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When you go to pay at a restaurant in Jakarta, the cashier will often have several card reader machines from different banks. If one doesn’t work, you can try another until it goes through. If you have a card from outside Indonesia, there may be a moment of doubt as you wait to see if the transaction will be approved. This is because Indonesia’s national payment system has been quite fragmented, historically speaking.
It is an issue policymakers and banks are aware of and have been working to streamline and improve in recent years. Bank Indonesia recently rolled out a system called QRIS – Quick Response Code Indonesia Standard. Now when you pay at a merchant equipped with QRIS, instead of choosing between five different card readers you can simply use your phone to scan a QR code and the transaction is processed straight away from your account.
The standardization of digital payment systems at the national level is an important first step toward building a regional digital payment system in ASEAN. In March of this year, Singapore and Malaysia unveiled a cross-border QR payment system called NETS-DuitNow QR which was developed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Bank Negara Malaysia. Right now it is limited to merchant transactions, but by the end of the year will be ready for person-to-person transfers, including remittances. QR payment systems connecting Indonesia with Malaysia and Thailand are also in place, and a link with Singapore will be implemented soon.
This is part of a broader effort to deepen financial integration between ASEAN member states using digital technology. In 2022, an agreement was signed between Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines to that effect. It was also a priority initiative pushed by Indonesia at the recent ASEAN Summit in May, and by the end of 2023, most of the signatories should have the system in place. Once that is done, the next step will be to connect the regional QR payment system with places outside of ASEAN.
Using QR codes makes it easier to pay for goods and services. It makes it easier for people who work or live abroad to send money back to their home countries, and for tourists from ASEAN countries to travel around the region and pay with less hassle. This is not insignificant. Almost 3 million Malaysian tourists visited Indonesia in 2019, and a QR system that lets them pay in their own currency at a good exchange rate is certainly an inducement to visit more often and spend more money.
But how much of a game-changer is this really? I think there may be some belief that by building a home-grown digital payment network, ASEAN states will be able to lessen their dependence on the U.S. dollar. That’s true to an extent. Payments made with credit and debit cards, even those issued by local banks, are often processed through American companies like Visa who leverage their market power to impose high fees on merchants and cardholders. The ASEAN QR code system involves central banks in the region working directly with one another. Fees and exchange rates can be determined by mutual agreement between the central banks themselves, rather than through American-owned third parties, making transactions more efficient and less costly.
What it does not do is fundamentally change the role the U.S. dollar plays in ASEAN economies or the regional financial system. These very same central banks will continue to keep billions of U.S. dollars in reserves on their balance sheets and be impacted by changes in U.S. interest rates and monetary policy in much the same way as before the development of the regional QR system.
Using QR codes to pay for goods and services and to transfer money is a good thing. It improves the efficiency of commercial exchange and is a fine example of how digital technology can be leveraged to reduce transaction costs. That central banks in the region are working together to design and build this system is an encouraging sign for fans of ASEAN regionalism. But unless and until ASEAN countries are using these QR code systems to pay for oil imports, it is unlikely to portend a major shift in the dollar’s dominant role in the regional or global financial system.


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What started in 2011 as a food truck business is about to open its second stand-alone restaurant in two years.
Slapfish, which is run by Andrew Gruel and Jethro Naude, is branching out from its Huntington Beach restaurant and opening at 211 Broadway near Coast Highway in Laguna Beach at the end of April, bringing its sustainable and ecosystem-friendly seafood with it.
"We want to bump up the seafood scene and bring fun, sexy seafood to Laguna and redefine how people eat seafood," chef Andrew Gruel said. "We want to make it hip and fresh again."
Gruel said one of the most important aspects of Slapfish is making sure it provides customers with high-quality seafood at an affordable price and, at the same time, educate people on the right kind of seafood to consume.
"The culture of our brand is really about redefining the whole seafood experience," Gruel said. "We really like how Laguna has a commitment to sustainability. Eating the right kind of fish and sustainability is how we operate, and we love how Laguna is really tuned into that."
Along with the upcoming opening, the company is holding a contest in which community members can submit their own recipe ideas. Slapfish will choose one, name it after the person and they will be able to eat that meal for free every time they visit.
"The recipe has to be sustainable," he said, "We have gotten over 100 submissions already, and we did the same thing when we opened the Huntington Beach location, and it was very successful."
Mayra Lucero, the human resources manager at Slapfish, and one of its first employees, is interviewing job candidates for the new location.
"It's funny because I don't like to put the name of the restaurant on the ads," Lucero said. "I like to hook them in before they know what it is."
She said she is proud of how much the company grown in such a short amount of time.
"When I first started I was promised all these things that are happening now," she said. "We expected it to take so long, and it didn't even take two years to get there."
She couldn't be more thrilled to have the next location in Laguna.
"It is a beautiful city, and I love going there," she said. "I think we will bring a lot of culture in the sense of sustainability. A lot of people in Huntington Beach weren't aware of it, and now they are more knowledgeable about the right kind of seafood you should be eating."
Michael Harris, a long-time customer and resident of Costa Mesa, is excited to see one of his favorite restaurants grow and bring people not only good food, but education in fish farming and overfishing.
"They educate but also put together a really good meal at a fair price," he said. "It's a classic fish shack."
Though the restaurant company is growing he does not see the quality in the food dropping one bit.
"They [Gruel and Naude] put a lot of work into quality control, making sure they can duplicate what they created at Huntington Beach," Harris said. "Simple recipes, well done with good quality ingredients that are well executed, not too much can go wrong there."
Lucero said that the expansion wouldn't have been possible without all the loyalty and support they have been given.
"I really want to thank all our loyal staff that has stayed with us, along with the customers," she said. "They are the reason we have been this successful."
Lucero said the clobster cake — crab and lobster mixed in a patty served with coleslaw and sauce — is her absolute favorite.
Gruel has a few recommendations of his own.
"Sure bets are lobster roll, fish taco, chowder fries, fish and chips," he said.

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Bitcoin trading in Moldova has been on the rise in recent years. According to data from LocalBitcoins, a popular peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform, the volume of Bitcoin traded in Moldova has increased significantly since 2016. You can also explore bitcoin smarter for more information.
In 2016, the volume of Bitcoin traded in Moldova was just over $1 million. In 2017, it rose to nearly $6 million. And so far in 2018, it has already reached $12 million.
The increase in Bitcoin trading activity in Moldova is likely due to a combination of factors. First, the price of Bitcoin has risen sharply in recent years, making it an attractive investment for many people. Second, the use of cryptocurrency is still relatively new and unknown in Moldova, which makes it an interesting and exciting investment for many people.
Third, the political and economic situation in Moldova is uncertain, which has made many people look for alternative investments that are not subject to the same risks. Bitcoin is a good option for such investors because it is decentralized and not subject to government control.
Fourth, many Bitcoin exchanges are operating in Moldova, making it easy for people to buy and sell Bitcoin. Fifth, and perhaps most importantly, there is a growing community of Bitcoin users in Moldova who are helping to promote and popularize the use of cryptocurrency in the country.
The increase in Bitcoin trading activity in Moldova is good news for the cryptocurrency community. It shows the country’s growing interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. And it is likely that the trend will continue in the future as more people become aware of the benefits of cryptocurrency and the potential for investment.
The cryptocurrency market in Moldova is still in its infancy, with only a handful of exchanges and trading platforms operating in the country. However, interest in Bitcoin and other digital assets appears to be growing rapidly. In fact, a recent survey found that nearly one-third of Moldovans are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies.
This growing interest is likely due to the large potential profits that can be made from trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Indeed, many people have become overnight millionaires by investing in Bitcoin at the right time.
However, it should be noted that cryptocurrency trading is a risky endeavor. The prices of digital assets are highly volatile and can fluctuate wildly in a short period of time. As such, it is important to approach cryptocurrency trading with caution and only invest what you can afford to lose.
With that said, here is a look at the latest trends in Bitcoin trading in Moldova
One of the most popular exchanges in Moldova is BTC-e. This platform offers a variety of different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and more. BTC-e also allows users to trade using a variety of fiat currencies, including the Moldovan leu.
Another popular exchange in Moldova is Bittrex. This US-based platform offers a large selection of digital assets, including many altcoins that are not available on other exchanges. Bittrex also allows for margin trading, which can greatly increase your profits (or losses) from your trades.
Finally, it is also worth mentioning that there are a number of Bitcoin ATMs in Moldova. These machines allow you to purchase Bitcoin with cash, which can be a convenient way to get started with trading cryptocurrencies.
Overall, the cryptocurrency market in Moldova is still in its early stages. However, interest in digital assets appears to be growing rapidly. That said, it is important to approach cryptocurrency trading cautiously and only invest what you can afford to lose.
The cryptocurrency market has been growing in popularity in recent years. This is especially true in Moldova, where the trading of Bitcoin and other digital currencies has become more prevalent. There are a number of reasons for this trend, including the fact that cryptocurrencies are seen as a more stable investment than traditional fiat currency. Furthermore, the Moldovan government has been supportive of the cryptocurrency industry, with a number of initiatives aimed at promoting its growth.
One of the most popular exchanges in Moldova is BTC-e. This platform allows users to buy and sell a variety of different cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Zcash. BTC-e is a popular choice for traders due to its low fees and wide range of features.


