it will be energy plus grid-related services, where you can address all the grid needs when you add storage to the equation."
Participating in SolarCity's conference call for its second quarter financial results, Musk announced that SolarCity will unveil a solar roof (as opposed to solar modules on a roof). "I think this is really a fundamental part of achieving differentiated product strategy, where you have a beautiful roof," said Musk. "It’s not a thing on the roof. It is the roof."
The solar roof business could be very big. There are 5 million new roofs installed every year in the US, and buying an integrated roof with built-in solar power generation makes more sense than adding solar panels to an aging roof.
Tesla has been criticized for spending a lot of cash on the Gigafactory, and then on the financially troubled SolarCity. But, in my opinion, the critics miss the big picture, which is Tesla's strategy to pivot from a niche to a much bigger market. Tesla, a Silicon Valley company with technology rather than car making in its DNA, is transitioning from electric car maker to supplier of energy solutions to consumers and businesses, including other car makers. Tesla cars could become a high-priced showcase for Tesla’s technologies used by other car makers for cheaper cars, and Tesla could end up making most of its money with innovative and affordable clean energy solutions. In this scenario, Tesla would become the world leader in an important sector, and its stock would skyrocket.


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HTC has posted a decline in quarterly profits as new products failed to make an appreciable impact.
In an unscheduled trading update yesterday, the Taiwanese mobile phone manufacturer said its net profit in the three months to December-end came in at NT$ 300 million (US$10 million; £6 million), compared to NT$1 billion noted over the same period last year.
HTC posted its first ever quarterly loss in the previous quarter. Only a one-off gain from a sale of its 24.84% stake in Dr Dre-backed Beats Electronic helped the firm avoid its second successive quarterly loss. HTC announced the sale of its remaining stake in Beats for US$265 million in September 2013, thereby booking a US$85 million pre-tax profit from the transaction.
Following on from the latest set of figures, the net calculations based on published data suggests that HTC has in effect posted its first annual loss in 2013 if one-off gains are excluded, though the company is yet to confirm it.
According to research firms IDC and Gartner, HTC’s share of the smartphone market declined to just over 2% in the third quarter of 2013, from a peak of 10% two years earlier.
The company was one of the early adopters of Google's Android software for its smartphones. It recently attempted to regain lost ground with the launch of new models such as the HTC One, and signed-up Hollywood A-lister Robert Downey Jr. to promote the brand.
However, such moves have yet to bear fruit if the latest trading figures are anything to go by. Revenue for the quarter came in at NT$42.9 billion, which was within the company’s own NT$40 billion to NT$45 billion forecast provided in November.


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St Ives, the book and magazine printer worth 350 million pounds (much in part because of its role in printing the Harry Potter novels in the UK) said yesterday that it was open to bid offers and would consider breaking up the group, reports the Times. The announcement came as St Ives reported a 25 per cent drop in half-year profits. Miles Emley, chairman of St Ives, said that he would “not rule out” bids and would look at any sensible offers for parts of the business after admitting that severe competitive pressures in the core magazine, brochure and catalogue business was forcing it to consider other strategies.
Emley said that increasing pressure from the rival printers Polestar and Prinovis, the German group, had meant that St Ives, which prints The Economist and Time Out, was struggling to compete in the long print-run market. Both Polestar and Prinovis recently built new gravure print plants, which Emley said gave them a competitive edge. Despite this, St Ives expects the underlying trading performance for the year as a whole to be ahead of the previous year.


