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Earlier this month, Brianna Kauffman and Michael Dolan traveled to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show on behalf of Taylor to scope out broad trends and individual pieces of technology that will ultimately impact consumer brands, whether it be in 2014 or over the next few years. After spending three days in conference sessions and on the floor, here are the top five things you should know about:
- Retro is back in a big way, and these physical objects designed with a vintage feel are giving consumers the level of comfort they need to embrace new technology.
- The things around us are getting smarter so that consumers will have the ability to customize most aspects of their lives and, in certain cases, have the technology learn their behavior to do it for them, from the cars we drive to the appliances in our kitchens.
- Real-time fitness monitoring is now able to enhance performance and encourage continued activity, for both professional athletes and everyday active consumers.
- 3D printing is becoming mainstream, enabling innovation and creativity, while also raising significant IP concerns.
- Technology is allowing traditionally flat surfaces to become interactive, greatly expanding connection points in consumers’ daily lives.
Overall, how we connect consumers with brand content at the right time in the right place is going to continue to improve as touch points expand. Using technology to help tell a brand’s story and amplify a brand’s values is truly the opportunity coming out of CES 2014.


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Baristas perform the feats of coffee | Arts & Culture
With coffee stands on almost every corner, you’d think Spokane was a coffee kind of town, but a group of regional baristas disagree. Hopping from one coffee shop to another, the Thursday Night Throwdown, brings baristas together to pour their best from the intricate details of latte art, to the fine science of Aeropress. Their competitions help brew the best coffee they can.
A coffee educator at Indaba Coffee, Aaron Monheim, says most people have never had great coffee. If you’ve never had a real macchiato, you’ll learn it’s smaller than you think. Depending on the coffee beans, it’s nutty, sweet with a touch a cream, but sour. That lack of coffee knowledge is why Monheim says Spokane isn’t a coffee town.
“If you wanted to know what Seattle is like in the mid 90s, you’d come to Spokane. It’s slowly changing. There’s a lot of great companies coming here now. We’re really exciting with how much it’s progressed in the past two years. We have shops like Indaba and Madeleines and Coeur Coffees [soon to open on June 12th]. There’s lot of high end coffee shops that are starting to move in and take the limelight. It’s not completely a coffee town yet, but we’re trying to change that.”
The throwdowns started almost two years ago on the East Coast. Last July, the competitions came to Seattle. Now they’re in Eastern Washington. Winners don’t move on to another competition. Whoever wins one month have to regain their title the second month.
Monheim says the throwdown is less about the competition and more about the communion of coffee culture.
“There’s camaraderie between baristas. They’re generally loyal individuals, more loyal to each other than the companies they work for,” Monheim said.
Baristas from all over the region came to West Central’s Indaba Coffee on Thursday night for the throwdown. Men with finely trimmed beards and fashioned plaid drove in from Coeur d’Alene, Sandpoint and even Seattle and Richland.
One of the newest competitors to the coffee industry, Zach Case with Barracuda Coffee in Richland says he’s only been a barista for four months and is already competing.
“Just watching what they’re doing gives you ideas on what you can pour in customer’s cups. Anything I can glean for sure,” Case said. “Simple is better when it comes to competition pours.”
Barracuda Coffee is on the commuting route for Hanford which helps business. Case says they’re one of the few coffee shops in town other than Starbucks. It’s tough, but growing.
The winner of Thursday Throwdown’s Latte Art contest hailed from Coeur d’Alene. Ian Nelson is a barista at Java on Sherman. He also won best facial hair contest. His sideburns were trimmed to resemble a set of stairs. The winner of the Aeropress contest wasn’t a barista at all. He’s an independent, but also the creative director of Thursday Night Throwdown Inland Northwest.
There was also a best hipster contest, but no winners were declared.
The next Thursday Night Throwdown will be held at Doma Coffee in Post Falls. The date hasn’t been assigned yet, but you can visit the organization's blog online at #TNTINW, which is also the hashtag used on Twitter, to find out the exact date in the next few weeks.
Upcoming Events near Downtown Spokane
Dec 15, 12:30PM

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Recession doesnâ€™t stop Apple iPhone and Palm Pre sales
It would appear that the recession doesn’t impact on certain mobile handset, a fact which has been proven by the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre as the Washington Post reports that Apple has announced sales of 1 million iPhone handsets over the weekend.
However, Apple did not break down the 1 million figure to show just how many of that million was iPhone 3GS handsets or the now cheaper $99 iPhone 3G.
In comparison, analysts say that approximately 100,000 Palm Pre handsets were sold in the first weekend of being available. So it would seem that despite a recession, the iPhone is still the number one mobile handset to own.


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Mariah Carey is planning for an extra special holiday season.
The 52-year-old half-Venezuelan American Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and actress, the Queen of Christmas, has revealed plans to perform a pair of Christmas shows.
“It’s almost time NEW YORK + Toronto!!!” she wrote. “Come celebrate Christmas with me this December! lil’ excited lil’ excited to be back on stage and get festive with everybody!!”
Tickets for the shows — December 11 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, December 13 at Madison Square Garden in New York — will go on sale on Friday (October 28) at 10:00 am ET on Ticketmaster.
According to a release, these will be Mariah’s only Christmas concerts this yuletide season and fans purchase a ticket will also get a chance to buy an exclusive t-shirt and a copy of the singer’s illustrated holiday fairytale book, The Christmas Princess, which is due out on November 1.
The announcement also tees up the annual chart watch to see if Carey’s perennial Christmas classic, “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” will hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth year in a row.
Last week, the Christmas Queen got fans excited to get in the spirit by teasing the kick-off to “All I Want for Christmas Is You” season by tweeting, “It’s almost time…,” in which she showed off her festive red robe draped on the steps leading to her luxurious jacuzzi-style bathtub. The scene was filled out with a giant display of red and white roses spelling out her initials.
But, before you get too revved up, as the first, twinkly notes of “All I Want for Christmas Is You” bubbled up, Mariah tapped the brakes and in a follow-up tweet cautioned, “Not yet.”
It's almost time NEW YORK + TORONTO!! 🎉💖 Come celebrate Christmas with me this December! lil' excited lil' excited to be back on stage and get festive with everybody!! 🎅🦌🎄 Tickets on sale 10/28 at 10am on https://t.co/jDDh4ZemD4 pic.twitter.com/i5bghjIc0X
— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) October 24, 2022


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Micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs) are the bedrock on which the Nigerian economy stands. A recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) proves this point.
The number of MSMEs rose from 37million in 2013 to 41.5million in 2017. Micro enterprises were 41.47 million, constituting 99.8 percent of the total enterprises, while small and medium businesses were estimated at 73,081, which is 0.2 percent of the total.
Together, they employ 59.647 million people in the economy. They also contribute 50 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP) and 7.64 percent to export receipts.
While they are scattered across various sectors, they are majorly found in the trade sector— both for wholesale and retail—, agriculture, manufacturing, and food services, among others.
Interestingly, the report shows that the number of medium scale enterprises dropped by 61 percent, from 4,670 in 2013 to 1,793 in 2017, while the total MSMEs grew marginally by 12.1 percent.
Analysts say this is a reflection of the Nigerian economy in the last six years—particularly in periods of negative or sluggish growth in 2016/2017.
“The periods covered by the survey were when the Nigerian economy was in mostly down and in recession. The small and medium enterprises suffered from shocks in the economy, forcing many to close shop,” Friday Opara, director, strategic partnership, SMEDAN, who contributed to the survey, told BusinessDay on the phone.
“This was why we had a decline in the number of medium-sized businesses. The growth recorded in micro businesses was as a result of so many retrenched workers starting up micro businesses to keep life going,” Opara explained.
Yes, there were massive retrenchment and business closures, particularly between 2016 and 2017 when the Nigerian economy was in recession.
In August 2016, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) and the NOI Polls reported that 222 small-scale businesses closed shops, leading to 180,000 job losses. Frank Jacobs, former president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria(MAN), told BusinessDay in 2016 that 54 firms shut down in one year preceding August 2016.
Two years after recession, have the problems of MSMEs ceased?
According to the 2019 World Bank’s Doing Business Index, Nigeria ranked 146th out of 190 countries, scoring 52.89 out of 100 points. This reflects the difficult conditions of business owners in Africa’s biggest economy. The MSMEs are left to battle with various issues ranging from a limiting environment to restrictive economic policies, overbearing regulatory agencies, and tax multiplicity, among others.
Babatunde Paul Ruwase, president of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said at a breakfast meeting that MSMEs are critical to the nation’s economic development, especially with regard to job creation and poverty reduction. He said the private sector, especially the MSMEs, should be empowered and supported.
Funding remains a major hiccup for MSMEs, as these businesses require funding either in the form of loans or grants. Nigerian banks are usually reluctant to lend to businesses, especially MSMEs due to issues around absence of identity, lack of collaterals and trust. Those willing to give out loans charge high interests that are usually difficult for firms to pay.
Nigeria retained its double digit monetary policy rate at 13.5 percent from a previous 14 percent, and commercial lenders give out loans at 20 to 35 percent interest rates with a 12 months tenor. Furthermore, development banks like the Bank of Industry which give out loans at single-digit rates of about nine percent lack the required capital to keep up with its activities.
Nigeria’s benchmark interest rate is among the highest in Africa at 13.5 percent. Ethiopia’s is 7 percent; Kenya is 9 percent; South Africa is 6.75 percent; Zambia is 10.25 percent, and Cameroon is 4.25 percent.
Similarly, Rwanda is 5 percent; Mauritius, 3.5 percent; Algeria is 8 percent, and Senegal is 4.5 percent. Manufacturers are asking the Federal Government to recapitalise especially the Bank of Industry, which provides single-digit funding to them. Doing this, they say, will increase lending to the real sector.
Interestingly, the NBS report shows that 85 percent of businesses could not have access to external financing within 2013-2017. In fact, only 5.3 percent of SMEs had access to bank credit, even with 40 percent of them having relationships with banks. Most MSMEs reported average monthly sales/turnover of N100,000 as a result of lack of funding for expansion.
Infrastructure is a major issue. Think about the ports. A research report conducted by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) in 2018 showed that at least 5,000 trucks seek access to Apapa and Tin Can ports in Lagos every day, despite that the two ports were originally meant to accommodate only 1,500 trucks.
The report showed that Nigeria loses N600 billion in customs revenue, $10 billion (N3.6trn) in non-oil export sector and N2.5 trillion in corporate earnings across various sectors on annual basis due to the poor state of Nigerian ports.
There are no good railways at the moment and roads are bad in many instances, thereby increasing logistics costs, which are now next after energy for MSMEs.
Analysts say good infrastructure boosts businesses and raises the gross domestic product (GDP), creating jobs and economic prosperity. They urge the government to help businesses by spending aggressively on capital projects rather than on recurrent.
According to USAID’s energy sector review, Nigeria has the ability to generate 12,522 megawatts (MW) of electric power from existing plants, but it is only able to distribute around 4,000 MW.
Currently, manufacturers in Nigeria currently self-generate a little over 13,000MW through alternative sources of energy in order to stay afloat.
In fact, cost of alternative electricity generation alone constitutes about 40 percent of our production cost.
The Manufacturers CEOs Confidence Index (MCCI) survey conducted by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) in the first quarter of 2019 highlighted various issues hurting Nigeria’s productive sector. Generally, these are part of the issues that trouble business owners in the country and dissuade prospective investors from Nigeria.
According to the MCCI, CEOs confidence stood at 51.3 points in the first quarter of the year, slightly above the 50 points benchmark of a good performance. Issues around foreign exchange, double digit interest rate, government capital implementation, multiple taxes, overregulation and raw materials were identified by chief executives of Nigerian firms as some of the challenges dragging the growth of the sector backwards.
Findings reveal that business owners pay no less than 54 different taxes annually to different regulatory agencies. These eat deep into their finances and margins. Furthermore, many taxes, levies and fees charged by the federal government are also duplicated by states and local governments.
Analysts believe that there are still various things that the federal government can do to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria. These include improving the infrastructure and transportation system as well as reforming the taxation system.
To aid these businesses, it is imperative for Nigeria to align withthe World Bank’s report on global economic overview which states that, “it is of paramount importance for emerging market and developing economies to rebuild policy buffers while laying a stronger foundation for future growth by boosting human capital, promoting trade integration, and addressing the challenges associated with informality.” Nigeria needs energy and tax review, and must begin to think of creative ways of making funds available for MSMEs, analysts say. MSMEs matter, and no serious nation can afford to toy with them.