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Hina Khan slays fashion at Cannes
Actress Hina Khan's Cannes look is viral. She has given sizzling poses in a hot and glamorous dress of black color.
Hina was seen in a black color short dress. She carried matching high heels with this dress.
The candid style of the actress is killer. Let us tell you that Hina has spread fashion in Cannes even before this.
Apart from the black dress, Hina has also shared photos in a red strapless dress.
Hina Khan is a shining star. His acting has made a special place in the hearts of the fans.
Hina did her career from the TV industry. She was seen in the hit show Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai.
Apart from this, she was also seen in the show Bigg Boss. This show has worked to change his image.
Cannes 2022: Aishwarya wreaked havoc in a black gown


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March 17th, 2018
The latest issue of Country Life is out now, featuring gowns from our ‘Knightsbridge Collection’ – photographed at The Ritz London.
Page 1: In My Dreams designer wedding dress in guipure lace and silk organza.
Page 2: Noble luxury wedding…
March 13th, 2018
Read the latest interview with Caroline in Unveiled Magazine.…
Facebook Live with Smashing The Glass
March 9th, 2018
We are excited to announce that we will be LIVE from our Knightsbridge flagship store with Smashing The Glass at 1pm this Wednesday the 14th March.
During this special live feed viewers Caroline will be showing gowns from the ‘Knightsbridge…
Iconic Bride Catwalk Show
March 6th, 2018
Back in November our fantastic new stockist Iconic Bride in in Edwinstowe celebrated the launch of the ‘Celebrating Romance’ collection with an exclusive showcase event and catwalk show at Cockliffe House co-hosted by Mirror Imaging Photography.
Wedding talents and sponsors…
Absolutely Weddings Emirates
March 2nd, 2018
Read the latest interview with Caroline in the Spring Summer 2018 issue of Absolutely Weddings Emirates.…
Caroline Castigliano at Goodwood House
March 1st, 2018
A few weeks ago we hosted an exclusive salon-style catwalk show at Goodwood House with Brides Magazine. Home to the Dukes of Richmond for over three hundred years, this spectacular 12,000-acre estate remains a magical part of England – making…


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Gov. Cuomo announces partnership with businesses to feed more than 32,000 New Yorkers this Thanksgiving
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Tuesday that New York State is partnering with Walmart, Wegmans, FreshDirect and The Coca-Cola Company this Thanksgiving Week to help deliver meals to feed more than 32,000 people statewide.
“New Yorkers have a long and proud history of helping neighbors in need, and Thanksgiving provides a special opportunity to give back and reflect on what we are thankful for,” Gov. Cuomo said. “I am proud to partner with these organizations to provide thousands of families throughout the state with a warm meal. I encourage all New Yorkers to find ways to give back this week and throughout the holiday season.”
Thanks to generous food donations from Walmart and Wegmans, meals are being assembled and packaged to feed over 32,000 New Yorkers statewide. The meals include turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, vegetables, cranberry sauce and potatoes. Additionally, the Coca-Cola Company donated 3,000 two-liter or “family-sized” bottles of assorted beverages to be distributed with the meals. FreshDirect has provided 3,500 boxes to ensure the meals are properly packaged and delivered.
As the nation’s largest grocer, last year alone, Walmart donated more than $25 million across the state of New York in cash and in-kind donations in the fight against hunger. This figure includes more than 12 million pounds of food- the equivalent of more than 10 million meals.
Jason Klipa, director of public affairs for Walmart in New York said, “Forty two million Americans — one in eight of us — struggle with hunger according to the USDA. As the nation’s largest grocer, we’re strongly committed to being a part of the solution in the fight against hunger in New York and across the nation. We’re grateful for the opportunity to once again be involved in events like today as part of our goal to help provide meals to those that don’t have enough to eat.”
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. Chairman Danny Wegman said, “Supporting hunger relief efforts throughout the year is a priority at Wegmans. We are happy to partner with Gov. Cuomo at this special time of year to be sure that families in our community can gather around the table for a warm holiday meal.”
Paul Mulligan, Co-Owner, Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages LLC, said, “Coca-Cola has a rich history of giving back and taking care of the communities where we live and work. We are New Yorkers too — and are continually grateful for Gov. Cuomo’s leadership to help families throughout the state this holiday season.”
FreshDirect CEO and Co-Founder Jason Ackerman said, “FreshDirect is proud to assist Gov. Cuomo on this very important initiative. We are committed to giving back to the communities we serve and are truly honored to be a part of the effort to ensure that every family in New York has a memorable Thanksgiving.”
FreshDirect is a food tech company and the Northeast’s leading online fresh food grocer, delivering directly to customers throughout seven states, including the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, and the District of Columbia. FreshDirect is committed to sourcing the freshest and best-tasting meat, fish, produce, and specialty items through direct relationships with suppliers, growers, and farmers.
In 2016, FreshDirect expanded its portfolio with the launch of FoodKick, an on-demand business that caters to the needs of urban dwellers with a curated selection of food, alcohol, and essentials–all delivered in as little as an hour. Launched in 2002, FreshDirect is a privately held company headquartered in Long Island City, NY. For more information, visit www.freshdirect.com or www.foodkick.com.


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Twitter Users Question Safety Of Disney World Resorts and Disney Springs Remaining Open During COVID-19 Scare
What a week its been Disney friends. As COVID-19 continues its spread across the US, Disney World has enacted some unprecedented measures including a two week shutdown of their theme parks on both coasts as well as Disney Cruise Line.
Despite the shutdown of all four Walt Disney World theme parks, Disney has made the decision to keep their 29+ resorts open as well as Disney World’s downtown-shopping district- Disney Springs.
According to a recent piece on MSNBC, visitors, cast members and more are taking to Twitter to voice their concern regarding these measures: Though Disney Springs is made up of many independent businesses all of whom will have their own policies regarding COVID-19 policies and procedures many feel that keeping this neighborhood open is unsafe, will make it a haven for stranded Disney-travellers and is counterproductive to the social distancing that country is being urged to practice.
Check out some of the feedback:
Sure let’s keep Disney springs open. That way people have nowhere else to go and guests will funnel into a smaller space and put THOSE cast members at and even greater risk instead.
— Ricky DeVito Jr. (@RickyDevito) March 13, 2020
— Eliza (@elizaa389) March 13, 2020
@WaltDisneyWorld I understand from a business aspect as to why certain locations such as DisneySprings will remain open. But due to the high volume of traffic W.O.D experiences daily, are you not afraid that an increase of traffic will put your cast members health at risk?
— eryn (@erynyre_) March 13, 2020
disney can’t close disney springs but they can close disney operated stores and restaurants. let your cast members go home and be with their families if they chose
— ditto⁷ (@jkookie_mochi) March 14, 2020
Me: Can we PLEASE shut down Disney Springs too?!?!
Disney: Yes, we WILL release Frozen 2 on Disney+
— K.N.G (@Karina_Nic05) March 14, 2020
What I'm confused about is that Disney is keeping Disney Springs, the hotels, and the restaurants all open. Does COVID-19 not spread in restaurants? pic.twitter.com/5vXGOlF1AZ
— Jose Castillo (@Kryptonlogic) March 13, 2020
It’s unclear as of going to print whether these properties may continue to remain open after all theme parks are officially closed (later today.) However, as of this weekend, guests are still reporting that Disney Springs continues to have steady crowds.
Except for everyone that came here to go to Disney will now be packed into Disney springs. So no, it will not be “easier to practice social distancing.” My girlfriend works at DS and she says it’s already a mad house. Not good.
— Dari Lamastus (@DariLamastus) March 14, 2020
Many are speculating that these areas only remain open to provide some level accommodation to stranded passengers who have seen their vacation cut short as a result of the closures. It would make sense that Disney will gradually close resorts as crowds start to taper off.
That does seem like a really strange choice… One of the reasons colleges are closing down is because of the close living proximity in dorms… How are hotels any different?
— Amanda (@999HappyHops) March 13, 2020
It’s hard to say how operations at the resorts and Disney Springs over the next few weeks will be impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. However, we here at MickeyBlog will continue to keep you posted of the latest Walt Disney World news and developments so keep following along.
Disney Theme Parks May Currently Be Shuttered But Did You Know You Can Plan A Disney Getaway Through Until the End of 2020? Don’t let Coronavirus put a damper on your Disney plans. Reach out today to get your FREE, no-obligation quote from MickeyTravels.
Find articles like this helpful? Then why not consider working with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner? As an agent with MickeyTravels, I’ll be on hand to assist you with everything from finding your perfect package to helping you plan lots of special touches to make your visit truly magical. Best of all my services are absolutely FREE. Get in touch at 1.800.801.4025 via email at email@example.com or follow along on Facebook


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COMPANY NEWS; BURNHAM PACIFIC AND CALPERS BUYING SHOPPING CENTERS
Published: March 10, 1999
Burnham Pacific Properties Inc. and the California Public Employees' Retirement System agreed late yesterday to buy 28 shopping centers from the AMB Property Corporation for $663.4 million, allowing AMB to focus on its industrial portfolio. AMB, of San Francisco, expects to reinvest $520 million of the proceeds in industrial properties and pay down about $100 million in debt. It granted Calpers an option to buy as many as two million of its common shares for $25 a share, to be exercised on or before March 31, 2000. The shares were unchanged yesterday at $21.125. Calpers also has an option to buy as many as one million shares of Burnham Pacific at $15.37 a share, to be exercised on or before June 30, 2000. Burnham Pacific, of San Diego, closed yesterday at $10.1875, up 12.5 cents.


text: When people move into a new community, they exhibit unique buying patterns, but are a frequently untapped audience for local businesses, according to a new study conducted by Moving Targets. On average, new residents enter a period of ”hyperspending” in the two years after relocating, shelling out $7,100 on goods directly attributable to their move. These shoppers spend on items they might not otherwise. During the initial two-year time span after moving, an estimated 80 percent of residents will try products and services from local businesses. According to the study, 62 percent eat pizza on the day of the move, 65 percent of female respondents are anxious about finding a good hairstylist, 67 percent say it's difficult to find a good auto repair shop and 80 percent look to redeem gift certificates offered by merchants in their new neighborhoods.