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Disruptive technologies are helping cutting-edge organizations blur the lines between industries, opening a world of new possibilities to those undergoing digital transformation. But there are new responsibilities to customers and employees too.
“If you want to self-disrupt, you still have to protect the existing workforce [and] the existing business and in parallel build the other one,” Henning Kagermann, president of Munich-based acatech, the National Academy of Science and Engineering, said Tuesday morning in Frankfurt at SAP Leonardo Live, a conference centered around SAP’s digital innovation system.
Digital transformation is a shifting from automation to autonomous systems, according to Kagermann. These self-learning systems can independently achieve a predetermined goal, even under changing circumstances.
“These projects are not just another IT implementation — it is transforming your company,” Tanja Rueckert, president of IoT and Digital Supply Chain at SAP, said as she opened the event’s first plenary session. “I met one of our customer project executives, and he told me, ‘This is the most important project of my life.’”
Reap What You Sow
Stara S/A is no stranger to the high-tech mindset. To help customers get the most out of their land, seeds and other assets, the Brazil-based farm equipment manufacturer transformed once in 2005 — when it began making its own agricultural computers and sensors — and again in 2015, when it launched a telemetry system.
“In Brazil, 22 percent of our GDP is from agribusiness, and technology is the way to keep this business running,” Stara CIO Christiano Paim Buss said during the plenary session. “Companies that aren’t thinking about digital transformation are in big trouble.”
Focusing on its customers, Strata teamed with SAP to offer real-time access to all of the data in users’ ERP systems, such as inventory and expenses, according to Buss. This has helped farmers increase their corn production by 10 percent, while decreasing environmental impacts.
And internally, Stara has enhanced its employee engagement while increasing factory productivity by 20 percent.
“Digital is happening, and it offers tremendous business rewards,” SAP Industry Cloud President Pat Bakey said, referencing an SAP Center for Business Insight study released Tuesday. “We [also] see businesses operating in multiple industries — and we see a blurring of industries.”
Case in point, Volvo is moving into the autonomous vehicles, a customer focus that allows people to consume education or entertainment instead of concentrating on the road. People in those new Volvos can forget about insurance too; the Sweden-based luxury automaker will also take responsibility for its vehicles involved in accidents.
“Think about the opportunity they have in terms of new business models,” Bakey said. “Are they actually a manufacturer of cars? Are they a telecommunications company? Are they a retailer? Or are they an entertainer?”
Buckle Your Seatbelts
U.K.-based high-tech conglomerate McLaren Technology Group first put IoT-style sensors on its Formula 1 racecars in 1993 to optimize performance, measuring break temperature, ride height and more (and later using insights from this data to improve the customer experience in McLaren’s automotive business). McLaren’s modern sensors collect about 100 GB of data each race weekend.
“We have an applied technologies business now, where we’ve taken our learning and heritage from Formula 1,” McLaren CIO Craig Charlton told the SAP Leonardo Live crowd, “and figure out, from an outcome basis, how we can bring technology to life in financial services, healthcare and connected vehicles.”
Data insights that help McLaren racecar drivers excel in the cockpit could one day help executives shine during shareholder meetings, Charlton stated. McLaren is even seeking ways to apply lessons learned from topnotch pit crews to streamline the manufacturing processes.
Redrawing the Map
“Traditional boundaries may not be the same anymore,” Hans Thalbauer, senior vice president of IoT and Digital Supply Chain for SAP Leonardo, said Tuesday. “If you look at online retail companies, they’re becoming more like logistics companies; if you look at logistics service providers, they’ve started manufacturing with 3D printing; you go to the manufacturing industry, they provide more and more services.”
All of this opportunity makes this an exciting time for enterprises. But all of the change can make it a scary time for the workforce.
“There is a joint effort now to between employees and companies to ensure employability for your entire life,” acatech’s Kagermann said. “For the workforce in a company, you can use digital technologies to upskill people with a low level of skills to a much higher level than we have them today … we hope we can get everybody there.”