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Skybridge eyes stake buyback from FTX, as Galaxy CEO says he want to ‘punch’ SBF
SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci mentioned that his agency can purchase again the stake of the corporate it bought to FTX again in September final 12 months. Whereas Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has indicated that he can be tempted to “punch” SBF proper within the jaw.
SkyBridge and FTX
FTX Ventures acquired a 30% stake within the different asset supervisor SkyBridge for an undisclosed charge on Sept. 9, simply a few months earlier than FTX filed for chapter in November.
Talking to CNBC on Jan. 13, Scaramuci noted that in mild of FTX’s troubles, SkyBridge is making progress in shopping for again that stake, however steered the transfer wouldn’t be capable of get sorted “till in all probability the top of the primary half of this 12 months.”
“We’re ready for the clearance from the chapter folks, the legal professionals and the funding bankers to determine precisely what we’re going to be shopping for again, and when,” the CEO mentioned, including that “I feel it would resolve itself favorably.”
Talking on former FTX CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Scaramucci outlined his ideas that there has seemingly been some foul play there.
“I feel it’s very clear now that there was fraud. We’ll in fact need to let the authorized system decide all of these issues. However for Sam, he is bought three of 4 of the ideas which have labored alongside him have already pled responsible, and defined to prosecutors what they did,” Scaramucci mentioned.
Caught up with @Scaramucci at present. FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried purchased a 30% stake in Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital earlier than FTX collapsed. Now Scaramucci says that he is assured he’ll be capable of purchase that stake again. Given new info, he additionally alleges SBF dedicated fraud pic.twitter.com/jxltXdjCKW
— Arjun Kharpal (@ArjunKharpal) January 13, 2023
The CEO’s feedback present a stark distinction to his earlier statements to CNBC from November, by which Scaramucci refused to make use of the “fraud” phrase resulting from its authorized ramifications, and urged “Sam and his household to inform the reality to their buyers, get to the underside” of the entire debacle.
Based on SkyBridge’s web site, it had $2.2 billion value of property underneath administration as of Sept. 30, 2022, with roughly $800 million of the determine comprised of digital-asset-related investments.
Galaxy CEO on the lookout for a smackdown
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz says there’s a facet of him that want to punch each SBF and Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert for their reported antics during crypto winter.
In an interview with Bloomberg posted on Jan. 13, Novogratz famous that the FTX ordeal ended up immediately costing Galaxy round $77 million. As such he’s not an enormous fan of SBF and different alleged misbehavior within the house over the previous 12 months.
“The poisonous masculine facet of me want to punch them each within the jaw,” he mentioned of SBF and Silbert, earlier than including particularly on SBF: “You’ve bought to be f—ing kidding me. Like, actually, you a——?”
Associated: Crypto community unimpressed by SBF’s lengthy Substack letter
Novogratz finally admitted that he’s nonetheless a crypto proponent regardless of 2022 being such a wild 12 months for the trade.
He did notice nonetheless, that he wished he had taken extra capital off the desk earlier in 2022 earlier than FTX and even the Terra/LUNA ecosystem went bust. Nonetheless, he says he managed to get greater than $1 billion out earlier than that 12 months started.


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As the business day comes to a close, it looks like OnLive might end up pretty much where it started. Earlier today, rumors swirled that streaming gaming provider had issued pink slips to much of its staff, mostly sparked by a series of tweets from game developer Brian Fargo. According to Fargo, he'd received an email from an OnLive staffer with news of sweeping job cuts at the company, and hints that a reorganization of the service was afoot. Shortly thereafter, company spokesman Brian Jaquet issued a number of responses to reporters, ranging from "no comment," to "of course the company is not going out of business."
After hours of rumors, the company has finally issued an official statement via email:
We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly-formed company and is backed by substantial funding, and which will continue to operate the OnLive Game and Desktop services, as well as support all of OnLive's apps and devices, as well as game, productivity and enterprise partnerships. The new company is hiring a large percentage of OnLive, Inc.'s staff across all departments and plans to continue to hire substantially more people, including additional OnLive employees. All previously announced products and services, including those in the works, will continue and there is no expected interruption of any OnLive services.
We apologize that we were unable to comment on this transaction until it completed, and were limited to reporting on news related to OnLive's businesses. Now that the transaction is complete, we are able to make this statement.
As you can see, OnLive isn't disclosing the name of the new company nor the source of its "substantial funding," only that it's "newly-formed." Although many OnLive employees have been seen leaving the company's headquarters with boxes full of possessions, apparently "a large percentage" will be hired by this new company — though whether "large" can fairly be read as "a majority" isn't at all clear. OnLive also wouldn't confirm whether OnLive CEO Steve Perlman was a part of the new, mystery company.
The email ended a day of speculation and confusion as a variety of publications, including GamePolitics, Kotaku, and TechCrunch began to publish statements from anonymous employees about their firings, as well as rumors of both a bankruptcy filing and a potential acquisition. Some of the stories reported that OnLive president and CEO Steve Perlman issued the companywide layoffs in a bizarre all-hands meeting that ended with applause.
As reporters observed employees of the company streaming out of OnLive's Palo Alto offices — some with boxes in hand — it became clear that the email sent to Fargo was more than a fluke. The Verge observed workers headed to their cars with white printouts in hand and a variety of personal belongings. Some pretended to speak on their cellphones as reporters outside asked questions about the state of the company. Eventually, OnLive spokesperson Jane Anderson appeared and ushered media indoors to wait for the official word from the company.
That word finally arrived via email, but many questions remain. OnLive's customers will no-doubt be happy to know that service will be maintained, but beyond that we will have to wait to find out exactly what the reasoning is behind today's very strange drama.


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In S.F. Chinatown, an experiment to attract more customers: going cashless Some businesses are adopting card-reading tablets and reporting higher revenues in San Francisco Chinatown. Will the idea catch on? Kate Selig March 15, 2023 Updated: March 20, 2023 1:02 p.m.
Some business owners in San Francisco’s Chinatown are adopting cashless payment methods in the hopes of attracting more tourists to a historic neighborhood that is still recovering almost three years after the start of the pandemic.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle
Almost three years after the pandemic
pushed San Francisco’s Chinatown to the brink, a handful of businesses are trading their “cash only” signs for modern payment systems that allow patrons to buy a meal with the swipe of a card.
Those behind the effort hope the easier mode of payment will bring business back to
America’s oldest Chinatown, but they’re having to overcome the reluctance of some business owners and the neighborhood’s slow internet speeds.