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Last year ASICS teamed up with BEAMS and mita sneakers for a collaborative Gel-Lyte III “Souvenir Jacket” in black, an ode to the adoring Japanese staple design that saw a resurgence largely via menswear aficionados over the past 18 months. Now, as a follow-up, they’ve teamed up again to release a similar pair in navy.
Densely coated in a rich suede fabrication that blankets the split tongue silhouette, embroidery marks the heel while contrast sidestriping hits the paneled portion. “Japan” also finds placement at the heel in ode to the region where the jacket rose to fame and the three brands call home.
Look for the BEAMS x mita x ASICS Gel-Lyte III “Souvenir Jacket” on September 16 exclusively at Beams and mita.


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Australian smartphone sales continued to grow with four million handsets sold in the first half of 2021, up 4% from the 3.8 million sold a year ago as 5G begins to dominate, according to new research from emerging technology analyst firm, Telsyte.
The Telsyte Australian Smartphone & Wearable Devices Market Study 2021-2025 found sales were up for both major platforms; however, Apple continued to gain market share over Android.
More than one million 5G iPhone 12 models were sold in the first half, adding to the 5G userbase which now stands at over 3.5 million 5G handsets in use.
The top three smartphone vendors for the half were Apple, Samsung and Oppo, with increased popularity for Google’s Pixel, Motorola, realme and Vivo models.
However, Telsyte expects smartphone sales in the second half of 2021 to face head winds due to global chip shortages, and a slowdown in consumer spending.
“Demand for technology products including smartphones, has been above trend since the start of the pandemic and is likely to slow,” Telsyte managing director Foad Fadaghi said.
Telsyte research indicates the cost of smartphones continues to increase with the average price now reaching $780, up 12% YoY, largely attributed to demand for higher priced iPhone 12s.
Telsyte’s recent consumer survey found almost 1 in 6 (17%) consumers looking to purchase a smartphone in 2021 were interested in a foldable screen, with lower prices, improved durability and better application optimisation likely to help drive adoption.


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How Do Consumers Feel About Data Privacy Post‑Cambridge Analytica?
June 7, 2018
Imagine you had 122 iPhones, all filled to capacity. If every single other person on the planet, including newborn babies and your grandmother, was in the same boat, the total number of storage-free smartphones would be 937 billion. That’s roughly how much data we collectively created in 2017.
We create an incomprehensibly large amount of data and somehow, it’s projected to double every two years. One downside to that is, the more data we put into the universe, the more sensitive it becomes. Data breaches have become larger and larger over the years. In light of the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal, Home Depot’s data breach of “only” 56 million credit cards in 2013 seems almost quaint.
Because Facebook has such a massive user base, the Cambridge Analytica scandal hit closer to home than previous leaks for many consumers. As of Q1 2018, the platform had 2.19 billion monthly active users, or about 29% of the entire world’s population. Again, that includes newborn babies and your grandmother.
How do people feel about data privacy now?
Between that, and the recently implemented General Data Protection Regulation, security and privacy are in the spotlight. That made us wonder, how do people feel about data privacy now? To discover exactly how sentiments are shifting, we surveyed 2,000 consumers for the 2018 Data Privacy Report: What Brands Need to Know About Consumer Attitudes Post-Cambridge Analytica. We conducted the survey across two cohorts: those who have, and those who have not, downloaded their Facebook data following the scandal.
From there, we inquired about their attitudes toward brands buying and selling their data. We also asked about their social media habits and who they feel is responsible for the safety of their data.
Our key findings include:
- Nearly 60% of respondents across both cohorts believe the U.S. government should regulate how companies use consumer data.
- Those who have downloaded their Facebook data are more likely (65% vs. 59%) to hold themselves accountable for data protection.
- The downloaders are also more likely to feel that they have any say in their data: 26.1% vs. 15.9%.
- Nearly half of all respondents plan to delete at least one social media account in the next year.
To see the rest of our survey results, as well as our insights about what they mean in terms of privacy and transparency, download the report here.
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Brian Choi, CFO of Avis Budget Group (CAR), recently picked up 23,735 shares. The buy set him back $1.09 million, and represents an initial stake in the company.
This marks the first insider buy of the year. Insiders, largely led by a major holder, have been big buyers in the past year. Company executives have generally been light sellers, provided you go back to 2018 or 2019.
The insider buy occurs as shares hit a 52-week high. Shares are up nearly nine-fold from their lows of last year, when a shutdown economy spelled big trouble for the car rental industry. Even with that big move higher, shares have performed about the same as the S&P 500 over the past year.
Action to take: The company is currently sitting on losses but look set to return to profitability. It’s already been moving higher as a “reopening” trade, and traders could do well on this play, as it doesn’t have the industry-specific issues as cruise lines or airlines.
The August 2021 $50 calls are about $3 in-the-money. Going for about $12 right now, traders can likely make mid double-digit returns with a continued uptrend over the past few months. Buying an in-the-money call on a momentum trade looks like a safe way to keep playing the trend.


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Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates took to Reddit yesterday for an "Ask me anything"-style interview with the site's users. While a goodly part of the conversation focused on his work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates fielded plenty of questions about his views on Microsoft and its current offerings, on Apple, and about his perspectives on the state of information technology.
Following are some of the more interesting tech-related tidbits from the conversation:
On Windows 8: "It is a huge advance for Windows, which people will see even more as the great applications and hardware come out."
What's he running Windows 8 on: "I just got my Surface Pro a week ago and it is very nice. I am using a Perceptive Pixel display right now -- huge Windows 8 touch whiteboard. These will come down in price over time and be pervasive..."
On which search engine he uses: "Seriously, Bing is the better product at this point. Try the challenge. I am biased, but the work to make Bing better has been amazing."
On which Microsoft product he wished had made it to market: "We had a rich database as the client/cloud store that was part of a Windows release that was before its time. This is an idea that will reemerge, since your cloud store will be rich with schema rather than just a bunch of files and the client will be a partial replica of it with rich schema understanding."
On his relationship with the late Steve Jobs: "He and I respected each other. Our biggest joint project was the Mac, where Microsoft had more people on the project than Apple did as we wrote a lot of applications. I saw Steve regularly over the years including spending an afternoon with him a few months before he tragically passed away."


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CAST your mind not so very far back to 2011. Fukushima went off the grid, Osama bin Laden had a very bad day and the final space shuttle mission touched down at Kennedy Space Centre. Meanwhile in bucolic Surrey, McLaren had yet to launch its MP4-12C road car.
The last road car it had built, the glorious F1, finished its 106-car production run some thirteen years earlier so, in effect, manufacturing was starting from standstill. McLaren had brand equity, a healthy R&D budget and premises in which to build cars.
The 3.8-litre engine was built by Ricardo in West Sussex and the dual-clutch transmission made by Graziano Oerlikon, and the whole lot was mated together with its carbon-fibre superstructure in the $100m McLaren Production Centre. Ron Dennis pronounced the MP4-12C ‘better in every parameter that we can measure’ than its key rivals and targeted 1000 sales per year.
McLaren found itself swamped with orders, instantly having enough deposits for three years’ worth of production. Anyone who then placed an order never actually received an MP4, because that car went out of production in 2014, replaced by the restyled and improved 650S.
Now that we have the three lines of Sports, Super and Ultimate Series, with a burgeoning product range, a bigger dealer network, a doubling of shifts at the MPC and slicker production practices, production last year was 3340 units, nearly enough to overtake Lamborghini, which built a record 3815 cars.
Sadly, it looks as if that’s about as close as it comes to toppling old Ferruccios’s figures. With Lamborghini opening a new production facility to build its super-SUV, the Urus, which will double production overnight and get closer to Ferrari’s output of just over 8000 cars per annum. Still, it’s quite the achievement for McLaren and it’s one that’s been mirrored here in Australia.
McLaren shifted 23 cars here in 2013, stepping up slightly to 26 in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Then the 650S gave it a shot in the arm, with 36 McLarens finding Aussie owners in 2015 and a healthy 93 in 2016. The launch of the Sport Series saw that figure leap to 116 sales in 2017. In other words, sales here have more than quadrupled in the last three years, with the 570S Spider being the most popular car.
A recently-built Curacao Blue 570S Spider marked McLaren’s 15,000th production car, something the company was keen to celebrate. “Reaching 15,000 cars built is a significant milestone for McLaren Automotive and comes under 18 months after we hit 10,000 vehicles, showing how demand and production have increased,” said McLaren Automotive CEO Mike Flewitt.
“The Sports Series has been pivotal to driving this growth, with the 570S Spider now the most popular of the range. The fact we are now able to produce 20 cars a day is of course a great testament to the hard work and dedication of every one of our workforce, who should feel justifiably proud and part of this great team effort.”
Still, McLaren has a way to go to level with its race track rival Porsche. Last year, Porsche shifted almost a quarter of a million cars. One thing Woking’s not short on? Ambition.
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Genesis GV60 EV spied inside and out
With its new G80 Electric limo already out in the open, Genesis's next electric vehicle is this: the GV60 small SUV
New Maserati GranTurismo electric supercoupe teased
Maserati shares first images of upcoming new new GranTurismo, the company's first EV
2022 Lexus NX revealed, Australian variants confirmed
Lexus has revealed the new generation of its best-selling model, and when it’ll be here


