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QUEST MEANS BUSINESS
German Economy in Action; Battle of the Brands
Aired August 13, 2010 - 14:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS: The German juggernaut, as its economy springs into action.
A dream of a job. We join a 787 engineer in his "World At Work".
And the battle of the brands, tonight we're looking at how to develop a brand, how to revive a brand, and how to protect your brand, at all costs.
It's a busy program. I'm Richard Quest and, I mean business.
What a week it has been, a week of anxiety. When we haven't been worrying about the stalled recovery in the U.S., we've been worrying about weak job growth and falling stock markets. Well, tonight, we do have a success story to bring to you. It comes from the economic powerhouse of Europe. The German economy turbo-charging Europe's economic recovery.
The German economy powered to a 2.2 percent GDP expansion, Q on Q, quarter on quarter. Look at that number. You've got-one, two, three, four-fifth quarter in a row, and it is the strongest since the country's reunification. More than double the average for the EU and the Euro Zone. Germany is getting back on its feet pretty quickly after the economic crisis. Just 18 months ago the country was still in the depths of recession; 3.5 percent decline in the first quarter of '09. But this sudden acceleration is like switching from a Trabant to a Porsche.
As I heard from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Berlin, Germany spent the past several years remaking itself into a more competitive, productive machine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Well, it has always been doing quite well on exports, Richard, but you are absolutely right. A lot of things have happened over the past couple of years. If you remember, just about five years back, Germany was still known as the sick man of Europe. And that was mostly because of its labor market. Because many people felt that Germans weren't long enough and were earning too much.
And a lot has really happened on that front, especially the unions here in Germany have shown great restraint in the past couple of years when it came to the wages of the workers here in Germany. Also, things like working hours have been more flexible. And the other thing is really contracts that people get, to work here, more flexible contracts. If you employ someone here in Germany today you are not employing that person for life, as probably would have been the case in the `70s, or `80s, or `90s, in this country.
Today things are much more flexible. Some people believe that security for workers has suffered because of that, but certainly the companies here in Germany will tell you that that is in effect what gives them the flexibility to be successful nowadays, Richard.
QUEST: We think of the big German car manufacturers, Volkswagen, Daimler, and BMW, but the truth is, throughout the German economy there are very large engineering, exporting companies, aren't there?
PLEITGEN: Oh, absolutely. And it's really remarkable when you go through large parts of Germany is that you are traveling in the countryside, for instance, and you'll see a company name that you have seen somewhere before, somewhere in the world; someone that will make a dishwasher, or large manufacturing tools, things like that. The fact of the matter is that the strength of the German economy is only due, in part, thanks to these big companies. Thanks to companies like BMW, like Daimler, the one that you mentioned. A lot of them are midsize companies, that are successful on the global market.
I'll tell you a lot of these companies that I've been talking to, these smaller companies, they've been telling me that going on these global markets has been quite difficult for them. Especially going to places like China, a lot of them have had to learn some very hard lessons, trying to get on these markets. But on the whole, smaller and midsize companies, in Germany, are ones that very much look to be successful on the global markets, Richard.
QUEST: Fred, this economic success, to the point where Germany without doubt is the economic leader of the Euro Zone and the European Union, does that fit comfortably with ordinary Germans?
PLEITGEN: Well, I think to a certain extent it does. But on the other hand they do have some issues with it. I mean, one of the things that you will definitely notice when you talk to ordinary Germans. They are, by nature, very, very pessimistic people. I mean, you look back just a couple of years, here in this country. You had people who thought that Germany was going to become a developing country again. That it was going to fall behind. German, in general, are very afraid of what the future will bring. A lot of them see that role in danger of being the economic leader here in Germany, in danger, basically all the time.
One of the things that Chancellor Merkel said, when she came to the office, she said, Germany always has to be better than others to the extent that its workers are more-are more expensive on the international market. And that is certainly something that Germany has put a lot of effort into, if you look at things like education, the amount of engineers that Germany turns out. It is always a major issue here. So, I would say that on the whole Germans, yes, they are afraid to loose that role, but on the other hand, they are a country that over the years has always tended to under promise and over perform, Richard.
QUEST: And one final point, because we always hear about this German obsession, paranoia, whatever you like with inflation that goes back into the `30s. Is that still exist-does that still exist? And is that still a driving force?
PLEITGEN: I think it is very much a driving force. I mean it is not just inflation. It is general, the security, that Germans are very much looking towards. I mean, if you look at the current economic data that we got from the second quarter today, it is quite significant that spending has somewhat increased for German households. However, there are still a lot of people who keep their pockets very tight, who always look very closely at the inflation numbers as well.
So, certainly the Germans still have a lot of fear of that. I can tell you in discussions here, in the public, you will always hear people making references back to the 1920s, to the 1930s when inflation was really something that brought the government back then-a lot of Germans still believe that that in a large part was responsible for the Nazis, for instance, coming into power. That horrible economic situation that is always something that is still made reference to, and something where a lot of people believe that is where the German pessimism actually stems from; their fear of getting back into a situation like that, Richard.
QUEST: Fred Pleitgen joining me from Berlin. The rest of Europe- excuse me. The rest of Europe on those GDP numbers, Q2 for the EU, Euro Zone, both rose by 1 percent. Germany is responsible for pulling up the average there as you will realize. France posted a respectable 0.6 percent gain. Spain lags with a growth of 0.2 percent, but at least it is now out of recession. On the other end of the spectrum, though, Greece's GDP fell 1.5 percent, Q on Q. The only country in Europe to show a contraction. The contraction in Greece is expected to be about 2 to 4 percent this year, year on year.
Germany's recovery, whilst impressive, begs the question, whether it is sustainable. I asked Grant Lewis, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets, in Europe. If the Euro Zone's economic superstar will soon run out of steam?
GRANT LEWIS, DAIWA CAPITAL MARKETS, EUROPE: We're definitely not going to see another 2.2 percent, quarter on quarter, growth. I think there is one important factor, which we've seen in other economies, the U.K. in particular, which was the weather that suppressed output in the first quarter, that sort of pent up demand fed into the second quarter. So that provided a large part of the story.
But I think, looking ahead, if we look at the early indicators for Q3, now growth is going to be good I think in Germany. Germany clearly is an economy that is well place to benefit from what has been stronger global growth.
QUEST: Right. The markets that Germany is exporting to, many of those are experiencing a quite severe slowdown, the U.S. certainly is slowing down. China is slightly off the boil.
LEWIS: Yes, that is exactly right. And I think that is one of the headwinds that the German economy, and the European economy, more generally is going to face looking head. I think in the U.S. the concerns are greater. I think with China, yes, growth is slower. I don't-I wouldn't be too pessimistic. I think the Chinese economy has to slow, but yes, demand is going to be slow in the second half than it was in the first half, for exporters.
QUEST: And as we look across the other Euro Zone countries, everybody, with the exception of Greece, is now experiencing growth. But we know from the numbers from the IMF, the forecasts for Greece this year, down 3 or 4 percent, and down 2 or 3 percent next year. So it is still very grim in Greece.
LEWIS: Ah, Greece. For sure, you know, minus 1.5 percent, Q on Q. I think down 3.5 percent, year on year. You know those are grim numbers. But you know Greece is very much the outlier, there. This is an economy that has been hit by a once in a lifetime shock, you know, given the concerns about debt sustainability. So, Greece is very much the outlier. A the other end of the spectrum Germany is the outlier. But I think when you look more generally, you know, this isn't a bad growth number for euro area. After what has been two very bad, very disappointing growth numbers in the previous two quarters.
QUEST: But Alan Greenspan talks about this pause in the recovery, relating to the U.S. He says it will feel like a quasi-recession. Can we say the same thing for some of the slower countries in the Euro Zone and in European community?
LEWIS: Oh, without a doubt this is-you know you can call it a growth recession, quasi-recession, however you want to characterize it. And for sure you look at a country like Spain, the fourth largest euro area economy, that is in-we think, at Daiwa Capital Markets, for a long, slow choppy recovery, to use Mervyn King's phrase-perhaps over the next four quarters, six quarters, eight quarters for sure. Some of these economies, you have to enormous rebalancing to take place and that is going to weigh on growth.
Whereas, actually, if you look at Germany, the rebalancing that is required there, in the household sector and in the corporate sector is much less. So perhaps that is the reason it is being more optimistic about Germany for once, and less optimistic about some of the peripheral economies.
QUEST: The Euro Zone, so good for Germany. OK, for the zone overall, but still more work to be done.
Now in New York, at the moment.
(DESK BELL CHIMES)
This is the way the Dow Jones is-we are gasping our way to a weekend. But saw a lot of activity by the Fed in terms of-well, a lot of noise, some interesting corporate results, and worries about the economic sustainability of the recovery. We'll talk about that, after the break.
QUEST: Welcome back to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.
Traders have been having a choppy day of it, in the U.S., we had some new numbers on retail sales, on inflation, to factor into it all. And not all of it was bad. We'll get to the numbers in just a moment. Consumer confidence, as well.
First, though, we do need to look at how the euro markets closed. And please, do feel free to come and join me in the library. Europe stocks markets, a mixed bag. Well, I mean, I'm not going to try and pretend there was anything too exciting, to get excited about, two up, two down. Retailers were hit. Diamulux (ph) was down more than 2 percent in London. Kingfisher down almost 1.75. VW was down.
There was an interesting development in the U.K. Sir Philip Green, of Top Shop fame, Philip Green is to become a government advisor on how to cut costs and get better value for money. It didn't do much good for the markets over here. The European weekly indices shows a fall for the entire week. This largely goes back to the earlier part of the week, particularly the Xetra DAX, the Paris CAC currant, it was the banking stocks which took their tolls, and industrials. Industrials were very hard hit, not only in Frankfurt, but also in New York, in London.
The euro has just had a miserable week. It lost another nearly 1 cent, just under 1 cent today. But if you look at this part here, as against the dollar, that is what I really want you to focus on. Because the August reduction in the dollar-or in euro-has been quite noticeable, particularly yesterday when two big ones got knocked off the euro, another one nearly went today. And it is all about euro weakness, flight to the dollar, for some form of strength.
The markets in New York, well, you know as well as I do, that so much of our week was taken up with Ben Bernanke, the FOMC, results from GM and the like, and economic numbers. Felicia Taylor is in New York.
Today we got two sets of numbers, consumer confidence, retail sales, we don't need to bang on about the details, but the trend was depressing.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: It is depressing. I mean, the truth is, I mean, retail sales looked a little bit better but that is only because they were up 0.04 of 1 percent on the surface. OK, that sounds pretty good. But the truth is if you take what exactly people were buying, which was cars, auto parts, gas. People aren't spending money. And the only reason they're buying cars now is because there are summer promotions out there. You've got new models coming out in September. So a lot of the dealers are offering incentives for cash and for other reasons. For GM, Chrysler, Ford, to get those cars off of the lot and that is the only reason that you basically saw an uptick in retail sales. Otherwise the consumer is really not feeling that perky and they're not really buying out there.
QUEST: And that brings us back to, I mean, we have a moment or two more, on a Friday, so we can look at this, we can pull the strands together. As you look at the week, Felicia, what to you, in the New York market was the most interesting aspect of what we saw in the U.S. economy this week?
TAYLOR: Boy, that is a very large question. OK, the most interesting aspect-I mean, not to be flippant about it. Honestly, is when we heard from the Federal Reserve, basically acknowledging that, indeed, this recovery is a lot slower than they had admitted before. So, fine, we've got that part now. But moving forward, that is the part that really decimated the markets on Wednesday. That acknowledgement show them-"them" being the marketplace, investors-that things are pretty concerning, moving forward. That is-this is not going to be a recovery and it is not going to be a slow one at that-I mean, a quick one at that, either.
It is going to be prolonged. There really are significant fears out there of a double-dip recession, of deflation. The traders here are basically sitting on the sideline. There is no trend in the summer, and that is true, but even when they come back in September, after their vacation, where is that trend going to be moving forward? It is not going to be because of positive economic news.
The jobs number was also not a significant one, because it is only the weekly number, but again, that is portending that there are no jobs out there to be found. That is the most significant, and remains the most significant part of this marketplace.
QUEST: And yet, bankers bonuses and the whole bank bonus situation, at the moment. We are-this trend continues of a difference between what Main Street is getting and what Wall Street's getting.
TAYLOR: Right. This is exactly what Main Street does not want hear. That the bonuses on Wall Street are going to go higher. Granted it is modest. The banking sector is rebounding ever so slightly. It is still below the highs of 2007. But they are reporting profits. So, there are going to be some asset managers, hedge fund managers, they are going to get rises of maybe 10, 15 percent.
The hugely interesting part of that story, stock and bond traders may see their bonuses go down by 10 percent. That is because of market volatility. And this week is a perfect example of that. You had a drop on Wednesday of 265 points, but then last Monday, just a week and a half ago. You had a rise of almost 300 points. So this market volatility isn't really enough to maintain any kind of a trend, moving forward, for the-even the banks, to say that things are really getting better. And that is going to be a political issue.