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Asian start-ups reality format Angel’s Gate will be remade in France via commercial broadcaster TF1’s online TV unit.
e-TF1 has acquired local format rights from Singapore-based Bomanbridge Media and creator Interactive SG. It will work on a remake and transmedia tie-ins, including a crowd funding element.
The distributors claim the global economic recession has lead to significant interest in the format, which first launched as a pan-Asian on ChannelNews Asia, has been dubbed ‘The X Factor for start-ups’. The format sees budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to panel of judges in order to win financial backing and mentoring.
Ash Singh, Interactive’s founder and CEO, created the format in 2007.
He said: “Angel’s Gate was created to be the best launchpad for business ideas by providing audiences more meaningful moments of engagement across multiple platforms. I look forward to the positive social and economic impact Angel’s Gate will have on the start up community in France.”


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Following three days of strike action, the majority of the 100 workers recently let go from Malaysian-owned Global Apparels Limited garment factory returned to work on Saturday, after the Ministry of Labour stepped in to mediate the dispute.
On Friday, the workers – who were released after the company decided not to renew their fixed-term contracts – took their protest to the Ministry of Labour, who called a meeting with the factory’s owners and workers representatives, according to a ministry statement.
Eighty-seven workers are to be reinstated as they had been working at the factory for at least two years – the duration at which workers are legally entitled to severance for their services.
“The company and worker representatives agreed with each other over the negotiations at the Ministry of Labour,” the statement reads, adding that “the workers promise to stop protesting and to come back to work on 27 February”.
Furthermore, the company has backed down on its recent announcement that it would be laying off 500 more employees before April, according to the ministry’s statement.
Soth Chet, an official from the Collective Union of Movement of Workers, who attended the ministry’s meeting, said that some workers let go had been at the factory for as long as 10 years. Global Apparels could not be reached yesterday.


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Considerations To Know About Syma Drones in Sacramento CA 94296
The first retail multi-rotor drones had been minimal much more than flying toys with restricted selection and battery energy. Their tiny motors had been billed via battery pack, plus a primary RF controller moved their rotors to accomplish loops, dives, and hovers.
You’ll notice that the camera does not supply FPV, but it does have a large-resolution and takes pics pretty well.
Toy Stores in Sacramento, California 94296
Drone Store in Sacramento California
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Bicyclist killed, suspect arrested in Sacramento hit-and-run
A person has been arrested after a bicyclist was hit and killed early Saturday in north Sacramento, officials said. Shortly before 2 a.m., the California Highway Patrol received reports of a collision ...
High fire potential prompts warnings for portions of Northern California, Oregon
The potential for high winds and thunderstorms have prompted a fire weather watch to be issued through Sunday for the northeast corner of California and broad portions ... Meanwhile, parts of the Sacr...
Pangaea founder: Sacramento could become ‘one of top beer destinations’ in the world
Given the seismic changes that have occurred in the Sacramento beer scenes during the first 10 years ... The style of beer that they brewed together is familiar to Northern California beer fans, but i...
What to know about next week's aerial sprays in the Sacramento area
2018 According to the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District, the aerial spray will be made using Trumpet EC, "an insecticide registered by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a...
West Nile virus tests prompt spraying in Sacramento, Elk Grove
REPORTER: SHE LIVES IN THE POCKET NEIGHBORHOOD OF SACRAMENTO WHERE THERE HAS BEEN A HIGHER CONCENTRATION ... an insecticide registered by both the U.S. and California Environmental Protection Agencies ...


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Hundreds of orders for U.S. boats have been canceled by Canadian boat dealers as tariffs introduced by that country are scheduled go into effect on July 1.
Soundings Trade Only reported that the tariffs were announced by the Canadian government following the Trump administration’s decision earlier this year to levy tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from Canada. Dealers in Ontario have already canceled 500 orders from the U.S. builders they represent.
“This is absolutely not a situation that has anything to do with economics,” Rick Layzell, CEO of Boating Ontario Association, told Trade Only Today. “Boat sales have been brisk this year and inventory pipelines are very low. The tariffs are adding a 10% increase, and with the rising prices from aluminum boat builders and sales taxes, consumers could see a 25% price increase overnight. Most are willing to let the deal die rather than pay that.”
About 100,000 new and used boats were sold in Ontario last year, according to NMMA Canada and about 65% of those boats came from the United States.
For the full story click here.


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Decide is one of the sites we recommend people visit when they're unsure about a gadget purchase (and they also gave one of you an iPhone 4S at launch.) They've helped many people determine whether they should pick up a certain digital camera or smartphone, or if they should wait a few weeks due to an impending new model set to hit the scene (or a price drop that's right around the corner.) Today, the company launches a new product that aims to give you a bit of confidence in that you are getting the best price out there, period.
Normally at this time of the year, I predict tech trends for the New Year. As I think about 2012, I realize that over the next 12 months, the personal computing and consumer electronics industries are poised to see some big disruptions that could change their course for the next five years.
In fact, I believe that when we end 2012, we will look back and realize that it was the most disruptive year we will have had in personal computing in over a decade. In the next 12 months, the market for personal computers of all shapes and sizes will have changed dramatically.
So, what will be the major forces that could reshape the PC business in 2012? There are four technologies and trends in the works that I believe will force the computer industry in a new direction.
The first will be Intel's huge push to make ultraportables 40 percent of its laptop mix by the end of 2012. Although I don't believe it will achieve that goal, especially if ultrabooks are priced above $899, the fact is that ultrabooks are the future of portable computing. Instead of thin and light laptops driving the market as they are now, ultrabooks, which are thinner and lighter, with SSDs and longer battery life, will eventually be what all laptops will look like in five years. The heavier and more powerful laptops that exist now won't go away completely since there are power users who will still need that kind of processing power. But ultrabooks will be the laptops of the future and 2012 will be the first year of their major push to change the portable computing landscape.
There is an interesting twist with ultraportables that could be even more important starting next year: the introduction of ultraportables with detachable screens that turn into tablets. In the past, this hybrid, as it is called, ran Windows when in laptop mode and Android when in tablet mode. But this approach was dead in the water from the start. With Windows 8 tablets ready to hit the market next fall, you will see ultraportables with detachable screens that will run Windows 8 with the Metro UI both on the laptop and in tablet mode. This will bring a level of OS consistency across both device modes and I think that this concept is a sleeper. In fact, if done right, this alone could reshape the traditional PC market in the near term.
As the last decade ends and a new one begins, it may be interesting to look at what has happened so far on the web, and what it means for the next 10 years. In a time when Facebook is everywhere, now reported to be valued at $50 billion, having raised $500 million recently and being expected to raise another $1.5 billion in the coming months, it's hard to remember what it was like in the year 2000. The tech bubble had just burst, a lot of web sites had gone down in flames, the Y2K bug proved to be nothing, and Windows 98 was still the dominant operating system. Google was something few people knew about, using instead Altavista and Yahoo. Social media was a mostly unknown concept. Just think of what the world was without smartphones and connectivity everywhere. In just 10 years, technology changed so fast, especially online, that it's hard to wrap our heads around it. Let's take it one domain at a time.
According to a new study by Forrester Research, the US sale of tablets, whether it's the iPad, Android or others, will more than double in 2011. The trend will keep going up, until more than one third of Americans own one by 2015. Their previous figures were much more conservative, and the outlook is likely to change again in the future. Still, this is probably closer to reality, as the iPad showed us that people really do want tablets, as long as the software and hardware are well executed. While the iPad will dominate at least for the foreseeable future, most device makers have already jumped on the bandwagon (you'll see proof of this at CES this week.) By 2015, the yearly amount of units sold should reach 44 millions.
Read More | Forrester
Last night Paul Buchheit, the former Google employee who created Gmail, tweeted his rather bold prediction that Chome OS was doomed:
"Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or "merged" with Android)"
He then added on the FriendFeed thread that Chrome OS has "no purpose that isn't better served by Android" and asking "is this too obvious to even state?" As Google started to ship CR-48 preview devices, with tech blogs reviewing them endlessly, people found themselves in front of a new type of system, one that provides much less than Android, or any other OS has provided before. Google is hoping that the web is all that many people need, and targeting Chrome OS at them. But as people started to plug in devices and finding that they don't work, being unable to do simple things like save photos from their digital cameras locally, or write a document without having to be online, it seems that the company still has a long way to go to convince people that Chrome OS is a good idea, for any market.
Read More | FriendFeed
In just about 30 minutes, Apple will be holding a rare press conference to address issues surrounding the iPhone 4. They’ve been pretty vague about the content that they will address, but it’s pretty obvious to all that they will be talking about the antenna issue that many have been complaining about (although we also wouldn’t mind hearing about a ship date for the white iPhone 4, and an update on the proximity sensor issue.) We figured we’d take a stab at predicting what Apple is gonna do. Aside from going over numbers and explaining what’s going on, it seems that the easiest and most inexpensive fix would be to offer up a gift card to those who have purchased an iPhone 4 already to cover the cost of a Bumper Case, while offering a bumper case to new buyers at the point of sale. So, we think we’ll go with that.
Now it’s your turn—hit us in the comments and let us know how you think Apple will handle this mess.
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March 7 (Reuters) - A shareholder group of Ferro Corp said the chemical maker should explore selling itself, criticizing its rejection of A. Schulman Inc’s $563 million buyout offer.
The group, headed by investors FrontFour Capital Group LLC and Quinpario Partners LLC, owns about 3.71 million shares, or a 4.3 percent stake, in Ferro. Ferro had 86.55 million shares outstanding as of Feb. 28.
“While we do not believe the offer fully values Ferro, the manner in which the Ferro board summarily rejected the offer without appearing to have engaged A. Schulman and attempting to negotiate a higher price speaks volumes,” the group said in a letter to fellow shareholders.
A. Schulman on Monday offered $6.50 per share, and said it could adjust its offer if it gets the chance to inspect Ferro’s books.
The group, which has nominated three directors to Ferro’s board, wants the company to explore a sale to A. Schulman or any other potential acquirer “at a price that fully and fairly values the company.”
Ferro said on Tuesday it would sell assets that do not generate sufficient returns and review its product lines, re-iterating its rejection of Schulman’s offer.
The shareholders said the company’s realignment of its business segment reporting was confusing to shareholders.
They also criticized Ferro’s earnings call, where the management did not take questions from analysts and investors.
Ferro shares, which have risen about 32 percent since A. Schulman’s offer, closed at $6.84 on Wednesday.