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FireEye is a volatile stock -- and that is putting it mildly. Since its public market debut in late 2013 at $20, FireEye shares have surged as high as $85 and fallen as low as $24.
Currently, shares of FireEye are trading right around $44 a share. That is exactly where they should be, according to analysts at Raymond James. In a report published late last month, Raymond James initiated coverage on FireEye with a market perform rating. Although the analysts believes FireEye has a lot of potential, its business model is also fraught with risks.
FireEye is growing rapidlyThere are two things to like about FireEye: rapid growth and dominance in an emerging cyber-security market.
Last year, FireEyerevenue rose an impressive 163% on an annual basis. If its guidance proves accurate, it will rise another 42% to 46% this year. Many other cyber-security vendors cannot offer anything approaching those numbers.
This rapid growth likely comes from the novel status of its products. In contrast to other vendors, which rely on more traditional solutions, FireEye sells a class of products designed to stop advanced persistent threats. Its virtual sandbox tests potentially malicious software in real time, allowing it to find exploits and vulnerabilities as the attacks occur.
FireEye has other competitors in this space, but its products are widely viewed as best-in-class, according to Raymond James. It believes FireEye currently has roughly half the market for sandbox solutions.
The market for its products is difficult to projectThere are also plenty of things about FireEye that should make investors cautious. FireEye faces intense competition, continues to burn through cash, and the size of its business is difficult to project.
FireEye may offer the best sandbox solution, but it is not the only vendor. Palo Alto Networks,Cisco, and Trend Micro offer similar products. Other companies are expected toeventually enter the space, and in time, FireEye sales could be poached by larger companies that are able to offer APT solutions bundled with other products, such as firewalls.
FireEye is also not profitable, and management does not expect that to change anytime soon. In 2014, FireEye burned through about $200 million in free cash flow. Raymond James believes the company will eventually achieve profitability, but it does not expect positive free cash flow until 2018.
Lastly, the novel nature of the FireEye business makes the size of its future prospects difficult to project. Although IT departments are given fixed budgets that include spending on traditional cyber-security products, APT is often unaccounted for. That is an issue, as FireEye offerings are largely seen as a compliment to, rather than a replacement for, traditional offerings. FireEye has said its total addressable market could be as large as $30 billion, but Raymond James is skeptical. Instead, its analysts believe the total demand for APT products will be around $3.6 billion in 2019.
A speculative investment for those seeking cyber-security exposureGiven its lack of profitability, it is difficult to value FireEye with traditional metrics. On an enterprise value-to-revenue basis, FireEye is aggressively valued compared to more established security vendors but less expensive compared to other small, speculative stocks.
FireEye is currently trading at about 15 times enterprise value-to-revenue. That is better than its competitor Palo Alto Networks -- trading at about 17 times -- but worse than a profitable company like Check Point Softwaretrading at about 10 times.
Given this blend of opportunities and challenges, it is easy to see why shares have traded so erratically. In the long run, FireEye will either successfully ramp up its business with continued dominance in the market or get muscled out of its niche as it burns through cash.
The article Could FireEye Inc Really Be Worth $44? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Sam Mattera has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, FireEye, and Palo Alto Networks. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2015 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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Tag - QR code
Walmart has started to make its attempt at a mobile payments service available for customers to use, with close to 600 stores in two states set to start offering payment of groceries via an app. More than 480 Walmart stores in Texas and over 110 retail locations in Arkansas are now able to use Walmart Pay, updated in the retailer's iOS app last month, to make payments at the checkout without having to access cards from a wallet or purse.
Microsoft will be shuttering its QR code competitor in the next few years, according to e-mails sent to customers. The Microsoft Tag service, which allows companies to embed data into an image for scanning by a smartphone application, will end on August 19th, 2015, reports Engadget. Despite its impending demise, the format will still operate via QR code service Scanbuy, which will start to support aspects of Microsoft Tag from September this year.
An e-commerce company in China will launch 1,000 supermarkets in the country, without stock. Yihaodian will instead show the images of products on shelves accompanied by a QR code, allowing customers to scan and pay with a smartphone. The shopping is then delivered to the customer's home at a later time.
Riders in Boston and surrounding areas will soon be able to both purchase and display rail tickets on their smartphones, thanks to a system being put into place this fall by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The service is modelled on a similar system used in the UK by London-based Masabi, and uses QR codes displayed on smartphone screens and readers used by conductors to replace paper tickets, which can be easily lost.


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Tags: Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races
After seven months' production of its EPA 2010 certified and compliant engines, Cummins says it has now built and shipped more than 20,000 Heavy-Duty and MidRange engines with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust aftertreatment, and at the end of August, ...
CatUsed.cat.com and regional Cat dealers will hold the first ever Cat used equipment sale in conjunction with a NASCAR race. Regional Cat dealers — Carolina Cat, Blanchard Machinery, Carter Machinery and Gregory Poole Equipment — and Cat Used Equipment Services will ...
SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW
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Video is the Future
With that, Facebook announced on Monday that they updated their iOS app, adding recording and sharing videos and sending voice messages to the uses of said app.
What is a social media guru to do with so many new features!?
The update also added access to the cameras of mobile devices, allowing you to send photos and videos to recipients through Facebook’s messenger app too!
Video is the future!
While you’re updating your status or tweeting a tweet, don’t forget to smile at the camera and give a shout out to your friends and followers as well!
(The Facebook update is only available to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users right now though…Droids…keep an eye out!)


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Uber losses swell 65% to £3.3bn despite revenues at the taxi app firm surging 85% to £27bn
Uber's annual losses soared to £3.3bn in 2017 compared with £2bn in 2016
Uber's annual losses ballooned by almost 65 per cent last year, soaring to £3.3billion compared with £2billion in 2016.
But the taxi firm also reported an 85 per cent surge in gross revenues, rising from £14.5billion to £27billion.
Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who took over from ousted co-founder Travis Kalanick, hopes to make an underlying profit by next year, ahead of a stock market float in 2019.
Uber recently secured £903million in investment after Japan’s Softbank bought a 15 per cent stake, while a consortium shelled out £722million for a 2.5 per cent stake.
In the UK, Uber’s appeal against Transport for London’s decision not to renew its licence will be heard in the spring.
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HereO GPS watch lets parents monitor kids 24/7
HereO GPS Watch Lets Parents Monitor Kids 24/7, There’s an epidemic raging in America, affecting nearly a million kids each year. That’s how many go...
There’s an epidemic raging in America, affecting nearly a million kids each year. That’s how many go missing, at least temporarily; according to federal statistics, about 900,000 kids are reported missing by parents each year. The vast majority — over 95% — are located within hours
According to the people at Israeli start-up HereO, “even if your child is missing for ‘just’ 2 minutes, it will be the longest 2 minutes of your life.” It’s to save parents the trauma of “losing” a kid, even temporarily, that the HereO watch was designed. HereO is the first fashion watch designed for kids with a GPS chip installed, enabling parents to keep track of their little ones via an app which can locate them at all times.


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IBM has launched its DB/2 7.1 database for mainframes, announcing it as part of a strategy to eat into Oracle's market share. But analysts say the big fight for the mainframe database market is largely...
Homebase plans to roll-out a series of low-code applications in belated digital transformation
In an age of constant innovation, where new trends are fleeting, COBOL has remained an enduring force
Collaboration between human and AI programmers will create a new paradigm for coding
Up to 28 million users potentially affected by backdoor vulnerability in popular web development tool
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AI researchers are worried that GDPR will limit availability of training data, but there's an upside too, says Gary Richardson


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Binance's US division plans to complete a funding round in the next two months before going public. The company's CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has said:
"I think it's a couple hundred million dollars. For an IPO perspective, it's probably best to have a few rounds of financing before that."
Subscribe to our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest crypto and blockchain news.
In addition, Binance will announce "very shortly” where it will open its headquarters, Zhao has added. He has previously announced the company intends to set up a regional headquarters and, in the future, a global headquarters in France. CZ has mentioned the United Arab Emirates and Singapore as cryptocurrency-friendly jurisdictions.
He has also added:
"In five, 10 years, we might see crypto exchanges merge with stock exchange."


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LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Cascade Maverik Lacrosse has made a quick shift from making its world-renowned helmets to producing face shields for health providers and medical professionals across the country in need of additional supplies.
The pivot in business comes in the wake of last week’s mandatory shutdown of non-essential businesses in New York, which closed the Cascade helmet factory.
Cascade Maverik Lacrosse General Manager tells NewsChannel 9, “I think we said, okay, there’s bigger things at play, we need to focus on that. Those of us that could go work from home did, but obviously you can’t build helmets from home so that put a lot of our employees on furlough.”
Repurposing Cascade talents, resources and suppliers took place in under 72 hours. Leading the charge is Sr. Director of R&D, Win Fream and Plant Manager, Dave Christopher.
The company was quickly able to figure out how to use the foams, plastics and straps it uses for helmets to instead use those for the face shields.
A weekend prototype evolved rapidly to a final production model earlier this week.
Ellsworth says, “A company in Liverpool, XTO, run by Keith Krieger, who immediately said we’ll pitch in, dramatically cut the cost. None of us are trying to make money on this we’re all pushing through this at cost to meet the demand.”
The company is now rotating a team of twelve people at a time from its production staff and using proper social distancing at the plant, to turn out thousands of masks per week.
“The opportunity to address a need out there with people on the frontlines, try to keep them safe so ultimately we can get through this together,” Ellsworth says.
Right now he’s trying to respond to over 200 email requests for these face shields and hopes to start with healthcare and medical providers in Central New York and Upstate.
He adds, “As you walk in our mission statement, it begins, ‘ We are American innovators with a passion to protect’. “
Ellsworth says he’s also reached out to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office about these face shields.


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Provincial court offices will no longer accept in-person fine payments to help protect the health and safety of court users and staff during the COVID-19 emergency.
Effective March 19, enforcement measures on fines have been temporarily suspended for the next six months, according to a government news release. This includes:
- late payment fees;
- files sent to SGI related to driver’s licenses suspensions;
- files sent to the Canada Revenue Agency for set-off;
- files sent to Collection Agencies.
This does not mean fines do not need to be paid, however. Fine payment options are still available to residents through the following methods:
- online at www.finepayment.saskatchewan.ca;
- a toll-free phone call to the Fine Collection Branch at 1-888-935-5555;
- mail to the mailing address on the back of your ticket.
If your payment is necessary to obtain an SGI driver’s licence because it has been suspended, Court Services will forward payment information to SGI within 48 hours of processing your payment.
Provincial court offices are still open to receive bail and restitution payments. Please phone the local provincial court office to arrange these payments beforehand. In Moose Jaw, that number is 306-694-3612.