QUEST: I'm right in assuming volume must be light. It is Friday. It's the middle of August. And I'm-
QUEST: I was going to say-oy! Oy!
TAYLOR: As one trader pointed out to me, nada, nothing. Nothing is happening right now.
QUEST: Chopped liver, all right. Felicia Taylor, have a lovely weekend. Come back to us in one piece on Monday.
In a moment, how to get Boeing's next big thing off the ground. It is flying, but the men and women who are doing the testing-well, it is the "World at Work" when we meet the engineer.
QUEST: Deep commitment, long hours and grace under pressure. Tonight, we are looking at some of the very important qualities you'll need if you want to make the grade by building a multi-billion dollar jet aircraft. Derek Muncy has spent hundreds of hours working on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, from prototype to delivery. He tells us why making the open sky his office with the Dreamliner is his ideal "World At Work".
DEREK MUNCY, 787 FLIGHT TEST CREW: I've been with this particular airplane for a little over three years now, since it started in the factory. So, I've seen it all the way from the parts coming in, from all of our partners, all the way through first flight, and bringing it out here to the Farnborough Air Show.
That is what makes flight test fun. Because, obviously, you get to fly everyday, but moments like this, where you really get to bring it to the customer, as well as the passengers.
But if you just talk to friends that have no idea about the airplane, you know, it is, what do you do for a living? Oh, I get to go up in the airplane, and my office is up there and we fly around and do all kinds of interesting tests. You know do things that you are never going to experience in a flight.
My favorite part of the plane is definitely the engine. It is so quiet. You have the new Chevron (ph) design. I call them the peak (ph) design. The one thing you just notice right away is how quiet it is. Obviously, there is all kinds of cool features on board. But, yes, the quietness of it is just-it is just amazing. When the airplane takes off everybody is going to notice the difference. It takes a deep commitment. You've got to be willing to put in the time and the effort. You also have to be able to deal with the stress. You really get to know people in flight tests. Everybody is at each others throats, but everybody is each other's best friend.
I love airplanes. You can ask anybody that is part of the flight test crew here, during the test program you don't get a lot of off time. It is just fun. When you talk about sitting at a desk for eight hours, or working on an airplane and flying around for 12 hours, I'll work for 12 hours and fly around on an airplane. You do it because you love airplanes.
QUEST: "World At Work", and I love that phrase, "everyone is at each other's throats, and everyone is each others best friend."
In a moment, you and I will be launching ourselves into the basketball arena. The man behind the Nike brand explains how he is keeping his eye on the marketing ball.
QUEST: Hello, I'm Richard Quest, QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, this is CNN. And here, the news always comes first.
So, back to our business agenda tonight.
Nike is pumping cash into a major tournament, and marketing drive this weekend. The sporting giant is to host the inaugural World Basketball Festival, in New York. It includes some of the sports biggest stars and an appearance by the rapper Jay Z. Nike brand president Charles Denson has been speaking to Maggie Lake and she wanted to know so much money, what does the company gain.
CHARLIE DENSON, PRESIDENT, NIKE BRAND: It is talking about basketball around the world. One of the things that really continues to change is the growth of the game globally, the -- the level of play continues to go up. You see a lot of the international players now playing at the highest level. And so the World Basketball Championships coming up at the end of the month, starting, I think it's the 28th and going into September in Turkey, presented us with an opportunity to work with the U.S. national team as well as teams from France, Brazil, Puerto Rico and China and bring them to New York City, which is really the home of basketball.
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What are your sales like international?
What's the growth prospects for Nike International?
DENSON: Sure, I think -- well, the Nike brand now is -- is actually bigger outside the United States than inside of the United States and -- and will continue to get that way. China represents one of our biggest growth opportunities. Brazil certainly represents another great growth opportunity for the Nike brand as we think about our international portfolio.
LAKE: You've got such a -- an arsenal of -- of marketing juggernaut behind you. You've got Jay-Z coming tonight to this event.
LAKE: Is it still about connecting with the huger superstars?
I mean I think we have that idea with Nike, whether it's in basketball or golf with Tiger Woods.
Is that still where the concentration is or are you sort of diversifying?
Or are you being cautious and you're not spending as much on the marketing?
DENSON: Well, no, I think, you know, it's -- it's always been more than just the athlete. I think the relationship with the athlete is really the core of what the -- the brand is about and certainly what we do. It's those world class athletes that challenge us, that inspire us to be more creative, to create a better performance level product. And -- and I think that -- that obviously carries over into the marketing mix. But -- but it's much more than just that association when you think about the Nike brand and its connectivity back to the youth consumer.
LAKE: And -- and events like thousand, no doubt, feed into it. And we see them setting up behind us so we know it's going to be spectacular.
Your consumers -- are they -- are they trading down?
Are they buying cheaper products?
Have you had to be price conscious about what you're introducing or are you not seeing that pressure that other retailers clearly are?
DENSON: Well, we're certainly -- I mean I think with the economic situation the way it is, I think consumers are being cautious with regards to their spending. We are not seeing a significant trading down in price by any means. Again, but I think that goes back to the innovation and the compelling concepts that we are putting before the consumer.
LAKE: Do you feel like you're stealing market share from other people?
DENSON: Oh, absolutely. I -- I would -- I would say that we -- we have probably increased our market share around the world considerably over the last 18 months. And, again, I think that goes back to the strength of the brand.
LAKE: A lot of attention in the U.S., but -- but also abroad, in Europe, about the fact that job growth is so slow.
As a company, is Nike hiring or are you being very cautious on that front?
DENSON: We're -- we're being pretty cautious. But we're still -- we still believe we're a growth company and we still are investing in, you know, our infrastructure, our people. And we are doing some hiring, not aggressively, representing a somewhat cautious outlook. But we still believe that we have a lot of growth ahead of us.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUEST: The brand president of Nike.
Long before Nike came along, a centuries old brand was making waves across the world. A modern entrepreneur is dusting off the name and hoping to turn a vintage brand into a profit for the 21st century. Jim Boulden has that, after the break.
QUEST: Saturday sees the relaunch of a centuries old brand name known the world over. It's called The East India Company. It was the world's first multinational conglomerate, established more than four centuries ago.
Now, at its height, East India controlled 50 percent of world trade, a true symbol of colonial power. We're making no political statements this time around, though, because its return is under Indian ownership.
Jim Boulden met the entrepreneur who's turning history on its head.
JIM BOULDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A brand reborn -- the 410-year-old East India Company, name, trademark and coat of arms adorn this new store tucked between London's Regent Street and Saville Row. Importer Sanjiv Mehta bought the East India Company intellectual property in 2005. It had lain dormant for a century. His goal -- a new global luxury brand.
SANJIV MEHTA, EAST INDIA COMPANY: Its name recall has assured relationship with all which is fine products, luxury, adventure, journey globally.
BOULDEN: The East India Company began as a trading monopoly under Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 to ship commodities to the West from India, China and the Spice Islands, countering the clout of the Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese. At various times, it controlled the trade in indigo dye, cotton, silk, opium, and, of course, tea.
MEHTA: This is the tea bar. We call it the tea library. There would not be tea on the tables of London but for East India Company. So, in a way, we own this category.
BOULDEN: The library carries more than 100 teas.
(on camera): See that's what I -- that's very perfumy. I like that.
(voice-over): In time, the company and British colonialism became one and the same. It was the company's tea, after all, that was dumped in Boston Harbor in 1773. It once controlled Singapore and, of course, India.
MEHTA: It brought all the exotic foods from the East to the West.
BOULDEN: That idea is infused in the goods for sale, from Japanese mustard to sea salt and red peppercorns and chocolate and biscuits.
(on camera): Sea salt and chocolate -- first you get the chocolate, then you get the salt.
BOULDEN (voice-over): The British crown slowly took control of the company's routes, ports, currency and military. This very symbol of the British Empire ceased to trade in 1874.
(on camera): It accomplished a work such as, in the whole history of the human race, no other company ever attempted and is ever likely to attempt in the years to come.
(voice-over): The name may also remind some of the illegal opium trade from China and oppression and wars in India.
Mehta sees another side.
MEHTA: The English language, the ports, the railways system, the city system, the -- the ports, the bridges, all was made by the East India Company. So there's a huge relationship with the East India Company in various walks of life. It is not just food president.
BOULDEN: Mehta says he's invested around $20 million and says that it will take another $100 million to open more stores and launch leather goods, jewelry and home interiors, as this Indian born entrepreneur resurrects in London the very name of the British company that controlled India for centuries.
Jim Boulden, CNN, London.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
QUEST: You're starting to get a good idea now about the power of the brand, from Nike to East India. But relatively these days, people protecting their brands -- for example, Rupert Murdoch, who's trying to take the sky out of Skype to protect their own brand.
Let's go to our own library.
Jim Boulden is there.
The power of the brand.
BOULDEN: The power of the brand. We've got four examples here of companies that have been squabbling over trademarks or names. And these have been going on for years.
As Richard said, Skype and Sky. Now this only came out recently, when Skype decided to launch its IPO. It told everyone that for five years, Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB has been fighting over the S-K-Y. You can see, of course, this is the Sky brand, basically based here in the U.K. Now, you might think, well, these two don't confuse you, you know they're different companies. But BSkyB says that Skype is moving ever more into TV-related products and services. And so far, the European Union has been backing Sky on this fight. Skype says they will continue to appeal to try to get their trademark all over Europe.
Now, here's an interesting one. It's a separate, a different kind of one. This is Gucci. We all know Gucci. Well, several people with the last name Gucci, some people who are members of this family, have been trying to use the Gucci name to do other things. One woman wants to start Gucci hotels. Other family members want to start chain -- try to sell luxury goods, especially in New York.
The courts have said absolutely not. Gucci is a well known brand, you cannot confuse it. And so far, no other family members have been able to use the Gucci brand.
Here's a very different one. Now, these are both legitimate brands. Both have legitimate rights to the name Budweiser. Budweiser Budvar, of course, we know from Czech, Budweiser from the U.S. They have been muddled ever since the Berlin Wall came down. Budvar cannot call itself Budweiser in the U.S. Budweiser cannot trademark the name in the European Union. The fight goes on.
Let's move on to one we all remember very well, and that is Apple versus Apple, always a good example. These two got along in the beginning, but over time, Apple Records -- this is The Beatles -- have been suing Apple Computers, mainly over the use of the name since Apple this -- this Apple got into music and this Apple keeps winning in court.
QUEST: I find this, Jim, absolutely fascinating.
BOULDEN: Yes. I love this kind of stuff.
QUEST: This is -- this is raw business, isn't it?
QUEST: Of a most venal nature.
BOULDEN: And -- and it matters so much.
QUEST: McDonald's -- McDonald's -- anybody who ever tries to open a restaurant where their name is McDonald...
QUEST: -- gets -- always gets clobbered.
BOULDEN: Harrods is suing a -- an ethics cath (ph) that uses the name, but it's similar. It's not the same name at all. It's Holland. That company -- that family owns that name. It's the shape of the letters and the color of the letters that has upset Harrods.
QUEST: OK, so when I see, for example, a car company, which they did a couple of years ago, launch the Quest and there's a movie called "The Quest"...
QUEST: Would you be my attorney and take the case on for me?
BOULDEN: Your name does not give you automatic rights to that. Gucci doesn't own this because the last name is Gucci. Gucci owns this because they've gotten this trademark. That's their trademark. Nobody else can use it.
Judges always say, in the end, does it confuse the consumer?
If it confuses the consumer, no one is going to think you started your own car company. No one is going to think you have all these other things called Quest are just yours. However, that one, of course, no one else can use.
QUEST: You're a diplomat, aren't you?
Have a lovely weekend.
BOULDEN: Thank you.
QUEST: Many thanks, indeed.
It's absolutely fascinating, this battle of the brands. So much money is spent on that. And anybody who's thinking of fiddling with that thing, be warned. We'll set Jim Boulden onto you.
All right, we need to turn our attention, finally, to the weather tonight and the relief in Russia and the weekend weather where you are in Europe.
Good evening -- Guillermo.
GUILLERMO ARDUINO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good evening.
Richard, there's a little bit of relief in Moscow. It's not enough, but perhaps on Tuesday we will see some rain showers. It's 21 right now. We haven't seen these low temperatures in a long time, so that's why we emphasize on it. But the forecast is still bad. Monday, 29 degrees -- a little bit of a change, but still pretty hot. So the -- the same area of high pressure is pumping all the heat in here.
Heat advisories, also, in the Middle East. We're going to see a lot of heat in there.
And more rain -- sorry about this, but Britain is going to see -- especially London -- rain tonight, tomorrow. Sunday may see a little -- may be a little bit better and then the rain comes back. I mean it is not good at all.
You see all of this?
Ireland appears to be fine and Northern Ireland, too. And then a pocket of high pressure there. But as for England, it's not looking good at all. Twenty-one the high for Saturday with rain; 28 in Vienna. This area still very warm, indeed.
And, look, this is where I was talking about, especially the next days to come, four to five degrees above average, no change at all. What we are expecting in Baghdad is 48 on Saturday; Damascus, 40 -- Richard, it's going to be a very hot weekend, especially in the Middle East and Russia -- back to you.
QUEST: Guillermo, many thanks.
Have a good weekend.
ARDUINO: Thank you.
QUEST: And that's QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for this week.
Many thanks for taking time to be with me.
We've certainly had some interesting times.
I'm Richard Quest in London.
Whatever you're up to this weekend, I hope it's profitable.
"MARKETPLACE MIDDLE EAST" is next.
Have a good weekend.