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Production of OE tires for passenger cars has begun at Yokohama Rubber Co.’s Russian tire facility LLC Yokohama R.P.Z.
Yokohama said that it launched OE production in response to a direct request from Nissan Russia. The automobile maker reported that it is curtailing its use of tires produced in other countries.
Currently, Yokohama’s facility is producing Geolandar G91 tires for Nissan X-Trail SUVs and BluEarth E75 tires for Nissan Teana sedans made at Nissan Motor Corp.’s local facility Nissan Manufacturing Russia.
According to Yokohama, the tiremaker had only dedicated itself to the production of replacement tires in Russia before this agreement with Nissan. The tiremaker noted that the addition of OE tires to the subsidiary’s product line should help raise awareness of the Yokohama brand in Russia.
Source Tire Review
Your Next Tire has all your tire needs weather you need tires for your minivan, backhoe, dump truck, lawn mower, atv, semi truck or Lincoln Navigator.
We have several warehouses full of tires and ship all over the USA daily. Give us a call at 1-888-513-8473 and check out our website http://www.yournexttire.com


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Green tea supplementation is associated with a decrease in body weight and body mass index in obese patients, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
“Green tea is one of the major types of tea (Camelia sinensis) and belongs to the non-fermented tea class,” said corresponding author Dr. Jing Wei from the Department of Endocrinology at Jinan Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine and colleagues.
“Among all of the tea types, the most significant effects on human health have been observed with the consumption of green tea.”
“Green tea hailed importance due to its health benefits on obesity, microbiota, cancer, blood pressure, osteoarthritis, hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, and neurodegenerative diseases.”
“Its health benefits are probably linked to its antioxidant properties, which are related to the high content in polyphenols, mainly catechins and flavonols.”
In their systematic review and meta-analysis, Dr. Wei and co-authors from China, Romania, Turkey, and Brazil searched several databases for clinical trials reporting on the influence of green tea supplements on obesity indices in humans.
The researchers included 26 studies involving a total of 1,344 participants.
“Our results showed that body weight and body mass index significantly changed after green tea administration, specifically for periods longer than 12 weeks and a dosage less than 800 mg/day,” they said.
“Epidemiological studies involving 1,103 subjects have shown that subjects who consumed tea habitually in an average volume of 434 mL/day for 10 years associated a lower percentage of body fat and a lower waist circumference versus than non-obese subjects who drank no tea,” they added.
“However, we believe that a higher decrease of body indices — mostly in anthropometric indices — can be observed in longer periods of intervention with green tea.”
“Although green tea supplementation cannot guarantee a definitive change of body weight and body mass index, we suggest that green tea supplementation can be used as a complimentary measure, together with a balanced and healthy diet and the regular practice of physical exercise, in the therapeutic approach of obese patients,” the authors concluded.
The findings were published in the journal Phytotherapy Research.
Ying Lin et al. The effect of green tea supplementation on obesity: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Phytotherapy Research, published online May 5, 2020; doi: 10.1002/ptr.6697
Source link: https://www.sci.news/medicine/green-tea-obesity-08407.html


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Morse Wins Appeal on Behalf of Client ITyX SolutionsMarch 04, 2020
Morse litigator Scott Magee recently won an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on behalf of ITyX Solutions AG. The Court of Appeals affirmed a jury verdict and $9.2 million judgment in favor of ITyX in a 28-page opinion. ITyX Solutions created and sells intelligent document recognition software. ITyX claimed that its reseller, Kodak Alaris, breached multiple agreements for the sales and servicing of the software. The Court agreed that ITyX had not breached the contracts and that Kodak Alaris had breached them, and that ITyX had proved damages from Kodak Alaris selling a competing product and in failing to pay for the professional services agreed to by the parties.
Morse focuses exclusively on the core legal services that businesses need to succeed, helping businesses of all sizes — from startups to Fortune 1000 companies — in the service areas of corporate, intellectual property, licensing, employment, taxation and litigation. Morse’s litigation team brings a seasoned, focused approach to protecting client interests.
480 Totten Pond Road, 4th Floor
Waltham, MA 02451


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HTC Evo 4G from Sprint to get Android Gingerbread
Here’s some good news for HTC EVO™ 4G from Sprint customers. Sprint has announced that this coming Monday, June 6, they will receive the Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread, update through an over-the-air maintenance release. The update will be in batches so wait for your notification from Sprint. The notification will let users know the update is available and provide the simple two-step, over-the-air download instructions.
Can’t wait to get Android 2.3, there will be an easy user initiated option to download the upgrade starting on Friday, June 3. Just read this announcement.


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MYANMAR: Heineken plans US$60m brewery with JV deal
The brewery is expected open next year
Heineken is to build a US$60m brewery in Myanmar as part of a new joint-venture in the country.
The 1m-hectolitre-a-year plant, near capital Yangon, is expected to open at the end of next year, the Dutch brewer said today (13 May). It will create 400 jobs and brew “leading brands, including Heineken”, Heineken said.
The brewery is part of a new JV Heineken announced today with Myanmar group Alliance Brewery Company. The deal, which brings Heineken back to Myanmar after a 17-year absence, will see Heineken subsidiary Asia Pacific Breweries take on 57% of the new venture, called APB Alliance Brewery Company.
“This is a truly exciting business opportunity that expands further our exposure to high growth markets,” Heineken CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer said.
Beverage firms have targeted the Myanmar market in the past year as governments loosen sanctions in the wake of political reform. In February, Carlsberg signed a JV with Myanmar Golden Star, and last year The Coca-Cola Co and Pepsico announced returns to the country.
Heineken, the world’s third largest brewer and leading cider producer, continued its aggressive acquisitive expansion in 2012 with the purchase of Asia Pacific Breweries. This profile considers the ex...
Heineken is making efforts to improve its business in the key US market and support sluggish consumption through product innovation, including Indio in June 2012 and Amstel Wheat and Tecate Michelada ...
Heineken do Brasil Comercial’s strategic direction became more aggressive in 2012. The company invested in new product launches and marketing and advertising campaigns to attract the attention of cons...
This is the first in a new series of short reports from just-drinks. These profiles will bring together all of just-drinks' coverage of a major development involving some of the leading players in the...
- Comment - The Appeal and Perils of Craft
- Review of the Year 2014 - Part IV: Spirits
- Cuba-US Normalisation: Bacardi, Pernod Winners?
- Sustainability in Wine - Part I
- Time is Right for Refresco Gerber Exit
- Belvédère to sell assets, streamline portfolio
- Belvedere vodka tie-up over new James Bond film
- Diageo ups focus on China with Mortlach roll-out
- Diageo rolls out Beckham's Haig Club to US
- Brown-Forman eyeing Scotch, Irish whisk(e)y entry?
- Global vodka insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends research
- Global Scotch whisky insights - market forecasts, product innovation and consumer trends research
- The IWSR Forecast Report - 2014-2019 Global Review
- Global Tequila Market 2014-2018
- Global market review of non-Scotch whiskies – forecasts to 2018


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Ethnographic research will reveal role of digital media in family life
London, UK, June 13 2012 - International consumer research specialist Intersperience is launching ‘Connected Olympics’, a unique ethnographic study of how digital media is used by British families, involving footage from cameras installed in 20 homes as well as a 300-strong online community to test findings across a wider base.
The in-depth project, which involves several innovative methodologies, will run throughout the London 2012 Olympics which will be the world’s first truly digital games as consumers follow the action on more technology platforms than ever before - including tablets, smartphones, laptops and TVs (including internet-enabled sets).
The project’s findings on how and why people interact with different digital devices and platforms such as social media in a range of real-life situations, will deliver exclusive insights on current and anticipated future consumer behaviour for a wide range of commercial organisations.
Paul Hudson, Intersperience Chief Executive said: “The London Olympics will mark the point when digital will finally go mainstream as the public switches on one billion smart devices to follow the Games. This peak in digital activity creates the perfect conditions for a unique ‘live testing lab’ designed to deliver fresh insight into how consumers interact with digital technology on a daily basis.”
Hudson added: “This research project is not about the Olympics per se - it is about using the behavioural insights we gather to identify the rate of adoption of new devices and explain how people are using them. It will also deliver invaluable intelligence for organisations seeking to spot product opportunities early and to gauge the impact of new devices, digital and social media on marketing and advertising.”
As well as surveillance cameras in homes, the ‘Connected Olympics’ project will involve in-depth interviews with family members with an emphasis on lifestyle and household dynamics to augment the video footage and add context. Participants in the project will also keep a ‘mobile media diary’ recording their use of digital media with the aid of Intersperience’s unique location-based diary app, taking the project out of people’s homes and ‘following’ them as they go about their lives.
It will also include research from a larger online community of 300 people which will test findings from the smaller family groups against a wider base of consumers, adding weight and depth to the overall results.
Intersperience has structured the project in three modules focusing on marketing, devices and social media, offering clients an opportunity to identify and access the elements of the project which are most relevant to their business sector. Participation in the project is priced at £2,500 per module. Intersperience has already signed up its first clients for the ‘Connected Olympics’ project and welcomes new participants.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information and to enquire about participating in the ‘Connected Olympics’ study please contact Intersperience directly:
Tel: + 44 (0) 15395 65450
Media Contact: Valerie Darroch, T: 07970 737708, E: email@example.com
Intersperience is an international consumer research specialist with expertise in consumer behaviour, experience and attitudes. The team, which is headquartered in Cumbria, has more than 25 years experience in analysing consumer behaviour. It employs a range of interpretative models and frameworks including a proprietary online research platform. Intersperience has significant global expertise and an international research hub at Lancaster University which conducts research in more than 60 languages as well as associates in major global markets. Intersperience is an expert in how technology impacts on consumer behaviour and multi-channel customer service strategy. Clients include:The British Council; General Motors; Iceland; Samsung; ScottishPower and William Hill.