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'Never going back!' New Zealanders reveal the surprising reasons why they like Australia BETTER than home - but not everyone agrees
- Kiwi expats praised Australia's cheaper cost of living for giving them a better life
- Others said rent, utility bills and petrol prices make Australia a nicer place to live
- A woman said it's easier to eat healthy in Australia with cheaper grocery prices
New Zealanders have revealed the many reasons they like Australia better than home, while others have headed back across the Tasman.
Kiwi expats took to social media to share their gripes about New Zealand, with many saying Australia's cost of living was a big draw card.
'Never going back to NZ. Not even to visit people or bury the dead. Living in NZ you're always checking the bank to see if you can afford the food shopping,' one man wrote on a popular Facebook page for New Zealanders living Down Under.
Kiwi expats took to social media to share their gripes with their home country, with many saying Australia's cost of living was a big draw card in moving across the ditch (stock image)
A number of Kiwis also praised Australia's housing market for being more affordable than New Zealand (stock image)
'Here in Australia [we] don't have those issues, travelled more of Aussie than NZ.'
Others credited Australia's cost of living, particularly when it came to grocery shopping and dining out.
'Food shopping fill the trolley up and don't care what the price is because you can afford it,' one expat wrote.
'Better living cheaper food can fill up your cupboards including meat fruit and veg not like back home so expensive to eat healthy meals,' said another.
A mother-of-two, who has been living in Australia for just one month, said cheaper day-to-day costs have made a huge impact on her quality of life.
'The struggle is real in NZ cost of living is barely affordable wages are low can barely feed your kids after paying for rent then you have to stretch what is left for food, power, water, petrol,' she wrote.
'Food prices are off the richter scale. Half a trolley of bare essentials for a family of four [is] $200 plus that doesn't even include meat for the freezer.'
She said the average weekly rent for a three bedroom house in Auckland is $550, despite the weekly wage being just $700-800.
'Average monthly power bill $350, average monthly water bill $120, petrol prices per litre $2.35.'
'Yup better living cheaper food cheaper can fill up your cupboards including meat fruit and veg not like back home so expensive to eat healthy meals,' said another New Zealand-national.
'I have been in Oz for just over a month now and I love the cost of living here.'
'I will never go back home. I can feed my kids here!,' said another.
Many credited Australia's cost of living, particularly when it came to grocery shopping, saying it's easier to eat healthy in Australia with cheaper prices at the supermarket (stock image)
Many Kiwis praised Australia for having cheaper fuel prices, which averages $1.51 per lire for unleaded petrol, compared with New Zealand's $2.35 (stock image)
'I'd love to move home but it's too bloody expensive to live off s**tty pay,' one woman said.
'I feel It's very divided here, BUT job and academic opportunities and living prices are much better.'
A number of Kiwis also praised Australia's housing market for being more affordable than New Zealand.
'Ain’t no place like home however Ozzie has been amazing for us. We hit the ground with excellent jobs, meeting great people and buying a home (with savings in the bank),' a father wrote.
'Oz is waaaaay better than NZ in almost all respects but there's nothing like home,' said another.
But the few complaints New Zealand natives had about Australia mostly related to stinking hot summers and mosquitoes.
'It's nice here and I make a good living but I hate the summers and the mozzies,' one man said.
Others complained that New Zealand has nicer drinking water, claiming Australia's tap water tastes 'metallic'.
'It's yuck. I only drink bottled water. Been here 31 years and still can't drink it from the tap,' one man said.
'Yep just drink bottled water since moving here,' said another.
One expat said despite enjoying the Australian lifestyle as an adult, he wouldn't want to have grown up here.
'I couldn't imagine growing up in suburban Australia, can't do anything as a kid, very PC, and a lot of spazzes around,' he said.
New Zealanders said better education and career opportunities made Australia their preferred country (stock image)


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All the apps in the menu screen of Samsung Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 Edge now appear with a dash sign, which indicates that they can be deleted or uninstalled when required, in fact, when not required. The list of apps includes the apps of Samsung like S Health, S Voice and apps from Google like Hangouts, Gmail, Voice Search and Google Search app. Moreover Microsoft’s app like OneDrive, OneNote and Skype can also be uninstalled.
What was Missed?
In the MWC launch which was not given a hint was the fact that Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are to be coming with the Microsoft apps. Now these gadgets are seen to be coming with a few apps from Microsoft like OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype.
What is in the Store?
The current rumors also say that the gadgets have improved UI features like the Touch Wiz UI, which make them more responsive. These devices are built from scratch so will be more responsive. Recently on Monday in India Samsung announced that these smartphones that are launched recently are priced Rs. 49,900 for 32 GB variant, and Rs. 58,900 is the price of the Galaxy S6 Edge.


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According to an analysis from Nomura Instinet, Square seems to be immune from bitcoin’s moves as its mobile payment app grew despite a drop in demand for the cryptocurrency. Square Inc made headlines when it announced that its Square Cash app would be a welcoming place for bitcoin. Since that announcement, though the cryptocurrency market has cratered, the app continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
According to the data from Instinet it is found that Square Cash, which officially launched crypto trading in late January, has been able to “decouple” from bitcoin and is growing roughly three times faster than Paypal’s Venmo, with nearly 2 million downloads per month in May and June.
Square is more than just a bitcoin play. A lot of people were apprehensive because it went up with bitcoin, but instead, it’s decoupling.. – Dan Dolev, executive director and analyst at Instinet
Bitcoin did see a spike in price late last year which explains the surge in Cash App downloads around December, when bitcoin was nearing $20,000 and Square first announced it was testing support for bitcoin, as according to Dolev. Bitcoin prices have seen a downturn of more than 65 percent since that peak.
The founder and Chief Executive of Square; Jack Dorsey is a big supporter of bitcoin. In 2014, he made possible for merchants to accept bitcoin as a payment method. His last year’s Tweet states, “Bitcoin: we tried this with our eCommerce store years back. Didn’t see much. Would love to see a digital currency thrive.”
We can still hope to see bitcoin bloom as the stock is up 86 percent this year, and 154 percent year over year. But at the same time, Nomura’s prophecy suggests that Square’s ability to achieve its target could be affected by pricing pressure, slowing gross payment volume and new offerings that are entering the market from competitors.


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When Amazon reports its earnings in two weeks, analysts expect the Seattle company to post revenue growth of about 2 percent to 4 percent from $572.9 million in sales of the first quarter. In contrast, brick-and-mortar stalwarts such as Kmart and Target have traditionally posted 8 percent sequential revenue growth in the second quarter, and retail behemoth Wal-Mart has averaged about 12 percent in the past three years.
"Amazon's hit a wall," said Jeff Matthews, general manager of the Ram Partners hedge fund. "They will be a slow-growth company that doesn't make any money."
Other analysts, however, said judging Amazon on revenue growth from the first quarter to the second is an invalid method of evaluating any retailer because of the greater sales spurred by seasonal shopping.
In addition, regardless of the quarter-by-quarter debate, many analysts and others in the Internet industry argue that brick-and-mortar metrics do not apply to the new economy.
Although it is still profitless, Amazon's growth potential has been a key reason why many investors have bought its stock. While Kmart, with a price-to-earnings ratio of 10, has a market capitalization of about $3.7 billion, Amazon's market capitalization stands at nearly $15 billion. The price-to-earnings ratio is the price of the stock divided by earnings per share.
Matthews and others are calling that valuation into question, pointing to the sequential growth numbers as evidence that Amazon's business is slowing.
"If they were really a growth company, they would be growing, and they ain't," Matthews said.
The concern about Amazon's upcoming earnings comes after a slew of negative reports about the company last month that sent Amazon's stock plunging. Contributing to the downturn was a report from Lehman Brothers analyst Ravi Suria that called Amazon's credit "extremely weak and deteriorating." A report by Morgan Stanley Dean Witter's Mary Meeker said there could be some "modest downside" to her estimates of Amazon's second-quarter revenue.
Matthews said he sees a lot of downside to investing in Amazon for the long term. Business has slowed for Amazon's core book, music and video categories, and the company's new stores, such as electronics and hardware, are not working, he said.
"The only thing that works well is books, and to a lesser extent, music and video," he said. "Nobody's buying drills and saws from Amazon's Web site. Nobody's buying lawnmowers."
Shares of Amazon closed up $7.50, or 21 percent, on Friday to $42.50 following reports from analysts such as J.P. Morgan Securities' Tom Wyman and others debunking Suria's assessment and the sentiment that Amazon is running out of money. At the end of last quarter, Amazon had about $1.1 billion in cash and securities while carrying about $2.1 billion in long-term debt.
Finding the right indicator
But analysts who specialize in old-line retail companies emphasized that looking at Amazon and other stores on a sequential basis is misleading.
For example, Bernard Sosnick, an analyst at Fahnestock, said Easter tends to be a big shopping holiday, and sales can boost the first quarter or second quarter depending on whether the holiday falls in March or April that year.
"Retailers are (measured) year-over-year, never quarter-over-quarter," he said.
Even if Amazon's revenue grows just 3 percent over the first quarter, its year-to-year growth rate will be nearly 90 percent, analysts noted.
"That, in my opinion, means Amazon is still a hyper-growth company," Wyman said.
Amazon's sales may be depressed this quarter because of the amount of media coverage on the tough times facing many e-commerce companies, Wyman said. Those types of stories have shaken consumers' confidence in buying online, but Wyman said he expects that confidence to rebound by the fourth quarter.
Seasonal shopping swings
Another factor that might depress Amazon's sales is seasonal Internet usage. Many consumers buy PCs in January, which leads to a surge in Internet use and online shopping, analysts say. In contrast, the second quarter includes part of the summer, which many analysts see as a slow time for the Internet. With consumers on vacation and away from their computers, they are less likely to shop online.
"The June quarter is very different," said Daniel Ries, a financial analyst with C.E. Unterberg, Towbin. "It's different than the normal retail patterns."
But Matthews scoffed at the notion that seasonal issues are causing Amazon's slowing sequential growth. Last year, Amazon posted 7 percent revenue growth from the first to the second quarter; in 1998, the e-tail giant posted 33 percent growth for the same sequential period.
"They've never had seasonality before," he said. "They've never had a seasonal slowdown."
Amazon's performance also could be affected by its product selection. While Kmart and Wal-Mart carry products in hundreds of different categories, including many that are popular during the summer, Amazon has only about 15 product categories. In addition, items that might be popular with spring and summer shoppers--such as lawn and garden supplies or home furnishings--are fairly new to Amazon, and customers do not necessarily associate the site with such products, analysts say.
"It's almost like an apples-to-oranges comparison, (a few) categories vs. thousands of categories," said Jeetil Patel, financial analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex Brown.
Still, Patel said the key for Amazon will be in how well it mixes its new products with its traditional products, and whether it can convince its book customers to buy electronics products and vice versa.
Matthews "raises some good issues," Patel said. "Amazon's business is still growing, but can they sustain it?"
News.com's Cecily Barnes contributed to this report.