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Articles Tagged ‘Mattel’
Toyco Mattel’s 4Q net income fell 17%, due to the payment of US$137.8 million to cover compensation and punitive damages to MGA Entertainment to satisfy the judgement of ongoing litigation over the Bratz brand.
In efforts to meet the demands of on-the-go holiday consumers and keep up with mobile shopping trends, Walmart Canada and Mattel have launched the first pop-up virtual toy store in Canada.
Toyco Mattel and FremantleMedia Enterprises have sewn up a US broadcast deal with Disney XD for its action-adventure CGI series Max Steel.
Despite overall entertainment product sales declining 36%, toy giant Mattel reported flat second quarter revenue and stated upcoming product releases for brands like Barbie, Monster High, Batman – The Dark Night Rises, and Disney’s Jake and the Never Land Pirates should drive growth in the next half of the year.

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By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A 2,000 acre organic farm in central Oregon is facing what could be a be an existential threat to its operations after county weed control authorities sent notice mandating that the farm use chemical herbicides, such as Roundup, to eradicate weed growth.
The mandate would bring to an end nearly 18 years of organic farming, placing a significant loss of organic food to the public.
Azure Farms is a certified organic farm located in Moro, Sherman County, Oregon. The farm produces almost all the organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for Azure Standard.
Sherman County could issue a court order on May 22, 2017 to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the entire farm with poisonous herbicides contaminating them with Milestone, Escort, and Roundup.
Such a unilateral action on the behalf of the few individuals representing county government could set a precedent…
View original post 580 more words


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Some people can find it easier to budget with cash
Consumers in different areas of the UK have differing levels of cash use, according to the Royal Mint.
Cash use as a proportion of spending is generally higher in northern regions than in areas such as London, said Andrew Mills, of the Mint.
He added that the "piggy bank factor" meant some people found it easier to budget with cash at a time of economic uncertainty.
The comments come after a report suggested the use of cash would fall.
Cash payments will account for less than half of all transactions in five years' time, according to research by the Payments Council.
The council, which oversees the strategy on payments systems, claimed that "cash is king no more" as card payments accelerate and notes, coin and cheque usage declines.
Demand for newly minted UK coins stood at 1.2 billion pieces in 2008-9, with a value of £163m. This figure has been relatively static for the past five years, and demand is expected to remain the same for the next year.
Mr Mills, director of circulating coin at the Royal Mint, said that although changing payment systems would affect the future of coins, they were still a key part of day-to-day use.
"I think that during my lifetime, there will always be a role for cash and coinage," he said.
But he said that, at present, there were marked regional and socio-economic differences in the use of cash.
In London, where cashless options such as the Oyster travel card were prevalent, the use of cash was lower than in areas further north.
He said there was a strong historical link to coinage, with the Mint having existed for 1,000 years.
As well as general coinage, and commemorative editions, the Royal Mint produces coins for 60 countries from its base in South Wales.
Some 20% of its production of five billion coins is for the UK.
Earlier in the week, the Payments Council published a report giving its vision of the future of how UK consumers spend.
It suggested that by 2018, one in 50 people would be paid their wages in cash, compared with one in eight in 1999.
It predicted that cash would account for 45% of transactions by 2018, compared with 73% in 1999, whereas debit card spending would increase from £65bn to £490bn over the same period.
It has set a potential deadline of 2018 for the end of the cheque system.
Meanwhile, a poll by the Bacs automated payments service suggested that the risk of incorrect or fraudulent transactions going undetected had increased because people did not check their accounts regularly.
The survey findings suggested that the number of adults who regularly checked their bank statements had dropped by 13% since 2007, to 71%.
Bacs statistics also revealed that only 70% of British adults know when their bills were due to be paid, a drop of 10% in just two years, increasing the risk of late payments and penalty fees.
"Standard banking guidelines stress that people should regularly check their bank statements and make sure there are no unusual or unexpected payments from their accounts," said Michael Chambers, managing director of Bacs.