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Wegmans was eyeing the 110-acre Walter Reed campus because of its size, working with two different developers before plans fell through.
"We have been unable to reach an agreement on economic terms or on an acceptable development plan," Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale told the Business Journal. "We are doubtful that a deal will be struck."
Hines Interests LP, the company that will redevelop the site, has a plan for Walter Reed that includes 100 residential units, 250,000 square feet of retail, 14 acres of open space, a Hyatt hotel and conference center, space for arts organizations, an ambulatory care clinic from Howard University and an innovative core anchored by George Washington University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Business Journal reports.
Hines' renderings even included a grocery store with a "W" on the sign similar to the Wegmans logo.
Wegmans has expanded to open stores in Virginia and Maryland in the past 12 years. This would've been the first store in D.C., but Natale told the Business Journal that the grocery chain will seek other opportunities to open a store in the area.


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Grafenberg, Germany - Rampf Group says it showcased new processing technology for its two-component polyurethane Raku-Pur Speed at this year's MECSPE 2013 exhibition in Parma, Italy.
The two-component polymer from RAMPF Giessharze and the new compact robot cell DC-RS250 from RAMPF Dosiertechnik were showcased through live demonstrations at Italy's leading international exhibition for specialised mechanics in Parma, Rampf said.
The Grafenberg, Germany-headquartered company, which specialises in reactive casting resins and machine systems, said its compact robot cell combines rapid processing, high flexibility and the ability to accommodate "nearly any" space requirement.
"We are happy with the feedback we received from the visitors of our exhibition stand. With DC-RS250 and Raku-Pur, we can offer our customers all they need for their lean manufacturing projects," commented Hartmut Storz, sales and marketing manager at RAMPF Dosiertechnik, in a 17 April news release.


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Economy grew by better than expected 0.3 per cent in November: StatsCan
January 31, 2013
By The Canadian Press
Statistics Canada says the economy grew by 0.3 per cent in November, following a 0.1 per cent rise in October, partly thanks to a boost in manufacturing activity.
The November number for real gross domestic product is better than the 0.2 per cent analysts were predicting.
Most major industrial sectors increased production in November, with goods production up 0.6 per cent. Service industries were up just 0.1 per cent.
The statistics agency says manufacturing and mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction were the main contributors to the November increase.
Wholesale and retail trade, utilities as well as transportation and warehousing services also rose, while construction and the public sector were unchanged.
Accommodation and food services and the finance and insurance sector shrank.
- Police, Ministry of Labour investigate death of worker in Tillsonburg
- Yokogawa and McAfee partner for industrial control system security


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Google announced at its I/O conference in June 2014 that Android apps are coming to its Chrome OS. Earlier this month product managers Ken Mixter and Josh Woodward announced that the first four Android apps are available in the Chromebook app store: Duolingo, Evernote, Sight Words and Vine.
I delayed posting about this until I
…continue reading Android apps on Chrome: how it works and what it may become
I am investigating hosting this site on Windows Azure, partly as a learning exercise, and possibly to enable easier scaling.
I discovered that any web site short of Standard is worthless other than for experimentation and prototyping. I set up a Small Standard Web Site (£48 per month). But what database? I recalled that you
…continue reading Running WordPress on Windows Azure
Appcelerator CEO Jeff Haynie has posted about his plans for Titanium, the company’s cross-platform mobile development toolkit.
With Ti.Next, we’ve created a small microkernel design that
Today at its Software Conference in Paris Intel presented its HTML5 development tools.
There is an intriguing comment here:
…continue reading Intel fights back against iOS with free tools for HTML5 cross-platform mobile development
Last night I participated in an unusual event: a virtual wine-tasting laid on by Citrix for a few journalists, to demonstrate the capabilities of its GoToMeeting online conferencing software.
Sommelier Akos Hervai at Clusters to Wine talked us through the serious business of how to taste wine and we discussed the merits of four selected
…continue reading Virtual meetings: as good as the real thing?
Browser company Opera is abandoning development of its own browser engine and adopting WebKit.
To provide a leading browser on Android and iOS, this year Opera will make a gradual transition to the WebKit engine, as well as Chromium, for most of its upcoming versions of browsers for smartphones and computers.
Note that Opera is
…continue reading Browser monoculture draws nearer as Opera adopts WebKit, Google Chromium
One way of looking at Microsoft’s Windows 8 strategy is as an attempt to establish a new tablet platform. By welding the tablet platform to the desktop platform, Microsoft ensured that every customer who wanted the latest Windows release would also get the tablet release, though some are stuck with keyboard and mouse to control
…continue reading The Windows 8 app platform: how is it going? A few clues from developers


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Thursday, June 20, 2013
Compact Chevrolet Enjoy in the pipeline?
The new vehicle will fall under the sub-four meter category and enjoy the excise the benefits offere...
Optimistic of sales picking up with new launches: GM
The company had sold 8400 cars last year in Kerala and expects its sales to touch 12,000 units this ...
Chevrolet Enjoy: Five interesting things
The car will compete with Mahindra Xylo, Nissan Evalia and Maruti Ertiga.
Chevrolet Enjoy hits Indian roads; price starts at Rs 5.49L
The vehicle will compete with Maruti Suzuki India's Ertiga, which is priced between Rs 5.98 lakh and...
Chevrolet Enjoy to hit the roads on May 9?
The car will be powered by a 1.3-litre multi-jet engine from FIAT and will also feature 175/65 R14 t...
GM to launch Chevrolet Enjoy soon
It will be one of Chevrolet India's three products borrowed from China's GM-SAIC joint venture.
GM targetting to sell 48,000 units of Sail this year
General Motors India is targetting to sell 48,000 units of the Chevrolet Sail per annum in the count...
GM launches Chevrolet Sail Premium sedan in Jammu
General Motors India on Friday launched Chevrolet Sail in Jammu.
Expect to register 2% growth this fiscal: General Motors
"...This year, we should be able to register growth in tandem with the market (by two percent),...
GM recalls over 145,000 pickups for hood latch glitch
General Motors Corporation said it is recalling 145,628 mid-sized pickup trucks globally because the...
GM launches Chevrolet Sail U-VA car in Jammu
"We have launched the Sail U-VA hatchback in Jammu today and it is built on a new global small ...
General Motors hopeful of selling 4,000 units a month
Despite a 'sluggish' market, General Motors Friday said it was hopeful of selling about 4,000 units ...
Chevrolet Sail U-VA: Five Interesting things
Let’s have a look at five interesting things about the car.
General Motors launches Chevrolet Sail U-VA in Bangalore
General Motors India on Friday launched premium hatchback Chevrolet Sail U-VA here on Friday at a pr...
Chevrolet Sail U-VA hits Indian roads at Rs 4.44 lakh
Sail U-VA will replace the Aveo U-VA and will be available in petrol and diesel engines.
GM India launches new Spark starting at Rs 3.26 lakh
The new Spark is available in both petrol and LPG options and is costlier by up to Rs 10,000 from th...
Chevrolet Spark facelift version to be launched on Oct 25
The long wait for the facelift version of Chevrolet Spark hatchback will be over next week.
Chevrolet Spark facelift version to be launched today
Spark will feature a host of changes on the exteriors as well as the interiors.
CSA to trial four-day cricket under lights
Cricket South Africa (CSA) is all set to host its first four-day day/night match under first-class c...
GM to launch two new cars this year
Even though the market is sluggish due to high interest rates and soaring petrol prices, GM will lau...
GM India June sales down 11%
General Motors India Monday posted 10.65 percent decline in its sales at 7,364 units in June.
General Motors launches new diesel variant of Cruze
The new Cruze is powered by a 2 litre diesel engine with a 6-speed manual transmission.
GM India March sales up 13%
The company had sold 9,391 units in the same month of 2011, General Motors India said in a statement...
GM to combine Chevy advertising, hopes to save $2 billion
General Motors expects to save about USD 2 billion during the next five years by centralising most o...
GM India sales up 7% in Dec
GM India sold a total of 1,11,510 units compared to 1,10,804 units a year ago.
General Motors India registers 14% growth in sales in August
General Motors India registered a growth of 14 percent in sales led by the "overwhelming" ...
Chevrolet Beat to launch diesel version in India on Jul 25
General Motors India would launch the diesel variant of its Chevrolet Beat in the Indian market on J...
Day in pics
Day in Pics: 19th June
Day in Pics: 18th June
Rain, flood, landslide wreak havoc in North India
Day in Pics: 17th June
Day in Pics: 16th June
Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her birthday
Day in Pics: 15th June
7 Best Pics of the Week
Day in Pics: 14th June
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Is Hassan Rouhani the right man to lead Iran?
Will the new Prez be able to pull Iran out of its isolation?
What is the road ahead for Nitish Kumar & Bihar?
JD(U) might come back to NDA’s fold.
ICC Champions Trophy 2013
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He's not alone. More than 40% of retailers report a tightening of credit by their lenders, according to a recent survey by consulting firm BDO Seidman. Those in the Big Apple's fashion industry, known as a mecca for emerging designers, face mounting concerns about survival as the credit crisis affects every aspect of their livelihoods, from obtaining materials from nervous overseas suppliers to dealing with decreased orders from large retailers. To stay afloat, they are cutting overhead costs and slashing prices in hopes of increasing sales volume.
Some local names are already closing up shop. Jane Mayle's apparel store in NoLIta is slated for closure in February, while hippie-print dress designer Tracy Feith closed one of his two Manhattan boutiques earlier this month.
“Everyone is struggling at all levels,” says Susan Scafidi, an intellectual property and fashion law professor at Fordham University School of Law. “It starts with the ability to buy fabric and goes all the way up to how much to stock at retail and whether you can sell at full price or discount.”
Even those who haven't been forced to close have to contend with fewer orders from retailers that are experiencing a crunch in credit availability. Luxury fashion house Ruffian has seen upscale customers like Barneys New York cut orders and buy wardrobe staples instead of the fashion-forward items for which the company is known.
“Retailers are being less committal,” says Ruffian co-designer Brian Wolk. Over the past year, he has concentrated his business on the European market, which now accounts for more than 40% of sales. To bolster its business, Ruffian plans to have customers shop at its midtown showroom directly.