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Classtreet is celebrating its first anniversary this weekend and in similar fashion that its previous parties have gone in, this too will be nothing less than grand. The team behind the online street-culture platform has planned a busy evening for all to enjoy (yes, no need for RSVPs or cover charge), starting with the music for the night; performances by Aman-Ra, SonaOne, Meliha Faisal, and Oh Chentaku (an acoustic set, however) are set to take place. Fritilldea will be doing some live sketching and for art enthusiasts, there will also be an exhibition to check out. Since Classtreet is also a retail platform, naturally pop-up booths will be present as well. Food will be served by La Famiglia, if the name didn’t give it away: it serves Italian food.
Date Saturday 7 November ’15
Venue The Row, KL
For more information, click here.


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Senco Gold and Diamonds mandated its retained PR firm to recommend an event that would celebrate equal rights for transgenders and establish the company’s credentials in the ‘inclusivity narrative’ in India.
Based on our research on prominent transgender individuals in Indian epics, including the Mahabharata, we recommended a first-of-its-kind fashion show featuring transsexuals representing the various mythological characters.
Inspired by our suggestions, Senco decided to launch a new range of jewellery, the ‘Pride Collection’, in support of the LGBTQ community. The fortnight-long event involved radio shows by Rian Ghosh, a transgender radio jockey, on Radio Mirchi, Fever FM, and Big FM. Separately, we organised a fashion show where Dr Manabi Bandyopadhyay, the first transgender woman in India to complete her doctorate, was the ‘showstopper’.
A focused group of journalists and international photo agencies covered the event, resulting in over 100 unique print and online stories.


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JLM Valve Saver - first to pass TÜV standard
Projects carried out by HTW Saarland, such as V300+, Project 24 Hr, CO2-100minus and S1000+, have all led to breakthroughs for the autogas industry and confirm HTW Saarland as the leading university and knowledge experts for all matters related to autogas.
There are many engines, that, when powered by autogas, can suffer from premature valve and valve seat wear. “Over the years there has been a lot of talk as to which products actually protect valves and valve seats from this premature wear, with manufacturers of almost all the additives on the market making claims of some sort but with no real proof that they work”, said HTW Saarland's Professor Thomas Heinze.
This new TÜV standard has once again put HTW Saarland in the forefront of autogas technology, with HTW becoming the first to implement the world’s first TÜV standard for valve seat recession (VSR) in autogas-powered engines.
Prof Dr-Ing Thomas Heinze, Head of Academy of Sciences
“One of the main reasons we developed this laboratory type testing standard is because it is reproducible, so all products can be tested, measured and compared in exactly the same way”, said Volker Witte, HTW Engineer.
He added, “This is impossible to achieve in a road test. In a laboratory we are capable of reproducing the most demanding driving conditions to really put these products through their paces. It really does emulate real world driving conditions, without human interference or traffic jams”.
JLM Valve Saver Fluid, along with the JLM Valve Saver Kit was the first to undergo, and pass, this rigorous new TÜV standard. “The JLM Valve Saver Fluid proved very convincingly that it provided very good protection in stopping excessive valve seat recession found in this testing”, said Professor Heinze.
The TÜV standard incorporates laboratory testing of a 4 valve-per-cylinder, turbocharged engine over a 50-hour period, including two "automatic fail" points built in. It was developed in conjunction with the HTW University Saarland and overseen and approved by TÜV Rheinland.
- LPG and CNG cars
- Hybrids and EV's
- News and tips


text: Finally, someone that thinks the same as us. M.Bovis will, eventually, fall off the radar but where will on-farm biosecurity be when it does? Based on the way in which MPI and our industry bodies (DairyNZ, Federated Farmers and Beef and Lamb) are acting currently, it will be back to business as usual, and we will have lost an opportunity to make a step-change in industry resilience to biosecurity threats. This article by the Rural News Group points the way to a more prepared future. Read the article on the Rural News website.


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Church to hold craft fair Dec. 13
MANITOWOC — First Presbyterian Church, 502 N. Eighth St., will hold its annual craft fair from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Dec. 13 in Fellowship Hall.
The fair will feature a variety of items including: woodworking; knitted, crocheted and embroidered goods; fresh vegetables; locally produced honey, homemade fudge, baked goods and other homemade foods; and candles. Vendor spots still are available.
For more information, call (920) 682-4688 or email email@example.com.


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Seven Hungarian companies made it onto the FT 1000, Financial Times’ annual list of the 1,000 fastest growing companies in Europe. The well-known Nanushka and Tresorit are among those listed, as seen below.
FT works with Statista to research those European companies that achieved the highest compound annual growth rate in revenue between 2015 and 2018.
Sustainable fashion house Nanushka was just featured in Forbes last November and opened a 3,300-square-foot store in New York last year as well. Founded back in 2006, the company is now on the FT list with revenue CAGR of 72.7 percent between 2015 and 2018.
The startup Tresorit, an online cloud storage service that specializes in secure hosting, data encryption and file sharing, achieved a growth rate of 96.4 percent. Co-founder Istvan Lam made it onto Forbes’ 2016 “30 Under 30” list for Europe, and the company was a finalist at the 2017 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards for Encryption.
First place on the FT 1000 went to the British FinTech company, OakNorth Bank, which saw a revenue CAGR of 621.5 percent between 2015 and 2018. Finland’s Wolt Enterprises (online food-delivery platform) came in second place, while Estonia’s Bolt Technology came in third. The full list can be seen here.


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New Delhi: Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp will commence sale of premium motorcycle — Xtreme 200R, priced at Rs 89,900 (ex-showroom Delhi) — from next week.
“Marking the company’s re-entry into the premium motorcycle segment, Xtreme 200R is the first among the new range of Hero’s premium motorcycles that are slated for launch this year,” the company said in a statement on Monday.
According to the company, the new motorcycle will be sold at Hero MotoCorp dealerships in a phased manner.
“While providing the thrill of riding this bike, the Xtreme 200R keeps the focus on safety with Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS), thereby becoming the first motorcycle in its category to offer ABS as a standard safety feature,” the statement said.
As per the statement, the new Xtreme 200R is powered by a BS-IV compliant 200cc engine.


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Belarusian delegation returned from Kiev where Ukrainian-Belarusian Business Forum took place. Minsk Capital Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers was represented by the President Mr. Vladimir Karyagin, General Director of “Vneshnyaya Torgovlya” (“Foreign Trade”) Publishing House Mr. Dmitry Lupach, Deputy Director of Local Fund of Mutual Aid and Solidarity Mr. Eduard Polutorov.
Business Forum was held in Kreshchatic str., in the conference hall of 34 Building. The meeting was opened by Vice-President of Ukrainian Association of Industrials and Entrepreneurs Mr. Alexandr Shnipko. The reports by the director of the Institute of the National Academy of Science Mr. Petr Nikitenko – “Development of Entrepreneurship in Belarus” and by the President of MCAEE Mr. Vladimir Karyagin – “Possibilities and Perspectives of Development of Cooperation between Enterprises of Ukraine and Belarus” were presented during the meeting.
As the head of capital association of Belarusian entrepreneurs Mr. Vladimir Karyagin noted, the participants of the business forum showed great interest to information about the activity of MCAEE in the sphere of subcontractation – consumer cooperation. It is explained by the fact that Ukrainian entrepreneurs are actively developing subcontracting activity. While answering the questions of the business forum participants Mr. Karyagin told about experience of Regional Centre of Industrial Subcontractation and also shared his point of view regarding perspectives of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations.