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Justin Bieber is shedding his clothes, not on stage while singing, but in front of the camera as a fashion model.
The 20 year old singer is the new face of the Spring 2015 Calvin Klein Jeans and Calvin Klein Underwear global multi-media advertising campaign. The pop star has kick started 2015 featuring in the brand’s latest campaign with Lara Stone in key jeans and underwear styles of the season.
Lensed by fashion photographers Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in New York City, the first images of the campaign show Justin shedding his teen-kid tag by posing shirtless. Clad in briefs and Calvin Klein denims, Justin joins a long list of musicians, models, celebrities and fashion icons that have been featured in the American fashion house’s global advertising campaigns.
Bieber has been excited about his new role as Calvin Klein’s ambassadorship, “Calvin Klein is such an iconic brand and I am excited and honored to become a part of the Calvin Klein brand legacy with this campaign. I have been a longtime fan of the brand and have worn their jeans and underwear for a while, so this is kind of a dream come true.” He also added that “This is the beginning of an exciting new year for me, personally and professionally, and being a part of this campaign has been a fantastic opportunity and experience.”
Melisa Goldie, Chief Marketing Officer of Calvin Klein, Inc. quoted, “Justin’s global recognition, expressed affinity for the brand, and powerful persona bring a compelling energy to our jeans and underwear brands.”
Announced globally via social media, the campaign will roll out worldwide in 20 countries spanning digital, outdoor and print advertising, as well as exciting experiential components, timed to coincide with March 2015 magazine issues.


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The FCA’s decision to ban platform rebates will benefit the end investor and allow investment trusts to better compete with other vehicles, Association of Investment Companies director general Ian Sayers argues.
Last month, the FCA ruled that platform cash rebates to consumers on new business will be banned from April 2014, with legacy fund manager payments to platforms to come to an end in 2016.
Labelling the move as “great news”, Sayers says the AIC has called for some time for the cost of advice and distribution through platforms to be unbundled from the cost of the underlying investment.
He says: “The investment company sector is probably the best case study there is on why transparency alone never resolved the problem of commission bias, and why transparency would not have resolved the problems of allowing product providers to pay for platforms.
“With commission also a thing of the past, customers will now see exactly what they are paying for advice, the platform and the fund. Products like investment companies, which are restricted in paying commission and platform charges, will be able to compete much more on their own merits.”
Sayers adds the banning of platform rebates will ultimately put investors “in the driving seat”, as it will encourage them to shop around for the best price and make them more likely to demand higher standards.
He says: “In the end, we have got to where we should be. One of the RDR’s lasting impacts is that customers should now be able to see exactly what they are paying for. Time and again, research has shown that, when costs are bundled, consumers tend to do poorly.”


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The Marico-owned men’s grooming startup’s CEO Sujot Malhotra has gone on a year-long sabbatical effective April 1
Beardo’s head of marketing, Darayus Mehta, and head of finance and operations, Ketan Jain, have bid adieu to the startup in the past three months
Beardo slipped into the red and reported a loss of INR 6.1 Cr in FY23 as against a net profit of INR 75.5 Lakh in the previous fiscal
Three years since FMCG major Marico acquired Beardo, a major rejig has reportedly happened at the men’s grooming company.
As per Moneycontrol, the startup’s CEO Sujot Malhotra has gone on a year-long sabbatical effective April 1. Alongside, at least two other top executives, who initially helmed the ship at Beardo, have exited the company in the past three months.
The company’s head of marketing, Darayus Mehta, and head of finance and operations, Ketan Jain, have bid adieu to the company since the beginning of this year, as per the report.
Mehta has founded his own jewellery venture while Jain has joined Beardo cofounder Ashutosh Valani’s new startup Renee. Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether Malhotra will return back to the startup post his year-long break.
Sources reportedly said that the responsibilities of the CEO are likely to be divided between Beardo chief business officer Siddharth Vaya and head of Marico’s digital first businesses, Koteshwar LN. The two will now lead the startup’s operations.
“The exits of individuals mentioned in the article were in the normal course of business and at different points in time where each of them decided to pursue external career/entrepreneurial opportunities after spending significant time with the company,” a Marico spokesperson told the publication.
The FMCG giant also said that “none of these exits” were interlinked with each other.
Interestingly, this comes just months after Marico India CEO Sanjay Mishra, who was instrumental in executing the acquisition of Beardo back in 2020, also left the company in September 2023.
With Malhotra now on sabbatical, all key executives, who helmed the Beardo’s ship for the last three years post Marico’s acquisition, have left the company.
Founded in 2015 by Ashutosh Valani and Priyank Shah, Marico-owned Beardo is a men’s grooming startup that sells hair and body care products such as beard washes, beard balm, beard and hair growth oil, serum, face washes, beard and hair wax, among others.
It competes against the likes of Bombay Shaving Company, The Man Company, Bold Care, among others.
The exits come at a time amid intense competition in the homegrown D2C ecosystem and losses at the grooming brand. The company reported a loss of INR 6.1 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) as against a net profit of INR 75.5 Lakh in the previous fiscal. However, revenue from operations jumped 12.3% YoY to INR 106.6 Cr in the year ended March 2023.


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Calcutta, Oct. 27: Century Plyboards is setting up a factory to manufacture decorative laminates at Joka in the suburbs of Calcutta at a cost of Rs 38 crore.
Laminates are produced from papers and pasted on plyboards. Century is looking to sell the product in the US, Canada, Europe, West Asia and the Far East, besides India.
The plant is being set up in three phases, says company deputy managing director Sanjay Agarwal. “The first phase will be completed by December, and we’ll be producing 1 lakh sheets per month.”
On completion by the end of 2004, the unit will be able to produce up to 3 lakh sheets per month. “We are investing Rs 17-18 crore in the first phase,” he added.
The raw material, mostly paper, will be imported from Europe. “The speciality of these laminates is that you can bend them without breaking,” Agarwal says.


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The high street fashion brand River Island and the UK’s largest jewellery retailer, Argento, are both to upsize at Frenchgate shopping centre in Doncaster.
River Island is currently located on the first floor of the centre in the upper west mall and will expand to create a 10,500 sq ft unit.
The extra space will allow the fashion retailer to stock a full children’s range alongside a broader in-store offer.
Argento is extending into an adjacent unit and will double in size from 1,100 sq ft to 2,150 sq ft. The brand has also invested in a store refit to coincide with the expansion.
Paul Devlin, commenting on the news on behalf of The Frenchgate Limited Partnership, said: “We are thrilled that Argento and River Island are taking additional space with Frenchgate, which is driven by continual positive performance here.
“We keenly support brands upsizing and refitting their stores, creating an enhanced offer and strengthening our position as the area’s leading local shopping destination.”
Holly Fulco, senior press officer at River Island, added: “The new store at Frenchgate will allow us to offer shoppers from across the region wider variety and improved choice.
“We are delighted to be launching this new store in the run-up to Christmas and look forward to the busy festive trading period at Frenchgate.”
The two larger stores have been joined by Krispy Kreme, WH Smith, Yours Clothing, Toys R Us and KFC, which have all signed extended leases and completed refits at Frenchgate.
The Gym Group, Patisserie Valerie, New Look Men and TK Maxx have all opened new stores at Frenchgate in the last 12 months, as part of over 100,000 sq ft of fit-outs.
Time Retail and Rawstron Johnston acted for Frenchgate, which is managed by Lambert Smith Hampton’s Belfast office.
For further information about River Island, please visit: https://www.riverisland.com/
For further information about Argento, please visit: https://www.argento.com/