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March 17, 2016 at 5:00 am ET
When the notorious former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, Martin Shkreli, made a recent appearance on Capitol Hill to “invoke [his] fifth amendment rights” at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on prescription drug pricing abuses, focus on his alleged misdeeds served a useful purpose: he put a face on the need for more competition and pricing transparency in America’s increasingly complex and tumultuous pharmaceutical marketplace.
This is especially true when it comes to the controversial pricing and administrative practices of so-called Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) – the third party entities that oversee the administration of seniors’ Medicare Part D prescription drug benefits. Due to substantial marketplace consolidation, three PBMs now control 80 percent of the market. Each PBM is owned by, or has a shared parent with an insurer, large pharmacy chain or mail-order pharmacy – creating an obvious and glaring conflict of interest in what has become an oligopolistic market.
Under Medicare Part D, PBMs use a Maximum Allowable Cost (MAC) pricing formula to set reimbursement rates for most generic drugs long term care (LTC) pharmacies dispense to Medicare beneficiaries. Due to veiled pricing practices, it remains a mystery to both consumers and different pharmacies how PBMs determine prices and covered pharmaceutical product lists under this MAC pricing formula – despite the recent regulatory change designed to make these pricing practices more transparent.
To the credit of U.S. Congressmen Doug Collins (R-GA) and Dave Loebsack (D-IA) – who have introduced the MAC Transparency Act (H.R. 244) – a light has been shined on how PBMs change prices in a shell game fashion for generic drugs without advance notice to LTC pharmacies and others, and devoid of any disclosure about how and why prices are established and changed.
LTC pharmacies, different from retail pharmacies, are an increasingly important part of our broader healthcare continuum. Medically compromised seniors and patients facing rehabilitation in skilled nursing, assisted living and other settings significantly benefit from the clinical oversight and medication management provided by LTC pharmacies. Unfortunately, these PBM pricing abuses undermine LTC pharmacies’ financial stability, ultimately threaten quality patient care, and negatively affect taxpayers as added costs accrue to Medicare.
We are now arguing before Congress that independent Avalere Health pricing data between PBMs and LTC pharmacies find increasing reimbursement inequities driven by these non-transparent MAC pricing methodologies. This unique data clearly show MAC prices paid for the same generic drugs, on the same day, by different payers, can vary considerably.
We believe this raises questions about PBMs’ claim that market conditions determine reimbursement rates. In effect, we maintain MAC pricing is not really market pricing at all – and is inconsistent with the free market principles underlying the Part D program.
PBMs must answer for this. The good news: Congress is on to this game.
Indeed, at a November 2015 investigative hearing, Congressman Collins specifically pointed to the Avalare Health data and aggressively questioned the veracity of PBM industry witnesses who insisted LTC pharmacy reimbursement practices adhered to market forces. In fact, the PBM officials finally admitted they keep multiple sets of MAC lists for the same drugs, prompting Collins to suggest a “disconnect” between what PBMs claim about pricing transparency and the marketplace reality.
Just last month at a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing entitled “Developments in the Prescription Drug Market,” U.S. Congressman Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), a local pharmacist himself, said: “I’m really concerned about the current marketplace because it creates perverse incentives for PBMs to shut out independent pharmacies at the expense of the American public… we have to have transparency in the PBM world.”
We were also encouraged that U.S. Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, also expressed an interest in seeing more PBM accountability, and commend the rising level of bipartisan congressional scrutiny of this industry whose activities remain shrouded in secrecy.
The pricing abuses of PBMs are rightly attracting attention – and reform should continue to gain momentum for the right reason: it is good public policy.


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Airbnb executive to step down as startup revives IPO plans
Departing president of Homes division was recruited from Amazon two years ago
Three weeks after detailing how Airbnb almost “lost everything” after the pandemic hit, CEO Brian Chesky is reviving plans for a 2020 public offering.
“When the market is ready, we will be ready,” Chesky wrote in an email to staff on Wednesday, according to the Financial Times. “We were down, but we’re not out.”
The message came after Chesky earlier announced that the president of Airbnb’s Homes division, Greg Greeley, would step down after two years with the company.
The role, which involved overseeing the company’s central rental business, will be assumed by Catherine Powell — currently head of Experiences — and the division will be rebranded as Hosting.
“If we’re going to get back to our roots, we must get back to great hosting,” Chesky said, in reference to the company’s strategy for bouncing back from the pandemic.
Greeley, who was recruited from Amazon, has not commented on his exit.
Airbnb’s growth plans were withered by the pandemic, which halted global travel and saw the startup’s revenues nosedive. In May, Airbnb laid off almost 2,000 employees — some 25 percent of its staff — as it grappled with the fallout.
With states reopening and travel slowly resuming, the company recently reported that rural stays were increasing. But bookings in urban markets, including New York City, remain down.
Chesky has addressed the IPO several times in recent weeks — both in interviews and in the latest email to staff. Still, he has not provided any granular details about a timeline.
“We’re not committing to going public this year,” he told the FT, “but we’re not ruling it out.” [FT] — Sylvia Varnham O’Regan