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Best practices in automotive industry
The Automotive business’s main team for coordinating policy on information safety and “cyber” threats has actually posted a “Best methods” document, offering specific automakers help with implementing cybersecurity in their vehicles the very first time.
The Automotive Information posting and research Center (ISAC) circulated the Automotive Cybersecurity guidelines document on July 21st, saying the guidelines tend to be for automobile producers in addition to their particular vendors.
The most effective Practices cover organizational and technical components of car cybersecurity, including governance, danger management, protection by design, hazard detection, incident reaction, training, and collaboration with appropriate third events.
Taken collectively, they move the auto industry closer to standards pioneered decades ago and embraced by companies like Microsoft. They call on automakers to develop pc software to-be protected through the floor up and to just take a sober look at dangers to connected automobiles within the design procedure.
Automakers are informed to evaluate for and respond to computer software vulnerabilities and also to develop means of evaluating and fixing security vulnerabilities. Automakers may advised to generate education programs, promote cybersecurity understanding for both I . t and vehicle particular risks and teach workers about safety understanding.
, the car ISAC is an outgrowth associated with Alliance of vehicle Manufacturers and matters the whole world leading makers of automobiles as members, including Ford, GM, Mercedes Benz, BMW yet others. In the beginning established in an effort to share threat information between automakers, the team also plans to develop to include suppliers also strategic lovers and ecosystem partners such as for instance telecommunications and technology companies.
“Previously you’ve seen many segregation and individual approaches to the problem., ” he stated. “You’ve had some OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturers whom prepared and also had protection groups positioned for a long time. Others have actually simply introduced all of them within the last few 12 months, ” he noted.
The attention to automobile cyber safety problems was on sluggish boil consistently, as researchers demonstrated approaches to compromise in car systems. Nevertheless problem moved to the front burner in the 2015 Ebony Hat Briefings Conference in nevada, when scientists Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek demonstrated an approach for from another location managing crucial automobile methods like braking and speed making use of pc software based attacks. That hack banged off a firestorm of conflict and caused Fiat Chrysler to remember 1.4 million automobiles to fix the fix.
There is also research that issues about protection are impacting consumers opinions about connected automobiles. Kelly Blue Book survey of 813 visitors to the company’s website, posted in March, unearthed that 62percent think “connected vehicles will likely be hacked, ” and therefore a minority (42%) stated they “want vehicles become even more linked.”
Infamously reclusive in issues regarding the software and hardware they put into vehicles, automakers tend to be urged within the new guidance to interact with “third functions” who've understanding of cyber safety dilemmas. Which includes business bodies, like the Auto-ISAC itself plus the Auto Alliance, government bodies like the nationwide Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NIST, Department of Homeland safety and FBI. Finally, automakers tend to be advised inside recommendations document to engage with scholastic establishments and cybersecurity researchers.
Compared to that point, several automakers have established bug bounty programs recently, including Elon Musk’s Tesla, GM and, most recently, Fiat Chrysler.
Barzilai, whoever organization tends to make security programs that protect automotive pc software from being exploited, said the risk of exploitable weaknesses in subsystems found in automobiles is great, considering the fact that the same software and equipment can be used in common across different models because of the exact same car maker, and between different makers, compounding the chance.
Guidelines or otherwise not, experts within the field agree that more laws regulating cyber security are nearly particular to come down from lawmakers in the U.S. additionally the E.U. in coming years.
As reported by Security Ledger, The European Union Agency for system and Ideas protection (ENISA) revealed the other day that it's carrying out a study on cyber protection measures for smart cars and would like to consult with “relevant stakeholders” including Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers to automakers.
In U.S. the nationwide Highway visitors and protection Administration (NHTSA) in April granted a request for proposals (RFP) to exclusive firms for support establishing automotive cybersecurity directions. NHTSA is looking to technicians to “help develop initial light-vehicle cybersecurity guidelines” that may “help supply the basis for safe, reliable and safe automobile methods.”
Is it dangerous to do your own car repair? - Quora
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, auto mechanics have an annual fatal accident rate of 4.3 per 100,000, about equal to that of plumbers. Chart here:


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VisitBritain is planning to produce a glossy, upmarket magazine to promote the UK to high-flying businesspeople and decision-makers in Russia and the US.
The magazine, to be called So British, is being developed by London Illustrated News Group.
So British is expected to have a print run of 240,000 and its 120 pages will feature a mixture of luxury British fashion, drink, car and hotel brands.
The magazine will be delivered directly to “high-end, affluent and discerning” consumers in the target markets. In addition, a small number will be distributed through specialist outlets, such as bookstores.
VisitBritain plans to produce the magazine as a bi-annual publication. The initiative is part of its attempt to promote the UK as a shopping centre to rival Dubai or New York.
The organisation, which aims to promote Britain both internationally and domestically, is integrating retail into its promotional activity overseas and working with partners such as Bluewater in Kent and Birmingham’s Bullring.
It is also working with the hospitality sector to create a standardised rating system.
VisitBritain created its first agency roster in April after a pitch (MW April 29). The roster includes Fox Kalomaski, Tullo Marshall Warren and Triangle Communications.


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A sharp-eyed Salt Lake City resident filmed a pair of GMC Hummer EV prototypes he saw parked on the streets of the Utah capital this week, giving us an up-close look at the rare pre-production test vehicles.
The video shows three white GMC Hummer EV prototypes parked on the street in downtown Salt Lake City, just behind the LDS Conference Center. The video doesn’t reveal anything we didn’t already know about the GMC Hummer EV pickup, but it’s interesting to get an up-close look at these pre-production test vehicles, which were likely being used for some off-road tests in Utah’s canyons before they wound up parked in downtown Salt Lake. The test vehicles show some signs of use and abuse and even have zip ties holding certain parts on, as the filmer points out, but that’s pretty normal for test vehicles such as these.
GM has already performed winter and snow testing for the GMC Hummer EV at its Milford Proving Ground in Michigan, so this video may be an indication that it’s now turning its attention to more desert and off-road testing scenarios as spring sets in.
The GMC Hummer EV First Edition will enter production at the GM Factory Zero plant in Michigan later this year, with deliveries set to commence in the fall. The Edition 1 will feature a tri-motor powertrain producing 1,000 horsepower and will be able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in as little as three seconds. The Hummer EV3X will be the next to enter production after the Edition 1 in the fall of 2022 and will feature the same tri-motor setup with a slightly detuned output of 800 horsepower. The dual-motor Hummer EV2X will produce 625 horsepower and will launch in the spring of 2023, followed by the base Hummer EV2 in the spring of 2024.
Check out the video embedded below before the first GMC Hummer EV models roll off the production line this fall.


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THE third annual Newsome Play Day takes place on Wednesday, August 1.
It will run from 11am to 4pm at Ashenhurst Rec and adjacent woods, between Newsome Road and New Laithe Hill.
It is part of a nationwide celebration of children’s play.
There will be a wide range of free activities for all ages from babies to teens, supporting the 2012 Play Day campaign theme: Get Out and Play!
To get the best out of the day, visitors are advised to prepare for weather and mess. There will be sandwiches, hot-dogs and drinks available to buy, but it is a great spot for a picnic, so people may wish to bring their own.
Local mum and co-organiser Joanne Smithson said: “It’s a great chance to kick off the summer holidays with some good outdoor family fun.”


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Following an NHSTA investigation into two cases of the Tesla Model Y’s steering wheel falling off, Nissan is dealing with a similar issue. The Japanese automaker is recalling over 1,000 Ariya electric SUVs citing that the “steering wheel can detach from the steering column.”
2023 Nissan Ariya electric SUV recall
Earlier today, we reported that the NHTSA was investigating the Tesla Model Y over “two reports of complete detachment of the steering wheel” in the 2023 model year.
The NHTSA found that both vehicles had an “end-of-line repair” that required removing and re-installing the steering wheel. Tesla and the NHTSA are working together to determine if any additional vehicles were affected and if a recall was necessary.
Meanwhile, Nissan’s steering wheel issues have already resulted in a recall. According to the letter the NHTSA sent to Nissan this week, 1,063 Ariya electric vehicles are being recalled.
The recall notice says certain 2023 Ariya vehicles may have a steering wheel incorrectly tightened or improperly installed.
As a result, the letter states:
A steering wheel with a loose or missing bolt can detach from the steering column, causing a loss of steering control, increasing the risk of a crash.
Top comment by Robert Puklin
Nobody cares, Teslas 2 steering wheels generate more attention and clicks than 1000 Nisan ones.
Talking about brand power, lol.
Nissan received two reports of loose steering wheels between January 30 and February 8, 2023, prompting them to launch a “dealer quality action” to inspect the steering wheels on 418 Ariya vehicles, leading to another incident being found.
Out of an abundance of caution, Nissan decided to voluntarily recall over 1,000 units to fix the problem.
If the steering wheel feels loose when rocking it back and forth, Nissan Ariya owners are being advised to contact their dealers for transport and “immediate repair.”
Nissan dealers will replace the steering wheel bolt for free (including labor), and the number for the recall is PC956. For more information, owners can call Nissan’s customer service line.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.