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Austin retail occupancy increases to 95.5%.
OCCUPANCY INCREASES TO 95.5% Austin retail overall occupancy increased by 20 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 95.3% and dropped 20 basis points year-over-year. Net absorption in the Austin retail market ended Q2 2021 at 340,000 sq. ft.—up from 294,000 sq. ft. year-over-year. Leasing activity—which is comprised of both new leases and renewals—included 634,000 sq. ft. of signed deals during the second quarter, an increase quarter-over-quarter, and from this time last year. The retail market saw overall average asking rates increase by $0.29 per sq. ft., or 1.4%, quarter-over-quarter to finish at $21.41 on a triple-net basis. A year ago, Austin retail average rates were at $21.75, representing a 1.6% decrease.
AUSTIN ECONOMIC INDICATORS The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (FBRD) reported that the Austin economy continued to post a strong performance in May, led by declines in the unemployment rate and recent broad-based job gains. Austin’s unemployment rate declined in May to 4.6%, its lowest level since March 2020. This is well below the state’s jobless rate of 6.5% and the nation’s 5.8% rate. Consumer spending in Austin has been strong in recent months. In the metro’s most-populous county, Travis, credit and debit card spending has surpassed January 2020 levels since last July, except for a dip in late November 2020 and during Winter Storm Uri in mid-February. As of May 30, 2021, spending in the county was up a strong 39.5% relative to January 2020, while spending in Texas was up 13.3%.
DEMAND OUTPACED SUPPLY The Austin retail market realized net absorption—the measure of total square feet occupied in existing buildings, (indicated as a move-in) less the total space vacated (indicated as a move-out) over a given period—of 340,000 sq. ft. in Q2 2021. This is the first quarter since Q1 2020 that demand has outpaced supply. Total net absorption year-to-date is 634,000 sq. ft. So far in 2021, a total of 538,000 sq. ft. was delivered to the market with 68% of that space occupied. Of the close to 700,000 sq. ft. still in the pipeline, about 40% of the space is available.
INVESTMENT SALES TRENDS Real Capital Analytics data reports quarterly Austin retail sales volume for Q2 2021 in the Greater Austin area at $115.5 million involving 14 properties, up compared to this time last year at $44.8 million across 10 properties. The capital composition for buyers in 2021 was made up primarily of private investors at 70.9%, and 29.1% institutional investors. For sellers, the majority was 55.5% private investors and 36.5% institutional. Among recent noteworthy transactions in the market included Long View Equity acquiring Parmer McNeil Plaza from Crow Holdings. The company bought the 47,888-sq.-ft. shopping center at 6310 Parmer Lane. Tenants at the center include Chase Bank, Starbuck’s, Wells Fargo, Chi’Lantro and Juiceland. The center is located across from Apple’s $1 billion campus that is scheduled to open in 2022. Other tech giants in the area include eBay, PayPal, and Oracle.
MODERATE GROWTH IN AUSTIN EXISTING-HOME SALES The FRBD reported existing-home sales in Austin grew a moderate 3.3% in May after expanding a mild 0.9% in April. That compares with a 2.9% increase in the state in May and 0.1% in April. In the first five months of 2021, metro home sales were 18.8% higher relative to the same period in 2020. At the state level, sales were up 20.3% for that period. In May, the median price of homes sold was $447,521 in the metro, a 35.1% rise year over year, compared with $293,327 in Texas, a 15.9% increase. The recent slowing of home sales is likely due in part to a lack of supply; in May, there was less than a half-month of inventory available at the current sales rate.
Director of Research
tel 713 275 9618


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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans has partnered with tech company Promise to offer a new payment plan option to customers.
SWBNO officials said Promise is a tech company that works with government agencies to develop the best way for customers to pay their past-due balances.
According to the SWBNO, the partnership will allow customers to set up interest-free payments through PromisePay. The new program is available to customers, property owners and tenants who have a past-due bill of $50 or more.
The partnership is said to also protect customers who stay up to date with their plan from penalties, fees and water disconnections.
SWBNO officials said the PromisePay Portal provides:
Options to enroll in payment plans online, by mobile phone or call center
Convenient payment types including credit or debit cards, ACH, Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Text reminders and notifications
Payment flexibility and plan management with options to request allowable extensions, modify due dates, and change payment methods
For more information about the program, visit the SWBNO website.


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Google Maps has started this week to work even harder to keep everybody safe on the road. As it seems, now you can avoid speeding tickets too thanks to the useful Google app. Many people who kept using the app signaled the fact that Maps is now showing speed limits information when it’s set into navigation mode.
At the same time, there were many Reddit users who posted pictures of the new feature. The speed limit sign is a small notification that doesn’t bother you on the lower left corner of the screen. Commuters and not only have long been asking for such a useful feature to be introduced into the app. Meanwhile, you could found notifications regarding speed in the other app developed by Google, Waze, so it was high time for Maps to include it too.
Apparently the car entertainment systems which are powered by Android Auto have also received a similar change. The feature works just like the regular app, but the small icon was moved to the lower right area when in the Android Auto version.
This is in fact a gradual rollout from Google, since not all users have the possibility to see the small notifications yet. In the next week or two, the speed signs should appear to more and more users as the developers add to it or fix some bugs, if any.
However, up until now there is no information as to whether the feature will be limited to any region and on what roads specifically Google has obtained data about the speed limits. Moreover, it is unclear for now if Google has stored data for all of the countries or just on a certain continent. Even so, the app looks really promising and it turns out to be really helpful, according to the feedback offered by those who tested it.
Take your mobile photography game to the next level with this affordable clip-on lens kit from Xenvo. Comes with a macro lens and a super wide angle lens that easily clip onto your phone for professional-grade photos on the go.


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- Honor registered 100 per cent year-over-year growth in May
- Huawei and Honor differ in terms of channel strategy and how the two companies operate in terms of the target audience
According to a report by IANS, Huawei’s sub-brand Honor said that investment in research and development is yielding fruits, leading to its continuous growth despite a setback it faced due to the US-China trade war.
James Zou, President, Overseas Marketing and Sales at Honor, told IANS that in 2019 when most of the technology brands suffered a decline in China, Honor registered 100 per cent year-over-year growth in May. They faced a setback due to a trade war with the US. But still, US tech companies are willing to work with us.
Working on 6G
He further stated that Honor and Huawei work just like the automobile brand BMW and Mini. Both of us share all the research and development investments together and only differ on the basis of our planning and operations. They are set to roll out our 5G devices globally. Going ahead they have already started working on 6G when most of the companies are struggling with 5G.
He added that Huawei and Honor differ in terms of channel strategy and how the two companies operate in terms of the target audience. Huawei targets the premium segment. Honor is focusing on manufacturing more smart and connected devices.
Recently, the Trump administration has given a new 90-day extension to Huawei to do business with US companies. Earlier Huawei had got a 90 days extension in August 2019. The US had blacklisted Huawei as it felt Huawei was engaged in activities contrary to US national security or foreign policy interests.


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Dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5s and a 20" iMac?AppleInsider received several pieces of information over the weekend that stated Apple would release a 20" iMac and dual 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 on November 18th. The information was not published and assumed to be part of a misinformation campaign due to a lack of confirmation. However, numerous media outlets are now confirming similar tips as authentic.
According to two anonymous reports, Apple retailers in the north east had received shipments of both dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5s and a new 20" iMac as of early this morning. A third 'mystery' product, priced at $749 USD, was said to be unknown and rumored to be either a wide-screen 17" display or possibly a reduced price on the 20" Apple Cinema Display.
The 20" iMac is said to included a 1.25GHz G4 processor and the 1.6GHz Power Mac G5 is to see a "significant reduction in price," according to the information.
On Topic: General
- This week on AI: Apple's no-good terrible quarter, a death in Cupertino, 'Apple Watch 2' rumors & more
- Apple redesigns Support website with clean layout, responsive UI
- Schiller schools internet on correct Apple device plurals, but Cook says 'iPad Pros'
- Apple will attempt data extraction on iPhone of teen lost at sea, report says
- Tor Myhren officially starts as Apple's new VP of Marketing Communications


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articles about cattle-prices
“The clearance rate is not as high with the online sale as with the traditional sale.”
Heifers topped out at €2.60/kg, while bullocks climbed to €2.48/kg, according to Maurice Brosnan.
There was a firm trade for quality stock while plainer types were more difficult to sell, according to a mart spokesperson.
A smaller entry of 470 cattle was on offer.
Cull cows went under the hammer from €670-€1,400.
Good-quality cows with flesh were in strong demand
“The fact that calves up to 120 days can be sold without a TB test means stronger calves are being offered for sale.”
Bullocks earned up to €1200/head or €2.83/kg.
Bullocks made up to €3.32/kg in the online sale.
A mart spokesperson reported that there was a 'brisk trade' for heifers
Up to €1390 was paid for heifers at the sale.
A mart spokesperson reported that the first online sale was a great success.
Store heifers made up to €560 over the kg.
Cow prices ranged between a minimum of €660/head and a top price of €1280/head.
Up to €3.27/kg was paid for cattle.
Buyers made their bids both at home and on-site after viewing the stock before the sale commenced.
There was a very strong trade for all types of stock, according to a mart spokesperson.
Have you been keeping up-to-date with mart prices?
Heifers ranged from €2.18-€2.54/kg and cows climbed from €505-€1,205.
Forward store heifers earned €1.90-€2.40/kg or €800-€1115/head.


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Nissan Motors, Maeda Construction, Toyota Industries IT Solutions are named winners
OutSystems Japan KK (Headquarter: Roppongi, Tokyo. President: Arnold Consengco) announced today that OutSystems Innovation Award Ceremony was held at the “OutSystems Customer Conference Tokyo 2020” online event on October 16 and Nissan Motors, Maeda Construction and Toyota Industries IT Solution were named as the Innovation Award winners. OutSystems Innovation Award is awarded to companies with most innovative initiatives using OutSystems low-code development platform. The award had been presented at NextStep EMEA and NextStep USA, OutSystems global conference, until this year. This is the first award ceremony held in Japan.
The award category and the reason for each winner are as follows:
Company: Nissan Motor
Category: Best Digital Customer Experience Award
Award reason: The customer relation system developed with OutSystems resulted in a seamless customer relationship and reduced waiting time in sales operation.
Company: Maeda Construction
Category: Most Innovative Project Award
Award reason: Over 200 applications were developed with OutSystems while migrating over 3500 Notes DB and resulted in strengthening IT governance.
Company: Toyota Industries IT Solution
Category: Enterprise Transformation Award
Award reason: With new development process using OutSystems, the organization of development team and preparation of app platform resulted in 30% reduction in delivery and cost and contributed to high ROI.
Arnold Consengco, President of OutSystems Japan KK, commented, “The three companies which won this year’s Innovation Awards leveraged OutSystems low-code development platform to achieve a great innovation within their organization. The corporate mission of OutSystems Japan is to support the digital transformation of Japanese companies. We will continue to increase the OutSystems users in Japan and aim to create more innovations in Japan as these Innovation Award winners did.”