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From: ChinaDaily, 300710. BEIJING – Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co is expected to complete it takeover of Swedish luxury car brand Volvo from US automaker Ford Motor Co on Monday after getting government approval for the deal.
Ministry of Commerce officials told China Daily on Thursday that the government cleared the Volvo deal on Monday 26, after the National Development and Reform Commission cleared the proposal last week.
Geely has also got the necessary anti-trust approvals from the European Union and the US government for the deal. “With this the decks are now clear for Geely to complete its acquisition of Volvo and start manufacturing the brand in China,” said Wang Zhile, director of the research center on transnational corporations under the Ministry of Commerce.
Yuan Xiaolin, Geely’s spokesman for the Volvo deal was unavailable on Thursday for comment. However, unnamed sources from Geely told China Daily that the Zhejiang-based automaker will hold a formal function on Monday to complete the deal.
Geely’s shares surged nearly 11.32 percent and closed at HK$2.95 per share in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Privately owned Geely paid $1.8 billion to acquire the Volvo car brand from Ford on March 28 this year. It was the biggest overseas deal made by Chinese automakers in recent times.
Geely Chairman Li Shufu had at that time indicated that the company would invest $900 million as operating capital in Volvo apart from the $1.8 billion purchase price.
Geely said on July 15 that it had appointed Li as the chairman of the board at Volvo Car Corp. At the same time it appointed the former president and CEO of Volvo Hans-Olov Olsson as the vice-chairman.
More appointments to the board and top management, including the chief executive and chief financial officer, may be made next week, said sources.
Analysts said the Volvo buy will help Geely gain a competitive edge in China and also a major toehold in Europe.
Pursuant to completion of the deal, Geely is likely to start making Volvo cars locally.
Though it has not announced a location yet, indications are that it may consider Jiading in Shanghai, Chengdu in Sichuan, Beijing or Tianjin as possible production sites.
During the firsts six months of the year, Volvo sold 15,497 cars in China, up 88 percent over last year.
That compares to the Swedish luxury brand’s 5.2 percent and 9 percent year-on-year decline in major markets like the United States and Germany.
Geely plans to increase Volvo’s annual sales in China to 150,000 units by 2015, said sources.


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Clearly Apple expects big things from the iPhone early next year, thanks in large part to the long-awaited deal with Verizon Wireless. According to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, Apple now plans to ship 20 million to 21 million iPhones in next year's first quarter, up from the company's previous estimate of 19 million shipped units. (Also see: Apple, Verizon Wireless make inevitable iPhone deal)
And 5 million to 6 million of the new smartphones are CDMA units. Verizon Wireless uses CDMA technology in its wireless network. In other words, Apple's deal to make Verizon Wireless only the second carrier (after AT&T) to offer the iPhone instantly increased estimated iPhone sales by, conservatively, 25 percent. It makes you wonder why it took so long for Apple to ink an agreement with Verizon, especially given all the complaining about the quality of AT&T's wireless network. As of next month, when Verizon begins selling the iPhone, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA will be only wireless carriers in the U.S. not selling the Apple smartphone. Apple is estimated to have shipped 15.5 million iPhones in the current quarter and about 47 million in 2010. Even without the Verizon version of its iPhone, Apple's expected sales in Q1 would be nearly double the 8.36 million iPhones sold (according to Gartner) in Q1 of last year.
Chris Nerney writes about the business side of technology market strategies and trends, legal issues, leadership changes, mergers, venture capital, IPOs and technology stocks. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisNerney.