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In his 2013 election campaign, Tony Abbott promised his government would build a world-class “five pillar economy”, encompassing manufacturing, agriculture, services, education and mining. Two years later, as his government prepares its second federal budget, just how are these sectors faring?
Manufacturing has changed the world and is itself changing, more fundamentally than at any time since the industrial revolution. Does this spell the end of manufacturing in Australia, or a new beginning?
Our immediate challenge is that the resources boom has ‘hollowed out’ the sector in a number of ways. First, the high Australian dollar, associated with rising commodity prices, has made traditional low cost manufacturing uncompetitive. This has come to be known as the “Dutch disease”, following the similar impact of North Sea gas discoveries in the 1970s.
Second, under pressure to open new mines, resources companies raided manufacturers for skilled workers instead of training their own, offering wage rates that manufacturing employers could not afford. This might not have been so damaging if the companies had sourced their equipment and infrastructure locally, but much of this was sourced from abroad.
Third, the increased terms of trade resulting from high commodity prices masked a slowdown of Australia’s productivity performance since the end of the 1990s. The complacency induced by the mining boom distracted the attention of policy-makers from other sources of growth, such as manufacturing, which would eventually be needed to “rebalance” the economy.
Still an important pillar
That said, it is important to recognise that manufacturing is still an important pillar of the Australian economy, and despite recent setbacks has infinite opportunities for growth and diversification, particularly in global value chains. Would anyone know from the doomsayers that the total value of manufacturing production is one and a half times higher today than it was in 1979?
Yet the manufacturing share of Australia’s gross domestic product has fallen from 12.9% in 1979 to 6.2%. This is because the economy grew by a factor of three over this period – twice as fast as manufacturing. Manufacturing exports also increased in value but declined as a proportion of total exports from 49.6% in 2006 to 35% today, due to the increased share of commodity exports.
On the face of it, workforce trends tell a dismal story, certainly since 1985 when manufacturing was the largest jobs category in the Australian economy at 16.5% of total employment. Since then, it has dropped to 7.9% of the total, reflecting a decline in the manufacturing workforce of 18.7% to around 920,000. This compares with an increase in total jobs of 43.4% over the same period.
Moreover, it is anticipated that by the end of 2018, manufacturing employment will fall by another 40,000, with the end of car assembly. But we should bear in mind that many jobs that are integral to manufacturing are classified as services. These jobs include engineering, design, marketing and other professional and technical services. Rather than thinking of manufacturing as being in decline, it is more accurately depicted as part of a value chain where value creation is outsourced or acquired elsewhere.
A different composition
Clearly while manufacturing retains a major presence in the Australian economy, it is generating a very different composition of output and employment from the past. It must respond to global competitive pressures, more complex market conditions and rapid technological change, but is it doing so fast enough? The evidence indicates only a partial shift so far from low cost competition to higher value adding sectors and from low skill, routine jobs to high skill, high productivity jobs.
There are more than 80,000 manufacturing businesses in Australia, mostly under 100 employees, with the larger ones accounting for more than a quarter of the economy’s total R&D expenditure. However, we are now seeing a sharp decline in manufacturing investment from a peak of $14.4 billion in 2005/06 to $8.8 billion in 2013/14. This is the lowest level in 12 years, as profit margins fall behind other sectors, at a time when global opportunities are at their greatest.
The rise of ‘micromultinationals’
Around the world, large vertically integrated manufacturing operations are being superseded by smaller, interdependent production units which supply specialised products and services, often intermingled, to global markets and value chains. Sometimes they are outsourced components of the larger operation, but mostly they are clusters or networks of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have become known as “micromultinationals”.
These globalised SMEs are characterised by relentless innovation, which includes but goes beyond technology development and adaptation. They also pursue non-technological innovations such as business model transformation, design-led innovation and new manufacturing methods, in turn enabled by digitisation, machine learning and the intersection of the physical and virtual worlds in the “internet of things”.
In Germany, this new approach to manufacturing and its integration with services is called “Industry 4.0”. It is driven by a well-funded “innovation ecosystem” of large and small firms, universities, Fraunhofer Institutes and government, supported by strong workforce and management capability and informed by sophisticated “technology foresights” which mark out areas of future as well as established competitive advantage.
Other countries are also adopting this approach, most recently the UK which has invested heavily in its “Catapult Centres”, as well as the Netherlands with its “top sectors” strategy and the US with a network of National Manufacturing Institutes. Australia has exemplars in its small number of high performing manufacturing micromultinationals, but a lot to learn about building a competitive knowledge-based economy.
This the fourth piece in the series. Read more here.


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Disney, Ocean World, Legoland ... why is Shanghai building so many theme parks?
Despite a successful first 12 months, Shanghai Disneyland’s fortunes could be facing a roller coaster ride as a raft of local rivals set their sights on a slice of the action
Shanghai Disneyland celebrates its first birthday on Friday. The US$5.5 billion theme park opened with a fanfare on June 16, 2016, and despite niggling complaints about costly food, long queues, ticket scalpers and rude tourists, it has since welcomed more than 10 million visitors.
Despite the auspicious start, it might not yet be time to celebrate, as the 3.9 sq km attraction in the heart of the Chinese metropolis is set to face some stiff competition.
First up is the 3-billion-yuan (US$440 million) Shanghai Polar Ocean World, which is scheduled to open in July next year. Located about a 30-minute drive from Disneyland, it is forecast to draw about six million visitors a year. A further half-hour’s drive away will be Ice World, which is set to open around 2019 and which is being touted as the world’s largest indoor ski park. And in 2022, the city will become home to China’s first Legoland.
Polar Ocean World will be operated by China’s Haichang Group, Ice World is a joint venture between the Shanghai government and Singapore property developer KOP Group, and Legoland is owned by Britain’s Merlin Entertainments Group.
But the competition is not restricted to Shanghai. Investors and developers are flocking to eastern China in a bid to tap into its wealth of leisure and entertainment consumers.
In neighbouring Jiangsu province South Korea’s Lotte Group has begun the development of an indoor attraction, while in Zhejiang province, US-based Six Flags Group has begun work on an outdoor park. Full details of the attractions’ themes have yet to be made public.
Meanwhile, Chinese property and entertainment giant Wanda Group has promised to “rival Disneyland in the Yangtze River Delta” in terms of scale and technology with a 21 billion yuan theme park that’s scheduled to open next year in the Jiangsu city of Wuxi, about 130km or two hours’ drive from Shanghai.
“These new projects will drag some visitors away from Disneyland, that’s for sure,” said Professor Yao Kunyi, a tourism specialist from the Shanghai University of International Business and Economics.
“The Yangtze River Delta is rich and will never lack customers. It boils down to whether each theme park can provide distinctive enough products and services (to draw these customers). Chinese tourists are getting pickier. They’ve come to prefer new things and will discard the old.”
What draws theme park developers to the region?
The Yangtze River Delta is one of China’s wealthiest regions, and it’s getting steadily richer, according to Timothy Chen, research director for the east China branch of Canada-based property services firm Colliers International.
Home to about 330 million people, its economic indicators for both personal disposable income and consumption of tourism, culture and entertainment against income have also been on the rise, making it fertile ground for theme parks, he said.
“Based on international experience, when a region’s gross domestic product per capita surpasses US$5,000, there will be a mature tourism and holiday economy,” Chen said.
Shanghai’s GDP per capita last year was almost 114,000 yuan (US$16,750), while in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the figures were 95,000 yuan and 84,000 yuan, respectively.
“These figures are far higher than the US$5,000 benchmark, meaning that the delta region has a huge demand for leisure and tourism,” he said.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Shanghai last year topped the national charts for residents’ average disposable income with 54,305 yuan. It was followed by Beijing (52,530 yuan), Zhejiang (38,529 yuan), Tianjin (34,074 yuan) and Jiangsu (32,070 yuan).
Shanghainese spent 16.2 per cent of their disposable income on education, culture and entertainment in 2014, according to the latest figures available on the municipal statistics authority’s website.
Following the herd
The desire to emulate other developers’ success has also contributed to the abundance of theme parks sprouting up in the region, said Wei Xiang, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ National Academy of Economic Strategy.
“(Many Chinese theme parks) just copy successful foreign parks,” he said.
But unlike those projects, domestic developers “don’t conduct research on visitors’ characters and behaviour,” he said.
Also, many Chinese property developers and investors look for high returns in the short term, though the very nature of theme park projects is that the yields are lower and longer term, Wei said.
Of the more than 2,000 theme parks currently in operation across China, just 10 per cent are making steady profits, according to a Sina.com report quoting property consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield. One in five is breaking even and a massive 70 per cent are either making a loss or have yet to turn a profit, it said.
According to figures from Colliers International, the country’s top 10 domestic theme parks drew an average of 4.5 million visitors in 2015 . Of those, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, was the most popular, with almost 7.5 million visitors.
How many more birthdays can Shanghai Disney expect?
There’s rivalry, but also synergy
“Tourists’ time and budgets are limited, so competition (among theme parks) is inevitable,” said Colliers International’s Chen. “It will be a test for the parks’ operators.”
Despite the growing competition, it’s not all doom and gloom for Shanghai Disney, Wei said.
“The strong performance of Shanghai Disneyland indicates that the market is not yet saturated and there is still a lot of growth potential,” he said.
“Disney came to China bringing its 150 years of experience and expertise. Compared with its mainland rivals, it has apparent strength – at least for the short term.”
Neither is the growing number of theme parks necessarily a bad thing for Disney, as while it means more competition, it also fosters synergy and helps to project the image of Shanghai as a global tourism hub, Chen said.
“Tourists will regard visiting each of the theme parks as an important part of their travel plans, just as people do when they travel to Los Angeles, San Diego or Orlando,” he said.
Confidence in the brand
Despite the newcomers nipping at its heels, Disney is unfazed.
“Competition has been a reality in this business since Walt first invented it with Disneyland and we believe the Disney brand – delivering high-quality family entertainment – sets us apart from our competitors, both in China and around the world,” said a Shanghai Disney Resort spokesman.
The resort, which is a joint venture between Walt Disney and the Shanghai government, was the sixth Disney park to open worldwide and the first in mainland China.
When it opened last year, it was seen as a clear rival to its Hong Kong counterpart, which opened a decade earlier, and the figures support the expectations.
Hong Kong Disneyland recorded a US$22 million loss for the fiscal year that ended in October, while mainland visitor numbers in the period fell more than 20 per cent to 6.1 million.
Looking forward, Shanghai Disney said it is already investing in several new attractions, including Toy Story Land, which is expected to open next year.
Chen, however, said the resort still has room for improvement and challenges to overcome.
“How to iron out seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers through economic and marketing measures – and so improve the visitor experience – is a problem facing the park operator,” he said.
China’s tourism market is heavily weighted towards its long public holidays – Spring Festival early in the year and the National Day holiday in October – when locals flock to top attractions around the country. At places like Shanghai Disney this inevitably leads to long queues and disgruntled visitors.
Bi Fan, a Shanghai middle school teacher who has taken her three-year-old daughter to Disneyland more than 10 times, believes the greater abundance of world-class theme parks in the city can only a be good thing.
“It’s fantastic, of course,” she said. “But I’ll only go to the parks that have a good reputation.”