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When we decided to focus on selling to enterprises five years ago at Box, we saw some exciting emerging trends: workers needed tools that were far simpler to use; cloud-delivered technology meant that IT departments could spend less time maintaining infrastructure and play a more strategic role in organizations; and with enterprise incumbents getting far too comfortable with the status quo, a massive opportunity opened up for startups to respond to the rapidly changing needs of customers.
A lot has happened in the five years since. Workers not only went around archaic software by bringing new, unsanctioned services into their organizations, but IT departments finally paid attention. The iPad launched, and created the ever-morphing tablet category, demanding an all-new set of applications along with it. And CIOs finally warmed up to the cloud, sending incumbents scrambling.
Perhaps most intriguingly, sentiment is finally catching up with opportunity. Whereas “enterprise” was glaringly absent from Paul Graham’s “Frighteningly Ambitious” list of startup ideas early last year, this won’t happen again in 2013.
In just the last quarter, Workday had an unparalleled IPO and is now valued at just around $9 billion. Meraki, just a few years after transitioning to focus on enterprise, was gobbled up by its main competitor, Cisco, for $1.2 billion. Eloqua, too, was swept up for around $900 million by Oracle as it wages battle with cloud rival Salesforce.
And as we look ahead to the next five years, we’re realizing that the scale of disruption is far greater and deeper than we originally imagined. The advantages and opportunities we saw in 2007 were just vibrations on the surface of much more violent tectonic shifts.
We’re about to witness a decade-long changing of the guard, and nearly $1 trillion dollars of enterprise value is up for grabs.
From Wintel To The Four (Or Five) Horsemen
The rise of PCs produced an enterprise IT model that was quite profitable for Microsoft and few others. But today, this model is quickly crumbling. Wintel is giving way to a whole new set of technology platforms, driven primarily by mobility, and the software buyer of 2013 is far more concerned with supporting and securing the devices that leave the office than those that stay within.
“Mobile” doesn’t just introduce a new endpoint for software delivery in the enterprise; it topples the long-standing architecture of the enterprise software world, and with it, long-standing monopolies.
Innovation led by Apple, Samsung, Google and others is irreversibly changing the technology makeup of today’s organizations. While Windows still dominates desktops with ~90 percent market share, they’re behind in smartphone and tablet categories with single-digit penetration. And it’s not just that people are buying more mobile phones and tablets. They’re actually buying fewer PCs in aggregate, as well.
Only five years ago, a CIO could deploy software from Microsoft and not wince about integration concerns, but today that’s far from the case. In speaking with hundreds of CIOs, they all share a common concern: Legacy vendors won’t move fast enough to support these new platforms at the rate they’re being adopted by employees.
Startup vendors have proliferated in the enterprise at an unexpected rate, solving problems the incumbents can’t. Services like MobileIron, Airwatch, Good, Lookout, OpenDNS’s Umbrella and Divide secure these devices as they enter the enterprise; Parse and Appcelerator have evolved how mobile enterprise apps are getting built; and software like CloudOn, Domo and Notability are engineering the next wave of killer apps that make these devices productive in an enterprise context.
In all of these cases, a new landscape is emerging for the CIO to contend with – or embrace – and it’s driving an all-new IT architecture of the future.
Rise Of The Cloud Stack
In the previous predominant IT architecture (client-server), leading vendors built an expertise at selling entire application suites: everything from content management and CRM to ERP. It was a very attractive, and almost necessary, offer for IT buyers – mixing and matching independent solutions was wildly impractical if not impossible. Each new system implemented took on significant fixed and variable costs, as well as new skills and talents required. Integration? Just give up now. Companies like Microsoft, Oracle and IBM championed a vision of buying all, or most, of your technology from a single provider.
Bill Gates, circa 1997: “Customers wanted somebody who integrated the user interface and made all the software work together. That is just more attractive than having piece parts that people buy separately.”
Or take an equally self-interested pitch from Larry Ellison: “It’s incredibly difficult and expensive to make these systems communicate at all.” His solution? Buy up the market and tie all the solutions together.
The consequence of this aggregation was that startups had little chance to compete for customer wallet share. Vendors once dominated by being “good enough” at everything, but truly amazing at nothing; today that no longer satisfies customers.
And an emerging “cloud stack” is leveling the playing field. The synergies customers (theoretically) once achieved by buying from a single vendor can now be achieved by buying from multiple vendors.
A customer interaction on Facebook can spawn Zendesk tickets, which then propagate inside of Salesforce; employee records from Workday can be seamlessly loaded into Salesforce’s Work.com; financial analysts can navigate customer data in Zuora visually using GoodData. A new level of openness has emerged with cloud solutions, allowing better results to be driven from all applications. And each new cloud solution can often be implemented with an order of magnitude less cost and support than its on-premise counterpart.
Exploding Markets And Expanding Pies
Previously, if you had a large enough IT staff, you could support the costly and breathtakingly large deployment of Oracle Financials or EMC’s Documentum. But organizations with only a handful of employees – millions of businesses worldwide – were out of luck.
For enterprise vendors, the cost of selling to SMB customers simply wasn’t worth the contract value; and for businesses, the upfront infrastructure and licensing fees were cost-prohibitive. But with cloud solutions, a small and medium-sized business operates on the same technology that its far larger counterparts use, only at a fraction of the cost.
Today, viral marketing, freemium, and lower-cost acquisition are causing startups like Wave, Base, and Xero to attract hundreds of thousands of SMBs globally to solutions that would have never taken off a decade ago. Together, these companies will dramatically expand the market size of business software – the SMB cloud market is estimated to be nearly $50 billion by 2015 – while addressing a space that is virtually inaccessible to incumbent players.
And the pie isn’t just expanding to include businesses of different sizes; it’s expanding to include new geographies, too. With the cloud, you’re inherently global on day one, making an international focus key to success. Markets like Brazil, Singapore, Japan, India and Europe will experience growth rates of SaaS adoption that surpass the U.S. in the next five years. Companies like Zendesk, Netsuite, and Salesforce already see significant portions of their revenue coming from overseas.
Thanks to the emergence of an all-new IT architecture and the rise of the cloud stack, once-loyal customers are ditching slow-moving incumbents for a new guard of enterprise vendors. Meanwhile, customers that were never served by the old guard are getting access to best-in-class technology for the first time. We’re just at the beginning of this shift, but it will be one of the most profound and disruptive turnovers in the history of technology.


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Don’t toke on the slopes. Colorado ski resort managers are reminding visitors that it remains illegal to smoke marijuana in a public place.
Before Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana, the state’s famed ski resorts were generally seen as stoner-safe zones where it would be unlikely for anyone to make a fuss about people sparking up on the chair lifts.
But in a weird twist, those very resorts are warning skiers and snowboarders that they’re not going to be as hospitable to the pot crowd as one might think, even as the state prepares to enter uncharted territory by selling marijuana at retail stores in January.
In fact, 22 of the state’s 28 resorts lease some or all of their land from the U.S. Forest Service, according to the Denver Post — and while possessing marijuana is legal in Colorado, it’s still as illegal as ever under federal law. USFS rangers regularly patrol ski resorts, sometimes undercover, to sniff out offenders.
Arapahoe Basin Chief Operating Officer Al Henceroth, who booted some potheads off the mountain earlier this year and warned others of similar consequences on his blog, threw the gauntlet down early.
“Already I have kicked several people out of here and taken their ski passes for smoking in public,” he wrote. “Those passes will be gone for a very long time. We will not hesitate to call the cops on this issue.”
“Marijuana smokers, please use your heads on this,” he wrote. “You cannot smoke marijuana in public while at A-Basin.”
While Henceroth is certainly correct, that hasn’t stopped pot smokers in the past. In fact, most resorts have well hidden “smoke shacks” in the woods that serve the same purpose for tokers as the après-ski taverns do for wine drinkers.
The issue is coming to the fore with new urgency this year because for the first time, Colorado will allow retail sales of recreational marijuana at licensed pot shops beginning in January. Combined with the general influx of ski season tourists — who might not know the rules about marijuana consumption — more resorts than usual are issuing reminders.
“Not every year would this be as emphatic or as big of a topic as it is now,” Paul Cruz, the regional winter sports coordinator for the Forest Service in Colorado told the Denver Post.
Nor is every resort as strict about the matter as A-Basin.
“Our patrol’s job is not to bird-dog everybody when they smell marijuana,” Wolf Creek CEO Davey Pitcher told the Post, with the exception being if marijuana use leads to reckless skiing.
People busted for smoking in public face a maximum $5,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
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There are now about two jobs for every unemployed person, and as a result employers have had to raise wages to attract suitable candidates.
This sounds like a good thing, but it’s good for Americans who are facing higher prices for everything from food to rent. But the Federal Reserve is not very happy with this. To fight inflation, the economy needs to cool down and higher salaries do the opposite. Rising labor costs can also be passed on to consumers by businesses, which means higher prices.
Important reasons: This inflation cycle — pay more, claim more — is exactly what the Fed is trying to squash. That’s why we’ll be paying particular attention to wage growth in today’s jobs report. If interest rates continue to accelerate, central banks will have more reason to raise rates aggressively at their meeting later this month.
Aneta Markowska, chief financial economist at Jefferies, told me that wages will be the main driver of inflation going forward, although there are many factors behind rising prices, including supply chain and commodity pressures. She said, “Wage increases have caused a significant amount of inflation. Supply chain problems are expected to ease next year, but this labor problem still persists.”
She said the only way to meet the Fed’s 2% inflation target is to slow wage growth sharply.
Great Legacy: The top-line unemployment rate in August is expected to remain unchanged at 3.5% this month, close to its lowest level in 50 years. Consensus forecasts also call for 300,000 new jobs, with average hourly wages expected to rise by 0.4% month-on-month.
Last month’s employment figures disappointed. Over 500,000 jobs were created, his largest in five months. Average hourly earnings increased by 0.5% month-on-month.
In the weeks following the July jobs announcement, Fed officials took a more hawkish stance, warning that rate hikes would continue until inflation subsided, warning of economic “pain” to come.
After the Fed’s final meeting in July, after the central bank hiked rates by a whopping 75 basis points, Powell told me he was watching wage growth closely. His ultimate goal, he said, is to bring inflation down and achieve a “landing that doesn’t require a huge increase in unemployment.” That can only be achieved by slowing wage growth.
China needs Wall Street
The US and China have finally reached an agreement on one of the biggest issues in global business: how to audit Chinese companies listed on US exchanges.
background: U.S. regulations require all companies to on the American exchange We must comply with the requirement to fully open our books by 2024. Otherwise, you will be prohibited from trading in the United States. That’s a problem for China. The country is reluctant to allow foreign regulators to inspect accounting firms, citing security concerns. The tension has already caused some Chinese companies to exit the US market.
Alibaba, which has traded shares on the New York Stock Exchange since 2014, has outlined plans to upgrade its Hong Kong listing to primary status this summer, with that expected to happen by the end of the year.
An impending audit deadline has already led to a slowdown in equity issuance. The number of IPOs by Chinese companies in the US has dropped significantly, with eight so far this year, compared to 37 in the same period last year. The value of these deals is also shrinking. So far in 2022, companies have raised just $332 million through IPOs in the U.S. market, down from nearly $13 billion a year ago.
Odds: The deal is just the first step in formalizing audit protocols between the US and China. Whether China will actually comply remains to be seen. Last week, SEC Chief Gary Gensler warned that the company could still be deported if US authorities were unable to access its documents. “The proof will be in the pudding,” he said in a statement.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said this week there is still a 50% chance that Chinese stocks will be delisted.
Either way, this is unlikely to have much impact on other contentious issues between the US and China. But it does mean China needs Wall Street. “U.S.-China relations are reminiscent of conflict-ridden relationships where you ultimately realize you can’t afford a divorce,” said Drew Bernstein, co-chairman of Asian accounting firm Markham Asia CPA. said. Companies looking to enter the US market.
Anyone want to buy Zoom?
Now, the return-to-work era is hunting down its next victim: Zoom.
However, finding suitors can be difficult.
This leaves us with four other possibilities.
So far, Zoom has been quiet, or just silent, about the prospect of an acquisition.
August Post’s US Employment Report at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Coming next week: US markets are closed on Monday for Labor Day. Let’s rest for the day and see you here again on Tuesday.