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Daniel Street has compiled four predictions for business owners — including pest management professionals (PMPs) — to be aware of for the new year. Street is CEO of Scorpion, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based marketing software and services provider for pest control and other home services.
- We may see an increase in inventory hoarding. Local service providers that have the means will start aggressively stockpiling parts and products to protect their inventories and bottom lines from continued demand-driven supply chain issues and mounting inflation. With people still spending so much time at home, service businesses continue to have more work than they’ve ever had before, but they also know that, in this era of Yelp reviews, if they don’t have the necessary materials to complete a job, not only do they lose the business, their brand takes a hit.
- We may see more do-it-yourselfers. Some businesses will find they’re not just competing with one another, but increasingly with customers themselves. We all know home improvement stores enjoyed massive growth through the pandemic, but with rising costs, all the extra time spent at home and, increasingly, an unwillingness to wait out service delays, many people — particularly millennials and members of generation Z — are taking the time to learn how to solve plumbing and other household issues and maintenance on their own. This is a good time to get in on the DIY game. There’s large demand for videos that walk people through various home projects (think rodent-proofing, for example), plus the opportunity to pick up those customers when they’re unable to finish a job or do it right.
- We may see the need to raise rates to offset cost increases. As businesses of all sizes continue to experience recruiting challenges, small businesses may find it particularly difficult to absorb the rising costs associated with turnover and recruiting, including hiring interim contractors, creating videos that showcase company culture and turning to hiring tools and services that aren’t cheap — not to mention soft costs like the loss of productivity and institutional knowledge. The money has to come from somewhere. Rather than cut into sales or marketing, many small businesses will have no choice but to pass those costs onto the customer on top of the added costs already being applied due to inflationary pressure. In the case of PMPs and other home service providers, this will add even more fuel to customers learning to do more of the work themselves. Get ready for DIY on steroids.
- We may see video marketing become the norm. More small businesses will turn to short-form video, flocking to social sites like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to drive traffic, build an online brand and even make a little extra money participating in the creator economy by showcasing their expertise. TikTok will become particularly popular among local businesses as word continues to spread on the new geo-tagging features that allow creators to market to local users. TikTok’s audience is also tremendously hungry for DIY content. While it might seem counter-intuitive for a PMP to show people how to prevent pests rather than call a professional, for example, we’ve found customers are more likely to call on the service providers they’ve seen on TikTok for help with more complicated issues down the road.


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After struggling in the U.S. market for a decade, Volvo announces a revival plan.
Read This Article
Remember when we told you Volvo was planning on discontinuing its five- and six-cylinder engines in favor of four-cylinder engines and hybrids?
Volvo places self-driving vehicles in Swedish roads to test real-world driving situations.
In the weeks leading up to car show season, a number of automakers will tease photos and details about upcoming releases.