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Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk said Tuesday the world doesn’t have enough lithium-ion battery factories to supply his planned high-volume “Generation III” electric car, expected to hit the market in 2016 or 2017.
So Tesla may just build the “giga factory” it needs, he said during a call with analysts Tuesday evening after the company released third quarter results. Tesla’s stock fell 10% in after hours trading as some investors apparently were disappointed in the company’s pace of deliveries.
Mr. Musk took a much longer view. The Generation III Tesla could push the company’s sales to 500,000 cars a year, he said. That’s about 25 times current sales volume. The biggest obstacle to hitting that sales target is the lack of batteries, Mr. Musk said
“If we are to produce 500,000 vehicles a year… we need cell capacity commensurate, which is bigger than all lithium- ion production today,” he said.
More on this after the jump…
By Gabriele Parussini
Maurice Taylor, the chief executive of U.S. tire maker Titan International Inc., hit the headlines in France earlier this year when he walked away from his plan to buy a tire plant in Northern France owned by Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co, saying he would be “stupid” to operate in a country where workers get high wages for little actual work.
It turns out he never really walked away.
Fast forward eight months and Mr. Taylor is in full-on détente mode with French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, who is actively trying to persuade the tire plant’s left-leaning union to accept a standing offer from Titan. Mr. Montebourg met Wednesday with representatives of the union in Paris and said their resistance to a Titan buyout has softened.
“Mr. Taylor, who had had tough words for France, has muzzled his criticism and came back, showing his desire to get to an agreement,” Mr. Montebourg said. “That shows that France is capable of disarming its toughest critics.”
The Wall Street Journal spoke with Mr. Taylor about Mr. Montebourg, Goodyear and France. We’ve posted the edited excerpts, after the jump…
By Christina Rogers and Neal E. Boudette
Tensions between the United Auto Workers union and Nissan Motor Co. are rising over a push by the union to organize workers at a plant in Canton, Mississippi.
The UAW has been working for the last several years to build support at the factory and is about to expand upon its recent claims that the company is blocking its efforts to meet and communicate with Nissan workers.
On Tuesday the head of the Mississippi NAACP will issue a report in Washington alleging that Nissan is interfering with organizing work by its own employees. It claims Nissan’s actions violate international labor standards.
More on this after the jump…
By John W. Miller
Hamlet was more decisive.
ThyssenKrupp AG, the mighty German steelmaking conglomerate (and a manufacturer of everything from elevators to wind turbine parts), still hasn’t decided whether to keep, downsize or totally kill off its money-losing North American automotive steel operation, which it has been trying to sell for an entire year.
The upshot: A see-sawing stock chart as investors can’t decide whether to stay or go. It happened again Monday, with reports that ThyssenKrupp was abandoning the sale, driving the share price down again. ThyssenKrupp said talks are still ongoing.
To recap: In 2007, the company started building a new blast furnace mill in Brazil and a processing plant in Alabama for $11.8 billion. The idea was to make low cost raw steel in South America, and then ship it to the U.S where it would be rolled into sheets for all the automakers setting up shop in southern states like Mississippi and Tennessee. By the time the two plants were finished in 2010, the financial crisis, Brazil’s inflating currency, and tepid steel demand had thrown a wrench into ThyssenKrupp’s American dream.
More on this after the jump…
The global paper and packaging company International Paper employs about 70,000 people and sold almost $28 billion of dead-tree product in 2012. But the paper business isn’t what it used to be. From a company announcement today:
International Paper today announced plans to permanently close its Courtland, Ala. Mill, a facility that is part of the company’s Printing and Communications Papers Business. The mill will shut down in stages with a full closure expected to be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2014.
Lamenting the closure’s “impact to long-serving and hard-working employees, their families and the surrounding communities,” International Paper CEO John Farci said the shutdown decision was “primarily being driven by demand decline for uncoated freesheet paper products in the United States.”
More on this after the jump…
With more than 800 Bangladeshi factory workers dead in the wake of one of the deadliest industrial accidents in history this April, unions and activists pushed for a legally binding pact to make the country’s garment factories safer.
The Bangladesh disaster attracted a lot of public interest and media scrutiny, and the proponents of the safety pact assumed — rightly — that striking while the iron was hot would be the best chance to pressure companies to sign on to the deal. And it worked, in part: Big European retailers like H&M, Tesco and Carrefour signed up within weeks of the disaster.
But others held out, including the biggest American retailers, who expressed skepticism about the costs and practicality of implementing the deal. And now that the attention has died down, those companies have come out with their own pact: A five-year plan, backed by a $42 million fund, to set up safety standards, a factory inspection system and worker safety training in Bangladesh.
More on this after the jump…
After the disaster in Bangladesh last week — one of history’s deadliest industrial accidents — some of the world’s biggest clothing makers have signed up to a new industry-wide system for monitoring safety standards at Bangladeshi garment factories.
Some, that is. Not all. Wal-Mart has not signed on to the system, instead going ahead with its own set of safety initiatives in Bangladesh announced today. From the WSJ’s Shelly Banjo:
Wal-Mart said it would pay for safety inspections at 279 Bangladesh factories and publish results on its website by June 1. When fire and building safety issues are found, Wal-Mart will require factory owners to make necessary renovations or risk being removed from its list of authorized factories.
Wal-Mart won’t pay for the renovations but will “expect the cost of safety improvements to be reflected in the cost of goods we buy,” said Rajan Kamalanathan, Wal-Mart’s head of ethical sourcing, in an interview. “We don’t want anyone to cut corners to put workers safety in jeopardy.”
Wal-Mart also released a list of about 250 factories banned from producing its products due to poor safety records — more on this after the jump.
Last December, in the wake of a factory fire that killed 112 Bangladeshi workers, we wrote about the joint memorandum on fire and building safety in Bangladesh. The proposal, being pushed by unions, rights groups and others, called for international companies to sign on to a legally enforceable set of safety standards regarding their manufacturing facilities in Bangladesh.
At the time, PVH Corp., the owner of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, was the most prominent big brand owner to have signed on to the deal, while others were resisting based on concerns about costs and other details in the agreement.
Today, in the wake of one of history’s deadliest industrial accidents at another Bangladeshi clothing factory, two of the world’s biggest clothing companies have agreed to sign on to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, a similar deal to the one being proposed prior. Sweden’s H&M — the single largest apparel producer in Bangladesh — and Spain’s Inditex, owner of the Zara retail chain, are now both signatories to the Accord.
A copy of the agreement, dated May 12, has been published online (PDF) by the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor rights monitor that has been pushing for all big retailers to sign on. The agreement covers all suppliers producing products for signatory companies, who will be legally obliged to ensure their suppliers stick to the standards. PVH has said it will join up to the new agreement.
The basic details of the agreement, after the jump…
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Hostess Brands Inc., maker of Twinkies and Wonderbread, said today it would shut down three of its factories, firing 627 workers, as a wave of strikes hit its plants across the country.
About two-thirds of its plants are being picketed by almost 6,000 union workers upset at a new contract; Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn says worse it to come if the strike doesn’t end. From the WSJ’s Rachael Feintzeig:
Mr. Rayburn said Monday afternoon that Hostess is permanently shutting down plants in Seattle, St. Louis and Cincinnati as a result of the work stoppage, and 627 jobs will be lost. “We don’t have the manpower to maintain them during the strike,” he said.
He also said that the company didn’t have much more wiggle room in terms of shutting down additional plants and that the next step would probably be a complete shutdown.
That sounds pretty serious — except we’ve heard something similar before. Here’s Mr Rayburn back in late September, setting the scene for votes by the company’s two biggest unions on new labor deals:
The chief executive of Hostess Brands Inc. said the troubled maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread will immediately liquidate if union members don’t sign on to the final labor deal it has offered them.
Gregory Rayburn, a restructuring professional who took the helm of iconic baking company earlier this year, said that a contingency plan is already in place to shut down operations and sell the company’s brands, plants and other assets if members of its two biggest unions don’t ratify the new contracts.
“If either one doesn’t [vote in favor of the proposal], we liquidate,” Mr. Rayburn said in an interview Thursday. “Effectively, the fate of the company is in the hands of the employees.”
What happened? One union, the Teamsters, voted in favour of the deal. The other, the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International, said no, and its members are now leading the picket. But their no vote didn’t lead to the company’s shutdown as threatened, giving Mr Rayburn’s comments a distinct bluff-like flavor.
Is anything different this time around? We spoke to the WSJ’s Feintzeig, who has followed Hostess as it navigates its way through bankruptcy protection, and she says the company’s situation today is more dire, and therefore the threats seem more serious.
The big reason: this time, the strike really is hitting the business, causing genuine capacity issues at some plants which cannot operate with the number of workers they have left.
The question moving forward is whether the shuttering of plants will convince other striking workers that their jobs are genuinely at risk, or whether it will intensify the passions on the labor side and deepen the strike — and potentially lead to retaliation from the Teamsters. As Feintzig wrote today:
The future of the Teamsters’ cooperation remains unclear. Over the weekend, many Teamsters were crossing the picket lines, according to both Mr. Rayburn and Ken Hall, the Teamsters secretary-treasurer. But Mr. Hall said in an interview Monday that his union is still trying to gather more details about the strike and to sort through the contract provisions that specify what actions various Teamster locals can take in the event of a strike by another Hostess labor group.
Mr. Hall said he is sure his members will honor the picket lines if it is determined that such a move is sanctioned under their contracts. The Teamsters represent about 7,500 of Hostess’s approximately 18,300 employees.
And on a deeper level, what will Hostess be all about in the long run? The company’s two big brands, Twinkies and Wonderbread, are synonymous not just with carbs, but with the lowest rungs of the carbohydrate ladder. In the era of Atkins and local, organic and health-conscious, is there still room for a junk carb specialist?