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Jaguar Land Rover reports that its global July retail sales were 3% down on last year at 33,239 units. Year-to-date sales to the end of July were reported at 272,451 units, 1% below the same period of last year.
The regional picture shows some wide variation, with year-to-date sales up 19% in Europe, 16% in the UK and 14% in North America. However, sales in the “China Region” were down 28% year-to-date. JLR said the China drop reflected changing market conditions and production ramping up for the locally produced Range Rover Evoque as well as run-out of other vehicles in advance of upcoming launches.
Commenting on the performance, Andy Goss, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director said: “Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, particularly in China, demand for our premium vehicles remains encouraging. Sales in our key regions, the UK, Europe and North America have shown impressive growth year-to-date.
“Sales of the all-new Discovery Sport and the all-new Jaguar XE sports saloon continued strong this month, retailing almost 8,000 vehicles in total. We now look forward to a period of new product impetus, which will see the introduction of new 16 model year Jaguar XF and XJ and Range Rover Evoque vehicles in the coming months.”
Land Rover sales in the month of July retailed 26,322, down 7%. Calendar year-to-date sales reached 228,035 vehicles, up 1% year-on-year on the back of continued customer demand particularly for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Year-to-date Land Rover’s sales performance has seen growth in the UK (up 17%), Europe (up 19%) and North America (up 20%).
Jaguar delivered a “solid performance” in the month, selling 6,917 vehicles, up 14%, JLR said. That increase was due to sales of the Jaguar XE sports saloon, which has been available in Jaguar retailers since May. However, calendar year-to-date sales were down 11% year-on-year, retailing 44,416 vehicles. F-Type sales were up 7% in the first seven months of 2015. Year-to-date, demand for the Jaguar brand is strongest in the UK (up 10%) and Europe (up 20%), JLR said.


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When Google unveiled its material design vision for Android 5.0, the changes included a new button that hovers in the bottom right-hand corner of apps. The Floating Action Button, or FAB, has become commonplace in the time since.
But in the latest version of Keep, Google wants you to forget all about it. Read More
Google Photos version 1.1 didn't come with much in the way of changes, and the tradition looks like it's holding true for 1.2 as well. But hey, sometimes we like minor tweaks just as much. So let's go over them, and then you can rush to grab the APK.
For starters, there's the ability to easily add individual photos to albums from the drop-down menu. Read More
The app updates from the last week seem to be all about where you are, where you've been, and where you're going. It has only been a few days since Google Play services 7.8 began rolling out with a couple of location-related bits hidden inside, and now a new version of Maps is hitting the scene with a host of new features centered around our location history. Read More
YouTube's Offline Playback feature was first introduced alongside Music Key back in November, finally giving people a way to store a (limited) selection of videos for trips into areas with poor connectivity, or just to avoid using up capped data plans. While it has remained mostly unchanged in the last 8 months, the latest update finally brings a few modifications. Read More
Version 3.5 of the Play Books for Android app dropped today, and if you're a frequent user of the app, you're going to notice some pretty immediate visual changes. Read More
Version 4.9 of the Google app began rolling out late yesterday, but it's not sporting a lot of obvious additions. The only immediately visible changes appear under Settings -> Now cards, where a new toggle has been added to enable or disable lock screen notifications based on cards. Some updated text also appears below the new toggle, if you care about that sort of thing. Read More
Google finally let the curtain fall on the long-anticipated Nearby API that enables detection and easy connection with other devices in close proximity. The new API was announced with Play services v7.8, but the SDK won't be released until that version has gone into wide release, which will happen in about two weeks. Read More
We know everybody is looking forward to the big Hangouts 4.0 update; and despite a pretty active day for updates, there's no sign that the big green chat app is going to get a big new version today. While we're waiting, a smallish update to the Google Play Newsstand app reminds us that there's plenty of stuff to read in the news. Read More
The Messenger app published by Google received a significant #updatewednesday release this morning, adding support for location sharing, stickers, and quick scrolling. All things, I think we can agree, which are good.
The new location sharing and sticker features, found under the "attach" dialogue, look like this.
You can download new sticker packs (there are currently three), and some of the stickers are even animated. Read More
Good news this morning for anyone who finds Maps' use of UI space in map view wasteful on Android: you can now tap to dismiss most of the UI elements in the Maps app in version 9.11, an APK for which you can grab right here. Here's what that new feature looks like. Read More


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THE DIGITAL HEALTH ECOSYSTEM: An in-depth examination of the players and tech trends reshaping the future of healthcare (AAPL, IBM, ANTM, GOOGL, MSFT, AMZN, PFE, GE, MCK, TMUS, WMT, WBA, MRK, CVS)
Business Insider Intelligence
This is a preview of a research report from Business Insider Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service. Current subscribers can read the report here.
Until now, healthcare was the only remaining industry that had yet to feel the rapid impact of digitization endured by retail, banking, and media. But consumer adoption of digital tech, regulatory overhauls, and a shifting reimbursement model are forcing healthcare players' hands. Business Insider Intelligence
Digital health innovation offers market incumbents new opportunities to combat constricting margins, labor shortages, and rising costs.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
- Take a look inside Walmart's newest health clinic that's just the start of its push into healthcare
- Companies like Walmart, CVS, and Amazon are beefing up their healthcare strategies. Here are their plans to upend the $3.5 trillion industry.
- Apple is set to launch 3 new health studies using data from the iPhone and Apple Watch. Here's what they plan to investigate.


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But even these ground-based varieties come with risks.
Hobie Pileski, co-owner of Argonne Parades, is looking forward to in-person holiday festivities after over a year of putting events on hold.
The Postmaster General explains his controversial plan for the future of the Postal Service.
Rita Magalde, owner of Sheer Ambrosia, is shifting to working full time on making and selling her confections ahead of the holidays.
It can be harder to disconnect from work, when the home is also your office.
Go big with displays even though COVID is reducing foot traffic? Or dial back the decorations and shore up e-commerce?
Americans are more likely to tip people they interact with face-to-face than those that work more behind the scenes.
More firms are celebrating with employees and serving alcohol than last year, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas survey.
This year's late Thanksgiving has put shippers on alert. They're reminding customers to send their gifts early.


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Aug 11, 2012 By BSM Team
Bajaj introduces the updated Kawasaki Ninja 650
Aug 10, 2012 By BS Reporter
It is the third premium sports motorcycle model introduced in India by Bajaj Auto Limited
Jul 05, 2011 By Kartik Ware
Twelve-point review of the latest green meanie in town!
Jun 25, 2011 By Kartik Ware
Want to get back to motorcycling? Here are three affordable and fun options!
Jun 22, 2011 By BSM
Interested in the 650R? This is what you need to see.
Jun 11, 2011 By BSM Team
Rs 4.57 lakh ex-showroom, New Delhi - a good enough reason to buy it?
Jun 08, 2011 By BSM
Great bike, great price – will this be your next motorcycle?