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Sky reviews cancellation clause after customers complain it makes it too difficult to leave
Pricey: Customers complained about Sky's cancellation procedure
Sky is to review its cancellation clauses after customers complained that it makes it too difficult to leave.
The telecoms giant has apologised to customers who wrote to end their contract — as allowed in the small print — but were then informed they had to call a pricey phone line instead.
Many couldn’t get through, or were passed from pillar to post.
A Sky spokesman says a number of customers who cancelled by letter did not include enough security information to give a green light to close the account.
‘In these cases, there is a need for a follow-up phone call,’ he says.
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Hotel booking specialist HRS has signed a distribution deal with Sabre to distribute “thousands” of independent hotels through the GDS.
The multi-year agreement, which was unveiled at the ACTE conference in Barcelona, is similar to the one between HRS and rival GDS Amadeus last year.
HRS already has a distribution deal with Sabre’s online self-booking specialist Get There.
Tobias Ragge (pictured), CEO of HRS, said: “Sabre has a great deal to offer HRS and we are delighted to share some of our 250,000 hotels in our portfolio with them.
“The old legacy world is still heavily used by TMCs and we basically want to make our content available through all of the booking channels that a corporate may want to use.”
David Gross, Sabre’s senior vice president of global supplier commerce, added: “HRS is an industry leader and we look forward to working with them to make their content available to Sabre-connected travel agents in their efficient workflow.”
Ragge said that HRS would “definitely be talking to other guys” within the GDS industry – the other major global player is Travelport which owns the Galileo and Worldspan systems.
He added that it had been a deliberate policy to sign up with Amadeus first due to its strength within the European Union before targeting Sabre with its significant presence in the US and Asia.


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Frederick-based Flying Dog Brewery has launched a new business beyond beer called Gonzo Drinks, and its first product is a hard tea.
Frederick, Maryland-based Flying Dog Brewery has launched a new business beyond beer called Gonzo Drinks, and its first product is a hard tea.
Killer Hard Tea is available at retailers in Maryland now, and will be in D.C. stores., as well as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, in January.
Killer Hard Tea has an ABV of 8%, is lemon flavored, and is sold in 12-packs of 12-ounce cans. It is lightly carbonated.
Flying Dog, founded in 1990, currently ranks as the 35th-largest craft brewer in the country, based on sales volume, according to the Brewers Association.
A new distillery has opened in White Plains, Maryland, just south of Waldorf.
Copper Compass Craft Distilling Co. is co-owned by cousins Herb Banks, a 23-year Navy veteran, and April Toyer, a pediatric dentist.
The distillery produces rums, including a whiskey barrel rum and a coconut rum.
The distillery, at 4317 Charles Crossing Drive, includes a tasting room and hosts regular tours, with a brunch currently on its schedule.
There are roughly 30 distilleries operating in Maryland, most notably producing rye whiskeys. Pre-prohibition, Maryland was the fifth-largest alcohol producer in the country.
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Hearables, or sensors embedded in earbuds to gather physiological data, were a noticeable presence along the rows of wearables vendors that lined the health and wellness halls of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. In a media interview at Valencell’s booth, Dr. Steven LeBoeuf, Valencell cofounder and president, noted that hearables have grabbed the attention of medical device companies interested in the potential of this technology for disease management applications. Read More
- Webinar: Cuffless Blood Pressure Monitoring – The Technologies and Opportunities That Are Driving Change
- Location matters with wearables, but why?
- Valencell Announces Medical Advisory Board Founding Members
- Managing hypertension will change more in next 5 years than the last 100 years
- What is cumulative blood pressure and why does it matter?