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Social Media Redefines Marketing
Houston, we have a problem. The decision by Proctor & Gamble CEO to layoff 1,600 employees after finding out it is free to advertise on Google and Facebook is an important moment illustrating that social media, far from being overhyped, is actually making seismic changes to the definition of marketing.
As with all new marketing vehicles, there’s a lot to be learned and figured out in the social media space. Too much of the conversation, focus and money is about Twitter and Facebook as channels for marketing. But social media marketing is bigger than that. It’s a fundamental shift that affects every single part of the enterprise. Consumers don’t care about silos, and they don’t care about marketers who push an agenda. Even a complaint on Twitter is a marketing opportunity if you respond in the right way.
For example, Xbox uses Twitter in a customer-support capacity to respond to more than 5,000 tweets per week with an average response time of single-digit minutes. This was enough to earn them a Guinness World Record for Most Responsive Brand on Twitter. More importantly, it drove customer-satisfaction rates that dwarf other channels, which spills over into marketing gains.
Whether the issue is service, product, support or anything else, converting a conversation from an interaction into a marketing opportunity requires that you put a premium on connecting the customer to the right people at your organization. Track the issue all the way to resolution, and measure the impact versus traditional approaches. If you have the infrastructure and the processes to handle social media right, every interaction — even a crisis — can be made into a marketing opportunity.
Impressions, followers and fans are meaningless metrics in the social world, contrary to common belief by most brands. Unless, of course, they are accompanied by other measurements to give you insights about engagement and amplification. Most importantly, tying social initiatives to tangible results like sales hasn’t yet been figured out. The social metrics that truly matter are not about impressions, but engagement and consumer activation, as these are drivers of business results. Aligning the new metrics of expression to results that matter and being able to track it in a comprehensive way across all of the social platforms is where it’s headed. But most marketers haven’t caught up.
Large brands have an average of 178 accounts across various social media sites, according to an Altimeter report. This number will only increase. It’s time for enterprise-wide visibility, coordination and governance to ensure that you can engage with the social consumer with confidence. It’s no surprise that some of the world’s most social companies, like Dell, now have independent social media teams that report directly to the CEO.
Whether it’s a political movement or a concerted effort by activists to change the policies of a multi-national conglomerate, it’s clear that the arrival of social has fundamentally changed the way that society and, by extension, the world of business operate. It only follows that marketing must evolve and adapt to the new reality. If you don’t, it might not just be a professional mistake but a very personal one too.
Ragy Thomas is CEO of Sprinklr, a social media management company.
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The Economic Impact of Covid-19 – GHA Episode 24
From the heart-wrenching photos of the plight of daily wage workers to the news of billionaires such as Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mukesh Ambani multiplying their net worth, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the entire spectrum of economic extremes. The year gone by perfectly embodies words coined by the poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” So, in the same spirit, this week we bring to you the economic impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare industry.
As we all know, the economy which was already crippled before the pandemic, took a nosedive when COVID-19 reached pandemic proportions. The global economy shrank by 4.3% in 2020, over 2 ½ times more than during the global financial crisis of 2008. By April 2020, we had over a third of the world’s population under lockdown, clearly steering the global economy towards a prolonged winter. And by September 2020, most of the advanced and emerging countries were deep in recession. Hospitality, retail, and tourism were some of the early victims and will understandably be the last to recover.
At the peak of last year, the US GDP contracted by 9%, UK by 21%, and India stood at 23%. The UN’s prediction of an overall loss of 195 million jobs globally was highly underestimated as 140 million jobs were lost in India alone. At the height of the pandemic, more than four out of five people (81%) in the global workforce of 3.3 billion were affected by full or partial workplace closures. Now, although the economy is yet to recover, employment is on the rise again. For example, air travel has started hiring again despite taking a major hit with the collapse of tourism and hospitality under the weight of the pandemic.
How COVID-19 has Impacted our Economy?
However, a major concern that still remains is the risk of hysteresis, which is when an unemployment shock lowers growth potential and leads to sustained high unemployment despite recovery of the economy. To address these problems, large-scale, integrated, policy measures are needed, focusing on certain key aspects, namely, supporting enterprises, employment and incomes; stimulating the economy and jobs; protecting workers in the workplace; and using social dialogue between governments, workers, and employers to find solutions.
Towards the second half of 2020, as governments around the world focused on nurturing the economy, the healthcare industry focused on slowing the pandemic. The unprecedented speed with which multiple vaccine candidates were developed and rapidly made available to every country around the world sowed the seeds for a slow but steady recovery. The projected recovery rate of 4.7%-7% for 2021 does offer a glimmer of hope.
Speaking of projections, the month began with India’s Union Budget presented by the Hon’ble Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitaraman. This is India’s first budget for the decade and the first paperless budget ever. Additionally, it was the first budget to start with focus on health and wellness. Amplifying this focus was the budget outlay of 223,000 crore for building better public health infrastructure, which is an increase of 137% over previous year.
She also committed an additional expenditure of 35,000 crore rupees for Covid vaccination. Collectively this amounts to almost 13% of India’s GDP! Halfway across the world, Joe Biden’s government is committing to a $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” to confront the virus and to provide temporary support for the economy. The UK government, on the other hand, has provided fiscal support through extended job retention schemes to safeguard companies, households and vulnerable populations. The government has already spent about £280 billion in order to combat the catastrophe brought about by the virus.
The Pandemic Impact on Healthcare 2021
So, let’s hunker down and explore the absolute economic impact of the pandemic on the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. The race to create a vaccine; the impressive and inspiring speed with which pharma companies rose to the challenge brought to light both possibilities and shortcomings in the pharmaceutical manufacturing process. The supply chain gaps that the pandemic exposed resulted in landed cost no longer being the key metric and instead risk mitigation becoming a point of focus. As reinforced by the pandemic, the supply chain of active materials and ingredients, mainly from China, the import and export of pharmaceuticals, as well as the production location are all vulnerable to disruption. Thus, shifting production locations closer to end markets or in lower-risk countries has now started gaining importance.
That’s as far as the vaccine is concerned. What about the growing penetration of technology in healthcare and the subsequent change in the economic landscape? Understandably, the Internet of Things has resulted in an unprecedented growth in healthcare. The global market size of IoT in healthcare is predicted to grow from USD 70 billion in 2020 to USD 190 billion by 2025, at a whopping Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 22%. A bulk of this would be in digital healthcare tools such as telemedicine, remote patient and in-patient monitoring, interactive medicine, clinical operations and workflow management, imaging, medication management, and others such as fall detection, sportsmen care, and public safety.
Naturally, this growth is sowing the seeds for increased development in technology and healthcare. Although blue chip companies such as Apple Inc., Google, and GE Healthcare are emerging as key players in this revolution, it’s inspiring to see that healthcare startups are not far behind. So much so that companies such as Life Bridge and CareFirst have announced mentorship programs and investments of up to $100,000 in health-focused startups in a novel incubator program. In fact, in 2020, global investments in healthcare startups set a new record reaching nearly 5,500 deals and $80.6 billion in equity funding in North America, Asia, and Europe. Additionally, “mega-rounds” (which are over $100 million) of venture funding rose to a record 187 deals last year. Notably, companies such as the medical device company Butterfly Network and telemedicine company Hims & Hers went public via special-purpose acquisition companies as opposed to the traditional route.
November witnessed the biggest single round deal by a group of investors, including Google, for a $800 million boost to Resilience, a company that develops manufacturing technology products for biopharmaceuticals. This was closely trailed by a $700 million funding round in December for Alphabet Inc’s life sciences subsidiary, Verily.
How Digital Health has evolved!
Along with digital health, what used to be considered niche sectors such as mental health and women’s health also recorded notable deals. Mental health, brought into the limelight by the lockdown imposed due to the pandemic, saw a record high of $2 billion in equity funding last year. Similarly, companies addressing women’s health needs saw a record number of 239 deals last year. About 62% of those were early-stage companies, suggesting that the fledgling industry is poised for further growth even after the pandemic comes under control.
Putting the entirety of 2020 into perspective we realize just how deeply interconnected every aspect of modern civilization is. Despite the fact that this is one of the largest pandemics in the modern age, creating deep disruption, it’s become quickly evident that it’s also sparking all new opportunities for all of us. We are at the early stages of a “V” shaped economic recovery and we are going to experience tremendous growth across all sectors over the next few years. While the last 20 years can be considered the information age, we are now looking at the dawn of the healthcare era.


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Victoria slow to follow SA’s lead on container deposit scheme
Victoria is set to be the last state to have a Container Deposit (CD) recycling scheme, despite South Australia having one since 1977.
South Australians, sporting clubs and communities have collected bottles to deposit for a monetary value, initially for a 10 or 20 cent value for re-usable bottles, but lessened to 5c when aluminium cans came to the forefront. Since 2008, the scheme has been to a 10c value.
On the Flow Morning Show, host Wayne Phillips reviews the different states' approach to keeping bottles, cans and cartons out of the rubbish and into the recycling. You can listen to the segment in the FlowNews24 podcast player. The article continues further below.
The Northern Territory followed suit almost 40 years later.
Other states, including NSW (2017), the ACT (June 2018), QLD (November 2018) and WA (October 2020) have also introduced a CD system.
With Tasmania and Victoria set to implement the scheme in 2022 and 2023 respectively, there is concern surrounding whether Victoria will follow a more corporate-friendly model similar to NSW.
New South Wales signed deals with waste management companies and saw a proliferation of 'reverse vending machines' into which consumers could place their bottles and cans for automatic payment.
The South Australian model sees consumers take their bottles, cans and cartons to a 'recycling centre' where volunteers or staff manually sort the items and provide a payment to the consumer. The recycling centre is later reimbursed through the scheme.
The NSW model leaves less room for organisations such as ‘Scouts Recycling Centre’, and similar community collection centres that operate primarily community, not private, benefit.
South Australian communities have benefited for decades from collection incentives by the Scouts and club-driven bottle-and-can drives.
Communal recycling bins are set out at organisations such as sporting clubs, schools, restaurants, cafes, retailers and businesses.
The recycling deposits provide a valuable financial ‘helping hand’ to support these organisations, also encouraging recycling and taking care of the environment.
Scout Victoria said in their most recent annual report:
“It is likely that Scouts Victoria will make a decision in the next year as to whether we participate in The State Government’s Container Deposit Scheme.
“It appears there is a wide range of options on how Scouting in Victoria might participate in this potentially profitable can and bottle recycling program.”
“This could become a major venture and there will need to be broad input as the options are refined.”


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Market does not like FXCM’s explained by professional Forex trading experts the “Market does not like FXCM’s” FX trading team.
Market does not like FXCM’s
Leading retail FX firm FXCM, the world’s largest online FX broker, announced both its Q1 financial results and its April trading volumes today. The stock market reacted by sending FXCM’s stock on a wild ride — initially diving by 12%, before recovering to be down just 2% for the day, to $10.40 per share.
What apparently spooked the market was not the Q1 results, but rather FXCM’s April volume numbers, which saw retail FX volumes drop 27% (from March) to $248 billion, and its rapidly growing institutional volume back up 36%, down to $103 billion for the month.
FXCM is a very good proxy for overall global trading volumes in the online FX business. It is the only FX brokerage with significant volumes in the each of the world’s three major markets — Europe, the U.S. and Japan. Initial numbers we already reported on from Forex ECNs also point to a very slow April, due mainly to ultra-low volatility in the main currency pairs — for example the EURUSD traded for most of the month in a very tight 1.31-1.32 range.
Our belief is that these slow volume numbers are not indicative of a long-term downward trend in the FX business, but rather simply a reaction by clients to a low volatility environment. Should volatility pick up (as it has somewhat in May), we would expect client activity levels at firms such as FXCM, and resultant volumes, to head back up fairly quickly.
Market does not like FXCM’s Conclusion
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Do you check in on Foursquare or another location-based app on a weekly basis? If so, you're among just 2% of the adult population, according to a new report.
Forrester Research surveyed 37,000 people with mobile phones and found that the majority of them (70%) had never even heard about geo-social apps, though that figure is down from last year when 84% had never heard of these apps. Still, even among the 30% of respondents who are familiar with location-based apps, only a minority use them often.
Of the 5% who are active location based service users, the survey found 2% who use the apps weekly, 1% use them monthly and another 2% use them less than once a month.
The findings are a wake-up call for marketers who may get a distorted impression about the actual prevalence of such apps. For instance, Foursquare on Monday announced it now has a user base of 15 million people. But Melissa Parrish, a senior analyst at Forrester who authored the study, says that figure doesn't mean that geo-social apps have mean gone mainstream since "many registered users are not active users."
However, the news is not all bad for purveyors of location-based apps. Parrish also found that location-based service (LBS) app users are twice as likely as the average U.S. online adult to share information about products they are considering purchasing or have purchased. They also skew young: 75% are between the ages of 23 and 45.
Another finding is that female LBS users are on the rise. Last year, just 22% of app users were female and this year, the figure is now 37%.
Despite the relatively low active user base, many in the industry see potential for the technology. In particular, Facebook gave LBS a huge vote of confidence this week by acquiring Gowalla, a competitor to Foursquare with about two million registered users.
Image courtesy of Flickr, Ned Richards