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EMERSON, N.J. -- In the 10 years Dr. Archer Katz has run his candy buy-back program, he's never seen a result like this year: Over 250 kids brought in their candy to support U.S. troops and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
This year's haul of about 570 pounds beat last year's record -- a wimpy-by-comparison 90 pounds -- by miles.
Katz and his office, Emerson Dental Arts, offered kids $10 Toys "R" Us gift cards in exchange for their candy. As the Daily Voice reported last month, the candy will be shipped to Operation Gratitude and on to deployed soldiers from there.
"It was hard to gauge how many kids we would get," said Lisa Karpowich, Katz's marketing and social media manager. "Dr. Katz had to get so many gift cards, so frequently, that his credit card got suspended. The credit card company suspected fraud!"
The Emerson dentist also matches the gift cards' dollar amounts and makes a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on behalf of the participating kids. This year's donation will be $2,600, Karpowich said.
"The response from the community was tremendous," Katz said.
We gave out around 40 gift cards last year; this year we’ve given out over 250. We challenged the community to beat that record, and they delivered. Now we can send our troops more candy and make the biggest donation to St. Jude's in our 10 years of doing the program. It was really nice to see the parents explaining to their kids where their candy is going and what the St. Jude donation is for. That’s really what it's all about.
This win-win-win program also helps children lower their risk of tooth decay and related oral health problems by working on moderation.
"One of the most touching things," added Karpowich, "was that a couple of kids were going to use their gift card to buy toys and then donate them to Toys for Tots. It was such a sweet gesture. It got us thinking that maybe we should do a toy drive over the holiday season too, so we're working on that now."For more information about Katz's dental practice, call 201-261-3364 or visit its website or Facebook page.
Click here to sign up for Daily Voice's free daily emails and news alerts.


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An improved Post Office branch is the first outlet to open in a new shopping centre.
Based in Boulevard shopping centre, Longbenton, it has better facilities with help from the Government's regeneration fund.
Other branches in the area have applied for grant assistance but this is the first one on Tyneside to be successfully completed.
Sub postmaster Bill Gandy said he was delighted.
He said: "We are the lynchpin of the local community and so it's only right that we are the first unit to open in the Boulevard shopping centre."


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Sound Transit launches new ORCA fare collection system
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Posted: 25 May 2022 | Intelligent Transport | No comments yet
In addition to facilitating new payment options, the new and improved ORCA fare system will deliver real-time account management and enable the future use of smartphones to pay fares.
Credit: Sound Transit
The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) has announced that it has launched the new ORCA electronic fare system, along with six other stakeholder agencies, including Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit and Washington State Ferries.
In addition to fixed-route buses, the ORCA fare system spans multiple modes of transportation, including light rail, commuter rail, trams, ferries and water taxis. The new system will improve the customer experience by delivering real-time account management, facilitating new payment options, maintaining customer data security and enabling the future use of mobile devices to pay fares.
The new ORCA system is powered by INIT’s back-office fare management and processing software, MOBILEvario, which will recognise and process revenue sharing for each of the seven partner agencies, manage accounts and automate reconciliation.
“We are excited to bring this new and improved ORCA system, website and mobile app to the millions of ORCA customers in the Puget Sound,” said Brittany Esdaile, Director of ORCA. “The new system will be faster and more convenient with real-time value loading. We are eager to continue improving ORCA for our customers in the coming years, including adding a smartphone tap-to-pay option.”
Greater Cleveland RTA to launch EZfare contactless fare payment system
Fare validators are onboard local and regional buses and are located at stations for easy tap and go boarding. They accept contactless cards, as well as virtual cards stored in a mobile app. Furthermore, the validators are certified ‘Visa Ready for Transit’ and wear the Information Technology for Public Transport (ITxPT) label, ensuring that the hardware is built with an open architecture design and facilitates interoperability between IT systems.
Ticket vending machines (TVM) are in place at stations throughout the region and will be transitioned into service over time as the legacy TVMs are phased out. This process will help in making the changeover easier for customers during the adoption period.
In order to make their experience easy and seamless, ORCA customers will be able to use their current ORCA cards on the new fare system.
If you liked this, you may also be interested in:
▶ Mountain Metro launches contactless ticketing app in Colorado Springs
▶ Transport for Wales to launch new bus app for TrawsCymru bus network
Accessibility, Mobility Services, Passenger Experience, Public Transport, Sustainable Urban Transport, Ticketing & Payments
Bus & Coach, Train, Tram
Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit), Community Transit, Everett Transit, King County Metro, Kitsap Transit, Pierce Transit, Sound Transit, Washington State Ferries


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Business Continuity 2020
Coronavirus has caused a rapid shift for businesses to ensure continuity when remote working, but 38 per cent of employees still have to use paper-based processes despite availability of faster software alternatives. Our Business Continuity report, published in The Times, explores what steps business leaders need to take to improve their remote compliance, without taking any shortcuts. It looks at why trust is essential to emerge from a crisis chrysalis and how businesses are adapting and implementing connectivity processes. Also, the featured infographic looks at if remote working is here to stay and how global lockdowns have reshaped the future of work.


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This giant hole is the result of water flowing into a salt mine in Russia. When the soil started shifting in 2005, the government shut off power to the area to encourage residents to leave.
On Tuesday, the mines were evacuated due to shifting earth, and the hole opened up on Tuesday evening. Russian authorities are studying the scene and performing air quality tests to determine whether noxious gasses are being released.
On Electric Lit, Halimah Marcus, interviews speculative fiction author Ted Chiang (Exhalation, Arrival) on the current global pandemic and whether there will ever be a “normal” for us to return to. HM: What’s the relationship between disruption and doom? Would “the disruption is resolved and nothing is ever the same” qualify as a doom narrative? […]
This lengthy New York Times piece by Jon Mooallem is subtitled, “The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964 surprised everyone by showing that natural disasters can bring out more kindness than selfishness.” The piece is worth reading just for the stunning photos of the devastation that occurred in Anchorage on the evening of March 27, 1964 […]
Even though it feels like Amazon is a singular retail juggernaut crushing everybody else, you might be surprised to learn that half of Amazon’s $280 billion in revenue last year came from third-party sellers. According to numbers compiled by JungleScout, 86 percent of Amazon’s Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) sellers were profitable last year, more than […]
Amidst all the deadly serious concern and fallout from our global battle against COVID-19, you’ve likely been forced to confront more than a few moments that you never expected to face. And you likely never felt sillier during this scary time than when you were racing all over town hoping desperately that some store had […]
“It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.” – “Lonesome Dove,” Larry McMurtry If the past few months have taught us anything, it’s that we need to be prepared now more than ever. Emergency situations can happen quickly and there’s no telling when you may need […]


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ZEEK-NY Spring/Summer ‘24 ‘Hotch Potch’
Bringing together creativity and innovation in fashion, culture, technology, and commerciality, LFW September celebrated the best in British fashion, as well as bringing international designers to the London stage.
Fashion weeks are now getting more dominated with corporate brands owned by bigger conglomerates but the importance of introducing new talents at fashion weeks has its very own significance to the fashion industry’s ever evolving nature.
London Fashion Week has its own contribution and support when it comes to showcasing the ‘New-Gen’ debuts.
ZEEK-NY Made its debut at the LFW with their Spring/Summer ‘24 collection titled as “Hotch Potch”. This is one of the Ones to Watch as the collection is made in not one but many bright colours, with each garment crafted meticulously for wearability and not just catwalk creativity. With neon and bright colours, the collection ignite the imagination and definitely challenges conventional fashion norms.
Hotch Potch by ZEEK-NY happens to be not just mere a display of garments, it is a commemoration of the power of fashion to transcend boundaries. It serves as a reminder that fashion is not just about clothing, but about confidence, individuality, and the freedom to hold one’s true self.
The high quality fabrics ensures that Hotch Potch creations are not only visually striking, but also comfortable to wear. The brand’s commitment to sustainability shines through as well, with eco-friendly materials and ethical production practices incorporated into the manufacturing process.


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Q1. Which American city proposes to ban large bottles and cans of colas and beverages to fight obesity ?
Ans. New York
Q2. Why is the Morgan Stanley analyst Scott Devitt in the news ?
Ans. He is the analyst who brought dwn the earnings estimate of Facebook before IPO
Q3. Name the social network started by Ayab Abdullah of Uzbekistan which looks a lot like Facebook.
Q4. Who is the newly appointed Chairman of LIC ?
Q5. What innovation has been highlighted by Bill Gates as an innovation that has saved max lives in the last 200 years ?
Ans. a flushing Toilet
Q6. What is the popular term for”hydraulic fracturing” of rock using water, sand to recover natural gas called ?
Q7. Name the science fiction author who gave the Law of three for Robo-ethics ?
Ans. Isaac Asimov
Q8. Which ’80s classic Hindi comedy had Dipti Naval playing a door-to-sakesperson selling Chamko detergent ? This is being remade
Ans. Chashme Buddoor
Q9. A new book ” Life behind the lobby ” by Pawan dhingra is a story about which industry and class of entrepreneurs ?
Ans. On how Indian Americans, particularly Patels came to dominate the Motel industry in US
-Compiled by G.Mohan Twitter @go_mohan


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Nielsen is buying Arbitron for about $1.26 billion.
The radio audience ratings company will give Nielsen a clearer picture of unmeasured areas of media consumption like streaming audio.
Nielsen Holdings N.V. provides global data about what people watch and buy. The company said Tuesday that it will pay $48 per share, which is a 26 percent premium to Arbitron’s Monday closing price of $38.04.
The acquisition is expected to add about 13 cents per share to Nielsen’s adjusted earnings a year after closing and about 19 cents per share to adjusted earnings two years after closing.
The boards of both companies have approved the deal.
Nielsen has headquarters in the Netherlands and New York.
More breaking news
- FCC downplays debt, greenlights Cablevision sale to Altice
- Cuomo: N. Carolina’s HB2 is ‘undeniably illegal’
- Altice pledges broadband for low-income customers
- Smaller stores, more mixed-use sites in LI’s retail future
- Priciest home sales in Manhasset
- Average US rate on 30-year mortgages falls to 3.61 percent
- FDA brings e-cigarettes under federal authority
- Applications for US jobless aid climb, but still near lows
- Consumer watchdog proposes ban on some arbitration clauses
- Change is in the works for Humana ACA exchange participation