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LVMH - MOET Hennessy Louis Vuitton -, the French luxury goods group, is filing two separate legal actions against Gucci and Pinault-Printemps- Redoute in Amsterdam, reigniting its battle for control of the Italian fashion company. LVMH is taking its case to the Amsterdam District Court, seeking to annul an alliance that gives Pinault 42 per cent of Gucci. It also is appealing to the Dutch Supreme Court to overturn the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals decision in May to uphold the alliance. "We think the decision was wrong," said James Lieber, LVMH senior vice-president.
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AnyMind Group, an end-to-end commerce enablement company, has today announced that Lantinam, a direct-to-consumer apparel brand that leverages on a variety of AnyMind Group’s platforms, will have a pop-up store at UP SIDE DOWN Gallery in Daikanyama, Tokyo from June 9 (Friday) to June 11 (Sunday), 2023, to celebrate its first year anniversary. Tickets for the pop-up store will be available at the Lantinam official online store from May 13, 2023 at 12:00 P.M. Japan Standard Time.
The pop-up store will feature special edition items including limited edition colors of a cami one-piece, a mini t-shirt, and a big-size logo t-shirt. In addition, the 2023 Summer Collection, including the Lantana Pleats Dress – an original one-piece dress designed in collaboration with illustrator Natsu Yamagiuchi that features the lantana flower – will be available for pre-sale.
Lantinam taps on a variety of AnyMind Group platforms to create, launch, manage and optimize the brand, products and operations, including AnyX for e-commerce management, AnyFactory for production, AnyLogi for logistics management and AnyChat for customer engagement.
This pop-up store is the first of three activities centering around the brand’s first anniversary. More details for the other two activities will be revealed in the future.
For more information about the pop-up store, head here.


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General Motors (NYSE: GM) told investors today that it plans to double annual revenues by the end of the decade while growing EBIT-adjusted margins as it transitions to an all-electric future. GM has already announced plans to invest $35 billion through 2025 in all-electric and autonomous vehicles and launch more than 30 new EVs globally, of course
However, the success of the prediction will depend on GM smoothly transitioning from internal combustion engines, traditional blacksmithing a manufacturing, and keeping dealers and training them for what is the most significant transformation the auto industry has ever see. This is in fact how science fiction becomes science fact with GM selling more than one million EVs by 2025; 30 million connected vehicles in North America on the road by 2030. Along the way the United States and ultimately the world will turn into an environment that use technology to make things cleaner and safer.
“GM’s vision of a world with zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion has placed us ahead of much of the competition in electrification, software-enabled services and autonomy,” said GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra. “Our early investments in these growth trends have transformed GM from automaker to platform innovator, with customers at the center. GM will use its hardware and software platforms to innovate and improve their daily experience, leading everybody on the journey to an all-electric future.”
Highlights of an Ambitious and Moderately Detailed Plan
- GM’s desire to reach leadership in EV market share in the U.S. while increasing its profits from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. GM’ said its growth derive from the Ultium modular EV platform the company developed to launch a broad portfolio of EVs using common, scalable components. The array of Ultium-powered EVs will include high-volume entries, including a Chevrolet crossover priced around $30,000, Buick crossovers, trucks from Chevrolet, GMC and HUMMER EV, as well as Cadillac EVs such as the upcoming LYRIQ and CELESTIQ. This is a $90 billion revenue increase by 2030.
- GM’s dual platform Ultium plus the so-called Ultifi strategy will expand digital services and increase the lifetime value of its vehicles. Ultifi is an end-to-end software platform “designed to unlock new vehicle experiences and connect customers’ digital lives. It will help enable the frequent and seamless delivery of software-defined features, apps and services to customers over the air.”
- GM’s global Innovation and Growth team and its mission to disrupt any market where it sees opportunity, and open new markets. GM is currently managing about 20 startups of various sizes and maturity levels, some in early phases, and others such as BrightDrop and OnStar Insurance that are launching now.
- Plans for more than 50% of the company’s North America and China manufacturing footprint to be capable of EV production by 2030.
- The five-year pull ahead to 2025 of GM’s commitment to source 100% renewable energy for the company’s U.S. facilities.
- Chevrolet teased one of several Ultium-based EVs it is planning – the Silverado EV pickup, which will make its global debut on Jan. 5, 2022.
In addition, GM shared the first details of Ultra Cruise, clearly a significant next step AutoInformed thinks in hands-free advanced driving-assistance technology. It will go on sale starting in 2023. Designed to manage 95% of all driving scenarios on every paved road in the U.S. and Canada over time, “it will create a virtually door-to-door hands-free driving experience. Ultra Cruise is being developed to be the premier advanced driver-assistance system on the market in terms of both capability and safe operation,” GM said.